What changes should I make to my LD practice?

[kamenriderbaron]

I've been trying MILD for like the past year. I do reality checks during the day(once an hour, finger through palm) and when I do WBTB, I recite my mantra in my head. Though I notice it takes a long time for me to fall asleep while doing it. I haven't had any luck, so what can I do to change things?

[lenscaper]

Things that are making my MILDs pretty strong right now are: Spending a little time in hypnagogia after returning to bed. I have been letting dreams form a bit around me. Setting VERY strong intent. Tailoring my mantras to my feelings about what I may have missed in previous experiences. I have been setting my intentions very specifically each night and tying my mantras to those intentions.

[KingInYellow]

Try SSILD. I'm kinda a semi-natural, but I've been trying to purposely induce one for over a month with FILD and WILD and neither has worked. SSILD worked on the second attempt (the first attempt I practically gave up, I semi-gave up on the second but I did the technique well enough for something).

[lenscaper]

I agree with KingInYellow about SSILD. It has been the most productive method for me and it is the one I always return to as it lets me get good sleep even on nights when I don't quite get things right. The SSILD cycles make for a good meditation as well. You can even practice them during the day in most scenarios.

[Fly_by_Night]

It´s a good method, simple, elegant, easy to do. I fall asleep easily, and it would make me fall asleep faster...ji jiji jiji. But what I did is record a whole SSILD session with the mini, warm up cycles and 4 full cycles. Then I sit up in bed, at a WBTB and listen. Even when using it at regular bed time it has caused me to wake up during the night after sleep cycles.

[acillis]

I've been trying MILD for like the past year. I do reality checks during the day(once an hour, finger through palm) and when I do WBTB, I recite my mantra in my head. Though I notice it takes a long time for me to fall asleep while doing it. I haven't had any luck, so what can I do to change things? try my technique out brother https://www.dreamviews.com/attaining...then-wild.html

[kamenriderbaron]

For WBTB, I do like around 3hrs but am too tired to try it when I wake up. Any tips?

[lenscaper]

One thing I have learned with WBTB techniques is that you need to be getting enough good sleep beforehand. I'm thinking that you may still be in deep restorative sleep after 3 hours. Try adding a couple of hours to that. I get my best WBTB's after 6 hours. that's definitely when my REM cycle is peaking too. As an older oneironaut I see good sleep as a major factor in good dreaming.

[kamenriderbaron]

I study a lot so I feel like I should sleep around 12:30 at the latest

[oolally]

I definitely agree about needing to have had a lot of sleep. Not just before trying a WBTB that night, but also the nights leading up to it. If I've had a few nights of poor sleep, LDs are out for the next few nights as I focus on catching up on sleep. I guess I'm in too deep of a sleep to reach the critical mindset required for LDs. When you do SSILDs, would you practice MILD before that, i.e mantras + visualisations for a bit and then switch to SSILD? Or do you mix mantras with your SSILD somehow? I think I am reluctant sometimes to do SSILD on a WBTB as it doesn't feel like it's addressing my intention to LD and I don't want to waste the opportunity.

[lenscaper]

When you do SSILDs, would you practice MILD before that, i.e mantras + visualisations for a bit and then switch to SSILD? Or do you mix mantras with your SSILD somehow? I think I am reluctant sometimes to do SSILD on a WBTB as it doesn't feel like it's addressing my intention to LD and I don't want to waste the opportunity. I'm still working all this out but my SSILDs work best when I do not mix in other techniques. If I decide to use SSILD I just go through the cycles and then try to go back to sleep as quickly as possible I always go through a mantra when I first go to bed, even though I know I won't be getting lucid right away. That's when I fix my intention, though. I wake up naturally every night after around six hours of good sleep so I guess that's not a true WBTB because I am not interrupting the REM cycle. I get up and sit in the dark for a bit.......collect my thoughts and decide what technique will be best for how I am feeling. I have just now awakened from last night's journey. I had set a very strong LD intent but when I got up I could feel that it was not going to happen. I did my SSILD cycles anyway and then just let myself drift into a nice hypnagogic state until it was time to get up. One thing I have learned is that you just can't push this river.

[oolally]

Thanks lenscaper, inspiring advice as always. I too allow myself to wake up naturally, usually several times but I don't try WBTB techniques until it's about 5 or 6 hours into the night (by that time sunrise now). Maybe it'd be more effective to disrupt an REM cycle, but I'd rather not build a dependency on that and am happy to go this more natural, maybe slower, route. I love how SSILD is such an effective way of relaxing and clearing my mind - I used to have difficulty falling asleep with too many thoughts and it has helped that enormously. It's been great for improving my sleep, and as you said, that is an essential component of having lucid dreams. Gotta be well rested people to get results!