Starting to 'get' it

I've been messing around playing with induction methods for over 18 months now. Some success, nothing too exciting to report. Except that I have recently tried doing it a bit differently, and also realised that a lucid dream really is still a dream and very dream like: when I first started out I imagined I would be entering a totally new dimension as real as real life but better because I could do absolutely anything.

I think I might be making some progress now.

Firstly I know that when I get lucid (which doesn't happen very often) I am still in a dream: very random, nothing is really there unless I concentrate on it and make it real, anything I look at I have to imagine it into existence, and I have to concentrate like I am meditating to keep awake in the dream. This is probably because I am still very much a beginner, but it's not something I realised when I first started and hence a lot of initial disappointment. I realise now that I have to build on what I have learnt already and work on building realism when I am lucid becasue it's not going to happen without effort.

Secondly - induction methods. I have to say having read Charley Morleys book (am I allowed to say that on here?) I have adjusted my technique with good effect. He suggests using prayer to ask your higher self (or God or whoever) to allow you to get lucid, and I have found it to be a remarkable effective method used before going to sleep. I used to spend night after night trying to WILD to absolutely no effect but he explains how to do it using Dream Yoga methods of concentrating on breathing and bodily sensations whilst falling asleep, and, although I haven't yet managed to WILD properly, the technique really seems to set me up to lucid dream very much like doing SSILD (which again never did anything for me in its usual form). Combining this with mindfulness practice, and trying to see waking reality as another dream like, but very persistent, state on a regular basis is starting to get me some results.

In other words I think that playing around, combining methods, and staying determined when nothing seems to be working can pay dividends in the end for anyone :lol:

The dream yoga literature is really amazing. I've compiled a lucid dreaming bibliography of what are (to me) the most important/insightful/helpful LD resources I've come across, check it out.

Thanks Fryingman - I'm going to take a look at the dream yoga books.

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Originally Posted by Smudgefish

... and also realised that a lucid dream really is still a dream and very dream like: when I first started out I imagined I would be entering a totally new dimension as real as real life but better...

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There are lucid dreams where I'm not really 'awake' but I'm lucid. It's hard to explain: it's like I know I'm dreaming, or maybe I know I can change the world around me, but I somehow am not "myself"; I'd say in most dreams like that the feeling of lucidity doesn't start all that well, it's like it gets stuck or something, it's weird. Conversely, I have had a fair number of dreams in which that feeling did go off "completely", and not only were they shocking, the moment when lucidity came was a right kick in the head. It's really hard for me to talk about it in an organized and coherent fashion simply because there's so much to think about, but there's one thing I can say that might be relevant for you: the more I lucid dreamed - with previous intent of doing so, that is - the stronger they got.

One dream I was lucid for about 1 minute, and all I remembered that I wanted to see how real and clear the world was around me, so I grabbed a man's face and looked at the pores of his skin, and I said over and over "this is real, I can see clearly and everything", and when the dream ended I knew. Try something like this sometime.

Another relevant thing I might add is how we deal with memories of dreams. I wrote a post about that a long while ago, I'll try to find it later.