Thread: Hello :)

Welcome to Dreamviews Thirteen!

You seem to have a lot of your bases covered. Most of my recommendations to you would be standard. Dream Journal regularly, make a habit of reality checks, etc.

What do you feel is your greatest weakness in your technique? Maybe we can find some ways to address that

Hey Exo-Byte , thanks for replying I've made quite some progress with the dream journal ( I remember around 2-3 dreams per night) and reality checks are becoming quite a habit .. I'd say i do them around 20 times a day in total.. is that enough?
The method i'm more focused on right now is WILD generally because im fascinated about it and i find both sleep paralysis, and the actual lucid dream alot of fun My greatest problem by FAR is that(aside from one or two lucky nights) i can never seem to relax to the point i enter sleep paralysis.. or when i try relaxing abit more by not thinking about anything i just drift off to sleep. I cant seem to find any method to keep my mind aware without keeping myself too awake. I've tried reverse blinking which gets me quite sleepy but after that i end up just laying there with no progression after? I also hear something about white noise helping? Do you think if i used a fan in my room it would make it easier?

Its possible. Some people like silence more than white noise. Really, its a thing of preference. No harm in giving it a try though!

As for the WILD, have you attempted a WBTB yet?

Yep, I try and do a WBTB every night but im really confused as to how to find my rem periods and can never really find the balance between becoming too awake or not awake enough :/ even if i do get past that problem i still have no real relaxation method that i can use :S

*Edit - I did however manage to have 6 lucid dreams in one night one or two days ago.. i became lucid right at the end of my normal dreams as i woke up and then i remembered DEILD , used it and succeeded.. not only that but i did it 5 times after that gave me alot of confidence.. my problem is just getting to the point of relaxation at which i can enter sleep paralysis without waking up from a dream lucid

Melatonin may help. Its a sleeping aid, but it helps in relaxation as well. Readily available at a local drug store or pharmacy. Also, while there see if you can find Valerian Root and/or Rose Hip. These are also big players in relaxation. A company in the states actually used all 3 of the aforementioned substances to make a drink called Drank, marketed as an 'extreme relaxation drink' or "Anti-Energy Drink."

As for your REM periods, a general rule of thumb is every 90 minutes, and take into account (roughly) how long it takes you to fall asleep. You usually want to hit between the 3rd and 4th period for a good effect. So if it takes you 30 minutes to fall asleep, and you go to bed at 10:30, set your alarm for about 4:00 to 4:30am.

Ah thanks I found at last night that my long REM periods come after around 7 hours of sleep. I also managed to fall asleep alot faster with the fan . I recalled 2 dreams very vividly and even nearly succeeded in DEILDing after being woken up by a timer . I kept completely still and didnt open my eyes and after around 15 seconds or so my eyelids started becoming really bright and I opened them because i thought it was someone opening the blinds Also ironically, i told my friend in my dream that he was dreaming because he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Really frustrating as reality checks are pretty much a habit for me now but theyre just not being transferred over to my dreams :S

Good work! Though that last part definitely does sound frustrating. I remember having dreams where I've told DCs I'm dreaming or that I'm lucid, without actually becoming lucid. Really makes you want to slap yourself in the morning.

As for the RCs, read over your last few dreams or the dreams you've recorded so far this month and see if you can extrapolate a common theme, object, person or event. If you can recognize that catalyst it might be easier to recognize it in a dream more than reality checks.

Hmm my advice is drink apple juice lol! Got it from another thread and it really seems to help with the vividness of dreams. Right before bed I drink 8oz of apple juice.