When should I start trying to LD?

[PierceHerVeil]

Hello (: I started practicing my Dream recall skills yesterday by making a dream journal and doing reality checks every hour. If I keep this up everyday how long should I wait until I start actually trying to do lucid dream methods? Before I went to sleep last night I told myself "I will remember my dreams" and when I woke up I didn't remember anything... But about 5 mins later *BAMM* I start remembering bits and peices about my dream so I grabbed my dream journal , start writing down every little detail, than everything just started to fall into place.

[sparkley]

You could start anytime! Anytime you feel like it! But I'd personally start now, it takes a while to get your first lucid.. For me it took 2 weeks and others, about a month. But yeah, try anytime you feel comfortable. P.S I like your name, and that band

[PierceHerVeil]

Thanks! I'll start when I get home today ;3 I love that band also and many others c:

[FryingMan]

LaBerge recommends waiting until you can remember at least one dream a night for 7-10 nights in a row. Developing recall is so critical to LDing, and is so much fun in its own right to remember dreams from all night long, that starting by just concentrating on building your recall, keeping a journal, learning how you sleep and fall back asleep, etc., is quite enough to start with. Personally, I'd recommend reading ETWOLD by LaBerge (google it) while you're working on recall (and his A Course In Lucid Dreaming which organizes all the techniques into a very clear step-by-step progression of exercises). You'll learn about reality checks, prospective memory exercises, willpower exercises, reflection/intention, etc. Read through these books while you're working on developing your recall, and then once you can recall at least one dream per night for 7-10 days in a row, then you'll be all ready to continue with the other exercises focusing on producing lucid dreams.

[Maxis]

In my opinion, now is actually okay. FryingMan is right that you should probably work on your dream recall first, but...Well, firstly I think 7-10 is a little bit high, but maybe that's just my personal opinion (or my bad dream recall in general, I'm lucky if I can remember 4 dreams in one night). Honestly, I don't see the harm in starting now if you're able to put a lot on your plate (what I mean is, improving your dream recall and trying to lucid dream at the same time). Some people can't, the experience might be a little overwhelming at first, but if you're willing to put in the extra effort, start whenever you want. Just don't get discouraged if you end up lucid dreaming and you have a hard time remembering it or if you're a bit lost on being able to control the dream. In fact, I believe getting a lucid dream now increases your chances of being able to do it later (the more you lucid dream, the more you lucid dream later, y'know? Not always true, but with the exception of dry spells which happen to everyone, you shouldn't be having lucid dreams and then suddenly drop to zero when your recall is improved). The choice is yours, really.

[FryingMan]

No no, *one* dream per night minimum, *for 7-10 nights in a row*.

[NeoGC]

Frankly, you can start any time you want. I myself have "reset" over periods of not focusing on L.Dreaming and I'm in another one of those "Slumps" where Friends, family, girlfriend, work, school, and so on drain me out of all my energy that when I actually go to sleep I end up not being awake enough to focus on a LD. So, I just sort of try to remember to try it any time I can. As others have mentioned, your best bet right now is to focus on dream recall. Get a digital (Cellphone or website) or physical dream journal, and keep it right by your bedside or right underneath your bed and record everything you possibly can in the vividest detail possible the moment you wake up. Doing this will help you remember dreams exponentially. For instance, I don't seem to 'dream' a lot anymore, and probably getting into LD again will help them become more frequent. I find however that the dreams that I recorded in my journal way back when seem to still be easy to remember to this very day, while the ones I don't get forgotten within a couple of hours or so.