Best Lucid Aid = general health?

[TheSurrealist90]

When I started getting into lucid dreams, I ran on caffeine, I got around 3 hours of sleep per night, I had no good eating habits, and I got wasted pretty much every weekend. Over the past couple of months I've made many changes to my health. Here are some that I think helped me regulate my sleep and induce dreams more frequently 1. Exercise. I'm not just talking about weights (which is what I did for a while). Cardio activity is EXTREMELY important to sleep. I believe that's the number one thing that helped me sleep and dream better. You need a slow resting heart rate to relax. Mine used to be around 100-110 beats per minutes. Now it's normally around 50-65 beats per minute, and I can relax much easier than before. 2. Eat your f**king veggies! It really is common sense. You see all of the supplements discussed in the lucid aids forum? Pretty much all of that stuff should be in your daily diet anyway. Vitamin B6 and B12 are ESSENTIAL in my opinion. I actually noticed a huge, huge difference in my energy level and clarity of mind when I started taking a daily multivitamin. I highly suggest it. 3. Third, and lastly, cut out those unhealthy stimulants and depressants. Energy drinks? bad. Soda? bad. I still drink a couple of cups of coffee in the morning so I can wake up for my early classes, but I no longer drink it after noon. Alcohol is virtually impossible to avoid living in a college town, but I have reduced my consumption quite a bit. I wouldn't recommend partying on a weekly basis. Returning to the general point...I'm simply making the assumption that general health promotes better sleep and better dreaming. I'm not going to pull an X and Y chart out of my ass and pretend like I've done research, I'm just speaking from experience of having horrible health habits and having pretty good ones, recently. So just make smart decisions, ask yourself if what you're doing is a good choice, and do everything you can to keep yourself strong and healthy! Dream on, friends.

[Serenity]

This is so very true, TheSurrealist90 A healthy body = a healthy mind, right? That said, there are some very healthy things you can eat that could help aid lucidity. Good brain foods like blueberries, or other antioxidants could certainly help aid in lucidity because of how they interact with your brain Apple juice (the pure stuff!) is also said to boost recall.

[DawgBone]

Exercise is the best drug there is. It relaxes you, strengthens your body, improves your sleep, keeps you fit and balanced. Plus it's free! A good diet, minus stimulants and depressants, is also essential. Interestingly, though, good health does not necessarily correlate with the ability to leave the body. My favorite oneironaut is Robert Moss. Moss almost didn't make it through childhood. He had dozens of bouts with pneumonia. He almost died several times. He has speculated that his remarkable dreaming ability may be the result of his childhood illnesses. The illnesses weakened the connect between his dream body (astral body) and his physical body. Sylvan Muldoon had the same theory about astral projection. He suffered from chronic illnesses and felt that they contributed to his abilities to astrally project. Now we obviously all want good health, but there is a time tested technique which yogis have used for at least 4000 years: fasting. Moderate fasting can be done without damaging your health. Moderate fasting temporarily weakens your body in a way similar to illness. All the major spiritual traditions recommend fasting as a spiritual discipline. I haven't done much with this yet, but I intend to. Now, where did I put those donuts ...

[Serenity]

As always, DB, your posts are so insightful Actually, it brought to mind something else, since we're talking about fitness and well-being. Specific "branches" of yoga (like hatha and raja) prep the body and mind for prolonged terms of meditation. Physically, they are also great, as they stretch out tense muscles. I studied hatha for about a year and I felt amazing during that time (it's too bad I wasn't lucid dreaming back then!).

[DawgBone]

As always, DB, your posts are so insightful :--) Actually, it brought to mind something else, since we're talking about fitness and well-being. Specific "branches" of yoga (like hatha and raja) prep the body and mind for prolonged terms of meditation. Physically, they are also great, as they stretch out tense muscles. I studied hatha for about a year and I felt amazing during that time (it's too bad I wasn't lucid dreaming back then!). Yes. All oneironauts should do some hatha yoga. PS. If anyone is looking for a good class to take, Serenity's class is terrific! Sign up before it's full.

[Ferret]

Definatly true surrealist! At one stage I was eating very well, so much fruit and veges every day and that was when I had my best lucid spree and got like 6 in seven days. It didnt last long though, so hards not to buy fish and chips haha but I think exercise and eating lots of fruit and vege is probably the best you can do as far as lucid aids.

[Serenity]

:--) Yes. All oneironauts should do some hatha yoga. PS. If anyone is looking for a good class to take, Serenity's class is terrific! Sign up before it's full. Dawwwwww, thanks DB

[Feick]

The illnesses weakened the connect between his dream body (astral body) and his physical body. Definitely true. In most spiritual cultures and communities the sages and shaman tend to have fought with severe illness as children and persevered. It's thought of as if the individual let a part of their physical self die and their spirit emerges more easily. The same is true for lay people in the case of a spirit journey. While some are psychedelically induced, some are geared more toward poisons, starvation, and physical exhaustion to induce these states... to let your mind experience the death of your body and bring about spiritual awakening. I've done light fasting for fitness, but I've never thought about using it to weaken my body to induce something deeper. I'll put that on the agenda. Thank, Dogbone.

[DawgBone]

Definitely true. In most spiritual cultures and communities the sages and shaman tend to have fought with severe illness as children and persevered. It's thought of as if the individual let a part of their physical self die and their spirit emerges more easily. The same is true for lay people in the case of a spirit journey. While some are psychedelically induced, some are geared more toward poisons, starvation, and physical exhaustion to induce these states... to let your mind experience the death of your body and bring about spiritual awakening. I've done light fasting for fitness, but I've never thought about using it to weaken my body to induce something deeper. I'll put that on the agenda. Thank, Dogbone. Very interesting, Feick. I'm going to give it a try too.

[Serenity]

I'm intrigued, but does anyone have any info or links to go about it safely?

[DawgBone]

I'm intrigued, but does anyone have any info or links to go about it safely? I haven't searched the net yet, Serenity. There's probably some information out there about fasting. Amazon may have some books. What I have read previously says that a 3 day fast is about as long as a person should try without supervision. It would probably be good to start with a one day fast and gradually increase it. Maybe we should start a fasting thread? Then people interested in giving this a try could post their results, and we could all share information. If I come up with anything interesting, I'll PM you. :-)

[KRT]

Yup, I agree! Plus, if there's anything that bothers you somehow, but you just repress the thought of it, that might weaken your ability to LD, too...