Hi, just started to practice reality checks, weird results

Hi,
So just last week I started to really focus on reality checks. At first I looked at my hand, and then I added in holding my breath and TRYING to inhale while holding my breath. (They both didn't really work, I will explain why)

So I think I had my first bit of success the day before, I had awakened and fallen asleep again (prime dreaming time). But while I was falling asleep, I tried to be aware of the state between when I was thinking in bed and when I was actually asleep.
I think I actually noticed that I was asleep, so I started to do stuff I've always wanted to do (go to places that I always see and wonder what it would feel like to be standing there).

But I don't know if I was actually asleep, and it didn't feel very real. Also, added to some of the stuff I wanted to do, were random dream/thoughts.

Curiously enough, I did try the spinning and looking up method to change the landscape, and I think it worked. However, the dream ended when I was in a place that I didn't think or really want to go to, so I spun a bunch of times but I couldn't stop and and I spun back to consciousness.
I also tried the looking at hands thing sometime in there, but they looked normal.



Just this morning, I had fallen asleep again after waking up in the morning and I tried to do the same thing I did before; be aware of when I am thinking in bed and when I have actually fallen asleep. It didn't work. I had a false awakening, I looked at the clock, and I realized that in my dream, I had difficulty opening one eye because I was sleeping on my front on one eye (in my false awakening). (Recalling is hard, I should write down more dreams). So I told myself in my false awakening to sleep on my eye again, and if I had difficulty opening it then I should do a reality check. So I fell asleep again, and I think the dream had the same beginning or something, and again I couldn't see out of one eye, and suddenly I became aware that I was lucid (inside a non-lucid dream, which I did NOT realize). I did a reality check, trying to inhale while holding my breath, but I still couldn't, but I was positive I was dreaming. However, I didn't seem to do anything that I wanted to do; I did random things and turned up in random places. There was a point where I tried to spin around to warp myself to a place I wanted to be, but it didn't work and I remember thinking that I wasn't trying hard enough. I went back to my room and saw myself in my bed and told one of my family members and they saw me too, and then they thought I was crazy to mess with these things.

I then woke up realizing that the entire thing had been a non-lucid dream.



So a couple of questions for this:
1. How do I know if I am lucid?
2. When I do the inhaling while holding breath reality check, am I supposed to actually try to breathe in or just hold my breath and take note of whether or not I can still breathe? (because inhaling didn't work)
3. General tips/suggestions


Thanks!

Hey, welcome to Dreamviews :)

Maybe it's just me, but your explanation was a bit confusing. :P In the first part, you mean you weren't sure whether it was a lucid dream or just a semi-conscious daydream?

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Originally Posted by ruhtraeel

Just this morning, I had fallen asleep again after waking up in the morning and I tried to do the same thing I did before; be aware of when I am thinking in bed and when I have actually fallen asleep. It didn't work. I had a false awakening, I looked at the clock, and I realized that in my dream, I had difficulty opening one eye because I was sleeping on my front on one eye (in my false awakening). (Recalling is hard, I should write down more dreams). So I told myself in my false awakening to sleep on my eye again, and if I had difficulty opening it then I should do a reality check. So I fell asleep again, and I think the dream had the same beginning or something, and again I couldn't see out of one eye, and suddenly I became aware that I was lucid (inside a non-lucid dream, which I did NOT realize). I did a reality check, trying to inhale while holding my breath, but I still couldn't, but I was positive I was dreaming. However, I didn't seem to do anything that I wanted to do; I did random things and turned up in random places. There was a point where I tried to spin around to warp myself to a place I wanted to be, but it didn't work and I remember thinking that I wasn't trying hard enough. I went back to my room and saw myself in my bed and told one of my family members and they saw me too, and then they thought I was crazy to mess with these things.

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Do you mean you were dreaming about becoming lucid inside a dream... without realizing that the whole thing actually WAS a lucid dream?

I'm not sure I know what to tell you... when the logic center of your brain turns on in the dream, you just know that you're dreaming. I think I might have had dreams that were actually about dreams and LDs, but somehow it just didn't click and I didn't actually become lucid.

Hopefully when you get in the habit of doing reality checks and seriously questioning your surroundings, it will remind you in the dream to question things, and that will suddenly make you realize it's a dream. After that, you can stabilize it by doing reality checks, spinning, or touching things in the dream. Stimulate your senses in the dream world, and that will hopefully make things more vivid and give you more control and help you stay lucid longer.

When you do that reality check, you're supposed to plug your nose and try to breathe through it.

You're right about recall, it gets a lot harder if you put off recording your dreams. That's one of the most important things you should do.

You could also try picking out different things, people, or places that commonly appear in your dreams, and train yourself to do a reality check whenever you see them in real life.

I hope some of this helps. :) Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Somniloquist

Hey, welcome to Dreamviews :)

Maybe it's just me, but your explanation was a bit confusing. :P In the first part, you mean you weren't sure whether it was a lucid dream or just a semi-conscious daydream?



Do you mean you were dreaming about becoming lucid inside a dream... without realizing that the whole thing actually WAS a lucid dream?

I'm not sure I know what to tell you... when the logic center of your brain turns on in the dream, you just know that you're dreaming. I think I might have had dreams that were actually about dreams and LDs, but somehow it just didn't click and I didn't actually become lucid.

Hopefully when you get in the habit of doing reality checks and seriously questioning your surroundings, it will remind you in the dream to question things, and that will suddenly make you realize it's a dream. After that, you can stabilize it by doing reality checks, spinning, or touching things in the dream. Stimulate your senses in the dream world, and that will hopefully make things more vivid and give you more control and help you stay lucid longer.

When you do that reality check, you're supposed to plug your nose and try to breathe through it.

You're right about recall, it gets a lot harder if you put off recording your dreams. That's one of the most important things you should do.

You could also try picking out different things, people, or places that commonly appear in your dreams, and train yourself to do a reality check whenever you see them in real life.

I hope some of this helps. :) Good luck!

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For the first lucid like dream experience, yeah, what you said. I didn`t really know if I was really dreaming or if I was semi-conscious.

And the second one, yeah, you actually said it better than I could type it. I was dreaming of being lucid inside a dream. But I guess it wasn`t actually a lucid dream if I had slight lucidity inside a non-lucid dream.


Is DILD or WILD better?

thanks again

DILD is the best way to start because WILD is quite a bit more difficult. If you haven't already, take a look at Puffin's DILD Guide. It has a lot of good tips.

You can find a bunch of other guides in the wiki section of the site, along with a few good ones for WILDing. I tried it a few times before, but never quite made it to the sleep paralysis stage. :/ It takes a lot of practice.

By the way, are you supposed to, squeeze your nose and then try to breathe, or put your fingers under them and then try to exhale

The reality check section of the Dreamviews wiki has a good description:

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11. The Breathing Test
This is a nice all-rounder. Pinch your nose closed and keep breathing. Try not to think about your breathing while doing it, just leave your usual & automatic, breathing to do its work. If you can breathe whilst pinching your nose, you're dreaming.

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