Thread: Lucid Dreaming Fundamentals -- With Q & A

Originally Posted by Sageous

Building self-awareness is simply a long, often exhausting process of fighting the natural tendency to ignore anything that doesn't smell tasty or look sexy

You know it.

This thread is amazing! I have just been skim reading here so sorry if this has been adressed. I know you dont put any stock into lucid aids but I have been experimenting with menthol. see this link:Menthol as a Dream Enhancer

I am curious what you think about it.

Also, I am wondering if I should give up my caffeine addiction. I love my coffee way too much but I have read threads where people suggest giving up caffeine and alcohol and drugs. Also, I should say that just being addicted to something makes me feel sick inside. It's a lot of the reason why I quit smoking tobacco. I just feel like a slave to the thing.

Anyway, I saw where you said no alcohol and drugs but what about caffeine? There are other threads that people with caffeine addictions quit to get withdrawals and then maybe drink a something like coffee before bed and they become lucid.

Is all this a waste of time and effort? Would there ever be a time when lucid aids would be appropriate? Say, maybe just to end a dry spell? I am thinking you will say its all about mind power and lucid aids a worthless. Yes?

^^ Lucid aids, especially of the chemical kind, are to me a very scary thing to discuss. So, oh-so carefully:

First, in my opinion too much of anything is a bad thing, so you might indeed want to think about dealing with your caffiene addiction. Of course, anything In moderation is relatively harmless, so no need to just abandon coffee, I think. Also, unless you're having a few steaming mugs of java right before bed (which in my opinion would trash your REM cycle and with it your chances of becoming lucid, in spite of what you read elsewhere), caffeine really shouldn't have too much of an impact on your dream life, in spite of what you've no doubt read in these forums.

Same goes for alcohol unless you're a drunken sot; I hadn't realized I said no alcohol (he says after pausing for another swig of beer) -- I must've been in a bad mood that day! So yeah, quitting cold turkey and then binging after withdrawal won't do a damn thing for lucidity, and might hurt you physically. Don't bother. I often wonder where people get their ideas from when it comes to this stuff.

About the only chemical aid I've found to date that has a consistently positive effect on your LD'ing is Gallantamine, in four to eight mg doses, with maybe a 200 mg dose of B6 to help you remember the journey -- all taken during WBTB, and not the night before. Beware of Gallantamine, though, as it does have one hazardous effect: the dreams you have during its influence might be so vivid and interesting that you literally forget about lucidity! but even then I wouldn't recommend galanatine, or any other chemical, to end a dry spell -- all such action would do is apply a false patch not the real reason you're in that spell, which probably has more to do with mental prep and awareness than it does chemicals anyway.

So that's my take on chemical aids. I put little to no faith in them, because LD'ing (as you may have noticed) is all about self-awareness, and self-awareness works best when viewed by an untainted mind!

So you were right; in essence I am saying that it's all about mind power and that lucid aids are worthless! I guess I didn't even need to post!

P.S. Thanks for checking out the thread!

Originally Posted by Sageous

^^ Lucid aids, especially of the chemical kind, are to me a very scary thing to discuss. So, oh-so carefully:

First, in my opinion too much of anything is a bad thing, so you might indeed want to think about dealing with your caffiene addiction. Of course, anything In moderation is relatively harmless, so no need to just abandon coffee, I think. Also, unless you're having a few steaming mugs of java right before bed (which in my opinion would trash your REM cycle and with it your chances of becoming lucid, in spite of what you read elsewhere), caffeine really shouldn't have too much of an impact on your dream life, in spite of what you've no doubt read in these forums.

Same goes for alcohol unless you're a drunken sot; I hadn't realized I said no alcohol (he says after pausing for another swig of beer) -- I must've been in a bad mood that day! So yeah, quitting cold turkey and then binging after withdrawal won't do a damn thing for lucidity, and might hurt you physically. Don't bother. I often wonder where people get their ideas from when it comes to this stuff.

About the only chemical aid I've found to date that has a consistently positive effect on your LD'ing is Gallantamine, in four to eight mg doses, with maybe a 200 mg dose of B6 to help you remember the journey -- all taken during WBTB, and not the night before. Beware of Gallantamine, though, as it does have one hazardous effect: the dreams you have during its influence might be so vivid and interesting that you literally forget about lucidity! but even then I wouldn't recommend galanatine, or any other chemical, to end a dry spell -- all such action would do is apply a false patch not the real reason you're in that spell, which probably has more to do with mental prep and awareness than it does chemicals anyway.

