Thread: Lucid Dreaming Technique That is Less Demanding?

in a nutshell:

what is the easiest least demanding technique?

something that is simple and doesn't take much effort so that one could do it the rest of his/her life indefinitely and have a lucid dream like once a week or so?


Something like:

five reality checks a day and wake up 90 minutes earlier than normal every day with an alarm, journal and then WILD back to sleep.

at length:

for example a full on yoga course requires a lot of things like different poses, meditation techniques, reading, visualizations, etc. these things are great if you have the time but will you always have the time? who knows. most don't. so to reduce this you could just do sitting meditation every day. you could safely decide that you will do this for the rest of your life. whereas you cannot be certain you will always have the time to do all the things mentioned above.

for lucid dreaming it's the same; there's a ton of stuff to do, journaling, visualizations, daily exercises, reading, planning, goal setting, etc.

so what's something simple and easy enough that one could safely say they could do it for the rest of their life?

my problem is i always read exploring the world of lucid dreaming, visit dreamviews, mess around with a bunch of ideas and techniques, set alarms and wake up several times a night to journal and try techniques, get somewhat good at lucid dreaming, but then responsibilities pop up and i don't have as much time and energy to devote to it, i slack off and finally quit entirely. like it's all or nothing. but i want to always be a lucid dreamer! what can i do?

i'm SOOOO far from being an expert on this topic so this is just a silly example to show what i'm thinking, something like:

five reality checks a day and wake up 90 minutes earlier than normal every day with an alarm, journal and then WILD back to sleep.

that would be super low impact and not at all demanding. if that would work to give me a lucid dream a week or so i could feasibly do that for the rest of my life.

ideas?

You shouldn't overcomplicate things.
In a nutshell, becoming lucid is about having a more questioning attitude to your surroundings and then being able to remember any possible lucid dreams that you might have later.
So personally I think that it should be more than enough for anyone to just make sure that they are good at remembering their dreams in general, and to regularly ask themselves if they could possibly be dreaming at any given moment until this becomes a habit and carries over into your dreams.

I tend to agree with Yuusha. I know I can over-research and over-complicate things if I allow myself to do so. I just have to be mindful of it and pull myself back. I do think the fundamentals are important, but so is striking a balance and not making the effort so complicated and time-consuming it becomes a burden that we're less likely to stick with. Mindset is important and it should be something enjoyable that we look forward to doing.

So my approach to this is slowly working the method and techniques into waking life in a more organic manner. Eventually it will become second-nature and not seem something forced or out of the ordinary and not competing with my other activities and responsibilities. It'll merge seamlessly into and around my normal activities.

Honestly, I don’t even ask myself if I dream throughout the day. I never felt like it helped me, as I’m always too excited and single-minded in my dreams to ever stop and ask that. Maybe I’m wrong, though. In any case, I find it quite bothersome.

I usually manage to get dreams when I want with the SSILD technique, which is very simple.

宇宙��: Senses Initiated Lucid Dream (SSILD) Official Tutorial

Otherwise, sometimes I wake up in the morning and just feel like I could do a WILD. Then I do a WILD. In this state, it’s as easy as focusing on it and maintaining the good mental state when in transition. After five or ten seconds, I’m dreaming and lucid.

However, I never managed to have long lucid dreams.

Auto-suggestion is the simplest.

So essentially if i did 5 reality checks a day and journal every morning and use some kind of induction technique i should be good.

The only other issue is that even if i was just journaling and nothing else i end up writing 2 to 3 pages of dreams down in the morning and its time consuming (humorously when i stop dream journaling i remember maybe a dream per week at most!)

So i suppose if i just jot down an outline of each dream that should be enough?

Originally Posted by sleepyzac

So essentially if i did 5 reality checks a day and journal every morning and use some kind of induction technique i should be good.

The only other issue is that even if i was just journaling and nothing else i end up writing 2 to 3 pages of dreams down in the morning and its time consuming (humorously when i stop dream journaling i remember maybe a dream per week at most!)

