A noob has landed.

Hello all, I stumbled across the concept of lucid dreaming while I was looking for dream symbols.

It sounds very interesting, I have never heard of it before. I started to train myself with some excersises I found, and I found out that I had been doing similar excersises for a long time to aid me in meditation. This would be my third day of attempting to become lucid, I tried the mnemonic induction method. After repeating 'I will wake up after every dream period and remember my dream" until I fell asleep, I woke up sometime around 4:00am (I'm not sure if I woke up because of another reason though). I couldnt remember any dreams that I had, so I went back to sleep. The second time I tried it, nothing happened at all. I seem not to be able to recall my dreams very well.

I also tried the WILD method. It didnt quite work for me. I did see streaks of green swirling in the blackness of my eyes after a while of sitting there, but it didnt progress further than that. For some reason my eyes felt like they were rolling up into my head, it was kind of annoying and it made me squint and want to open my eyes. Is there any way to stop that?

Anyway, I have some questions. What exactly is it like to be lucid? Does your concious self have to vsualize everything during the dream or does your unconcious make the pictures? Is it realistic? Can you hear, taste, and smell? Do you remember the experience completely or is it usually fuzzy like a dream would be when you wake up?
Thanks for taking the time for reading/replying. I cant wait to read a book written by my subconcious.

Welcome to the forum! We hope that you enjoy your stay!

For LDers, sometimes they develop LDing naturally; othertimes, it takes hard work & effort. If you have any ?s, feel free to PM me!

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Originally posted by Cryptic Cane
Anyway, I have some questions. What exactly is it like to be lucid? Does your concious self have to vsualize everything during the dream or does your unconcious make the pictures? Is it realistic? Can you hear, taste, and smell? Do you remember the experience completely or is it usually fuzzy like a dream would be when you wake up?
Thanks for taking the time for reading/replying. I cant wait to read a book written by my subconcious.

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Welcome, Mr. Cane! :)

I think everyone needs to find the method(s) that work best for them. I would suggest concentrating on one thing for a week or so before moving on to the next. Developing your dream recall is an important first step, but beyond that, it can take some people weeks or even months to induce ludicity.

What is it like to be lucid? Well, it's pretty much like being in any other dream, except that you know that it's a dream.

No, you don't have to create the entire dreamscape. Usually, you'll already be in a dream, and then become lucid, but the dream will continue -- it's just that you may be able to take control at that point and change things yourself -- but you don't have to.

Yes, it can be incredibly realistic, and you have all your senses (although you may not notice some things like smells unless you specifically think about it).

Usually, dream recall for LDs is much better than for regular dreams, but that can depend on your level of lucidity and other factors.

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, just ask. :)

Thanks for the help guys

TygrHawk is right, it would be good to consentrate on one technique for awhile before moving onto the next. it would also be great to keep a dream journal, so that you can work with dreamsigns and reality checks- which is a great way to start out.

if you wake up and you find that you can't remember anything, think about how you feel. emotions can carry over from dreams so it may help you to remember something. also, think about things that have been on your mind lately, such as problems, worries, desires, goals, etc. those things are likely to be in your dreams, along with places you frequent and people you often see.

as for what it's like, I'd say it's exactly like your everyday life, the only difference is that you may have the ability to control things around you. actually, you could compare it to the movie The Matrix.

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Originally posted by Cryptic Cane
I woke up sometime around 4:00am (I'm not sure if I woke up because of another reason though). I couldnt remember any dreams that I had, so I went back to sleep. The second time I tried it, nothing happened at all. I seem not to be able to recall my dreams very well.

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Do you keep a dream journal? There's no better way to increase dream recall than with a journal. and seeing as how dream recall is major building block in the sceme of lucid dreaming, you need it to be up to par.

welcome to the board