Naiya's Simple MILD Technique

Naiya's MILD Technique

Introduction

Most of my lucids are MILDs. Even though it is probably one of the less popular methods, in my opinion it is one of the most reliable and versatile things you can do. The great thing about MILD is that you don't need to remember to RC or build up daytime awareness, and it doesn't require you to lose any sleep. All you need is a few minutes before bedtime. MILD is also complimented by WBTB and reality checking, but it can do very well as a stand alone method.

A lot of people who are new to LDing ask what the easiest induction method is. It's hard to answer that question because different methods work for different people. Having said that, I have always thought that MILD is the perfect method for beginners. It is much more forgiving than, say, WILD, because as long as you keep trying, there really is no wrong way to do it and you will eventually succeed.

A word about consistency: one of the biggest pitfalls I see is when a person tries one method for a week or two, then decides it's not working, and switches to another method. They jump from one method to the next and believe that nothing is working for them. It's very important to understand that lucid dreaming is a skill. While some people might start out with a talent for it, the rest of us have to build up from being beginners. So switching methods would be akin to trying to learn piano one week and then trumpet the next. You never give yourself the chance to master any of them. The mind needs time to internalize what you are trying to learn before it can give you good results. With lucid dreaming, even though you may not have lucid for the first few weeks, just affirm to yourself that you ARE making progress.

Practice and consistency are extremely important with MILD. To get the best results, you should be doing it every single night. If you wake up in the morning with no lucids, don't think of it as a failure. If you did the MILD before bed, then consider it a success because you got your practice done. Your lucids will come when your mind has begun internalizing your practice.

Preparation

Before you begin, it's best to make your environment conducive to MILDing. For starters, you will need to set aside at least 5 minutes just before bedtime for the MILD. If you want the best results, I recommend a little more time, maybe 10-20 minutes total.

It's important to make your attempt when you feel relaxed and your mind is free of daily worries and nagging thoughts. Spend a minute or so (or more if you are a meditator) letting go of any thoughts and worries. Make it an ironclad rule to not worry about your daily life when it's bedtime. If you need to, jot down your worries and thoughts (i.e. "I need to get gas tomorrow") in your dream journal so you can read any reminders or worries in the morning. You might try imagining that you are throwing your troubles and your thoughts away in a well or a box near your bed. If you are still being plagued by worries and thoughts, affirm to yourself that the best thing you can do for yourself and everyone around you at this moment is to get a good night's sleep and be relaxed and happy in the morning.

The next part depends on how easily you fall asleep. If it takes you a long time to fall asleep (10+ minutes), then you may lie down and get comfortable as usual, and do the MILD as you fall asleep. Don't worry about trying to keep it up to the very last moment you fall asleep, because that will keep you awake. But try to make sure you keep your mind on it for at least 5 minutes before letting your mind wander or dropping off.

If you are the type who falls asleep within a few minutes of hitting the pillow, you may not want to lie down for the MILD. Instead, turn off the lights, sit comfortably on your bed, and after at least 5 minutes, go ahead and lie down to sleep, keeping the MILD going as you fall asleep.


On WBTBs: If you wake up naturally during the night, it would increase your chances of getting lucid if you repeat the MILD when you go back to sleep. If you have the need or want to, you can set an alarm or two at night to increase your chances. It's not necessary, but it can help a great deal. Don't worry about being consistent in the number of MILD attempts per night--it only matters that you do at least once per night total.


It's very important to keep a dream journal for MILDing, especially if you are coupling it with reality checking. When you keep a dream journal, your recall gets better, and with that, it will be easier to MILD.

The Method

Once you have settled down your mind and you're comfortable, turn your attention to lucid dreaming. Recall your most recent dream, in as much detail as you possibly can. Imagine yourself exploring the dream as if you had been lucid in it. Believe that you are back in the dream again, only lucid. Believe that, in only a few minutes, you will soon be dreaming again, and imagine yourself knowing it's a dream, doing whatever you want. You can come up with any scenario you wish for this. It may be helpful to imagine yourself completing whatever tasks or goals you have. If you can't recall a recent dream, you can use any other dream you had, as long as it was vivid enough to remember it with a good amount of detail. This can be really helpful if you want to go back to a certain dreamscape.

Another variation of this is to use a movie, video game or book. You can make up a completely imaginary environment, perhaps something from your daydreams. Imagine yourself lucid in the environment, doing whatever you want to do. It helps if you see yourself doing fun or interesting things, because it keeps you motivated.

You don't have to imagine the same thing in every MILD attempt. If you did, things might get boring and your mind will not be in an active state. So don't be afraid to change it up, use a different dream memory, or imagine new things.

If you have time during the day and you want to give your MILD a boost, you can practice it in the middle of the day. Simply daydream yourself into a lucid daydream. It will help build up your visualization and creative skills, which are useful for not only MILDs, but dream control.

Using Autosuggestion

Using autosuggestion or mantras, either alone or with the visualization, will help you MILD. Remember that the mind ignores negation when you are coming up with mantras to use.

For example, if you use this mantra:

"I will not fail to lucid dream tonight"

Your mind will perceive it as:

"I will fail to lucid dream tonight."


One of my mantras used to be "I will have a lucid dream tonight." I was confused when I starting having only one lucid per night, when I normally have a few. Then I changed it to "I will have many lucid dreams tonight," and I began having more lucid per night again.

Some of my favorite mantras:

"I'm dreaming" --> the best for coupling with visualization, really drives it home.
"This is a dream"
"I will wake up in a dream" --> to promote FA's. Remember to couple with RCs every time you wake!
"I'll be dreaming soon."
"I will have lucid dreams tonight."

Conclusion

This method is pretty simple, but it can be powerful once it's mastered. Anyone can master it if they put in the time to practice it. You can do MILD while you're exploring other methods, so that if the other methods don't work well for you, there's always that guarantee of getting lucid eventually from your MILDs. Typically I recommend doing MILD for at least 2 months to give it sufficient time to work, but for some it may take more time. Sooner or later it will work--it's just that for whatever reason it takes longer for some people.

Good luck and happy lucids! :shadewink:

Awesome tutorial, really helped me! Thanks :)

Anyone who suggests visualization (which you do) is on the correct path! Very nice article Naiya. I bend the rules just a bit when I MILD as I visualize seeing the words 'This is a Dream' on a placard or signpost.

Very nice guide Naiya. Thanks for this resource.

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Originally Posted by faceonmars

Anyone who suggests visualization (which you do) is on the correct path! Very nice article Naiya. I bend the rules just a bit when I MILD as I visualize seeing the words 'This is a Dream' on a placard or signpost.

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Oooh, nice idea. :)

Thank you, good tutorial I have been doing this already without knowing its a method as well as DILD.

Damn you naiya! I am currently writing a MILD tutorial.

Just kidding. This is a great tutorial! Mine is a bit different though and goes a little further than this one. I will be sure and hyperlink yours when i post mine!! I bet they will coincide well.

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Originally Posted by dakotahnok

Damn you naiya! I am currently writing a MILD tutorial.

Just kidding. This is a great tutorial! Mine is a bit different though and goes a little further than this one. I will be sure and hyperlink yours when i post mine!! I bet they will coincide well.

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Cool, a linkback would be much appreciated! :cheers:

Thanks for the great tut! I've been trying to learn to WILD consistently without very much success. It would be a great idea to use MILD at the same time, so i'll have another technique to fall back on.

Offtopic: I was watching comic con on tv today and they had a bobble head TARDIS. As soon as i saw that, i thought Naiya on DV would think that was cool, lol.

My visualization skills are horrid, does visualizing help that much?

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Originally Posted by dark_grimmjow

Offtopic: I was watching comic con on tv today and they had a bobble head TARDIS. As soon as i saw that, i thought Naiya on DV would think that was cool, lol.

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Ohh, I want one of those! :panic:

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Originally Posted by rynkrt3

My visualization skills are horrid, does visualizing help that much?

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It'll get better with practice. Also, it helps to remember yourself in your last dream, because you don't have to create a whole environment. Either way, don't worry about it--the intent is really what's most important, not how well you can visualize yourself in a dream. But if you want, you can just stick to the mantra. :)

Great guide, Naiya! It gets straight to the point, but it's thorough at the same time.

I find the part about the negatives especially helpful; I've used them a few times before and didn't have good results, so there's definitely truth in what you say - negative additives are ignored by the mind.

I've been waiting for you to post this for weeks. XP

Awesome stuff. I'm going to be replacing/supplementing my current daily MILD 'technique' with this one. I know, not exactly consistent, but what I'm doing now can hardly be called a technique anyways and it's been almost two months now with no significant results. I'll let you know how it goes. ^.^

Thanks for this Naiya, really useful, really has simplified MILDs :) It's also good for me because one of the things I really want to improve is my visualising because I used to be epic at daydreaming but my skills kind of declined around the age of 15.

