How to Effectively Use Techniques

This is probably the closest I will get to writing "What I do to get lucid", so for those asking... um... here.

This is how to make DILD techs more effective, and what I believe, is what DILD techs are for. This will help with WILD as well, but it I shall make a thread for WILD soon, maybe. :P
So! You have read all the tutorials and they don't seem to work. Right? Like, I do something that others have done over and over and even if it works at the start, it doesn't seem to work consistently. I may have weeks without a lucid dream, how do I combat this? Where do I go from here.

Another little note before we start. When first LDing, you don't even know the feeling, so it can be muddled and hard to follow. This may not help people at the beginning. When you have 50-100 LDs, you will generally start doing a "technique shuffle" where you keep changing the tech over and over because they keep falling apart and not working. Even if you stay consistently lucid, the tech shuffle keeps happening, you just get better at the tech shuffle. After about 100, people will start to get that tech down that gets them the feeling, but dry spells and things "leaving the feeling" are going to hurt them and make it harder on them than it needs to be. This is actually mainly for people with some LDs under their belt, but I am guessing that reading it when you don't know the feeling will help you to look for it. :)

Daytime Techniques
Have you ever had the feeling that you were definitely going to lucid dream tonight? Like... "Man... I just need to fall asleep, and I will definitely have a lucid dream!" I doubt the feeling is the exact same for everyone, but this is what I call "Peak performance" and is the best you can get at LDing for your experience level for day work. The problem here is that people are stuck to their techniques, so they end up breaking out of this feeling by working "too hard" and leaving the prime area. Imagine someone playing basketball that cannot yet shoot the ball, but still walks right next to the basket, waiting to shoot. Instead of just waiting until it is time to shoot, he keeps moving, walking around in a circle, trying to get a good vantage point for shooting. Just stand still! The techniques are trying to get you to this point, where you can just easily shoot and score, but you keep moving! Thinking that by some force of will, you will be able to get a better shot than right next to the basket! What the sheol? Just stop and trust in that feeling. I am not saying that if you have that feeling that you will LD, but it is more likely than anything else that you could do at this time. The techniques are there to get you to the feeling, if you have the feeling, the techniques are often not needed, and sometimes harmful.

Nighttime Prep
Before you go to bed. Instead of "spending 30 minutes visualizing getting lucid over and over" or something like that. visualize what you will do when you get lucid. Because you are already "taking a good shot", don't worry about getting lucid. Just enjoy some time thinking about lucidity without trying to grasp it. This is a time that I think a lot of people lose the feeling and walk further away from the goal. BUT! Before you go to sleep, just double check the feeling, make sure it is there. If it isn't, no big deal, it may have just faded a bit and will come back through the night.

Nighttime techniques
WBTB, Micro-WBTB, DEILD tries, and all the things like this all have one thing in common. Waking up! Why is this important? Because the feeling is not there during your black out stages. On days that I LD many times, I usually have pretty much no time blacked out. A black out phase would be the time before your dream starts or time before you remember what was happening in a dream. Think about the last dream you had. How did it begin? See, black out phase right there. The more you wake up, the less time the black out phase will be. This can put a strain on your sleep, so the amount you wake up should correspond to how much you are sleeping and how well you are sleeping. Every time you wake through the night, you are closer to REM than you would have been otherwise and you are going to have an easier time making the shot. Every time you wake up, you take another shot. This might take some energy, but it gives you another shot, and the more shots you take, the more warmed up you are. The most important thing to do during the night is to bring the feeling back You will lose the feeling, unless you have all lucid dreams all night. The feeling will have faded. But if you just, reach out, it should be close if it was there yesterday. If you wake up from a lucid dream, you still have the feeling, maybe write down a dream or two, but GO BACK TO SLEEP! Think of it like being on fire in basketball, or doing the Micah drill. Just grab, put it back, grab, put it back. If you wake up from a LD for more than a minute, then make sure to grasp the feeling, but not the feeling from before, but the feeling of the previous dream.

