Therapeutic lucid dreaming

Hey everyone! I'm quite excited to become a part of this community, and am sure that I will be able to provide much imput and support as I develop my knowledge on the wonderful technique of lucid dreaming. So you're probably wondering about the title to this thread. Well, although technically I am a scientist and my friend a buisnessman, we both personally study psychology. He has taken to hypnosis, and I to interrogative techniques, which we use as a team for research purposes. I have been suffering from nightmares on a regular basis, which led me to the practice of lucid dreaming. I have just recently started to become lucid on a more regular basis, and have a few questions to ask about the art, if you'd be so kind as to help me out.

1. How can I work at becoming lucid during every dream?

2. How can I progress to being able to remember all of my dreams as though I actually lived them? (Not have to write them down)

3. What are some good methods to prolong your dream past the length of a normal REM cycle? And is this safe to do? (I know of the classic rubbing hands, spinning, etc.)

I appreciate any input to help out a beginner to this art! :)

Thanks,
Borislav

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Butkovich

1. How can I work at becoming lucid during every dream?

2. How can I progress to being able to remember all of my dreams as though I actually lived them? (Not have to write them down)

3. What are some good methods to prolong your dream past the length of a normal REM cycle? And is this safe to do? (I know of the classic rubbing hands, spinning, etc.)

I appreciate any input to help out a beginner to this art! :)

Thanks,
Borislav

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Hi, welcome to DV. Let me answer your questions.

1. Find an Induction technique that is right for you and keep practicing! Keep a dream journal, do reality checks, etc. Oh, and read the wiki.

2. The best way is to write them down, but if you don't want to do that then right when you wake up lay very still and concentrate on your dreams and don't think about anything else. Think of all the details. What happened? What did the dream look like? Who was there? Vitamin B6 supplements make your dream more vivid and will be more memorable I also recommend checking out this article in the wiki.

3. Yes, it is safe to do. Rubbing your hands and spinning around works because it stimulates your senses. When rubbing your hands you can feel them rubbing together. When spinning around your mind has to work to create new dream scenery. So basically anything that involves the senses. Also check out this article

Hope you found this informative and good luck!

Thank you very much, I found this very informative. Thanks especially for the links, helps a lot!
Borislav

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Butkovich

Thank you very much, I found this very informative. Thanks especially for the links, helps a lot!
Borislav

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Anytime! If you have any more questions you can PM me or ask a Dream Guide.

Welcome to DV :D
To answer some of your questions

1. Find a good technique for you, I use the DILD which is the most basic way to induct a lucid dream, and then stick to that technique. You might not be lucid every dream in your nights if you get good at WILD or MILD
but you could still get them once a night which is quite a lot, but don't be discouraged if you don't get it right away only a master could have a lucid every night.

2. As for remembering without writing them down in the morning, I don't know, I would suggest you make time to write them down, as it's very good to do so.

3. Rubbing hands works just fine for increasing vividness although spinning may disorient you, causing you to lose the dream. As for dreaming past your REM stages to my knowledge it's not possible, on a few different occasions I have been lucid for very long periods of time and eventually I would suddenly go out of REM back to whatever stage was next or wake up (You wouldn't remember being in a non REM stage (NREM) anyways). So I don't think it's possible but I'm not the most experienced with dreams, do some research on your own.

Feel free to PM any questions you have and I will answer. Also now 90% of the time when I have a nightmare I become lucid because I recognize the feeling so lucid dreaming should probably work to help you with your nightmares. Just remember it's good to confront your nightmares you can often discover something you never realized, and even if you're lucid you can still have a nightmare (the nightmare for me has never continued when I've had the lucid, but if you want to escape the nightmare you could always wake yourself up, just be sure it isn't a false awakening).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ooflendoodle

Welcome to DV :D
To answer some of your questions

1. Find a good technique for you, I use the DILD which is the most basic way to induct a lucid dream, and then stick to that technique. You might not be lucid every dream in your nights if you get good at WILD or MILD
but you could still get them once a night which is quite a lot, but don't be discouraged if you don't get it right away only a master could have a lucid every night.

2. As for remembering without writing them down in the morning, I don't know, I would suggest you make time to write them down, as it's very good to do so.

3. Rubbing hands works just fine for increasing vividness although spinning may disorient you, causing you to lose the dream. As for dreaming past your REM stages to my knowledge it's not possible, on a few different occasions I have been lucid for very long periods of time and eventually I would suddenly go out of REM back to whatever stage was next or wake up (You wouldn't remember being in a non REM stage (NREM) anyways). So I don't think it's possible but I'm not the most experienced with dreams, do some research on your own.

Feel free to PM any questions you have and I will answer. Also now 90% of the time when I have a nightmare I become lucid because I recognize the feeling so lucid dreaming should probably work to help you with your nightmares. Just remember it's good to confront your nightmares you can often discover something you never realized, and even if you're lucid you can still have a nightmare (the nightmare for me has never continued when I've had the lucid, but if you want to escape the nightmare you could always wake yourself up, just be sure it isn't a false awakening).

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1. Alright, I shall stick to the DILD techniques with which I have been working.

2. I apologize, I meant is there a way to remember my lucid dreams (I dont mind forgetting bits of non-lucids) with realistic clarity without writing it down. Or will the memory eventually fade just like any other dream? (the reason being, I like to use some of my lucid time to work on chemical formulae, and I don't fancy forgetting what I've been working on) ;)

3. Okay, I definitely agree with you on the spinning thing, though I thought it was just my inexperience!

Thanks for your input,
Borislav