Thread: Naiya's DILD & WILD Secrets

Improving Dream Recall and Understanding

A lot of people don't remember their dreams all the time. I have a few pointers for remembering, recording and understanding dreams. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know and I'll update the list.

Good dream recall is the first step to lucid dreaming! This is the foundation. If you remember less than one or two dreams, try some of these methods to help your recall.

Tips For Remembering

If you can remember absolutely nothing at all when you wake up, take a few minutes to stay in bed and try to remember.
- A good way to do this is to slowly think of people, places, and things that are familiar to you. Go through each thing at a time. Was my mother in my dream...? Was my dream about work...? You'd be surprised at how often this works. Just today, I remembered a whole dream because I saw pigs on a TV show. There was an adorable piglet in my dream, and remembering that one little thing brought a flood of information. Sometimes all you need is that one "key" to remember your dream.
-Many people can remember at least the last moment of their dream, but nothing else. This best way to remember the rest of the dream is to simply go backwards, just like you would in remembering something in your childhood. Take your time in doing this. Ask yourself, "What happened right before then?" "How did I get to the train station?" Just keep slowly backtracking. Sometimes you may even be able to remember dreams that you had earlier in the night this way.
-When you wake up in the morning, try to get out of the habit of immediately remembering what you have to do that day. Basically, your dream memories will fade instantly if you replace them with something else in your short-term memory.
-The best thing do to is to wake up with an empty mind and allow yourself to stay in bed, relaxed and without thought, for a few minutes before getting up.
-Above all, don't give up! Good habits take time to form. It may be months before you start to remember your dreams consistently. You just have to stick with it.

Tips For Recording

-To get started, keep a small journal next to your bed so you can write down your dreams when you remember them. I like to use the little spiral journals because I can stick my pencil on the side instead of fumbling around for it on the night-stand.
-Keep the journal close to you so you don't have to get out of bed. For some reason the dream memories just fall right out of your head once you've gotten out of bed or moved around a lot. So try to keep still.
- If you wake up before morning, write down what you remember before you go back to sleep (or before you go to the bathroom).
-It's always useful to write down the times you go sleep and get up (especially those of us in college, whose sleep schedules are erratic). If you remember more than one dream in the night, you can make note of which dream occurred at which time. This may be useful for those of us who sometimes have prophetic dreams or mutual dreams.
-Once you have a dream journal started, you may notice that some dreams have a lot to do with what you did the day before. To help you understand your dreams, you may want to also make notes of what you did during the day (movies you saw, things on your mind, problems at work or people you were with).
This helps a lot when you get a little more advanced, because you'll start finding things in your dreams that connect with your waking life. For example, you dream of an old friend who calls you out of the blue, and a couple of days later you run into them. Now you have personal proof that your dream premonition came true! Pretty cool, huh?

Tips For Understanding

-The most important thing to remember is that the meaning of a dream is subjective. While other people and books can give some good insight, the best person to interpret your dream is you.
-That said, you can gain some understanding by asking for an interpretation by one of our fellow members. We may be able to pick up on something that you hadn't thought of. Also, some dreams are very common and have generally accepted meanings to them.
-Dream dictionaries can be helpful, but be wary of the simplistic meanings. For example, to Person A, a snake in her dream may mean an enemy, liar, or traitor. But for Person B, the snake might mean reincarnation, connections with the earth. or medicine (like the snakes on the EMT uniform). It all comes down to where the dreamer is coming from. The dream dictionaries can give some insight, but as always, believe what feels right to you.
-This one helps the most if you use it along with your journal. When remembering your dream, think about how you were feeling at the time. Feelings and emotions can give us the most telling clues about what our dreams mean.

Lucid Dreaming Disclaimers, Dream Control and Nightmares

A lot of this is based on personal experience, but as always, in matters of the mind (and soul) things are different for everyone. If you are thinking about learning to induce lucid dreams and dream control, you may want to read this first.