A Good Sleep Schedule
You know what a good sleep schedule is, and the better you are at LDing, the more you can stress the idea of a "good sleep schedule" I used to have to sleep before 11 for 3 nights in a row, now it is... different. Even if I stay up till 1 or 2 or more, I can still usually LD, It just won't be as much as it had in the past, it still adversely effects me, but it doesn't cripple me. I can also tell that if I go to bed on time every night, I will have way more lucid dreams, dreams, and recall of all them if I just go to sleep on time. This is one I struggle with greatly and LDing has been the only thing to make me go to bed on time. :P

Meditation
Meditation is amazing, plain and simple, everything that we do for LDing is a form of meditation even LDing itself. This doesn't mean, however that any meditation at any time is a good thing. Some meditation is always good. Like, clearing your mind, or stress relief, or fun visualization. Intense meditation for the sole purpose of LDing can be you walking away from the goal though. I have this ritual I do, it takes a while, but if I don't have the feeling at all (usually when I haven't been lucid in a bit), I will sit on a couch in a position that I cannot fall asleep, I will then visualize all my LDs that I can remember until I get the feeling back, then I stop immediately. I didn't used to know why I stopped, but I knew it was time to stop. I have tried before to do this every day, because I thought "I always get a lucid when I do this" and I didn't get a lucid for weeks while trying this. IT IS MY BEST TECHNIQUE?! WHAT THE HECK!? Because I wasn't staying near the goal. The feeling, not the tech.

Stress
Why does stress effect us so much? Because it is literally the waking feeling being overwhelming. Your life is pressing in on your mind in a bad way. You can't think about anything but your problems. This is why LDing is hard during stressful times, lucid nightmares happen more often as well, if you experience "great waking stress" and this can be an extremely distressing experience. Try not to stress, even if life is hard and pressing on you. I feel like a very unqualified person to say this because I am a very carefree person. When I first started LDing, I was FT work and college, wife, and a child on the way and I didn't have a care in the world. This is not what holds me back, but it holds a lot of people back.

Insomnia
The old fiend. If there was one thing that held me back in my LDing, it was my insomnia. I would have the feeling for days and be lucid almost every night and then BAM! I don't sleep even a wink at night! :/ It used to take me three days of sleeping well and doing techniques to find the feeling, now it takes... less time. :P After a good night of insomnia and then sleeping well the next day because of, well, being completely and utterly tired, I would draw an accidental (or maybe not so accidental) line between the insomnia and the feeling. This has haunted me and held me back for years. So much so, that now that I am over it, or feel like I am over it, I don't see anything stopping me from having LDs every single night until eternity. :P How did I get past it? The same way I lucid dream. I realized that I have a feeling every time I think I am not going to get to sleep, and then I worry about it, and then I don't sleep. So I started some techniques for keeping the feeling away, and that "anti-feeling" I treat like a feeling. If I feel like I will sleep tonight, I don't worry at all. If I start feeling like I am not going to sleep tonight, I do my techs to bring the other feeling back. This has worked for a month and will really be tested with the Dreamviews competition. It is something that has caused much insomnia in the past, and I am excited to see my progress. Ways to fix this have included, self affirmations, visualization, meditation, etc.

Forgotten
This is something that I have forgotten time and again and have either had it as a "sure sure, I know this" or "I can't believe I forgot!" type thing. If I had kept with it all the time, I imagine I would be farther than I am now at LDing, but I am where I am, and it isn't a bad place to be. :D

Technique is not a bad thing
Techs are needed, especially at first, but they are not the goal. They are the bow, they get you to the goal. Most people see techniques as things that they need to do every day, but they aren't, they are like drills and may be something that you need every day at first, but when you have the fundamentals down, you may just need to brush up on them every week. However to score every night and to keep getting better and better, you need to try almost every night.

