My thoughts on lucid dreaming.

I've had an interest, and have been practicing lucid dreaming since 2004. Since then I've realized a lot of things. This is, of course, from my perspective and not everyone will agree.

You can potentially invest a lot of time and effort with very little payout. It took me a year of practice to have my first one. It is easy to become overly obsessed with this stuff. A common advice is to frequently do reality checks in your waking life, to make sure you're not dreaming. I wouldn't recommend practicing this if you have OCD. Another is to set multiple alarms to wake you up during your REM cycles, at hopes you could go back to sleep into a lucid dream. Taken too far, this could, at best, leave you tired and groggy the next day. And, at worst, interrupt your entire sleep schedule. I believe that, like most things, you need to practice this with moderation and not let it greatly consume your mind.

I've tried a lot of methods, and it seemed that the harder I would try, the less lucid dreams I could accomplish. Even my overall dream recall would go way down when trying too hard. Then at other times, I would give up entirely. If I gave up, my dream recall and lucid dream frequency would drop. It's easy to go into a cycle of 'try very hard and give up entirely'. What worked for me was to always write down my dreams in my Dream Journal as soon as I remembered them, and to wake up 30 minutes early and meditate (WILD, basically.)

I use to wonder why I liked to lucid dream. Then, I smoked pot and started doing psychedelic drugs in 2007. I liked the familiar dream-like state pot induced. I was amazed by the wakeful out of body experiences that I could achieve with psilocybin mushrooms. My interest in constant practice of lucid dreaming went down, and it was then I realized that the reason I like lucid dreaming is for the altered state of consciousness. It could take me a month of hard work for one lucid dream, or I could smoke one joint for a waking dream-like state. So, naturally, my new method for inducing altered states of consciousness was through psychedelics.

That caused a shift in my mentality towards dreams. Where at once I was going to sleep with a goal to have lucid dreams, I could now let go and just let my natural dreams play out in peace. I then gained a new appreciation for normal dreams. I realized that while a lucid dream can be fun, a natural dream can hold a lot of important information. A normal dream is the rare occasion of observable communication between your conscious and subconscious mind. When your dream goes lucid, it sort of interrupts that. Not that it's a bad thing, lucid dreams are great. But I use to think that lucid dreams were "better" than normal dreams, but normal dreams are far more valuable for self psychoanalysis.

In this post I may seem to encourage drug use. Well, I personally feel that natural psychedelic drugs (Cannabis, shrooms, DMT) if used in moderation is invaluable in understanding your mind and behavior. We're a unique breed here, we're Psychonautics, a "sailor of the mind and soul." Lucid dreaming and dream analysis are the first logical steps toward enlightenment and self-understanding, so don't be surprised if psychedelics find a way in your life.

Oh, and always keep a dream journal, no matter what.

Ahh, I think the trick is to not try so hard, and just let it happen. Although it might take a while, it's worth it. I do agree with you about the natural drugs though. I've tried mushrooms a few times, and I have to say those are life changing (In a good way).

Marijuana can induce deep relaxation... thats a no-brainer. Deep relaxation leads to sleep and sleep to dreams. Pot can grease the grooves to LDs. I don't smoke it personally but most things that relax our brains (with the exception of sleeping pills and alcohol) can help you LD. :shadewink:

I disagree with the reason why i lucid dream, though granted you may have wanted it for the altered state, i like to control my enviorment and do stuff you couldn't normally do. Its less about the visuals and more about the fun. Regardless of how psychodelic a drug is it isn't going to let you throw fire through a building and kill people. Granted pot is fun occasionally and i never have done shrooms, although if given the chance i would try a small amount of them because i have always wanted to hallucinate. Anyways, after this long written out portion i just mainly want to say, reasons are different which is why i still prefer to lucid dream rather than be high. Oh and btw smoking a joint is nothing like being in a dream man, unless you roll a joint of crippy with shrooms sprinkled on top.

You remind me a bit of myself. I don't yearn to lucid dream to do things i simply cannot do in waking life I do it to transcend the reality of waking life. I have a particular enjoyment of mary jane and I've gone through long periods where I'll smoke it every day. Unfortunately when I do this my dream recall evaporates and I give up on my dream journal. Eventually I had the epiphany that my fascination with smoking weed is the desire for that same feeling of transcendence and I essentially forfeit my sleeping dreams for a taste of the dream state in my waking life.

I like your description of the sailor of the mind and soul, that's very much how I feel. I have had just enough obe's to rattle my perception of reality and I find myself pondering on a daily basis where the "power cord" of the mind leads to if I could only trace it all the way back to its source.