There's a lot of misunderstanding about lucid dreams and dream control. Even some of the experts get it wrong. Part of this is because so little research is done in the first place. Not only that, but there are a lot of frauds out there.

Lucidity

A lucid dream is simply a dream where you know you're dreaming while you're still in it. For most people, it's triggered by something. For example, you may see a pot morph into a chair, or floating objects. Your logical self realizes that these things are not possible unless you are dreaming, and that's when the dream becomes lucid.

There are different levels of a lucid dream. Sometimes you are completely aware that you're dreaming, and other times it's just a vague feeling you have. Complete lucidity all night every night is very rare. The highest kind of lucidity is when even the other people in the dream know that it's your dream.

Which leads me to the next point. Lucid dreams are much more common in the early/late morning. Usually, the first part of the night is that total blank state, with a few fleeting images, sounds and sensations. Since dreams get longer as the night goes on, there's a bigger chance to increase awareness.

Basically, while you dream, you feel emotions and experience things much more intensely. In a lucid dream, you tend to feel things even more intensely than in a regular dream. I have found no information that explains why that is.

Lucid dreams and dream control are closely related, but they're definitely not the same thing. You can be lucid and not control the dream, and you can control a dream and only be dimly aware that you're dreaming at all.

Dream Control

Which brings us to dream control. Like a lucid dream, there are different levels of control. Most of the time, you need to know that you're dreaming on some level for this to work. I have found that there are at least three kinds of control, which I've already explained in the first post.

- Steering
- Environmental
- Total

It's completely possible to have both steering and environmental control at the same time. However, I wouldn't count this as total control, since the dreamer is usually only changing SOME, not ALL, factors in the dream.

Again, lucidity does NOT equal control on any level. Some dreams are easier to control than others. That means that you will still have dreams which you cannot control. Some dreams will drag you through and no amount of lucidity or attempt at control can stop it. If this happens to you, think carefully about the dream. There's one thing you can be sure of, and that is that whatever message the dream is trying to get across is important enough to override your conscious mind.

On Ethics and Nightmares

This is where I get into a the rant portion of the post. There are some scientists and psychologists out there who say that lucid dreams and dream control will "cure nightmares." Gah! I could go on for hours about how totally wrong that is.

Using these tools to face your fears in your nightmares CAN make reoccuring nightmares go away. But if you use them to "change" all your nightmares into something pleasant, you're just in denial about the issue that's actually causing the nightmare. Deal with the issue. DON'T make the dream into a Care Bear ending. Use the lucidity to find out what is causing the nightmare. Sometimes all that means is just facing the dream adversary and asking them why they're in your dream.

If you happen to be in a lucid nightmare and you are unable to control it, there's not much you can do besides wake yourself up. Lucid nightmares, like dreams, are more intense than both waking and regular dreaming experiences.

Most of the literature says that it is impossible to have a nightmare and a lucid dream at the same time. I can tell you from personal experience that this is just not true. And you know how your mommy always told you "dreams can't hurt you"? Well, that's a bunch of crap, too. Because anything that convinces your brain that you're hurting is the same as being hurt for real. The only difference is that you don't have any actual physical damage. So dreams can hurt you just as much as your boy/girlfriend dumping you.

For example:

"Ha! You can't hurt me. This is just a drea-Ow! Hey! Wha-ow! "

You get the idea.

Among all the science journals and books at the college's database, there was only one tiny mention of lucid nightmares. It said that lucidity only "cures" something like 80% of nightmares, but never goes on to mention anything about the other 20%. Which...I mean...I think that's kind of important. But oh well.

While these nightmares are only a fraction of all lucid dreams, I think my point here is that lucidity and control won't make everything magically easier despite the praises of certain scientists.

So if you want to learn these techniques, please use them with care and responsibility. When all else fails, do what you feel is right to you.

Having a Routine

The most important thing that will help you have more lucids is consistency. In order to become good at anything, you have to practice. A few lucky people have enough talent to get by without practicing, but the rest of the population will never get anywhere unless they are consistent with their routine.