One last note on DJing
Dream Journaling is not needed to LD, but it will probably benefit you more than anything else, especially if you are wanting to get better at dream control, persistent worlds, etc. Dream Journaling doesn't have to be a tedious crazy thing either. You can just write a quick summary. I might even just use keywords and phrases, but if you want to remember a dream, write it down. One of my favorite lucid dreams, I have read time and again, is the first one in my DJ, I reread it for the first time in a year the other day and I had completely forgotten a big part of how I got lucid! It changes the whole context of the dream! If you are serious about LDing, then at least write down the LDs that you want to keep, you won't just remember all of them.

To some, this may seem overly complicated, to others, it may seem like it isn't complicated enough. When you read through this, you may realize that if I have the feeling, I don't need to do anything to get lucid. I just go to sleep and wake up with the lucid dream. Note, this is a technique on how to utilize the dream feeling! I doubt that it is the best possible thing to do with it, it is just what I do with it. Explore, figure out what you want to do with it. :D

Thanks always for ur awesome practical tut :) u have grounded fundamentals and i hope the newbies understand. Especially the basketball analogy. I thought similar thing 'if it doesnt work, do it again, do it again do it again do it again do it again!' So that way i didnt have to worry and waste time doing 'one shot' and made me keep going on without thinking. Like how u dont build muscle right away with one push up(thats impossible). U gotta do 100 push ups everyday :P

Lucidity is not about thinking, but feeling. True true true :D

To go fast, slow down. Slowing down ur mind, being carefree is actually the shortcut to LDing. Def i agree. Very simple yet ppl will earn huge gem when they learn how to relax in these days and society haha. When something extraordinary becomes ordinary, guess what? Its peaceful and full of freedom!

thanks windy! glad you liked it. I hope it helps a lot of people. :)

Awesome. Probably the most reliable predictor of having an LD for me is waking and having "that feeling," a fully confident *knowing* that if I get back to sleep, I WILL have a lucid dream.

Very useful especially the meditation section that you explained and of course those stresses that I'm currently facing in my life and can't take good results nowadays

Hello!

First of all, thanks for the tutorial!

I have a question on the subject of "feeling".
A few days ago, I was taking a little nap and during it, I dreamed that I was at the entrance of my house, where there is a large mirror on the wall. I remember then I thought, "I must look at myself in the mirror." I did it and I saw my face (which was somewhat changed). A few seconds later I woke up in my armchair.
I remember having the "feeling" of having to "force myself" to look in the mirror ... It was as if I had to make the effort of will to perform that task and I had the feeling that was what I had to do .
In fact, I now think that what I have to do to have a lucid dream is to make that effort of will and "feel" that I have to do "something" within the dream

Is that the "feeling" you mean? Am I on the right track?

I hope I made myself clear... :)

Thank you.

@ FM
thanks! You can do this, we will get to omnilucid!

@huga
Being stress free is hard, and the problem with LDing is the mixture of someone thar loves dreaming, has low stress, and can be consistent. This is why, I think, so many people fail, because even if someone loves dreaming and is a hard worker they also must be someone that has low stress and is a hard worker! the first is rare, the second one is nigh impossible. So this is why you see so many threads "why cant I keep up the enthusiasm to LD all the time?" hard workers dont say this, they know that there will always be times that it is hard to do even the things you love, and times that the things you love seem boring, they push through, even with little success. A hard worker will be talking about the stresses of life getting in the way. In this way, i am glad that I am not a naturally hard worker, I have to work hard to work hard and life's stresses rarely stress me out (though that isn't to say that they aren't present). Hard workers power through the stress, and do it anyways. This isn't possible when the stress is the problem. You must learn to play when you play and work when you work, leaving the worries of the other behind. someone naturally hard at working will have trouble forgetting about work. Someone naturally the other way will be considered ADHD or something similar, when they don't have a rare condition (I won't say ADHD isn't a thing, but it is a rare thing), they simply can't put aside fun when work comes. One can leave you poor at 60, the other can leave you dead (from stress type diseases). meditation can help with both. it helps to calm the mind and think about what you want to think about, having a mind that id well mannered, even to itself. blarg... long. haha.

@senrPF
first! what do I call you? PF? lol.

