How do you train your ADA?

[Iriba]

I thought it would be useful to discuss this here, so people can have a little help how ADA works and how they should do it aswell. This is how i do my ADA (5 times a day minimum) I stop and this question pops up in my mind "Am i dreaming?" then i remain calm and touch several things to check if they are the way it should (water is liquid, my phone is solid) then i try to hear people talking or any other things, and check if that is normal as well (If they aren't talking non-sense stuff) finally i look around where i am in that moment and analyze the space. a question pop in my mind again. "Are the things in their respective place?" Finally when i complete that step this question pops in my mind. "Everything can be normal, but what if i am in a dream?" Finally i do a few reality checks, and i conclude my state (Dreaming or awake).

[Ctharlhie]

I have been thinking over a possible strategy in aid of ADA. Firstly, become familiar with your dreams through training your recall. Then you will be more attuned to the qualitative differences between the states of waking and dreaming. For instance, my dreams are visually vivid and very tactile (touch) but ambient noise and some details of touch like temperature, a the feel of gravity and air/wind on the skin, clothes are lacking. (For me at least) dreams are good at constructing active sensations when you interact with the dream, the sound, sight and feeling of playing an instrument, but less able to generate the passive sensations that real life is full of; ambience, gravity, the feeling of clothes and your feet on the floor, etc. Focus on the phenomena that are relatively absent in the dream state when you practise ADA and you will not only increase vividness in your recall but will also start to look for them in dreams, notice their relative absence, and thereby become lucid.

[Tye]

I just focus on small things and regular day activities if you get good enough reality checks don't help out you can just tell.

[Phased]

My main one is focusing on the cold air running through my nose and into my lungs as it slowly warms up. I also like walking and feeling the connection between the ground and the soles of my foot. Sometime so draw a picture on my own, and listen to the lead on the paper and notice he small fragments of lead dust that follow the pencil about.

[Ctharlhie]

My main one is focusing on the cold air running through my nose and into my lungs as it slowly warms up. I also like walking and feeling the connection between the ground and the soles of my foot. Sometime so draw a picture on my own, and listen to the lead on the paper and notice he small fragments of lead dust that follow the pencil about. Good things to focus on. The Tibetan Yogas of Sleep and Dream advises maintaining attention on the breath and the body throughout the day. Could be a good place to start.

[Zoth]

To add to the above advice, remember that this is an habit. It's more important that you are consistent and practice over time than what exactly your thoughts are. ADA is about developing a (rather) continuous sense of awareness. It's that awareness (and not any personal detail about the scenario) that is going to give you the ability to note that you are dreaming, as you'll be much more prone to identify irregularities within the dream and yourself. Moved to Attaining Lucidity.

[Phased]

Good things to focus on. The Tibetan Yogas of Sleep and Dream advises maintaining attention on the breath and the body throughout the day. Could be a good place to start. Definitely, worked for me, still does! I just like the simplicity of it as well as the effectiveness, it also feels like each breath charges you up with energy.

[Ctharlhie]

To add to the above advice, remember that this is an habit. It's more important that you are consistent and practice over time than what exactly your thoughts are. ADA is about developing a (rather) continuous sense of awareness. It's that awareness (and not any personal detail about the scenario) that is going to give you the ability to note that you are dreaming, as you'll be much more prone to identify irregularities within the dream and yourself. Moved to Attaining Lucidity. This is a crucial point that's easy to forget (just look at this thread). Thanks for bringing things back to the basics

[jamesninja]

I cant do the sight part of ADA because i get too much eye strain but i can do everything else. What can i do to make up for it?

[benni]

Just as said above you might want to focus on a few senses that you pick. I for once noticed that in my dreams the sounds always seem a bit off and are a little different to the sounds in my waking life and some sounds are even missing so if you can find something similar in your dreams you might want to focus on that and some other things said above like the feeling of wearing your clothes or breathing in and out. You don't necessarily need to focus on all the visuals - that would strain my eyes way too much as well.

[jamesninja]

Thank you i shall do that! Now that you mention it there are hardly any sounds(normal sounds) in my dreams and i domt recall breathing.thanks.