I think the one of the good things about this guide compared to some others is the emphasis on routine and practice. Also the bit on the meanings behind mantras is useful too :)

"LD Count: 1789" ... damn this must be working ! I'm trying it tonight.
Thank you Naiya!

Great guide Naiya, this may help me achieve some more lucids since I've been stuck at 3 for a couple of months now. I think I'll couple this with some ADA and I should be set for a lot of great lucids in the very soon future.
Thanks again Naiya! :)

Hm.. I will be sure to try this. I have been doing MILD already, but so far it's been more WBTB and Mantras, but only bits of both, never really tried hard enough for each. I will certainly do this for a few months, it looks promising.

Fantastic tutorial, Naiya. I'm so glad you are active again :D

I like to tell myself, "The next thing I see will be a dream. The next thing that happens, will be a dream. The next person I meet will be a DC, ect." I think I stole this from you! It helps me remember that the very next experience I have, no matter what it is, will be a dream.

I think this method snowballs once you get started. Once you get a lucid dream, focus on the feeling of the lucid dream so you can later reproduce it during your MILD visualization. Try to imagine yourself becoming lucid. Recreate that feeling.

If you wake from a dream in the middle of the night, use it immediately as the base for your MILD. This is similar to how you remember your dreams. Even if your memory seems blank, once you start to imagine a recent dream it comes back quickly and vividly.

Really confident for tonight :D

This tutorial gives me hope :)

Yet another great tutorial from Naiya :)

I'm liking this a lot! I've been looking for a technique that I can consistently use alongside ADA, while also trying other techniques.

Also, this'll encourage my mindufulness meditation practice at night, when I usually don't have the motivation to do so.

Thanks again for another great tutorial,

Lucas

Thank's maybe I will stick to this, but i can't make my decision. I wan't to learn MILD or DEILD. And I don't know what should I stick to?? Any solutions? Im beginer (2weeks). I havent Lucid not event once. So What you think would be better to start with. I will practise It for a long time, until i se results. So help me make my desicion. What should I choose to start learning MILD or DEILD?? What is easer and giving nearer results? Please answer this :shadewink:

Trying to get back into LDing, and I think I will stick to MILD from now on. I used to switch methods every few days before and I'm pretty sure that's why I never really got it down. Awesome guide, thanks!

Just figured I should post here... I think it was this technique that helped to give me two more lucids over the past couple of days, so thank you very much Naiya! This really works!

I really love all your tutorials and advice Naiya, they're all so inciteful and easy to follow. Visualizing myself lucid in past dreams has proven not only to be effective for me, but I also find it entertaining. This type of method has definitely helped me achieve the few lucids I've had so far over the last few months.
Love this reminder, thanks Naiya!

I think my dreams have taken a slow but steady tumble while using this technique.
Maybe I'm not doing it well enough or I'm doing it wrong, but it seems doing nothing but believing isn't helping my recall at all. I can't even remember my dreams now, I have to rely on the notes I take to remember them in the morning.

Let me start by saying I do not keep a dream journal or take the time to work on my recall whatsoever.

Results: I HAD AN LD I decided to imagine a level on a video game I played. Now that I have awoken I am still a little shocked. It seems that I was able to incubate the level, while I was visualizing I was imagining girls all over the place and before I know it I was in the dream and seeing girls I have seen having sex on that level. My lucidity did not come from this but later in the dream though.

But awesome otherwise.

For the past 5 nights that I have been doing this method, my dreams have gone down in clarity and number.

It's not for me, I'm going back to WBTB.

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Originally Posted by Origami

For the past 5 nights that I have been doing this method, my dreams have gone down in clarity and number.

It's not for me, I'm going back to WBTB.

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I've noticed my clarity in dreams reduced as well when starting to use this technique, but I still managed to remember 5-8 dreams each day. I'll keep trying with this technique though, to see if it works.

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Originally Posted by rynkrt3

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What is it?

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Originally Posted by Origami

What is it?

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That, my friend, is a period.

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Originally Posted by rynkrt3

That is the reason you will never have many LD's. This method works for everybody, just give it 2 months like she said, not 5 days...

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Too true. Consistency is the bread and butter of what Naiya is teaching here. If you can't take even that away from this post, then you've got a long, hard road ahead of you.

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Originally Posted by Origami

For the past 5 nights that I have been doing this method, my dreams have gone down in clarity and number.

It's not for me, I'm going back to WBTB.

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Unfortunately, 5 days is not nearly enough time to be able to tell if MILD will work best for you. In fact, 5 days isn't enough to tell that about any technique. For MILD I usually recommend at least several weeks before calling it quits, and that's if you are consistent and do it every night.

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Originally Posted by Naiya

Another variation of this is to use a movie, video game or book. You can make up a completely imaginary environment, perhaps something from your daydreams. Imagine yourself lucid in the environment, doing whatever you want to do...

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Naiya, do you have any tips on how to keep your mindset to lucid while you're imagining the scenario?
For instance, I've been 'daydreaming' myself to sleep since I was little. Different scenarios, from epic Harry Potter-style battle scenes to calm, relaxing scenarios. I really think your technique will work wonders for me if I am able to switch my intentions from going to sleep to --> MILDing, but what are the best things I can do to ensure a differentiate between my usual before-bed daydreams to an actual MILD attempt? What is the best way to keep my intentions, lucid?

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Originally Posted by Elektra

Naiya, do you have any tips on how to keep your mindset to lucid while you're imagining the scenario?
For instance, I've been 'daydreaming' myself to sleep since I was little. Different scenarios, from epic Harry Potter-style battle scenes to calm, relaxing scenarios. I really think your technique will work wonders for me if I am able to switch my intentions from going to sleep to --> MILDing, but what are the best things I can do to ensure a differentiate between my usual before-bed daydreams to an actual MILD attempt? What is the best way to keep my intentions, lucid?

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Very Good question that I do not know how to answer. Awaiting response as well.

And Naiya, can this technique be used as a stand alone technique if I give it time? Ada is exhausting at times.

Thanks alot Naiya your tutorials are allways awesome and nice explained like everyone's else tutorials.

will try this today and inform ya tomorrow :)
have nice day.

thank u

I'm feeling really good about this method, I'm going to give it a shot :). The idea of visualizing it and just bringing it home with your mantra seems so simple yet beautiful. It seems like something I'd enjoy doing regardless of the outcome.

Thank you.

This will be great for me. :) I have great visualization and I'm always day dreaming. I have a feeling I will have my first LD soon.

I actually did this yesterday, friday actually in the morning close to the afternoon or so. I fell asleep in about 10-15 minutes, it was a short amount of time. And I had my first Mild! On top of that, being during the day!

And this was my first lucid in over a week. I've had many lucids, but this was by far the easiest method for me, especially after practicing for a while. I'm going to try again tonight to see what happends.

I'm going to relax and clear my mind, and think of a dream seen.

Hi. I have tried this technique for about 3 days now, and every time it has resulted in a lucid dream! I have never had so many LD's in a row before!!! But today I read about the DEILD technique, and now I'm unsure if it was the MILD technique or a form of DEILD. You seee, every time i got the LDs was after I woke up. After waking up, I opened my eyes, moved a bit, and then tried to sleep again. The dream I got after that was lucid, but not in the start. Sometimes, i just suddenly realized that I was dreaming, or a DC would just come up to me and say "Hey! You're lucid dreaming" then I would say "Hey! You're right!". So, my question is: Is these three dreams MILDs or DEILDs?

Hm... probably both. Mostly DEILD, but if you really do open your eyes and move a bit, it would probably be from MILD then.
That's my opinion.

You should really only do MILD after wbtb. Otherwise it's not effective at all

this might sound stupid,but imma say it anyways.does MILD give you sleep paralisis?please respond

No, it shouldn't. With MILD, you do reality checks and mantra's and everything to help become aware in a dream. You can just do to sleep normally and still have it happen. If you combine it with WBTB, you are more awake while asleep (yeah..) so you notice things more than if you were asleep for 4 hours before.

So no, you don't have to go through S.P. to do MILD.

Naiya, I am going to do this technique for 90 days and give a week by week report. Thanks for the tutorial.

For some reason i've never really given MILD a fair shot, but your post really inspired me to do so. Which is why I plan on keeping this up for some time. In fact, during this first week i've briefly become lucid twice, which is encouraging :) I think this might actually be my thing. Thank you for sharing!

