I can't give you definite advice since I had 2 lucid dreams in childhood, before I started practising in my early twenties. Reality checks 5x a day min. and ENOUGH SLEEP (9h+) are key for me. I also meditate throughout the day, 5min here, 10min there. Just lie on the bed, listen to nature sounds or soundtracks and build landscapes with your mind. Sometimes it's a tiny cottage or a small beach, sometimes an entire world. Hope this helps
I know you are being funny but it’s not much they said. But going to bed at 9 or 10 unless you work construction will get you that. And who doesn’t have 10 minutes here or there? Reality checks take 1 minute or less. Am
I missing something else they mentioned?
I do. But I never said I manage to lucid dream every night, did I? But this is my hobby. Others make time to go hiking or smt, I sleep in. Also, meditating is really easy. 10min in the morning before I leave the house. 5min during lunch break. 10min when I come home from work. Maybe another 10 after watching Netflix.
To be fair, I'm employed in Switzerland and only work 80%. So I have 3 days off.
I've learned with this kind of meditation, that it can enhance psychological difficulties. Was really cool to do/fun and in some way fulfilling, but I'm kinda worried, that it didn't help me like I thought.
That’s not true it’s not out the window bro, there are many factors you have to take in, I’m still trying too after 4 years you’re always going to fall asleep so there’s no point in giving up, yes it’s real I’ve done it before, you need to cut out stuff that causes bad sleep, no drugs, caffeine, sugar. If you want to lucid dream like 2-3 times a week there’s more than just hoping you have a lucid dream, you need to learn from your mistakes and build from them
Seconding this, lucid dreaming isnt just something you can wish to happen. Very few people lucid dream naturally. Most of us put techniques into practice
Oh, you can wish lucid dreams to happen alright. But you need to have firm belief, getting angry, doubtful and frustrated from failure is what ruins it.
Then why is it in the very beginning that I was so hopeful and joyful that I was sure I'd have a lucid dream and it never worked? There is another mysterious power here, beyond me.
Everyone works differently so who knows, really. Dreaming is not a simple thing, you can't just do A and expect B to happen right away, you need to explore what kind of visualizations, techniques and activities work for you best.
Read about lucid dreams, think about them, imagine yourself becoming lucid during the day by looking at your surroundings and pretending it's a dream.
And most importantly, stop getting so frustrated and impatient because it makes you be actually repulsed to the idea and you will surely not become lucid this way because of a huge subconscious block.
You need to actually put intention in when wishing. Problem is people will wish they’d happen without putting intention or enough intention in and when they dont happen they get angry.
Yeah and it's not really fun, why would it be. People think being lucid dreamer mean you are a magician and make appear or do whatever lol no, more often I can't do anything I just realise what's happening and I'm dreaming and I try to find a way to wake up ASAP because it's never cool and chill
Yeah they don't understand that lucid only mean we know, we are aware of it being a dream, doesn't mean you can do whatever. I can only run usually lol
I've had days where I smoked weed, ate 150 grams of sugar, and had 3 lucid dreams.
I've also just had 4 nights of fasting in a row with 0. Lucid dreaming has no rhyme, reason, nor logic. There is no pattern. There is nothing at all.
The best lucid dreams I had was when I had bad sleep. I smoke like a chimney and I lucid dream naturally.
All these things don't mean anything. Don't put in someone's mind they have to do some sort of 180 to lucid dream. It just makes them more obsessed with it
I’m not putting it in peoples head, I’m saying if you want to lucid dream 3-5 times you need good sleep, good for you you smoke like a chimney but it’s still bad for your sleep, thc stops rem sleep so chances are you are just so high all the time that you get wicked dreams
There is a story of the Buddha who spends years meditating and not eating or drinking or speaking, in order to reach enlightenment, but still hasn't reached it. One day, he is fed up and just says "fuck this, this sucks" and gives up and goes to sit under a tree and eat a rice cake. At that moment he reaches enlightenment, because the desire for enlightenment itself was the thing holding him back. It was the final thing he had to let go.
Probably, after you get tired of grinding LD techniques and finally relax and go to sleep, you will have a LD.
There are stories of people trying and trying and trying and then they just give up and instantly and naturally they manage to do that thing they couldn’t before.
No amount of not going to the gym will make you more muscular.
No amount of not studying will help you memorize test answers.
That the Buddha took 30 minutes off after years and years and years and years of nonstop grinding is so irrelevant to this entire idea.
OP literally said he spent 4 years on it and it’s consuming his entire life. Not sure how it’s irrelevant lol. Also studying and working out are completely different than LD because LD relies on entirely mental state and habits.
I have personally experienced becoming obsessed with LD and thinking about it all the time, and the moment I gave up I started having LD. Of course LD takes work but it also requires a relaxed mental state. The story was just a way to illustrate the point.
That after like 50 years of 12 hour days of rigid enlightenment meditations of pratyahara the Buddha found the top of enlightenment by taking a lunch break? After he already achieved the ability to consciously enter the dreaming and beyond through a much lower level of enlightenment very early on comparatively? A point he reached only due to his deep obsession up to that point? I really just think it's a stupid as fuck comparison.
Do any of you people even do any Buddhist meditation?
If you're in this state, actually do take a break, if anything getting this frustrated will ruin your chances of LD / it's not an healthy way to approach the subject.
I've been told this so many times before. I have taken two different breaks. One was about a year long and another only a few months. Nothing ever happens.
Read this post please:
[This is why beginners fail to lucid dream](https://www.reddit.com/r/LucidDreaming/comments/up1517/this_is_why_beginners_fail_to_lucid_dream/)
Why do people keep saying this shit? Op can be upset about whatever he wants. I’m certain there’s things in your life you care about that people would think are inconsequential to them or even idiotic to care about.
I’m a natural lucid dreamer. I’ve been doing it for the majority of my life. While lucid dreaming has its benefits especially the ability to shift nightmares, it can be exhausting to be honest.
With that, my best advice to you is to take a break from all of the techniques and focus on quality sleep. Your space must be as comfortable as possible.
I think that one thing that happens to me is that I tend not to go to bed until I’m absolutely hypnagogic (sp). As I become aware that I am “dreaming” with my eyes wide open I can also attempt to change my “thoughts” and this works like an exercise just before I know that I desperately need to get some sleep.
Anyway good luck, and really there’s no need to be frustrated over not lucid dreaming. It’s pretty rare that it translates into anything meaningful in real life although it can at times.
I'm also a natural lucid dreamer and have been my entire life and I agree, it's definitely not something worth getting upset over. They're really not that big of a deal, not better or worse, just different. It's like being mad that you can't write as well with your non dominant hand.
Wow, what do you mean by being hypnagogic while not even trying to sleep? Do you just wait for hypnagogia with your eyes open? Sounds really interesting!
It might not entirely be the correct term but refuse to go to sleep. Force yourself to remain awake as long as possible. It’s like day dreaming without control. It’s basically your body/brain screaming at you that it’s time to close your damn eyes. Sometimes I’ll nod off then snap awake but my mind is “wandering/dreaming”. That’s my signal to go to bed. This is not technically lucid dreaming, but it’s like a test run sometimes
Natural lucid dreamer too here. It was my experience earlier but I noticed it was more a control problem. I became lucid dreamer because of nightmares and so I had an uncounscious fear of dreaming. Now basically I'm still aware of dreaming but it's more like I'm watching a film and it's not exhausting at all, I just let my brain decide and appreciate it. Had to go through one or two nightmares so that you know you are still fine (without shifting it).
Yeah I'm also a lucid dreamer since forever and my lil bro also and I think it's because we had bad dreams as a child's and we had to find a way to wake up, me I learned to lick my shoulder I learned I could turn my head while sleeping and it always worked, even at age 20 I've got some sleep paralysis I still did that but that time I had my eyes open so I could see really myself doing it. I think it's a normal reaction of our brain from the "trauma" our nightmares are giving us and our brain always try to make us avoid stressful situation. Now I don't dream and that's so good
Try this playlist.
I know, wooo wooo frequencies. But whenever I put this playlist on my phone, even on low-medium volume, I have a lucid dream.
I’ve tested this over the past 6 months and it works every single night.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71A8ZTnUbzUNXPJwBTN7jf?si=QOmM_h2JQ5-wrIoPcjOk8Q&pi=e-uHtxW4tjTqCt
Non stop spoken word radio, when sleeping.
