finally got a lucid dream!

[happygolucky]

Here how I got mine... I started researching about lucid dreaming about a month and 1/2 ago and i had been spending a lot of my time researching about it. I tried MILD at first, didnt work, then I tried WBTB for a day and i didnt try hard enough so I just gave up and decided to lay off researching lucid dreaming for a while. Then, last night i had a very short lucid dream. I was sitting down with a bunch of people and we were talking. Then one of the people tell me that my religion is this weird one that i do not think exists in the human race. LOL. so i knew to myself that that wasnt true and then in my head, I mildly thought in my head that I was dreaming. I didnt say it out loud, but I thought it. So then I stood up and spun around a couple of times(to make sure that i would stay in lucid dream) then I started to look around and find one of my friends that was in the dream already. When I found her, all i remember is that I forgot I was dreaming and totally forgot about the lucid dream until I woke up I am a bit confused on how to follow up on my random lucid dream. Should I now go back to researching lucid dreaming since I finally had a very short one? What techniques do you recommend? WHAT SHOULD I DO?!

[SolvedSnake]

Hi thar! <3 Congratulations on your first lucid dream! Don't feel down just because it was short. Now that you have got your first, you will get many. Just make sure to keep researching, and also try what works for you. This way, I assure you will get many quality lucids, where you can do just about anything you want. The most important is to keep at it!

[Dannon Oneironaut]

Congradulations! The first few times you lucid dream they are usually short, or you wake up right away. I recommend that you think about lucid dreaming all the time and get yourself excited for it and psyched up. Go to bed before you are tired and don't have a full belly, don't smoke pot Have the intention to lucid dream and to remember your dreams at least. Write down all your dreams upon awakening. Recognize dream signs. Pay attention. If you get no results then try harder, put ALL of your energy into it. Work with your subconscious, which is like a child. You have to keep it enthusiastic for the task. Don't let it get discouraged or it won't want to work for you. Don't make it a chore. Imagine through out the day that you are dreaming. If still no results, chill out, relax and try again later.

[gameover]

WBTB my friend. You've tasted it. Now increase your chances greatly with a simple technique. And increase your chances of a sustained and vivid lucid dream. Of course if you're too busy to wake up in the night, continuing with the basics will help. Dream journals... reality checks... reading about lucid dreaming. Congratulations on your first. May there be many more in your future.

[happygolucky]

Thank you all for your kind words! gameover: What do you mean when you say... "WBTB my friend. You've tasted it." Are you saying that I induced this lucid dream with a WBTB?

[Dannon Oneironaut]

I think he is suggesting that technique.

[gameover]

No. I mean, you've tasted it, so WBTB should be much easier now. Once I had my first LD I went on to have one every night for over a week with the WBTB technique. I became addicted to it. The success rate is insane if done correctly and adapted to your self. It's just something that most people don't want to do every night.

[happygolucky]

Wow so I should most likely do the WBTB technique tonight? How do you know if you are doing it WBTB right?

[gameover]

Go to bed at 10. Early is better. Wake up 5 hours later. Stay awake for 30 minutes to an hour and a half. This is different for different people. I've had the most success with an hour and a half. But some have trouble getting back to sleep after that. That's why it's best to go to bed early, so when you wake up it's dark out the whole time you're up. When you're awake, keep your mind on your goal. Remember your dreams if you can. Write em down. This helps a lot. If you remember your dreams that you just had and write them down in detail, your mind will have a fresh example of what it feels like to be in a dream. Walk around in the dark a bit. Pretend it's a dream. Think of what you'd do if it was a dream. Keep doing reality checks. Maybe come on the forum and do some reading. Keep your mind on lucid dreaming the whole time, and keep your body relaxed and in relative darkness. Then go to sleep and keep reminding yourself that you'll be in a dream soon. The next time you're walking around it'll be a dream. Remind yourself, but let yourself fall asleep. Doing this, you will have improved your chances of lucid dreaming by a lot. You'd be surprised. You'll enter a dream and within the first minute you'll probably realize it's a dream.

[happygolucky]

I will definitely try that tonight and report back here what happened! How long would you say your lucid dreams are with this technique?

[Hermes|]

just make sure that you write the dream down immediatly cause it always sucks when you forget a dream

[gameover]

I will definitely try that tonight and report back here what happened! How long would you say your lucid dreams are with this technique? Up to an hour. Average 20-30 minutes. But it's quite common to have 45 minute LD's. And they're usually the most vivid at this time.

[happygolucky]

Unfourtunatly, I remembered part of my dream, like what the setting was and some of the things that i was doing. But i didnt lucid dream! Should i just keep trying to do this technique?

[gameover]

Unfourtunatly, I remembered part of my dream, like what the setting was and some of the things that i was doing. But i didnt lucid dream! Should i just keep trying to do this technique? Yes yes. Continue. If I gave up everything that I failed at the first time, I wouldn't do anything. Don't be upset about not having lucid dreams. Remembering parts of your dream is a big step. It can take awhile for your mind to learn how to lucid dream. At first it will feel like hit or miss but if you keep at, and don't let it bring an ounce of stress to your life, then you will have many lucid dreams. There's no probably about. It will happen. I won't lie to you. It might not happen right away. Many people give up early because they don't have the patience. But believe me, it's worth it. WBTB is not a garuntee. It just makes all the conditions ideal. The true answer to lucid dreaming is not in the technique. The techniques are there to help you find the true answer. Just practice the technique faithfully and it will work. Keep at. You won't regret it. Edit: also, do you think you might have finally had a lucid dream because you stopped stressing out about it?