So that's my take on chemical aids. I put little to no faith in them, because LD'ing (as you may have noticed) is all about self-awareness, and self-awareness works best when viewed by an untainted mind!

So you were right; in essence I am saying that it's all about mind power and that lucid aids are worthless! I guess I didn't even need to post!

P.S. Thanks for checking out the thread!

Ah, it's nice to see that someone else shares my opinion on lucid aids! This forum seems to be flooded with people who will gobble down anything if it helps them become lucid.

Natural is the best way, I think.

Originally Posted by Sageous

Same goes for alcohol unless you're a drunken sot; I hadn't realized I said no alcohol (he says after pausing for another swig of beer) -- I must've been in a bad mood that day! So yeah, quitting cold turkey and then binging after withdrawal won't do a damn thing for lucidity, and might hurt you physically. Don't bother. I often wonder where people get their ideas from when it comes to this stuff.

You were replying to someone about diet. You just said you would recommend avoiding booze and drugs.

Originally Posted by Sageous

I do suggest that you stay away from booze and hard drugs, though, because they only throw wrenches into the works.

Maybe you didn't mean NO alcohol at all? I like to have some booze on the weekends but NOT to the point I am hung over the next day. So I'm not that concerned there.

Originally Posted by Sageous

About the only chemical aid I've found to date that has a consistently positive effect on your LD'ing is Gallantamine, in four to eight mg doses, with maybe a 200 mg dose of B6 to help you remember the journey -- all taken during WBTB, and not the night before. Beware of Gallantamine, though, as it does have one hazardous effect: the dreams you have during its influence might be so vivid and interesting that you literally forget about lucidity! but even then I wouldn't recommend galanatine, or any other chemical, to end a dry spell -- all such action would do is apply a false patch not the real reason you're in that spell, which probably has more to do with mental prep and awareness than it does chemicals anyway.

So that's my take on chemical aids. I put little to no faith in them, because LD'ing (as you may have noticed) is all about self-awareness, and self-awareness works best when viewed by an untainted mind!

That's odd. That Gallantamine whatever stuff never did anything for me. I barely slept those few nights I tried it and yes I had better recall but that was because I woke up a thousand times.

Originally Posted by Sageous

So you were right; in essence I am saying that it's all about mind power and that lucid aids are worthless! I guess I didn't even need to post!

P.S. Thanks for checking out the thread!

NO! You clarified some stuff for me and I thank you for that. I am trying to weed out the good information from the bad. I have been taking this approach as, I will try anything I can to become lucid. But now I am seeing that it is about self awareness and mind set. This is all very helpful. So, thank you.

Originally Posted by RareCola

Ah, it's nice to see that someone else shares my opinion on lucid aids! This forum seems to be flooded with people who will gobble down anything if it helps them become lucid.

Natural is the best way, I think.

I am starting to get to that point of view.

Originally Posted by Xanous

Maybe you didn't mean NO alcohol at all? I like to have some booze on the weekends but NOT to the point I am hung over the next day. So I'm not that concerned there.

That would be relatively harmless, I think, and certainly would have little to no effect o your dreams,while still having some effect on your weekends.

That's odd. That Gallantamine whatever stuff never did anything for me. I barely slept those few nights I tried it and yes I had better recall but that was because I woke up a thousand times.

Hmm. It should have done something ... I did find one major side effect was that it occasionally kept me awake, though, so you might have found a good reason to stay away in that. And yeah, if it doesn't work like gangbusters for you, then stay away from it, because it just might not be worth it ... I won't suggest giving it another chance, because if you can do without it that's just fine.

NO! You clarified some stuff for me and I thank you for that. I am trying to weed out the good information from the bad. I have been taking this approach as, I will try anything I can to become lucid. But now I am seeing that it is about self awareness and mind set. This is all very helpful. So, thank you.

Well I'm glad that happened, because if you are able to understand that LD'ing is a mindset, and not some function that can be triggered by chemicals or techniques, you are definitely moving, I think, in th right direction.

Good luck!

Sometimes and more often than I'd like, I suffer from low recall. I know your class is more about WILD but what do you personally do when this happens? I assume it happens us all, right? Or what are some good ways to improve recall in general?

Originally Posted by Xanous

Sometimes and more often than I'd like, I suffer from low recall. ... what do you personally do when this happens? I assume it happens us all, right? Or what are some good ways to improve recall in general?