No, I do not believe this is "the feeling", but I think that it can help you understand it. The feeling, like the one you felt, is not a sensation, like touch or sound, and it is not a feeling like fear or affection (note, I don't call love a feeling, the feeling is affection, this has nothing to do with dreaming, but love is an action). It doesn't correspond with any waking feelings, but it is similar to some. The 6th senses that we talk about, like when you are playing a game (like basketball or a video game) and being in the zone, like when you feel like someone is watching you, when you feel like something is about to connect (like when learning or reading, when you feel like that thing is coming together and will soon make perfect sense). it is all of these and none of these. There are thousands of these, one time, I had one stay that didnt belong after a dream (actually normal with feelings and sensations), it was the feeling that I wasn't alone. In my dream, I had been with someone, so the feeling made sense, when awake, the feeling made no sense, so I checked the room. It wasn't menacing or anything, it just felt like someone was in the room with me. I would equate yours with that, a feeling that you know exactly what it means, but doesn't have words that go with it except "I felt like", "I knew that", or "I was compelled to". I hope this clears it up! If you are getting lucid and writing down your feelings and impressions inside the dream, I consider you on the right track. :) remember that lucidity is a big town, and there are many roads to it that go through many different places, but they are all heading in a similar direction.

Thank you Sensei this came just in time!
I have a hard time LDing compared to last months. I'm sure this will help me. I've made similar experience with my insomnia. But when I get the good feeling I cant sleep. Now the good feeling is the bad feeling. Which makes it even more complicated. Must make out a better way.
I know exactly what you mean with overdoing. In the last 10 days I had only one LD. No mater what tech I used, nothing worked. Last night I decided only to pray (which I usually don't do) and I had 2 LD.
Thx a lot

Yeah i have been lucid 8 times now and i do get the feeling you talking about also its strange how i never got that feeling before i started lucid dreaming sometimes i get the feeling before sleep and its either a lucid dream or an awesome dream but the trick is how to get that feeling when ever you want

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sensei

I have this ritual I do, it takes a while, but if I don't have the feeling at all (usually when I haven't been lucid in a bit), I will sit on a couch in a position that I cannot fall asleep, I will then visualize all my LDs that I can remember until I get the feeling back, then I stop immediately. I didn't used to know why I stopped, but I knew it was time to stop.

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I did this last night before bed and had a nice ~15 minute lucid without my normal WBTB (I was not planning to get up for a WBTB, nor did I, due to wanting to maximize sleep before my game). I was actually just experimenting with what Sensei described in the quote while it was fresh in my mind. Since most of my LD's (by far) come after a proper WBTB, this has piqued by interest. I will definitely be experimenting more with this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fogelbise

I did this last night before bed and had a nice ~15 minute lucid without my normal WBTB (I was not planning to get up for a WBTB, nor did I, due to wanting to maximize sleep before my game). I was actually just experimenting with what Sensei described in the quote while it was fresh in my mind. Since most of my LD's (by far) come after a proper WBTB, this has piqued by interest. I will definitely be experimenting more with this.

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Thinking / reading about LDing in a quiet 20-30 minutes before bed I've found boosts dreaming and chances for LDing considerably.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mugwort

Thank you Sensei this came just in time!
I have a hard time LDing compared to last months. I'm sure this will help me. I've made similar experience with my insomnia. But when I get the good feeling I cant sleep. Now the good feeling is the bad feeling. Which makes it even more complicated. Must make out a better way.
I know exactly what you mean with overdoing. In the last 10 days I had only one LD. No mater what tech I used, nothing worked. Last night I decided only to pray (which I usually don't do) and I had 2 LD.
Thx a lot

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I feel like the techs we use to LD can be used to counter things like insomnia as well, so hopefully you will have some success conquering or "erasing" your insomnia.

