Thread: Anyone have any experience with Lucid Anchors?

Title pretty much explains it all... I've heard more and more positive things about lucid anchors as of late. I stumbled upon (not using stumbleupon though :P) a website the other day (can't recall what it was called) that was dedicated to spreading the word of lucid dreaming. I was surprised to find that the only induction technique they described was Lucid Anchor... and this site seemed to get a lot of traffic, so you would think that this technique must work well... but, while I've heard a lot of things about it, I've actually never discussed it with anyone on here. I heard about it first on here, on an old post, where someone was going to start the technique and update everyone on how well it works... he/she didn't. :( I tried to contact the person, asking about how the technique is going, and she/he hasn't responded (and it's been a while).

What I like about the technique, is I can do it on top of all the other techniques I currently use. This intrigues me greatly; but I don't like to jump into things blind. I would love to hear about experiences with it before I bother giving it a go. If I keep on going without personal experiences on the subject, I suppose I'm going to have to go in blind... oh well, I guess.

SO: anyone ever try this technique for an extended period of time? What was your experience?

No one?...

Never heard of it. Where can i find the description of this technique?

Probably Google... I tried to google it for you (lazy bum, lol), but I'm in a hurry, so I didn't spend much time looking. Before I paste a description of ONE way to do lucid anchor; it is important to mention that there are other ways as well... the one I heard works best involves looking at something near your bed, and envisioning it, and relating it to dreaming, along with some other things and more detials... there was much more to it, but I recently had shock therapy (for depression), and I cannot remember much of anything right now. Here's that other description:

"If you want to go all-out with the prospective memory technique, you can expand on this concept with methods straight out of NLP (or Neuro-Linguistic Programming). An anchor is, an Sean Kelly described, a link that reminds you of something. So here we have linked cats and locks to reality checks.

Sometimes, even with a solid, well-defined anchor in place, you may completely forget to do your reality check. You may get home and realize you actually saw two cats on your walk and completely failed to test your reality. No problem. You just need to set up a simple mnemonic device.

A mnemonic device is a memory cue that is visually intense and sparks the imagination into life. Think of a perfectly normal cat. Now, imagine it's carrying a giant oversized cardboard check on its back, struggling to bear the load which guarantees to pay Mr Cat the princely sum of $500,000.

You've just mnemonically linked "cats" and "checks" together in your mind using surreal imagery. So the next time you see a cat, you are more likely to recall this funny image, which in turn reminds you to perform your reality check. Bingo.

A Mnemonic DeviceBut we needn't be so literal. You can imagine that cat exploding, or walking on chopsticks, or running up and jumping into your arms and licking your face. (It depends on your personal relationship with cats.) As long as the cat's doing something surreal and unexpected, it creates a more powerful memory that will grab your attention and trigger that prospective memory cue.

Oh - and the next time you dream of a cat, be prepared for it to explode. That should trigger your reality check nicely. (I'm really a dog person.)"

Originally Posted by Liquidaque

Probably Google... I tried to google it for you (lazy bum, lol)

Prior o post my answer i did google it. First i didn't find a technique with the name "Lucid Anchors", then i found some articles talking about anchors in dreams but it was so vague that i wanted to ask your for a link that has more detail. But yes, i'm a lazy bum. Big time.

For what i've read, this kinda looks like reality checks inside the dream, or am i wrong?
In my dreams, wherever i try to pass through a door and the passage is too narrow, i know that i'm dreaming. Is that an anchor?

Originally Posted by DreamHighlander

Prior o post my answer i did google it. First i didn't find a technique with the name "Lucid Anchors", then i found some articles talking about anchors in dreams but it was so vague that i wanted to ask your for a link that has more detail. But yes, i'm a lazy bum. Big time.

For what i've read, this kinda looks like reality checks inside the dream, or am i wrong?
In my dreams, wherever i try to pass through a door and the passage is too narrow, i know that i'm dreaming. Is that an anchor?

