A nudge in the right direction if you please?

Hey, my names Jason and I'm 18 and can honestly say I've never had a lucid dream. At least I wasn't aware of it if I did. I've discovered this site a few weeks back and it's blown my mind reading all the things that can happen in your own bed.
I don't condone drugs but I've always had an interest altering my perception of reality. Reality is just as personal perception after all right? If I can have a somewhat similar expeirience with only the chemicals inside my brain I'm all for it. I also have an interest in things that can't be explained very well. Things like dreams specifically but also things like quantam physics, etc. Basically the trippy crap.

So Basically I'm not really sure what to start with. I'm starting a dream journal as I need to improve my recall. I only remember my dreams once or twice a week if I'm lucky. I noticed that just putting in the effort over the last two weeks to remember my dreams, I've went from remembering 1-2 dreams a weeks to 2-4. Even then I have a hard time recalling them in the morning though. Yesterday I recalled two but looked at the clock and seen I slept in so I had to go to work before I had a chance to write it in my journal. Of course I forget it now...:(

Going back to my first point, I don't know what to start with. I don't think I'm good enough to LD so I've been trying to attain SP while waiting for my dream recall to improve. Is it a good idea to start with SP? I havn't attained that either.

So, a point in the right direction would be great. Thanks guys.

Its good that you have already started a dream journal. This is a great habit to get into and your dream recall will improve more and more, depending how often you record your dreams. I personally keep a notebook and pen under my bed table, and when i wake up make no hesitations to record the important things that i will forget. Many times i have recorded things then later thought of the dream and read it, and noticed that i forgot some important bits, but i recorded them and so they now spark my memory when i read them.

Im not sure that SP is really attainable, it just happens every night whether we know it or not, i find it easier to LD when i feel SP setting in, but its different for everyone and you should test and see what works for you, there are many tutorials around the website, try checking out the Attaining Lucidity section. It can be frustrating at times if you dont get results the first couple trys but it is important to keep trying and eventually it will be as normal as riding a bike. but remember like everything, it takes practice, but believe me when you get free into a dream you will not regret the time spent.

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Originally Posted by Elem3nt0

Its good that you have already started a dream journal. This is a great habit to get into and your dream recall will improve more and more, depending how often you record your dreams. I personally keep a notebook and pen under my bed table, and when i wake up make no hesitations to record the important things that i will forget. Many times i have recorded things then later thought of the dream and read it, and noticed that i forgot some important bits, but i recorded them and so they now spark my memory when i read them.

Im not sure that SP is really attainable, it just happens every night whether we know it or not, i find it easier to LD when i feel SP setting in, but its different for everyone and you should test and see what works for you, there are many tutorials around the website, try checking out the Attaining Lucidity section. It can be frustrating at times if you dont get results the first couple trys but it is important to keep trying and eventually it will be as normal as riding a bike. but remember like everything, it takes practice, but believe me when you get free into a dream you will not regret the time spent.

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Thanks for replying. Just starting out so I occasionally forget the journal but I've put in on top of my laptop just to make sure I see it. It's frustrating but just seeing a slight increase in my dream recall is encouraging. I'll definitely be keeping it up. The thing is I really have no idea what it feels like to LD so it is possible I had some when I was younger and not realized it. Certainly didn't control my dreams and if I did, I didn't recognize I was dreaming.

I'm going to start doing some reality checks frequently. Things like glancing at clocks, etc. Can't wait until I can start to control things better.

Although it's off topic I'll add in a quesion. Has anybody ever had a hard time running in dreams? Not LD, just dreams in general. It's bloody annoying.

There have been times that i have known i was dreaming but for some reason the thought never occured to me to take control, so i cant really say i have had a dream and became lucid, the only times i have had lucid dream is when i wake up 5 hours after going to sleep, stay up for about 10-15 minutes and then proceed back to bed.

There are many ways to know if you are dreaming, although it can be tricky at times because dreams can be so real, that sometimes you just cant tell for sure. Thats where reality checks come in. There are many ways to perform reality checks, me personally i look outside my window when i wake up in my dream bed, granted i have only had 3 LD, but i know for sure that each time i look out that window, something will be out of the ordinary. Like if its winter in real life, yet it looks like summer outside in the dream, dead giveaway.

