New member, hi - First night's experience

Okay, so I've just joined this website a few mins ago. Hi.

Pretty hyped about all this to be honest because I know I've lucid dreamt (at least once) in the past. I thought it was a rare and crazy occasion that only happened to me so I never spoke of it but in recent years, I've read articles, watched TED Talks and YouTube videos about this natural phenomenon and the fact that it could be wake-induced sparked my interest. Now, bear in mind that I've dreamt plenty in the past but not so recently, I'm guessing it's because of the stress from college and my future. In fact, I kept what you guys call a "dream journal" too, on my iPhone since 2 years ago. I remember my dreams vividly and once I get up, I start typing it into my phone like a madman just so I don't skip out on any of the details.

Anyway, I watched this video last night:
**Can't post links but just look it up on YouTube: "Lucid Dreaming! (and How to Do It)" by Koi Fresco.

The instructions provided by Koi were easy to follow and I followed them well, or so I think... but I didn't manage to lucid dream. I'll try to explain what I went through last night in as much detail as possible. I went to bed at approximately 11:30pm (yeah, I didn't set my alarm clock 4 ~ 5 hours prior to my bedtime) and I tried following his instructions. I guess I was pretty tired so I actually fell asleep the first time lol. Then, I woke up at somewhere between 3 or 4, realised I had fell asleep and tried to perform the WILD technique on the spot. First few steps were easy to follow, easing my mind and calm my breathing. Cool thing is, I managed to notice the indicators that my brain was sending me (itchiness, urge to roll over). This got me super excited so my heart started to beat rapidly and my breathing naturally increased but I reached the point where I managed to see the images. I managed to create scenes and visualise my friends in the dream - having a conversation with them but I was well-aware that these were all thoughts and I was not lucid dreaming. The scenes bounced from one thing to another depending on what I was thinking about. It went something like this: Friend A, coffee shop (saw things in a coffee shop), told myself to think about a beach and hear the sound of waves and it popped into my mind, Friend B, etc.) But they were all my thoughts and images, I guess.

I tried again a second time, same thing happened and I fell asleep on my third try. So, with what I've been through, I'd like to ask some questions: -

1. I swallowed my saliva when I was trying to lucid dream, should I be swallowing it or not? Does this affect my chances of lucid dreaming or count as a form of movement?
2. My muscles through my entire body (legs, arms, neck and shoulder) felt extremely heavy when I was visualising my friends and recreating scenes. I thought I was about to go lucid at that very moment because I could tell that my body was sleeping. Am I wrong and is this muscle soreness normal? It went away once I woke up and stretched.
3. To reassure that whatever around me is reality, I count with my fingers from 1 side to the other from 1 - 10. I also use the tip of my right hand's fingers to tap my left hand (idk, I read it from somewhere that the fingers will go through your palm and you'll be able to undergo DILD by noticing this "error"). Any other common methods?
4. Is it true that numbers, alphabets and words will seem distorted when dreaming?
5. Any suggestions to help improve my lucid dreaming experience?

Thanks

Howdy! I'm PhantasmDragon! Nice to meet ya! I'd love to answer your questions, but do keep in mind, I'm somewhat of a novice myself, so bear with me! Nonetheless, I've got some experience on WILD, so I think I can still help.