You need to come up with something that is going to actually be enough to give you more lucids, but is also practical in that you won't just blow it off on a regular basis. For beginners, ten minutes is probably the most you'll really be able to force yourself to do every day, especially since you won't be getting results for a while and that's discouraging.

Always stick to a routine for at least three months before abandoning it for a different one. If you feel stuck in a dry spell, try adding to your routine, but DO NOT take away from your original plan. It takes a long time for things to be internalized, so you have to be patient.

Here's a sample routine:

Morning routine:

Set a second alarm about ten minutes after your first one. When your alarm goes off the first time, try to make a habit of not moving at all--even rolling over (I know it's hard). Again, don't immediately think about the day ahead. Just relax and think back to the last thing you were doing in your dream. Then think about where you were and what you were doing before that, and so on.

Try not to immediately think about the day ahead. Just lay still and try to recall the last thing that happened in your dream. then just slowly ask, "what happened before that?" If you remember nothing, slowly ask yourself if your dream involved any common people in your life, or places or themes. When you've remembered it, write it down immediately. If you don't have time in the morning just jot down some notes/key phrases and fill it in later. That should help improve dream recall.

You may want to keep a little notepad near your bed to jot things down on. Personally, I don't need to write out every detail to remember it so I just jot down a few key words and phrases to refresh my memory later.

Daytime routine:

Do reality checks. Base them on something that pops up a lot in your dreams. When you do your RC, ask yourself, "Where was I before I went through this door? Is my environment logical? How did I get here? What was I doing last before coming here?"

It's really important to consciously think about this, and very important that you answer your questions either by saying them or thinking them out in their entirety. I know it's a pain but I really think that this would give you the quickest shortcut to more LDs.

Also, if you have idle time during the day and you're bored, just think about your dreams a little bit. The more you pay attention to them, the more interesting they will become. Or if you want to, just do a random RC. Look around you, ask how you got there, and ask if your environment/circumstances make logical sense.

Nighttime routine:

Try to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night! If you can sleep in on a day, 10 hours would be really great. You'll get much longer dreams if you sleep a little longer than usual. Of course, generally speaking it's unhealthy to sleep too much all the time, but most people have jobs and/or school to prevent that.

When you get ready for bed, give yourself about 15-20 extra minutes. Spend the first part of it clearing your mind of all the crap that's gone on throughout your day. Some people find that it helps to imagine setting all of your problems in a little lock box next to your bed. Personally, I used to tell myself, "The best thing I can do for myself and everyone around me right now is get a good night's sleep." So I sort of made up a rule to never bring my problems with me to my bed. I imagined putting them on the side of my bed to be picked up in the morning when they needed to be dealt with.

This is where a regular journal is useful because if you are someone who can't let things go, you can write them down and THEN be able to forget them guilt-free.

Once you've cleared your mind, you'll want to do a little autosuggestion. First of all, if you have a specific task or dream or thing you want to do in your LD, now is the time to give yourself that suggestion. Basically, all you're doing is daydreaming of what you want until you fall asleep. Eventually your mind will get the hint and the suggestions will begin to actually show up in your dreams. The second thing you need to do during this period is an affirmation--"I WILL have a lucid dream tonight." Believe it as much as possible.

This is partially why I think most people normally have dreams about their daily life--all they think about is their daily life before they go to sleep.

Definitely try at least one WBTB (Wake Back To Bed) a night. You really don't need to do much more than get up and go to the bathroom or get a glass of water.

When you go back to bed after waking up, clear your mind again and do the same autosuggestion technique. This time you'll probably fall asleep a lot faster so you really don't need to give it an exact time. Just allow the clutter to leave your mind and reaffirm that you will be lucid as soon as you are dreaming.

Other:

Try your hand at meditation. It helps you learn how to calm your mind and let go of little stresses and things that clutter your mind and often even your dreams. If you let go of that stuff on your own, your unconscious will have more time to give you dreams with deeper meanings.

