Thread: Can't Achieve Lucidity...

Originally Posted by Zexan

So i've been trying to use a WILD technique for a few nights, but I always get this problem. This is what happens.

1. Close my eyes, relax my body.
2. After about 5 mins, my heart rate increases dramatically, and then my breathing.
3. I repeat to myself something like "I'm in control" or "I am awake"
4. Random thoughts and situations flash through my mind, like conversations i've never heard before, its really weird but i try to ignore them.
5. My eyelids try to lift themselves but i try to keep them shut.
6. After all this about 20-30 mins have passed, I feel myself slipping away from reality.
7. I am trying desperatly to grip onto the dream, white lights appeared and an image is forming.
8. My heartbeat and eyes keep agitating me, so i can never actually get into the dream.
9. I loose concentration for a few seconds, and fall into a normal dream.
10. I wake up angry at myself that i didn't achieve lucidity and i'm stupid for not realising it was a dream.
11. Back to step 1.

So even if i fail the WILD technique, I still fail to achieve normal lucity.
The only other situation i have achieved lucity in is nightmares, at about the point where the monster is coming for me. This was before i even realised anything about controlling dreams, and when i become lucid i try to wake myself up to get out of the nightmare, sometimes it works and i can feel myself coming back to reality, sometimes it doesn't work, so i let the monster kill me, which automatically wakes me up.
If anyone has any idea how i can make my method more realiable or actually work, i'm still yet to achieve a WILD.
EDIT: Also thoughout the day i have "A"'s written on my hands to remind me.
EDIT: I also think the normal dream i had what somewhat influenced by what i was thinking.

I'd recommend: 1) Read some of the excellent tutorials available here on DV, there are a lot of WILD resources, find one that resonates with you.
2) To WILD you just need to fall asleep with some light mental anchor on which to hang a pearl of awareness. Easy to say, may take time to master this delicate balance.

With many things related to sleep and dreaming, "trying hard" is the last thing you want to do, you'll just spend all your time "trying". "Let it happen" is a more appropriate mindset. Also, becoming angry or frustrated can create a vicious cycle of performance anxiety.

Stay happy, stay positive, let it happen!

It is recommended to start with DILDs, as this gets you familiar with feeling of dreaming and lucidity, and the lucid dream exit feeling, as entering the dream is basically the same thing just in reverse.

Or start with DEILD. I have only one tiny classical WILD success after many attempts, but I succeeded on my first "correct" DEILD attempt (correct in that I started with a very quiet mind after waking up from a normal dream, and just drifted off lightly considering the dream, with a light intention to DEILD).

With DEILD you bypass all the "lie down, hold still, wait" and usually all the noise/sensations that come with it.

I don't know if you realize but you're getting REALLY close and your experience is great. I get the issues in your post, "rapid heart rate", "eyes trying to open", "lose concentration". The one thing that ties all of this together and will help you is meditation. Spend just 10 minutes twice a day with your eyes shut, sitting comfortably, and focusing calmly on the sensation of your breathing. Breathe in for 3 seconds, hold it a moment, and breathe out slowly over 7 or 8 seconds, whatever's comfortable. That's it. Now, when you perform your WILD technique, use this same breathing, and the calm feeling will return. Apply the same awareness to your WILD as you do in the meditation. If you have more time available and want to go one step further - perform the all day awareness. Good luck!

One thing that in my own practice (of mostly unsuccessful WILDs) that is really important is to train oneself to not respond actively/vigorously to when the dream images start to form. Remain passively aware of them, let them form and stabilize and turn into a solid dream.

I'm getting so close!
Last night my whole body went numb, and i could feel myself beggining to stand vertically even though i could feel the pressure of the blanket on me still. The hardest bit by far for me is actually getting into the dream, Someone told me to imagine myself falling through the bed so i tried to do this, no luck unfortunatly. I just need to work out how to get past this final step into the dream. I know i should probably start with an easier method, but i can never seem to be able to achieve lucidity in a normal dream, it doesnt even feel like i have control over it... Its like im passively watching events that are incontrollable.
I'll try and do some meditation today.
Yeah, one thing i do that i think i'm not supposed to do is interact with images that appear before me, then i realise i'm not supposed to and shut them out.
The fast heart rate isn't really an issue now.
EDIT: Throughout the day, i'm constantly doing RC and practising ADA but when i'm in a dream it never even crosses my mind.