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Originally Posted by Elektra

Naiya, do you have any tips on how to keep your mindset to lucid while you're imagining the scenario?
For instance, I've been 'daydreaming' myself to sleep since I was little. Different scenarios, from epic Harry Potter-style battle scenes to calm, relaxing scenarios. I really think your technique will work wonders for me if I am able to switch my intentions from going to sleep to --> MILDing, but what are the best things I can do to ensure a differentiate between my usual before-bed daydreams to an actual MILD attempt? What is the best way to keep my intentions, lucid?

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One ways way to keep it at the front of your mind would be to continually imagine yourself doing various kinds of dream control and then remind yourself that you can because it's a dream. So for example, recall your most recent dream, imagine you RC and become lucid, and then imagine yourself fly, thinking "I can fly because this is a dream." Then go on to imagine yourself remembering any tasks you might want to do, like "What was the Lucid Task of the Month?" So as you go along, just keep casually reminding and affirming that this is a dream. Think of it like a practice run. When you are in the actual lucid dream later, it'll be easier for you to keep yourself lucid and keep on track because you'll be used to associating the lucidity with reminding keeping yourself lucid and remembering what you wanted to do.

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Originally Posted by Fedor

Very Good question that I do not know how to answer. Awaiting response as well.

And Naiya, can this technique be used as a stand alone technique if I give it time? Ada is exhausting at times.

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You can absolutely use this technique as a standalone method. The great thing about it is, sooner or later you will get lucid from it. And if you get impatient, you can just keep doing the MILD and consider it your backup, while you do some other techniques like RC or WILD. So if you still need to shop around for other techniques, you'll always have MILD to fall back on and you won't lose time in making progress. And for the record, practicing MILD is really helpful if you want to learn WILD later--the visualization technique I use for MILD is very similar to what I do for WILD.

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Originally Posted by topten35

I actually did this yesterday, friday actually in the morning close to the afternoon or so. I fell asleep in about 10-15 minutes, it was a short amount of time. And I had my first Mild! On top of that, being during the day!

And this was my first lucid in over a week. I've had many lucids, but this was by far the easiest method for me, especially after practicing for a while. I'm going to try again tonight to see what happends.

I'm going to relax and clear my mind, and think of a dream seen.

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Awesome! :D

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Originally Posted by WDr

Hi. I have tried this technique for about 3 days now, and every time it has resulted in a lucid dream! I have never had so many LD's in a row before!!! But today I read about the DEILD technique, and now I'm unsure if it was the MILD technique or a form of DEILD. You seee, every time i got the LDs was after I woke up. After waking up, I opened my eyes, moved a bit, and then tried to sleep again. The dream I got after that was lucid, but not in the start. Sometimes, i just suddenly realized that I was dreaming, or a DC would just come up to me and say "Hey! You're lucid dreaming" then I would say "Hey! You're right!". So, my question is: Is these three dreams MILDs or DEILDs?

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Personally, I consider DEILD a form of WILD. Basically, you wake from a dream and then re-enter that dream immediately. So there's no break in consciousness. So it sounds like you had MILDs, but sometimes these things can overlap. A lot of my lucids are like yours, because I wake up in the middle of the night and then MILD again before going back to sleep. In either case, my advice is to just keep doing whatever you're doing. The name or label doesn't matter, so long as it's working for you. :D

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Originally Posted by That

You should really only do MILD after wbtb. Otherwise it's not effective at all

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I wouldn't say it's not effective at all, but you are right that MILD works better with WBTB. :panic:

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Originally Posted by shysweetiepie27

this might sound stupid,but imma say it anyways.does MILD give you sleep paralisis?please respond

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Generally, no, MILD will not give you SP. It's meant to allow you to fall asleep, go through the normal sleep cycle, and basically RC when you're dreaming or remember that you're dreaming.

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Originally Posted by TheKing

Naiya, I am going to do this technique for 90 days and give a week by week report. Thanks for the tutorial.

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Cool! Let me know how it works for you. :D

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Originally Posted by Woozie

For some reason i've never really given MILD a fair shot, but your post really inspired me to do so. Which is why I plan on keeping this up for some time. In fact, during this first week i've briefly become lucid twice, which is encouraging :) I think this might actually be my thing. Thank you for sharing!

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It does seem that MILD isn't as cool or attractive as, say WILD. But I think it's very fun and easy to do. Congrats on your lucid! ;)

I'm really trying to build up momentum with my MILD and R.C.s. It's hard though, even though I try to do more and more each day, it never seems to be enough. I combine them with WBTB but still nothing.

I'm going to try WBTB in the morning instead of in the middle of the night tonight. That's if I bother to get out of bed.

Oh wait, I was going to try out a DEILD alarm method... um... I will leave the alarms, I can't see them working.

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Originally Posted by Origami

I'm really trying to build up momentum with my MILD and R.C.s. It's hard though, even though I try to do more and more each day, it never seems to be enough. I combine them with WBTB but still nothing.

I'm going to try WBTB in the morning instead of in the middle of the night tonight. That's if I bother to get out of bed.

Oh wait, I was going to try out a DEILD alarm method... um... I will leave the alarms, I can't see them working.

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Good luck to you. :)

Just remember, sometimes too much can make it harder. You don't want RCing and everything to be so much of a burden that you hate to think about it. I mean, sometimes I've gotten out of practice and when I tried to fix my recall, MILD and WILD all at the same time, I ended up having even less recall and no LDs. So my advice is to just try to come up with a plan that you can stick to. If you're doing so much that it's overwhelming, scale it back and focus on one goal at a time, i.e., recall, then MILD/DILD, and so on.

It's not overwhelming. Actually I think I'm doing too little of too much and I never get around to just getting into a technique and doing it right. MILD is my main from now on, coupled with some WBTB when I feel like getting out of bed.

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Originally Posted by Origami

It's not overwhelming. Actually I think I'm doing too little of too much and I never get around to just getting into a technique and doing it right. MILD is my main from now on, coupled with some WBTB when I feel like getting out of bed.

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Well, good luck to you. Like I said, MILD is a really good backup technique, if you stick with it you can test out other techniques on the way. But MILD is also great in that, once you master it, you really don't need to do more than just remind yourself to LD before you fall asleep. :)

That's where I want to get to. If it takes more effort and hard work, I'm willing to go that way over less work but having to keep up methods for as long as I want them.

Nice tutorial Naiya! I will try the mantra "I will lucid dream tonight" this one seems to have good results.

Hi. I have a problem: I use some time to fall asleep, so I use to wait a bit before visualizing and all that stuff. But I don't know when to start! I don't want to visualize for hours, but often I fall asleep before I reach to MILD... When should I start? :/

Well I did a WBTB at 5:30 this morning. I had 7 dreams last night, which is much better than the one fragment the night before. I think this is the best time for me to WBTB. I'm still working on my MILD.

If you go to bed at 12 then 5:30 is perfect, 5 1/2 hours after you fall asleep is when you have your longest REM period.

Very nicely written and very helpful, thanks a bunch. I'll make sure to jot down those mantras.

Week 1:
Lucids: 0
Dreams Recalled: 10.
Faithfulness to Method: 2 out of 10.
Dream Induction: I am on a plain white ship that scours the galaxy for habitable planets. I am staring out the window when a man in a teal robe coughs. He is humanoid. We understand each other.

So, this weekend I started the Simple MILD method. My method of doing it was as follows:

I would write a dream scene in my journal for the week, then as I would head to bed, I'd recall the image and try to visualize, while I repeat the mantra "I am dreaming." I gave myself a two because I think only one night of the whole week I actually VISUALIZED the induction, and it leaked a bit into the dream. Every now and then, I'd get a white interior or teal something or other. Tonight, I plan to go back over my dreams, and sit up during my visualization. Then, as I am heading to sleep I will hold the visualization and chant this week's mantra of "I recall all my dreams."

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Originally Posted by TheKing

Week 1:
Lucids: 0
Dreams Recalled: 10.
Faithfulness to Method: 2 out of 10.
Dream Induction: I am on a plain white ship that scours the galaxy for habitable planets. I am staring out the window when a man in a teal robe coughs. He is humanoid. We understand each other.

So, this weekend I started the Simple MILD method. My method of doing it was as follows:

I would write a dream scene in my journal for the week, then as I would head to bed, I'd recall the image and try to visualize, while I repeat the mantra "I am dreaming." I gave myself a two because I think only one night of the whole week I actually VISUALIZED the induction, and it leaked a bit into the dream. Every now and then, I'd get a white interior or teal something or other. Tonight, I plan to go back over my dreams, and sit up during my visualization. Then, as I am heading to sleep I will hold the visualization and chant this week's mantra of "I recall all my dreams."