Getting Started with DILDs

There are a few things that give you a better chance of having a lucid dream. First of all, lucid dreams usually occur early in the morning. In other words, the longer you sleep, the better chance you'll have of becoming lucid. The reason for this is that, as the night goes on, your dreams get longer and longer after each sleep cycle.

The longer you sleep, the closer you get to waking up during each dream portion of the sleep cycle. This is exactly what you will learn to take advantage of.

Generally, before you go to sleep at night, you want to be ready to sleep without any thoughts, worries, or negative emotions hanging over your head. So before you go to sleep at night, you may want to do a short energy cleansing and meditation.

You should already have a journal next to your bed, so if you have any thoughts, worries or things you need to get done, write them down first. Then you'll be reminded in the morning, and you have no need to remember them when you should be sleeping. If you start to feel guilty or anxious for letting those things go, tell yourself "The best thing I can do for myself and everyone around me right now is get a good night's sleep so I can be alert and healthy tomorrow."

Lastly, as you are falling asleep, tell yourself that you WILL have a lucid dream. Don't think you will. Know you will.

How Long is This Going to Take?

The answer is, as always, it depends. If you are already good at recalling dreams, and you've had a few lucid dreams here and there by chance, you will probably be able to lucid dream a lot faster than someone who started out not even remembering many of their dreams.

Even if two people start out at the same skill level, you have to take into account the fact that we are working with our own minds, and every person is different. There are really no concrete reasons for why some people pick up lucid dreaming faster than others when they seem to start out at the same skill level.

Regular (nightly) lucid dreaming takes AT LEAST a couple of months before it even starts working--that is, WITH a lot of consistence and work. If you aren't consistent, you have almost no chance of becoming lucid regularly. Lucid dreams come from habit and skill.

Most people average several months to a few years to be able to lucid dream every night.

Ways To Lucid Dream

Each of these methods, if practiced every day for several months, should get you frequent lucid dreams. Not every method works for every person, so you may want to try more than one at the same time.

The MOST important thing is consistency. I can't stress this enough. You've got to be patient and have the discipline to keep at it every day.

The following are the most common things people do to have lucid dreams. As always, if you find that something completely different works for you instead of these things, go for what works best for you.

Visualization

In this method, all you really need to do is set aside 10-30 minutes before you go to bed. First, be sure that you have done a cleansing and that you won't be distracted by your daily thoughts.

Sit on your bed and decide what you want to dream about. It helps if you try the same scenario consistently each night. It doesn't have to be something serious--in fact, the more crazy your scenario is, the more likely you'll notice it isn't real when you dream it.

So concentrate on the dream scenario you want, and visualize it panning out. Imagine yourself becoming lucid, and imagine the things you want to do. KNOW that you will lucid dream. In fact, you may want to repeat "I am going to have a lucid dream tonight." to yourself out loud until you believe it.

This method may seem silly at first, but it is the very method I used to learn, and I now have at least a few lucid dreams every single night.

Reality Checks

Reality checks are very simple and easy to do. There are infinite possible reality checks, so you are only limited by your imagination.

The easiest reality check is to simply make a habit of asking yourself "Am I dreaming?" several times a day. Eventually, your habit will bleed into your dreams, and you will ask yourself the question while you sleep.

Once you question your reality, you will notice some of the things in your dream that can't be possible in the real world. Normally, you accept the weird things in your dreams, but once you question them, you will realize that they are out of the ordinary.

I have heard of people doing reality checks such as throwing up little objects and trying to make them float, or looking at their hands or feet (for some reason, hands and feet are easily distorted in dreams, but I don't think that this is universal so I wouldn't rely on it).

Reality checks are good, but it depends on the kinds of dreams you have. For example, when I was a kid my mom taught me the "look at your hands" RC. It never worked because, while I see my hands all the time in my waking life, I never saw them in my dreams. When you do a RC, don't just blankly ask "Am I dreaming?"-- a lot of people complain it doesn't work, and I believe that is because they don't actually consider this question, they just ask it without even thinking about it. When you do a RC, really look around you and think about whether or not your environment makes logical sense.