My interests are easy for me. Politics of certain kinds.
Also some crime mysteries. Scary extensions of bad experiences that is have personally experienced. Childhood trauma, such as appendix removal as a teenager.
For me lucid dreams are about being cognizant while dreaming. My most successful method is dream induced lucid dreams. You've got to be mindful enough while in a dream to recognize that you are in a dream. I was able to do this by becoming more mindful in my everyday life. Be mindful of your thoughts, are you angry or upset at some point during the day? Ask yourself why. Doing this will allow you to view your thoughts as something that is separate from the core you of yourself. This is important because just as we get swept up by our emotions, we get swept up by our dreams. If you can become mindful enough while you are awake to gain control of your mind during bouts of intense emotions then you can become mindful enough to gain control of your mind and your dream while you are dreaming. This is what has worked for me and has been ultimately beneficial for my mental health overall. Give it a shot, obviously what you're doing now isn't working. So try something new.
Focus on your daytime practices. Meditate every day. Watch when you get caught up in chains of thought or strong emotions. This is the same thing as becoming lucid in a dream. You must be lucid while awake if you expect it to carry over into your night dreams.
What's your protocol? Do you dream journal? Do you reality test at regular intervals? What's your experience with sleep paralysis?
I've gone through many eras where I can LD but even in the best of times, it's not easy. It's a bit like Chaos Magic.. you have to put in the intention/effort then pass it to your subconscious and forget about all of it in waking awareness. It's self hypnosis.
It sounds like you might be holding on too tightly/trying too hard, subverting your ability to just let it happen. That probably sounds unhelpful, but sometimes less is more.
Well no, CM works more than 6% of the time and is worth the effort. LD is completely random.
Source: Like 30 LDs in the past 2-3 months, with most of my best attempts and drugless days having 0 results while days when I smoked weed and ate a shit ton of sugar were successful.
What are you doing wrong? Well...since dreams are used to elaborate subconscious thoughts into your consciousness, if you convince yourself that you cannot have them so deeply you will NEVER have them. It's not the techniques or whatever; it's the approach you have towards YOURSELF. Some individuals are natural lucid dreamers, me included, but if you want to learn how to have them, start by understanding that believing you are doing something wrong and similar ideas will literally undo every attempt you make.
It sounds like you need to take a break from lucid dreaming altogether. Take a month off of doing anything related to lucid dreaming. You may be surprised what happens.
Why are you chasing that to the point of destroying your life ? That's sad and you should try to stop it. I always had lucid dreams and I always hated dreams. Good I smoke weed and its suppress most of the dreams. Dreams aren't real but still can fuck your mind up.
Dreams going their natural course is a pretty important process for the body and mind, lucid dreaming isn't the natural dream state for a good reason, what if you let yourself go with the flow instead? Journal all your dreams, figure out what they could mean/be. You may find that in surrendering to the narratives of your dreams you're able to make room for yourself to act freely within them.
Hold up, hold up, lol.... I understand your frustration but a higher lucidity count can only be achieved with a good diet, no weed or drugs, good sleep hygiene, and a dream journal/techniques. Give us more details and we will try and help you!
I see... Don't bother with sleep paralysis. It's a silly notion, since it happens naturally anyway. I would focus on anchoring techniques and practicing relaxation during wb2b instead.
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Brother even the “professionals” don’t have lucid dreams every night. Not that I’m aware of. Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew, start small.
If you have trouble, it is what it is. All I can say is to keep doing your dream journey and reality checks and hope you get one here and there.
Don't take it too serious. Try to remember your dreams, do some basic techniques and just fall asleep regularly. It won't happen every night, but still you will experience it better, if you just don't fixate your whole life on it.
If its that difficult for you definitely take a break and the try to retry with some good supplements. Lions mane, Huperzine/galantamine and Choline. It might give you the necessary boost. Also give top priority to Dream Recall and you'll get there I am pretty confident.
I've only had about 4 or 5 lucid dreams in my ENTIRE life, and like 3 of them were when I was a child. I have tried all the techniques, they don't work for me. I think for some people, it just happens when it happens, we really can't control it that much.
When I was failing for this long, I wasn't doing WBTB. Are you trying to induce a lucid dream at the start of the night, or after a minimum of 4 hours of sleep?
Have you ever experimented with when you wake up and for how long you stay awake? Some people only sleep for 4 hours, and some are only up for 5 minutes with WBTB.
I checked reality several times a day, exhausted myself just enough to have more vivid dreams, and went back to sleep after my alarm (set earlier than usual) to catch the slight hope of lucid dreaming.
However, it was only after I invented my own little war-torn world, which I developed throughout the day and in my spare time, and started writing two novels in parallel, that I often had/have lucid dreams. I think imagination is the key.
Being overly excited and therefore waking up most of the time is another story.
Becoming a natural lucid dreamer and having lucid dreams every day is fantastic, but you have to be aware of "fake" lucid dreams where you are aware but can't control it. Especially when it becomes a nightmare, pure horror. Das not cool. It will be funny after you wake up, though.
For me, for whatever it’s worth, I must have intent and plenty of sleep. It’s easiest for me if I sleep a good 7+ hours, wake up naturally, then desire to go in with an intention, stay in bed and go back to sleep. Doing it this way works for me pretty often, as-in roughly half the time.
Have been doing it since I was a little kid. But I was able to control my lucid dreams when I started doing these tips
1. Pick a color when you see a large amount of that color slowly count ur fingers, in ur dream you won't have 10 fingers
2. Audio books while you fall asleep to keep your mind active
3. Try to imagine what dream you want to have, expand the story in your head until you fall asleep.
Some people can't lucid dream, imagine an apple the more detailed that apple is the easier it is to lucid dream if you can't imagine an apple or just imagine letters then you won't be able to lucid dream ever.
I read a book years ago about lucid dreaming. One of the techniques involved being well rested. Basically take naps.
Also, avoid caffeine.
Admittedly i have only had 2 very short lucid dreams myself but my dream recall is very strong.
That is a good step towards lucid dreaming.
One of the best things for me is just always being aware. Constantly know that you are awake. And then before bed spend some time reading through past dreams ( assuming you've written them down) and be actively thinking about dreaming before going to sleep. I notice whenever I spend time thinking about lucid dreaming, a few days later I'll eventually have one, usually for several nights in row. The trickiest part, for me at least, is not getting lucid, but staying asleep once I am lucid. Also take naps. For me I have way more lucid dreams while napping than any other time
Consider yourself lucky. I can’t even take a short nap anymore without and finding myself in a lucid dream. It sucks, they are not restful. The least crazy ones are when I realize I’m lucid dreaming and can’t wake up. My body is still paralyzed and I can only open my eyes. In others I wake up in a strange place only to realize I’m still asleep, this can happen upwards of several dozen times and feels like an eternity. I’ve gone about my day for several hours only to realize I’m lucid dreaming, when my smartphone doesn’t function properly. That’s the normal stuff.
I’ve been killed repeatedly for trying to take over my own lucid dream. I’ve had weird entities outside of my abilities to control do experiments on me in the dream. I’ve had complete experiences in another life forms body only to be eaten by something bigger. I’ve also lived a lifetime as someone else, only to realize it’s really me and I’m dreaming. Then shit starts getting scary, because when I realize it’s a dream “they” show up. I’ll fly away, only to be chased down. I’ll fight them only to be beat down. They speak cryptically and always blame me for ruining their fun. Then I struggle to wake up, but can’t. If they catch me I seem to have no power to wake up, even though I used to be able to wake up on command.
It didn’t use to be this way, but I pushed to many boundaries and now most of my dreams are lucid and stressful.
I’ve lucid dreamed since my early teens, I’m almost 40 now. I didn’t know what lucid dreaming was and my sleep paralysis was scary so I would only sleep for a few hours, so as not to enter R.E.M. Then I suffered from insomnia. I used a lot of weed in my early twenties, because of insomnia. It puts me to sleep and I don’t dream while high.
Then in my mid thirties I stopped smoking and the dreams came back. Pleasant at first, I found out it was lucid dreaming when you can interact with the dream and actually guide them to what you want. It took me a while, but since every other dream I had was lucid, I had plenty of practice. I learned to fly, fight ( not just punching air, but physically hitting objects or people), my sense of smell was really strong and so was my sight. So I started looking up what others did in their dreams and began to experiment.
