I'm confused about RCs...

For the past 3 days I've started doing a lot better at maintaining (self) awareness throughout the day, I try to do it as much as possible for as long as possible and it is getting easier, I combine this state of mind/technique with reality checks, among with other WILD/expectation/etc techniques, but I was wondering for how many days/weeks I have to do this until I start seeing some results (I had a little dream awareness before but didn't do a RC in the dream).
So I decided to look it up on the forum before making a new thread. And what I found was.. some people saying that reality checks have very, very little importance and they are only good for determining whether or not you are in a dream in the moment and you should work on more effective techniques like awareness, and some people saying that RCs are very important and they should be done mindfully and consistently throughout the day. So which one is it?.. Is there a right answer to this? :uhm:

I had success in the past doing RCs routinely throughout the day. I used to wear a digital watch then so it was pretty easy to do quick ones every hour. Now, however, I'm trying ADA and so far nothing, but it's been rough keeping up with it. I find myself forgetting about it quite often. I'm sure with work, however, that the effort will be worth it. Different things work for different people, so just be patient and experiment.

Just know that you can't know if something is working after just a week or two. These things can take months.

I think it depends, for some people it may be easier to just remember to RC rather than trying to keep up awareness all the time, but the important part is that if you choose to do that you still need to include awareness when you do the RC or in the dream you'll just blindly go about it and it probably won't work, and also it's better if you do multiple ones at a time. I try to do ADA but I know there are plenty of times that it's hard to maintain, especially when I'm busy or stressed. What I've been testing right now is to do an in depth step by step check whenever I realize that I'm not aware or when I see a dream sign.

I don't like most physical RCs so what I do first is check if I recognize my location. Then I check my memory to see if the past few minutes and my plans for the next few minutes makes sense. Then I may do a subtle physical RC, usually by looking at my hands or checking text if there's some nearby. After I've gone through all that I remind myself that even if all of that does make sense it could still be a dream so I try to maintain my awareness as long as possible afterwards just in case, and not just say "nah it's not a dream".

I've only been doing this for a few days but so far it's getting easier and I think it's a really good process to quickly and easily check reality and build up my awareness. It takes maybe like 30 seconds or a minute if you want to be diligent and I think it's subtle enough that I won't feel weird about it when I'm doing it because it's all mostly a thinking process and I'm not sitting there pinching my nose and trying to push through my hand. I feel like I'm more likely to do it even in public because with other RC's I can be a bit self conscious of others seeing it and would usually decide to go through it too quickly or skip it altogether if people were around. I'm hoping this method transfers over well into dreams because those would easily let you know if you're in a dream or not.

I think there might be a little misunderstanding. RCs alone won't be quite so helpful and definitely are not necessary for achieving lucidity. RCs have never made me lucid and they porbably never will - it has always been this seemingly random boost of awareness within my dreams. So I think what some people on the forum are saying is that RCs are good for stabilising and making sure that you are dreaming, BUT they ALSO present a great opportunity to boost your awareness. Personally I always become extremly aware of my environment and my impact on it everytime I perform a RC.

So I would advice you to definitely keep up your (self-)awareness exercises in order to increase your general level of it and hence the chance of becoming lucid. RCs however present a great addition to those practices but just RCs alone won't be nearly as helpful without any form of awareness-practice whatsoever - that's at least what I have experienced and heard from many others so far :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by benni

I think there might be a little misunderstanding. RCs alone won't be quite so helpful and definitely are not necessary for achieving lucidity. RCs have never made me lucid and they porbably never will - it has always been this seemingly random boost of awareness within my dreams. So I think what some people on the forum are saying is that RCs are good for stabilising and making sure that you are dreaming, BUT they ALSO present a great opportunity to boost your awareness. Personally I always become extremly aware of my environment and my impact on it everytime I perform a RC.

So I would advice you to definitely keep up your (self-)awareness exercises in order to increase your general level of it and hence the chance of becoming lucid. RCs however present a great addition to those practices but just RCs alone won't be nearly as helpful without any form of awareness-practice whatsoever - that's at least what I have experienced and heard from many others so far :)

---

Oh ok, I get it now, thanks, everyone else too.

RC's definitely made me lucid early on.... many times I thought I was awake and was surprised to discover i was dreaming. I think they are very important as an exercise in questioning you state even when you less frequently DIRECTLY become lucid through an RC.You instead just start realizing you are dreaming. But I think this ability is built on RC'S and they remain a great mental exercise.

Yea Id say RC's got me my first Lucid and they do help. But the real trick is that whatever you think will help you most- thats what will help you most. RC's are good for fresh beginners I feel, but if you really want to get Lucid dreams easy, try the Wake Back to Bed method. Its gives me Lucids 100% of the time. check it out I think youll be surprised on what you find out

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mimihigurashi

...I was wondering for how many days/weeks I have to do this until I start seeing some results (I had a little dream awareness before but didn't do a RC in the dream).

---

It really warries. It can be on your first day, or few days or weeks down the road. But you say you had some awareness. So I would say it's already working.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mimihigurashi

... some people saying that reality checks have very, very little importance and they are only good for determining whether or not you are in a dream in the moment and you should work on more effective techniques like awareness, and some people saying that RCs are very important and they should be done mindfully and consistently throughout the day. So which one is it?.. Is there a right answer to this? :uhm:

---

Yes, there is.

Some people may say that RCs are not important, because they misunderstood their function.

It is true, that RCs by themself don't get us lucid. But if done right during daytime practice, they DO get us lucid. By "right", I mean they can't be just done absentmindedly. If you just recite them without thinking what you doing and without attaching any emotions to them, then they will not work. What may happen is, that you will RC in your dream, but it will be just like anything else you do in a dream, and it will not get you lucid.

But if you attach emotions to it, and you examine your surroundings and believe that you could be dreaming at that very moment, and that's why your RCs will work, then this awareness of your surroundings and you believing WILL give you hint of awareness and may trigger an urge to RC.

So yes, RCs are crucial part of lucid dreamers practice.

http://www.dreamviews.com/wild/13181...prep-part.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/13212...ods-dilds.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...hecks-rcs.html

Happy dreams and please ask if we can help with anything.

^^ Just to add one more thought to Gab's excellent post above:

I have been actively LD'ing for decades, have enjoyed many thousands of LD's, and to the best of my memory I have never become lucid by doing a RC during a non-lucid dream. Not once. And yet I practice them regulary and sincerely to this day. Why? Because I think that the real value of state tests (aka RC's) lies not in doing them in your dreams, but in waking life. To take a moment and really ask yourself if this is a dream is a powerful tool, even if you never RC in a dream.

have you seen this? =>How to Lucid Dream - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

it gives me a very basic things about how we should do RC

That's great, thanks for all the answers, really helped :thanks: