Thread: Your Best Lucid Techniques or Presleep Routine

Yeah this would really help me.

Still haven't had an LD

yea me either, how long have you been trying?

1 and a half weeks.

U

1.Cranberry juice through out the day
2. Consistant reality checks (normaly when walking through doors, sitting down, standing up, and when my watch beeps)
3. 1 cup apple juice before bed along with 1 cup of milk
4. Repeate mantra "I will relize when I am dreaming" as I am going t sleep
4. sometimes WILD
5. WBTB
6. DEILD

Vitamin B6, 5-HTP, WBTB.

Mantras while going to sleep and RCs throughout the day!

My perfect day, I do about once a week is:

Constant awareness throughout the day
4 hours of sleep
30 minute WBTB reading about lucid dreaming
Tactile WILD
DEILD repeatedly until I have to stop and record my dreams.

That pretty much guarantees me a string of awesome lucids.

Be constantly aware of gravity (RC), thats all lol (yes, I like DILD <.<)

almost a month, still no ld

1 short vivid DILD

This is what I use 99.9% of the time. I need to update it though I wrote it down pretty quickly and left a bit out, I'll get around to it sometime though haha.

Originally Posted by KuRoSaKi

Introduction:

I have gotten quite a few PM's about the technique that is shown in my signature. "What's that technique in your sig?" "Can you explain that technique?" "Does that technique really work?". So am now here to explain just exactly what the technique is. I would also like to note that this technique since perfected has worked 100% of the time for myself. Results may vary of course.

The Technique:

So what is the VWTPIWBTBILD or the recently added VWTPISIWBTBILD? Visual-Wild-Thought Provoked-Immediate-Wake-Back-To-Bed-Induced Lucid Dream, or the newly modified but was to long for my sig Visual-Wild-Thought Provoked-Incense-Sound-Immediate-Wake-Back-To-Bed-Induced Lucid Dream.

In a nutshell it is several Induction Methods combined into 1 induction method. What is the point of this? Say you aren't good at a given method or a few methods work okay, but not all them. This solves some of these problems by combining them all into one and better yet they can all be done at the same time and it's quite easy to do.

The Process:

1. Immediate Wake Back To Bed - what you are going to do first is set your alarm clock to go off 5 hours after you have fallen asleep. Now this is the most important step in the entire process so make sure you do it. After you have done this all of the other steps proceed afterwards.
   
   To make things easier on yourself and make the chances for success higher you could have the next few things set-up already so that you don't have to keep yourself awake for to long afterwards.
   
   In this processes perfect form you should be back in bed within 1 minute and get in a comfortable position and attempt to sleep while performing the following.
2. Visual - This is basically closed eye visuals or hypnagogic imagery that may appear, but will more likely be more dependent on the individual to create Visual Images with their eyes closed.
3. Thought Provoked - This is you keeping your mind on a subject or affirmations whatever floats your boat until you are on the verge of sleep. While Affirmations can be used I would not completely suggest them instead I am going to explain the "Subject" part of this technique.
   
   Ex. The World is a very broad subject and can contain many things having to do with it. Animal life, science, math, human, morals, atmosphere, clouds, etc. What you want to be doing while falling asleep is think about a subject and the many aspects that can go along with it. I noticed that with affirmations you may become bored saying the same thing over and over and over again. This rids you of that problem allowing you to pick your own topic of interest and then expand upon it keeping your mind aware and somewhat interested until you fall asleep.
4. Wild - In the way that I am using it means get comfortable, stay still, and do Steps 2 & 3 while doing so. Some people have asked if you have to lay on your back while attempting to do a WILD the answer is no. What you should be doing is get yourself into a comfortable position that you can easily fall asleep in. For me it's on my side or on my stomach with my head looking to side. Once you have gotten comfortable "Do Not Move If It Can Be Avoided". If you have a scratch itch it then put your arm back where it was or where it's comfortable and keep still.
   
   If you move depending on how much you do so it will defeat the purpose entirely let me give you an Ex. using percentages.
   
   Ex. Say your body is 70% asleep, and you get a itch on your nose. If you leave that itch it will probably become worse causing your thought process to become distracted you losing focus and worsening what you are trying to accomplish. So you reach over and itch your nose and put your arm back this will bring you to about 63% of your body being asleep. But for instance if you roll over, bend your legs, move your hand under your pillow, and bring your other arm up close when you are at 70% this could bring you back down to 15% now that might be an exaggeration but it still applies if you can stay still do so.
5. Immediate Wake Back To Bed - Now that I have explained the other aspects to this technique it's time to throw them all together. Your alarm goes off 5 hours after you have gone to sleep. You get up or wherever your alarm clock happens to be and shut it off. Then you go back your bed right away (If you have to use the bathroom or get a drink do so as this may disrupt you while you are trying to sleep). Once you have gotten comfortable choose a subject and begin to think about it and things having to do with it to keep your mind aware. While you are doing this it would be best to create images or little "Movie Clips" (I.E. moving scenes) within your mind to aid in the process of keeping yourself aware.
   
