Awareness while asleep

I have recently been trying to be more aware, hoping that it will help in my dreams. It has helped, but it also might be whats causing a surprising difference in awareness while I am sleeping, even when I'm not dreaming.
When I'm asleep, and not dreaming, I am not aware, like normal, but when I wake up I can remember laying there staring at my eyelids while asleep. Also, waking up isn't the instant consciousness that normally occurs. Now, it is more like a transition that I am aware of. I think this opens up a possibility of becoming lucid before you're even in a dream. Potentially, this could be practiced to be able to become lucid during any time that you are sleeping.

Well done =) It's not as hard as it sounds, I mean what are dreams? We don't know exactly but we know that our brain is more stimulated.

But basically dreams are thoughts right?

So it's simple, be aware of your thoughts and you are aware of your dreams.

But the threshold where thoughts go from normal thoughts, daydreaming to experiencing it with all your consciousness is where the true mystery lies.

One question, because that started happening to me when I got more aware of my dreams, do you notice your micro awakenings after each dream as well?

Also one little tip or trick that help me that you can try. Switch to a slightly uncomfortable sleeping posture like if your not used to it you can lay on your back and try to fall asleep, or go more extreme like me (because I fall asleep like a lamb on my back as well..) you can try a sitting position in your bed.
I actually do a WILD attempt every evening and fail on purpose and that makes me more aware of my dreams and therefore gives me better dream recall.

Last of all good luck in your search for higher awareness ;)

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Originally Posted by Iapetos

I actually do a WILD attempt every evening and fail on purpose and that makes me more aware of my dreams and therefore gives me better dream recall.

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hi dude, what do you mean you fail on purpose, what do you do? just curious:)

Iapetos, thanks for the tip. I don't notice these micro-awakenings all of the time, but sometimes I do. I'm only about a month into learning about dreaming and this sort of stuff, so my recall isn't that amazing and I don't have too much experience. Good luck to you, too.
joshuwa, I might be wrong, but I think he means that you attempt a normal WILD. 99% of the time when you try to do that at night before you go to bed it will fail (only a lucky few can actually do this). He just tries anyway because it helps with awareness.

I have been stating my experiences in this forum for years now about entering dreams already lucid. This is a form of self-hypnosis that occurs in non-REM dreams.

Cool, do you mind posting some links to your posts about this?

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Originally Posted by joshuwa

hi dude, what do you mean you fail on purpose, what do you do? just curious:)

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I am basically doing a WILD attempt on my bedtime, I have succeeded once but that time I was sleep deprived so that might explain my success.
But what I do is simple: I choose a sleeping posture that is hard to fall asleep in (I lean against the wall with a pillow to make it comfortable and do the WILD attempt in a sitting position in my bed).
Then since it's almost impossible to fall asleep unconsciously I just think random things, daydream, some routines of different mind occupiers I have memorized like Image Streaming or Robert Monroes Focus 10 technique, when I feel my body vibrating and get less aware of my body I usually try to daydream as vividly feeling something with my hands, like grabbing sand on a beach or splashing water in a lake. Usually I start dreaming in non-dream which is weird thoughts but still a scenario happening in the minds eye, and then I hit a point where it's almost impossible to not move.
And here I switch to a normal and comfortable sleeping posture (on my side) and fall asleep. Even though I failed the WILD attempt I am very aware of my dreams, so aware that I remember them in the morning without really having to lay still and recall them, I just immediately write them down on a piece of paper.

So it's basically a MILD, DILD, WILD and since I am also aware of awakenings during the night a DEILD method. And it also makes me able to give MYSELF the credit and not the technique.

It's sometimes torture :P But it's worth it.

I know what you mean. The determination to have a lucid dream needs to sometimes be stretched to the limits while trying to WILD. One question, does this method interfere too much with the amount of sleep you get?

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Originally Posted by Radioshift

I know what you mean. The determination to have a lucid dream needs to sometimes be stretched to the limits while trying to WILD. One question, does this method interfere too much with the amount of sleep you get?

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In the beginning I wasn't as endurable as I am now, and those times I usually couldn't get back to sleep if I failed the attempt. (I called it insomnia)
But when I realized that I only needed to change to a comfortable sleeping position to fall asleep at those times, the problem was gone.
I do end up waking up after my dreams as I told you before, but I just use these times to quickly write some note about the dream and then go back to sleep.
So no it doesn't interfere with my amount of sleep :)