Thread: Need help with my LD research

Originally Posted by Elaol

• How do realize that you are dreaming? What causes you to do RC, i.e. is it something in your environment, your thoughts, actions you are preforming, etc?

Unless I'm performing a WILD, in which case full waking awareness is there at the start, it seems to be a nagging doubt that quickly builds into lucidity. Nothing in particular seems to set it off. It is more common when I've spent the say before thinking about lucid dreaming or practicing all-day awareness, so, it may be a holdover from that, but, otherwise, random. Probably not too helpful.

• Are there any factors in the real world that influence your ability to become lucid (they may be related to you, to the environment, etc.)?

I suspect stress, tiredness (as in mental exhaustion) and whether I've thought about lucidity recently.

• Feel free to add something else if you find it important, every experience will be of use

I find that dream control comes incredibly naturally to me, such that, almost immediately upon becoming lucid I a able to effortlessly manipulate everything. It was like this even in my early dreams.

If you want anymore from me in particular, just ask.

Sometimes from the very beginning of the dream I know i am dreaming(something natural?). My dreams are mostly very vivid and they replicate the very same real world, so it can be finding some odd things specific to your life, possessions(I once saw two MP3 players in my drawer, but I have only one). Pushing your index finger through your palm is a good RC, but it failed for me a couple of times. One really great RC is closing your nose with your fingers and trying to breathe. Keep a dream journal! It really helps.

How do realize that you are dreaming? What causes you to do RC, i.e. is it something in your environment, your thoughts, actions you are preforming, etc?

When I first began lucid dreaming, it was from a more traditional reality check. I would be going about my business and think to reality check. (Often regardless of the presence of a dream sign.) I would receive results that indicated dreaming (breathing through plugged nose, not remembering how I arrived here.) and go on lucid.

As I've gotten more advanced, it seems as though attaining lucidity happens to be less of my own intuition and more sparked by the dream itself. I often become lucid upon observing a dream sign and reality checking (whereas before, I would just RC at random.) Or become lucid simply through being aware and observing a phenomenon that is not possible. (For example, last night I jumped from a tree, but stopped a few inches above the ground, upon noticing that, lucidity was triggered.) These same phenomenon and oddities were always present in my dreams, but as time has gone on, it would seem that I have become more aware of them.

Are there any factors in the real world that influence your ability to become lucid (they may be related to you, to the environment, etc.)?

Aside from super obvious things like nighttime storms or certain stray cats that like to sing in the night, yeah there are a few.

-Illness. Usually a detriment to lucid dreaming. Though I sometimes spend more time in light sleep and this could work to an advantage, but does not. I often find that when I'm ill, my dreams are often numerous, short and fragmented.

-Stress. I often dream of something related to the situation in the form of an anxiety dream. Often, despite my best efforts, I will not become lucid. A low-moderate amount of stress will usually cause no trouble, but extremely stressful situations will create this effect.

-Seasonal Changes. In the winter months, I suffer from moderate Seasonal Affective Disorder. Usually my ability to lucid dream is at its weakest in the late winter months (jan, feb) and strongest in the late summer months (july,august).

Also since this is a thread for collecting research, we might have a mod move it to the Education Center.

How do realize that you are dreaming? What causes you to do RC, i.e. is it something in your environment, your thoughts, actions you are preforming, etc?

It's normally the feel of the dream that tips me off. Dreams innately feel very different from reality, I find, so this difference helps me a lot. I also occasionally get lucid from dream signs or certain stimuli in the dream environment, but this isn't as often as the former. I also get lucid fairly often for the brief moment (~10 seconds) at the end of a dream when you can feel it fade and begin to regain senses of your actual body in bed. This isn't much good for a DILD, but makes DEILDs much easier to plan for and are my preferred method of induction.

Are there any factors in the real world that influence your ability to become lucid (they may be related to you, to the environment, etc.)?

I find that little in the real world helps my ability to lucid dream (outside of specific LD practices) but there are many factors which can inhibit lucid dreams. These are typically things related to lower sleep quality such as stress, lack of sleep, outside stimuli (noise, lights, etc.) and more. It's a large combination of factors so if you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

Feel free to add something else if you find it important, every experience will be of use

I suggest you make a thread with your questions on it, but not in survey format. I see a lot of people on the forums post a survey about lucid dreaming and they have open-ended questions when a multiple choice or likert scale would've been much more suitable. They also are often too vague regarding their questions, such as asking about WILDs without considering the sub-techniques (FILD, SSILD, DEILD, etc.) or just having confusing/poorly worded questions. Posting your questions in a thread format and asking evaluations on the questions, instead of the answers, will make your analysis and validity much easier to achieve once you send out the survey. Don't post 20 open-ended questions on a thread though, determine which ones you feel are the weakest or use a more narrow range of questions so people aren't writing novels in response in the thread or in your survey .

