Thread: need help with MILD technique

-do i recite the phrases out loud or just in my head?

It's best to engage all the senses that you can. So during day - say them out loud (to think and to hear them) when you can, or just whisper, or just think them in your head. As you going to sleep, start with saying out loud, and as you getting more sleepy, switch to whisper and then just think them.

-what are some good phrases to tell myself as i fall asleep?

Anything that feels right and makes sense for you. Mantras can be used for all different purposes.
"I wake up at x time" - to wake up at certain time instead of using alarm clock
"I wake up after each dream and remember it" - to write down your dreams at night
"I remember my dreams"
"This is a dream"
"I'm dreaming"
and many more

-does it make a difference between which tense i say the phrases in? example: present tense: i lucid dream tonight. future tense: i will lucid dream tonight.

Mantras should be in present tense. Our mind knows only 'now' and "not now", meaning any time in the future.
you want the stuff to happen now, not next week or month or year.

Here is more about mantras Collection....DILD
Mantras tutorial
Happy dreams

The links and advices gab posted is a general and effective way to set an intention with the MILD technique. But I would like to offer a different one that you can use at the same time.

For me intentions in the physical world is set consciously, like now I want to raise an arm: conscious thought -> conscious action.
However I noticed a difference when I started to focus on my dreamsigns, the moment I focused on them they stopped appearing in my dreams!
Then I stopped focusing on dreamsigns and BAM they were back in the dream, how could that be?
I concluded that dreams are subconscious thoughts and with that knowledge I tried to find a way to set my intention of becoming aware of my dreams subconsciouly.


Answers based of the above:

-do i recite the phrases out loud or just in my head?

Indirect Totem: You don't say them at all instead you find a way to "attach" your intent to an object, like a ring for example. The first nights of using it you you tell yourself out loud and in your head as you go to sleep "When I wear this ring I am aware of my dreams". Then just make it a habit of wearing it as you sleeps, and the night you don't think about the meaning it is most plausible to work, but the key is to not worry anymore, just read about lucid dreaing during the day and put on the ring as a habit and then go to sleep. It doesn't have to be a ring you can even make just relaxing your totem say as you go to sleep "I am aware of my dreams" and the nights you have the intent passively set but no longer hoping you are in a way passively inducing a "spontanious" lucid dream.

-what are some good phrases to tell myself as i fall asleep?

The importance is that there is no negative words like "I am not" or "I will not" and that there is no "I try" same when you write on a forum don't write "I will try this" because there is not try!
The important thing is in another words that you don't try to be anything.. BE instead. Be lucid during the day and BE lucid as you go to sleep and you will BE lucid when you dream.
So phrases should always consists of AM and ARE. "I am aware of my dreams" "I am going to notice that I am dreaming" and I am performing reality checks in my dreams".

-does it make a difference between which tense i say the phrases in? example: present tense: i lucid dream tonight. future tense: i will lucid dream tonight.

Well in a sense yes, because there is no past or future there only is present time and NOW. But since we interpret our lives with those tense I guess it doesn't matter that much.

But lucid dreaming is about being, not wanting, hoping or trying. Be what you want do you want to be the one who is trying, hoping or wanting all the time or do you wan to be the being all the time?

The MILD technique has always been a good one for me, as well as a bad one. I'll explain.

All my lucids happened through this method(MILD then DILD) but the downside for it, at least for me, is that they happen at random; they can happen, but yet, they can not. Sometimes in my dreams, I see 10 snake headed dragons fighting each other while dancing gangnam style, and it's perfectly normal for me. No questions asked. Other times, I dream I'm home, minding my own business, then I look at my tv and BAM! It's a little smaller than it actually is. Then, REALITY CHECK! OMFG I'm dreaming! Let's rape some bitches!
That "randomness" about MILD and DILD always let me down a little bit.

I started trying WILD because of that, I wanted to have lucids, and vivid ones, whenever the hell I wanted. After failing miserably so many times at WILD, I'm trying to change my perspective on it, and work a little more on the more "natural" MILDs while I'm at it. What definitely helped me stopping being a dream asshole like I mentioned above was mantras. The mantra "I do reality checks in my dreams" helped me getting aware, and already "expecting" my dreams before I even have them. Thanks to mantras, my LD's became more frequent.
I know there's other ways of enhancing DILDs, such as all day awareness (ADA), Reality checks during the day and many others. You might have to make some little adjustments in your waking life so you can be aware in your dreams more often.

happy dreams