I suffer from ONS (Over-eager Newbie Syndrome)...:-)

Acquiring the skill of LDing has been a New Year's resolution on my part, after casual attempts and sporadic LDs occuring for years. Now, I have started reading all the theory about REM cycles, the effects of supplements, the descriptions and tips for the different techniques, and so on and so on.

This means I go to bed with my head full of lucid dreaming theory. This is not such a good thing, it turns out. I get so fascinated with attempting to break the mind-body connection while falling asleep that I seem to keep myself awake, or at least mess up the very sleep cycle I am trying to exploit.

For instance, last night I awoke spontaneously almost every hour and found it hard to fall asleep again, which meant that my sleep quality declined violently.

I can imagine this is a common problem with beginners, but I would appreciate any pointers on how to work on it - possibly how to convert my rational, analytical thoughts about LDing into a more clean, pure intent.

Help us poor ONS sufferers...! :-)

Stop trying it at night. Make your nighttime sleep your time to regenerate. Do your oneironauting during the day. You can set an alarm to only let you nap for an hour so you will still be able to sleep at night.

I've been having LDs and WILDs for years, but I've never known just what was happening, or read tutorials on how to induce LD. After finding this site, I just tried one of the techniques for WILD a couple hours ago and it was totally working, but now that I know exactly what is happening at each stage, my awareness of this kept bringing me back to wakefulness. Maybe ignorance is bliss, but it's too late now...

Well every skill is pretty much based on relaxation which usually comes after practice :) I know that you must be eager to LD and to explore the dreamworld, but as you have noticed too much of eagerness can hinder your progress.

Even if this sounds very boring and tedious, do a step by time. First develope good dream recall and start doing RCs while questioning your enviroment. Have you had LD after you put your mind on it? Plan what you are going to do when you become lucid, but don't stress about it :)

Taking naps, as Ryann said, might be one solution. But the core idea of course is that you can sleep well. If you don't get enough sleep you will be stressed and that will hinder again your progress :) The longer you sleep the more chances you have to become lucid. If you wake a lot, use that little time i.e to write your dreams down before you go to sleep. You can do a bit self-hypnosis if you wake in the nights but no more than that.

Quote:

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Maybe ignorance is bliss, but it's too late now...

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Yeh it might feel now like it, but after you have broken the "information barrier" it is same as before and prolly even better :) I had the same deal, confused myself with all these techniques and info untill I realized I can adapt a bit and use my own personal ways, like I used to do before :P

Ah. I used to have that, too. Don't try WILD technique just yet--it tends to exacerbate ONS.

Focus instead more on dream recall and DILD technique. Especially dream recall! Also, if you are currently doing any WBTB (waking in the middle of the night to think about lucid dreaming), keep the sessions short for now (<10 minutes) and dark (small lamps for writing down dreams).

Good luck! Welcome to Dreamviews!

Just try to relax and dont be so eager try something simple like flying or making a sundae appear it takes time just speak in your dream and command what you want. It just takes time dont rush it the more practice and less pushyness the better the dreams you get faster and more controlled dreams just think of it that way and maybe it'll help.