   Another bonus effect of the subject matter and the Visual images is that if you do in fact succeed the dream in which you enter will most likely be that of what you were visualizing or thinking about. Continue to do this until you experience the normal sensations of a WILD and you will have succeeded.

The Modified Process:

The modified process as said above includes the use of sound/music to assist you. If you do not like listening to white noise while you are trying to fall asleep by having some low volume music playing this can aid you in your attempt. I would suggest mellow music that's easy on the ears and easy to fall asleep to. I know classical may not be your cup of tea, but that's the kind of music. You can play metal or whatever floats your boat, but make sure that's on a very low volume so that it does not impede the process. It would be ideal if you already had the music setup to go when you wake up after 5 hours so all you have to do is hit play and then you are good to go.

The theory behind the incense is that the smell of a incense can be paired with memories or thoughts as well as making your more relaxed etc. For instance if you were to burn the same incense every time you read about lucid dreaming, or dreaming in general than your brain according to the theory would apply that smell with the thought or idea of dreaming. So when you went to sleep at night if you had that same incense burning your Subconscious could pick up on the smell and unknowingly begin to think about dreaming.

The two of these would be going on at the same time in which you are performing the Immediate Wake Back To Bed process.

Conclusion:

This is how the technique that is shown in my signature is done. Like I have said this works 100% of the time since I had totally fleshed it out for myself. Others have said that it has helped them as well. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

I know that the user "Adam" has a pretty nice induction method as well.

Originally Posted by Adam

Adams WILD Technique
Version 1.0 updated 25th February 2008
Version 1.1 updated 16th March 2008

Introduction

I have been lucid dreaming for about 13 years, I do not know the exact time, but it has been since childhood. Until recently all my lucid dreams have been natural Dream-Initiated-Lucid-Dream (DILD) or Dream-Exit-Induced-Lucid-Dream (DEILD). I have been practicing a variation of Wake-Initiated-Lucid-Dream (WILD) techniques for near on 6 months now and this version of what I do when I WILD appears to be the most successful for me. As far as I know most techniques teach you to focus your attention on Hypnagogic Imagery (HI), ask that you stay awake for anything up to 2 hours; sometimes more. What I do is focus more on the physical sensations created by the mind, rather than visual sensations. Incorporating Wake-Back-To-Bed (WBTB) and only being up for a maximum of 10 minutes.

Synopsis

The WILD technique basically works by remaining conscious until you fall to sleep and start dreaming instantly. If done right with practice it can be a relatively easy technique and can produce some amazing experiences. The WILD technique works best in conjunction with WBTB since you enter Rapid-Eye-Movement (REM) sleep a lot faster after 5-6 hours sleep and don’t enter stages 3 and 4 as you do when you first go to sleep.

The big problem is remaining conscious until the dream starts. Overcoming this leads to many strange experiences, some can be quite scary, others very strange, quite synonymous with its name ‘WILD’ I guess.

I have put this guide together as this is a variation on the technique which works very well for me and has produced some amazing results, even managing to WILD from going straight to sleep avoiding WBTB! I hope this helps others, and if there are any questions I am happy to help, so on with the tutorial.

Prerequisite

Okay there is one thing you need to consider before trying this, this might change based on your successes but for me the following I have found is important. I will try to explain why it is important and how you can achieve results.

- Ensure your sleep pattern is regular and plentiful!

One point I have found common with people new to lucid dreaming or who have trouble with lucid dreaming and/or dream recall is a good amount of sleep and a regular sleep schedule. My theory is the better quality the sleep is, the more relaxed the body is. For example – if you tend to sleep for short amounts of time each evening your body doesn’t get the rest it needs. The amount of sleep required varies with each individual, with the average being 7.2 hours. Some people require no more than 4 to 6 hours of sleep, while others require 8 to 10 hours. By ages 15-19, we begin to establish our lifetime average. The amount of sleep required stabilises once one reaches adulthood. I am a believer that 8 hours should be sufficient for your body to be restful.

I have noticed with lack of sleep, I sleep deeper, primarily because the body doesn’t have a regular pattern of sleep, and doesn’t know when the next amount of good sleep is going to come from, so sleep is deeper for the body to get the rest required to recharge. Regular, plentiful and scheduled sleep allows the biological clock to sync and your body can sleep lighter knowing it will be getting regular sleep/rest – and I believe there is a direct correlation between good, light sleep and lucid dreaming success. Mainly due to lighter REM sleep.

The Technique

The technique is to be practiced in conjunction with the aforementioned prerequisite. Results cannot be guaranteed since this technique has been refined to me, but happy to work with people to get this to work well with them. My technique is aimed at working alongside WBTB, as this seems to be where the best results come, not just for this technique but also for most WILD techniques.

- Set your alarm for about 4.5 to 5.5 hours after you go to bed this is allowing for 30 minutes to fall asleep. It would be beneficial and results would be better getting to sleep at about 11pm. This means you get up around 3/4am, it is still dark, and external distractions are do not come into the equation, since everyone else should be sleeping too. One common complaint is people try to WILD and then some outside their room is talking, or their cat jumps on their bed. Doing it in the middle of the night limits these distractions.