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It sounds as though you are trying to incubate a particular dream, this isn't the objective of the MILD technique. The idea is that you imagine yourself becoming lucid in a particular dream, and then play out the lucid fantasy in your imagination to give your mind a representation of what it is you're trying to achieve, rather than the abstract concept of a "lucid dream". I suppose it is possible as Naiya suggested to create your own dream environment but the important part is visualising yourself becoming lucid, the objective is not to find yourself in the exact environment that you have been imagining. In any case, I'd recommend using your most recent dream over a fictional situation because you're reminding yourself of what the dream state feels like, and memory is state dependent. Even more beneficial would be to use this in conjunction with WBTB and use the dream from which you have just awoken for your fantasy, this way it will be easier to visualise and a better representation of what the dream state feels like - this is what Stephen LaBerge, inventor of the MILD technique, recommends in Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming.

I started using this method a few days ago, since then I have noticed a massive upgrade to my visualisation skills and my imagination. I can remember at least one dream a night vividly and be completely chilled out about it, I used to really struggle with recall but last night (when coupled with WBTB) I had 5 recalled vivid dreams. Best of all, my dreams have become far less influenced by daily residue and have taken on more epic, fantasy, proportions. I feel like it's only a matter of time until this starts to yield regular lucidity, and until recently I'd been on the verge of giving up. So thank you, Naiya. I think what makes this so effective is that it distills what makes Stephen LaBerge's MILD so powerful and makes it easily accessible.

I love you!!!! lol. This is like a super simple beginners guide to conscious dreaming. Also, I got to say, I've been doing some simple dream cartography, just writing simple descriptions locations, and linking them, not a lot of detail, and my dream recall has shot up pretty good. I'm going to do this tonight, and Ill report tomorrow and tell you what happens. Ill do the Im dreaming, with visualization, and recalling dream with awareness of Im dreaming in it. thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by unda

It sounds as though you are trying to incubate a particular dream, this isn't the objective of the MILD technique. The idea is that you imagine yourself becoming lucid in a particular dream, and then play out the lucid fantasy in your imagination to give your mind a representation of what it is you're trying to achieve, rather than the abstract concept of a "lucid dream". I suppose it is possible as Naiya suggested to create your own dream environment but the important part is visualising yourself becoming lucid, the objective is not to find yourself in the exact environment that you have been imagining. In any case, I'd recommend using your most recent dream over a fictional situation because you're reminding yourself of what the dream state feels like, and memory is state dependent. Even more beneficial would be to use this in conjunction with WBTB and use the dream from which you have just awoken for your fantasy, this way it will be easier to visualise and a better representation of what the dream state feels like - this is what Stephen LaBerge, inventor of the MILD technique, recommends in Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming.

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Ugh, I feel like I knew this too. Thanks for the tip.

Last night I had zero recall after a few seconds of waking. I'll give your tip a try, and hopefully, that will help. I'll post about it in a week.

I had no success

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Originally Posted by fgopl

I had no success

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Wow you managed to complete a technique that can take up to 2 months to be successful in a couple of days.

I decided i'm going to come back to MILD for a few months, seeing as i have had good success with it in the past ^__^

I tried this for about 3 weeks, maybe a little longer and nothing really became of it... I tried it well, and as best I could of course, but nothing changed at all. My recall didn't improve and I never had any nearly moments.

Excellent guide, thanks alot for putting this up :)
Can't wait to try it out, I've MILDed every single night since I started lucid dreaming, but only just found this guide. Hopefully it will improve my skills.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Avalanche

I tried this for about 3 weeks, maybe a little longer and nothing really became of it... I tried it well, and as best I could of course, but nothing changed at all. My recall didn't improve and I never had any nearly moments.

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Hmm, well, normally I'd recommend giving it at least 2 months before calling it quits. You might want to try WILD or a few other different techniques and just see if you find them any easier. For a lot of people, MILD is like the turtle in the aesop's fable. It might be frustrating because they don't see progress for a long time, but at some point there is a breakthrough and all that hard work pays off. It's just that it can take a lot of patience.

So the thing about MILD is that it does guarantee lucids sooner or later. Some people have lucids early on, and others don't seem to see any difference for a long time. My best advice is to stick with the MILD and while you're doing that, explore other techniques. That way, even if the other stuff isn't for you, you still have MILD to fall back on. It's up to you whether you want to call it quits now--you know yourself best. But like I said, personally I think it's still too early to tell in your case.

Yeah, I am sticking with it still, but not as much. Everything else I have tried has fallen through but MILD or SAT or ADA hasn't even gotten to the point where it would fail or not lol.

So I'm going to stick with MILD, and right now I am sick of every other technique failing I'm going to do MILD solo.
I can't deal with everything failing all the time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Avalanche

Yeah, I am sticking with it still, but not as much. Everything else I have tried has fallen through but MILD or SAT or ADA hasn't even gotten to the point where it would fail or not lol.

So I'm going to stick with MILD, and right now I am sick of every other technique failing I'm going to do MILD solo.
I can't deal with everything failing all the time.

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:hug: I understand that it can be really frustrating to find the right technique for you. Just hang in there and you'll do fine. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Naiya

:hug: I understand that it can be really frustrating to find the right technique for you. Just hang in there and you'll do fine. :)

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I will. I'm going to stick with MILD and SAT. All this "ooh look, new technique" stuff has worn me out. I'm going to lay low and let my recall resurface, 4 nights without and dreams is horrible for me.
Plus WBTB takes it's toll on the body, no one enjoys having to stay up in the middle of the night, every night.

Thank you for the great tutorial, Naiya.

The part about persistence was something I had not considered before, but it makes perfect sense. I started this technique last night and will try my best to repeat a mantra right before bed for at least a few months.

I've had some past success with WILD (I think?) in the past. Basically I would day dream while going to bed without previous sleep and eventually I would force myself to enter SP and somehow it would become a lucid dream. Unfortunately most of these LD's were cut short; and since I doubt I can find enough quiet in my college dorm, I'm hoping your MILD technique will be less demanding and produce better results in the long run.

I'll post again if anything interesting happens.

Thanks for this tutorial, is has a very simple way of explaining the entire process, and the fact is that you make it sound simple enough that it isn't even a burden to try.

Btw, is it common having WILDS when you're trying to MILD after long WBTBs (1.5-2hours)?
Happened to me a few times, I was wondering if I shouldn't just clean WILD out of my head and only focus on falling asleep while repeating my mantra. Because I think I'm falling asleep repeating my mantra WHILE waiting for SP :?

Thanks great tutorial! Gonna have to try this tonight. the only LDs iv had were DILDs so id like to try something new that seems a bit easier. Would it help if i repeat the Mantra throughout the day?

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Originally Posted by faceonmars

Anyone who suggests visualization (which you do) is on the correct path! Very nice article Naiya. I bend the rules just a bit when I MILD as I visualize seeing the words 'This is a Dream' on a placard or signpost.

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Haha,

Too funny. I started a thread about a year ago about a technique I was calling the "Double Affirmation Method". I repeated "I am dreaming" while visualizing the words, and it led to several LDs.

Good times.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ryan9983

Thanks great tutorial! Gonna have to try this tonight. the only LDs iv had were DILDs so id like to try something new that seems a bit easier. Would it help if i repeat the Mantra throughout the day?

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Yes, I think it would definitely help to repeat the mantra during the day--although you might want to couple it with RCing, too. :)

Of all the subjective techniques I have read on various forums over the years, Nayia's is the closest to how I approach a deliberate LD. I believe visualization is the key to LD's as the same area of our brain that is active during dreaming is also active during conscious visualization. This is not my personal theory but a widely known scientific fact. I urge all who want to attempt a lucid dream to try visualization.

Thanks for posting this, I'm defiantly going to try it. I find it very easy to imagine things.

I wanted to ask though, can I do this but imagine being some one else?. I have this game I made up and there's these characters I'd love to be, I have a main character I want to be.

I started lucid dreaming cause of this reason. Would this work or do I have to be me?. Even if I do everything properly cept it won't be me I'm seeing in the dream.

Thanks.

I've been doing WILD with WBTB the last about two weeks, and I tried MILD last night an got my first ever lucid! You were a character, actually, which makes sense.:banana:

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Originally Posted by TahliaK

Thanks for posting this, I'm defiantly going to try it. I find it very easy to imagine things.

I wanted to ask though, can I do this but imagine being some one else?. I have this game I made up and there's these characters I'd love to be, I have a main character I want to be.

I started lucid dreaming cause of this reason. Would this work or do I have to be me?. Even if I do everything properly cept it won't be me I'm seeing in the dream.

