Interesting Dreams, Not Quite Lucidity

Hey everyone! Hopefully the right forum.

Ive been very interested in Lucid dreaming for quite a while. Ive read this really good book about how the brain works (cant remember the title) and im very interested in all of the stuff out there about the brain and dreams.

Ive had lucid dreams before, not knowing that these dreams where actually "lucid dreams". I explained to my parents that I had controlled my dreams and they said that it was impossible. It was great for me, it was mainly when I had nightmares - I would make it so that the bad things would stop or change somehow. I first found the whole lucid thing when a friend gave me a link to an interesting website on the topic. Ive tried a few techniques for Attaining Lucidity, like having a recording play at night to remind me im dreaming and also some hypnosis. I find it hard to do reality checks as I haven't found one I like or remember to do often enough. I had one experience where I realised that I was lucid dreaming and got soo exited that I woke up. I have a dream diary now and have had quite a few vivid dreams and it had been great to write them down (havent been always successful in writing all of them down) - quite a few pages of dreams. Recently though ive had alot of very short dreams of just one thing or idea and they seem like very normal things in life. Other times, I try to control the dreans but the control only lasts for a very short amount of time and then it goes back to an uncontrollable dream.

My questions are, any tips for getting better at Attaining Lucidity and better dream memory? (i may join the adoption program later)

Another experience Ive also had recently that id like to share and see if anyone has anything similar - is that sometimes I can go to sleep and drop straight into dreams. Only problem is that I dont have any control. Also something more wierd is doing this and then dreaming of people talking and waking in the middle of this and the voices seem so vividly real. Freaky and cool. Anyone else?

I've found that you can gain more recall simply from practice - the more you use your dream journal the more likely you'll remember. And also, write down everything you feel, see, hear, assume, know and smell in the dream etc.

You can also do reality checks in real life for practice for the dreams when they come. I think you're lucky - :) you are able to do reality checks around your dream signs since they "seem like very normal things in life", so you can increase your chances even more.

And about the last thing you said- I don't seem to go directly to dream state (or maybe I don't remember), but I have dreams much later.

You hear voices/sounds and see images when you become more aware of the transition from 'wake' to 'sleep', so me too. Some of those experiences can really be sudden can't they? :D But they actually are very gradual, it's the awareness that's sudden.

Wish you ld luck. :)

I guess I will have to practice more and I will eventually get it. Thanks for the tip about the detail - I have trouble writing too much detail in my half awake state, ill try to keep it and mind with more practice.

Ive read more of the tutorials on WILD and they have definately given me a great insight into the stages of sleep. Last night it was really good as I got through all of the stages untill the last one. Im sure with more practice ill pull it off.

Wow, in the middle of reading your post I just remembered that I used to have quite lucid dreams when I was younger. I would not like the way a dream was ending and then change it at the last minute. For all the time I've spent on the forum and working towards LDing I never realized that. Thanks

Do Reality Checks in real life very often. I do one once every hour, but your supposed to do them twice an hour. Also, it helps to medidtate about your WILD before you actually do it. You should meditate every night before bed. Lastly, when you get your recall to a certain level, you won't have to write so much about your dreams during the night. A few keywords are sufficient enough for me to remember my dreams now.

if you still havent found a reality check that you like, i suggest the nose rc. plug your nose and breathe in, if you can breathe still you are dreaming :) every single time ive tried this it has worked.

Thanks for the tip! A good reality time that I like.

towarmforacoat: Yes - I didn't know they were lucid dreams at the time and its cool to find this all out and how more more control that i can possibly have.

Also - any tips for the meditation? I have always thought that meditation was about clearing the mind and not thinking about anything - what's a good method for focusing on something or an intent? Any good guides out there?

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Originally Posted by TigerWolf

Also - any tips for the meditation? I have always thought that meditation was about clearing the mind and not thinking about anything - what's a good method for focusing on something or an intent? Any good guides out there? [/b]

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I'm sorry, I forgot where I got the info, but I'll describe what I do...
I sit indian style with my back straight. Then I breath through my nose, trying to "fill" my entire body with the refreshing breath and relax it. When I breath out, I try to breathe out any discomforts or thoughts. If I can't get a certain part of my body to "fill" with the breath I try again focusing more on that part. I continue with this until i can "fill"my entire body with every breathe. I continue to breath like this, but now I start autosuggestion. (I don't focus on my breathing at all at this point because I most likely continue to breath this way subconciously. Even if i don't though, its okay because I'm relaxed and my head is clear). I state to myself what my plans are for my next WILD, and I reassure myself that I will succeed. I also try to get ahead of schedule with my nightly statements of "I will wake up after each dream period and remember my dreams completely," by stating that a few times. When I feel that I've done enough (I've set a clear path for what I want to do) I start to focus on my breaths again, and on a breath out, I release myself from the meditative state.

Hope I helped. :D And don't be afraid to ask me anything if I wasn't clear enough.

about dream recall, im not sure if anyone mentioned this, but i thought i'd through it in the pot anyways: when you awake in the morning or in the middle of the night or whatever, it is imperative you do not think of anything but the dreams yuo had last night until you have either written them in your journal (which you should have) or have them in your mind well enough to wait until you get on a computer where you can write them down if you want. just make sure you know you had a dream or a few the night previous.

Something that helps me with my dream recall is that I set my alarm clock about 30 minutes early, which not only gives me time to write down my dreams, but to just sit in bed with my eyes closed and try to think of what I've dreamt.

The important thing is patience, stay in bed for about 10 minutes, even if you don't remember anything the moment you awoke. Try not to open your eyes when you realise you awoke, don't think of the matters of the day, try to sit in bed in different positions (it's said that if you sit in the same position in which you were when you had the dream, it would be easier to remember it). And while sitting in bed think of all the things you might have dreamt - like a mental list, or you could even write one down - like, the things you've been recently dreaming, or the things that have preoucupied you a lot recently, people you know, places you've been to etc. Sometimes, if you think of the thing you dreamt, you get that wierd deja-vu feeling and then realise "Hey, I dreamt this!"...

Hope it helps.