The RC that worked best for me was the "Where was I last? What was I doing?" You may be surprised that you'll answer "I went to bed!" and of course conclude that you must be asleep. So these things help with DILDs.

Reality Check Addendum

The problem with RCs is that a lot of times, people just mindlessly go “am I dreaming?” and without even considering it, they think “no,” and then totally forget about it. This does absolutely nothing to help you get lucid.

When you do a reality check, don't ask if you're dreaming. Assume that you ARE dreaming. Now ask, “why do I think this is real?”

Example of a GOOD answer: “I think this is real because I remember waking up, getting dressed and driving here. I can remember in detail what I had for breakfast. When I toss a pen into the air and try to make it float, I can't do it.” This works because you are testing you surroundings and memories against LOGIC. Not only that, but you're physically testing reality. If you want, you can try the classics such as looking at your hands or holding your nose to test reality.

Example of a BAD answer: “This feels real.” While you'll never confuse your waking life with a dream, ALL of your non-lucids will always “feel real.”

Dream Signs

For this method to work, you absolutely MUST have a good dream journal going, and have a good understanding of the repeated symbols, scenarios, and themes in your dreams.

Many of us will have certain people, places, objects, or situations that are repeatedly in our dreams. These things are NOT in our waking life, but they appear at least once a week in our dreams. These are what I am talking about when I mention dream cues.

Once you have a good understanding of things which exist solely in your dream world, you can focus on seeing them at night before you go to sleep via the visualization method above. This isn't necessary, but it will increase the chances of having your dream cues more often and becoming lucid.

Eventually, while you are dreaming, you will recognize one of your dream cues and become aware of the dream.

Or You Could do it the Easy Way...

Okay, here's my biggest secret. You really don't need any techniques at all to have a lot of DILDs! (I bet some people who read all that stuff are gonna be mad now. Haha. Sorry you guys.)

Even if you're not a natural, you can teach yourself to think like one. If you can do that, you'll have LDs all the time without really trying.

The thing that works best is simply awareness. And I really mean awareness.

Most people go through their days thinking about where they need to be going next, and what they need to be doing, and wondering where they should be eating. They spend very little time being truly aware of their surroundings.

This is where that meditation stuff really helps, by the way! Meditation teaches the kind of awareness I'm talking about.

The easy way to LD is a state of constant awareness. Make your day one big long reality check. Only instead of a specific RC, begin to question everything around you at once. Quiet your mind, and simply be aware of your state of consciousness. Be aware of the FEELING of LIVING and being AWAKE. It's a much different feeling than being asleep or even astral projecting.

I believe that many natural LDers do this unconsciously. They just "know" when they are dreaming because they know it feels different. This also may explain why naturals have a hard time explaining exactly how they get lucid. They don't really GET lucid...they ARE lucid every moment of the day and night.

Also, during the day, remember that reality, too, is subjective. In a way we human beings are always dreaming, because our minds are always interpreting what our senses are gathering, trying to make sense of what's around us. Is reality objective, or is reality simply the interpretation we get in the end? Human beings are truly unable to examine the objective world completely.

By the way, if you already have problems distinguishing reality from a dream, or have schizophrenia, or any other serious mental conditions I DO NOT advise you do this, because if your mind is unstable the last thing you should be doing is questioning reality or considering reality a dream.

The best way to learn about awareness is to pick up a book on meditation, Buddhism, or Taoism. Meditation is a tool that can teach you what true mindfulness feels like. The real trick to getting lucid is to keep that feeling of awareness going on all the time, even if it's not always completely conscious.


Awareness Addendum:

The key to constant awareness comes from the fundamental idea that all reality is another facet of a dream. Time is illusionary. Today will soon fade and cease to exist. Everything you know in this world can be changed in an instant, at any time, for any reason. This is just the same way your dreams are. This is what Dream Yoga teaches. All things are illusionary, all things change, and all things fade. This is the reality of existence.