Yeah, I had a similar problem with Google... and unfortunately, because of my ECT (shock therapy), I can't remember much of what I read about it, or where it was I originally saw it. But what I do know is that it is a method that is supposed to get you to link to an "anchor" that will cause you to do a reality check. Ordinarily you would do a reality check in the day randomly... or maybe because an app like (Awoken) reminded you to do a RC. With lucid anchor, it's about perhaps telling yourself that from here on out, whenever you walk through ANY door, you will do a reality check. Then this becomes habit, and you do it in a dream. There is more to it, I just can't remember shit right now...

The other day, I ended up staring at an apple for an hour trying to figure out what it was called... damn ECT.

Originally Posted by Liquidaque

...
Sometimes, even with a solid, well-defined anchor in place, you may completely forget to do your reality check. You may get home and realize you actually saw two cats on your walk and completely failed to test your reality. No problem. You just need to set up a simple mnemonic device.

A mnemonic device is a memory cue that is visually intense and sparks the imagination into life. ...So the next time you see a cat, you are more likely to recall this funny image, which in turn reminds you to perform your reality check.

This sounds like a tool to help you remember to do a reality check. Still not clear if in waking life or in a dream.

You can use mnemonics or attaching images to activity to help you remember to do it later. Same as when I'm going shopping, I think of items I need and I attach them to meals I'm making so I don't forget what I need to buy.

Or I can make a shopping list - a reminder.

You can use both methods to remind yourself to RC. Put a sticky note on your monitor, bathroom mirror... Or just start doing them when doing some repetitive activity - walking through the door, washing hands...

But RCs are not what gets us lucid. It's the attached awareness + mantras. If done right during day, then you will RC in your dream as soon as you get some awareness from your daytime practice. No need for a reminder in a dream. It will happen automatically when you become aware.

Of course, there is more to RCs, how to remember to do them in the first place, and how to do them so they get us lucid. http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...hecks-rcs.html

Happy dreams

Originally Posted by gab

This sounds like a tool to help you remember to do a reality check. Still not clear if in waking life or in a dream.

Both... as is the case with ANY reality check.

You talking about an anchor when wilding? Or an anchor to keep you in the dream? Or lucid in the dream. An anchor is something that connects you to one thing and doesn't let it go. Technically a lucid anchor would be an anchor that connects you to your awareness, so all three have been called this.

This picnic will soon depart
Real life, I'm sad to see you go
I'll miss you with all my heart
But I'd rather be alone
'Cause I couldn't live without
Sunsets that dazzle in the dusk
So I'll drag the anchor up
And rest assured, 'cause dreams don't turn to dust

ECT is maybe going to be completely obsolete, because ketamin has been shown to be similarly effective:
BBC News - Ketamine 'exciting' depression therapy
So next time - urge your psychiatrists to give this a go.
What was the sort of "internet-place" you were talking about?
A forum or a blog or reddit - do you remember the format?

Originally Posted by StephL

ECT is maybe going to be completely obsolete, because ketamin has been shown to be similarly effective:
BBC News - Ketamine 'exciting' depression therapy
So next time - urge your psychiatrists to give this a go.
What was the sort of "internet-place" you were talking about?
A forum or a blog or reddit - do you remember the format?

It was a site dedicated to simply informing people of lucid dreaming... but it was very simple (no forum, etc.), and for some reason, what they called "Lucid Anchor" was all that they talked about... but I found the site on some other rather popular site, and this (along with the sites appearance--despite the simplicity) led me to believe that it must be getting a decent amount of traffic.

And you can't check your history and find it? Or just explain a lucid anchor?

Originally Posted by Liquidaque

Both... as is the case with ANY reality check.

You act like you are making a lot of sense, but you are not explaining and saying to Google a place because you don't remember it. So either explain better or be more patient with us trying to make sense of your post.

Originally Posted by Sensei

You act like you are making a lot of sense, but you are not explaining and saying to Google a place because you don't remember it. So either explain better or be more patient with us trying to make sense of your post.

