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1. Go to sleep:
- You want to do this tech when you are the most tired. For some people, it's 3 hours after you have gone to sleep, for others, 5, or you can do it in the morning (harder)
- might help to tell your self to wake up after your dreams (Like in the MILD tech.).. haven’t tried this yet
- Try playing very soft music in the background when you go to sleep if you want to wake up during the REM state. Make sure it's very very soft, and has no beat/voice in it.
2. This is the hardest part of the technique. You need to get into a state where you are very tired, and feel like you could easily fall asleep. To achieve this, you either have to wake up from a dream during the night, set an alarm clock for the time where you will be the most tired, or use the dream period in the morning.
2a. (Unreliable, but easy if you wake up) If you find that you have just woken up from a dream in the middle of the night or you set your alarm to wake you up, you should already feel very tired. Continue to step 3. (if not, just go back to sleep. You could try to relax, but I don't think it would work too well.)
2b. (most reliable) If you have set an alarm clock for 3, 5 or however many hours works best for you, you should wake up in a tired state. Try relaxing, and when you feel like your very close to sleep, continue to step 3. However, if you have woken up, and don't feel tired at all, I would go back to sleep.
2c. (hard and unreliable) If you have woken up in the morning, you might not feel very tired. (You might be relaxed, but you would find it hard to start sleeping again.) To get into this "tired" state, you should go back to sleep. In about 30 mins (or more), you will wake up again. When you wake up this time (try not to move or open your eyes), try to relax as much as possible and see how tired you feel. (Be careful you don't fall back to sleep) If you feel very tired, continue to step 3. Otherwise, go back to sleep, and try again when you wake up.
3. Relax. Once you think you are about to fall asleep again (You should already feel like this when you wake), you need to start moving part of your body, It should just be a very small movement, and it needs to be repetitive. I recommend using your fingers.
- What I do is this: Right now, imagine you are playing a piano with 2 fingers: your pointer and middle finger. Push one key down, lift it back up and at the same time, press the other finger down. Just keep going back and forth between the fingers. I have my hand under my pillow when i did this, but Im sure it would work anywhere. Just make sure the movement is very small, and takes very little energy to perform it. (I was just doing this on my right hand)
- Another Note: When you are moving you fingers, don’t try to visualize anything, just think to you self that you will do this for 10-30 secs, and then check to see if it's a dream.
- Also, do not tell your self all the actions you are going to do, and do not "count" while you do this tech... Just say to your self, you will do a RC in 10-30 secs, and then just lay there, moving you fingers.
- Try to focus on the movement, and just try to relax.
- Do not focus on trying to fall asleep (it will keep you awake). Keep focus on your fingers, do not let your mind wander.
4. Once you start the motion, try to relax (as much as you can, but don’t force it. Don't "try" to fall asleep) and wait about 10-30 seconds (keep your fingers moving). During this short time, tell your self that you will wait about 10-30 secs, and then you will check to see if you are in a dream. (Don’t count in your head) Once the 10-20 secs have passed, do a nose RC (Where you pinch your nose closed, and try to breath in.. If you can, you are in a dream). If the RC fails, just try to go to sleep normally for a few minutes (no motion or RCs), and try the tech one more time. If it fails again, go to sleep, and try again later that morning. If it works it should only take 10-30 secs. Do not lay there doing a RC every 30 secs over and over, it will just wake you up even more.
NOTE: The first time I did this, I thought that It wasn’t going to work. After the 10-30 secs, I still was sure that I was still trying to fall asleep, with my fingers moving. However, when I did a RC, I realized it was a dream. I thought to my self "wow, I’m in a LD, I guess it does work"
NOTE: On 7-4-04, I found that whenever I started to dream, I had a tingly sensation all over my body.
5. If the nose RC works, try to get out of bed...
NOTE: I found that in the morning, when I tried to get out of bed in the dream, I would wake up immediately when I tried to move. If this happens to you, you should try this: once you realize that you are dreaming from the nose RC, keep your eyes closed, and keep pinching your nose. Continue to breath through your nose. Wait about 10-30 secs, and then try to visualize your room in your head (like your looking at it through your closed eyes). The image should slowly come to you, and once it has, get out of bed, and you shouldn’t wake up from the movement.
NOTE: When this works successfully, the real world (where you were moving you fingers) will be transitioned into the dream world (You will dream that you are still moving your fingers, and trying to relax).
