Introduction and a question

**Starflare** · 10-27-2014 01:47 AM

Hi guys,

Let me start with a short introduction about me and my dreams.

From what I can remember, I have only ever had two lucid dreams (and one really bad, short one a few weeks ago). There was a recurring dream that I had when I was younger (about 10 years ago, I'm 22 now) that involved sneaking around in the neighbour's back garden because I was curious like that back then. I remember I stood there, in my dream, thinking and very carefully considering if I should climb over the little fence to go and explore. It felt wrong to think about doing it because that's not something you normally do, but eventually, because I kept getting the same dream, I realized "this HAS to be a dream, I know it has to be. Things I do now will not have any real consequences." So that's when I had my first lucid dream, however I did not realize it at the time. In fact, I only realized it a couple of years ago, when I first heard about lucid dreaming and started to really think about my dreams.

That's when I decided that I wanted start lucid dreaming again. I started keeping a dream journal (though I couldn't be bothered writing down all my dreams at first) and to really set my intention on dreaming and remembering my dreams. I tested some techniques like WBTB and MILD and tried making a habit of doing frequent RC's. A couple of months later (a year ago now), I woke up at around 9am, stayed awake for 30 mins, fell asleep, and had my 2nd ever lucid dream. Although I didn't really intentionally think about wanting to LD at that time, I guess it can still be considered a WBTB. It was an amazing experience and motivated me to get more lucid dreams.

So those are pretty much the two highlights of my personal history in LD'ing. I'm not entirely sure yet what the best technique would be for me. I like the idea of WBTB+WILD, however I seem to have some problems trying to lay still and relax after waking up in the middle of the night. I just feel an extremely strong urge to turn over and get more comfortable, usually by turning over on my side a couple of times. I usually do WBTB after about 4.5-5h of sleep. I've done it after about 6h of sleep but then I had trouble falling asleep (especially since it was already light outside). I guess I should try doing it after... 3h of sleep? Or should I just try and focus on a different technique like WILD? Oh, almost forgot to mention, I have a messed up sleep schedule right now, sometimes going to sleep at 1am, sometimes 4am... I guess a fixed sleep schedule would really help a lot for WBTB right?

Is it a bad idea to try out different techniques at once, or should I focus on just one of them at a time?

Thanks for reading!

**Burke** · 10-27-2014 03:10 AM

Hi Starflare, welcome to the forums!

Your story sounds similar to mine; I had these recurring nightmares when I was a little kid and ended up using lucid dreams to get rid of them (before I knew what they were) and then rediscovered it when I joined this forum.

As for your questions, if you want to try WILD first, you're right in pairing it with WBTB, but typically somewhere between 4-6 hours after you fall asleep. The goal for this is to wake up right before a REM sleep period (when you have dreams) as opposed to a deeper sleep (dreams are uncommon to have in this phase). It takes a little bit of trial and error to find this, but it's well worth it when you do. 3 hours sounds a bit too early, though. I'd stick with 4 or 4.5. Just know what WILD is a bit trickier than some other techniques, so it may take more time, but it is one of the more reliable methods you can perform.

As for trying out different techniques at once, it's not necessarily a bad idea, but don't go mixing too many. For example, WBTB/WILD along with just regular DILD (dream initiated lucid dream) are just fine, but don't try and mix WILD with FILD (finger initiated lucid dream) since one is a subtype of the other. Once you get used to one or two techniques, feel free to branch out and try others, but don't go changing techniques every few days. It can take a few weeks to really see the effects of some techniques, so you can't discount any technique after just a few nights.

Other than that, reading around the forum and the tutorials posted are great ways to get ideas for your LDs as well as expand your horizons in terms of induction techniques. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

**sparkley** · 10-27-2014 04:57 AM

Hey Starflare, welcome to DV. I hope you learn a lot more here! Good luck on everything!

**CNGB** · 10-27-2014 10:08 PM

Hey there! Welcome to DV! I really hope that you find that you like it here. Most people are friendly, so if you ever have a question then just ask!

As for the question you already have asked--it really depends on you. A lot of people would agree that you should focus on one at a time as a beginner, but the more you get used to them the easier it will be.