1. Yes, this does count as one of those indicators and is arguably the hardest one to ignore (at least for me). Try propping up your pillow a bit to keep your saliva from piling up in the back of your throat.
2. Well, I think your body is just transitioning into sleep paralysis! Sleep paralysis is a completely normal phenomena and usually occurs in the transition between awake and asleep. When your body believes your mind is asleep, it will try to paralyze it in order to prevent you from acting out your dreams. Your body feels as if you are under a lead blanket and you will have trouble moving because your body is asleep. You will also start to see images due to the fact your mind is trying to get you to fall asleep with your body. In this state, it is very easy to fall asleep and drift off, but it is also the perfect state for entering a lucid dream through visualization. The most important thing to remember is to stay focused! It may sound easy at first, but combined with the fact your mind and body are very tired, it can be fairly difficult, so don't be to hard on yourself if you fail. By the way, trying to move or changing your breathing pattern will break sleep paralysis, but do keep in mind the former may take a while in order to take effect due to your limbs being paralyzed.
3. Yes, there are many! Some people look at a clock look away and look back at it in order to check if they are dreaming. If they are dreaming, the time may change dramatically. For example, you look at the clock in a dream and it's 1:15. You look away then look back and the clock says it is 8:50. Others look in mirrors and if their reflections are distorted or not there at all, they are dreaming. And still some try reading. If you try to read in a dream, you will find it very hard to make out words. However, these require items in your environment, so they may not be reliable.
For reality checks which only require your body, you can also try plugging your nose and breathing in. In a dream, you will still be able breathe despite having your nose plugged. You can also try closing your eyes. In a dream, you will still be able to see despite having your eyes closed. Remember not over load yourself with reality checks. Pick 1-3 which work for you and if they don't, change them.
I would also like to point out that some reality checks stop working as you get better at lucid dreaming and your dreams start getting more detailed. Usually the visual ones stop working. If I had to make a list out of the ones I know which stop working when you are a pro, I would say the finger reality check (your fingers will start looking the same), the mirror reality check (your reflection will be like the one in real life), and the reading reality check (it will become easy to make out words and read). But all this only occurs if you are a real, real pro, so don't worry about it too much.
4. Yup. However, as I stated earlier, as you get better at lucid dreaming, and your dreams start becoming more vivid, it will become easier to read words and soon there will be a point where so little distortion occurs that you will hardly notice the difference.
5. If one method doesn't work, then try a different one. Some methods work better on others. Don't worry, there are many types of lucid dreaming such as DILD, MILD, FILD, SSILD, WBTB, and that's only touching the major categories. There are many, many more methods which all have their little differences. Also, get lots of sleep. Small amounts of sleep = shorter REM cycles where most dreams occur. Finally, don't be too ambitious. Lucid dreaming is a past-time, not a lifestyle. Too many times newbies try all the methods, all day, everyday, and it becomes a burden. They then don't get their desired results, so they quit. They've exhausted themselves out right as they start. Take things small and one step at a time in order to keep your motivation burning. Don't ever feel obliged to lucid dream. If you simply don't have the time right now, don't do it. Your sleep and mental health is more important than your lucid dreaming. Just come back to it later when you do feel as if you have time. If it becomes tedious, take a break. Recoup your energy and come back to it when your motivated again. It's supposed to be fun, not painful.

I'm gonna leave you this here link: http://www.dreamviews.com/intro-clas...sons-i-iv.html
This link talks about everything you need to get started and along with that, recommends some tutorials for specific lucid dreaming techniques. It truly is a life saver.

Also, I'm gonna link you Sensei's podcast about lucid dreaming. He was the one who introduced me to Dreamview in the Introduction Zone and with it he showed me a podcast he did about what he wished somebody would have told him when he first started lucid dreaming. He recently just retired from Dreamviews, so maybe it's just me wanting to pay tribute to him. Despite that, I'm sure it will help you in some sort or fashion. Here's the link: http://www.dreamviews.com/dreamviews...e-told-me.html

Hi there Kikoku:) Welcome to the coolest dream site and enjoy the chat and exellent advice - yes best to start with that as PhantasmDragon says :goodjob2:

http://www.dreamviews.com/intro-clas...sons-i-iv.html

Welcome to the forums!

:dancingcow: Welcome to the forums! I hope you will be able to find what you are looking for here! :dancingcow:

Welcome to the forum!

All your questions about WILDing and falling asleep are answered here in this excellent WILD tutorial WILD

And there is a LOTS of misconceptions floating around about sleep paralysis, even here, even after we tried so hard to fix them all. You can read about SP in the above tutorial, but also here
http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...explained.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...mystified.html

I suggest to everybody who is interested to read them. It will make WILDing so much easier for everybody, because this SP, which is not part of LDing at all, and it starts only AFTER we start dreaming, will not be haunting anybody no more.

If you have any more questions after reading that, please ask. happy dreams