Thread: Trying Gravity RC for several weeks

Originally Posted by Azul

It's fine to train yourself at first but try not to rely on it as much. Build up that awareness naturally and you'll be a lot more happy.

Couldn't agree more. I feel that this is essential when really trying to master awareness. You have to make it a "Second Nature" type of thing, as well as a mindset. Practice is useless when you keep forcing your mind to do be aware, you have to take the patient route and eventually your awareness will come on its own, and not only that, but when it does come naturally after some practice, that awareness will automatically be molded to fit you perfectly. My point is Zangetsu, be patient with this man, and you will reap the rewards after some time.

Originally Posted by OneUp

Couldn't agree more. I feel that this is essential when really trying to master awareness. You have to make it a "Second Nature" type of thing, as well as a mindset. Practice is useless when you keep forcing your mind to do be aware, you have to take the patient route and eventually your awareness will come on its own, and not only that, but when it does come naturally after some practice, that awareness will automatically be molded to fit you perfectly. My point is Zangetsu, be patient with this man, and you will reap the rewards after some time.

You guys are making a lot of sense, I think I'll drop the timers. I definitely don't want to take the cheap route on this one. I can see how timers would almost remove your natural awareness because there wouldn't be a need for that if the timer did the job for you. Guess I'll have to try the ultimate dreaded task...patience. [cue dramatic sound effect]

Just 1 hour out of the time you're awake? or 1 hour of using the alarm?

Not with Gravity but more so yes, I'm currently experimenting with another RC I've discovered. But I stand 100% behind Gravity RC, it's really only for the dedicated.

I myself have not abandoned it, I just put it on hold for a while for the sake of my experimenting.

I've only been using the alarm for 1 hour at a time. Found an app that would do 60 repetitions of a 1 minute timer (2 minute timer today). I still try to keep the RC as constant as possible though, just not always with the timer.

Originally Posted by Zangetsu

I've only been using the alarm for 1 hour at a time. Found an app that would do 60 repetitions of a 1 minute timer (2 minute timer today). I still try to keep the RC as constant as possible though, just not always with the timer.

I did something similar like this. I had an alarm go off with a minute snooze. I wasn't trying to RC every time that I heard it go off, but have thoughts about dreaming every time it went off. It was working well, but I got a consistent headache after 3 weeks, and then my sleep schedule went to crap. It has been a while, but I think I am going to try that again. I got to a point where I could move the timer to 5 minutes apart and not lose thoughts about dreams at all, and I think it has helped me a lot since then as well. My mind sort of reverts back to LDing at all times and is always thinking about it somewhere.

Originally Posted by Sensei

I did something similar like this. I had an alarm go off with a minute snooze. I wasn't trying to RC every time that I heard it go off, but have thoughts about dreaming every time it went off. It was working well, but I got a consistent headache after 3 weeks, and then my sleep schedule went to crap. It has been a while, but I think I am going to try that again. I got to a point where I could move the timer to 5 minutes apart and not lose thoughts about dreams at all, and I think it has helped me a lot since then as well. My mind sort of reverts back to LDing at all times and is always thinking about it somewhere.

I actually got the idea for minute timers from your Secrets thread (btw merely reading that thread pretty much broke my lucid dry spell a month ago, thanks!). Honestly your way is probably the best way to do timers i.e. the dream thoughts (ideal would probably be smallest amount of LD thoughts that you could have and still produce an effect). I know what you mean about how taxing it can be on your brain, almost even stressful. I think the bad thing about the way I was doing it was that my RC would've probably ended up being predicated on the existence of the timer, although I did kinda get the fluid dream thoughts between the timer like you describe. It's definitely an interesting thing to consider, may even be worth some experimentation (did I hear someone say Timer Induced Lucid Dream??? )

Also, brief update on my Gravity RC status (not that anyone cares, this is mostly for me ): I've more or less got an idea now of what to observe when doing the RC. I usually fixate on any normal force I'm currently experiencing, and I've also been trying to get an idea of my arms' gravity since they are usually in the air or holding something. Today I also was able to somewhat perceive the gravity of my head and how much effort it was actually taking to hold it upright (no big head jokes thank you ). Hopefully this combination of different 'expressions' of gravity will give me a more diverse RC.

As for consistency, it's getting more and more frequent that I remember to RC, at least when I'm doing something in my normal routine. When I do something engaging or different from normal, I rarely remember to RC at all, but I'm thinking that's normal for this stage.

No more interesting dream activity so far. I'm still doing small WBTBs on my sleep-in days, and I'm hopeful that will increase my chances. Not that it really matters, since this RC is all about the ingrained unconscious RCing, but a gravity-induced LD could only help my chances even if I kinda cheated for it, right?

