Thread: Multiple Induction Technique (MIT)

Multiple Induction Technique

Hi everyone! I've gotten some questions in the past about how how I attain lucidity so I figured I'd give it its own thread for all to see. The key that a lot of people seem to overlook when trying to get lucid is that you don't have to stick to any one method. You don't have to go all out on your ADA, or just go for that WBTB/WILD combo. Instead, expand your horizons and include all the techniques! Ok, not all, but more than one or two.

A quick glance at the various induction techniques will give you some ideas as to how you can get lucid, but once you look a little deeper and read up on what each method is and how it works, you'll start to notice some similarities and synergies between the various techniques. My list that I use is as follows:

*Keep in mind this is along with the basics, such as keeping a dream journal*

SAT/ADA - Sporadic Awareness Technique/All Day Awareness
DILD - Dream Induced Lucid Dream
MILD - Mnemonic/Mantra Induced Lucid Dream
WBTB - Wake Back to Bed
WILD - Wake Induced Lucid Dream
DEILD - Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream

This tutorial will be most beneficial to the somewhat experienced lucid dreamers, or those who have experimented with techniques and know what works well for them, such as any mantras for MILD, experience with WILD, as well as WBTBs. I won't go into great detail on how to perform each technique, but I will include what I've found works best. HOWEVER! There is still a ton of information for dreamers of every level, so even if you just found out what lucid dreaming is, it should still be worth a read. Until you get some experience with each technique, though, I very highly suggest people just starting out to stick to one method, or at least a basic WBTB/X combination. Once you get a feel for each of the various ways to get lucid you can really start combining these techniques and get the most out of it.

SAT/ADA

Let's get started, shall we? This is the bulk of your waking-life practice for lucid dreaming. You can do one or the other, but again, I find that a combination of the two works best. I spend 5-10 minutes on SAT each day, often during breaks at work or between classes, but any time you can devote to this is well worth it. Spend this time focusing on all your surroundings and each one of your senses. From how your clothes feel, to the ambient noises around you. This is your burst of awareness training, aiding you in becoming 100% aware of everything going on around you, as well as within yourself.

I tone down the ADA bit since doing both at full bore can really burn you out, but if you find ADA works better then SAT, feel free to put more effort into it. ADA is exactly what it stands for: all day awareness. For the other ~16 hours you're awake you still want to be aware of your surroundings. You don't want to rely on less than 1% of your day making that much of an impact. So for the rest of the day, put a small amount of effort into noticing the little things that go on around you, such as what else is going on on your screen while you read this. That banner at the top of the site - have you ever really paid attention to it? Have you noticed both moons, or how one half is mirrored at the bottom of the site, too? These are the little things you want to notice, but again, don't wear yourself out. As you get used to being more aware throughout the day, you can up the ante a bit and try noticing more, but don't hurt yourself .

DILD

DILD is one of the so called "back-up plans" of these techniques. When all else fails, when your WILD fizzles and your alarm doesn't go off for your WBTB, DILD is what you fall back on for that chance at getting lucid. DILD is, from my experience, the least reliable of these methods. It works for a lot of people, and my first lucid dream was a DILD, but I find that it's tough to get a consistent flow of lucids from it. But when you can't quite get that DEILD down, the DILD coin flip may just throw you into a lucid instead.

There are many ways to have DILDs. In fact, ADA and SAT are forms of DILD, but I'm talking about the classic, old-fashioned technique. This is where the basics come in. That dream journal you've been keeping for the past few days/weeks? Read through it. Look for similarities and connections between your dreams. Find your dream signs. Then, when going about your daily life, your ADA/SAT will help you notice those dream signs. And when you see that store from your dreams or that strange looking animal from the night before, perform a reality check. And I don't mean plug your nose, breathe, and give up after two seconds. I mean plug your nose, focus on how your nose feels and how the world around you feels. Perform a mini SAT for just a few seconds while you do your reality check. If you take away one thing from this tutorial, make it be this: Take time with your RCs. If you do a half-assed job when you're awake, you're not going to put in any effort in your dreams, and you may end up missing it. I've experienced this disappointment first hand, waking up from your dream, remembering looking at your hands and seeing seven fingers on one hand, and shrugging it off. "Eh, looks about right." It's not so right now that you're awake, is it? Always put effort into your RCs. It only takes 10-15 seconds, so make them count.