That's an interesting question, and I'm not sure it was ever asked here.

What do I do when I don't remember dreams? Well, I guess the obvious answer is that I don't remember them! Seriously, though:

[there's a "tl;dr" at the end of all this, BTW]

First: Sometimes things simply don't get recalled, both in waking life and dreaming life. Unless you've got real memory issues (like alzheimer's ) you regularly fail to remember some things because your brain has determined that whatever you just forgot simply did not need to be remembered. There are countless exceptions to this, of course, and we all forget things we wish we'd remembered (like the name belonging to the face of a person you just met yesterday).

With dreaming we get this in spades, because, given their generally chaotic and trivial nature (IMHO, of course), the stuff of dreams rarely makes it into short-term memory, much less long-term memory. This may be happening for a very practical purpose, too, because it might be important that you don't remember dreams in the exact manner that you do waking events, lest you get the two confused! Again, there are plenty of exceptions -- I'm sure anyone here can recall important dreams they had when they were small kids, especially nightmares... many dreams are recalled, whether or not you want them to be or not!

Now: What do I personally do about it? Pretty much nothing. As I have stated elsewhere many times, I believe that LD's are waking-life consciousness memories, and do make it easily into my brain's short and long-term memory. In other words, good dream recall shouldn't be necessary for remembering LD's. Which is why, I suppose, dream recall didn't make the list of fundamentals, though memory itself did. But you want an actual answer, don't you? OOkay...

Truthfully, good recall can be a valuable tool, particularly if you are just starting to LD and are looking for patterns and dream signs that will better help you to succeed in DILD. That is important. I used to try to remember my dreams, and got pretty good at it, if I can recall (that was a very long time ago). There is something to be said for enriching your life with the memories of NLD's too, especially if they seemed to carry dome meaning for you (though I tend to caution against this -- there might be a reason your mind forgets dreams; especially the ones to which you attach meaning!).

I'm rambling, and I've completely abandoned your question! So:

Yes, poor dream recall happens to us all. In fact, excellent dream recall is quite rare, contrary to what you might read on this site -- populated as it is by people who take dreaming very seriously and therefore might tend to have unusually good recall. You are not alone.

What do I personally do? Well, if I'm waking up from a very good dream that I want to hang onto, I sort of do a reverse WILD -- I hold perfectly still, and try to let the images of the dream I just had swim around in my head as I approach wakefulness. This effort can tend to make those images consciously "important," and thus give my brain a little initiative to hang onto some of it. Usually some of it is enough, as the blanks will be filled in later with the details as your memory files the dream (keep in mind that your memory might invent some of this fill-in stuff, so it might not be what you actually dreamed; one reason dream interpretation is a potentially iffy practice). Oh, and this procedure is a very handy tool for practicing DEILD as well!

The next thing to do to recall NLD's, is immediately write them down -- and not just "cues" or major images, but everything you can remember. This serves the dual purpose of making the dream important enough to remember, and preserving it on paper just in case it doesn't get remembered. Writing down what you dreamed should be done even if you master that reverse WILD I mentioned above because it so efficiently solidifies everything. Also, I'm pretty sure that writing dreams down is a fairly popular method here at DV, if that matters.

I hesitate to mention this, but a small dose of B-6 (200mg for me) seems to aid in recall. At least for me.

And that is all I do. I personally think no more needs be done, because the dreams I really want to remember are LD's, and those have never been a problem for me, especially when I write them down. And, as waking memories, they should never be more difficult to remember than any waking memories. Again, I also have always been a bit concerned about remembering too much of the chaos of dreams -- it can be so easy to attach meaning that was never there, or, worse, "rewrite" entire dreams because you knew they were cool but can't remember a thing about them.

tl;dr:To help recall I hold very still after a dream, letting the images become "important" enough for my short-term memory to hold onto. Then I solidify the memory by immediately writing down every detail that's still available. A small dose of B-6 might also help. Though recall to me is not that important (I'm after keeping LD's, which by definition are"easily" remembered) , I do understand that it is handy for DILD and keeping dreams important in waking life, so it wouldn't hurt to build your skills.

I hope that helped, or made some sense at all -- ask again if it did not!

That helps. You just reinforced what I pretty much already do and that's good. It helps to know that it happens to everyone also.