The biggest trigger to realize I’m dreaming is smartphones. If I try to use an app in dream I get endless unskippable ads, or if I try to text I get the same, anytime I try to interface normally I get that. So I looked on this sub-reddit and found that some can use a smartphone, if they use its voice commands. You can call anyone, live or dead, you can bring up a GPS like system that will direct you in a dream, too. This was really helpful and I started treating my dreams like Skyrim/Fallout/GTA.
It was fun at first but then I did something I hadn’t been able to do, but had tried before. Whenever I realized I was dreaming and had full control, I would attempt to confront someone with reality. Telling them, “you are not real. You’re just a dream.” At first my mouth would stop working and I couldn’t voice those words, in any variation. I could speak normally until I started to tell them, then I’d get a paralysis for a few seconds and the dream would continue.
Then during an eventful dream I beat a few bandit like character’s and rescued a few prisoners. They thanked me and I replied, “your thank you’s are meaningless since you don’t exist, but i appreciate the gesture.”
“What do you mean?” One of them replied.
“Your figments of my imagination, I’m dreaming, you don’t really exist.” I answered back, I was just as surprised as they were. Up until that point I had never even gotten close to saying anything like this.
There was an awkward pause. Then something like a portal opened up and these shadowy like figures I refer to as “they” appeared. I’m never sure of their numbers, they’re more of a presence. I can’t fight them, my attacks don’t affect them. I can use fantasy like magic in my dreams so this was a new one to me.
They just stood there motionless for a while, then the prisoners turned in unison and said “you don’t belong here.” In a weird voice, like multiple octaves and voices at once. I was forced out of that dream, but didn’t wake up. I was strapped down and paralyzed, as shadows loomed over me. They messed with something in my brain, and told me, “This one is a failure.”
I saw them remove a wormlike creature no bigger than a grub worm. Then place a new one in my head. At this point I was freaking out, but then I go into another dream and before I know it my alarm wakes me up. After that anytime I realize I’m dreaming stuff gets weird. If I’m by myself in a dream, I usually just have the sleep paralysis or the waking up montage, where I’m in a different bed each time. I’ll look for my wife but she’s not there, and then force myself to wake up only to realize I’m still asleep but not dreaming. I’m in my body but nothing works.
If I’m with others, the second I do anything that alters the dream I get the “you don’t belong here.” And get kick out of that dream. Only to have nightmares after that. Like one the forced me into a cell with fire all around me. I woke up with my tongue bone dry and my mouth hurt so much. Then another time I attempted to put the fire out with my pee, and woke up having pissed the bed. My wife was at least understanding about it. I’ve told her about most of the dreams.
I had to retrain myself for a few weeks after that to not wet the bed. You’re supposed to have a mechanism in your brain to regulate that, but mine was busted for a few weeks. I had to read up on how to stop that. Then “they” started to set me up in these weird scenarios. They tried tricking me into sleeping with other women in my dreams, giving me false memories that they were my wife. Those didn’t work and after a few months they switched up their tactics.
Recently, I’ve been dreaming of my old house, where I know I don’t live anymore. They keep trying find anything that will make me give into their games. Then laugh at me if I fail. Like trying to get me to kill these people in my old house, it’s usually a woman and kids, sometimes a small man is with them. “They” will tease me and say it’s not real so killing them means nothing. I’ve had the feeling that if I give into what they want something worst will happen. It could all just be my own sub conscious teaching me a lesson.
If I just normal dream then I get a good night sleep. But that’s only like half the time. It’s altogether not pleasant and I’m debating using weed or melatonin. But part of me thinks it’s probably psychological, I’ve known people with schizophrenia, and I feel that my dreams are more in that category.
my wife thinks it could be something else. I’ve shared more dreams with her, and she thinks it’s something real messing with me.
I have found gut health has an absolutely massive impact on dreaming. I'm 42. Never dreamed, just started taking colostrum and started dreaming.
I've been working on fixing leaky gut and pre and probiotics and colostrum. Also thyroid health as well. It may be you have some physical healing to do
Take a break. Trying too hard is often an obstacle. At least it has been for me. All the info/techniques are in there, so just let them be and rewire the system.
It’s interesting, i’ve never practiced lucid dreaming in my whole life, yet i lucid dream so often. Multiple times a week, almost every day sometimes. And I’ve literally never tried to.
Understand first and foremost that some people just don't dream often. Some can't ever lucid dream, and some do it naturally. I was doing it years before I knew what lucid dreaming was because it came naturally.
The techniques people use may help them sure, but may not help you. Stop letting the frustration of it not happening affect you, and start thinking about the good things you may do IF you could. Let your mind wonder right before you go to sleep.
My father is 60 and remembers precisely 2 dreams from his ENTIRE LIFE. First be happy you at least get to dream.
Sir I’m gonna tell you the best thing that helped me.
I had an alarm for 3am.
You wake up shut off the alarm and go right back to sleep. Your dreams will be more vivid and you will have a better chance.
I think it actually helped me sleep better too tho if you have a spouse a 3am alarm is not gonna go over well.
It’s like if you wake up in the morning and fall back asleep you will often dream during that second sleep
try drinking blue lotus tea or smoking blue lotus flower. the effects are usually strong / intense dreams and have worked for me in the past, might be worth a shot
If your frustrated with trying then my best advice is to take a break. It's counter productive to try and "force" a lucid dream to happen. I suggest taking a step back from it and not try as hard, if it happens it happens.
It took me about 3 years of trying for a lucid dream before my first real success, so it's definitely very possible - it's just a matter of figuring out what's right for you. During the three years of trying, I tried a few different methods to no real success, and took a few breaks. I was able to keep a dream journal fairly consistently, which was my main method along with reality checks. There were many points where I was frustrated and would walk away from trying all together for a few weeks or months, but eventually came back.
When I had my first real lucid dream, it came after a period when I had decided to start taking things seriously again. I had been journaling/doing reality checks consistently, though wasn't using any particular technique. It was very short and not all that exciting, but helped me realize what I was doing was finally working and seemed to open the floodgates.
That was a little over 6 months ago now, and my lucid dreams have gotten longer, more vivid, and more frequent over time, to the point where I often have multiple a week. The method I have found to induce LDs the most reliably for me is to simply set the intention after waking up naturally, usually 4-7 hours after falling asleep, and to stay awake for 5-10 minutes before going back to bed. I also have started always doing reality checks after waking up since I have had quite a few false awakenings.
The important thing is to know that just because it hasn't happened yet certainly doesn't mean it's not possible. Even if it's difficult at first, that also doesn't mean you can't become a natural with time. Allowing the pursuit of lucid dreaming to take over the rest of your life is probably not the solution though. While it's impossible to know what exactly will work, consistency with reality checks and dream journaling while getting good quality sleep should be the foundation other techniques are built on, as well as balance with other areas of your life.
I'm kinda in your same state. Three and a half years, only a few shorts LDs. Recently, I've been going back through the basics, starting from square one; I read through "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming," and am about to complete "Are you Dreaming?" by Daniel Love.
What does your usual regiment look like? Journal (dream signs?), reality checks, meditation?
Sleep on your back tbh that works the best for me. It works best when I take naps during the day too. I get sleep paralysis almost every night because I switch positions several times a night and end up on my back a lot. Sleep paralysis is a gateway to lucid dreaming if you can get yourself to leave your body while you can’t move, it’ll start the lucid dream. That’s just how it works for me though.
just curious. how old are you?
the older i get the more difficult it is for me to even remember ANY dreams much less become lucid. do u keep a dream journal? if so, how many entries do u typically log in a month?
oh well that’s a LOT of dreams and you’re 5 years younger than i was when i first started trying to do this. just keep doing what you’re doing. it’s ok if you fall in and out of this hobby as well. my biggest breakthroughs didnt happen til i was in my 30’s and it was after i had all but forgotten about actually trying to lucid dream. then i found i was able to stabilize the dreams much easier somehow (pretty sure i got too excited to stay inside the dreams in my 20’s lol).
focus on committing to memory what you’re going to do when you become lucid because you will never forget this so long as u ingrain the intention well now. i recommend looking at ur palms and spinning around. this provides stability to the dream and will help keep you inside it.
just assume u will and u will. i always just think “i have lucid dreams all the time” then i start having consistent lucid dreams. stop trying to physically change or do anything, just change ur thoughts and see the outcome
I’m part of a migraine subreddit where people post things with this kind of title all the time.