[happygolucky]

Thanks. I will definitely try it every day for the next two weeks to see if it works. I also think that the problem was that I stayed up to early. I only stayed up for I think 15 minutes. I will try to stay up for an hour and see what happens. I bet you have probably been lucid dreaming for a long time so thats why you get them all the time? Yes. I think when I first found out about it, i got so excited that I would look it up non-stop. Then when I just decided to take a break, THEN i get my lucid dream! How does that work?!?

[Bizarre Jester]

Yes. I think when I first found out about it, i got so excited that I would look it up non-stop. Then when I just decided to take a break, THEN i get my lucid dream! How does that work?!? First congrats on having a lucid dream, but I can't really answer your question on why this is. Many people report finally having a lucid dream only after they stop trying and forget about it. Dream views should look into why that is. However I would really try to learn how to lucid dream at will instead of just waiting for it to happen, even if that seems to work.

[gameover]

Happy: No I do not get them all the time. Right now I'm having 3 or 4 a week. It changes depending on my dedication. But I'm more interested in quality than quantity. As for Bizarre's comment, as I mentioned, I think It's the stress people put on themselves. Lucid dreaming shouldn't be any stress. People should practice the techniques with no emphasis on success and failure. But people do and they get stressed out, which makes it harder. It's like in baseball, a hitters slump. It's normal to strike out, but when you strike out 7 times in a row, you stress out over it. And after every at bat, you have your teammates next 8 at bats to dwell on how badly you want to hit. Then you go up to bat and try too hard, instead of letting it happen naturally. Then it becomes impossible to get a hit. Except when you're not playing in game. When it's for fun, you can hit. Like batting practice. No stress. With dreaming, when you fail night after night, you have all day to think about how much you want it. Then, when you're going to sleep, you try too hard. The whole process should be relaxed. Just do the techniques and let success happen naturally. When people do stress themselves out and then they do take a break, they go to sleep without a care. Relaxed. The way one should go to sleep. Then...BAM...lucid dream! At least thats my take on it.

[happygolucky]

Bizarre: Thanks! I will try to learn how to lucid dream without just waiting for it to happen. gameover: I like your hypothesis. When I first looked up lucid dreams, I was so interested and fasinated that anything could actually happen in a dream, and that got me to a point where I started to look it up very often and become very stressed about it. By the way, what do you mean when you say "when you're going to sleep, you try too hard." are you saying that people are thinking about it too much when they are sleeping? I will reach my goal on having a longer lucid dream! Would you guys say that 15 minutes is too little of staying up for a WBTB?

[gameover]

I just mean you go to sleep more worried about failure than excited about dreaming. Carrying extra tension. This idea comes from my own experiences. I'm still often guilty of wanting it so badly that I sabotage myself. But it's one of those things where people will tell you..."do all these techniques...but stop trying so hard!" It can mess with your head. Which is why I say you should do a technique, but remember you have all the time in the world. If you keep practicing proven techniques, they will work eventually. No rush. If you're remembering your dreams, that can be exciting on its own. So take what life gives you and never think it's not enough. I think 15 minutes is too short. I think 30 minutes is too short. I would recommend 45 minutes to an hour for most people. But remember, you have to find what works for you. The key is to go back to sleep, directly into a dream. If you go to sleep too soon, you might go into delta sleep before a dream. Then when you finally do start dreaming, you'll be too far removed from your time awake. See if you can't try WBTB for a week straight. If you start remembering your dreams more, you're getting closer. There's also a good chance you'll get lucid. If it doesn't work within a week, take a week off. Just keep journaling if you're not already, and continue questioning your reality. Then get back to the techniques the week after. This way you can stop yourself from burning out, but still remain focused.

[happygolucky]

I cannot thank you enough for your knowledge gameover! You are amazing! I will try to do WBTB for a week and I will report back here what happened. Thank you also to everyone else! You all are so encouraging! Before the week of WBTB starts, any "lucid food" that you guys recommend that helps you lucid dream?

[Tushix]

You should be consistent with what you practice. I would recommend MILD while falling asleep and also practice WBTBs every night. They only have to be 5mins long.

[happygolucky]

wait... now im confused. should I stay up for 5 mins or an hour?! also... gameover: how can you be focused on lucid dreaming without stressing about it?

[gameover]

5 minutes is not recommended in any study, though it may work for some. I'd stick with what I said. Maybe 30 min to 60. Focused just means keep your eye on the prize. Keep it in mind. Stressed is when you let it consume you. Like if you're shooting a basketball. If you're focused, your looking at the basket and and taking your shot. If you're stressed, you're worrying about your mechanics, the arch of your shot. Trying not to over shoot it instead of just shooting it. Stress management is something everyone must figure out sometime. Just stick with the week on week off thing and see how it works. And don't forget to have fun!

[Tushix]

Oh wow, that was a great post gameover . I was just saying though, if he has trouble getting to sleep after waking, he should use short time IMO. It works for me

[Filimonki]

I had my first intentional LD dream yesterdaY! Gratz to us both! Well, I've had around 3 lucid dreams before, and I found out that you should only spin when everything around you is getting blurry and unclear, or when you want to summon something or someone. This is because if you spin, some random things may happen that excites you, and makes you forget that you are LDing. Again, congratulazzzzions!