Tutorial To All Lucid Dreamers

[Seahomie]

How in the fuck do you do it?

I've tried everything thing and I'm on the verge of giving the fuck up. I've kept a dream journal (complete with future expressions such as "I am going" "He is grabbing my hand"), I've done countless reality checks, telling myself that I'm dreaming at least twice an hour, and have disrupted my sleeping schedule (painfully so) and the closest I've gotten is just realizing I'm dreaming before I wake up from excitement. There's no controlling, there's no flying, there's no anything.

I will admit that I haven't done this consistently, and have recently quit due to frustration, as well as annoyance for sabotaging my patterns for something that doesn't work. However, now that I am cautiously venturing toward that topic again, I am desperate for any tips/tricks than anyone in the community may have.

Please help me in my expedition,

-A

 

[monkeymae24]

*glances around*

Well, I'm not sure about other lucids, but I've simply always had the ability. I thought everyone was aware and had some sort of control over their dreams until about thirteen. This in mind, my tips might not apply to a self-taught lucid, but I thought I'd offer them anyway.

• Start with setting. This probably sound weird, but the easiest thing to control is setting. Spend your day thinking about where you want to go throughout the day and when you lay down in bed at night, clear your mind of all except that place. (Note that controlling setting is something that should be done before sleeping. Once placed in a certain setting, it's hard to manipulate the overall location without waking up.) I'd recommend starting with a TV location. Watch a few episodes just before bed; it will be fresh in your mind and you'll be more likely to succeed.
• Don't attempt total control every night. Depending on how tired you are, total control just isn't viable. Since you're a self-taught, I'd recommend only trying to be lucid every couple of nights because as you said, it messes with sleep patterns. Believe it or not, tiredness can be a lucid's biggest obstacle.
• Not all reality checks work for everyone. Again, I've never needed reality checks, but my friend has advised me of this before. Find the one that works best for you and stick with it.
• In terms of flight: it takes more concentration to fly when you're on the ground. Once lucid, find an elevated surface - building, cliff, tree, bridge, etc - and simply jump off the side. There's usual a brief moment of suspension before control, but this is the quickest and easiest way to fly, in my experience.
• Manipulate what you have. It's easier to manipulate elements of a dream environment than to conjure things out of thin air. I typically use tree branches to create weapons (because I like screwing off with wands and swords and shit in my mindscape), but rocks are another good base. Also, try to manipulate the appearance of your clothing: it's one of the easiest things to do. Just take off your clothing and kind of shake them out before putting them back on again.

I hope this helps a bit. And good luck.

 

[Suum]

I just need to clarify that lucid dreaming and control over what you dream of aren't the same thing. Things such as focusing on certain events when you fall asleep or during the day will naturally have an impact on what your dreams are about, because that's how dreams work, but that isn't linked to lucidity - this specifically means awareness and control during the dream, not controlling the topic of the dream through conscious preparation before falling asleep.

It also has very little, or perhaps nothing to do with planned controls put in place because, again, that's not how it actually works. This is because there's a lot of confusion about what lucid dreaming actually is. It's something still not accepted by the entirety of the scientific community because, by very nature, lucid dreaming for the full period of sleep would diminish the benefits of sleep to the extent it could prove harmful and that there is no clear evidence beyond someone saying that they did it. The most sensible and logic argument put forward to date is the correlation between lucid dreaming and wakefulness, which also goes a long way in explaining why even lucid dreamers don't recite a full 8 hours worth of dreams, but perhaps only one dream or topic, and that is also usually the dream or topic which ends with one waking.

With this in mind, it has much less to do with preparation before sleep, but more considering the circumstances that might cause one to verge into a micro-awakening before fully awakening. When you properly link the state of a micro-awakening with lucid dreaming you can see the correlation as to why you'd have a degree of control and conscious interaction with the dream world, as well as why you'd so easily be able to wake from the dream. I myself have had many lucid dreams, but I'm also known to enter into micro-awakenings sometimes and have very basic conversations with people trying to speak to me whilst I am actually not awake yet. There is a correlation between these things.

I would, however, like to also point out the possibly-disappointing perspective that realising you're dreaming and waking with excitement doesn't actually suggest lucid dreaming. You've been thinking and practising how to lucid dream, so the concept of it is now rooted in your mind and a very viable topic for a genuine dream. You dreaming that you are having a dream and realising you are dreaming is a perfectly natural topic for someone trying to lucid dream. Actively trying to lucid dream is, logically speaking, a deceptive way to trick yourself into thinking you've had a lucid dream when you have not, simply because it's what you've been thinking of or wanting.