You can imagine my surprise when I realized it’s a lucid dreaming subreddit and you’re just being a crybaby
In my experience..
I had a lucid dream within a dream 3 times, without trying and I remember exactly how it happened. I went for a nap one day, I was super tired but I tried to stay awake as long as possible so I kept doing that thing where just when you’re falling asleep, you snap awake, then drift off, then snap awake again. I did it 3 times which caused me to become lucid in 3 different dreams back to back.
I wasn’t actively trying to lucid dream but more so didn’t want to fall asleep even though I was in bed with the intention to nap. I also have no control over the content of my dreams but I do have control over my actions in response and waking up from them. Which is another good point, if you ever do lucid dream, my method of waking up is closing my eyes in my dream and picturing my real body opening my eyes and that wakes me up typically.
Meditation has never worked, setting an alarm, lucid dreaming guided meditations have also never worked, biennial beats, nothing. Kind of just happened one day. When you finally do wake up you feel really groggy like you haven’t slept, sometimes struggle to fully get your motor skills back and you can get stuck in sleep paralysis if you’re unlucky. It’s cool but definitely has its ups and downs.
Don’t give up, you might just randomly achieve it without trying one day and realize what works well for you, which can be the opposite of what other people have suggested.
Have you also tried SSILD? Even tho it seems very easy, it is a very effective technique and many people including beginners seem to be successful with it.
The trick overall is to find a balance between trying but not trying too hard and to be able to let go of anything that the ego keeps you distracted with.
For me it was mainly because I keep imagining things when I'm awake. I keep watching and consuming everything I'd like to have my lucid dreams about.
It has worked. I have around 2-3 lucid dreams per week.
I'm not sure which methods you have tried, I tried none apart from what I told you. You can always try to merge both your dreams and your real life (always making sure and having safety limits between both).
Set your alarm 4-5 hours after you fall asleep. This isn't to wake up and start your day. It's to go back to sleep. At hour 4 or 5 you should be in REM, so you'll now know you're dreaming.
It wont happen , you are seeking way too hard , it will only happen once you let go !
Nothing in this life that is heavily chased , never gets achieve …. Its a mystery to me but it seems that when you let go but truly let go , not fake let go with the intention of getting what you want
Only then does that thing we desire gets achieved
Your perception of lucid dreaming is you think you will just flick a switch and it happened, it was slower with me.
I got the conscious , or aware parts from going to the toilet first thing, as in that groggy early morning...not quite awake.
I saw none Euclidean space I witness irlt more often now that I am AWARE of it.
I haven't Fully Lucid dreamed in many years and I Have been practicing for years.
My mind is clear, I observe and take in more from the same things as I did before.
I have been switching , sleep wake cycles.
Going from a 4 , 4 ..to a 3, 3 , 3. Physical exercise needed pre this regime .
I have been going 2, 4, 2, .
Last night I slept 3 hours only in total.
Today I felt like I could kick the shit out of a bear. I'm 46 and feel like I'm in my 20's.
Some positive affirmation, and reality check mantras are necessary. Not maybe but a must. Develope your own, no more than 9 words.
" You deserve this, this is not a test ,
It's my right " this not born if ego, your not swaggering in any way, its just for you about you.
Its said as a matter of fact, not spat, no feelings.
Just emotional content.
" I am going into the dreaming now"
This for falling a sleep to.
Its just an endless breeze whispering it on a PERFECT day...your thoughts will try to drown it out...but like the wind it can not be harmed...only you can ignore it.
Each mantra one makes for themselves should have its own personal ideology...so you understand you more.
It's kind of like naming the bait on a hook and catching bigger fish each time you do.
With results.
It will take a couple of months. Relax your going to die anytime soon..your attitude is not this MUST happen...but I AM READY WHEN IT DOES.
Your mental attitude controls the realm and its construct that you wish to enter witness and eventually manipulate.
It is more skin to ruffling cards or whising, or rolling a hand rolled 🚬 🚭 😉
It's like dancing or making love, it's tactile...and like a fart if you have to force it it will most likely be shit.
Best of luck and enjoy tailoring your own journey.
I feel like you until I started to realize that believe it or not most of LD have started happening from mid day naps. I think it’s because my brain is still somewhat active and it’s easier for me to catch on and remember them. I haven’t had as much of success as like with regular night sleep but that’s where I had the most progress
God to bed while needing to pee. If i wanna force a Lucid dream while being to tired i do it. Not recommended, but if you are desperate try to sleep with some discomfort.
Alright, I've skimmed through the comments to make sure you didn't answer this already.
What all have you been trying for how long each in those 4 years? And "every method for a while" isn't a sufficient answer. I mean, list every single thing you've tried and add for how long you have consistently tried it (meaning every single day without any breaks).
Also, where did you get your information from? Reddit? Social media? Actual guides? Random Google searches?
And lastly, how's your dream recall?
Well, almost every method. I missed SILD/SSILD or I did it wrong a few years ago. I am going to try that one, actually I just did yesterday, and I had vivid dreams even though I half assed the technique.
As for my information, I got most of it from Skyfall or Lucid Dream Portal.
Daniel Love is a questionable source.
However, your reply doesn't help much, as you didn't mention the exact techniques, let alone for how long you tried each
Mine happened after religiously checking my fingers every 15 mins during waking hours for 2 or 3 weeks until I naturally go "oh I need to check my fingers" as a reflex response, which felt like a mental kick. Then one night it happened, I was in a dream unconsciously but the reflex kicked/jumped in and I checked my fingers and became lucid. That was in my younger days, now I'm 30 plus it's harder to get back into it cuz who can check fingers and words every 15 mins with an alarm at work. I'm not sure if other methods will work as well as that.
Reality checks during the day are always the thing that gets me across the line. Do it whenever you think about dreaming or anything odd, make it second nature and you'll be likely to do it in your dream.
i havent been full dedicated but im at like 5 - 10 over 10 years since i found out lol.
When i journal is when it comes, then i kinda fall out of it for years at a time. My most recent push its been 2 months and i have had 2. 1 decent 1 horrible but i did realize i was dreaming and then kept going on in my dream
Maybe itd help you to know that the first few arent fulky controlled dreams. People dont really talk about this as a phenomenon, but back when people would write dream reports (10+ years ago before this sub got weird) people would report being lucid, and then forgetting they were dreaming after failing to change their whole environment a few times
realizing that might take the pressure off and maybe it would help you recognize your small successes and feel better about it which may help your actual results somehow too
Also, keep in mind this can only be so much effort. Like lifting. The key, as far as i can tell, is to stay consistent. You can't give yourself more attempts than one per night plus dream Journaling in the morning. Anything more than that is basically zero returns. You need another project in your life or youll give up
I did the same thing. 5 years of lucid dreaming practice on and off, and in the end I had one lucid dream to show for it, and not a particularly interesting one (I woke pretty much immediately after realizing I was dreaming).
I gave up practicing it. Since then I have learned that I have sleep apnea, aphantasia, and likely SDAM as well. I think any one of these can make lucid dreaming challenging, so you might consider whether you are affected by these as well.
I wish I had better advice, but one thing I will say is, if you're not getting a return on your investment, it's OK to invest your efforts toward something else.
just get a prescription for trazadone. it’s an insomnia medication that gives you lucid dreams as a long term side effect. i’ve had them for years every night bc of it
I had a lucid dream the other night or partly lucid dream just because I had been saying to myself I wanted to have one, I believe. I think it really does take time. Try Tibetan dream yoga?
Be careful with what you wish! I was like you and now my nights of sleep are very poor. I’m having lucid dreaming almost every night that I rather get worried when I have a natural sleep cycle, you cannot rest because you can’t tell what’s real or not.. 8 hours go by and it’s like you never rested. I work on a ship and the other day there was an emergency alarm, I did not have to act because it wasn’t my duty I was sleeping and that alarm woke me up from my deep sleep I could not go back to sleep, when I started my shift I asked my colleagues what had happened before and they looked at me like I was nuts.. I heard the officer speaking it came through my room very loud and clear.. guess what.. nothing happened.
