Thread: Which/how do dream checks work for you?

Yo.
I guess you mean reality checks, those are great for lucid dream practice and everyone who's starting with lucid dreaming should do them, because doing reality check properly increases awareness and gets one into the right, questioning, mindset. Remember that reality checks should not be done automatically and here's a good thread with useful info on reality checking and DILD: http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/13212...ods-dilds.html
It varies from person to person which reality checks work well and which not so well, if it doesn't works for someone else that doesn't means that it wouldn't work for you, and your reality check sounds good. I use checking hands/counting fingers reality check as well and having success with it, haven't tried much of other reality checks though personally.

Hey
I found the 'pinching your nose'-reality check (RC) extremly helpful. You just shut your nose with one hand and try to breathe. In reality that - for some obvious reasons won't work. In your dream however you will be able to keep breathing as usual (quite interesting feeling). And this RC is very reliable.
BUT you shouldn't focus on RCs only because usually RCs don't make you become lucid. It is much more the awareness. So when doing a RC during your day, don't just go about pinching your nose and then saying 'obviously i'm not dreaming'. Start by actually questioning your surroudings and seeing whether everything makes sense, is in place and whether you can remember everything that happened recently. So AFTER you are sure about whether you are dreaming or not, do your RC to confirm what you just found out

Just find out which RC works best for you. Some others are: reading text twice (it usually changes), testing gravity (expecting float up or something similar), trying to change objects (while actually believing that you can do it), .... there are many more

Just check Scionox's link. Lots of good information there I hope I was able to help.
- Benni

Thanks for the tips and the links, they really helped

Here are a few more links.

http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...ml#post1953139
http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...idnt-work.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...you-lucid.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...intervals.html

First thing's first: you should probably practice reality checks (or "dream checks," as you like to call them) as a backup just in case you have a false awakening. On the chance that you're thinking, "Well, I never have those!" please understand that that can change. The first time I had a false awakening in about ten years was a few days after I first heard of it (which was actually around the same time I started studying lucidity in dreams). Therefore you might find it beneficial for you to get in the habit of doing two, maybe even three reality checks upon waking up. If these checks fail and it turns out you're dreaming--well, congratulations!

All of the common-practiced RCs that I know of are:
- reading and re-reading text
- checking a clock
- jumping
- doing simple math
- trying to push your fingers into your hand
- looking at your hands (not just your fingers--you might have ten fingers as normal but abnormally pale skin for the rest of your hand, just for example

Apparently I'm a slight oddball when it comes to "normal" reality checks; nothing works for me. I remember a dream (my school had captured Osama bin Laden and he was tied up in a seat behind me) where I asked myself what two plus two equaled and failed. My dream self was all like, "2+2=6. Duh."

I've discovered that I have had much better success in creating my own reality checks.

Think back to all of the dreams that you can remember. A lot of times (as in 'bout 99.99% of the time) if you expect something to happen, it happens. While you're being chased by an angry mob you think that when you look back they'll have turned into pirates eating bananas with monkeys, and it happens; when you're swinging with your BFF and expect her to have a rose in her pocket, she has a rose in her pocket; if you're just sitting there and browsing the web and expecting to see an advertisement about heart attacks, it happens. (If you haven't noticed this in your sleep yet, start looking for it. I promise it's there.)

With this logic (er-hem) in mind, I decided that my RC would involve one of those "green Mario pipes" from the games. If I looked behind me and seen a pipe then I knew I was dreaming and would be able to jump through them. This has worked for me on at least three occasions (the last time I don't have recorded on this site, though). Here ya go:

http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/cngb/pipe-bus-40875/
http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/cngb...akening-40876/

Good luck!