Lots of people do tend to have lucids after a big amount of work and then stopping. I think that this is proof we can work too hard. :P But stopping doing techs is definitely not the answer, just find what gets you the feeling easiest.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kir4ee

Yeah i have been lucid 8 times now and i do get the feeling you talking about also its strange how i never got that feeling before i started lucid dreaming sometimes i get the feeling before sleep and its either a lucid dream or an awesome dream but the trick is how to get that feeling when ever you want

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this is what the techniques should be used for, as a tool to find the path, not the path itself! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fogelbise

I did this last night before bed and had a nice ~15 minute lucid without my normal WBTB (I was not planning to get up for a WBTB, nor did I, due to wanting to maximize sleep before my game). I was actually just experimenting with what Sensei described in the quote while it was fresh in my mind. Since most of my LD's (by far) come after a proper WBTB, this has piqued by interest. I will definitely be experimenting more with this.

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I am glad this worked for you, remember to follow the feeling and not the steps. some days you will need less steps, others you will need none. the feeling is your day goal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FryingMan

Thinking / reading about LDing in a quiet 20-30 minutes before bed I've found boosts dreaming and chances for LDing considerably.

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This is the type of thing I mentioned when I said "light meditation", after I have the feeling, I dont put a bunch of energy or will power into it or I will move, but I can read some or think about it for a boost or for goals etc. the feeling won't leave because of some lucid dreaming inspiration, but if you neglect it or push it, it will be gone. like using all your willpower through the day and running out by the time you get to a dream. :)

I am so glad for this post, because 2 or 3 times I have posted about my feelings of just "knowing" I am going to lucid dream, and thinking I was alone in this feeling. Yes, it is my best predictor as to whether I will lucid dream. What I dont know, although Sensei implies it...is whether the feeling can be "fostered" or not. I have tried to "generate" the feeling before but thus far have failed. But I am going to try the methods mentioned to see if I can produce the feeling on nights when I dont just "have" it.

It seems this thread somehow managed to escape my radar until just now, but this is very interesting. I do believe I have noticed times where I seem to feel unusually confident about LDing on a particular night, and more often than not it then ends up happening. I just never knew where the feeling comes from and why/how, or how I might be able to make it happen more often. It may take some time for me to fully digest everything you wrote, but it sounds like something worth remembering and seeing if I can do anything with it.

I think you have a good point here !

I will share my experience on "that feeling"
That feeling that we will lucid dream is something different from intention or willpower. It seems to appear by itself, have a life of its own.
I used to get this feeling in my first noob days, when i played with the imagination i was dreaming in the waking time.
I just played becoming lucid and retaining that realization for some time, looking at things very deliberately and closely, finding small details in visual experience, sounds, sensations and and creating a sense of wonder and excitement.
Then, out of the blue, something inside me would feel like "I will lucid dream tonight".

And everytime i had that feeling i became lucid that same night. Noticed that feeling ~12 times, always when in the midst of the above mentioned exercise.
In fact it felt like some treshold was reached and now i could not help but to become lucid.
I could not do anything to prevent becoming lucid. Helpless !
As i said, it was something altogether differente from willpower or wishful thinking, in which success is only a probability, never a given
This feeling was different, it is very much like the feeling of knowing the future (or having a great suspicion) that something is about to happen !

The only thing i could do was to create conditions (the exercise i think) for the feeling to appear.

This is probably different from what you, Sensei, are describing. I don't know. But i feel like i would post this :)

Thanks for the post Sensei..!

I'm still confused on what the "feeling" is, when you say the most important thing in day time prep is to maintain/find that "feeling", is it the belief that you will have a lucid dream that night?

Sometimes I'm caught between believing I can have a LD, and a plea to myself to have a lucid dream, and between those feelings could be the fear of not having a lucid.. and it doesn't seem like something that will just come if I want it bad enough, do I have to work towards the feeling of belief versus the desire of wanting?

This a great post. Thank you, Sensei!

Thanks for this post. I've had about 60 LDs over the last year, so this is very helpful to me. I have a question about "the feeling", though. I know it's had to put into words, but would you describe it as: "the realization that a lucid dream is just a conscious experience, and you are aware and conscious right now and knowing you can achieve this same state of awareness at night." I know its tough to put into words, but that's almost what it seems like to me. Like, being mindful and aware during the day, coupled with intention, will make you mindful and aware during the night.