OK, sorry if I'm butting in here, but I have a question about the Gravity RC. I was thinking about trying it out, because it sounded very good, and I'm well aware of the fact that it could take a few months, even longer to reap the benefits. So my question is, if I'm carrying around a backpack or something that will make me feel heavier, and I'm carrying it a lot, will that make the RC useless?

I thought I read that in Hukif's thread about the Gravity RC. Anyways, thank you guys in advance, and sorry if I kinda just cut in to the thread. I didn't want to start my own thread about this to waste space

Also, I read earlier in this thread that while doing RC's, you don't need to ask a lot of questions. You just need to ask, "am I dreaming?" and then do the RC. So right now, I am doing a thing where I am aware and I notice something, and then I ask myself, "Did that work correctly?" or "Why is that there?", something like that. So are you guys saying that I don't need to do that? I just need to ask if I'm dreaming and then do the RC? And if I do that randomly throughout the day that will work just as well as what I'm doing now?

Originally Posted by Sharpshoey

OK, sorry if I'm butting in here, but I have a question about the Gravity RC. I was thinking about trying it out, because it sounded very good, and I'm well aware of the fact that it could take a few months, even longer to reap the benefits. So my question is, if I'm carrying around a backpack or something that will make me feel heavier, and I'm carrying it a lot, will that make the RC useless?

I thought I read that in Hukif's thread about the Gravity RC. Anyways, thank you guys in advance, and sorry if I kinda just cut in to the thread. I didn't want to start my own thread about this to waste space

Also, I read earlier in this thread that while doing RC's, you don't need to ask a lot of questions. You just need to ask, "am I dreaming?" and then do the RC. So right now, I am doing a thing where I am aware and I notice something, and then I ask myself, "Did that work correctly?" or "Why is that there?", something like that. So are you guys saying that I don't need to do that? I just need to ask if I'm dreaming and then do the RC? And if I do that randomly throughout the day that will work just as well as what I'm doing now?

Lol you're not the first person to ask about the backpack situation. You still focus on the weight of it because in dreams it will be either heavier than usual or lighter than usual.

Ok, first you just have to really get out of the duality mindset. An RC isn't necessarily a matter of asking a question, it's when you primarily bring your focus or attention to something.

Therefore, the RC is GRAVITY and nothing else. Gravity is what you focus on, and depending on the weight of things is what your answer will be; awake or dreaming.

Originally Posted by Sharpshoey

OK, sorry if I'm butting in here, but I have a question about the Gravity RC.

No problem, feel free to use this thread whenever you want seeing as we don't have an actual Gravity RC thread here on DV (does anybody know the status of copying the original tutorial that was mentioned earlier?)

Made some amazing progress last night, I actually got to use the RC to get lucid for the first time (not in the unconscious habit way, I cheated with WBTB but still a good experience).

Spoiler for My LD:

I'm in some strange college class. There's a lot of people from my high school there too. My junior high principle comes in and starts talking to the class, saying something intimidating. Since it's college, most of the people get up and leave while he's talking. I stay around along with a few other people. Then we are walking around the classroom for some reason, some guy comes up and gives me a peppermint. It tastes nasty and he tells me it's baked potato flavored. I start to gag and spit it out, and decide to go to the bathroom to spit it in the sink. While I'm at the sink I have a sudden burst of suspicion, for some reason I just think this is a dream. I use the Gravity RC to test and I get weird results. The left and right sides of my body have different gravity and it almost seems to be fluctuating. I conclude that I'm dreaming and try to think of what to do next. Suddenly my vision is gone and I'm imagining everything that I should be seeing, instead of seeing it through my own eyes. I eventually go into a non-lucid dream.

Now I know this was not a true Gravity RC lucid dream but it was still cool to get some more experience of what gravity feels like when I scrutinize it in a dream. It was definitely a dead giveaway that something was fishy, and I don't think I even needed another RC to confirm it, so I guess it was just that convincing. This RC is very promising!

Originally Posted by Zangetsu

No problem, feel free to use this thread whenever you want seeing as we don't have an actual Gravity RC thread here on DV (does anybody know the status of copying the original tutorial that was mentioned earlier?)

Made some amazing progress last night, I actually got to use the RC to get lucid for the first time (not in the unconscious habit way, I cheated with WBTB but still a good experience).

