Thread: How long before technique establishes itself?

Hi, i have been practising SSILD for about 3 weeks now. I go to best the same time each night. I SSILD before sleep (mainly to get to sleep quickly) then at a wbtb after 3 hours and then a wbtb after 6 hours bothe via natural awakenings (i dont need an alarm clock) and i try to keep to this routine as much as possible. I also meditate daily (vipasanna) and do quality reality checks through the day

Im disappointed that i have only had 3 DILDS in 3 weeks (or should I be?) How long would it take on average before this frequency increases? Or will it increase at all?. Im aiming for 3-4 lucids each week from SSILD but progress seems slow

Any help would be massively appreciated, thanks guys

Ezzo

This might sound like a ridiculous comparison, but frankly it's the best analogy I can use to describe true mastery of anything.

At first I was like you, trying to find the best methods and techniques to get a lucid dream. I tried everything! Read about all kinds of different ways and induction methods, how to time it correctly, food to eat or drink, gadgets EVERYTHING.

Funnily enough I did the same to get good with women, I am a man of logic but the adventure of learning about the feminine was what also made me a man of feeling. I am not saying that men are just rigid, analytical weirdos and that women are just flowing, pink cloud butterflys, what I am saying though is that this is how the masculine and the feminine can be represented as a practical overexaggeration.

Anyhow I tried to get the best pick up lines, fully understand what women were thinking, the best techniques to girls to like me.

And well let's just say that it wasn't a pretty sight...

However I eventually got a sense of how it works and since this journey made me explore the feminine, it drastically changed the approach I had for lucid dreaming.

When I got the hang of what sparks attraction immediatelly in a woman, I understood what attracted dreams truly as well.

In short FULL PRESENCE to what is infront of you.

And appreciating the process and actions in themselves, not as a means to something else.

Most guys when they talk to women OR try to dream, they are not really interested in HER (let's see dreams as something feminine as well for now).

They just want some god da*n outcome, like sex or validation (feeling good about themselves) Oh yea look at me I got her...
Instead of actually appreciating the experience itself, the company, the beauty of a man and women meeting (it's in our biology! We are social and sexual beings.) To not be intune with this and existing in one's ego is very unattractive.

And girls can sense this miles away. And I am starting to believe that dreams do too!

It's like they are on an unconscious level or conscious level feeling: "If you are not intersted in ME then I am not going show interest in YOU".

This might just be my bro-science mixed with spiritual ideas but I like this analogy.

So what you should ask yourself is: do you enjoy dreams, recalling them, appreciating them, paying attention to them?

And also even though our first intention was to learn about her (the girl/ the dream) what you will realize is that she is a reflection of you so you will learn more about yourself than of her when you explore her.

And since dreams in essence is YOU, you should focus on "knowing thyself" as stated in The Matrix.

Meditation is the best way to practise this by the way, because when you accept all your emotions, thoughts and worries then all that remains is THE REAL YOU and the present moment. And it's only in the present moment that you can truly be aware of what IS.

But to answer your question in less poetic terms:

Focus on appreciating the journey and let go of result and outcome thinking. Consider the fact that whenever you are new you are going to fail, it's the most crucial thing needed for real learning. And since you are new and want to learn ALOT it also mean you are going to FAIL ALOT. This in turn means that it's really stupid and a waste of time to be focusing on the negative. Because the MAJORITY of your time is then going to be in the negative, life's too short fort that..

So what you should do is to actively delude yourself and brainwash yourself to believe and focus in on the positive.

Like you wake up one morning and recall one short dream, do not think "Sigh... No lucid dream tonight either..." <- THIS IS THE FAST LANE TO GIVING UP!
Instead think "Ah yea a dream recalled, I can't believe that I used to have zero recall this is awesome!" <- THIS IS THE FAST LANE TO FAST PROGRESS!

I struggle with negative thinking too you know, I even struggle with OVERTHINKING, but that is just one of the reason to why I meditate.

But love the process, appreciate what you have, and be present to the moment as it is, not as your thoughts and emotions makes you believe it is!

3 DILDs in 3 weeks is great! It's one lucid dream a week! Keep at it!

My whole point with the post is to say that your practise establishes itself when you actually enjoy doing it!

I could of course just say that if you just try over and over for thousands of times you will learn by trial and error.
And yea that is true. But people in general have too thick ego's to go through that process (I definitely did). Which is why what I describe above is crucial for mastery. Because if you enjoy the process, you stay in the process!

Peace!

Im disappointed that i have only had 3 DILDS in 3 weeks (or should I be?) How long would it take on average before this frequency increases? Or will it increase at all?

There's not much data on this: we have reports of pioneers on lucid dreaming reaching high frequency rates in the matter of months (Daniel Love makes reference to one of them in his book), and also some people around here who also display a very specific path and progression (ask around). But we know that habit formation is very relative, as some habits take a few weeks to automate, and others several months....regarding to lucid dreaming, the picture is even more abstract.

