About to give up on Lucid Dreaming? Don't.

I've been practicing lucid dreaming now for about 6 months, and I just wanted to share my experience so far, because I totally understand the frustration with lucid dreaming. There are a TON of articles and videos about 'lucid dreaming TONIGHT' and the fastest way to have lucid dreams, and 'Have a lucid dream. Guaranteed'. Like a lot of people new to lucid dreaming, I tried all of these, and even had some success with some short lucid dreams within a few weeks. But I really think all of the awesome things you hear about in lucid dreaming, are gonna take some time. Time for your brain to adjust and time to figure out what works best for you. The best advice I've seen online so far is to compare it to learning piano. Sure you can try one of those 'learn piano in a week' lessons, but it's not really gonna be that rewarding, and the novelty of playing the one piece you learned in a week will wear off quickly, and you'll walk away thinking that playing piano was really not that fun or worth it. I really think it just takes time, months and months, and also a lot of experimenting with different techniques and affirmations.

I'm starting to have some success, not a ton, and where as before I was spending a lot of time practicing and being very disciplined and rigid about my reality checks, journals, affirmations, and WBTB, etc etc etc., I've backed off trying so hard. I still do my reality checks, and practice awareness, and affirmations before bed, and journal, just not as rigid. If I forget to do 1 or all of them some days, no big deal.

Here's what my 6 months have looked like so far:

1st couple of months: Several dreams about the topic of lucid dreaming, but not becoming lucid. Some dreams about failed reality checks. A few very short lucid dreams with successful reality checks, but then waking up from excitement, or losing lucidity and going back to regular dream state.

Next couple of months: A little bit of a dry spell, with some very short lucid moments. Definitely a frustrating time. I almost quit.

Last couple of months: Had my first flying lucid dream, and my first lucid dream with my dream guide. Neither were super long, but still good progress!


So don't give up. I was just like you, and it does get better!

Your topic title worked perfectly as clickbait; I was about to convince you not to quit lucid dreaming after half-reading the title, until I read the post :D

Seriously, you make a great point. Especially the comparison to learning piano strikes right on the mark in my opinion. I have started learning guitar 6 months ago and have been playing on a daily basis since the day I bought it; going through this process was a revelation in terms of insight on how we learn. Structured (not necessarily very strict, but goal oriented and with a clear view on what you try to learn) and consistent practice has an amazing power I did not realize until experiencing it. Applying that to lucid dreaming will likely have a similar effect, as with any skill.

I feel like the most effective techniques for lucid dreaming are somewhat lesser known and perhaps underrated. Most of the well known techniques rely on tricking yourself into the realisation that you're dreaming, but I think being successful with these techniques involves a large element of luck and a lot of conscious effort. In a sense, your concious mind is kind of fighting against your subconscious mind to become lucid.

I think a more effective approach is to get your conscious and subconscious mind to work together. The HILD technique is one such means of doing this (self-hypnosis). It's simple and doesn't take long to do, but you need to take it seriously and set aside 30 minutes or so to actually do it. When it's successful, I've found that lucidity just happens naturally without the need for tricks; I just know that I'm dreaming. In my case, the lucid dream usually occurs the night after the hypnosis.

When I first learned about lucid dreaming back in 2005, I had my first lucid dream within five days thanks to the HILD technique. A few months later, I was having one or two lucid dreams per week without much effort.

I don't want to downplay the more common techniques too much. It's definitely worth knowing the signs of a dream, knowing how to perform a reality check, etc. and I often found myself using these techniques, but usually just for confirmation after becoming lucid rather than to induce lucidity in the first place.

Speaking more generally, I think it helps a lot to have a strong enthusiasm for dreaming in general, a strong desire to lucid dream and plenty of patience. When I first heard of lucid dreaming in 2005, I could hardly stop thinking about dreams, yet I never felt like I was in a rush to experience one (I was expecting it could take months for my first one).

I just saw this thread right after I posted a similar one, "1 Year Later," and it seems we are having similar experiences. I have also switched to a more casual approach to lucid dreaming and always make sure to do affirmations before bed. I read something similar to the piano analogy and that's what changed my view on lucid dreaming to something that takes time rather than something that just requires a technique. It's interesting to see how my experience is turning out similar to yours, although you seem to be progressing quicker than me.

Our experiences are very similar Astrok. A couple things I wanted to ask you, to see if you having similar experiences with, are you having any luck with WBTB or WILD, if you have tried either? With WBTB, I've had some success, mostly when I wake up on my own versus an alarm, and then stay up for awhile meditating, doing MILD, or reading about lucid dreaming. I have not have not had any success with WILD, or WILD-type techniques. I have been able to see the first stage of hypnagogic images, but I fall asleep before they turn into distinct objects or a dream scene.

2 things that I continue to work through are consistency with becoming lucid, and recognizing dream signs. I have only become lucid spontaneously, never from having recognized a dream sign, particularly dream characters (old friends and family) and dream locations (like classrooms, malls, airports), even though they have repeatedly shown up in my dreams. Maybe I'll recognize them in the near futures. I might be having some recent success with recognizing my bedroom and becoming lucid. Mostly though, I have become lucid when I am alone in a dream, so I am trying MILD inductions like "I will be alone the next time I dream". The repetitiveness of dreams where I am by myself is very inconsistent.

Looking forward to hearing your experiences, or anyone else's experiences, with what I mentioned above.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MartinB

I think a more effective approach is to get your conscious and subconscious mind to work together. The HILD technique is one such means of doing this (self-hypnosis). It's simple and doesn't take long to do, but you need to take it seriously and set aside 30 minutes or so to actually do it. When it's successful, I've found that lucidity just happens naturally without the need for tricks; I just know that I'm dreaming. In my case, the lucid dream usually occurs the night after the hypnosis.

---

Hypnosis is a great idea. It definitely makes sense. I have an old hypnosis tape I'm going to use now. Do you think a 20 minute hypnosis session is enough if performed daily, and does it matter what time of the day you do it? I am thinking of doing it in the morning but i'm wondering if it might be better at bedtime.

WBTB is effective for me since all (I think) of my lucids were after it. I always combine WILD with WBTB and I feel I could be successful with it, but the dream just doesn't seem to come. I don't attempt WILD frequently because intentions need to be well set and motivation high - something hard to do with a busy schedule. I stick with the DILD techniques because I believe they fit my lifestyle the best and could allow me to have consistent lucids without much effort.

Lucid dreaming is weird, though, because most of my lucids have come when I've just had a kind of feeling that I know I will lucid dream tonight, but it's not exactly like that. It's hard to describe but I imagine this feeling is the key to lucid dreaming for me and, possibly, many others. I've tried to recreate this feeling many times with no success. One way I've tried is by using a mantra - "I can lucid dream." I've used this for about a month now but had no success recently so I'm not sure it's working. I guess this all boils down to something probably well know with experienced lucid dreamers - it's all about the mindset. Of course I could be wrong about this, but this is my take on it so far I wonder if experienced lucid dreamers think something similar. though, because most of my lucids have come when I've just had a kind of feeling that I know I will lucid dream tonight, but it's not exactly like that. It's hard to describe but I imagine this feeling is the key to lucid dreaming for me and, possibly, many others. I've tried to recreate this feeling many times with no success. One way I've tried is by using a mantra - "I can lucid dream." I've used this for about a month now but had no success recently so I'm not sure it's working. I guess this all boils down to something probably well know with experienced lucid dreamers - it's all about the mindset. Of course I could be wrong about this, but this is my take on it so far and I wonder if experienced lucid dreamers think something similar.