Originally Posted by Zexan

I'm getting so close!
Last night my whole body went numb, and i could feel myself beggining to stand vertically even though i could feel the pressure of the blanket on me still. The hardest bit by far for me is actually getting into the dream, Someone told me to imagine myself falling through the bed so i tried to do this, no luck unfortunatly. I just need to work out how to get past this final step into the dream. I know i should probably start with an easier method, but i can never seem to be able to achieve lucidity in a normal dream, it doesnt even feel like i have control over it... Its like im passively watching events that are incontrollable.
I'll try and do some meditation today.
Yeah, one thing i do that i think i'm not supposed to do is interact with images that appear before me, then i realise i'm not supposed to and shut them out.
The fast heart rate isn't really an issue now.
EDIT: Throughout the day, i'm constantly doing RC and practising ADA but when i'm in a dream it never even crosses my mind.

Yes it takes practice not to respond to the images...remain a passive, calm observer. Just this morning I had a near WILD/DEILD, when I realized that bright images were forming, I got excited and tried to focus on them and they went *POOF*.

The benefit to getting some DILDs for doing WILDing is that you get a feel for the dream state so it's easier to recognize when WILDing. Yes DILDs *seem* more "random" than WILDing, but the evidence is pretty darn conclusive that if you faithfully do daytime practice and keep LDing on your mind, and work steadfastly on your dream recall, then you ABSOLUTELY WILL get DILDs. When just starting out, maybe it will take a month, maybe two, but they WILL come. And the longer you consistently keep up your practice, the more and more frequent they will become, to the point where you're getting multiple DILDs per night even!

It takes time for the heightened awareness to work its way into your dreams, and for your SC to learn that you want to dream lucidly.

A common trait of a lot of the experienced LDers is that they use *all* techniques: DILD, DEILD, and WILD, based on whichever seems the most appropriate for the current situation.

Maybe i just need to give it more time, i'm still new to the whole thing. At the moent DILD's seem impossible just by how unaware i am in the dream. In my dreams there normally isn't much out of place and everything seems logical. I've never really became "lucid" ever. I could say i have, at the end of one of my dreams when i wanted to wake up, but that doesn't really count. I just want to know what it feels like to be lucid, everyone talks about it and i'm missing out. One could say i'm just impatient.

Originally Posted by Zexan

Maybe i just need to give it more time, i'm still new to the whole thing. At the moent DILD's seem impossible just by how unaware i am in the dream. In my dreams there normally isn't much out of place and everything seems logical. I've never really became "lucid" ever. I could say i have, at the end of one of my dreams when i wanted to wake up, but that doesn't really count. I just want to know what it feels like to be lucid, everyone talks about it and i'm missing out. One could say i'm just impatient.

Yes yes yes and yes. It takes *time*. I know very well the feeling of "I want it right now!" And trust me, it is WORTH the wait. And learn to love even the short moments of lucidity. After all, you probably never had those before your practice, right? Or at least infrequently, or if you did have them you probably forgot them. Also, appreciate your dreams, even the non-lucid ones. And to quote Sageous, some dreams are fine just the way they are, non-lucid. Stay positive, look forward to dreaming, keep lucid dreaming on your mind, do lots of daytime practice and visualization, and they will come. WBTB helps for some as well, and if SSILD works for you try that, too.

Just remember: in order to WILD (or dream at all), you must fall asleep. So make sure you're drifting off to sleep, if you're not, then you're probably holding on to your mental anchor too tightly.

I wrote a lot in my DILD workbook about my progress while working towards my first DILD, if you want you could read that. The highs and the lows, etc. But you can see the progression of dreams: eventually the notion of dreaming, and lucid dreaming, entered my dreams, and then my first DILD which came completely out of the blue. First DILD, one month to the day after I started LD practice, then second DILD only one week after the first.

Stay consistent, stay thinking about dreams and LDing, do NOT stress about it, and you WILL DILD. I used to think any night where I slept poorly was a horrible disaster, pushing back my LD progress. That was wrong wrong wrong, creating a vicious performance anxiety feedback loop causing more sleep issues.

Sleep, dream, recall, and daytime practice. Work in some nighttime practice as you go, maintaining your ability to fall asleep. And you will get there. It is *worth* the effort!