lucid dreaming newcomer has trouble sleeping at night

hey guys! i stumbledupon this site, and decided i might as well join! inception is my new favorite movie. i am a film major and i think the screenplay is the most original concept to come out in years. christopher nolan is a genius.

lucid dreaming seems like a really cool hobby i can start taking up to get my mind off of quitting illicit drugs. my school is drug testing me, so ive started to quit doing drugs. havent smoked weed in weeks. ive significantly cut back in ciggs. alcohol is still in the equation (i am in college), but everything else is done (besides one LSD trip i plan on doing this week).

so i need help getting on my lucid feet! i don't dream regularly. at least i never remember them. sleeping issues runs in my family. my father sleeps about 5 hours a night. i try and get 8, but often wake up in the middle of the night, not remembering any of my dreams. since ive quit smoking pot (about 4 weeks now) ive noticed an increased in my dream recall, but nothing significant (there was one night where i remembered 4, whereas most nights i dont remember any).

i use melatonin and valerian roots often but not on a nightly basis (probably 3 nights a week). i think the most important thing before i start lucid dreaming is actually learning to get a good nights rest. so if anybody has an tips for that, it would be much appreciated!

then we can move on to the basics of lucid dreaming. recall. journals. etc.

thanks in advanced! glad to be a part of the community!

Hi there and welcome to DV!

So.. Sleep. I myself have had a lot of trouble sleeping in the past, but I learned a really cool technique that might be able to help you.

If you lay completely still and actively keep your mind awake by counting inbetween a mantra of sourts, EX: 1, I am dreaming, 2 I will remember my dreams, 3 I am dreaming... etc....

You can actually feel your body fall asleep. You must lay completely still. Your body will send little waves of pain and itches to test whether or not your mind has fallen asleep. So, basically, you can trick your body into thinking your mind is asleep. This is a really cool technique for several reasons.
It helps you fall asleep when your mind is too busy.
It can also keep you awake and conscious while you are in a dream.

Good luck!

thats a neat trick! i usually fall asleep with music playing. not sure if anyone else does this, but i kinda relaxes me. i occasionally slept to holosync (this music that syncs up your brain waves to theta state and induces a meditative-esque state), but i havent used it in months. plus its you are supposed to meditate sitting up. but when i am trying to fall asleep i usually do a dumbed down meditation, where i focus on the nothingness of the night (inside of my eyelids). i try and imagine nothing in my mind, and focus on the silence (on nights where i dont fall asleep to music, or when i wake up in the middle of the night and the music has stopped).

maybe focusing on the nothingness is what causes me to not dream of anything??

Welcome to D.V! Try listening to soothing music, that might help. Might want to listen to binaural beats, which can induce lucid dreams :D

binaural beats is basically what holosync is. i found a free download online and i am using these ATH AD700 Audiotechnica headphones, which have a frequency response from 5-30,000 hz, meaning i should be able to "hear" the the theta waves correct?

yeah, definitely. My experience is that headphones that are hard and not padded ignore me when falling asleep, so you should be fine.

Is it stress and distracting thoughts that keep you awake? If so, a waking journal can be a great benefit, in addition to meditation and relaxation techniques.

im not too sure if im stressed or not!i consider myself a Buddhist and would like to think that I am fairly stress free, but i dont meditate regularly. Last night i took a valerian root and melatonin, listened to ninja's subliminal lucid 3.0 while lying perfectly still and repeating to myself "i am lucid dreaming, i will remember my dreams." before sleeping i wrote a paragraph summary of my day. i didnt fall asleep until the binaural beats were finished. i slept for 6 hours, waking up at 7 am this morning to piss (i had drinking lots of water in case i did dream) and then went back to bed. i didnt remember any of my dreams!! i dont even know if i had any.

i think i just need to start regularly meditating again

got trashed on new years! slept like a baby. not remembering dreams though :(