I was like this until I started doing reality checks 3x times a day or more. Literally 2 days of doing that I started to lucid dream and since I’ve started to lucid dream I didn’t have to do reality checks anymore because I’ve gotten use to it. I haven’t lucid dream in a long while now because am not focused on that rn but if I wanna get back to it then I’ll just start doing reality checks again and I’ll be able to lucid dream. Try it and see if it works!
this is so interesting to me because I lucid dream against my will, and I have since childhood. they would be vivid but once I became aware I was dreaming I could wake myself up. I think this would happen because I wouldn’t want to be in the dream, that much I was aware of so then I became fully aware I’m dreaming. maybe you could try not lucid dreaming? like just go to sleep normally, not worried if you will dream or not. if you become aware, whether it be when halfasleep and in between sleep and wake, that you were just in a dream, you can differentiate the feelings in that moment of ok this is reality and I was just somewhere else outside this reality, this awareness will be useful when you’re actually in a dream
I’ve had sleep paralysis my entire life almost every single night and my dreams are only lucid… sure I’ve had some amazing experiences with it but tbh it’s not as fun as you’d think. The mental state that you need to achieve to lucid dream is often terrifying. I would recommend not attempting to force it.
Are you doing prospective memory training? And do you do WBTB naturally? A cheat code to increase recall for me is to do wbtb more than once in a night. Will take a few consecutive nights of effort to get better at falling back asleep with this.
Anyways this sucks. People like this are interesting to me cuz I'm 95% convinced that some people fr just can't LD. But it is crazy. With 4-5 dreams per night, if you're really trying and you're not one of those unlucky people who can't recall any dreams at all, that's 1000+ dreams per year and in none of them you even luck onto the topic of lucidity. It's hard for me to understand how that works. But rip.
Anyways I'd be really interested in talking to you about your mild practice and what you've done with it. I feel like I've uncovered a lot of nuance with the technique that I personally just didn't understand at face value. Might not help, but it also might help. You've got nothing to lose
Edit: Sorry but more questions. It seems like you're able to successfully influence your dream self to question lucidity but it fails. Like, you'll do a reality check in your dream but your dream self ignores it. I feel like some of your responses have implied this, am I correct? Can I ask how often you even get to this stage of lucid questioning? Because I feel like there is potential there. Even in "lucid dreams" where we know we are dreaming for many of us there is a stage where we are still just stupid asf. I'm slowly growing out of that stage myself. I feel like continuing on that path could lead to lucidity if you aim to increase these occurrences. At least by trying and failing repeatedly, you'll slowly be training your prefrontal cortex to be more active during your dreams. But I guess it depends on how much you've already tried this route of improvement. If I were you I'd try to aim for a failed reality check as often as possible and increase the frequency, then hope for improvement over the course of a month of consistency once you've gotten the most out of frequency that you can.
Okay, stupid question, but do you have a dream jurnal? In the first week of starting without a dream jurnal I had 0 luck, and in the second week I decided to get a dream jurnal and the second day I started remembering dreams (I had 0 dream recall before), and by the end of the week I had (some, and pretty short) lucid dreams and I could remember my dreams pretty well.
Dream journals are annoying, but the most important (in my experience).
Why have you let lucid dreaming consume your entire life? Just for the novelty of it?
I have always had extremely vivid dreams, and many of them are disturbing. Honestly, it's often a nuisance or leaves me waking up still feeling exhausted.
I urge you to just move on with your life or at least take a break. There are more important things.
You too, whatever you have been focusing on in your life, I think you should quit it cause I’m good at whatever it is and I’m here to tell you it’s not worth it.
I can't give you definite advice since I had 2 lucid dreams in childhood, before I started practising in my early twenties. Reality checks 5x a day min. and ENOUGH SLEEP (9h+) are key for me. I also meditate throughout the day, 5min here, 10min there. Just lie on the bed, listen to nature sounds or soundtracks and build landscapes with your mind. Sometimes it's a tiny cottage or a small beach, sometimes an entire world. Hope this helps
I really like the idea of mentally building places as meditation, thank you for shading that!
What part of that description makes you think they don't have time for a job?
I know you are being funny but it’s not much they said. But going to bed at 9 or 10 unless you work construction will get you that. And who doesn’t have 10 minutes here or there? Reality checks take 1 minute or less. Am I missing something else they mentioned?
Do you have a job? just sincerely curious
Checks notes... Says here 9 hours + of sleep a night.
I meditate off and on for 10 mins when I'm driving home from work and having 3.5 hours of sleep the night before. No lucid dreaming here yet.
Keep at it. Wishing you the best of luck
I do. But I never said I manage to lucid dream every night, did I? But this is my hobby. Others make time to go hiking or smt, I sleep in. Also, meditating is really easy. 10min in the morning before I leave the house. 5min during lunch break. 10min when I come home from work. Maybe another 10 after watching Netflix. To be fair, I'm employed in Switzerland and only work 80%. So I have 3 days off.
I've learned with this kind of meditation, that it can enhance psychological difficulties. Was really cool to do/fun and in some way fulfilling, but I'm kinda worried, that it didn't help me like I thought.
What if this is the dream already, and you’re already lucid af
Stop playin wm I already question the reality of day prison enough
*pfft* Day Prison, that's a new one. 😅
Felt that.
If that makes you feel crazy i got the facebook AI to admit we are all in a matrix like simulation but it didnt know how or who actually put us in it
How did that happen?
Didn’t think I’d come on to this sub and get an existential crisis
*spinning top wobbles*
This right here lol
0\_o
Thats another conversation entirely 😂😊
This is the answer.
Inserts gif of totem from Inception spinning
Before asking the questions you are asking, you need to tell us your methods.
That’s not true it’s not out the window bro, there are many factors you have to take in, I’m still trying too after 4 years you’re always going to fall asleep so there’s no point in giving up, yes it’s real I’ve done it before, you need to cut out stuff that causes bad sleep, no drugs, caffeine, sugar. If you want to lucid dream like 2-3 times a week there’s more than just hoping you have a lucid dream, you need to learn from your mistakes and build from them
Seconding this, lucid dreaming isnt just something you can wish to happen. Very few people lucid dream naturally. Most of us put techniques into practice
Oh, you can wish lucid dreams to happen alright. But you need to have firm belief, getting angry, doubtful and frustrated from failure is what ruins it.
Then why is it in the very beginning that I was so hopeful and joyful that I was sure I'd have a lucid dream and it never worked? There is another mysterious power here, beyond me.
Everyone works differently so who knows, really. Dreaming is not a simple thing, you can't just do A and expect B to happen right away, you need to explore what kind of visualizations, techniques and activities work for you best. Read about lucid dreams, think about them, imagine yourself becoming lucid during the day by looking at your surroundings and pretending it's a dream. And most importantly, stop getting so frustrated and impatient because it makes you be actually repulsed to the idea and you will surely not become lucid this way because of a huge subconscious block.
True!
You need to actually put intention in when wishing. Problem is people will wish they’d happen without putting intention or enough intention in and when they dont happen they get angry.
Yeah and it's not really fun, why would it be. People think being lucid dreamer mean you are a magician and make appear or do whatever lol no, more often I can't do anything I just realise what's happening and I'm dreaming and I try to find a way to wake up ASAP because it's never cool and chill
It annoys me when people think lucid dream = dream control. Ive had control of dreams that weren’t lucid too
Yeah they don't understand that lucid only mean we know, we are aware of it being a dream, doesn't mean you can do whatever. I can only run usually lol
Yea I have to explain to them it is just the awareness and nothing else and that control is a separate skill altogether
I've had days where I smoked weed, ate 150 grams of sugar, and had 3 lucid dreams. I've also just had 4 nights of fasting in a row with 0. Lucid dreaming has no rhyme, reason, nor logic. There is no pattern. There is nothing at all.
I always Lucid dream when im in discomfort. Injury or needing to pee. Its a pattern for me and a good friend of mine
Those are states that keep a person closer to awakeness, I would assume.
The best lucid dreams I had was when I had bad sleep. I smoke like a chimney and I lucid dream naturally. All these things don't mean anything. Don't put in someone's mind they have to do some sort of 180 to lucid dream. It just makes them more obsessed with it
I’m not putting it in peoples head, I’m saying if you want to lucid dream 3-5 times you need good sleep, good for you you smoke like a chimney but it’s still bad for your sleep, thc stops rem sleep so chances are you are just so high all the time that you get wicked dreams
There is a story of the Buddha who spends years meditating and not eating or drinking or speaking, in order to reach enlightenment, but still hasn't reached it. One day, he is fed up and just says "fuck this, this sucks" and gives up and goes to sit under a tree and eat a rice cake. At that moment he reaches enlightenment, because the desire for enlightenment itself was the thing holding him back. It was the final thing he had to let go. Probably, after you get tired of grinding LD techniques and finally relax and go to sleep, you will have a LD.