In addition to reality checks and dream signs aiding in DILD, just thinking about lucid dreams during the day helps tremendously. A small percentage of your day is involved in your dreams for that night. When you increase the amount of time spent being around lucid dreams in one way or another, you're more likely to have them included in your dreams for that night, and thus more likely to become lucid. Now if you can't spend hours each day reading up on lucid dreaming, or if you're just not motivated to spend a ton of time on Dreamviews each day, that's OK. It's not the end of the world. If you find yourself tight on time for lucid dreaming, cut this part first, as it will not have a huge impact on your success. But hey, you love it here, right? Riiiiight?

MILD

And now for what I feel to be the most well rounded induction technique: the MILD. When I say well rounded I mean fairly consistent, successful, and easy to perform. I've had a lot of success with it, and even talked about it in one of the Dreamviews podcasts, so much so that I perform two MILDs over the course of this induction technique cycle. One while falling asleep for the first time, and then again when paired with a WBTB. For the first one each night, I do a more relaxed, simplified version since it's likely been a long day and I just want to enjoy the comfort of my bed. I'm sure many of you are in the same boat. For those who don't know, MILD is repeating a mantra related to lucid dreaming, or any self-suggestion accompanied with falling asleep. This means saying something as simple as "I will lucid dream" over and over while you fall asleep. In your head, mind you; don't say it out loud or you'll never get to sleep . But remember that the first mantra for the night should be short, sweet, and to the point. You don't want to keep yourself up.

Now, what should you say while falling asleep? Just, "I will lucid dream?" Well, this is where you get to be as creative as you like. You could just repeat "Lucid dream," or even go a step further and just repeat "LD" over and over, but I find that these can be too simple at times. You also don't want to go "I will recognize my dream signs and perform this reality check and then go fly and complete the task of the month!" You'll just never get to sleep. Any place in the middle with a quick, succinct message that gets the point across. Keep it affirmative and be confident in what you say. Some phrases include "I will recognize I'm dreaming" or "I will get lucid tonight." Basically, anything that includes your goal that's not overly complicated. You don't want to keep yourself awake, but you also want it to be effective.

As stated, I find that two MILDs, the second with a WBTB, works best. But give the second one a bit more substance behind it. If you start with "I will lucid dream" perhaps add a small goal with it, such as "I will get lucid and fly," or any other goal you're trying to achieve. Because of the WBTB you'll likely be much more tired and can lengthen the mantra without keeping yourself awake, but again, keep it within reason. This is one place where you should experiment with different mantras, give test it out to see which one works best and then go from there. The downside for the more inexperienced group of dreamers here is that it's hard to tell whether it was the mantra that helped you, or the DILD/ADA/SAT techniques. However, much like keeping lucid dreaming on your mind during the day, the small details of your mantra will not have a huge impact on your success. Changing "have a lucid dream" to "get lucid" will not cause a large change, but every bit helps.

WBTB

Now for perhaps the simplest, but most important part of this technique: the WBTB. This is what separates a simple MILD with some awareness training from a combination of half a dozen synergistic induction techniques. Once you add in waking up in the night, you open up WILDs and its variants, and can further improve upon MILDs. I've even heard of people having luck with alarms and DEILDs/EILDs (External induced lucid dream, such as LaBerge's NovaDreamer). Again, though, you can add a lot of customization to your WBTB. If you have experience with WILDs but have to get up beforehand, use the bathroom, etc., then you're better off with a longer, more active WBTB. If you've never had much success with WILDs or just don't feel like trying it, cut your WBTB to just waking up, rolling over in bed, and performing your second MILD.

Experiment a little with this. Test around to see how long your WBTB should be for the best results. Some people prefer a couple minutes, just a quick trip to the bathroom, while others like to walk around, get a small glass of water, and even hop on Dreamviews for a little bit. It's all a matter of preference. It's also good to know when it's best to wake up, be it four hours or six. You want to find the time right before a REM cycle begins, so that when you do try and WILD it's more likely to be successful. This is one of those places where prior experience can come in handy, since having so many techniques at once can be hard to mess/tinker with, but it is by no means mandatory that you have any lucid dreams under your belt to try .

