For a while now, i've been trying to figure out what the hell I do to get lucid and stay that way (often for full nights) so often. Or, at least a good degree of semi-lucid. (using this technique results in semi as often or more often then full lucid). But thats A okay. The thing I find most troubleing always about people who are staring out into lucid dreaming is the amount of statwhoring taking place. The things people seem to care most about is how lucid they get, how often they get lucid, on a scale from one to ten, how much can/have they do in their dreams? This is all instead of things that really bring value to them like how much they enjoy the dream. When trying techniques (specially' WILD) I want you to let go of all that need for lucidity. In the middle of some induction technique, I don't want you to check if its worked yet and if you are in a LD yet. NO! BAD! You'll know if you LDed in the morning. No need to check now. One foot in front of the other and don't look back.
Instead, concentrate on making the dream interesting/entertaining/insightful/whatever floats your boat. As long as you keep changing and controling the dream to fit these criteria, you can retain lucidity without ever thinking of actual lucidity as a subject. As many of you may notice, that lets you avoid many of the evil mental paradoxes. Note: this will generally keep it at semi-lucidity. Generally about 70-80% lucidity. This means that you will have high to full control over your surroundings (perhaps even more then normal lucids due to lack of paradoxes) However, many things will affect you as they would in real life. You make some decisions as if you were dealing with real people instead of DCs. For example, raping someone might not be your first option.
Now, my favorite induction tech is a WILD. To spark it, I use something from my memory. This is what I know best, what can be portrayed most vividly and what is easiest to get lost into. Something that works like a charm is your memories of other dreams. These can get you into a dream faster then you would beleive. Other things include places you've been, movies you've seen, games you've played. Anything you can pull up in your mind's eye quickly. So, first you pick your memory.
In that memory you probably have an anchor point. This is the stongest portion of the memory and everything should sort of spread out from there. If could be an image in your mind, a place, an event, something that was said etc. You want to try to use that anchor in all its pre-constructed glory to build your dream. If that sounds liek gibbreish, just pick some part of the memory that you like best or that you feel you can hold onto the strongest.
Now, get to bed. Whatever relaxing you need, whatever you do normally when WILDing, do it. Here you will spark your dream off by channeling an idea through your anchor. Its generally easy to find a situation that can relate to your anchor. For example, if your anchor is a shiny red sports car then you could imagine a road trip or a race through some interessting terrain such as mountains or if your memory is of somebody telling you their experiences on vacation then you can immagine being there with them. Remember that the dream is liable to change course soon after you start so choosing a topic shouldn't be too much of a hassle. And here is the point where you stop thinking LD and start solely about yourself and your actions in the dream.
It is important to be involved in your dream at the start. Be sure to determine all of your actions and perhaps even to reactions of others to an extent. It helps to to do something to make someone react in a certain way. Continue building into your dream and continueing it. Never check if its worked yet. Doing so is liable to make it not work. You'll know in the end. Visualize as you go. Stronger memories means an easier base for visualizations. You can even relive a memory that you have then change what you do later on.
If all goes well, you should slip off into a lucid/semi lucid.
If something goes really wrong and you fail with this technique, don't try again in the same night. Its liable to simply fail again from mistrust.
Hope this helps someone. It took a while to type up. And even though I pretty much went over my life story of lucid dreaming (lol) the real main point I wanna get accross is don't stat whore.
Anyways, this is the best way I could represent what I do each night to try to get into my good dreams. Sorry if it doesn't work for all.
