A Practical Recipe for Inducing LDs and OBEs
Introduction
A few months ago I helped a fairly large group of people to learn how to induce lucid dreams and out-of-body-experiences. We started with many traditional methods and received mixed results. While I am able to induce OBEs and LDs at will, I find it difficult to pass my experiences to them. The traditional methods require too much conscious efforts and improvisation, and they are not all that effective to begin with, often laden with mysticism and misconception. We needed a simpler, more direct approach.
By analyzing my own routines and the successful cases of my students, I developed a simple recipe -- a set of exercises that can be easily practiced without requiring lots of mental efforts and fin-esse. The result has been promising. Many students were able to experience LDs or OBEs at much higher frequencies. Some people have even learned to induce the experiences at will, in as little as two months.
The Routines
1. Lay flat on your back, take a few deep breaths. With your eyes closed, repeat the following procedures, for 10-20 seconds each:
a) Observe the blackness behind the eyes. Do this intently, with the expectation that you will start seeing hypnagogic images.
b) Listen to the noises in your head. Again, intend to hear humming, buzzing, or hissing sounds.
c) Attempt to move part of your body (hand, foot, fingers, etc.) without using any muscles. Do not visually imagine this movement; rather, you should imagine yourself feeling the sensation of the movements.
2. Cycle through the above procedures for at least 4 times.
The above are essentially warm-ups. You should do them with the intention that you will generate hypnagogic illusions, but chances are you will never feel anything in reality. Do not let this discourage you. You should finish the required 4 cycles diligently. However, as you do it, do not focus so much as to wake yourself up. Perform the steps slowly, allow yourself to get immersed into your sleep. Random thoughts will start to enter your mind, and you may even at times momentarily lose consciousness. You will find yourself becoming slower, even getting lost in the process. All that is good! Just make sure you pull back from the random thoughts and resume from where you left. DO NOT do it so quickly. Try to stay fully awake and clear! If you finish the cycles in two minutes then they are not going to be useful at all.
3. Turn your body to find a more comfortable position and allow yourself to fall asleep quickly. Let go everything, and do not even think about lucid dreaming!
4. As you fall asleep, occasionally glance the blackness behind your eyes. Be relaxed and do not stare. Try not to move your eye muscles at all. When you begin slipping into your dreams, you will notice random thoughts popping up in your head. Do not restrain them. The occasionally glance should be able to keep them on a loose leash.
The Result
When successfully executed, you may experience the following:
- You fall asleep, but then suddenly wake up with a strange sensation all over your body. It is difficult to describe, but when it happens you will know. This is when you are ready to experience an OBE.
- Your random thoughts materializes into a dream, with you being fully aware.
- A false awakening. This can happen a lot with this exercise. Therefore, you should remember to always perform dream checks no matter how convinced you are.
- During the warm-up phase, you see hypnagogic images, hear buzzing sounds, or genuinely feel the movements of your body without using muscles. If this happens, you can simply forget about the rest of the steps, and instead try to amplify the sensations. For the images, try to allow it to become more vivid, to the point it finally wraps around you and develop it into a dream scene; for the sounds, try to increase its volume; and for the movement, you should try to increase its range.
When to Practice
DO NOT do this as the first thing you go to sleep. This is a common mistake with novices. You are simply wasting your time! You should NEVER do this exercise without at least 4 hours of sleep under your belt.
I recommend doing the exercises after 6 hours of sleep, or combining it with WBTB for best results. If you normally wake up naturally at night, you can also take advantage of these natural awakenings, and do the exercise multiple times per night.
Conclusion
Please keep in mind -- inducing LDs and OBEs is by no means an easy task. Therefore you should not give up too easily. It is possible that you may not experience anything at all with your early attempts. Do not be discouraged. Keep at it and you WILL see results. And should you have any questions please do not hesitate to post them here. Good luck to you all!