I find that I have to stay on top of my recall because I have forgotten LDs. Probably more than I know. Last night for instance. I woke at 3 and planned to WILD but as I was laying there I felt a tickle of a memory that I was lucid. So like a root poking up out of the ground I slowly pulled at it and dug until I had the whole thing in my memory. And No I didn't invent anything. It just came in chunks. Sort of like the reverse WILD you mentioned. I guess that's why I get a little apprehensive when I have nights with low recall.

Hmm, while lucids are great, I think it's good to remember that non-lucids can be fulfilling too. I have adventures in my non-lucids that I could never even think of engaging in my lucids!

I also think that recall takes place the night before, rather than in the morning. While focusing on recalling in the morning can help, I've found I have infinitely more recall without even trying in the morning if I aim for it through auto-suggestion and intention-setting the night before.

Originally Posted by Xanous

I find that I have to stay on top of my recall because I have forgotten LDs. Probably more than I know.

I'll only mention this once, because whenever I do I get hit with a barrage of righteous indignation that I don't feel like enduring again:

Are you sure those were LD's you forgot? I don't say lightly that I think that, as waking consciousness events, LD's will be recorded as such, and will likely be remembered using waking-consciousness memory mechanisms. Though I suppose many insignificant LD's might be left behind as readily as insignificant waking-life events (things like opening a door, pouring a glass of water, or brushing your teeth, etc.), are those LD's that you really care to remember anyway?

Also, there is an excellent chance that you had "significant" NLD's in which you dreamed you were lucid, because your dreaming mind wants to fulfill your expectations and LD'ing desires (that happens to me all the time); such a dream could easily be relegated to the "dump on waking" pattern for which our minds are hard-wired. I guess what I'm saying is that significant LD's should not be as disposable as NLD's, and it wouldn't hurt to wonder why you can't remember something you were sure was a lucid dream ... then again, if you improve your recall, you might discover that many of those forgotten LD's really were just dreams; do you want to go there?

Okay, I got that out of me; where was I? Oh, yeah:

Last night for instance. I woke at 3 and planned to WILD but as I was laying there I felt a tickle of a memory that I was lucid. So like a root poking up out of the ground I slowly pulled at it and dug until I had the whole thing in my memory. And No I didn't invent anything. It just came in chunks. Sort of like the reverse WILD you mentioned. I guess that's why I get a little apprehensive when I have nights with low recall.

What a great image tugging that root is! I may try that. And yes, I think if you are that close to the dream, you'll likely not find yourself inventing details, or encourage your unconscious to do so either. This is because the details are still there, but will only come out if attached to larger images -- or that root! This might be just the method to counter those moments of low recall -- and even if it doesn't work, it seems a great focusing tool for assembling something, like perhaps your next dream, via DEILD...

Originally Posted by RareCola

Hmm, while lucids are great, I think it's good to remember that non-lucids can be fulfilling too. I have adventures in my non-lucids that I could never even think of engaging in my lucids!

I agree -- many of my most "memorable," and lengthy, dreams were NLD's. I'm not trying to sell NLD's short; I'm just trying to point out that we're wired to forget them, though not necessarily wired to forget LD's.

I didn't mean to disparage NLD's, sorry!

I also think that recall takes place the night before, rather than in the morning. While focusing on recalling in the morning can help, I've found I have infinitely more recall without even trying in the morning if I aim for it through auto-suggestion and intention-setting the night before.

I'm glad you pointed that out. I think I left that method of recall out of my answer above because trying to focus on recall the night before (or any auto-suggestion tactic, for that matter) has never worked for me, though I tried diligently dozens if not hundreds of times. I think I'm broken in that department! I guess I skipped it because I just didn't like it; shame on me for forgetting, because it is an effective tool for recall.

Xanous: if you haven't tried it yet, consider RareCola's post. "Planning" recall before sleep does work well for many, so it might be worth a try. Unless you're like me, but you can't know that until after trying!

Originally Posted by Sageous

I agree -- many of my most "memorable," and lengthy, dreams were NLD's. I'm not trying to sell NLD's short; I'm just trying to point out that we're wired to forget them, though not necessarily wired to forget LD's.

I didn't mean to disparage NLD's, sorry!



I'm glad you pointed that out. I think I left that method of recall out of my answer above because trying to focus on recall the night before (or any auto-suggestion tactic, for that matter) has never worked for me, though I tried diligently dozens if not hundreds of times. I think I'm broken in that department! I guess I skipped it because I just didn't like it; shame on me for forgetting, because it is an effective tool for recall.

Xanous: if you haven't tried it yet, consider RareCola's post. "Planning" recall before sleep does work well for many, so it might be worth a try. Unless you're like me, but you can't know that until after trying!