Probably the most common reality checks are looking at your hands and you most likely will have 6 fingers on one hand or something similar, and the other is to hold your nose and see if you can still breath easy. I will give you a simple routine to start off with and you can tell me how it goes, if you wish.

1.) When you go to bed tonight, set an alarm clock for 5 to 5 and a half hours after you go to bed. Later on when this alarm wakes you up, turn it off, get up but dont turn any lights on, unless it is a dim light. Too much light can make you get too awake.

2.) If you had any dreams while you were sleeping, now is the time to record them, because you never know how much of the dream you will remember when you wake up later in the day, and by doing this, also convices your mind that dreaming is important to you.

3.) After 10-15 minutes go back to sleep, and try to keep your body very still. Do not open your eyes, and do not scratch any itches. The itches are your body's way of seeing if you are still awake. If you scratch this itch your (as i like to call it) SP timer will reset, and you must start over again by being very still. Make actually going to sleep your first priority in your mind, but make sure not to fade into sleep, this part is easier than you think.

4.) Soon after step 3 you should begin to feel the effects of sleep paralysis. This can at first be very abnormal and scary to you, but just remember that this happens to you every night when you are asleep, except you are usually unconscious when this takes effect. The feeling of SP could be different for many people but most commonly it is associated with a seemingly loud noise, similar to when you turn a television on, that white noise. You can hear it at anytime if it completely quiet around you, but when SP comes in, it intensifies greatly. You will also feel very weird, kind of like your free falling and obviously, cannot move. You can break the SP at any time if you try hard enough, but the important thing is to welcome the Sleep Paralysis and use it as your way to get into your dream.

5.) Ok so you got sleep paralysis, not sure what to do? Here is the rewarding part. When you get SP, imagine yourself raising up from your bed and being in a dream. Now really do it. When you make yourself raise up, open your eyes at the same time and voila, you should now be in a dream. The transition from SP to the dream shouldnt take longer than ten seconds or even less.

This is just personally my way to do it, but i think its really simple and you should try it out and see how it works for you. If this doesnt work have a look at some of the other tutorials.

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Originally Posted by Elem3nt0

There have been times that i have known i was dreaming but for some reason the thought never occured to me to take control, so i cant really say i have had a dream and became lucid, the only times i have had lucid dream is when i wake up 5 hours after going to sleep, stay up for about 10-15 minutes and then proceed back to bed.

There are many ways to know if you are dreaming, although it can be tricky at times because dreams can be so real, that sometimes you just cant tell for sure. Thats where reality checks come in. There are many ways to perform reality checks, me personally i look outside my window when i wake up in my dream bed, granted i have only had 3 LD, but i know for sure that each time i look out that window, something will be out of the ordinary. Like if its winter in real life, yet it looks like summer outside in the dream, dead giveaway.

Probably the most common reality checks are looking at your hands and you most likely will have 6 fingers on one hand or something similar, and the other is to hold your nose and see if you can still breath easy. I will give you a simple routine to start off with and you can tell me how it goes, if you wish.

1.) When you go to bed tonight, set an alarm clock for 5 to 5 and a half hours after you go to bed. Later on when this alarm wakes you up, turn it off, get up but dont turn any lights on, unless it is a dim light. Too much light can make you get too awake.

2.) If you had any dreams while you were sleeping, now is the time to record them, because you never know how much of the dream you will remember when you wake up later in the day, and by doing this, also convices your mind that dreaming is important to you.

3.) After 10-15 minutes go back to sleep, and try to keep your body very still. Do not open your eyes, and do not scratch any itches. The itches are your body's way of seeing if you are still awake. If you scratch this itch your (as i like to call it) SP timer will reset, and you must start over again by being very still. Make actually going to sleep your first priority in your mind, but make sure not to fade into sleep, this part is easier than you think.

4.) Soon after step 3 you should begin to feel the effects of sleep paralysis. This can at first be very abnormal and scary to you, but just remember that this happens to you every night when you are asleep, except you are usually unconscious when this takes effect. The feeling of SP could be different for many people but most commonly it is associated with a seemingly loud noise, similar to when you turn a television on, that white noise. You can hear it at anytime if it completely quiet around you, but when SP comes in, it intensifies greatly. You will also feel very weird, kind of like your free falling and obviously, cannot move. You can break the SP at any time if you try hard enough, but the important thing is to welcome the Sleep Paralysis and use it as your way to get into your dream.

