Isomnia while practicing lucid dreaming

Hey everybody my name (nickname) is Ethario and I'm a first time poster, I wouldn't normally post here because naturally i'm more of a lurker, which I hope isn't to bad. Now on to the subject at hand.

I've been practicing lucid dreaming for about 2 weeks now and i've come to an hurdle I can't overcome. I use a book to help me with practice and i've come to the chapter where I have to think about what I want to dream about beforehand and then go to sleep and dream about that subject. When I try this I can not for the life of me fall asleep because when my mind wanders off at night, I try to recover and think about my subject which results in me being awake for 3+ hours before losing the fight and falling asleep.

When I wake up, like the rest of the nights I still remember my dream and can write it down in my journal like every normal day. I've been succesfull with that even when I don't remember anything at first it comes back to me in pieces when I wake up and focus.

So my question is now: How can I incubate a dream when going to sleep without disturbing my sleep itself.

P.S (an hour before going to bed I meditate for about an hour where I try to see myself in my dream subject, I do this with some relaxation music)

This is my second post and I've lurked since yesterday so my opinion is probably not the best. But from what I've read so far, it seems that you're putting so much cognitive energy into focusing on your scene that your brain can't slip into a dreaming state. If you focus a bit less, or make it more general so it takes less concentration, or simply reminding yourself of your desired scene every now and then rather thab focusing on it constantly, you may find it easier sleeping and still getting your desired dream.

thanks for the reply and I accept help from everyone not only senior members, the advice could certainly be usefull but I have been trying this for about a week now and my dreams always end up about subjects about my daily life rather then what I think about that day I dream about what I did and do that day.

But I really should take a break from focusing this much, its really tiring me out but I started lucid dreaming practice because I had alot of these dreams when I was a kid and they are 1 of my strongest memories of my childhood and this really motivates me, if I could do it as a kid I hope to find that piece of me again

Welcome to the forums. You really don't need to follow everything in this book to the letter. What works for one person might not work for you. If dream incubation doesn't work for you don't do it.

In my experience with incubation a simple dream is much easier to incubate than a complex dream. You can do something as simple as basing the dream on a color or more complex themes like a person or activity.

I recommend you start simple and build you way up. This really isn't true insomnia you are experiencing. It's just because your brain is too active.

Good luck lucid dreaming.

hey! and thank you. I'll try taking it a little easier, maybe you can put out a suggestion for me :). The subject i'm now trying to incubate was running or being in my local park, the book told me to pick something with high motivation this is true because i'm currently on a diet and working hard to run regularly and losing weight. How would I generalize this thought, think about a forest of fields of grass in general ?

I would just think about how your body moves while running. You don't need to imagine a particular place just think about the motion. Try this for a week at least and see if it works. Hopefully you will be able to fall asleep while trying.

thanks, i'll be sure to try it out never thought about thinking about motions yet, I usually stick to the things I can see because my dreams aren't that vivid yet. I'll try it out and post back :)