- Once awake, aim to be awake for about 5/10 minutes. These times can vary, and you will need to work to find which amount of time is sufficient for you. If you are awake for 5 minutes and you find you fall to sleep to quickly, then lengthen the time you are awake for, and visa versa.

- When awake, I usually take a toilet break (easier to concentrate on the WILD on an empty bladder) and perhaps get a glass of water (I drink about a pint during the night) or something, but this is usually it. I then get back into bed. Try not to wake too much as this can sometimes make it harder to fall back to sleep. I find if it takes me more than about 20 minutes to WILD I get frustrated and this has a detrimental affect on my success.

- When in bed there’s not really too much ground breaking here, but it is different from what others do – I basically wait a couple of minutes for my body to get relaxed, thinking about nothing, just falling to sleep. This can be in any position you like, just try get rested again. Naturally your heart will be beating faster, because when you sleep, your heart rate slows down, getting up and out of bed speeds it up again. So resting for a minute or two is important to relax yourself. Then when I feel relaxed enough, and I am ready to drop off, this is when I start to WILD.

- Lay as still as you can, eyes shut, and preferably on your back, although not imperative, I find it easier to manipulate the sensations on my back, but try what is best for you. I focus my attention on my body; primarily on my back (this is why lying on your back helps). At first it seems there is not a great deal going on, but usually to start off with I will focus my attention on my back sinking into my bed. Sometimes in tandem my eyes will also feel as if they are looking further away into blackness. Like when you concentrate on your eyelids, it’s like you are looking beyond them. I use this visualisation to make it feel like I am sinking deeper into my bed.

[An important note here is that at no point do I concentrate on Hypnagogic Imagery. All sensations I focus on are motion, not visual. You might find visualisations help, but for me I do not use them]

- When you get to this stage, it is important to try not to force these sensations. Go with them. Initially it will more than likely be your back sinking and sometimes it might feel like you are going to flip around, or you might experience a sliding sensation. It varies each nigh, but the main focus is on the sensations. What I do is wait for them to get quite intensive, and then try landing myself (usually I feel like I am falling at this point) somewhere. Like back on a bed, or just into a room. You have to focus your mind on the feeling of your back sinking, or your legs rising, but once you get these, your mind takes over and this allows you to WILD.

- The transition from these sensations into a lucid dream can be quite tricky, getting into the dream might be difficult at first but it is important to remember that if at first you don’t get there you should be able to quickly get back to the sensations and start again. I sometimes find myself going back to the sensations a couple of times, and you should really get there instantly providing you don’t wake up.

I learnt that one key thing which helped was when lying still and with my eyes shut it was like I was focussing on my eyelids. But soon I tried looking beyond them, and my vision would change to seem like I was focussing further and further away from them. I used this then to feel like it was me moving away from this rather than my sight looking further ahead if that makes sense? So when I am looking into my eyelids, I visualise my back sinking into the bed, and at the same time my vision would look beyond my eyelids further convincing myself I was sinking further and further into my bed. And from here once you get these sensations they pretty much take over.

One difficulty I have experienced is breathing. I found sometimes that if I was breathing too deeply my breathing in would counteract the sensations of me sinking. Because your stomach/chest moves outwards when you inhale, so this counteracted my sensations I was trying to induce. So then I would lye still in my bed, waiting till I was tired and ready to sleep and my breathing had slowed right down, then I would be ready to try. Once I had realised this, then it was a matter of using my vision it help induce the sinking sensations, which doesn't always happen at first, but after a while you begin to feel it. Something which helped was digging my back into my bed and holding it there for 30/60 seconds, and then you relax, this gives the opposite feeling that it is in fact your legs sinking, which helped a lot.

This is the technique I have been working on recently with fantastic results for me.

I am happy to answer any questions you might have if you are going to try this technique. Any comments or suggestions you might have are also very welcome. I hope this brings you many lucid dreams like it has done for me.
Adam.

Copyright © 2008 Adam. All rights reserved.

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Here are some experiences from people who have had success with this tutorial:

I just DILD. I get better results in the morning and afternoon.

hello

i was just wondering what you chaps do before you go to bed to clear your mind/ prepaire one's self for sleep.

i go through each main muscle area, tensing and relaxing then taking a deep breath.
i find this very helpful for clearing the mind.

i somtimes, after doing the above, turn all lights of, sit back and listen to previously journaled dreames on my tapes recorder, this kinda gets my mind in the mood for dreaming, but i think it may have a down side of filling up my just emptied mind.

do you have any tips, techniques for helping to shut down the body before sleep + help induce lucidity

I like to look through my dream journal. Sometimes I will read my dreams from the night before, other times I will choose a page at random to read. It reminds me how amazing dreams can be, and that it is worth it to wake up and write them down.

Hm, I just go and make a history on my head about some random anime/cartoon/movie/anything that I like lol

I've had a few false awakenings that have triggered it but other wise it seems somewhat random. Once I gain a little consciousness in the dream I can usually fully force my self to become awake in it but I have to have that foot in the door first and honestly I don't do anything, it just happens.