Thread: Gday guys

Welcome!

The most commonly used RC's are the ones you've mentioned and these: Read a phrase, look away, then read it again and see if it has changed. This works with digital clocks too. Try to remember what you just did. You're memory is usually pretty bad in a dream. Here's a bigger list.

The amount of effort to LD varies from person to person. Some people have a lucid the night after they hear about it. Others take weeks or months.

What you've described sounds a lot lake WILD You can read about it here, especially the part on visualization WILD. Whit some practice you might be able to go from those images directly in a dream.

Good luck, have fun and see you around.

Welcome to Dreamviews! Hmm...

Originally Posted by sol

Hey there guys, the concept of LD'ing is completely new to me, was just googling dreams and it led me here. I've done a lot of reading on this site in the past couple of days and I've found it all fascinating, really keen to give it a try. As far as I know I've never had a Lucid Dream. Just got a couple of questions.

Firstly, what do people do to RC? So far I've read about people trying to poke their finger through their hand and trying to exhale while their nose is plugged, wondering what others use?
I use the nose plug most often. It is the only one that has never failed for me.

Also wondering how easy it is to learn how to LD. There seems to be a lot of mixed success from what I've read.
Anyone can learn to LD. The time it takes can vary from person to person. It took me one night. Others it takes a few weeks, and for some it has taken months. Once you start becoming lucid and learn what works best for you, it will get easier and easier to LD. Like anything in life, it takes practice.

And finally just wondering if anyone can help me out with something I used to do, although I'm not sure if its even related to what this site is all about. Before I went to sleep I would relax, and conjur up pictures in my mind, a lot more vivid than usual (it seemed like I could see them on the back of my eyelids rather than in my head, if that makes sense). I found they'd get more vivid and easier to control the more I attempted this. These pictures varied from completely abstract designs to landscapes, and quite often the faces of people. The pictures would then often dissolve or "morph" into other pictures. I could control the pictures sometimes, sometimes not. Sometimes though I got the feeling I was doing something I wasn't supposed to, like some kind of external force wanted me out of this state. Occasionally it felt like I was booted out of this state, I'd get a flash of white and find myself completely awake. Sometimes I was shown pictures that were quite disturbing which freaked me out a little. It'd be cool if someone could tell me if they've heard of this before or offer some kind of explanation.
You were in SP (sleep paralysis). SP is a gateway to WILDing. If you keep yourself calm and don't wake yourself up (even when dread/freaky things happen) you can enter directly into an LD. Just remember that the "bad feelings" are normal and are only hallucinations. The vivid pictures are HI (hypnagogic imagery) and are also quite common during SP. I suggest reading up on the WILD technique. It sounds to me like you will be pretty good at it.

Would love it if you guys could answer those questions. Anyway, I really like the looks of this site and forum and think I'll definitely be quite active in the future.

Thanks guys!

Sol

Good Luck to you!

Cheers guys, thanks for the answers. Never told anyone about the Sleep paralysis thing before so its nice to know its not that unusual, at least amongst you guys! Definitely gonna start practising it again, as well keeping a dream journal, RC's, etc.

Thanks heaps for your help

Welcome to Dreamviews!

Hope your stay is great! Don't be afraid to share your LD experiences!

To answer your questions...

1) There are all sorts of ways to RC. Checking the time, finger through hand, and nose plugging are just a few of them.

2) Learning to LD all depends on the person. Some people can learn it in one day, others take a year. Just be sure to work hard to your goal.

3) It's not sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is just when the body paralizes itself outside of the REM cycle.

Typing this at 1:30 in the morning. Awesome.

Originally Posted by slayer

3) It's not sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is just when the body paralizes itself outside of the REM cycle.

He was experiencing HI during SP. Unless you think he hallucinates on the regular

If you don't mind, I copied something on RCs from a tutorial I wrote. This is pretty much how I do them.


The problem with RCs is that a lot of times, people just mindlessly go “am I dreaming?” and without even considering it, they think “no,” and then totally forget about it. This does absolutely nothing to help you get lucid.



When you do a reality check, don't ask if you're dreaming. Assume that you ARE dreaming. Now ask, “why do I think this is real?”

Example of a GOOD answer: “I think this is real because I remember waking up, getting dressed and driving here. I can remember in detail what I had for breakfast. When I toss a pen into the air and try to make it float, I can't do it.” This works because you are testing you surroundings and memories against LOGIC. Not only that, but you're physically testing reality. If you want, you can try the classics such as looking at your hands or holding your nose to test reality.

Example of a BAD answer: “This feels real.” While you'll never confuse your waking life with a dream, ALL of your non-lucids will always “feel real.”


As for your strange experiences, it sounds to me like they are what is known as HI or hypnogagic imagery. In other words, they are hallucinations we have when we are in that sort of twilight zone between awake and asleep. Sometimes there can be some freaky ones, but if they start to frighten you, remind yourself that you are in charge of your own mind, and see if you can change them into something more pleasant.