Thread: This could probably help with getting lucid.

I was thinking of a way or practice that isn't really discussed much on the forms for obtaining more lucid dreams. And I figured out something really interesting as well as possibly helpful for achieving lucidity. The method is simple, and takes almost no effort. It can also be accompanied by pretty much any other technique, and probably will actually increase success rates with that technique.

So while thinking, I thought why not learn lucid dreaming like you would learn anything. That way would be to understand the process first. Just think back to learning anything. It's always easier when you understand the process or subject. Whether it be math, science, history, carpentry, bike riding, etc., understanding why and how to do something, makes it easier. So why not apply this to lucid dreaming.

So finally what I believe will help in achieving more lucid dreams in a shorter time, no mater what technique or lifestyle you choose for attaining lucidity, is to understand or rather pay atetion to how you go to sleep. Its essentially just watching yourself go to sleep. This way you understand how you personally go to sleep. While continuing to pay attention for longer and longer each time you gather more and more information. By knowing how you fall asleep and even wake up, it could be very useful for techniques like DEILD, WILD, MILD etc. also I don't think this method is really considered a WILD. Although it could lead to one, the main goal is to simply gain knowledge and understanding on how you fall asleep, then use that to help yourself achieve lucidity.

So how should you go about doing this? It's really simple, when going to bed at night or during a WBTB, focus inward on your mind, and pay attention to what happens while falling asleep. Try to maintain just enough self awarness to watch this process happen. Take note of things like how your mind drifts and any sensations you may feel. Again your goal isn't to maintain attention untill a dream forms, instead just untill you fall asleep naturally. This should happen because the process needs to be treated like going to sleep normally, but this time you pay just alittle attention. It also may help to use some affirmations before going to bed to help you out if you find your loosing attention too quickly.

I've only tested this out a few times, so I can't guarantee that you'll have lots of success. So far I've noticed partly how I go to sleep each night and wake up naturally. I notice waking up before I'm actually fully alert and how my mind drifts off.

I think this could be a successful method that anyone could fit in with their routine. If anyone has any comments or feed back then that would be appreciated. Thanks .

I agree that consciously integrating the phenomena associated with falling asleep is helpful in inducing lucid dreams, WILDs in particular. A kind of mind training in itself, by habituating a reaction of observation to these transitional sensations, as opposed to a response of falling asleep, consciousness could then be more easily maintained, if the skill is developed to its peak i imagine it would become wholly automatic and spontaneous. Perhaps part of the reason consciousness is lost during this process is that it has been 'trained' to do so, but that is not necessary 'natural' or proper, in fact to a lucid dreamer that automated reaction is quite bothersome. This kind of conscious change of mechanical responses is not unlike what occurs in meditation. Of course lucid dreaming and meditation are not the same, they are distinct states of experiential and neurological activity, but what their methods have in common is their insistence on the necessity of changing robotic, unconsciously programmed behaviour, and then suggesting practices whose purpose is to interject consciousness and then intentionally programming more desirable patterns or reactions into the situation, the presence of consciousness tends to dissolving pre-programmed behaviour, then only a distinct intention is necessary to bring about the desired result, to create a new more desirable trait.