Hi Everyone!

[weajon01]

Hi, I only discovered what lucid dreaming was last night, and spent hours researching it. I decided to try it, using the MILD method: Maybe it was placebo effect of me trying this all, and thinking about it so much, but I spent an hour or so trying to get to sleep and into a dream a few times. I remember one time everything was black, but I felt like I was dreaming...and I also remember seeing random light and feeling odd/shaky. But as I said, it may have just been placebo effect, and I'm not sure how many times this happened, but I can remembering it happening (I can't separate the occurances). I remember waking up from this, because I wanted to open my eyes and see if I was dreaming, and just being sweaty, with a high pulse. Anyway, I eventually just completely fell asleep...had some dreams, and recorded them in the morning (first time I've done this). One dream was noteworthy, as I was with two girls who I was familiar with, however I don't know who they are, and they handed me a plate, and were saying "You're in a dream" or something along those lines. I took the plate, looked at the plate in my hands, and I think I realised I was in a dream, because I remembered about reality checks at this point, and I couldn't focus on my hand or the plates, I just knew they were there. I had no control, and immediately woke up. Boring story, yeah, but maybe it was a lucid...everything is so vague about the whole experience (as it often is when dreaming). Because I was recording my dreams, I recorded 3 in the end, and usually I don't remember any (maybe because I don't think about dreams at all usually). My dreams are usually very vague, and I can't focus much. I have had dreams recently where I'm in my room panicking, while trying to sleep, and after reading about false awakening, maybe this is what was happening then. Because it's hard to tell whether I'm waking momentarily, panicking, looking around and falling asleep, or whether it's all in my dream. I some questions: 1) I don't understand how to perform a reality check in a dream if I don't know that I'm there?...I find that whole concept confusing, because in a dream, you think you're just normal, it's not like I KNOW I'm in a dream, and I should check...I can't tell my dream self to do it! 2) I'm a year12 school student, and I don't get loads of sleep (during the weekdays) so is MILD the better method for me to try? 3) Any tips you can give me as experienced lucid dreamers would be realllly welcome. (even if they may seem obvious) Such as stuff you can remember when you were beginning it all which helped. Thanks guys, this forum looks really helpful.

[DreamHacker]

Well iam happy to be the first person to welcome you to dreamviews if you have any questions feel free to pm me

[Saurfang]

Hello and welcome! This forum is indeed helpful and friendly. To do a reality check in a dream you have to use mantras. Mantra is something what you keep saying to yourself the whole day (or before going to bed, but I find saying it whole day more helpful). For example you repeat "I will do a reality check" and you do it as you repeat it. Mantras are really powerful. For example when trying to do DEILD which requires you to wake up AFTER your dream only by saying "I will wake up after my dream" you can easily wake up after your dream. Well I think you get the point. I didn't have my lucid dream yet, but I've read a lot of stuff about Lucid Dreaming and know lots of theory about it. Don't be scared of trying WILD or DEILD.

[weajon01]

Thanks for the help guys I had a mantra last night, saying something like "When I am in my dream I will know I am in a dream" and "I will perform reality tests in my dream." I think that's what led to the plate thing.

[Mirror]

The whole purpose of reality checks is to do them during the day when you are awake, not just to say yourself you'll be doing a reality check when you'll be dreaming. If you don't question waking reality you'll never be questioning the dream reality and reality checks are not usually a way to become lucid but to confirm wether you are or not because when you feel like having to perform one you're already damn close to being fully lucid. In my first lucid dream for example I knew I was dreaming all of a sudden, like.... Oh wow I'm dreaming with no dreamsign or stuff like that, I thought... why doing a reality check I know I'm dreaming... but the situation felt so real that I thought.. If I don't give it a try I could easily mistake this for reality in a few seconds losing lucidity so let's try some. So do reality checks during the day, question reality often especially in situations that seem dreamlike or you can decide that you'll do a reality check every time you'll be opening a door ( in real life). You'll find that is harder than you can think in the beginning, especially if you have things to do you forget about remembering to perform reality check when you open doors. You have to train your prospective memory this way. You can also substitute "When I am in my dream I will know I am in a dream" with : "The next time I'll be dreaming I'll REMEMBER I'm dreaming" (to connect it with the MILD prospective memory excercise) and when you repeat it don't do it like a mantra which means mindlessly but really focus on your intent, really want it. Hope it will help!