Thanks.

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Of course you can be someone else! As long as you identify with them in some way...I mean, if you can imagine being them without a lot of trouble, then you can dream yourself being them. Go for it. :D

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Originally Posted by Moondreamer

I've been doing WILD with WBTB the last about two weeks, and I tried MILD last night an got my first ever lucid! You were a character, actually, which makes sense.:banana:

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That's awesome! Is it in your dream journal? I want to read! :D

Hi Naiya,

I have been practising your MILD technique for a few weeks now quite religiously but I'm having trouble with the visualisation stage. Firstly, should I be repeating the mnemonic whilst visualising or should it be before/after that step. Secondly the visualisation itself I'm struggling with. I don't think I'm naturally gifted at it and I can't seem to find any good sources to help me learn. I was wondering if you know of any?

Any advice will be much appreciated

Cheers,

Lucas

This is pretty cool. My first time doing it last night and i was doing autosuggestion, while visualizing my last dream. After like 5 mins of visualazation i did a rc and it turned out i was dreaming. :D then i became lucid and did whatever i wanted.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by glucose

Hi Naiya,

I have been practising your MILD technique for a few weeks now quite religiously but I'm having trouble with the visualisation stage. Firstly, should I be repeating the mnemonic whilst visualising or should it be before/after that step. Secondly the visualisation itself I'm struggling with. I don't think I'm naturally gifted at it and I can't seem to find any good sources to help me learn. I was wondering if you know of any?

Any advice will be much appreciated

Cheers,

Lucas

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PMed you. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 19nnn

This is pretty cool. My first time doing it last night and i was doing autosuggestion, while visualizing my last dream. After like 5 mins of visualazation i did a rc and it turned out i was dreaming. :D then i became lucid and did whatever i wanted.

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Woot! Congrats to you! It sounds like MILD is definitely your technique. :D

Thanks a lot Naiya, I like your MILD technique. I have always done something similar when napping during the day. No results then, but it's a nice and fun training.

- About your tutorial, what you say is that what matters is to do the MILD before sleeping, even if it is a few minutes, as soon as it becomes a habit right ? I am asking that as I prefer to visualize while laying on my back but I can't sleep in this position so I have to roll over after my visu is finished. So when on my side, I don't visualize anymore but wait for sleep to happen which can take some time.

- I guess there are only advantages doing MILD before sleeping and in the morning WBTB ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by faxman

Thanks a lot Naiya, I like your MILD technique. I have always done something similar when napping during the day. No results then, but it's a nice and fun training.

- About your tutorial, what you say is that what matters is to do the MILD before sleeping, even if it is a few minutes, as soon as it becomes a habit right ? I am asking that as I prefer to visualize while laying on my back but I can't sleep in this position so I have to roll over after my visu is finished. So when on my side, I don't visualize anymore but wait for sleep to happen which can take some time.

- I guess there are only advantages doing MILD before sleeping and in the morning WBTB ?

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Not just before sleep and WBTB, I integrate MILD into my RCs and it really strengthens the lucid dream incubation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by faxman

Thanks a lot Naiya, I like your MILD technique. I have always done something similar when napping during the day. No results then, but it's a nice and fun training.

- About your tutorial, what you say is that what matters is to do the MILD before sleeping, even if it is a few minutes, as soon as it becomes a habit right ? I am asking that as I prefer to visualize while laying on my back but I can't sleep in this position so I have to roll over after my visu is finished. So when on my side, I don't visualize anymore but wait for sleep to happen which can take some time.

- I guess there are only advantages doing MILD before sleeping and in the morning WBTB ?

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It should be fine to roll over after you visualize. Just as long as you don't completely forget your intent to LD before you sleep, it should still remain in the back of your mind which is what you want. :)

MILD generally is best done right before sleeping and during WBTB, but you can do it in the middle of the day if you want to strengthen it. I wouldn't recommend doing it during the day instead of before bed, but as an add-on thing. :P

That's great :)

thank you.

Thank you Naiya for this great guide, out of all the guides I've read on here this has helped me the most. I started doing MILD about 2 weeks ago, and I'm beginning to have a lot more awareness in my dreams. I think it'll be a matter of time before I start having Lucid Dreams on a daily basis.

What would you advise for improving visualization skills when they are poor or not as vivid as we would wish them to be ?

This is awesome. Combining WBTB and MILD gives me pretty much a 100% rate of lucidity.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by faxman

What would you advise for improving visualization skills when they are poor or not as vivid as we would wish them to be ?

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Hmm, there are a lot of good visualization meditations out there. But really, when it comes to visualization, you don't have to be so focused on how you "see" it and how realistic the visuals are. Basically, you're just imagining it, just like with a daydream. It doesn't have to be a realistic perfect visual to work--it's really the intent that matters, because your mind is going to fill in all those blanks when you sleep anyway. :)

Hey Naiya,

nice toturial thanks for that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Naiya

Hmm, there are a lot of good visualization meditations out there. But really, when it comes to visualization, you don't have to be so focused on how you "see" it and how realistic the visuals are. Basically, you're just imagining it, just like with a daydream. It doesn't have to be a realistic perfect visual to work--it's really the intent that matters, because your mind is going to fill in all those blanks when you sleep anyway. :)

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thanks this is what I did so things are fine. is there a better scenario to do when practicing before sleeping, a visualization that induces LD better ?

I can't believe I had't read this already. It's good to get some confirmation from a master, great tutorial Naiya! :) I always visualize being lucid in a previous dream or in an upcoming one, visualizing doing the task I've set up and getting those "butterflies" in my stomach fluttering. Need to get back into some hardcore MILD'ing though, only do it twice or thrice a week atm.

Thanks, sounds like a really good technique.
My first ever lucid was with using something similar to this. But then i switched to DILD for some reason and havent had much success.
But i will try your technique and see how it goes :)
I haven't had a lucid in a while, quite irritating lol

Wait Wut!!!!?? This technique can happen before you even go to bed? I thought it was only when you woke up whenever then you try.

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Originally Posted by Fedor

Wait Wut!!!!?? This technique can happen before you even go to bed? I thought it was only when you woke up whenever then you try.

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It is an induction technique.

Bump

Anyone having success with this.

I seem to be struggling as of late.

Keeping my focus on that mantra right until I fall asleep?

Or I end up not going to sleep at all.

You might say well then you have wbtb, but that leads to garunteed sp and I HATE SP.

Anymore tips. How often am I repeating the mantra? Repeating as a visualize? What should I visualize?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fedor

Anyone having success with this.

I seem to be struggling as of late.

Keeping my focus on that mantra right until I fall asleep?

Or I end up not going to sleep at all.

You might say well then you have wbtb, but that leads to garunteed sp and I HATE SP.

Anymore tips. How often am I repeating the mantra? Repeating as a visualize? What should I visualize?

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It's up to you, man. When I used MILD (which I may return to) I just done it when i thought of it throughout the day, and for less than five minutes before bed. Seeing and I meditate myself to sleep, after using the mantra for a certain amount of time, i'd stop and just go to sleep regularly. Have faith in this mantra. It's going to get you lucid, afterall ;)
WBTB does not guarantee SP. WBTB simply means you wake up in the middle of the night and go back to sleep at some time. In this technique, Naiya says WBTB to optional, but can increase your chances of lucidity.
Again, what you visualise is up to you. You can visualise what you want to do in the dream, or even the words in your mantra. For example, if your mantra is "I know I am dreaming," you could picture that as graffiti on a wall, and then focus yourself into making some detail into the visualisation, or, you could visualise what you want to do and use your mantra as a 'background voice.'

Would it be ok to visualize based off of my first LD? I can remember it so well - the weak kneed feeling I got when I felt mu self in my own world in my head. It was amazing, I can remember the whole thing as clear as ever.

Would it be a good or bad thing to use that same LD over multiple time, but change what I do everytime?

That would be an excellent basis for a first MILD, visualising your first LD creates a vivid impression and a really strong emotion. In my experience you can use the same visualisation over multiple nights, but be sure to mix things up a bit if you feel you need to.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

That would be an excellent basis for a first MILD, visualising your first LD creates a vivid impression and a really strong emotion. In my experience you can use the same visualisation over multiple nights, but be sure to mix things up a bit if you feel you need to.

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Awesome. My first LD was actually my best. It holds a spot with me that I'll never forget.

An awesome guide! This helped me with my first few lucids and hopefully many more will follow! Do you recommend any audio such as binaural beats?

Bump

Thank u

So to help me go to sleep I day dream until all of a sudden I'm asleep. If I repeat a sentence in my head it keeps me awake. So could I do this sitting on a couch for 5 minuets and then get in to bed?