Spoiler for My LD:

I'm in some strange college class. There's a lot of people from my high school there too. My junior high principle comes in and starts talking to the class, saying something intimidating. Since it's college, most of the people get up and leave while he's talking. I stay around along with a few other people. Then we are walking around the classroom for some reason, some guy comes up and gives me a peppermint. It tastes nasty and he tells me it's baked potato flavored. I start to gag and spit it out, and decide to go to the bathroom to spit it in the sink. While I'm at the sink I have a sudden burst of suspicion, for some reason I just think this is a dream. I use the Gravity RC to test and I get weird results. The left and right sides of my body have different gravity and it almost seems to be fluctuating. I conclude that I'm dreaming and try to think of what to do next. Suddenly my vision is gone and I'm imagining everything that I should be seeing, instead of seeing it through my own eyes. I eventually go into a non-lucid dream.

Now I know this was not a true Gravity RC lucid dream but it was still cool to get some more experience of what gravity feels like when I scrutinize it in a dream. It was definitely a dead giveaway that something was fishy, and I don't think I even needed another RC to confirm it, so I guess it was just that convincing. This RC is very promising!

@Zang, Although it was Gravity initiated, you still did carry out the Gravity RC regardless which confirmed it. Just keep at it and you'll love the results.

@Sharp, Yea that's going to happen in the beginning. I struggled with the same thing but I discovered something that worked for me after while. If you're more comfortable with focusing on your feet then do that. Like Hukif told me, focus on a body part that you use a lot.

Just try and get accustomed to the gravity IWL, focus totally upon it. It's definitely going to take time, stress will be inevitable with this technique lol. As for the mantra, that's totally optional. A mantra is a way to program your brain in such a manner that you will eventually start to act that way. It's not required for lucid dreaming.

Gravity RC is definitely not an easy technique at first. It require great patience and discipline but if you stay dedicated you will be rewarded, I cannot stress that enough. What you put in is what you'll get out.

Would some exercises help with this technique? Something like, set a timer for 5 minutes, and in those 5 minutes you would try to maintain a continuous awareness of gravity/weight. Would that be of any help, or overkill? Just an idea..

Originally Posted by mimihigurashi

Would some exercises help with this technique? Something like, set a timer for 5 minutes, and in those 5 minutes you would try to maintain a continuous awareness of gravity/weight. Would that be of any help, or overkill? Just an idea..

Well if you think about it like this, setting a timer to go off every 5 mins and trying to remain aware you would probably end up RCing into the next timer. Then it would just make the timer pointless at the point.

I'd totally say that's an overkill, maybe like every 30mins-1hr is a lot more reasonable. Just don't make it a habit to where you have to rely on the timer but you can definitely use it.

Lol you're not the first person to ask about the backpack situation. You still focus on the weight of it because in dreams it will be either heavier than usual or lighter than usual.

Ok, first you just have to really get out of the duality mindset. An RC isn't necessarily a matter of asking a question, it's when you primarily bring your focus or attention to something.

Therefore, the RC is GRAVITY and nothing else. Gravity is what you focus on, and depending on the weight of things is what your answer will be; awake or dreaming.

So when you say I have to get out of the duality mindset, do you mean that I shouldn't be asking those types of questions all day? So I only need to be aware during my RC's and only use the RC's to answer if I'm dreaming or not?

Yes exactly, you shouldn't have to question because the abnormal gravity will confirm if you're dreaming or not. That's the whole point of the Gravity RC.

The only thing Gravity RC requires is your awareness to the matter at hand. It should be kept simple but if you do decide to practice it, you will probably realize that later on.

Then again you could possibly be as hardcore as Hukif, I will say his way isn't for the light hearted.

Originally Posted by Azul

Yes exactly, you shouldn't have to question because the abnormal gravity will confirm if you're dreaming or not. That's the whole point of the Gravity RC.

The only thing Gravity RC requires is your awareness to the matter at hand. It should be kept simple but if you do decide to practice it, you will probably realize that later on.

Then again you could possibly be as hardcore as Hukif, I will say his way isn't for the light hearted.

OK I see, I always try to over-complicate things because it seems that it would give you better results like that. I have to keep reminding myself to just keep staying with the basics. Thank you very much for the help

I have noticed today when doing the RC that it is very hard to focus on the gravity of each individual body part. The main thing I'm focusing on that feels right is my feet and them being pulled to the floor. I try to focus on every other body part but it is very hard and I usually forget about focusing on them very shortly.

I read earlier in the thread that Azul said not to get caught up in if your doing it right or wrong. So I'm just doing what feels natural to me and hopefully later on it will get easier to focus on other parts of my body and the RC will make more sense. Because right now, the RC is kind of hard for me to understand and hopefully I will start to understand it with time.

Also, Do I need to be saying a mantra still? Or is that not needed? I have been saying "I'm dreaming" throughout the day.

Anyways, I really like the Gravity RC because with the way I was practicing before, it felt like I couldn't enjoy WL. I would constantly be asking myself and wondering if I was awake or dreaming, and I felt like I was too focused on dreaming so I couldn't enjoy life. So I didn't like that, but I'm loving this Gravity RC.