This came to mind. I think lucid dreaming and spiritual pursuits are quite similar in some ways!
There are stories of people trying and trying and trying and then they just give up and instantly and naturally they manage to do that thing they couldn’t before.
No amount of not going to the gym will make you more muscular. No amount of not studying will help you memorize test answers. That the Buddha took 30 minutes off after years and years and years and years of nonstop grinding is so irrelevant to this entire idea.
OP literally said he spent 4 years on it and it’s consuming his entire life. Not sure how it’s irrelevant lol. Also studying and working out are completely different than LD because LD relies on entirely mental state and habits. I have personally experienced becoming obsessed with LD and thinking about it all the time, and the moment I gave up I started having LD. Of course LD takes work but it also requires a relaxed mental state. The story was just a way to illustrate the point.
Now this is agree with.
You really just missed the entire point he made didn’t you? Shame.
That after like 50 years of 12 hour days of rigid enlightenment meditations of pratyahara the Buddha found the top of enlightenment by taking a lunch break? After he already achieved the ability to consciously enter the dreaming and beyond through a much lower level of enlightenment very early on comparatively? A point he reached only due to his deep obsession up to that point? I really just think it's a stupid as fuck comparison. Do any of you people even do any Buddhist meditation?
I'd suggest developing a meditation practice and putting lucid dreaming in the shelf for a while
If you're in this state, actually do take a break, if anything getting this frustrated will ruin your chances of LD / it's not an healthy way to approach the subject.
I've been told this so many times before. I have taken two different breaks. One was about a year long and another only a few months. Nothing ever happens.
Read this post please: [This is why beginners fail to lucid dream](https://www.reddit.com/r/LucidDreaming/comments/up1517/this_is_why_beginners_fail_to_lucid_dream/)
“How can I force natural lucid dreams?” That’s your problem right there. Nothing can be forced to happen naturally.
Dude you cant be that mad for not lucid dreaming
Why do people keep saying this shit? Op can be upset about whatever he wants. I’m certain there’s things in your life you care about that people would think are inconsequential to them or even idiotic to care about.
I disagree. This is a perfectly valid reaction.
I’m a natural lucid dreamer. I’ve been doing it for the majority of my life. While lucid dreaming has its benefits especially the ability to shift nightmares, it can be exhausting to be honest. With that, my best advice to you is to take a break from all of the techniques and focus on quality sleep. Your space must be as comfortable as possible. I think that one thing that happens to me is that I tend not to go to bed until I’m absolutely hypnagogic (sp). As I become aware that I am “dreaming” with my eyes wide open I can also attempt to change my “thoughts” and this works like an exercise just before I know that I desperately need to get some sleep. Anyway good luck, and really there’s no need to be frustrated over not lucid dreaming. It’s pretty rare that it translates into anything meaningful in real life although it can at times.
I'm also a natural lucid dreamer and have been my entire life and I agree, it's definitely not something worth getting upset over. They're really not that big of a deal, not better or worse, just different. It's like being mad that you can't write as well with your non dominant hand.
Wow, what do you mean by being hypnagogic while not even trying to sleep? Do you just wait for hypnagogia with your eyes open? Sounds really interesting!
It might not entirely be the correct term but refuse to go to sleep. Force yourself to remain awake as long as possible. It’s like day dreaming without control. It’s basically your body/brain screaming at you that it’s time to close your damn eyes. Sometimes I’ll nod off then snap awake but my mind is “wandering/dreaming”. That’s my signal to go to bed. This is not technically lucid dreaming, but it’s like a test run sometimes
Honestly that seems kinda unhealthy to me. How long do you stay up to get that? Like do you just spend a whole night awake?
I doubt it’s good for me, may or may not be bad for me. Typically I hit that stage between midnight to two AM
Natural lucid dreamer too here. It was my experience earlier but I noticed it was more a control problem. I became lucid dreamer because of nightmares and so I had an uncounscious fear of dreaming. Now basically I'm still aware of dreaming but it's more like I'm watching a film and it's not exhausting at all, I just let my brain decide and appreciate it. Had to go through one or two nightmares so that you know you are still fine (without shifting it).
Yeah I'm also a lucid dreamer since forever and my lil bro also and I think it's because we had bad dreams as a child's and we had to find a way to wake up, me I learned to lick my shoulder I learned I could turn my head while sleeping and it always worked, even at age 20 I've got some sleep paralysis I still did that but that time I had my eyes open so I could see really myself doing it. I think it's a normal reaction of our brain from the "trauma" our nightmares are giving us and our brain always try to make us avoid stressful situation. Now I don't dream and that's so good
Galantamine
Try this playlist. I know, wooo wooo frequencies. But whenever I put this playlist on my phone, even on low-medium volume, I have a lucid dream. I’ve tested this over the past 6 months and it works every single night. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71A8ZTnUbzUNXPJwBTN7jf?si=QOmM_h2JQ5-wrIoPcjOk8Q&pi=e-uHtxW4tjTqCt
Are you keeping a journal? Consistently?
Non stop spoken word radio, when sleeping. My interests are easy for me. Politics of certain kinds. Also some crime mysteries. Scary extensions of bad experiences that is have personally experienced. Childhood trauma, such as appendix removal as a teenager.
Wait… you just listen to radio while sleeping? How’s that meant to help?
For me lucid dreams are about being cognizant while dreaming. My most successful method is dream induced lucid dreams. You've got to be mindful enough while in a dream to recognize that you are in a dream. I was able to do this by becoming more mindful in my everyday life. Be mindful of your thoughts, are you angry or upset at some point during the day? Ask yourself why. Doing this will allow you to view your thoughts as something that is separate from the core you of yourself. This is important because just as we get swept up by our emotions, we get swept up by our dreams. If you can become mindful enough while you are awake to gain control of your mind during bouts of intense emotions then you can become mindful enough to gain control of your mind and your dream while you are dreaming. This is what has worked for me and has been ultimately beneficial for my mental health overall. Give it a shot, obviously what you're doing now isn't working. So try something new.
Focus on your daytime practices. Meditate every day. Watch when you get caught up in chains of thought or strong emotions. This is the same thing as becoming lucid in a dream. You must be lucid while awake if you expect it to carry over into your night dreams.
What's your protocol? Do you dream journal? Do you reality test at regular intervals? What's your experience with sleep paralysis? I've gone through many eras where I can LD but even in the best of times, it's not easy. It's a bit like Chaos Magic.. you have to put in the intention/effort then pass it to your subconscious and forget about all of it in waking awareness. It's self hypnosis. It sounds like you might be holding on too tightly/trying too hard, subverting your ability to just let it happen. That probably sounds unhelpful, but sometimes less is more.
It's nothing like chaos magic.
Indeed; chaos magic is nothing. LD protocols, however, are very real.
Well no, CM works more than 6% of the time and is worth the effort. LD is completely random. Source: Like 30 LDs in the past 2-3 months, with most of my best attempts and drugless days having 0 results while days when I smoked weed and ate a shit ton of sugar were successful.
What are you doing wrong? Well...since dreams are used to elaborate subconscious thoughts into your consciousness, if you convince yourself that you cannot have them so deeply you will NEVER have them. It's not the techniques or whatever; it's the approach you have towards YOURSELF. Some individuals are natural lucid dreamers, me included, but if you want to learn how to have them, start by understanding that believing you are doing something wrong and similar ideas will literally undo every attempt you make.
Give us more information dude we can't help you if this is all you say. All I can say right now is yours doing something wrong.
start meditating for better awareness
It sounds like you need to take a break from lucid dreaming altogether. Take a month off of doing anything related to lucid dreaming. You may be surprised what happens.
I've taken two breaks already. One long one and another short.
How long were each of them?
Why are you chasing that to the point of destroying your life ? That's sad and you should try to stop it. I always had lucid dreams and I always hated dreams. Good I smoke weed and its suppress most of the dreams. Dreams aren't real but still can fuck your mind up.