So I have been using this technique over the past week or so. Typically I wake up in the middle of the night, so I have been doing it more with WBTB than using the tech as I go to sleep initially. It hasn't been particularly successful, but I have been taking the advice in the opening post and keeping at it.

Last night I had a particularly striking nightmare about a person collecting dead bodies in a hotel. Upon waking up I knew that I would be reentering this dream scenario throughout the night because of how powerful it was for me. I decided to use this MILD technique to try and enter a lucid dream and managed to do so, although not with 100% success. During one subsequent dream I became lucid, but only at the very end of the dream as it began to fade. Unfortunately I didn't manage to become lucid again. I will admit, though, this technique works and will probable work better for me with more practice.

I just tried this yesterday. Even though I didn't get lucid, I remembered two dreams for the first time! I'll go ahead and keep using this technique.

I took notes from this and your other LD'ing thread and put them into my official dream journal that is put near my bed! The first few pages I outlined my personalized morning/daytime/nightime routine, and also some scenarios as to what to do if I wake up spontaneously throughout the night. Then I have a page of things to do to help me get lucid. Things like "Notice things that repeat in my dreams" "Look for dream signs" "Sleep on my back" "Learn what it FEELS like to be dreaming" I don't know, it seems like things like that motivate me more. I also have "QUESTION REALITY" in big letters. Oh and I also title every page with a classic "I will have a lucid dream tonight". This is my first day back to LD'ing on a LONG dry spell, hopefully this new journal will be just the thing to kick it into gear!

Thanks Naiya!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Blotter

I took notes from this and your other LD'ing thread and put them into my official dream journal that is put near my bed! The first few pages I outlined my personalized morning/daytime/nightime routine, and also some scenarios as to what to do if I wake up spontaneously throughout the night. Then I have a page of things to do to help me get lucid. Things like "Notice things that repeat in my dreams" "Look for dream signs" "Sleep on my back" "Learn what it FEELS like to be dreaming" I don't know, it seems like things like that motivate me more. I also have "QUESTION REALITY" in big letters. Oh and I also title every page with a classic "I will have a lucid dream tonight". This is my first day back to LD'ing on a LONG dry spell, hopefully this new journal will be just the thing to kick it into gear!

Thanks Naiya!

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Good luck! Let us know how it works out :)

wow great job will be making this my main techniuque:)

Great job on explaining this technique, I used it last night and had a ld. I will definitely be using this more!

Naiya, you may just hold the title of making me have my first lucid dream!!!

I read your post last night before going to sleep, and I m still a newbie i ve been trying to LD for the last 2 moths and a half...so when I went to bed I tried MILD like you described and visualized myself in a LD and fell asleep and bang 1h40 later I just had my first LD!!!

I m sure yout tutorial has helped along with my own determination and the work have done for the past 2 month but all together it worked and I cant wait to have more!!

Thank you!!

Thanks for this amazing tutorial :)

Will try this out soon!

I tried this last night, and I too had a lucid dream. My second. It was very short, but this definately gives me belief that this technique is something I am going to use in the future!

So far i've never had a MILD, but i am somewhat of a beginner. It seems that whenever i stay up late studying and have to get up for an early class, i just get this unmistakable feeling of overwhelming tiredness and i have to take a nap. So far i have had all my lucid dreams while napping and feeling this way. I really like this tutorial and i think i am going to try to combine the tutorial with some of the comments into a super technique. I am going to visual myself in my most recent visual dream standing in front of a sign that says "You are dreaming" and have a speaker built into the sign that also says you are dreaming. Hopefully this will work lol...

This is a great tutorial!
I just wonder... While visualizing, I tend to drift away to all kind of random thoughts. I'm still relaxed and such... Does this affect the MILD effect?

Nice job, I love this tutorial.

So this also probably goes well with Dild technique?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ayako

This is a great tutorial!
I just wonder... While visualizing, I tend to drift away to all kind of random thoughts. I'm still relaxed and such... Does this affect the MILD effect?

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Yes, that's pretty normal, don't worry about it. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by azoller1

So this also probably goes well with Dild technique?

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Yup! It goes great with that, or you can tweak it a little and use it for WILD. RCing goes well with it too.

I am giving this technique some serious, long-term effort and had a question about it:

When I'm visualizing a dream scenario, I have a very difficult time repeating my mantra at the same time. It seems I can only do one or the other, because it takes conscious effort to do each one individually and I can't do both.

What are you experiencing when you have the dream scenario in your head? Does it unfold effortlessly like a regular dream, so that all you focus on is repeating the mantra? Or are you alternating between the two?

Had a MILD this morning after reading this last night. Thank you! :)

Hi Naiya,

As a total beginner in lucid dreaming, I tried your MILD method this night and here's what happened :

Woke up in early morning due to a natural need, then go back immediately to bed with some images and scenes of the dream I just exit from.
I did visualize a signboard with mantra "I'm dreaming" (in french ^^) on it, this was really easy and great.

Then i did the visualization exercise, the one where we imagine ourselves being lucid, and go on with the dream scenario.
I did feel some weird changes in my perception, did reality checks in my thoughts. At some point, I almost did a little sleep paralysis.

But, as time passed, I found it difficult to fall asleep completely... I mean my mind was wandering from dream scenes to visualisations, reality checks, reading the signboard, etc, but I didn't recall when I really did fall asleep...

My question is : in this situation, shoud I apply the method a few times, and then let it go and fall asleep, or should I persist in this way and try to transition in a dream, or hopefully a lucid dream ?

Anyway I will follow your advice and keep at it for 2/3 months !
Thank you so much for clarifying things (when you begin it kind of complicated haha !)

Cheers !

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At some point, I almost did a little sleep paralysis.

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Sleep paralysis cannot really be induced, so don't worry about it ;)

Quote:

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My question is : in this situation, shoud I apply the method a few times, and then let it go and fall asleep, or should I persist in this way and try to transition in a dream, or hopefully a lucid dream ?

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The ideal would be falling asleep with your mantra/visualization being your last thought, but if you can't relax enough, just practice it for a few minutes then clear your mind and fall asleep normally ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zoth

The ideal would be falling asleep with your mantra/visualization being your last thought, but if you can't relax enough, just practice it for a few minutes then clear your mind and fall asleep normally ;)

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Thank you for the tip.
Will try again this night :)

Thank you Naiya for this great tutorial. I have started using it a few weeks ago and have seen a great increase in my LD count. Granted I'm new to Lucid Dreaming and I'm coupling this with many other things, but I mainly use MILD for my lucid dreams before I go to sleep as well as when I wake up from dreams during the night.

Thank you friend ill message you once I get my next LD from your method which will make 3 LDs!!!

Thanks for this method, it really cleared some things up for me. I feel more motivated to try for a MILD again, and also to continue my visualization practices :)

Thank you Naiya :) You provide me to notice my biggest pitfall . I immediately give up if I'm not succeed . Keep on trying do NOT give up is my new way of thinking :)

Awesome guide.

I'd like to add a mantra here:

I will lucid dream tonight or very soon

The reason:

Setting goals is important to add more motivation, but we need to set a reasonable goal based on our skills but not a too easy goal or our mind will lose interest, so this mantra works for everybody because:

I will lucid dream tonight

It is very aggressive, as you are pulling yourself to the limit of LDing as soon as tonight. Puts your brain in overdrive to try to accomplish this. Very heavy goal.

or

Is a scapegoat for your mind. This prevents frustration of not being able to accomplish such aggressive goal (in case you did not LD of course.)

very soon

If you just say, "I will lucid dream within 7 days" or "I will lucid dream" it will always a will, and never accomplish it. Very soon is a way to give a break to your mind, like "okay, if I fail tonight I have an opportunity tomorrow" So there is really no room to fail this goal and thus, no frustration, as it will always be "very soon" but also "tonight"

Hmmm, tonight I think I'll try this + binural beats. I'll report on it in my DJ. Also, if it works, I'll link the binural beats I used. Wish me luck!

Also, I've heard saying "lucid dream" in your mantra doesn't actually help. I personally use "I will realize that I'm dreaming".

It's been over a year and a half since I've actually had a lucid dream, so I'm starting to build it up again. I'll try this technique, it sounds nice because I forget all the time to do a reality check, especially when I'm doing something that requires my concentration.

I've learned that writing your dreams down in the morning is a great way to wake up in the morning, almost too good. Whenever I write my dreams down (usually takes 30 minutes or more), I'm too awake to go to sleep again, I learned that while trying to do a WBTB, since I usually wake up two or three times before I get about seven or so hours of sleep.