-Everyone has some ideas as to what they want to do in their lucid dreams. So think of a lucid dream that you want to have tonight.


Got an idea? Now that you've thought of a good dream, try visualizing it. It helps to use real memories....for example, imagine that you're tasting the chocolate, and at the same time remember how chocolate tasted the last time you had some. Decide what the buildings look like, who will be there, what you will do, and make it all as detailed as possible. Basically, daydream.

-Remember that every moment today passes, becoming nothing but memory, as a dream. All things are illusionary, and all things in constant flux.

Keep in mind that right now, this reality, is only another form of dream. Keep this in mind as often and as long as possible. So when you do reality checks (hopefully frequently, since RCing a lot during the day can help ease you into a constant state of awareness), try to think about some of these things.

How to WILD

A lot of people have asked me how I have WILDs, and since my way of doing it is a little different than most, I thought I'd explain how I do it here.

The first and most important part is the WBTB. For me, it only needs to last about 30 seconds. I wake up naturally between dreams/sleep cycles so it's pretty easy for me.

If you never wake up at all during the night, you'll have to set an alarm. Try to set it for about 4-6 hours after you first fall asleep. While it is possible to WILD before sleeping at all, generally I've found it a LOT easier when you're already somewhat rested. So it works best either during the day for a nap, or after about a half night's sleep or more.

So in your WBTB, you want to be drowsy, but your want to keep your mind alert. So just get up out of bed, write down any dreams you had so far, go to the bathroom, get a sip of water, ect. Try not to watch TV or read--you want to keep your mind in sleep mode and it may be harder to fall back asleep.

Be sure that when you go back to bed, you're not in the same position you woke up in. It helps a lot to be in a position that you don't normally sleep in, so for example if you sleep on your side, then lie down on your back for the WILD.

This is where meditation really helps. When you lie down, first you want to keep all your normal daily thoughts from popping up. If you start thinking about the day ahead, or what your friend said to you or what project you need to finish at work, you will not be successful. So be sure to clear your mind of any intrusive, distracting thoughts. Remember--don't try too hard to force them out. Just like with meditation, let yourself finish the thought, and then redirect your attention to being aware of the environment.

White noise really helps. I usually have a fan on all night. Try to focus your attention to the white noise. As you're falling asleep, do you notice any strange distortions in the sound? I usually almost hear faint music, or sometimes whispers. This is passive HI. What you want to do is actively control it now. This will get your mind into the state of lucidity AND dream control before you're even really asleep.

So when you start to hear the weird little distortions, think of something to change them into. For example, it sounds like creepy faint whispers. Make them more audible and make them say funny things instead. Or change it into music. Remember to be constantly and actively changing what you're hearing. This should also help keep you from having those horrible attacks of random itchy spots that will jolt you awake again and ruin the whole WILD.

After a while, you should go into some kind of sleep paralysis. When you do, it'll be pretty obvious. Remember not to try to jerk your limbs to see if you're in SP, because even if you are asleep this action could wake you up again. Gently try to move a finger, or a hand. You'll likely start hearing loud ringing or roaring sounds in your ears. Don't let the SP scare you. You need to keep calm, and not let it drag you into unconsciousness.

Keep in mind that you may not always go into SP! If it's been several minutes and you've been focusing on the sounds you're creating, move on to the next step.

So now that your body is asleep, it's time to segue into your lucid dream. So instead of focusing on changing the sounds, now you want to start visualizing yourself inside your lucid dream. At first it'll be like watching it happen on TV, but very soon your mind will accept it as the dream and you'll jump right into it naturally. This is what's known as a mental WILD.

Before you ever go to bed, you may want to decide on what dream you want to have in your WILD. The crazier it is, the better. Visualize yourself having the dream during your WILD. During the day, imagine yourself in the dream and imagine what the environment will be like, the characters, and what you want to do in it. This will make it much easier for you to visualize the dream when you want to WILD.