WILD

This is what's likely the most difficult but rewarding part of this technique. WILDs are often considered to be more difficult than DILDs, and I would agree. They're less beginner friendly and require some experience and finesse to execute successfully and consistently. But that doesn't mean don't give it a try! WILDs are awesome because once you get good at them, you can just slip into a dream whenever you feel like it, either after a WBTB, such as with this technique, or during an afternoon nap. Plus, that feeling of the dream forming and shaping around you is quite a trip . However, this is also where I mentioned earlier that you'd do the second MILD. That's because, like I mentioned, WILDs are often more difficult than other techniques, and sometimes you can tell that a WILD is just not going to happen tonight. In that case, just relax, forget about the WILD, and stick with the MILD. Give your second mantra a whirl and drift off into your lucids!

Once you get used to both WILDs and MILDs, you can even combine them! While falling asleep for your WILD, instead of counting or focusing on breathing, why not focus on your mantra? Sure, you could count down from 100, or breathe in.... then out, or you could instead kill two birds with one stone and focus on performing a MILD. This way, if you think you've got WILDs down but for some reason it's just not working out, you still have MILD to fall back on. Then, if MILD fails, you have DILD to fall back on! This is the heart of this technique. The ability to have backup plan after backup plan provides great, consistent lucid dreams with a surprisingly low amount of effort.

But hey, who's to say your WILD fails? That's no way to think, after all! You're going to get lucid, and you're going to drift off into a dream while repeating your mantra, and before you know it you're flying through the air, fending off bad guys and kicking ass in fairy tales (Obligatory TotY insert ). And then guess what!? Your MILD is successful too! So then you've lost lucidity and continue on with your dream, perhaps you didn't quite accomplish your goal. But then you notice something that reminds of that goal, of becoming lucid, so you perform a RC and BAM! Two lucid dreams in one night. You adventure around, and finally accomplish that task you've been working forever at. You're feeling accomplished and relaxed, so you drift off into non-lucidity once again. But what's that? It's that strange dog that always seems to be around in your dreams. You recognize it thanks to your SAT/ADA, do one more RC and then voila! Lucid for a third time in on night. And you know what? You did your goal, so you decide to relax, have some fun, and fight off a horde of zombies because, come on, who doesn't like killing zombies?

DEILD

But wait, there's more! We still have one more technique to add in: DEILD. DEILD is my personal favorite method. It comprises over half my lucid dreams and is my preferred method. This is where some of my bias and subjective experience comes into play. I find that at the end of a regular dream, when everything is fading away, I'll often get a quick spark of lucidity for just a few seconds before I wake up. I'll try and save the dream, but this often doesn't work, so I'm then able to prepare myself for a DEILD, removing the need for an alarm of some sort. But don't let this discourage you from practicing DEILD and adding it into this technique! You'll likely have your own preferred technique and you can focus on that for the majority of your lucids. But enough about that, lets get into how DEILD fits into this menagerie of induction techniques.

DEILD is the last method on our list, and often occurs towards the end of the sleep cycle. You can use SAT/ADA/even MILD to help yourself recognize when a dream is fading so you can recognize it and either salvage it or prepare for a DEILD. For MILD just simply change your mantra to something along the lines of "I'll recognize a dream fading." Then, once you do have that burst of awareness at the end, just lay completely still, don't even open your eyes, and envision the dream you just came from. You can picture a new dream scene, but I find going back into a dream and then changing your surroundings is easier. Then it's like a faster, easier WILD, often without ever leaving/entering sleep paralysis! The best part is, you can chain them together. You're already lucid, so recognizing the end of the dream is that much easier, and if you can sleep in then you're often able to get in an extra 2 or 3 dreams. See how high you can chain them!

Another way of having DEILDs, apart of recognizing the end of dreams, is to train yourself not to move when you wake up. Don't move, don't open your eyes, and once you reach this point you will often wake up and, before you even have time to move, stop yourself and jump right back into the dream. This can be done with mantras, or just keeping it in mind while falling asleep/waking up. If you're new to lucid dreaming, this way is probably best, but if you've had some already, you'd be more likely to recognize that "dream fading" sensation.



