I tried to lucid dream last night

[amethyst32]

Hi everyone! I've just become interested in lucid dreaming again after some years (I used to practise doing it, but I only had a couple of successful dreams before I gave up on it) and I'm also an insomniac who has alot of trouble getting to sleep in the first place. I lay awake until 3am on most nights! Anyway, last night I downloaded some mp3s of binaural beats and a guided meditation to help me sleep, and I told myself to remain lucid in any dream I had. Anyway, all that happened is I fell into some kind of trance with the beats and I didn't sleep at all, but I found it real easy to get up when my alarm went this morning and I was full of energy, not the usual tiredness. So I don't really know what that was, it wasn't a lucid dream but whatever it was i think it did me some good, but it was only a first try anyway and I've promised myself to keep it up this time! :insomnia:

[Silence Dogood]

I don't really have a good response for this, but I'm letting you know I'm in the same boat. I just tried those beats for the first time last night too, they actualy did help me relax and fall asleep though. I go through phases -- sometimes I can't fall asleep till 3, like you, and sometimes I'm out by 10:30. Some advice for falling asleep: -- Cut out all caffeine. Even during the day, just stop using it. -- Get off the computer and stop watching TV by 9:00. You can't just flip a switch and turn your brain off. -- When you do get in bed, focus on your breathing for a few minutes, then visualize yourself sleeping somewhere extremely comfortable. Imagine you're falling asleep on a beach somewhere. -- Count backwards from 50 Just keep alternating between focusing on your breath and visualizing yourself sleeping somewhere peaceful. It will put you at ease and hopefully help your insomnia. It's helped me get over my mild insomnia. But I don't know what to tell you about Lucid Dreaming though, since I've not reached that point yet

[amethyst32]

That's good advice, especially the breathing/visualizing. I think I respond well to things like the beats and guided meditations (as long as I like the person's voice!), so I was wondering if there's any such thing as a guided lucid dream and if there is, has anyone had results with them. Thanks, Silence!

[Barbizzle]

well, I just want to welcome you to Dream Views Look around and use the search, I bet you'll find alot of what your looking for. If it isnt there, make a post

[rvdork]

If you don't mind popping pills, melatonin should work. It worked for my friend, and he has frequent LDs... Lucky him... ~rvdork

[amethyst32]

Thanks guys. There's so much great advice here! I did a search and found Laberge's audiobook. Last night I was able to pull myself back from the brink of sleep (one of the excersises I'd heard about), but when I dreamed I wasn't lucid. In a way it's weird how I'm finding this quite difficult now, because I've had lucid dreams in the past without even trying - before I even knew there was a word for realising it wasn't real in the middle of a dream!

[Silence Dogood]

How did those tips go with helping you fall asleep?

[amethyst32]

I'm surprised how well it's working, actually! When I want to sleep now I just listen to some of the stuff I downloaded lately (binaural/LaBerge/deep relaxation), and it works in about 30 minutes. Last night I even managed to get a couple of seconds of lucidity in a dream (immediately after I'd gone back into an interrupted sleep) before the excitement of it promptly woke me up again! Still, it's progress - and I think there was something about that interrupted sleep that was the key to it, so I'm thinking I should work more on pulling myself back from the brink of sleep and blurring that line between waking and sleeping.