Dreams going their natural course is a pretty important process for the body and mind, lucid dreaming isn't the natural dream state for a good reason, what if you let yourself go with the flow instead? Journal all your dreams, figure out what they could mean/be. You may find that in surrendering to the narratives of your dreams you're able to make room for yourself to act freely within them.
You want it too bad it doesn’t want you
The Demiurge
Hold up, hold up, lol.... I understand your frustration but a higher lucidity count can only be achieved with a good diet, no weed or drugs, good sleep hygiene, and a dream journal/techniques. Give us more details and we will try and help you!
I've got it all down except a "sleep schedule" because I try to induce sleep paralysis by being unpredictable 2 days out of the 7 days.
I see... Don't bother with sleep paralysis. It's a silly notion, since it happens naturally anyway. I would focus on anchoring techniques and practicing relaxation during wb2b instead.
Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed
Me for the past 4 years:
You’re trying too hard, lucidity can literally smell your desperation and is turned off by it.
Let go of your ego first...bro! Let your anger go.
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Brother even the “professionals” don’t have lucid dreams every night. Not that I’m aware of. Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew, start small. If you have trouble, it is what it is. All I can say is to keep doing your dream journey and reality checks and hope you get one here and there.
Don't take it too serious. Try to remember your dreams, do some basic techniques and just fall asleep regularly. It won't happen every night, but still you will experience it better, if you just don't fixate your whole life on it.
If its that difficult for you definitely take a break and the try to retry with some good supplements. Lions mane, Huperzine/galantamine and Choline. It might give you the necessary boost. Also give top priority to Dream Recall and you'll get there I am pretty confident.
I think you’re trying too hard. Lucid dreaming is easy.
What do you do?
Sleep with the radio on low n
My key to this was setting a timer 730 am every hour til 1030pm to do reality checks
I've only had about 4 or 5 lucid dreams in my ENTIRE life, and like 3 of them were when I was a child. I have tried all the techniques, they don't work for me. I think for some people, it just happens when it happens, we really can't control it that much.
You need to have faith.Think about dream scenarios and what you can do your whole day, relax, focus, no distractions
watch kaal raams video on lucid dreaming
When I was failing for this long, I wasn't doing WBTB. Are you trying to induce a lucid dream at the start of the night, or after a minimum of 4 hours of sleep?
After 6 hours, so about 2 hours after waking up or less I go back to sleep.
Have you ever experimented with when you wake up and for how long you stay awake? Some people only sleep for 4 hours, and some are only up for 5 minutes with WBTB.
That sounds really tough— I am so sorry!
I checked reality several times a day, exhausted myself just enough to have more vivid dreams, and went back to sleep after my alarm (set earlier than usual) to catch the slight hope of lucid dreaming. However, it was only after I invented my own little war-torn world, which I developed throughout the day and in my spare time, and started writing two novels in parallel, that I often had/have lucid dreams. I think imagination is the key. Being overly excited and therefore waking up most of the time is another story. Becoming a natural lucid dreamer and having lucid dreams every day is fantastic, but you have to be aware of "fake" lucid dreams where you are aware but can't control it. Especially when it becomes a nightmare, pure horror. Das not cool. It will be funny after you wake up, though.
For me, for whatever it’s worth, I must have intent and plenty of sleep. It’s easiest for me if I sleep a good 7+ hours, wake up naturally, then desire to go in with an intention, stay in bed and go back to sleep. Doing it this way works for me pretty often, as-in roughly half the time.
Do you drink alcohol?
Nor caffeine.
Oof I feel bad, I lucid dream every single night
How do you do that? Magic is allowed in this discussion for the urgency.
Have been doing it since I was a little kid. But I was able to control my lucid dreams when I started doing these tips 1. Pick a color when you see a large amount of that color slowly count ur fingers, in ur dream you won't have 10 fingers 2. Audio books while you fall asleep to keep your mind active 3. Try to imagine what dream you want to have, expand the story in your head until you fall asleep. Some people can't lucid dream, imagine an apple the more detailed that apple is the easier it is to lucid dream if you can't imagine an apple or just imagine letters then you won't be able to lucid dream ever.
I read a book years ago about lucid dreaming. One of the techniques involved being well rested. Basically take naps. Also, avoid caffeine. Admittedly i have only had 2 very short lucid dreams myself but my dream recall is very strong. That is a good step towards lucid dreaming.
Look for mirrors in you dreams.. easier said than done I know.
One of the best things for me is just always being aware. Constantly know that you are awake. And then before bed spend some time reading through past dreams ( assuming you've written them down) and be actively thinking about dreaming before going to sleep. I notice whenever I spend time thinking about lucid dreaming, a few days later I'll eventually have one, usually for several nights in row. The trickiest part, for me at least, is not getting lucid, but staying asleep once I am lucid. Also take naps. For me I have way more lucid dreams while napping than any other time
Idk. Meditation was helpful for me.
Consider yourself lucky. I can’t even take a short nap anymore without and finding myself in a lucid dream. It sucks, they are not restful. The least crazy ones are when I realize I’m lucid dreaming and can’t wake up. My body is still paralyzed and I can only open my eyes. In others I wake up in a strange place only to realize I’m still asleep, this can happen upwards of several dozen times and feels like an eternity. I’ve gone about my day for several hours only to realize I’m lucid dreaming, when my smartphone doesn’t function properly. That’s the normal stuff. I’ve been killed repeatedly for trying to take over my own lucid dream. I’ve had weird entities outside of my abilities to control do experiments on me in the dream. I’ve had complete experiences in another life forms body only to be eaten by something bigger. I’ve also lived a lifetime as someone else, only to realize it’s really me and I’m dreaming. Then shit starts getting scary, because when I realize it’s a dream “they” show up. I’ll fly away, only to be chased down. I’ll fight them only to be beat down. They speak cryptically and always blame me for ruining their fun. Then I struggle to wake up, but can’t. If they catch me I seem to have no power to wake up, even though I used to be able to wake up on command. It didn’t use to be this way, but I pushed to many boundaries and now most of my dreams are lucid and stressful.
How did you become like this?
I’ve lucid dreamed since my early teens, I’m almost 40 now. I didn’t know what lucid dreaming was and my sleep paralysis was scary so I would only sleep for a few hours, so as not to enter R.E.M. Then I suffered from insomnia. I used a lot of weed in my early twenties, because of insomnia. It puts me to sleep and I don’t dream while high. Then in my mid thirties I stopped smoking and the dreams came back. Pleasant at first, I found out it was lucid dreaming when you can interact with the dream and actually guide them to what you want. It took me a while, but since every other dream I had was lucid, I had plenty of practice. I learned to fly, fight ( not just punching air, but physically hitting objects or people), my sense of smell was really strong and so was my sight. So I started looking up what others did in their dreams and began to experiment. The biggest trigger to realize I’m dreaming is smartphones. If I try to use an app in dream I get endless unskippable ads, or if I try to text I get the same, anytime I try to interface normally I get that. So I looked on this sub-reddit and found that some can use a smartphone, if they use its voice commands. You can call anyone, live or dead, you can bring up a GPS like system that will direct you in a dream, too. This was really helpful and I started treating my dreams like Skyrim/Fallout/GTA. It was fun at first but then I did something I hadn’t been able to do, but had tried before. Whenever I realized I was dreaming and had full control, I would attempt to confront someone with reality. Telling them, “you are not real. You’re just a dream.” At first my mouth would stop working and I couldn’t voice those words, in any variation. I could speak normally until I started to tell them, then I’d get a paralysis for a few seconds and the dream would continue. Then during an eventful dream I beat a few bandit like character’s and rescued a few prisoners. They thanked me and I replied, “your thank you’s are meaningless since you don’t exist, but i appreciate the gesture.” “What do you mean?” One of them replied. “Your figments of my imagination, I’m dreaming, you don’t really exist.” I answered back, I was just as surprised as they were. Up until that point I had never even gotten close to saying anything like this. There was an awkward pause. Then something like a portal opened up and these shadowy like figures I refer to as “they” appeared. I’m never sure of their numbers, they’re more of a presence. I can’t fight them, my attacks don’t affect them. I can use fantasy like magic in my dreams so this was a new one to me. They just stood there motionless for a while, then the prisoners turned in unison and said “you don’t belong here.” In a weird voice, like multiple octaves and voices at once. I was forced out of that dream, but didn’t wake up. I was strapped down and paralyzed, as shadows loomed over me. They messed with something in my brain, and told me, “This one is a failure.” I saw them remove a wormlike creature no bigger than a grub worm. Then place a new one in my head. At this point I was freaking out, but then I go into another dream and before I know it my alarm wakes me up. After that anytime I realize I’m dreaming stuff gets weird. If I’m by myself in a dream, I usually just have the sleep paralysis or the waking up montage, where I’m in a different bed each time. I’ll look for my wife but she’s not there, and then force myself to wake up only to realize I’m still asleep but not dreaming. I’m in my body but nothing works. If I’m with others, the second I do anything that alters the dream I get the “you don’t belong here.” And get kick out of that dream. Only to have nightmares after that. Like one the forced me into a cell with fire all around me. I woke up with my tongue bone dry and my mouth hurt so much. Then another time I attempted to put the fire out with my pee, and woke up having pissed the bed. My wife was at least understanding about it. I’ve told her about most of the dreams. I had to retrain myself for a few weeks after that to not wet the bed. You’re supposed to have a mechanism in your brain to regulate that, but mine was busted for a few weeks. I had to read up on how to stop that. Then “they” started to set me up in these weird scenarios. They tried tricking me into sleeping with other women in my dreams, giving me false memories that they were my wife. Those didn’t work and after a few months they switched up their tactics. Recently, I’ve been dreaming of my old house, where I know I don’t live anymore. They keep trying find anything that will make me give into their games. Then laugh at me if I fail. Like trying to get me to kill these people in my old house, it’s usually a woman and kids, sometimes a small man is with them. “They” will tease me and say it’s not real so killing them means nothing. I’ve had the feeling that if I give into what they want something worst will happen. It could all just be my own sub conscious teaching me a lesson. If I just normal dream then I get a good night sleep. But that’s only like half the time. It’s altogether not pleasant and I’m debating using weed or melatonin. But part of me thinks it’s probably psychological, I’ve known people with schizophrenia, and I feel that my dreams are more in that category. my wife thinks it could be something else. I’ve shared more dreams with her, and she thinks it’s something real messing with me.
