Conversation Between Ant101 and Tiktaalik

Yeah, I’ve found dream goals help immensely. I think that’s likely because they’re something solid we can visualise and aim toward. I quite like not having goals and simply letting the dream unfold naturally but I’ve found I struggle more to get lucid because this goal is too vague.

Yeah, most of my lucids are still short and I think I’m probably catching them too late at the end of cycles. I think stabilisation techniques are not really helpful but staying engaged with the dream and not withdrawing from it is what keeps them going. My longest lucids have always been goal driven so that’s another reason to have them. I think that’s because we give our attention fully to the dream when pursuing goals and it stops our minds wandering. When it comes to low-level lucids, or lucids that lack some mental clarity I find I have these mainly when my enthusiasm is low and I skip my wake up which is what I think boosts that clarity. Please share any tips you have, would love to hear them.

If WILD methods are working for you then I’d say stick with it. If you’d asked me my routine a year ago I would have said WILD is the way to go. In fact my best period of lucidity was when I was practicing WILD. I was again waking after 5-6 hours and then using my breath as an anchor as I drifted back into sleep. I had a few WILDs but rarely actually succeeded in maintaining my awareness into the dream but I was having frequent and quality DILDs from essentially failing at WILD. I had to stop sadly as I became so good at keeping my attention on my breath that I was giving myself insomnia. Eventually I learnt I could get similar results just gently thinking about my intent as I fell asleep, staying vigilant for the dream starting. Though I call this MILD I don’t do the traditional visualise yourself becoming lucid step as I find it keeps me up. I just set that mental alarm clock ready to go off when I start dreaming. It’s just a matter of engaging prospective memory.

Yeah, I’ve been there. I actually had a 6 month old when I started practice but I found the recurring wake ups a good chance to do recall and think about my goals. I lost a lot of sleep though so it wasn’t easy. Things improved when I started getting more sleep again so I’m sure it will for you as well.

Sounds like you’ve got a good practice and we do a lot of similar things. For me it’s all about that brief wake up. I’m terrible with staying consistent with RCs and regularly take long breaks from doing them but as long as I keep recalling my dreams and waking briefly in the early hours I can still get lucid frequently.

I’ve tried ADA and been sporadically aware before but never awareness of the body. I always felt the dream would realistically replicate the feeling of the body and my clothes and wouldn’t be effective. Have you noticed any results?

I’ve also started focusing on dream goals after listening to a podcast with Charley morley who stated people write to him Saying it’s not happening no matter what they do and has found that they are doing everything but don’t have the “why?” The lack a goal and has found once people have a goal or two that drives them who are doing everything else the lucids follow.

You mention that you have low level short lucids do you have a process you follow once your lucid to boost lucidity? I can share my process if you don’t.

Have you dabbled with WILDS much?

I have a one year old son whose not the best sleeper. On some occasions his disturbances have allowed me have a mini WBTB and I have got lucid in on another occasion I was Wilding and just as a dream was beginning to form he started crying and I had a tough job trying to concentrate on the dream the dream collapsed so I carried on surfing HI another dream began to form and he continued to cry and eventually the dream collapsed.

So when he’s going through a more a stable sleep pattern I can then attempt WBTB ususally I’ll attempt a WILD

Have had minimal success with MILD - which I’m currently working on at the moment but I certainly feel like that for the amount of time I’ve given MILD in the past and the small amount of time I’ve given WILD wild has tended to offer more results in less time.

So this is what I do

Dream journal every morning- trying to instill the habit of going over the dreams of the previous night and imagining myself become lucid and carrying out my dream goal before going to bed.

Throughout the day try notice and RC to my dream signs,

Occasionally I chuck in a few PMRCs -( should probably do them more often as it’s boost my prospective memory confidence.)

I try to keep some awareness on the body during the day as much as possible particularly the weight of it, sensations of clothing on the body, in the hope that at some point I’ll tune in to when I notice it’s not there and become lucid.

I’ve also started doing coherent breathing for a while and then after 10minutes repeating my intention to become lucid and remember my dreams before going to sleep and this seems to have helped I’ve also started doing it through out the day too.

For me it all came down to these elements:

1. Know your dreams. Through recall and journaling become very familiar with your dreams. Know how they look, feel and behave and recognise the signs both obvious and subtle that recur so you can spot them next time.

2. Intention is key. You need to remain enthusiastic and motivated, especially before bed and have some good goals to work towards.

3. Sleep well. Get a good 7-8 hours sleep and don’t wake up too often in the night or give yourself insomnia as it negatively impacts lucidity and your health. I recommend getting 5-6 hours in before attempting any wake ups.

4. Wake up. A brief wake up after 5-6 hours of sleep seems to boost your mental clarity and allows you to re-set your intent prior to going back to sleep which vastly increases your chances.

Anyway, I don’t want to go on forever but I’m happy to elaborate on any of these points if you want to know more.

What do you currently do?

Here’s a brief summary of what I do:

Morning:
Recall any dreams and write them in my journal.

Day:
Try to notice when anything dreamlike occurs and investigate reality to see if I’m dreaming.

Evening:
Re-read my journal and look for dream signs and moments I should have become lucid so I can spot them next time. Then set an intention for the night to notice these signs in my dreams.

Night:
Try to get 7-8 hours of sleep and Wake after 5-6 hours to recall my dreams. Then re-set my intent and go back to sleep with a readiness to notice dream signs in my next dream. Repeat until I wake up.

Hey, no problem at all. I appreciate the message and I’m glad you’ve found my tips helpful.

Yeah, thanks. I reached my 200th lucid last month and it was a big milestone but it’s more about quality over quantity for me these days. I’m still getting about 1-2 a week but most are still short and low-level. Decent lucids that are a good length and involve me accomplishing goals are fewer and what I really want to have more of, so I still consider myself a learner as well.

Currently, my practice is fairly standard, involving journaling on a morning, reality checks through the day and MILD during the night but as you probably know there are so many nuances with this subject so I’ve had to experiment and refine my practice to find what works best for me.

Hi Tiktaalik,

I wanted to drop you a message because I think we both joined this forum around a similar sort of time we are both from the UK, and both started lucid dreaming in the same year, the info you’ve given me in previous posts have been very helpful.
I see you have a lucid count of 200+ which I think is impressive, I see from one of your posts you claim to have on average 1.5 lucids a week, brilliant work mate. What’s shape does your current practice take? Anything you think of as significantly importation or big realisations you’ve had along your journey.

I’ve been doing it around a similar time, but I’ve been doing it intermittently. Over the space of 2 years, I’ve probably totalled 13months practice. I’m currently in my 4th month this time around and averaging 2lucids a month in total I’ve had 20 lucids over the last two years-ish
My current long term goal is to get to one lucid a week.

Apologies for the essay.
And Hope all is well with you .