Reality Checks, FILD, and some other questions

Hi guys! I've been practicing dream recall a few days now, and it's going well. Now i feel like i should start learning about techniques.

1. Reality Checks. How frequently should i do it? I try to do it frequently, but i forget. I try to do one an hour, but i can't seem to remember. Also, i feel as if i can't just do it randomly. I feel like there has to be a reason to do it. Any tips?

2. FILD. I read about it, and I don't understand the concept. Is it like a WILD where you fade into the dream? It says you have to be really tired. Can it be at night when you fall asleep do to exhaustion (or like when you try to stay awake but ultimately fall asleep)?

3. ADA. Same with reality checks, how do you do it frequently? I read the entire tutorial but was a tad confused. Is it like noticing the little things like blinking, breathing, etc, or is it noticing things you never noticed before (or both)?

4. Dream Recall. I've been doing well the past few nights except for the last night. I'm doing an experiment right now, but i want to know your opinions. This is the different things i did and didn't do yesterday:

4.1. Started drinking milk.
4.2. Didn't say the usual mantras (I will remember my dreams. & I will remember my dreams when i wake up.)
4.3. Didn't do reality checks. I think i did, but only very few.
4.4. The night before i had a nightmare, and i recalled 2 dreams and the nightmare.

Thanks for the help guys!
-Ace19

Reality checks IMO are not as important as people make them out to be. I would say, just know what they are, how to do them, and learn the off like the alphabet. I never really did them, and I still had a lucid and managed to do 3 reality checks without too much trouble. If you really want to do them often, then do them every time you think of them. Make sure each time you do them properly, no going through the motions. Eventually this will build up and you will do them all the time.

Never heard of FILD.

This is hard, IMO, don't put too much effort into this if you are new. It about being aware and conscious of your body all the time. So you notice the little things all day, and eventually you will do this in a dream, and you will notice it's a dream. This method is hard though, I wouldn't put too much faith into it right now.

Your dream recall is not to be messed with. You need to keep it up, and thats final. Get a dream journal, and fill it with everything you can remember each morning. Do this often and consistently, and you recall will pick up. Milk does nothing for recall, and neither will mantras if you don't keep up with them. Reality checks don't affect recall either.

If you are going to do mantras, do them properly. Saying them in an ambiguous tense or in the future does not work. They need to be present, defined and easy to understand. My own one is "Dream characters tell me when I am dreaming". This is present, and it means that dream characters will come up to me and tell me I am dreaming. Simple as that. Your brain has no room to get confused. You need to think mantras all the time, and constantly while drifting off. You can fall asleep while repeating a mantra, even if it seems to be keeping you awake.

PM anyone here if you need extra help.

I agree with Origami on the Reality checks, Do them, but know what they are

I dont know enough about FILD

ADA is infact a good technique for beginners, BUT, if you are having trouble with it, i recommend reading this

http://www.dreamviews.com/f49/puffin...cidity-100798/

and yea Origami pretty much said everything xD