Help!

[Andre06]

I have been trying to do my first lucid dream on and off for a while now. My problem is that I can not get from awake to lucid dreaming. I always fall asleep. I am not sure of the name of the method ,but it is the one where you go to sleep and follow your consciousness until you dream. What I am doing is , I go to bed, try to relax.Eventually , my body becomes "paralyzed".After a few minutes, my eyes goes all over the place (don't know why) and I fall asleep (or at least that is what I think). Thanks.

[Burke]

The method you're describing is WILD (Wake initiated lucid dream). Are you trying this right when you go to bed? They key to doing a WILD is combining it with WBTB, where you get up for a couple minutes in the middle of the night and then preform your WILD. When doing this you have to go straight from a waking state to REM sleep, during which dreams occur. If you try and do it right when you go to sleep it likely won't work since you first go into a deep sleep; a sleep stage where you don't have very many dreams (or at least can't remember that many). This is why many people combine it with WBTB. You do a little trial and error to figure out what your best time to wake up is (for many its 4-6 hours after they go to sleep) and then when you go back to sleep you will go directly into REM. When you do figure out the correct time/find out when it's best for you to WILD you need to slightly focus on something in order to maintain consciousness, or, in this case, lucidity. If you don't focus on anything you just fall asleep normally and if you focus on something too hard you will not fall asleep. Most people focus on something going on in their own body such as breathing or heart beat, but it's different for everyone. What works for some might not work for you. This is why WILD is considered a more difficult technique, as well as sleep paralysis which many people find scary/frightening but you don't seem to mind it. WILD like many other induction techniques is very personalized. There is no standard for it and it is almost entirely based on you, yourself. It takes some effort to figure out what to focus on, how much focus to put into it, and when to preform a WILD, but when you do figure it all out it is considered one of the most reliable techniques. Good luck and remember: Don't get frustrated if it doesn't work out right away

[Andre06]

Ok, so if I read it right, I need to wake in my REM state. How do I know when is the best time?

[ryman]

The best time to wake during an REM state is around 4-6 hours after falling asleep. For some it is different though. Best way to find out is start with setting your alarm for 2 or 3 hours before you would normally get up. Then when you wake up perform the WBTB method. Then attempt to WILD. Trial and error is the best way to approach this. You may need to adjust the time to find the "sweet spot" generally most people enter REM sleep 4-6 hours after falling asleep. It is much shorter of a time than regular or deep sleep.

[Andre06]

How long does it usually last? I thought each dream were longer than the previous one in the night.

[Burke]

REM sleep occurs in bursts which get longer as you sleep. They start off a few hours after you first fall asleep and is only about 10-15 minutes the first time. Then you will go through a short phase of lighter sleep and then re-enter a longer REM phase. By the time you are about to wake up the REM cycle is usually about 90 minutes.

[ryman]

How long does it usually last? I thought each dream were longer than the previous one in the night. REM sleep periods vary, you go through different cycles throughout the night. Usually during the 1st cycle of REM sleep it lasts about 10 min or so, and during the last cycle it is about 90 mins. REM sleep is the stage of sleep where dreams are most likely to occur. That is why it may seem that each dream is longer than the previous because they occur during these different cycles of REM.