I think the auto-suggestion methods fail for a lot of people because they don't properly prepare. I was talking about this in the Intro Class IRC chat the other day. Many people take on auto-suggestion the same way they take on mantras. Auto-suggestion is a bit different, you really need to drum the intention into your sub-conscious, which is only possible after first clearing and relaxing your mind. You need to add in visualisation (picturing yourself waking up, having great recall, and writing it in your journal), including incubating the feeling of a great dream ending and visualising yourself fading through into waking life, recalling it.

I've seen so many cases of people just laying down in bed and repeating auto-suggestion as they fall asleep, that simply doesn't work! You need to be in a better, more intentional mindset. You don't even need to do it as you fall asleep, that's more of a mantra thing. Doing it before sleep is good enough.

Originally Posted by Sageous

I'll only mention this once, because whenever I do I get hit with a barrage of righteous indignation that I don't feel like enduring again:

Are you sure those were LD's you forgot? I don't say lightly that I think that, as waking consciousness events, LD's will be recorded as such, and will likely be remembered using waking-consciousness memory mechanisms. Though I suppose many insignificant LD's might be left behind as readily as insignificant waking-life events (things like opening a door, pouring a glass of water, or brushing your teeth, etc.), are those LD's that you really care to remember anyway?

Also, there is an excellent chance that you had "significant" NLD's in which you dreamed you were lucid, because your dreaming mind wants to fulfill your expectations and LD'ing desires (that happens to me all the time); such a dream could easily be relegated to the "dump on waking" pattern for which our minds are hard-wired. I guess what I'm saying is that significant LD's should not be as disposable as NLD's, and it wouldn't hurt to wonder why you can't remember something you were sure was a lucid dream ... then again, if you improve your recall, you might discover that many of those forgotten LD's really were just dreams; do you want to go there?

When I first read this I was frustrated and a little discouraged. I thought you were poopooing every lucid experience I ever had! Because when you REALLY think about it... How do you know if anything is real? But I see your point and I'll take it into consideration but I respectfully disagree with you on some of that. I get what you mean about fake LDs. I have done this long enough to know what the difference is. I think in this case it was an early REM dream and like any other dream, I guess I didn't wake up enough after the dream to remember it clearly. And it was somewhat significant and I was intentionally trying something I had never tried before. And yes I want to remember every LD and every NLD possible. I think every dream is fascinating and tells me lot about my subconscious mind. If I don't remember even the lamest of LD's then I don't learn anything from it for the next time. I just don't see why EVERY dream needs to be significant. But I guess that's just me and it's all a moot point anyway. I hope I didn't barrage you too much. LOL. I really do see your point though.

Originally Posted by Sageous

What a great image tugging that root is! I may try that. And yes, I think if you are that close to the dream, you'll likely not find yourself inventing details, or encourage your unconscious to do so either. This is because the details are still there, but will only come out if attached to larger images -- or that root! This might be just the method to counter those moments of low recall -- and even if it doesn't work, it seems a great focusing tool for assembling something, like perhaps your next dream, via DEILD...

Thank you . I may try that with DEILD.

Originally Posted by Sageous

I didn't mean to disparage NLD's, sorry!

That's the way I took it. Thanks for clarifying.

Originally Posted by Sageous

Xanous: if you haven't tried it yet, consider RareCola's post. "Planning" recall before sleep does work well for many, so it might be worth a try. Unless you're like me, but you can't know that until after trying!

I think I used to do this before. I was too lazy to have to write anything down in the middle of the night. At some point I started using my DJ app on my phone. Maybe I rely on it too much now. It used to be that just remembering a key word or phrase was more than enough to remember the whole dream.

Originally Posted by RareCola

I think the auto-suggestion methods fail for a lot of people because they don't properly prepare. I was talking about this in the Intro Class IRC chat the other day. Many people take on auto-suggestion the same way they take on mantras. Auto-suggestion is a bit different, you really need to drum the intention into your sub-conscious, which is only possible after first clearing and relaxing your mind. You need to add in visualisation (picturing yourself waking up, having great recall, and writing it in your journal), including incubating the feeling of a great dream ending and visualising yourself fading through into waking life, recalling it.

I've seen so many cases of people just laying down in bed and repeating auto-suggestion as they fall asleep, that simply doesn't work! You need to be in a better, more intentional mindset. You don't even need to do it as you fall asleep, that's more of a mantra thing. Doing it before sleep is good enough.