So i suppose if i just jot down an outline of each dream that should be enough?

That's the thing - the basics aren't difficult to do, but they do take time and are prone to be procrastinated on. Even five sentence recommendations, see your thread next door, if taken seriously they all are "work", if simple or not.
I'm lucky, I get lucids from time to time without doing anything or being more aware in general. That then motivates me to get in some work again, periodically.

Meditation.

You always got your breath, you always got the now to be aware of and thereby always have a way of practising awareness itself.

like what they said:
auto suggestion and meditations reaaly help

Originally Posted by MasterMind

Meditation.

You always got your breath, you always got the now to be aware of and thereby always have a way of practising awareness itself.

i like this idea. i've been meditating and buddhist for over a decade, i meditate and practice mindfulness all day every day, but the only time i have lucid dreams, or even remember my dreams is when i'm trying some technique and dream journaling.

is there something i'm missing?

Originally Posted by StephL

That's the thing - the basics aren't difficult to do, but they do take time and are prone to be procrastinated on. Even five sentence recommendations, see your thread next door, if taken seriously they all are "work", if simple or not.
I'm lucky, I get lucids from time to time without doing anything or being more aware in general. That then motivates me to get in some work again, periodically.

ah, you're one of the lucky ones!!!! for me if i slack off i can go YEARS without a lucid dream and months without remembering more than a fragment of a regular dream.

Originally Posted by sleepyzac

i like this idea. i've been meditating and buddhist for over a decade, i meditate and practice mindfulness all day every day, but the only time i have lucid dreams, or even remember my dreams is when i'm trying some technique and dream journaling.

is there something i'm missing?

My values and ideas fluctuates from time to time and change. I have had periods of super focus on the basics of lucid dreaming.
Reality checks, WBTB:s, dream journaling, you name it.

So my unconscious mind is probably already conditioned for being aware of dreams and remembering them.

Every post I make is just a rationalisation of my own views, which probably every post of the technique forum is, and therefore the forum name dreamviews is very spot on. So be critical while reading. Only rely on personal experience, but if you don't got personal experience, try out ideas and structure them to you own liking.
From my years of pratctise I have concluded that what you do isn't as important as how you do it (the mindset).

If you do stuff in order to get some result, you are not in control and are probably going to be frustrated when you fail, you can either use western cognitive behavior therapy and refame your experience. For example you do reality checks and don't get a lucid dream, then you say "Hmm what can I learn from this?" this is the western way of non-difference. Or you can go to extremes, as I like to do, and go with the eastern way of hinduism and buddhism and just let go completely.

Hiduism say: You are only entitled to the actions not the fruits of the action. In other words enjoy doing something more than the result, because that is how your mind and reality works.

Buddhism say: Let go of attachments.

I have chosen a combination of my favorite philosophies.

Western: Listen to instructions from successful people and follow it. (Read my DJ to see what I listen to.)

Hinduism: Enjoy the doing not the result. I enjoy being present during the day for the enjoyment itself, and I don't spend my day hoping to get lucid in the night, I enjoy being "lucid" "aware" in the day, for the awareness itself not as a means to lucidity.
That way paradoxically I get more lucid because by really loving awareness itself, I probably practise it more than if I just did it for the result itself. Intrinsic motivation VS. Instrumental motivation.

Buddhism: Let go of attachments, your thoughts and even your self (the ego). So I spend 20 minutes every day in a state of nothingness.

The rational reason to this appeared to me when I realized that trying (different techniques) always led me to become discouraged.
But then I gave up lucid dreaming all together and those nights I somehow had spontanious lucid dreams.

Now I am in some sort of balanced relationship between trying and non-trying like yin and yang.

There is no right or wrong way. But since this thread was about doing less, I thought that doing NOTHING would be appealing. Hehe.

I think DEILDs are the simplest and least time-consuming. All you have to do is remember to pay attention as you're waking up. That said, it takes a strong motivation and intention to command sufficient attention under those circumstances!