The point in a RC during the day, is to make it a habit. That way, you do it in your sleep. You are more conscientious during WL--compared to a non-lucid dream--and so doing a RC may come with ease... yet it usually isn't the case in dreams (or you would be lucid for every one). One way to get around this, is to tie your RC's with something you run into in WL and in dreams... this increases the chance of doing a RC while dreaming.

Originally Posted by Liquidaque

The point in a RC during the day, is to make it a habit. That way, you do it in your sleep. You are more conscientious during WL--compared to a non-lucid dream--and so doing a RC may come with ease... yet it usually isn't the case in dreams (or you would be lucid for every one). One way to get around this, is to tie your RC's with something you run into in WL and in dreams... this increases the chance of doing a RC while dreaming.

Interesting. Sounds like dream signs. Connecting schema so that when one pops up the other does as well.

In most aware dreams (dreams that you are consciously there... High recall creates this normally), just the idea of dream popping into your head is enough, because you know that something is off, you just don't care enough to check or can't come up with the idea of dream. In most dreams right now I know at some level that I am dreaming because of the idea of dreams always being in my mind, but sometimes I don't realize what this means at all. Other times, like this morning I simply do things that make no sense because it seems fun to mess with dream characters, creating parts of a dream and using normal dream control without a "aha moment". Last night I created a disease and a doctor specific for the disease to mess with a DC nurse, I knew as I was saying it that it was a dream and that as I was saying it was coming into existence... It was a disease where the time space continuum in a body part gets off and you either have a body part of yourself when you are younger or older, or your body part is gone. They also had time space detectives to find the person responsible for messing with it.

^^ Well habit is one thing, but as some point out, habit is highly unreliable. I've only had 1 or 2 "reflex" RCs get me lucid out of 36-ish LDs (and those still had a WTF!? moment preceding the RC, which indicates raised awareness). The real benefit of performing the RC in waking life is the *awareness* you practice in even thinking to do the RC, and the care with which you consider your surroundings, your mind, your memory, etc. The RC itself is just an aid in determination of your state (dream or awake). However, most of the time, increased awareness is what brings on the desire to perform an RC. In most of my LDs, however, I never do RCs, my raised awareness and familiarity with the dream state is what gets me lucid. I've done RCs for fun and in a few cases as a fall-back to make sure I'm really dreaming in a few cases. So if "Lucid Anchor" is a tool to try to trigger the performing of an RC, then I don't see the point: if you have the memory and the self-awareness to remember to perform the trigger, you're basically most of the way there to lucidity or are already lucid.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

The real benefit of performing the RC in waking life is the *awareness* you practice in even thinking to do the RC, and the care with which you consider your surroundings, your mind, your memory, etc. The RC itself is just an aid in determination of your state (dream or awake).

I find it to be quite the opposite (though this may just be me). A RC during the day is completely pointless for any other reason then habit. When I do a RC during the day, it's very obvious to me that I'm awake. I just don't have the same mentality as in a non-lucid dream, so I do it in hopes I will do it in a dream as well--as I'm also sure I'm awake in dreams (that don't become lucid). The RC gets you to do a RC in a dream--by habit--plain and simple. As I continue to evolve as an oneironaut, more and more of my dreams don't even involve a RC... I simply realize that I'm dreaming, usually shoot up into the sky, and start my LD. A RC in WL does indeed raise your awareness in a dream (though I find that to be very minimal), however; you cannot say that making a RC a habit, to the point that you do it habitually in a dream, isn't going to cause more lucid dreams. I've had about 300 LDs (that I can recall--I know there has been much more) since my first, sometime in early 2012; and I can tell you with an appropriate amount of certainty, that a RC will get you lucid, almost every time.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

So if "Lucid Anchor" is a tool to try to trigger the performing of an RC, then I don't see the point: if you have the memory and the self-awareness to remember to perform the trigger, you're basically most of the way there to lucidity or are already lucid.

Most of the way... more like part... even if it's most, you are already admitting the importance of this subject.