I used this last night and saw an big improvement in recall. Thanks RC!

On awareness. I have been experiencing... I guess you could call it mental fatigue. I cannot seem to have the gumption to try to hold my awareness or even remember to practice it as much as I did before. I have a very mentally taxing job and have to focus a great deal on the task at hand. Is it detrimental to my progress to sort of back off once and a while? Or am I just regressing? I think it would be like working out your physical body. Yes, take breaks but don't slack off too much. I just feel tired some days during the week and just can't practice my awareness like I want to. Or maybe instead of trying to hold awareness for so long, I should just do a quick thing but more frequent?

^^ Go ahead and back off for a time, Xanous.

It would do you no good to wear yourself down, because this both makes it harder to practice self-awareness, and also makes you begin to resent the work -- which makes it real easy to drop later.

So I suggest you ease up, mind your priorities (your job matters, after all), and let your mind and body make some room over time for all the extra space heightened self-awareness demands.

Doing quick exercises might sound like a good idea, and it is, if you are able to give shortened RRC's the attention they deserve. However, if you find yourself just giving "lip service" to the exercises, you might consider just taking a break and literally scheduling time you can fit in a proper effort.

Bottom line: Relax! Life is long, the LD's ain't going anywhere without you; so there's no sense knocking yourself out...

Ah thanks Sageous. That sounds like very good advice. I tent to over do it I guess.

Let me say I've read a fair bit of posts around here, but I'm having a particular issue with "coming up" with a rality while entering WILD

I've had no more than two lucid dreams I can remember, and one was accidentally a WILD after watching Waking Life.

Ever since then I've had several instances where I manage to get into sleep paralysis, sometimes start feeling weightless, a lot of buzzing and almost like a white noise image. When this happens, my heart starts going and I'm thinking "here it comes!" but I never manage to flow blissfully into dreams. It will happen for 3-10 seconds, then stop, and I kind of wake up. Sometimes many times a night. I remember last night being frustrated that it wouldn't happen so I kept moving and changing positions when the SP would fade in and then out.

It's like I'm unable to build a reality. I'm stuck thinking "ok where do I want to be? be quick, think of something" And when I do, it barely comes into play. Like a very vague attempt at crossing over.

My first one convinced me this has to be done again. I floated up from my bed and passed through my window, flew around on top of my driveway and around the city. It was amazing. But I haven't been able to get back there.

First, welcome.

Now:

I think you may have read a few too many posts. WILD, and lucid dreaming in general, is not about all that "noise," like SP, buzzing, etc, regardless of the importance breathlessly attached to them on these forums. LD'ing is also certainly not about "coming up" with realities, either. Perhaps you meant something else in that phrase, but LD's are still "just" dreams. You are not creating a new reality, and need not feel obliged to do so. Indeed, even if you meant simply helping to form a dream scenario of your choice, you can fail that and still find yourself in a dream. You are not required to make the dream; it will come eventually, naturally. Be patient, especially during WILD.

Instead of reading all those posts, I suggest you carefully read one of the DV classes on LD'ing. I have a class on WILD in this forum, but you should also read OpheliaBlue's Introduction class and Hukif and Gab's DILD class, as these courses will introduce you to the process of LD'ing with a little more emphasis on the fundamentals, and less hyperventilating about the noise.

I hope that helped; good luck in your quest; regardless of the route you choose, the final destination will have been worth the effort.

Is it possible that with a sleeping mask you could see your HI
A lot better and that it could become quite a good anchor for some?

Sure. Especially if you're sleeping in a room with possibly distracting light -- light is the enemy of sleep, and the better you can block it out, the better your chances of reaching your dreams undisturbed. I suppose the absence of light might help you to better "see" you HI as well, but I'm not too sure about that (and I also see no reason to amplify HI input anyway, as that could be a distraction).

Also, if you only use it while attempting LD's, the presence of a mask on your face might heighten your expectations, which would be a very good thing as well.

So yeah, a sleep mask might not be the answer to all things LD, but it could certainly be a good anchor for some.

If you in the middle of the night decide that you want to wild.

The first thing you do is to try and sleep the same as you always do but this time you put a few "gaps" in your awereness where you take a sec to remember what your trying to do. With time could this be a useful type of an anchor?

About the mask. Even if i only use it at some. Occasions isnt there a risk of me getting used to wearing it?
By then would "the presence of a mask" go away and just that be a loss?