Unsuccessful at lucid dreaming please help

[Zephan]

I am a beginner at lucid dreaming. I only discovered conscious dreaming a few weeks ago. I have been trying to consciously dream but have been unsuccessful. I perform several RCs each day and go to sleep thinking about becoming aware in my dreams. I listen to sleep sounds which has helped me to remember all my dreams. I have several dreams every night. But lately every dream has been a bad dream, zombies, bear attacks, bullies, monsters, etc. every night I have multiple night terrors. Normally I wouldn't mind in fact I enjoy night terrors just as much as any other dream but the fact that I can't dream of anything else makes me more desperate than ever to learn to control my dreams or dream reentery so I can find out the meaning. Why do I only have bad dreams? What are they trying to tell me? Or is it random? I've tried listen to different sleep sounds to see if it would help but it hasn't. I started pursuing my dreams so I could use them to better my life and become more spiritually connected. I new it would be difficult and fully expect years of training but I thought that I would at least have been able to become aware by now. I know that even once you become aware it is difficult to stay in the dream and stay aware. But I read that just reading about lucid dreaming can cause a lucid dream. I am frustrated. It has been several weeks and I have been completely unsuccessful. Please help. I do not want to revert to using drugs. I want to do this naturally.

[tofur]

What awareness training are you doing? It's a staple of dream yoga, and those buddhists have been at it for a very long time. Becoming more present, grounded, and self aware will lead to being more present in your dreams. My first lucid came after a few weeks of vipassana meditation and I didn't know anything about lucid dreaming at that point, and had never had one before. Don't put much stock in reality checks done while awake. Just my opinion, but they are most useful when confirming that you are in fact dreaming, once you're aware in a dream. It can be really convincing and you can be not fully lucid, a reality check is what brings full lucidity in. The only use they have in waking life is to get you to be present/aware.

[Rothgar]

I am a beginner at lucid dreaming. I only discovered conscious dreaming a few weeks ago. I have been trying to consciously dream but have been unsuccessful. I perform several RCs each day and go to sleep thinking about becoming aware in my dreams. I listen to sleep sounds which has helped me to remember all my dreams. I have several dreams every night. But lately every dream has been a bad dream, zombies, bear attacks, bullies, monsters, etc. every night I have multiple night terrors. Normally I wouldn't mind in fact I enjoy night terrors just as much as any other dream but the fact that I can't dream of anything else makes me more desperate than ever to learn to control my dreams or dream reentery so I can find out the meaning. Why do I only have bad dreams? What are they trying to tell me? Or is it random? I've tried listen to different sleep sounds to see if it would help but it hasn't. I started pursuing my dreams so I could use them to better my life and become more spiritually connected. I new it would be difficult and fully expect years of training but I thought that I would at least have been able to become aware by now. I know that even once you become aware it is difficult to stay in the dream and stay aware. But I read that just reading about lucid dreaming can cause a lucid dream. I am frustrated. It has been several weeks and I have been completely unsuccessful. Please help. I do not want to revert to using drugs. I want to do this naturally. I know I had good success reading Stephen LaBerge's book "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming". It is a good concise starter book, and covers the basics. I think just reading it got me in the right frame of mind.

[Zephan]

What awareness training are you doing? It's a staple of dream yoga, and those buddhists have been at it for a very long time. Becoming more present, grounded, and self aware will lead to being more present in your dreams. My first lucid came after a few weeks of vipassana meditation and I didn't know anything about lucid dreaming at that point, and had never had one before. Don't put much stock in reality checks done while awake. Just my opinion, but they are most useful when confirming that you are in fact dreaming, once you're aware in a dream. It can be really convincing and you can be not fully lucid, a reality check is what brings full lucidity in. The only use they have in waking life is to get you to be present/aware. The only awareness training I am doing is meditation from the learn to meditate app, which I am not doing daily and know I should as I have a hard time finding time and mostly a peaceful place for it without distractions, and the daily RC. I started reading a book called conscious dreaming by Robert moss but didn't find it very informational and would love some suggestions on what books to read about dreaming or being more aware as that is also my goal is spiritual awareness.

