Experienced LDers: Was it hard for you starting out?

[PennyRoyal]

I talked with a few other new members of DV today, some have had a fairly easy timing learning the techniques and having successful results. Some others have been trying for quite a while with little to no results. Sure this can be caused by a variety of reasons, but that is not the purpose of this thread. I thought maybe it would be encouraging to some people that are new to LDing if some more experienced LDers shared the difficulties they had when they first started. What did you struggle with most? How did you overcome it?

[Alucinor XIII]

I learned about lucid dreaming when I was about 13. I was reading up on Astral Projection a lot at the time, being young and gullible, and saw lucid dreaming mentioned many times. I had my first one accidentally, and a few months later I found DV. After reading nearly every tutorial on DV, I spent the next two days daydreaming in almost all my free time of the things I would do in lucid dreaming, I was stoked. I had my first induced LD my second night, and it was about 5-8 minutes long. I turned into a werewolf and played around in this giant mall complex. Was hooked ever since... After my initial success, I found having LDs fairly easy, and after a few months built up to have 1 lucid dream a week, occasionally more. However, I had a different problem...even though I could have them quite frequently, they always ended very, very shortly. Half of the time, I would be lucid for less than a minute, and everything would black out. I got very frustrated and quit for a while. When I came back to lucid dreaming, I started focusing more on stability and exploration of my dreams, rather than trying to force the dreams to bend to my will. Instead, I tried to just absorb details and follow the story as best I could, only using "powers" minimally. I don't have LDss quite as often as I used to, but the ones I do have are much longer, and feel more meaningful.

[azoller1]

im still kind of stuck at the part, of what method is the best, and at what time, help?

[PennyRoyal]

im still kind of stuck at the part, of what method is the best, and at what time, help? Now.. I'm no expert by any means azoller but I've been having the same problem myself. I just read SO MUCH information that I couldn't choose. I've just decided to choose a method and stick with it for 2-3 weeks. If it doesn't work, try something new. Rinse and repeat until I find something that works. I have a full-time job that I have to start fairly early 5 days a week. I've been primarily focusing on DILD/MILD since preparation is done mostly at night while I'm going to sleep. Now that I'm feeling confident in getting my DILD technique down pat I'm going to try to start playing with times to wake up and attempt DEILD since I was accidently able to induce a WILD. Again I'm no expert, but if you ever have questions I can quote things I've read , or we can just discuss anything LD related Feel free to PM me

[PennyRoyal]

I learned about lucid dreaming when I was about 13. I was reading up on Astral Projection a lot at the time, being young and gullible, and saw lucid dreaming mentioned many times. I had my first one accidentally, and a few months later I found DV. After reading nearly every tutorial on DV, I spent the next two days daydreaming in almost all my free time of the things I would do in lucid dreaming, I was stoked. I had my first induced LD my second night, and it was about 5-8 minutes long. I turned into a werewolf and played around in this giant mall complex. Was hooked ever since... After my initial success, I found having LDs fairly easy, and after a few months built up to have 1 lucid dream a week, occasionally more. However, I had a different problem...even though I could have them quite frequently, they always ended very, very shortly. Half of the time, I would be lucid for less than a minute, and everything would black out. I got very frustrated and quit for a while. When I came back to lucid dreaming, I started focusing more on stability and exploration of my dreams, rather than trying to force the dreams to bend to my will. Instead, I tried to just absorb details and follow the story as best I could, only using "powers" minimally. I don't have LDss quite as often as I used to, but the ones I do have are much longer, and feel more meaningful. Thanks for the Reply Alucinor. I've only been practicing for 2 weeks myself. After discovering about Lucid Dreaming on Reddit.com I became extremely interested and began reading everything I could. I had no real intention of attempting to Induce Lucids but several nights later I became Lucid quite by accident. After that I was totally hooked and found DV a few days later. I've been reading every tutorial and piece of information I can get my hands on. I was able to WILD without really knowing what I was doing a few days later. I was laying with my eyes closed just appreciating the strange shapes and colors floating around in my vision when a face seemed to pop up. I followed the face down as it sunk out of my vision and it felt like my eyes were anchored to it! I felt like had sunk face first into my couch then my eyes popped open and I was in my bed. This struck my as strange so I did a reality check and sure enough! I was dreaming. I became so excited that it quickly dissolved. It's been about a week since that happened, I havn't been able to become Lucid again just yet but I'm feeling confident!

[azoller1]

Yeah same here I really want to stick to a plan and go with and see if it works, I was also thinking about starting with DILD but I find WILD to be more fun and challenging, so I'll see how it goes, hope you get success!

[PennyRoyal]

Yeah same here I really want to stick to a plan and go with and see if it works, I was also thinking about starting with DILD but I find WILD to be more fun and challenging, so I'll see how it goes, hope you get success! You too!