GL! I'm always happy when I see people researching LDs

Originally Posted by Burke

I suggest you make a thread with your questions on it, but not in survey format. I see a lot of people on the forums post a survey about lucid dreaming and they have open-ended questions when a multiple choice or likert scale would've been much more suitable. They also are often too vague regarding their questions, such as asking about WILDs without considering the sub-techniques (FILD, SSILD, DEILD, etc.) or just having confusing/poorly worded questions. Posting your questions in a thread format and asking evaluations on the questions, instead of the answers, will make your analysis and validity much easier to achieve once you send out the survey. Don't post 20 open-ended questions on a thread though, determine which ones you feel are the weakest or use a more narrow range of questions so people aren't writing novels in response in the thread or in your survey .

GL! I'm always happy when I see people researching LDs

That's a really good idea, thanks. I was planning on making Likert scale, I just now collect experiences, so I could make questions for that scale I will post all questions here, when I am done, so I can get feedback, and when I make all the corrections, I will post google forms link

And I really want to thank everyone who has posted so far, I really appreciate it. I hope your posts will encourage more people to post

How do realize that you are dreaming? What causes you to do RC, i.e. is it something in your environment, your thoughts, actions you are preforming, etc?

I mostly perform one of two methods to induce a lucid dream. One involves telling myself that I'll be lucid in my next dream before going back to sleep (during REM of course) - in this case, I'll be in a dream, and then just suddenly out of nowhere know that I'm dreaming and be in control. The second method I commonly use involves jumping straight into a lucid dream from my hypnagogic imagery, and in this case I'm completely aware throughout the whole process so know that I'm about to enter a dream before I even do, and there's no moment of realisation - since I go directly from waking consciousness into the dream of my choice.

Occasionally I'll get lucid in a dream simply because I performed a reality check in a dream and it failed. Such reality checks include: Counting my fingers, seeing if I can poke a finger through my hand, holding my nose closed and seeing if I can breathe through it, trying to turn a light on and off at the switch, asking myself what I did over the last few hours. I usually do all of these in sequence.

Can you give me some dream specific differences between lucid and non-lucid dreams? I would like to hear your experiences, since I already know theoretical difference between lucid and non-lucid dreams

The simplest way I'd describe the differences to someone is a non-lucid dream is like watching a movie, and a very blurry low quality hand-camera rip of one recorded at the cinema at that. A lucid dream on the other hand is much like plugging into a simulation in the Matrix movies. It feels like you're there in real life, you have full control, and clarity of senses, but none of the usual rules of physics etc apply.

Some striking differences you'll notice between your first lucid dream and the other dreams before it:
- Lucid dreams are typically so vivid and clear, that sometimes they can almost seem "hyper-real" in comparison to the blurry murky dreams you're used to
- You are in full control and are the actor in the dream rather than the observer watching it
- You are aware that you are dreaming the whole time, unless you lose lucidity

Are there any factors in the real world that influence your ability to become lucid (they may be related to you, to the environment, etc.)?

Well an obvious one would be how much sleep I've gotten before I attempt a method, since of course you need to be in REM stage to get lucid. Alcohol consumption usually guarantees me more vivid dreams and a higher % chance of getting lucid that night (although I never use alcohol for this purpose - it's a nice side effect). If my sleep is restless and I'm finding it hard to get back to sleep/it takes too long, then I'm less likely to get lucid - while on the other hand if I'm waking up so drowsy that I could fall back asleep in 2 seconds, those nights I'll almost always get lucid.

I take high dose (100-150mg+) B6 every day, and this definitely makes for more intense dreams and higher frequency of lucid dreams, so this is another factor I could add in.

Originally Posted by Royaltramp

I mostly perform one of two methods to induce a lucid dream. One involves telling myself that I'll be lucid in my next dream before going back to sleep (during REM of course) - in this case, I'll be in a dream, and then just suddenly out of nowhere know that I'm dreaming and be in control. The second method I commonly use involves jumping straight into a lucid dream from my hypnagogic imagery, and in this case I'm completely aware throughout the whole process so know that I'm about to enter a dream before I even do, and there's no moment of realisation - since I go directly from waking consciousness into the dream of my choice.

Occasionally I'll get lucid in a dream simply because I performed a reality check in a dream and it failed. Such reality checks include: Counting my fingers, seeing if I can poke a finger through my hand, holding my nose closed and seeing if I can breathe through it, trying to turn a light on and off at the switch, asking myself what I did over the last few hours. I usually do all of these in sequence.



The simplest way I'd describe the differences to someone is a non-lucid dream is like watching a movie, and a very blurry low quality hand-camera rip of one recorded at the cinema at that. A lucid dream on the other hand is much like plugging into a simulation in the Matrix movies. It feels like you're there in real life, you have full control, and clarity of senses, but none of the usual rules of physics etc apply.