Just got an idea. Maybe people are more aware of themselves waking up more than others, hence why some people have to fall asleep several times during the night. Just an idea. :P

I had mild from this yesterday!

Would you recomend Meditating sometime during the day repeating a mantra? And also I can only fall asleep after a while in bed so I should repeat the mantra then too. Also My mind wanders alot while saying the mantra, Thats normal right? I am very new to this ( When i say that i mean im getting into this alot, I have had one LD so far.) so please answer because i want to LD frequently even if it takes a few years to do that I WILL :D

This is really nice and condensed. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Coded

Would you recomend Meditating sometime during the day repeating a mantra? And also I can only fall asleep after a while in bed so I should repeat the mantra then too. Also My mind wanders alot while saying the mantra, Thats normal right? I am very new to this ( When i say that i mean im getting into this alot, I have had one LD so far.) so please answer because i want to LD frequently even if it takes a few years to do that I WILL :D

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Meditation goes very well with lucid dreaming. My boyfriend has been a meditator for years, and when I taught him the basics of LDing/WILD, he picked it up almost instantly. If your mind wanders, again, meditation is a great way to help yourself learn to maintain focus. It's normal to have your mind wander. Don't get too forceful about it, just gently let the thought happen, and let it then pass away, and redirect your focus back to your mantra.

Hi Naiya.

kind a bit confuse here, If I imagine myself lucid during visualization, will it sound like you dreaming about yourself lucid dreaming?, I mean, maybe we have a lucid dreaming but it would came from the visualization that I'm dreaming. Will I get the full awereness?

Hey naiya, regarding the method of mild with visualization you are in a dream and you become lucid etc etc... Is it OK after doing this practice procedure... Next to it to do another practice like, you visualize your room.while saying the mantra, "when I appear in a different place other than my room it means I am dreaming"? When doing both these practice... Will it make the first practice less effective?

I feel this is lacking some details or maybe other LD techniques have too many details.

Is this MILD: I lay on my back with hands to my side. I start to visualize myself doing things like walking into the woods or riding a bike. As I fall asleep this morphs into an LD? Is it that simple?

Others explain seeing geometric shapes then 3D objects, as if it's a specific sequence of events that must occur.

I think I've done the above before but something always woke me up. I guess I will try this because the other techniques seem overly complicated and I just get frustrated.

i shall try this once more with more clarity.

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If you are the type who falls asleep within a few minutes of hitting the pillow, you may not want to lie down for the MILD. Instead, turn off the lights, sit comfortably on your bed, and after at least 5 minutes, go ahead and lie down to sleep, keeping the MILD going as you fall asleep.

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I am the type, unfortunately I fall asleep and stay asleep for the rest of the night. No alarm clock can keep me from turning it off and enjoying my rest. lol.

So I did love to meditate before sleep and now I will use it to visualize dream scenes. I just can't lie down or I will knock out. :) But I will keep it going.

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On WBTBs: If you wake up naturally during the night, it would increase your chances of getting lucid if you repeat the MILD when you go back to sleep. If you have the need or want to, you can set an alarm or two at night to increase your chances. It's not necessary, but it can help a great deal. Don't worry about being consistent in the number of MILD attempts per night--it only matters that you do at least once per night total.

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Yea, this is the problem. I am soooo damn tired each night/morning. I am just not in the right state of mind to do mantras.

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I notice my fantasy is limited. When I think of the last dream I had there is realy nothing I want in the dream either. I would not change a thing. Atleast I lacked the incentive to do so. Chancess are this lack of lucid incentive is preventing me from actually lucidly transforming the dream. After all, why would my mind motivate itself to Lucid dream when it can't even find the will to change the dreamscape.

I would ordinarily change dreamscape entirely or want to atleast. But I figure it is better to do as you say and visualize how you would transform the dream as it is presented before trying drastic changes. Peace.

I tried the technique tonight and I had a lucid dream :) thanks!

Is it okay to let the visualisation go 5-10 minutes before falling a sleep? Because if i don't, i cant fall a sleep.

Do you visualize the dream scene 1st or 3rd person? 1st person would be more dream-like but I find it very hard to not exit my head and see myself 3rd person when trying ^^

Hi, I’m new to lucid dreaming I have a question about the MILD technique.

Instead of place if my recollection of a specific dream, could I recall a series of faces and places that link to my reoccurring dreams signs? (of which I have 10 )

Or Is this blurring the lines between DILD and MILD or do you think this would be less effective as I’m spreading my net to wide and should focus on one particular dream scenario?
And becoming lucid in it
Thanks.

^^ That sounds like a fine thing to do, Ant101, but why not just remember the dream signs? I haven't read Naiya's tutorial in years, so forgive me if that linking is something you're supposed to be doing.

Also, MILD is a technique for achieving DILD (which is not a technique, but rather the name given to the type of transition to lucidity that DILD is), so you're not doing any blurring!

Hi sageous,

I only ask because I struggle to remember my dream signs in the dream, I see the characters or places but my memory doesn’t kick in with “it’s a dream sign”. So I suppose I was hoping to use MILD as way of being able to to boost my memory when I’m dreaming so I can recognise my dream signs when they occur.

When I re read the tutorial may be I’ve missed the point. May be I’m suppose to be engaging my memory by using a recalled dream in vivid detail and simultaneously setting the intent to become lucid by using moving imagery? ( my actions once I’ve become lucid).

What type of learner are you? It would make it easier if you understand what typer you are so, it will save you the frustration if this doesn't work for you. ;) We're all unique and complex creatures, but it is useful to have a rough yardstick to work with so that you can tailor your choice of techniques.
For example, MILD is great for visual learners but will probably be much harder for someone who is predominantly kinaesthetic (who would be better off using IMP).
You don't need to follow complex tests online to establish your type, for the needs of lucid dreaming the following test is enough:
Which is easier for you to imagine:
1) The image of a hand.
2) The feeling of your hand opening and closing.
3) The sound of your hands clapping.
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1=Visual

2=Kinaesthetic

3=Auditory

For me, I'm a little of everything. Mostly Visual and Kinaesthetic.

I hope that helps!

~Lang.

Lang what does IMP stand for? As to you your question, I can imagine all 3 quite well but i might be more auditory and kinaesthetic, so where do I go from here?

The Impossible Movement Practice (IMP) is a simple method that is designed to work in tandem with WBTB.
IMP is designed to aid the transition between waking and dreaming and, as such, is a technique for inducing WILDs only.
It is to be initiated at the point of returning to bed during WBTB, but could also be used at the start of a nap or as a stand-alone technique should you have awoken and the chances of returning to REM be high.
Where you go from here? Depending on what you are really comfortable with. The truth is that most people are likely a combination. Don't worry too much about fitting neatly into a label.
Remember that it is just a simple tool to help you work with your strengths rather than against them. Btw, same here.

MILD can be thought of like studying for a test. Each dream is like a test to see if you can realize you're dreaming when presented with a sign of dreaming. Study for the next test by analyzing what happened in past tests and setting an intention to realize you're dreaming next time you notice a dream sign in a similar situation. Be ready for the next test: it appears like a pop quiz!

Alternatively, MILD can also be thought of like rehearsing for a play. The play is different each time, but in each play, a sign of dreaming appears as a cue for you to realize you're dreaming. Learn what signs of dreaming are and rehearse for the next play to try to get ready for it.

Also, Remember: Take what you read or what you watch on youtube or where ever about dreams and sleep research with a grain of salt. BTW, Ant101. Don't forget to reality check as soon as you see this. I mean really put emotion behind it.

I'm not sure if someone post this hint: If you awake from a dream and find that your mind is too drowsy to perform the technique, take a moment or two to clear your mind by doing something that requires full wakefulness. For example, you could take the time to write down your dream. Just be careful not to wake yourself so fully you find returning to sleep impossible.

MILD is a great technique for those who want to attempt lucid dreaming without investing too much effort, however, as such, the results can be somewhat hit and miss. Ideally, it should be used as part of a more developed and comprehensive lucid dreaming strategy.

I didn't read through everything... Sorry.

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Originally Posted by Ant101

Hi sageous,

I only ask because I struggle to remember my dream signs in the dream, I see the characters or places but my memory doesn’t kick in with “it’s a dream sign”. So I suppose I was hoping to use MILD as way of being able to to boost my memory when I’m dreaming so I can recognise my dream signs when they occur.

When I re read the tutorial may be I’ve missed the point. May be I’m suppose to be engaging my memory by using a recalled dream in vivid detail and simultaneously setting the intent to become lucid by using moving imagery? ( my actions once I’ve become lucid).

