Thread: Naiya's Simple MILD Technique

Originally Posted by MoonageDaydream

What kind of RC are you doing?

I usually start with asking is this a dream? Look around looking for my dream signs then I try recalling what I did in the last 10minutes. Then I look at my left hand every time, close it, turn it over and then turn it back and open it, then first two fingers into the palm, finally I look at my watch at the time and text turn it away then turn it back. After each failed check I say “ tonight I will recognise my dream signs and realise I’m dreaming”

Originally Posted by Ant101

I usually start with asking is this a dream? Look around looking for my dream signs then I try recalling what I did in the last 10minutes. Then I look at my left hand every time, close it, turn it over and then turn it back and open it, then first two fingers into the palm, finally I look at my watch at the time and text turn it away then turn it back. After each failed check I say “ tonight I will recognise my dream signs and realise I’m dreaming”

Hm, that's a lot of steps. I might simplify that to make it easier to remember in the dream state. I would start with immediately looking your hands, because it's so easy to get lost again in the dreamscape when you're looking at it, before you're fully lucid. Others might disagree here, though. I would not do so many RCs in one check, rather just pick one. I like to count my fingers.

Originally Posted by Ant101

I usually start with asking is this a dream? Look around looking for my dream signs then I try recalling what I did in the last 10minutes. Then I look at my left hand every time, close it, turn it over and then turn it back and open it, then first two fingers into the palm, finally I look at my watch at the time and text turn it away then turn it back. After each failed check I say “ tonight I will recognise my dream signs and realise I’m dreaming”

Jumping off what MoonageDaydream said about simplifying your RCs, you could focus on remembering to do one specific RC. You can always follow it up with other tests if there's still any doubt left in your mind as to whether you're dreaming or awake. It sounds like you're trying to be thorough, which is a good thing, but in my opinion the thoroughness comes from the questioning process itself, not how many RCs you do.

As an example, in my early lucids my hands tended to look so vague and changeable that I could easily rely on the finger counting reality check alone to determine that I was dreaming (expecting to count a weird number of fingers during each RC helped as well). In contrast a recent lucid fragment had me clearly counting five fingers on my hand despite checking three times, but since something still felt "off" I started testing and looking for anything strange I could find. I pulled on my fingers to see if I could stretch them, tried willing an extra finger to grow, tried remembering how I got where I was, but nothing gave me a clear and satisfying answer one way or the other. Then I happened to notice that my thumb and pinky fingers were swapped to the wrong side of my hand. That wasn't a preplanned RC, but it did confirm I was dreaming. The original finger counting RC was practiced regularly in waking life, so in this case that primarily served the function of getting the questioning process started.

Some other members on here have said that after they gained enough experience they could rely less on RCs and more on the direct feeling or sense that they're dreaming. Perhaps there's a natural learning progression from concrete, actionable techniques like reality checks to the underlying "question your reality" concept that's... well, more conceptual until you've gained sufficient direct experience. I guess where I'm going with all this is, one RC could be plenty as a stepping stone to lucidity, just keep the main focus on why you're performing a reality check.