Some striking differences you'll notice between your first lucid dream and the other dreams before it:
- Lucid dreams are typically so vivid and clear, that sometimes they can almost seem "hyper-real" in comparison to the blurry murky dreams you're used to
- You are in full control and are the actor in the dream rather than the observer watching it
- You are aware that you are dreaming the whole time, unless you lose lucidity



Well an obvious one would be how much sleep I've gotten before I attempt a method, since of course you need to be in REM stage to get lucid. Alcohol consumption usually guarantees me more vivid dreams and a higher % chance of getting lucid that night (although I never use alcohol for this purpose - it's a nice side effect). If my sleep is restless and I'm finding it hard to get back to sleep/it takes too long, then I'm less likely to get lucid - while on the other hand if I'm waking up so drowsy that I could fall back asleep in 2 seconds, those nights I'll almost always get lucid.

I take high dose (100-150mg+) B6 every day, and this definitely makes for more intense dreams and higher frequency of lucid dreams, so this is another factor I could add in.

Thanks!

I'll be happy to participate! My replies:

Originally Posted by Elaol

How do realize that you are dreaming? What causes you to do RC, i.e. is it something in your environment, your thoughts, actions you are preforming, etc?

Unless I successfully complete one of the forms of WILD (in which case I just have awareness from the start), I just have suddenly a "feeling" that ranges from "something is off" to "it's a dream!" depending on the dream. Things that tipped me off in past lucids include: killing someone, seeing something that doesn't make sense (like magic), seeing technology that doesn't exist yet, differently arranged rooms or missing / excessive items from RL, and so on. I think that the thing that tips you off is totally random... The cause and effect are different in this case - because I have some initial awareness I'll then notice that thing that will tip me off, not the other way around (I have plenty more dreams with even weirder stuff, but without initial awareness I never question anything).

About RCing - in dream I use them to stabilize / really make it clear and memorable that I'm indeed dreaming. I rarely become lucid as a result of performing a random RC in dream (although I think that practicing them in waking life is one of the things that give you the initial unexplained awareness I mentioned above - so they are a part of my practice nonetheless).

For more specific examples check out my DJ entries on the site - they are color-coded so you'll now where to find the transition into lucidity. I only post entries of interesting nights, but I think that there is enough examples there to explain my reply above.

Can you give me some dream specific differences between lucid and non-lucid dreams? I would like to hear your experiences, since I already know theoretical difference between lucid and non-lucid dreams

I kinda depends if the lucid is long enough or clear enough, but for me there are several main things:
1. there is always at least some memory from you real life and you can differentiate your RL memories from the dream memories. The amount of RL recall varies depending on the "level" and duration of lucidity. But there is always a clear distinction between RL and dream recall.
2. the feeling of it - it just feels different, like being in a different reality. Once I'm lucid for a minute or two I almost never lose lucidity other than by waking up - because the more you have this feeling the stronger it becomes. After, let's say, being lucid for 15+ minutes in the night, even in the next dreams (of that night) I'll be more likely to just notice the dream feeling and suddenly get lucid from the start. The more I pay attention to the dream environment and the more time I'm lucid the more obvious that feeling gets.
3. I usually get excited and thoughts start flooding my mind (like, "what should I do now?") - but I know that I have to focus and organize my thoughts. Plus, during the lucid it's best to refresh awareness once in a while (like by re-stabilizing) so to not lose lucidity, so I try to keep it on my mind.

There are other differences, like being more confident, having more control or the dream usually being more vivid / realistic / memorable, but these vary a lot and are sometimes present in none lucid dreams too. As a rule of thumb - the more aware you are the more vivid the dream is going to be - so lucids are generally realistic and super vivid (unless you wake up too soon).

Are there any factors in the real world that influence your ability to become lucid (they may be related to you, to the environment, etc.)?

The things that impact my ability to sleep well, so essentially: stress like arguing or exams, bad sleeping conditions or weather at night, being sick or uncomfortable, etc...
Essentially, bad sleep reduces the vividness, detail and amount of my dreams as well as recall. Less none lucid dreams = less lucid dreams, because it means that I have less opportunities to get lucid.

Also, things that interfere with my LDing practice - like unplanned tasks / events, or being too busy, or just becoming too sloppy or lazy in the practice itself.

Feel free to add something else if you find it important, every experience will be of use

Check out my DJ for specific experiences, and also if you want, take a look at a log of my practice I keep on the forum (it might answer some questions):
Spock's lucid journey
Hope this helps!

I'll keep an eye for more questions in this thread - keep them coming

*Moved to Research

How do realize that you are dreaming? What causes you to do RC, i.e. is it something in your environment, your thoughts, actions you are preforming, etc?

Mostly I just know. I feel that something is odd around me and I remember that I wanted to have an LD. I often do RCs just to make sure.

Can you give me some dream specific differences between lucid and non-lucid dreams? I would like to hear your experiences, since I already know theoretical difference between lucid and non-lucid dreams

More vivid after you stabilize it. The body feels different, feels more like a puppet. Sometimes I feel a weak pressure in the back of my head when I focus on the differences. And of course crazy things around like weird buildings, strange people etc.

Are there any factors in the real world that influence your ability to become lucid (they may be related to you, to the environment, etc.)?

Sometimes it helps to wake up in the middle of the night and fall asleep again. Also it's good to have a comfortable place for sleep or else you will still feel the body in the LD which causes awakening.