[Sensei]

I don't know if I am experienced as you want. I started right before I got marrid. I looked it up. Took a nap and lucid. Forgot about it for a year (I had just gotten married ) had a random lucid and then decided to actually become an LDer. It took me about 45 days to get an LD after that. Then I had about 5 a month for 2 months after that. So 45 days. Or first try. Haha. The forty five days were crazy long and difficult. I read up as much stuff about LDing as I could and watched videos. Don't know how I didn't find this site till month 3. I had a lot of misinformation about LDing in my head when I finally got a hold of ETWOLD. That helped immensely more than anything else. So DV and ETWOLD are probably what had helped me the most.

[PennyRoyal]

I don't know if I am experienced as you want. I started right before I got marrid. I looked it up. Took a nap and lucid. Forgot about it for a year (I had just gotten married ) had a random lucid and then decided to actually become an LDer. It took me about 45 days to get an LD after that. Then I had about 5 a month for 2 months after that. So 45 days. Or first try. Haha. The forty five days were crazy long and difficult. I read up as much stuff about LDing as I could and watched videos. Don't know how I didn't find this site till month 3. I had a lot of misinformation about LDing in my head when I finally got a hold of ETWOLD. That helped immensely more than anything else. So DV and ETWOLD are probably what had helped me the most. I made this thread mostly with the thought of helping those who can't induce LDs yet. But as Alucinor pointed out above, perhaps inducing isn't the problem for some people. Any and all experiences/advice is welcome

[billyboy1999]

I'm in the same book as azroller. I decided on WILD but I'm having second thoughts. I've only tried to have one once, I failed, then I was exhausted in the morning. I decided to spend a few days to work on my awareness and my recall, and I realized that most of the time when I wake up from dreams that I remember I naturally stay still with my eyes closed, so DEILDs seem like a better option. The problem is that I need to wake up at 7:30 for school, and that's when I naturally wake up so I wouldn't have enough time to DEILD before school.

[PennyRoyal]

I'm in the same book as azroller. I decided on WILD but I'm having second thoughts. I've only tried to have one once, I failed, then I was exhausted in the morning. I decided to spend a few days to work on my awareness and my recall, and I realized that most of the time when I wake up from dreams that I remember I naturally stay still with my eyes closed, so DEILDs seem like a better option. The problem is that I need to wake up at 7:30 for school, and that's when I naturally wake up so I wouldn't have enough time to DEILD before school. Man, I wish I could wake up without moving and my eyes closed. I can't help it, I don't even have a brief second to think about it. The minute I wake up, I shift my body and open my eyes.

[azoller1]

I can keep myself still its just the remembering part I guess, just repeat a mantra a lot before you go to sleep about staying still when you wake would be the best way to go

[Xanous]

I learned about lucid dreaming when I was 26. I think it took me about 2 months to have my first. I had a lot of doubts that it was real and was unsure if I could do it or not. But I persevered and stayed consistent. I was eventually rewarded. Dont think of it as being hard or easy. Just give it time and stick with one technique.

[JoannaB]

I learned lucid dreaming when I was around 18 or so. My main purpose of learning lucid dreaming original had been to have more flying dreams, but I had lots of trouble with dreams which I guess could be called lucid but only with the lowest level of lucidity: I dreamed often that I was floating, and would think to myself something like, yes, this is a dream but I can also float like this in real life, and there would not be any higher level of awareness. I don't remember any more how I overcame it, but I think it took some patience. Once I attained true lucidity though it was so completely worth it, so to anyone starting out for the first time, I say: hang in there - you won't regret that you did. Now I am in the weird boat of starting after many years of not practicing lucid dreaming, and I wonder how hard/easy it is going to be. So far I am having trouble with almost any dream recall at all, but I barely started, so I will not worry about it yet. Plus I know that worrying about it would not help, and in fact could hinder the process as stress is a common cause for problems attaining dream recall and lucidity. In fact, I wonder how many of the initial problems are due to us often trying too hard to attain the lucid dreaming goal. Luckily I have learned some more patience over the years, so I am more willing to wait patiently than I was at 18. Lol

[sisyphus]

I struggled with irregularity. One week I'd have 5 LDs and the next week none. I couldn't make a connection between my process and the results. It was frustrating. I would think I had made a breakthrough but then follow it up with a dryspell. I overcame this by realizing that I needed to be process-oriented over results-oriented. This was greatly inspired by the book Moneyball, which is about baseball, statistics, and the importance of efficiency in determining value. Basically, you can't focus too much on results over the short term. That's just statistical noise. You must trust the process. Stick with the process and the results will follow over the long term. This assumes that the process is well studied and proven. At least for MILD, I think there is a sufficient body of evidence and study to trust the process (from Stephen LaBerge's work). So I stopped sweating the ups and downs and trusted the process. I started enjoying my non-LDs as much as my LDs. And all on its own, my LDs increased.

[Darkmatters]

I struggled with irregularity. cue laxative commercial

[sisyphus]

cue laxative commercial I thought twice about using that word. Oh well. Happy to amuse.