[weajon01]

Oh OHK! Thanks, coz I always wonder how people say "Just perform a reality check"...coz usually I don't even know/remember I'm dreaming. If I had the power to control myself to perform one,...then I wouldn't really NEED to perform one, would I? I'll try your door technique, haha. I think I have experienced lucidity now I think of it...but usually, I don't think of it as "Hey let's go do some cool shit", more of "Hey, I'm dreaming /wakes up, /falls asleep again". Not that this happens often (I wish it did). I'm about to go to sleep, hopefully I will have something a bit cool happen tonight. Sometimes, though, I feel like I don't really understand my technique well enough. To me, WILD and MILD seem the same...only when WILDing, you have woken yourself up during sleep, and you experience weird-ass hallucenations on the way in. Thanks for your help, Mirror, Saurfang and DreamHacker.

[Mirror]

Reality checks are worth even if you are 100% sure it's a dream because believe me, sometimes these dreams are so real (I had a false awakening this morning) that you think it's silly, that this could never be a dream and then you lose an opportunity because you can either go back to sleep in the dream and lose lucidity (in false awakenings) or forget soon that you are dreaming even if you were lucid a moment before so my suggestion is, perform reality checks regularly in the dream even if you are 100% sure. They're even funny to do, I loved to see my ridiculously deformed hand

[weajon01]

I'm going to sleep soon, I'm going to try WILD...but everything I read about it seems so scaryy!!!!!!!!! Is it worth it?

[Mirror]

It's super worth! I made it Wilding for the first time two days ago and it's incredible, you just have to be super relaxed and always know that all you're experiencing is not real and even that way the first time remains somehow scary or at least the strangest thing you've ever felt ( if you have never been high on LSD I think) XD

[weajon01]

It's super worth! I made it Wilding for the first time two days ago and it's incredible, you just have to be super relaxed and always know that all you're experiencing is not real and even that way the first time remains somehow scary or at least the strangest thing you've ever felt ( if you have never been high on LSD I think) XD Now I'm keen to have one to experience the LSD feelings hahaha, it seems like a free way to get high! One thing which doesn't make sense to me is that if you need to be in REM cycles for WILD, and usually you want to wake yourself up about 5 or 6 hours into sleep, how the hell can this be done during a nap? My naps are about 1-1.5 hours long! If I go home today after school and have a nap, how can I try a WILD? I tried last night, but I think I woke up at 450am and then didn't engage in any activities, so I was very tired, and fell asleep too easily. I think WILD is best left to naps and weekend sleeping, as I already hardly get enough sleep, being a year 12 student. Is it possible to attain SP upon first going to bed? Thanks mirror!

[Mirror]

I don't know about afternoon naps, I've never been good at them ( I never sleep during the day) but I can tell you how I had it. I woke up at 4 a.m. after 5 hours of sleep. Then I got out of bed and just tried to be as awake as I could reading and thinking about lucid dreaming, planning my dream. This way you activate your brain, you force it to be "awake" so that when you go to sleep you don't automatically fall asleep. Then after 30 minutes I went to bed again but couldn't sleep. It all came suddenly, maybe I was lucky but staying absolutely still in bed I started feeling wierd sounds and vibrations and in 25-30 seconds I was in a dream, just I didn't know at first because after vibrations and stuff i opened my eyes and I could see my bedroom as it is in reality so it's like a false awakening just that you're not really awakening like when you're already in a dream. I would call it false reality. I didn't have any hypnagocic images , just sounds and those vibrations. The realism is so high that if you trust your senses you're destined to fail because feels 100% real, just like now that you're reading these words just that reality checks still apply of course because the truth is that you're dreaming. Being a student myself I try this stuff during the weekends. During the week I try the MILD tecnique.

[USA]

wow your lucky to have a LD the first night! it took me about a month and a half to have my first lucid dream!

[Mirror]

Maybe you got me wrong USA I didn't have a lucid dream the first night. It took me about 3 and a half weeks to get there and the WILD I described occurred by pure accident. I was trying to MILD but somehow it turned out into a WILD hehe