You may see your dream in a sort of tunnel vision at first. This happens sometimes. Just try not to focus on the fact that the vision is limited. Just stay relaxed and be aware of what you CAN see, and eventually it will begin to get larger. Don't stare at it too hard, or it may disappear. Keep your eyes relaxed and watch it grow in the same way you watch someone go by in the corner of your eye.

Once your dream is starting to become realistic in your eyes, be sure to remind yourself again that it IS a dream, and allow the environment to become the dream instead of trying to control it anymore. Your subconscious will keep it more or less, stable, allowing you to move on to the fun stuff you're planning on doing.

Dream Work and Dream Control

Common Problems in Lucid Dreaming



One of the biggest blocks people complain about is waking up just after becoming lucid in a dream. the reason this happens is that, when you are lucid, you are already extremely close to waking up. So when your consciousness jolts, your brain wakes you up.

The only real way to get past this is to just practice and try not to get overexcited once you become lucid.

Once you are lucid, theoretically you should be able to go straight to dream control. Tell yourself, "I'm going to fly!" and just do it. The majority of you won't need any further help than this.

However, some people may have to take some time to "unlearn" the restrictions of their waking life. This is much easier to do if you have some kind of spirit guide to help you, as it is with astral travel.

Again, it just takes practice. You may want to start with small things, like morphing objects. Since objects often morph or mutate on their own in dreams, this should be fairly easy.


Dream Control and Experiments



Once you begin having lucid dreams, you can start practicing dream control right away. There really isn't a right way to do this. All you need to do is practice and try different things. In this state, you are literally only limited by your imagination.

Here are a few things you can try:

Flying--Everyone's favorite. If you're still having trouble with blocks, try jumping from a tall building and gliding or slowing your descent.

Lights--This is a simple form of control, but it's actually very hard to do. Turn out the lights. Now turn them back on. It's harder to get the lights back on, isn't it?

Marbles--Create a small bag of marbles. Take them out, name the colors that you see, and then mutate the marbles into objects of that color. Congratulations, you have now just proven that dreams are, in fact, in color.

Explore and Alter the Environment--Once you've got the hang of creating things, start with even bigger things like buildings and dream characters. Create a pool, an amusement park or a mansion. Relax and just enjoy yourself.


Dream Healing



Lucid dreaming can be very therapeutic. When you are asleep, the part of your brain that restrains your emotions essentially shuts off. This may explain why we are so very emotional in our dreams.

If you have a current issue or problem in your life, you can try to work it out through your dreams. There are a number of books of the subject, and the idea is becoming more and more popular among therapists.

If your problem deals with a specific person or situation and you have an idea of what you must do, you can create the problem situation in your dream. Once you have that done, you can try to do some role-playing with your dream characters. This way, you can practice resolving the situation in a realistic setting. Try not to influence your dream characters to act out of character. While it may help your ego, once it's time to deal with the problem for real, you won't be very prepared.

Another thing you can do is ask your subconscious mind directly. In a dream, every person you see is you. Talk to one of your dream characters about our problem and ask for their advice. You may be very surprised at how helpful their answers are. If you are especially intuitive, your dream characters may even make accurate predictions about your situation.


Confronting Nightmares


One of the most popular uses of lucid dreaming is the "curing" of nightmares. I have already done my rant about this in the original dream thread, so I won't bore anyone by repeating it here. In any case, studies show that with lucid dreaming you can cure up to 80% of your nightmares.

Now, if you have a repeated nightmare, it probably means something. So while you can use your dream control to change the plot, I don't suggest you do it just because it's the easy way out.

However, some nightmares are about fears which need to be overcome. In this case, I encourage you to empower yourself and defeat your dream adversary. It is a good idea to refrain from destroying a dream adversary right away. After all, it is there for a reason. The best course of action is to disarm your foe, and then start asking questions.

"Who are you? Why are you here? What do you want?" The dream adversary will usually be very candid. It exists to get your attention after all, and now it HAS your attention. It can send its message directly to you instead of scaring you into remembering the dream.