[TheJester]

I struggled with irregularity. One week I'd have 5 LDs and the next week none. I couldn't make a connection between my process and the results. It was frustrating. I would think I had made a breakthrough but then follow it up with a dryspell. I overcame this by realizing that I needed to be process-oriented over results-oriented. This was greatly inspired by the book Moneyball, which is about baseball, statistics, and the importance of efficiency in determining value. Basically, you can't focus too much on results over the short term. That's just statistical noise. You must trust the process. Stick with the process and the results will follow over the long term. This assumes that the process is well studied and proven. At least for MILD, I think there is a sufficient body of evidence and study to trust the process (from Stephen LaBerge's work). So I stopped sweating the ups and downs and trusted the process. I started enjoying my non-LDs as much as my LDs. And all on its own, my LDs increased. To be honest, this is probably where I'm tripping myself at. I've been trying lucid dreaming for half a year now, and I have often found myself trying a technique, then a few days later going "no, this doesn't really feel like its working" and now that I've finally decided to start working hard at a consistent MILD schedule, my dreams suddenly are in more abundance and with more meaning to them, along with more obvious dreamsigns. I always thought I was patient, until recently when I realized that at times I was working too hard and any other time I was switching technique. Of course, now if I could just get myself to stick with ADA...

[Sensei]

To be honest, this is probably where I'm tripping myself at. I've been trying lucid dreaming for half a year now, and I have often found myself trying a technique, then a few days later going "no, this doesn't really feel like its working" and now that I've finally decided to start working hard at a consistent MILD schedule, my dreams suddenly are in more abundance and with more meaning to them, along with more obvious dreamsigns. I always thought I was patient, until recently when I realized that at times I was working too hard and any other time I was switching technique. Of course, now if I could just get myself to stick with ADA... ADA is pretty difficult, and it takes more to keep it and to get it going than others. I would recommend a different tech if you have trouble sticking to something. Try and fond something that you enjoy doing, makes sense to you, and fits in your schedule.

[TheJester]

ADA is pretty difficult, and it takes more to keep it and to get it going than others. I would recommend a different tech if you have trouble sticking to something. Try and fond something that you enjoy doing, makes sense to you, and fits in your schedule. Yeah, thats what I always try to do as best I can. My favorite technique, due to it's simplicity and effectiveness, would be WBTB, but unfortunately it's pretty difficult to fit than in my schedule. I think I'll probably keep up with ADA, it seems like almost everyone is talking about how well it works, and I think maybe the last time I was continually doing ADA I actually tried too hard at it and tired myself out. But yeah, since I'm in school, I think I really should try to work with MILD, I decided to seriously try it out on the 25th of last month, and the first night I did it I got the longest and most controlled LD I've ever had. The reason I'm trying to work with ADA is because for some reason right after that night on the 25th my awareness just... I don't even know, it's like I just "lost" all my awareness of my surroundings, and people generally seem to be saying that ADA is really great. I guess, really, it's not that I have trouble sticking to one technique or another, it's just that I absolutely constantly have an attitude of "Am I doing this right? Do I need to be doing something else?" which has been really getting to me. I think I just need to settle down and start trusting a technique and following it for a decent period of time.

[LucidSandman]

I was seriously into LDing about a year ago but I quit out of frustration. I got back into it after I had a LD out of the blue. I've only had 2 LDs and they were in close proximity. my point is that if you try to hard, you will not succeed. Also, I read in an article (yoshi's WILD guide I think) and it said that if you act like you are the LD master and that lucidity is the easiest thing on the world, it will truly be easier to achieve lucidity.

[Xanous]

Also, I read in an article (yoshi's WILD guide I think) and it said that if you act like you are the LD master and that lucidity is the easiest thing on the world, it will truly be easier to achieve lucidity. Being overconfident can be bad too. Lucid dreaming is all about balance.

[PennyRoyal]

I was seriously into LDing about a year ago but I quit out of frustration. I got back into it after I had a LD out of the blue. I've only had 2 LDs and they were in close proximity. How long did you try before you quit last year?

[LucidSandman]

How long did you try before you quit last year? About 2-3 months. all i would think about during the day would be LDing. I practically lived, ate and breathed LDing. Oh and I was so stubborn that I only practiced WILDing and i was doing it at the wrong times. I was so naive and uninformed then. I've moved on from that and now I'm doing ADA and to help with VILD/DILD.

[CPTCavDaddy]

I am 44. I am retired from the Army and Army Reserve, after serving in Desert Storm and Bosnia. I had PTSD nightmares / combat dreams for many years until I shut myself down from dreaming. It was easier for me to deal with not remembering any dreams at all, compared with the nightmares. About a year or two ago, I allowed my self to start dreaming again (really just allowed myself to start remembering again). After a while, I was enjoying the dreams I was having. I am not sure what caused me to buy it, but I ended up with LaBerge's book. LOVE IT! Shortly after reading the first few chapters, I was able to WILD at work - actually solving a problem I was working on. I am not sure how many LD's I have had at night. I am not real good at the dream journal thing. I have just enjoyed the freedom of knowing that any dream I have is a positive experience for me. I have even had a few combat dreams since reading the book, and they are much more enjoyable now that I know that I am in control. I can lead the mission to success and even stop the dream if things get out of control. I agree with Sandman...just let it happen, but act like you are in control. "The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit for doing them." - Benjamin Jowett