What to learn from this? Focus on keeping up the rhythm you've been maintaining throughout this time, and slowly increase the efficiency/efficacy of your techniques, as well as gradually increasing the use of your DJ (as knowing your dream signs is a quick and painless way to achieve more lucids). If you want even more solid results, start applying a weekly WILD routine, where you make use of your best opportunities to apply the method to achieve frequent lucids throughout the week.

PS: Just to give you a better notion of lucid dreaming frequency, I've seen articles of study in which the rate of lucid dreams per month of the participants was less than 10 per month. But regarding lucid dreaming, the randomness of lucidity still dictates that your rates might be higher/lower than other people due being influenced by factors that you cannot control. Work on the ones you can control

The technique won't establish itself. You have to do the establishing. You have to learn how the technique works so you know when you're doing it right or doing it wrong. Getting a technique to work is a learning process that can take a varied amount of time. The rate your LD frequency increases will be proportional to how quickly you learn the technique.

I've been using personal variations of SSILD myself for much of the few years I've been actively LDing. I don't rotate between the senses as the technique suggests but I still get the false awakenings that help me LD. I still have to be ready for the false awakenings themselves, though, or else I won't become lucid from them.

SSILD is just a helper. You have to master the fundamentals of memory and awareness to see any real results in LDing frequency. You master awareness to become conscious during the dream and master memory to remember what you're being conscious of is a dream. Intention plays a large role is both awareness and memory.

Wow, thats some amazing and detailed responses from all of you, thank you!

Dolphine, you say that I need to master awareness. I currently meditate 3 times daily for 20 mins using Sivasons dream yoga technique and I try to remain mindful for the rest of the day to all build my self awareness. Sivasons dream yoga meditation is similar to the SSILD cycles in that we have to focus on sound, sight and touch. This to me ties in nicely with the traditional SSILD as they are very similar (or am i missing something?)

I understand that, although SSILD is a WILD / DILD hybrid, it can also be used to WILD. I was going to attempt a WILD using SSILD, can you critique these thoughts please. I will wbtb then perform SSILD but after 5 cycles i will simply continue to use sound 'listening in' as an anchor whilst REM moves in. I chose sound because i am able to hear a constant humming noise in my head in the silence of the night and hopefully i can pay passive attention to it as sleep / rem take hold

Ive not really done WILDS yet so am I on the right tracks here with my thinking, many thanks again for all your replys

Ezzo

Actually it's your in-dream memory that needs improving, not your awareness. Your problem isn't that you aren't noticing your dreams, it's remembering that what you're noticing is a dream. Meditation and reality checks focus more on awareness rather than memory. You need to focus on memory more. That's where I feel your off track with your thinking.

The best practice that I could think of to improve in-dream memory would be to reimagine a dream you recently had, only with you realizing that you were dreaming. Tell yourself that this is what should have happened and affirm that with this knowledge you'll likely become lucid during your next dream. That way, when a similar situation occurs while dreaming, you remember your intention and become lucid.

Personally, my lucid dreaming technique has revolved around listening to the environment around me while I'm falling asleep until I can see a dream scene with my closed eyelids. Sound until sight, I guess I'll call it. If I felt my memory needed a boost, I would do the memory exercise above and tell myself at the point I should have become lucid "When I can see, I'm dreaming". I might use this as a mantra as well if I was losing my focus while falling asleep.

Because is hard to stay conscious with SSILD for long periods of time sometimes needed to WILD, it's best to use it as a DILD/WILD hybrid. Why not go for both?

Originally Posted by dolphin

Actually it's your in-dream memory that needs improving, not your awareness. Your problem isn't that you aren't noticing your dreams, it's remembering that what you're noticing is a dream. Meditation and reality checks focus more on awareness rather than memory. You need to focus on memory more. That's where I feel your off track with your thinking.

The best practice that I could think of to improve in-dream memory would be to reimagine a dream you recently had, only with you realizing that you were dreaming. Tell yourself that this is what should have happened and affirm that with this knowledge you'll likely become lucid during your next dream. That way, when a similar situation occurs while dreaming, you remember your intention and become lucid.

Personally, my lucid dreaming technique has revolved around listening to the environment around me while I'm falling asleep until I can see a dream scene with my closed eyelids. Sound until sight, I guess I'll call it. If I felt my memory needed a boost, I would do the memory exercise above and tell myself at the point I should have become lucid "When I can see, I'm dreaming". I might use this as a mantra as well if I was losing my focus while falling asleep.

Because is hard to stay conscious with SSILD for long periods of time sometimes needed to WILD, it's best to use it as a DILD/WILD hybrid. Why not go for both?

Thanks again dolphine, so as i understand, on top of my nightly SSILD routine (ususally twice a night) and along with my daily meditation / reality checks, i should also factor in time to reimagine last nights dream and then reply it in my head only this time imagining myself becoming lucid? I could do this during the day along with my sivason meditation?

Thanks agiain everyone, its a great help to get such detailed replys from experienced lucid dreamer for us newbies

Ezzo

Yes and after you imagine becoming lucid, try to maintain confidence that you'll become lucid during the next attempt. You could do this during the day.