Thanks! very helpful

Hi Naiya

That was a fantastic read - thank you so much for putting it together and sharing it.

Cham

Great job Naiya!

Hi Naiya. Thanks so much for posting this...it's been helpful already. I was "adopted" recently by Chameleon, a "Natural" LD'er, who stressed the importance of mindfullness right from the get-go as of utmost importance. My dream life has already imporved a great deal simply by following through on the dream journaling, RC's and trying to live in the moment, in a mindfull manner. It occured to me when we first talked that what she was trying to teach me was to "be awake ALL the time, even when you're asleep." lol! Again, thanks so much for posting this helpful and supportive guide.

___________
DILD: 1 !!!!!

Adopted By: Chameleon

I'm so glad you finally made one! Tutorial material right here!

Brilliant posts, thanks a ton.

Woah...I'll read the whole thing tomorrow, but it sure looks useful. Great work!

A very good summary of all the things I've learned. And I'll second the importance of awareness. In the end, mere "techniques" are only scraping the surface.

Fantastic information and beautiful insight. Thanks =)

I thank you greatly for taking the time to write this.

Great information in all the posts. I'll third the importance of awareness. At first I was reading and going "But I don't use any techniques like that to get DILDs" and then I found that part. Wasn't nice putting it so far down! I agree totally with that passage from personal experience.

Thanks for also clarifying that a lucid dream is just one where you know you are dreaming, because some newbies think you need control. And Hell, I sure can relate to pain in dreams as well!

However, I think my mind is broken because my emotions are dulled in dreams. Oh well, all us lucid dreamers are considered crazy enough that it doesn't matter! (But of course we know better)!

Originally Posted by Yosemine

However, I think my mind is broken because my emotions are dulled in dreams. Oh well, all us lucid dreamers are considered crazy enough that it doesn't matter! (But of course we know better)!

I almost never have emotions in dreams, and I rarely do in real life. All the crazy stuff that happens in my dreams never really makes me feel any certain way, I kind of just experience it and take it as it is. I don't think that means your mind is broken, but if it does, you're not alone.

thank you for a wonderful guide. I think I'm beginning to understand how DILD's really work! In fact I had a DILD last night and I remember thinking in my dream that I really must thank you for this, lucid dreaming just got so much easier!

Wow. This puts to shame any other tutorial I've read. It's better than all other LDing resources COMBINED. Thanks for putting this up.

You managed to get me into a state of awareness I couldn't reach ever since I read ETWOLD.

I'm your fan already!

Naiya you are a freakin' genious!!! Now i have to read it again and do the stuff.
One more time.
YOU ARE A GENIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Naiya

White noise really helps. I usually have a fan on all night. Try to focus your attention to the white noise. As you're falling asleep, do you notice any strange distortions in the sound? I usually almost hear faint music, or sometimes whispers. This is passive HI. What you want to do is actively control it now. This will get your mind into the state of lucidity AND dream control before you're even really asleep.

So when you start to hear the weird little distortions, think of something to change them into. For example, it sounds like creepy faint whispers. Make them more audible and make them say funny things instead. Or change it into music. Remember to be constantly and actively changing what you're hearing. This should also help keep you from having those horrible attacks of random itchy spots that will jolt you awake again and ruin the whole WILD.

I think I know exactly what you are talking about. I have a computer in my room with a very audible fan inside. All I need to do is "get" it to whisper stuff while I attempt the WILD? Can I substituite that instead of concentrating on breathing?

Thanks to all for your comments. I'm glad this was useful!

Mini: To answer your question, I never ever pay attention to my breathing when I WILD. Like you say, I replace the attention to breathing with attention to the white noise and the HI. When you feel like you're starting to experience the hallucinations, even in the slightest bit, you'll find that it's easy to steer and change them, and actively doing that means you're getting your mind in the state it needs to be in for dream control before the dream ever starts. Also, I find that doing something active like that helps keep the focus off our physical bodies and keeps us from falling unconscious during the WILD.