So this gravity thing is basically constant habit to search for dream sign (in this case unusual gravity), which itself works as RC - like 2in1?

Although it can count as a dream sign, you aren't searching for it in waking. Instead you are supposed to be aware of your own (normal) weight/gravity while awake so that it becomes a habit and so in the dream you will do the same constant awareness and realize it is not normal/become lucid; it is less of actively searching and more of passively knowing.

Originally Posted by Hukif

Although it can count as a dream sign, you aren't searching for it in waking. Instead you are supposed to be aware of your own (normal) weight/gravity while awake so that it becomes a habit and so in the dream you will do the same constant awareness and realize it is not normal/become lucid; it is less of actively searching and more of passively knowing.

I think I get it... It's constant habit of perceiving your gravity without thinking, with two possible outputs - 1. normal = waking, 2. wierd = dreaming. The second one is classic dreamsing which works as RC as well. That's brilliant! Why gravity?? Why not use for example light or body temperature or whatever we always ''have with us''?

Originally Posted by Nfri

I think I get it... It's constant habit of perceiving your gravity without thinking, with two possible outputs - 1. normal = waking, 2. wierd = dreaming. The second one is classic dreamsing which works as RC as well. That's brilliant! Why gravity?? Why not use for example light or body temperature or whatever we always ''have with us''?

That's just the very thing, YOU CAN use those things as RCs preferably use what's more natural to you. Hukif discovered gravity in his own revelation therefore he started taking advantage of it and perfected it for his own use.

gravity check has failed me many times. the one that has NEVER failed me is plugging my nose and checking to see if I can still breathe through it.

Originally Posted by Runeword

gravity check has failed me many times. the one that has NEVER failed me is plugging my nose and checking to see if I can still breathe through it.

Yeah that's the thing about Gravity RC, even if you do remember to do it, you're not guaranteed to be in a dream with weird gravity so it seems like it may not work 100% of the times you remember to do it. But if you can get into a habit of constantly monitoring gravity, you should catch any dreams that do have weird gravity, so still seems like a high percentage of dreams will be caught without the need for any kind of nighttime practices. That's what makes it so appealing to me.

On a side note, I've been having a hard time sticking with it lately. Got pretty busy with school lately and it just seemed to fade out of my life for a few days. Hopefully I'll get it back going strong now and be able to keep going til I get some results. It's so promising I can't afford to give it up!

Originally Posted by Zangetsu

Yeah that's the thing about Gravity RC, even if you do remember to do it, you're not guaranteed to be in a dream with weird gravity so it seems like it may not work 100% of the times you remember to do it. But if you can get into a habit of constantly monitoring gravity, you should catch any dreams that do have weird gravity, so still seems like a high percentage of dreams will be caught without the need for any kind of nighttime practices. That's what makes it so appealing to me.

On a side note, I've been having a hard time sticking with it lately. Got pretty busy with school lately and it just seemed to fade out of my life for a few days. Hopefully I'll get it back going strong now and be able to keep going til I get some results. It's so promising I can't afford to give it up!

The same exact thing has been happening with me, it just keeps seeming to fade away with school starting. I just force myself to keep remembering it and like you I can't afford to give it up either!

Originally Posted by Runeword

gravity check has failed me many times. the one that has NEVER failed me is plugging my nose and checking to see if I can still breathe through it.

Alas, gravity and nose plug have both failed me at various times. I have yet to find an RC that is foolproof. I've started to think it is less about the specific RC and more about the mindset behind it. If you let yourself be too easily convinced that you aren't dreaming, you might be wrong, but if you keep an open mind and keep paying critical attention, you're more likely to pick up on the cues. Unless you actually aren't dreaming. But... never let yourself be too sure...

>.>

<.<

Originally Posted by Verre

Alas, gravity and nose plug have both failed me at various times. I have yet to find an RC that is foolproof. I've started to think it is less about the specific RC and more about the mindset behind it. If you let yourself be too easily convinced that you aren't dreaming, you might be wrong, but if you keep an open mind and keep paying critical attention, you're more likely to pick up on the cues. Unless you actually aren't dreaming. But... never let yourself be too sure...

>.>

<.<

That's exactly it, there isn't an RC that's "foolproof." Gravity AND the nose plug RC have failed me multiple times but the nose plug isn't an actual RC per se more like a confirmation that you're dreaming.

Thing is you have to find an RC that works for YOU, you have to make it work. The best quality lucid dreaming has to offer is the creativity aspect.

Bottom line is that lucid dreaming all comes down to your state of awareness period and it only takes place after many repetitions and practice.