Thread: DILD - Dream Initiated Lucid Dream

Dream Initiated Lucid Dream - DILD
Basic Tutorial for Beginners

What

DILD is one of the two main induction methods that you can use to get a Lucid Dream.
The main difference between DILD and another main induction method called WILD:

DILD - you go to sleep normally. Then when in a dream, you realize you are dreaming.
WILD - you let your body fall asleep while you keep your mind aware, until dream is ready and you enter it without losing consciousness.

How

As I mentioned above, you have a DILD, when having a regular dream and you suddenly realize that you are dreaming.
In order to realize that, we have to teach our minds to ask a question "Am I dreaming?" when in a dream.

This is done by asking the same question during day. While doing this, believe that you are in a dream.

1. During the day, no matter what you are doing, stop and ask yourself "Am I dreaming"?
2. Look around. Examine your surroundings. Does everything look the way it should?
3. Ask yourself how you got there. What have you been doing 5 minutes ago? And before that?
   
   Now it's time to do a Reality Check (RC), and a mantra (simple phrase that you repeat).
   
   There are many different RCs and mantras that you can chose from, or you can make your own.
   
   For this example I will use the classic "looking at hands" RC with mantra.
4. Bring your hands up to chest level and look at your palms.
5. Examine them. Do they look as they normally do? Count your fingers. Don't presume how many you have.
6. Say "Next time I'm dreaming, I look at my hands and realize I'm dreaming."
7. Put your hands down, bring them back up and repeat RC with mantra a few times.
   
   It doesn't really matter how many times you do it. What matters is that you believe that you could be in a dream, you just don't know it yet. Don't, at any point, think to yourself "No, I'm not dreaming."
8. Repeat above steps when you are sitting on your bed ready to go to sleep.
9. As you are falling asleep, repeat your mantra only.

It would be best if this mantra is the last thought you have just before you fall asleep.
If it keeps you awake, start falling asleep normally and say your mantra when you are close to falling asleep.
Or say it a few times, then just go to sleep normally.

Pretty soon this behavior starts happening in your regular dreams and you will gain awareness and become lucid.

How soon, that's different for everybody. It could be tonight, or in a few weeks or in a month.

It really helps if you are excited about the prospect of having the greatest adventure you can imagine,
and if you know that you will, without any doubt.

Additional RCs you can add to/replace the "looking at hands" RC. It's good to do at least 2-3 different RCs at the time. Pick your favorites or make up your own.

1. Looking at hands + Counting fingers
2. Nose plug
3. Thumb/palm
4. Gravity
5. Try to change something
6. Switches
7. Reading

1. In Waking Life (IWL) Look at your hands, palms up and notice details. Count your fingers. In dream, look at your hands. Do they look normal (color, shape, size, can you make your finger longer?) Count your fingers. Do you have the right amount? This is a good RC, because your hands are always there, IWL and in a dream and you can practice this discretely.

2. IWL - pinch your nose shut with your hand and try to breathe. If you can breathe, you are in a dream. Also a good RC, because your nose is always there, little less discrete to practice.

3. IWL - Try to gently push your thumb through a palm of your other hand. Pay attention to the sensation. Anticipate, that it will go through. In dream, do the same. If it goes through, you are dreaming. Good RC also because you don't have to go and look for them and quite discrete to practice.

4. IWL - Say, "If this was a dream, I could levitate" and expect to float up. Do the same in a dream. Good RC, you can do it anywhere and totally discrete.

5. IWL - look at something and say "if this was a dream, that [something] would be [something else]. You can think of an item being some other item, or try to change color, size, movement... It's fun and it transfers into your dream very well. Don't forget to use emotions when doing it - be sure you are in a dream, so the thing will change.

6. Try to turn on a light switch. In a dream, flipping a switch usually won't do anything. But people do report that they can turn on lights in a dream. And if there is no light switch near in a dream, you would have to look for one and waste your time.

7. Try to read. In a dream, you can read, but when you take a second look, it will say something different, or gibberish. Also time on a clock may have letters instead of numbers. But it can also look correct. And you have to find a clock in a dream before you can do RC.

What you just read is a basic practice, that is perfectly capable to give you a LD tonight.

You can of course read more and expand on your knowledge and apply your own ideas, so it works for you the best it can.


More about awareness
Self-awareness by Sageous
All day awareness by KingYoshi
Dream Yoga by Sivason
Collection of techniques for DILD