[ThreeCat]

The only awareness training I am doing is meditation from the learn to meditate app, which I am not doing daily and know I should as I have a hard time finding time and mostly a peaceful place for it without distractions, and the daily RC. I started reading a book called conscious dreaming by Robert moss but didn't find it very informational and would love some suggestions on what books to read about dreaming or being more aware as that is also my goal is spiritual awareness. Stay away from Robert Moss. Not at all helpful. Check out LaBerge (EWOLD) and then read the book by Daniel Love (Are you Dreaming?) and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep). Those are my top picks.

[Sunfire]

How do your nightmares end?

[Barry]

Keep practicing 'Wake back to bed' or 'Mild', they are the most easiest methods In my opinion. There are many good guides on how to do these in the Attaining lucidity section. Basically to do 'wake back to bed', set your alarm after 6 hours of sleep, get out of bed and do something for 10-20 minutes and go back to sleep while thinking of becoming lucid. Do that every night and I guarantee by November you will have a lucid dream. In my opinion meditation is pointless, being relaxed does not in any way mean you will have a lucid dream. I don't think anyone will get more spiritually connected by having a lucid dream though, but it is incredibly fun. Oh and just say no brother!

[FryingMan]

Listen to the recommendations to read LaBerge. I would start only with LaBerge (ETWOLD and ACILD, ACILD is very valuable because it summarizes all activities into step-by-step exercises) and start doing MILD after you build dream recall , and only after you have had a handfuls of LDs that way would I move on to other more "esoteric" (non-LaBerge) approaches. Mindfulness is wonderful and I love it, but it only made sense to me after a few dozen LDs and hundreds upon hundreds of non-lucids -- you have to get to that point where you just know deep down inside that at any time you're conscious, you could be dreaming. Everyone's different though, perhaps mindfulness for some can come sooner. But still start with LaBerge, it's all you need to get lucid.

[tofur]

Keep practicing 'Wake back to bed' or 'Mild', they are the most easiest methods In my opinion. There are many good guides on how to do these in the Attaining lucidity section. Basically to do 'wake back to bed', set your alarm after 6 hours of sleep, get out of bed and do something for 10-20 minutes and go back to sleep while thinking of becoming lucid. Do that every night and I guarantee by November you will have a lucid dream. In my opinion meditation is pointless, being relaxed does not in any way mean you will have a lucid dream. I don't think anyone will get more spiritually connected by having a lucid dream though, but it is incredibly fun. Oh and just say no brother! lol, meditation and relaxation are not the same thing. I think you need to get educated on the subject before you label it useless, Buddhists have been utilizing the dream state to further their spiritual practice/attain enlightenment for thousands of years. Thousands, let that number sink in. If awareness work didn't help they would have tossed it aside by now, that's how they do things.

[Voldmer]

Stay away from Robert Moss. Not at all helpful. I think you are being too hard on Robert Moss; arguably he's not the guy to read for lucid dreaming, since he is opposed to taking charge in lucid dreams - instead favouring the "learn what the dream has to teach" approach. But for anyone whose objectives go beyond merely treating lucid dreams like a magical playground, Moss has a lot of very good ideas. But I think your warning is quite appropriate for beginners in lucid dreaming (including the OP).

[ThreeCat]

@Voldmer: What are some of these ideas? I missed them when I read Active Dreaming. Seemed more like neo-feel-good-Shamanism than lucid dreaming. Robert Waggoner does not promote control either, per se, but at least his book seemed to be about what it is that we all do? As opposed to drum beats and conjuring up the ghost of Emerson.

[Voldmer]

@Voldmer: What are some of these ideas? I missed them when I read Active Dreaming. Seemed more like neo-feel-good-Shamanism than lucid dreaming. Robert Waggoner does not promote control either, per se, but at least his book seemed to be about what it is that we all do? As opposed to drum beats and conjuring up the ghost of Emerson. Aw that's unfair ... now I have to remember what he actually wrote! [... going for the book shelf ...] I haven't read "Active Dreaming", but I did read "Dreamgates", which was quite delightful, and "Conscious dreaming", which was rather tedious (as I recall). In Dreamgates, he addresses the following: Travelling in time to experience distant parts of ones own life Interacting/travelling with a guide on a higher plane Magical/spiritual initiation Inspiring creative work through dreams Healing through dreams Interacting with/helping the dead Coming to terms with death through dreams Preparing for the next life/exploring earlier lives Communicating with ones higher self Meeting extra-terrestials (and fairies and elves too). I think that just about covers it for that book. And, as for the shamanism you are completely right - there is definitely a shamanism-approach behind all his ideas.