Deliberately Encouraging Discomfort In Sleep

[TheWeirdnessSymposium]

I was just reading in another thread how someone gave up the idea of comfortable sleeping in order to encourage lighter sleep, more recall etc. I had my first deliberate LD two nights ago while sleeping on the floor and wearing extra clothing. So, I'm looking at safe ways to add discomfort to my sleeping arrangements. My ideas is, after I wake in the night (I usually wake about 4am with a dream to add to my DJ) I'll make my sleeping arrangements uncomfortable. It's not just discomfort. I'm also interested in any using ways that may alert your subconscious that something is "a bit different" (this may send subconscious message you intend to LD?) Any ideas? - Wear shoes in bed. Tie the laces tighter than normal. -Wear clothes -Sleep on your side, place a hot water bottle so that when you roll onto your back, the heat wakes you. -A couple of ice cubes placed so that you roll on them when changing sleeping position -Go back to sleep with your head gently pressed against the headboard (ie, you just sleep further up the bed) -Sleep with your feet dangling off the end of the bed (same again, you just experiment with sleeping further down the bed and try more/less each night) - Tie a piece of ribbon to a fan so it makes a fluttering noise -Wear a glove and force two fingers into one glove finger -Wear a glove and form a 'punch' shape inside so your fingers can't extend -Tape a glove to your bedside table. Put your hand inside it when you go back to sleep. When you move in your sleep and try to move you will either 1: Wake up a bit, in which case you can try to FILD, or 2 Stir enough to recognise a hand-related dreamsign -Tie your hands together with either rubberbands or handcuffs (Safety first though, eh? Make sure you can get out of them quickly in emergency and don't cut off your circulation) -Tilt the bed at an angle - Sleep in a narrow space that inhibits/prohibits the changing of position in sleep (maybe on the floor, between the bed and the wall) Why so many? My theory is that you would become habituated to one, so need a variety of techniques.

[Elucive]

Pretty good ideas. You seem really into this lucid dreaming thing, you've made a bunch of topics . I wouldn't try the ice cube 1 though, wouldn't want them to melt and think I wet the bed or something =P. The best ones might be the glove and clothes option. Experiment, let us know. Good luck.

[Ithil]

If I think about it, the last time I had a LD (a few days ago, and it was my third) I was sleeping very uncomfortable. This could really work, I'll try it too. Thanks for the idea.

[Mariano]

yeah, I think the same as you, discomfort generally leads to awareness, at least for me. I tried something when first going to bed, but...for some reason, I lose consciousness and fall asleep. what I do is...sleep like this: http://media.photobucket.com/image/s...ing-buddha.jpg as you can see, it's a tricky position, but it's possible. I sleep like that, and without a pillow. never fell asleep in that position, but I recollected some experiences, and this is what happens: one must find the correct balance. try lying in that position for a bit(at least 5 minutes, or...more...like 8 minutes) now, if you hand hurts, then you are doing it bad. always, when my hand start to hurts, after a few moments I lose awareness and change position. but I found that when I do it right (I can't tell you which is the right position, you must experiment by yourself, it takes time) the hand hurts very very little, or it doesn't hurt at all, and when this happens, I never lose consciousness. but never completed the phase and get past a dream, not even sleep paralysis, or something, because when I try at night, my hand hurts, that means,I do the position bad. but when I try in naps, in where I don't have enought time (just 10 minutes to relax) my hand doesn't hurt , I don't lose awareness, but I start to go to sleep very slowly, I reached the point in where your mind start to create weird imaginery(not HI yet) and sounds(today I heard a woman singing, I could control her voice, she singed things like "luucid dreaamiin blahblah") it was weird, althought, it wasn't exactly HI, because it didn't felt real as it being produced outside but I will still keep practicing. bye!

[Ithil]

Sorry your post is a bit confusing. You said you "sleep like that" and then that you "never fell asleep in that position". What do you mean, did you actually sleep or not? And wouldn't your head fall after you fall asleep? By the way it would be great if someone could post more suggestions, so that we can pick some we can use, tehre are some in the first post that I don't think I could fall asleep like that.

[Mariano]

I try to sleep like that...I never fell asleep... I have been trying for only 1 weeks... no your head wouldn't fall, try to be in that position, you will find that you can relax completely without problem...

[D1r3w0lf]

Leave your cell phone near you , when you roll over at night it should cause minor discomfort. That is if you move a lot like I do during sleep.

[TheWeirdnessSymposium]

No success last night. I woke (from a dream) about 4am. I DJd then did some new MILD exercises I've been experimenting with. I slept on the floor, wearing clothes and shoes. Unfortunately my MILD exercises woke me up too much. When my gf got up at 6 I went back to bed to try to use the comfort to get back to sleep. But no. Will try again, this time with a shorter WBTB stay-up time, and maybe go back to my proper bed. I always assumed my problem with LDing would be falling asleep too easily. It's not. It's the opposite.

[TheWeirdnessSymposium]

Last night, after awakening about 1am, I put a glove on and forced my index, middle, and third finger into the middle finger of a glove before going back to sleep. I didn't LD but my dreams were interesting, and recall was good.

[Mariano]

will you try mine technique ? do it at a WBTB it's easier..