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I have a possibly different suggestion for you that might help: Why not try this fairly simple approach first, Ant101, and see how it goes:

1. When you wake up in the morning, write down your dreams, in as much detail as you can remember. Hopefully you're already doing this! ;)

2. After a week or two of #1, look over your journaled dreams and underline images or themes that consistently pop up in them. They could be anything, but let's say for now that a refrigerator appeared in many of your dreams.

3. Now, for daywork, which is the real key to MILD: Tell yourself each morning that Every time you see a refrigerator during the day, you will remember to stop and ask yourself, "Is this a dream?" and do a Reality Check. Then actually do it: it is very important to do this every time you see that fridge, and to do so with sincerity.

4. At bedtime, just before you go to sleep, set an intention that you will remember to do a RC when you see a fridge, by saying to yourself "When I see a fridge, I will do a RC."

5. If a fridge should happen to appear in your dream, then hopefully you will notice it and remember to do a RC and, hopefully, that RC will fail and you will know you are dreaming.

Also, in case you didn't understand, that fridge is only an example: a dreamsign can be anything; an object, a person, even a regular theme (i.e., being in school); and a dreamsign will always be specific to you, and not something someone else gave you.

MILD can be that simple; I would suggest you try this first before doing the complicated stuff that turns up in the tutorials.

Good luck!


[EDIT: I just read the OP to this thread, and I see that my suggestion runs afoul of Naiya's tutorial -- sorry about that Naiya, if you're still glancing at these posts -- and, though Naiya's suggestion certainly falls under the umbrella of MILD and is very simple if you can do it, I still recommend that first you try the simple method I outlined here.]

Hi Sageous,
First of all Thankyou to dolphin, Sageous and Lang for your advice it’s greatly appreciated by a frustrated novice lucid dreamer.

Sageous I will give your suggestions ago ( I like simple )
I have 4months of dream entries,

During the day I have 5 x 1 time PMRC goals in addition to my reoccurring Dream sign related RCs , occasionally I ask am I dreaming? How would I know?

At night I go to bed I do a body scan to relax body and mind then I begin with 2 mantras
1)” tonight I will have excellent and viviid dream recall.
2) I will remember to recognise my dream signs and realise I’m dreaming.( may be this is too vague)

Then I try to imagine a dream scenario with some of the dream signs but it’s not always clear in my mind. and it all gets bit vague and I fall asleep.

May be I’ve been over complicating MILD.

Usual dream signs for me are:
• family, dead pets,
•people or buildings with links back to the town I grew up in,
• Repetitive actions or events,
• strange events or actions that grab my attention and I think what’s that? how does that work?
•people who know me but I don’t know them.
•Things out of context within the dream setting.

because of lock down I don’t get to see my family often so I get creative: when a text comes in from them I RC or when they call i RC , if I see a photo of a relative or if here a family members name mentioned I RC.

Tonight I won’t bother with the visualisation and just go with the intention to notice ...(insert dream sign).

Many thanks 🙏 to you all for your advice.

Hm. Your mantras seem too long to me. I would keep it very simple, and present tense. "I will" is future tense. I would do something like this: "I remember I am dreaming." That's it. The shorter it is, the easier it is for you to recall it. Then, if it works, you'll hear your message back to you while in the dream (or at least, that's how it worked for me).

Also, if you're seeing dream signs, but not recognizing them for what they are, I would try building your critical reflective attitude. Start really questioning reality. I find it helps when I RC to pretend that I really am dreaming (even though I know I'm awake). To the point where you can feel it. Like you're no longer honestly sure. Then let the RC go.

Moonage daydream,

Thanks for the info, I like the idea of really asking yourself to the point you feel doubtful like your building up to letting off the RC ( like a firework) to check.

That is my problem, recognising the signs for what they are, but I’m pretty sure thats the crux of lucid dreaming isn’t it? Seeing it but being alert enough to question and keep questioning.

I see people places, patterns etc in most of dreams I even know that in my dreams the content is never calm mundane stuff or if it is it will usually be interjected with 5 or 6 things that could only happen in a dreams .

It’s so frustrating waking up in the morning recalling my dreams and realising some of the big signs I’ve missed, some times it even feels like the dream wants you to wake up with some of my experiences , but there I am in a dream in this half asleep half awake state just observing or engaging but hardly ever questioning or taking a step back to look around. Haha all part of the journey I suppose.

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Originally Posted by Ant101

Moonage daydream,

Thanks for the info, I like the idea of really asking yourself to the point you feel doubtful like your building up to letting off the RC ( like a firework) to check.

That is my problem, recognising the signs for what they are, but I’m pretty sure thats the crux of lucid dreaming isn’t it? Seeing it but being alert enough to question and keep questioning.

I see people places, patterns etc in most of dreams I even know that in my dreams the content is never calm mundane stuff or if it is it will usually be interjected with 5 or 6 things that could only happen in a dreams .

It’s so frustrating waking up in the morning recalling my dreams and realising some of the big signs I’ve missed, some times it even feels like the dream wants you to wake up with some of my experiences , but there I am in a dream in this half asleep half awake state just observing or engaging but hardly ever questioning or taking a step back to look around. Haha all part of the journey I suppose.

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I feel you. It's so frustrating to get the ball rolling. Right now, I'm in the same state as you - I've been out of practice for a while. It's like a snowball, though. Hard to get it started with just a few flakes, but once you do, it will start building itself. I think the key is starting small and just going from there. Baby steps, and celebrate the progress. Ignore the setbacks, get right back to the positive mindset.

As to the RCs - really freak yourself out. I will stare at my fingers, not just counting, but looking at the shape, the little wrinkles, etc., to make sure I know that I'm not dreaming. How many times I've done an RC in a dream and decide I'm not dreaming... oh I hate that. :)

Also fun - play out in your mind what you're going to do next. So, you do your RC, you pretend that it IS a dream, then recall your intention for the LD. So, I usually say outloud, after an RC, "Increase consciousness to super conscious level. Increase clarity." Then whatever action I want to take, in this case, I tell myself, "It's time to feel the wind outside" (the monthly goal).

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Originally Posted by MoonageDaydream

I feel you. It's so frustrating to get the ball rolling. Right now, I'm in the same state as you - I've been out of practice for a while. It's like a snowball, though. Hard to get it started with just a few flakes, but once you do, it will start building itself. I think the key is starting small and just going from there. Baby steps, and celebrate the progress. Ignore the setbacks, get right back to the positive mindset.

As to the RCs - really freak yourself out. I will stare at my fingers, not just counting, but looking at the shape, the little wrinkles, etc., to make sure I know that I'm not dreaming. How many times I've done an RC in a dream and decide I'm not dreaming... oh I hate that. :)

Also fun - play out in your mind what you're going to do next. So, you do your RC, you pretend that it IS a dream, then recall your intention for the LD. So, I usually say outloud, after an RC, "Increase consciousness to super conscious level. Increase clarity." Then whatever action I want to take, in this case, I tell myself, "It's time to feel the wind outside" (the monthly goal).

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Probably 4 or 5 times a day I will go through what I will do when I next get lucid, my line of thought is it’s been 3months from my last and first lucid which was a DILD ( I’m yet to do a reality check in a dream) and the next time I become lucid I don’t want to waste the opportunity.

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Originally Posted by Ant101

Probably 4 or 5 times a day I will go through what I will do when I next get lucid, my line of thought is it’s been 3months from my last and first lucid which was a DILD ( I’m yet to do a reality check in a dream) and the next time I become lucid I don’t want to waste the opportunity.

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What kind of RC are you doing?

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Originally Posted by MoonageDaydream

What kind of RC are you doing?

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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”

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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”

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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.

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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”

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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.

Tengo una pregunta general. Estoy bastante perdido con el tema de las distintas tecnicas que deberia emplear a la vez, a quien hacerle caso y tal. Actualmente llevo un diario de sueños(12 registrados), y me pongo una alarma a las 4 am para practicar el wild(sin exito aun),y practico el mild la primera vez que me voy a dormir.No tengo claro que debo hacer estoy mut perdido, no encuentro ninguna señal onirica en especial en mis sueños, y tampoco he tenido sueños lucidos, ni tengo ( que yo recuerde o pueda recordar) despertares al cabo de la noche, no se que hacer, unos dicen que no debo ponerme una alarma para el wild sino que debo despertarme de forma natural, y yo no se hacer eso no se ni como practicarlo. Que debo hacer? Que orden sigo?. NEcesito conversar contigo para responder mis dudas y sacarme de este bucle vicioso, realmente necesito que me ayudes.Tampoco se como practicar el ADA al 100% ni se si sigo el buen camino. PORFAVOR AYUDA