That's all the techniques I've added so far, and in total, this is the order we're looking at each day/night:
SAT/ADA --> RCs/DILD Preparations --> 1st MILD --> (Possible MILD/DILD) --> WBTB --> WILD+MILD --> (Possible MILD/DILD) --> DEILD --> Dream Journal!



Ok, let's recap. You fall asleep for the first time repeating your mantra, and then wake up a bit later for your WBTB. You roll around, maybe read a post or two here on Dreamviews, and then back to sleep to try and WILD. You repeat your longer mantra and focus on transitioning smoothly into a lucid dream. Unfortunately, your WILD doesn't work out and you just simply fall asleep. You wake up the next morning, a couple regular dreams, nothing too exciting, and sadly both your MILD and DILD failed. You recognized one dream fading, but in trying to save it you moved your real body and messed up your DEILD too. This is about as bad as it gets, but hey, it's better than just going, "darn, guess I'll just have to be more aware!" or questioning your mantra. When you do multiple techniques, even without putting large amounts of effort into it, you at least feel like you're giving it all you've got.

But let's do a 180. You fall asleep with your MILD and wake up for your WBTB and, what do you know, you got lucid in your first half of sleep! Awesome! You jot it down real quick during your WBTB and then go back to bed for your WILD/MILD combo. You repeat your new mantra, "I will become lucid and do the TotM" feeling confident. You feel your body getting heavy, start seeing colors, and before you know it, you're in a field somewhere, perform a RC, and tada! lucid yet again with a successful WILD. You fly away and even complete the advanced TotM. Feeling satisfied, your lucidity fades and you're back into normal dreams. But then, you see the same place you were for your TotM, question it, and bam! three lucids, this one thanks to your MILD. This time you do the basic one as well. I'll take two wings, please! Ahh yes, both TotM down and feeling confident, you once again let it fade into non-lucidity. And then, hey! It's your uncle you never see outside your dreams! You do yet another reality check and, what do you know, four lucid dreams in a row! You have your DILD/SAT/ADA to thank for this one.

Now you're going big. You remember some of the TotY and think, "This is the year I'm going to do it." You fly off and try your hardest, but in the midst of a giant battle, you feel the dream fade. You try to save it, spinning around, doing anything to stay in the dream, but its no use. It's over... or is it? You wake up, stay still, not even opening your eyes. You keep imagining the battle scene, the sounds of hundreds shouting, swords clashing, explosions going off, and before you know it, you're back in there in the heat of the battle. Once again you go after the TotY. You see it within your grasp, you reach out for it, and... the dream fades again. There's not enough time to finish the task, but hey, you did one DEILD, why not go for another? You remain calm, picture the battle scene yet again, and then before you know it, you've reached out, task in hand, and can now confidently wake up, knowing you had an absolutely phenomenal night. But hey, how many dreams can you chain so you go back in.....

And before you know it, you wake up notice it's only 6:00AM, and you don't have to get ready for work until 7:00. You have several lucids under your belt, both TotM, and even one of the TotY done; you had the most fun you've ever have in lucid dreams, and you get another hour of sleep! That's a damn good night if you ask me.

General Tips and Suggestions

This is my personal method. These are the techniques I use and that I've found work best. Please keep in mind that this is all subjective and what works for me may not work for you. However, the basic premise holds true no matter which techniques you use: A combination of induction techniques increases the likelihood of becoming lucid. You're free to tweak this and change any of the methods you'd like to find the combination that works best for you. If you want to test out that new NovaDreamer for an EILD, throw that in, or replace your WBTB with it if you don't want to wake up. Can't seem to get the hang of WILDs? Toss them. You don't have to do every single thing I've listed here. But be aware that there are some techniques that just do not work together, such as WILD and FILD, but most can find a home. As long as they aren't contradictory, the more the merrier!

So there you have it, my personal way of getting lucid. With this technique I've had over 8 lucid dreams in one night, and it's common for me to have several in one night. It's highly customizable and can be suited to your wants/needs, and even if you've never had a lucid dream before, I hope you've gotten some ideas from this and are that much closer Thanks for reading!