Looking for Advice

[Koma]

Ive been practicing/training for lucid dreaming now for a month now. Had 2 early success but very fleeting and never really felt I myself was there even know fully aware I was dreaming. My dream recall has improved dramatically from starting, can remember normally 3 pretty vivid dreams a night and I do proper reality checks around 30 to 35 times a day. My problem is since my early success haven't had any luck what so ever, I have tried a few different technicians now (preform wbtbs almost every night now cause I always seem to need to get up to pee in the middle of the night). I have yet to find any luck with them nor with dream induced ones cause for what ever reason I can never seems to realize strange things and all my dreams signs are of things I never see in my waking life. Does anyone have an idea what I could be doing to help my chances or try to help myself?

[dolphin]

Koma! My idea of the proper practice of a reality check is the following: 1.Imagine a dream sign that might be experienced during a dream. 2.Imagine doing a reality check. 3.Imagine becoming lucid. 4.Intend this to happen in your next dream. Think of this as rehearsing what you want to happen during your dreams. The idea is to associate dream signs with the fact you are dreaming and to intend to keep making this association in the future.

[Charles3]

Hi Koma! I always think its a good idea to read stories of lucid dreams. Review your own LDs and then you can read other people's LDs in the dream journals or contest sections. This will help a lot to get a clear picture in your mind of what an LD might feel like. And what actually happens in one. Well, that's my theory, anyway. A lot of my dream signs don't appear in my waking life either. Like people from my past in my dreams but not in waking life. I wondered if I should look up photos of them but I don't want to appear stalker ish. Try to have trust in the process that you will start getting LD's again. Joining the forum is a great idea too. I think posting here the last month or 2 has helped me alot.

[lucidbunnie]

My advice to anyone who is starting out is... don't try too hard. To have regular lucid dreams all you need is awareness and dream recall. For that all you need are meditation and dream journaling. You seem to be doing good with dream recall. I usually recall over 10+ vivid dreams, but 3 is very reasonable. What you seem to be lacking is awareness. You can practice reality checks, develop prospective memory, devour all the information about lucid dreaming, and use all the techniques and methods all day long everyday... but all they do is just enhance your likelihood of lucid dreaming. None of it will matter if you are not aware to notice dream signs or anything unusual within your dream. You can end up being on autopilot doing reality checks in your dream mimicking waking training and continue as if you are awake if you are not aware in the first place. The fundamentals are awareness and dream recall, simple as that. You need to be enthusiastic about it, of course, but you don't have to do this or that and get worked up. Learn to enjoy the process. I have lucid dreams frequently, it's second nature to me. All I do is keep detailed dream journal to help log my dreams and keep my dream recall sharp, maintain daily diary, as well as meditate. I don't even do reality checks unless something warrants it. You'll develop an intuition for it in time. I do techniques, methods, or use supplements only when I must have a lucid dream specifically like on my SO's birthday, anniversary of her passing etc. Your underlying motivation will also contribute to how often you will have lucid experiences. Take some time to fully reflect why you want lucid dreams, what you hope to get out of it, how it can better your life etc.

[Koma]

How do you specifically train your self to be more aware while dreaming, im now starting to get real vivid dreams where I feel like Im there rather then just along for the ride through someones eyes. I get not living on auto pilot which I try to never let my self dude (Work can get in the way of remembering that at all giving times) but is there something I can start to do to further help train that. I meditate daily and have for years but only found it useful for LD training in tempting wilds. Could you maybe further speak on keeping up awareness many people talk about it but never really get into what it is you can do to help it.

[dolphin]

To be clear, lucidbunnie is referring to a specific type of awareness: self-awareness. Self awareness is awareness that what you are being aware of is related to you. It is self-awareness that allows you to realize that the dream is your dream. The practice of self-awareness is included in many parts of lucid dreaming, including reality checks (the dream is your dream, right?) Because of this, self-awareness doesn't have to be a separate thing to remember apart from the other aspects of lucid dreaming. We don't have to keep up the practice of self-awareness at all times when we going for a DILD. Keeping up a practice involves keeping it in short-term memory (working memory). Once something is out of our short-term memory for more than 20-30 seconds, in order to be remembered, it must come from our long-term memory. Usually, we will be unconscious for longer than 20-30 seconds before a dream starts, so we must usually rely on our long-term memory to remember things related to lucid dreaming. To commit something to long-term memory, elaborative rehearsal is used. Elaborative rehearsal involves connecting things in our short term memory (intentions) with things in our long-term memory (dream signs) so that our short-term memories become long-term memories. Our reality check practice includes this practice of elaborative rehearsal, so it can be used it to turn our intentions into long-term memories.