5.) Ok so you got sleep paralysis, not sure what to do? Here is the rewarding part. When you get SP, imagine yourself raising up from your bed and being in a dream. Now really do it. When you make yourself raise up, open your eyes at the same time and voila, you should now be in a dream. The transition from SP to the dream shouldnt take longer than ten seconds or even less.

This is just personally my way to do it, but i think its really simple and you should try it out and see how it works for you. If this doesnt work have a look at some of the other tutorials.

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Thank you very much. I definitely will be trying that out. I can't do it for a about a week though because I need to go to work. I'll let you know how it turns out when I do.

I"m not the type of person that gets freaked out over things. I"m pretty expeirienced with different sensations and feelings, just not naturally. It does help though that I'm more accepting of new things like that.

I'm thinking of starting to write some dream journals on this site actually. It's hard to find someone to talk to about this kind of stuff so I think sharing my dreams is much better when people are actually interested and for the most part, understand.

Thanks again for replying and also for the guide. Like I said, can't wake myself up tonight because or work but my next say off I will try and let you know how it works out.
Oh, it's 1am in Atlantic Canada so Merry Christmas everyone! :D Or Festivus if your a tv fan lol

Awesome man. Remember, the important thing is to believe that you will get results, don't doubt yourself, you cant just do something and already expect to fail, or you most likely will do just that. Im extremely new too, ive only had 3 LD, but i got them all in one set, and im way excited for my next one because its like being in the baddest assed video game ever created LOL

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Originally Posted by Elem3nt0

Awesome man. Remember, the important thing is to believe that you will get results, don't doubt yourself, you cant just do something and already expect to fail, or you most likely will do just that. Im extremely new too, ive only had 3 LD, but i got them all in one set, and im way excited for my next one because its like being in the baddest assed video game ever created LOL

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Well, I didn't LD last night but I did have an extreamly long dream. It was more intense then usual but unfortunately I didn't realize it was a dream. I guess once I get used to RC's it should help. I can help but think if I had remembered to do one, I might have gone Lucid.

Although I didn't try and wake up in the middle on the night, I happened to wake up and then tried what you said. The problem is that when I woke up in the middle of the night, I had already had the dream. It was odd because I was dreaming about this girl I never knew. We started fooling around and then I woke up. Shitty deal. :D

Edit, I forgot to mention that I listen to one of the mp3's on here before going to bed just to try and get myself in the right state of mind.

Dont try to get into a lucid dream when you first lay down to go to bed a night, usually wont work or will result in a low quality dream. The reason you wake up 5 hours later is because this is usually the sleep stage that we dream the most and have the most vivid dreams.

If you had a dream then woke up then you could have had a LD by going back to bed and using a technique (or maybe the one i posted). Usually called DEILD (Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream). Have you ever woke up from a dream, went back to sleep and continued the same dream? You can use that to make that "continued" dream be a lucid one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elem3nt0

Dont try to get into a lucid dream when you first lay down to go to bed a night, usually wont work or will result in a low quality dream. The reason you wake up 5 hours later is because this is usually the sleep stage that we dream the most and have the most vivid dreams.

If you had a dream then woke up then you could have had a LD by going back to bed and using a technique (or maybe the one i posted). Usually called DEILD (Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream). Have you ever woke up from a dream, went back to sleep and continued the same dream? You can use that to make that "continued" dream be a lucid one.

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I actually didn't think to use the technique, I sometimes have a hard time to actually realize I'm awake for a few seconds. If it does happen again though I will try to use the technique. From what I've read it's easier to LD when you wake up like that. It wasn't a planned thing though and if I had set an alarm I would have probably had the presence of mind to try it.

Just that dream last night was enough to peek my interest again, or at least show me that I'm making a bit of progress. I think my biggest challenge is just getting the right state of mind and remembering to do reality checks.

I dont know if it will be the same for you but when i raise up out of my bed i am already lucid, because i expected to end up where i started at in the dream, and just to make extra sure, do the reality checks.