Originally Posted by Liquidaque

I find it to be quite the opposite (though this may just be me). A RC during the day is completely pointless for any other reason then habit. When I do a RC during the day, it's very obvious to me that I'm awake. I just don't have the same mentality as in a non-lucid dream, so I do it in hopes I will do it in a dream as well--as I'm also sure I'm awake in dreams (that don't become lucid). The RC gets you to do a RC in a dream--by habit--plain and simple. As I continue to evolve as an oneironaut, more and more of my dreams don't even involve a RC... I simply realize that I'm dreaming, usually shoot up into the sky, and start my LD. A RC in WL does indeed raise your awareness in a dream (though I find that to be very minimal), however; you cannot say that making a RC a habit, to the point that you do it habitually in a dream, isn't going to cause more lucid dreams. I've had about 300 LDs (that I can recall--I know there has been much more) since my first, sometime in early 2012; and I can tell you with an appropriate amount of certainty, that a RC will get you lucid, almost every time.



Most of the way... more like part... even if it's most, you are already admitting the importance of this subject.

Well, I'll have to go with Sageous and the generally prevailing wisdom on this one (appeal to authority ). I almost never do RCs in dreams, and never have. If it works for you, more power to you.

I do understand you, and I also actually *do* believe in the habit part being effective, but at a very low percentage, and only when the RC is accompanied by serious questioning of state.

It's all about personal experience... I mean, I've had LDs last longer than a week... normal ones over 2 weeks. Most don't experience this (or even admit that it's possible). So; in the end: it's just a difference in opinion.

Originally Posted by Liquidaque

It's all about personal experience... I mean, I've had LDs last longer than a week... normal ones over 2 weeks. Most don't experience this (or even admit that it's possible). So; in the end: it's just a difference in opinion.

I do not doubt this sort of time perception is possible. I'm in fact looking forward to experiencing it myself! Do you do anything to promote it (step in to a "time chamber" or something?). Can you look back and add up subjective time and actually account for all of it? Or do you "jump forwards" to morning and think "oh that's another day" but with nothing to actually account for that time? Or can you say "wow, this has been another hour" and do that (12 or 24) * 7 times within the single dream?

The real scary part of the 2 week non-lucid dream was when I would have a LD and then wake up and not bother to RC, or suspect anything. The dream was too normal and vivid to really suspect anything. Nothing unusual happened in it. Not much at all, actually...

It seems that the more I LD, the longer my dreams become. I don't do anything to promote it, other than enjoy it when it happens. It is indeed subjective time. In fact, that 2 week dream I had dreams in... and dreams inside those dreams; which was really strange. And I would always wake up back in the old dream--instead of starting some new one. I remember it more vivid than WL. I could remember it randomly starting... going throughout the day. Having my usual day dreams... going to work. Talking to people. Going home. Going on this site, facebook, watching TV, etc.... I remember trying to fall asleep. My dream... waking up... getting ready for the day, and on and on it goes. It was quite the experience. I have had dreams that have lasted YEARS if you go by the whole skip ahead stuff. The LDs are the same thing. I just recently had that 1 week LD. About a week or two ago, in fact. I was in it so long, that being lucid, I ended up saying: "You know... I've been in this dream for an awful long time. I have shit to do when I wake up... I hope I'm not oversleeping. I'm a little bored of being in a dream--fun and mind expanding, or not. I should probably wake up now. I've done all that I need to do for one dream." And then I woke myself up, lol. Didn't think that could ever happen... be in a LD so long you get bored and wake up. In the past 6 months my LDs have lasted an average of about 2-3 hours... my regular dreams more than double that. AVERAGE. SUBJECTIVE. It's pretty flippin sweet! And as I'm sure we all know here, REM only lasts abou 30 mins at max, every 90 mins or so... so it deff isn't just me having a long REM cycle... in fact; I suspect that it is probably non-REM dreams.

What's fun to think about; is the only reason that 2 week non-LD ended, was I FINALLY became lucid... it blew my mind so much that I had been in a dream for over 2 weeks--that I had to do a whole bunch of shit over again--that it woke me up almost instantly.