Biggest Obstacle to LDs

The biggest obstacle to lucid dreaming is the wandering mind. Whatever technique we use, MILD, WILD, VILD, HILD, FILD, the essence of the technique is consciously staying focused on a particular thought or visualization as we fall sleep. What usually happens is that the mind wanders off into fantasy or thinking about problems. WE LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS of what we are supposed to be doing, the technique, and get sidetracked into unconscious thinking, which leads to unconscious dreaming.

Frankly, I don't know what the solution is except to be aware of the problem and resolutely resist the temptation to think about irrelevant things as we fall asleep. Any suggestions?

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Originally posted by ZenVortex
The biggest obstacle to lucid dreaming is the wandering mind. *Whatever technique we use, MILD, WILD, VILD, HILD, FILD, the essence of the technique is consciously staying focused on a particular thought or visualization as we fall sleep. *What usually happens is that the mind wanders off into fantasy or thinking about problems. *WE LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS of what we are supposed to be doing, the technique, and get sidetracked into unconscious thinking, which leads to unconscious dreaming. *

Frankly, I don't know what the solution is except to be aware of the problem and resolutely resist the temptation to think about irrelevant things as we fall asleep. *Any suggestions?

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Boy, that's the truth! This is one of the questions of the decade Amigo!
:shakehead2:

My only guess to this is meditation before sleep. If you can consciously get yourself into theta with a clean mind, then going to sleep with a clean mind is a little easier. If my mind is especially active, I like to use Brainwave Generator to help a little before sleep. I'm only working on recall now, but I find it helps keep the dreams long, relatively complex, and vivid. Then again, maybe I'm just improving on my own without the BWG, but it makes sense to me.

- -Barrett

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Originally posted by ZenVortex


Frankly, I don't know what the solution is except to be aware of the problem and resolutely resist the temptation to think about irrelevant things as we fall asleep. *Any suggestions?

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I've been sort of guiding my mind along the details of a place lately. I'll be thinking about what I want to do, say, or create, but still, I'll be taking in the details of faces, and happenings, etc.

If you can find a way to balance yourself on the recognition of what is happening, and also of what you want to happen, you'll probably be ok. Your mind won't wander because you'll be giving it plenty to process.

Just a suggestion though.

The solution is simple, silence your mind. The following is a method from Matt on the website 'saltcube':



This comes up from time to time, so here's a method for making your mind perpetually silent. A silent mind is also called zazen, it's useful for avoiding random impressions of things popping up while out of body.

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Here's what worked for me: I would try to silence my mind then count as far as I could go. If I had an audible thought while counting I would start over.

I first practiced holding my mind silent for a count of 2, then after a week or two to about 5, then eventually to 10 then 30.
I'd do that two or three times a day, such as at a stop light or in the shower.

After that the chatter was gone and it would be somewhat difficult to bring it back.

It only takes about two months to develop a perpetually silent mind, it's not nearly as hard as people say.
It's far harder to learn a second language than it is to silent your mind.

Edit:
Someone asked about whether silencing the mind will reduce your ability to think.

It's been the opposite for me, by cutting out the chatter it's a lot easier to think clearly.
There is no need to think your thoughts in words, when I speak and type I don't hear the words any more. The ideas just come which makes thinking more efficient.

I think true inspiration doesn't come from analyzing things, but by studying something, asking the right questions, and then putting yourself in a state where you can just grok the answer as a complete unit out of your subconscious.
Silencing the conscious mind's chatter smoothes that process out quite a lot.

Edit2:
I need to clarify that even though the mind becomes silent, you continue to think. It's just that the thoughts do not have an 'audible' form. Your imagination and everything continues to operate, the only difference is that there is no longer a real need to have a constant audible commentary on it all.


I have other methods to share if this one doesn't work out for any of you. Just let me know.



http://www.saltcube.com/

Silencing the mind is a well known Buddhist meditation technique that I've used for many years. But I'm not sure how effective it is for LDs. It encourages mental discipline, the ability to choose one thought over another, or to choose not to think anything at all.

A useful practice is to meditate at the end of the day, just before going to bed, to review the events and problems of the day and try to bring closure to them. That way you don't have so many thoughts pulling at your attention as you go to sleep. You allow the mind to settle down so it is relatively quiet as you fall asleep. However, that may not be enough.

A LD teacher called Peter Fellowes recommends a technique that he calls "dreamgate scouting". What you do is watch for HI like a military scout in a foreign land and report back to 'headquarters' whatever you see. You maintain a running commentary, an inner dialog, of whatever images appear. You actively self-talk your way through to lucidity. I tried this a few times several years ago and got a couple of WILDs from it, so I may try it again.

The solution, is DILD!

It's where you know you're dreaming because of RC's and strabge things. No need to think about it, just find your dreamsign, do RC's during the day, and hopefully you'll have LD's alot.