Thread: Noob Requires Suggestions

I'm very new to this lucid dreaming stuff (I became interested in it two days ago). I feel confident that I'll have success in the end, but there are so many techniques! Which ones seem to work the best overall?

Before you try any techniques I would suggest focusing solely on dream recall. Getting one or more dreams per night might take some time for some but is an essential step. Increasing recall is one chief purpose of recording in a dream journal, so don't neglect to do that.

My first wasn't really a technique but a Dream Induced Lucid Dream (DILD) from time spent recording dreams and practicing reality checks. In this case lucidity pops up during a dream for a variety of reasons. Also my favorite actual technique to try at the start was a Mnemonically Induced Lucid Dream (MILD) which was simple and yielded fairly good results.

I would advise you from getting too engrossed with the Wake Initiated Lucid Dream (WILD) too early on as this is a pitfall for many new dreamers who focus only on this technique and get discouraged from the failure rate. There are many older members who still have problems doing this, though some seem to be able to do it naturally or achieve it with much practice.

Just hop through the tutorials section. Do some trial-and-error. Best of luck.

Edit: Links seem to be screwed up. Just go to the tutorial section to see where I got them.

People usually starts with the DILD technique. But first start your dreamjournal, write at least some dreams on it (I would say a week or maybe two), doing RCs during the day. After you get some success with DILD, then you can try any other technique you want.

Be Wellcome.

You're probably right that I'm getting ahead of myself. I probably overreacted when I recalled like 3 dreams on my first try. I'll give it some more time, thanks.

As others have said, Definitely do Dream Recall first. I just joined in June so I still feel new. Another thing is, please don't get discouraged. I still as of yet have not had a LD and I'm still struggling with my Dream Journal. These forums are wonderful and I know you will find help as there is every topic you may need help with here. Good luck and Welcome.

I have another question that came to mind this morning. Is it possible to have a large dream in a nap 20-30 minutes long? I only recalled one dream when I woke up this morning, but then I went back to sleep and had a pretty decent sized dream. I know the average dream cycle is 90-100 minutes, so is it more likely that during that short time something triggered the memory of a dream earlier in the night?

Every hour progressed in sleep at night sees a longer REM period and shorter stage two through four in what's called the REM sleep cycle. (http://sleepzine.com/wp-content/uplo.../rem-graph.gif) Eventually stage four and three vanish altogether and REM grows to encompass a significant part of your sleep. What you did is much like the Wake Back To Bed (WBTB) technique. You probably slept six or more hours and when you went to take the short nap you were primed to enter directly into REM and have a dream.

I suggest you read everything you can on the forums. All the tutorials and lots of stuff thats not tutorials. That seemed to help me a whole lot. Also theres a realy good book by Stephan LaBerge called Exploring the world of lucid dreaming and its realy realy helpful. But you can get everything thats in the book on the forums to prety much. I agrea just get good dream recal first and do DILD. Try WILD everyonce and a while to see if it works. If it does later on start working on it. It dosn't work well for me.

Alright. I'll try dream recall for a while until I see a steady rate, and then try those techniques.

I guess I should let go of the belief that I don't have dreams unless I'm asleep for 90 minutes or longer...

Welcome to the community!

As the others said, it's better for beginners to start focusing on dream recall before trying any techniques, but anyway, You colud try WILD in naps (obviously if You want, I don't wanna force You).

Good luck!

Actually, I've only been doing dream recall for 3 days or so, and I think I'm ready for lucidity! My first night of trying this I remembered 3 or 4 dreams. Now all that's left to do is get in the habit of reality checking. I've been RCing every 30 minutes when my watch timer goes off, but I started doing that today, so I don't know if my watch alarm will induce a dream RC yet. Anyhow, I'm really excited!

Originally Posted by TheOneirologist

Actually, I've only been doing dream recall for 3 days or so, and I think I'm ready for lucidity! My first night of trying this I remembered 3 or 4 dreams. Now all that's left to do is get in the habit of reality checking. I've been RCing every 30 minutes when my watch timer goes off, but I started doing that today, so I don't know if my watch alarm will induce a dream RC yet. Anyhow, I'm really excited!

Yeah, don't give up and in a few days You'll get the habit.