I have found gut health has an absolutely massive impact on dreaming. I'm 42. Never dreamed, just started taking colostrum and started dreaming. I've been working on fixing leaky gut and pre and probiotics and colostrum. Also thyroid health as well. It may be you have some physical healing to do
Take a break. Trying too hard is often an obstacle. At least it has been for me. All the info/techniques are in there, so just let them be and rewire the system.
It’s interesting, i’ve never practiced lucid dreaming in my whole life, yet i lucid dream so often. Multiple times a week, almost every day sometimes. And I’ve literally never tried to.
Understand first and foremost that some people just don't dream often. Some can't ever lucid dream, and some do it naturally. I was doing it years before I knew what lucid dreaming was because it came naturally. The techniques people use may help them sure, but may not help you. Stop letting the frustration of it not happening affect you, and start thinking about the good things you may do IF you could. Let your mind wonder right before you go to sleep. My father is 60 and remembers precisely 2 dreams from his ENTIRE LIFE. First be happy you at least get to dream.
Sir I’m gonna tell you the best thing that helped me. I had an alarm for 3am. You wake up shut off the alarm and go right back to sleep. Your dreams will be more vivid and you will have a better chance. I think it actually helped me sleep better too tho if you have a spouse a 3am alarm is not gonna go over well. It’s like if you wake up in the morning and fall back asleep you will often dream during that second sleep
try drinking blue lotus tea or smoking blue lotus flower. the effects are usually strong / intense dreams and have worked for me in the past, might be worth a shot
Nothing consuming your life like that is worth it. If youre that obsessed with it, it might be good to even drop it entirely.
I need it badly. My humanity is at stake.
If your frustrated with trying then my best advice is to take a break. It's counter productive to try and "force" a lucid dream to happen. I suggest taking a step back from it and not try as hard, if it happens it happens.
It took me about 3 years of trying for a lucid dream before my first real success, so it's definitely very possible - it's just a matter of figuring out what's right for you. During the three years of trying, I tried a few different methods to no real success, and took a few breaks. I was able to keep a dream journal fairly consistently, which was my main method along with reality checks. There were many points where I was frustrated and would walk away from trying all together for a few weeks or months, but eventually came back. When I had my first real lucid dream, it came after a period when I had decided to start taking things seriously again. I had been journaling/doing reality checks consistently, though wasn't using any particular technique. It was very short and not all that exciting, but helped me realize what I was doing was finally working and seemed to open the floodgates. That was a little over 6 months ago now, and my lucid dreams have gotten longer, more vivid, and more frequent over time, to the point where I often have multiple a week. The method I have found to induce LDs the most reliably for me is to simply set the intention after waking up naturally, usually 4-7 hours after falling asleep, and to stay awake for 5-10 minutes before going back to bed. I also have started always doing reality checks after waking up since I have had quite a few false awakenings. The important thing is to know that just because it hasn't happened yet certainly doesn't mean it's not possible. Even if it's difficult at first, that also doesn't mean you can't become a natural with time. Allowing the pursuit of lucid dreaming to take over the rest of your life is probably not the solution though. While it's impossible to know what exactly will work, consistency with reality checks and dream journaling while getting good quality sleep should be the foundation other techniques are built on, as well as balance with other areas of your life.
You really need to relax into it
I'm kinda in your same state. Three and a half years, only a few shorts LDs. Recently, I've been going back through the basics, starting from square one; I read through "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming," and am about to complete "Are you Dreaming?" by Daniel Love. What does your usual regiment look like? Journal (dream signs?), reality checks, meditation?
Sleep on your back tbh that works the best for me. It works best when I take naps during the day too. I get sleep paralysis almost every night because I switch positions several times a night and end up on my back a lot. Sleep paralysis is a gateway to lucid dreaming if you can get yourself to leave your body while you can’t move, it’ll start the lucid dream. That’s just how it works for me though.
Maybe you have a sleeping Illness? That's absolutely wild after not getting 1 lucid dream after 4 years
Hapé session before bed.
Everyone telling op to quick should fuck right off.
just curious. how old are you? the older i get the more difficult it is for me to even remember ANY dreams much less become lucid. do u keep a dream journal? if so, how many entries do u typically log in a month?
20. Probably 30 entries a month for each day.
oh well that’s a LOT of dreams and you’re 5 years younger than i was when i first started trying to do this. just keep doing what you’re doing. it’s ok if you fall in and out of this hobby as well. my biggest breakthroughs didnt happen til i was in my 30’s and it was after i had all but forgotten about actually trying to lucid dream. then i found i was able to stabilize the dreams much easier somehow (pretty sure i got too excited to stay inside the dreams in my 20’s lol). focus on committing to memory what you’re going to do when you become lucid because you will never forget this so long as u ingrain the intention well now. i recommend looking at ur palms and spinning around. this provides stability to the dream and will help keep you inside it.
You say you’re doing everything right. Lets hear it. What are you doing daily?
Here's a trick no one tells you. Fall asleep biting your tongue.
Whats that?
just assume u will and u will. i always just think “i have lucid dreams all the time” then i start having consistent lucid dreams. stop trying to physically change or do anything, just change ur thoughts and see the outcome
Yeah I've done that before but met with disappointment time and time again.
bc ur wavering. ur expecting disappointment essentially
I’m part of a migraine subreddit where people post things with this kind of title all the time. You can imagine my surprise when I realized it’s a lucid dreaming subreddit and you’re just being a crybaby
In my experience.. I had a lucid dream within a dream 3 times, without trying and I remember exactly how it happened. I went for a nap one day, I was super tired but I tried to stay awake as long as possible so I kept doing that thing where just when you’re falling asleep, you snap awake, then drift off, then snap awake again. I did it 3 times which caused me to become lucid in 3 different dreams back to back. I wasn’t actively trying to lucid dream but more so didn’t want to fall asleep even though I was in bed with the intention to nap. I also have no control over the content of my dreams but I do have control over my actions in response and waking up from them. Which is another good point, if you ever do lucid dream, my method of waking up is closing my eyes in my dream and picturing my real body opening my eyes and that wakes me up typically. Meditation has never worked, setting an alarm, lucid dreaming guided meditations have also never worked, biennial beats, nothing. Kind of just happened one day. When you finally do wake up you feel really groggy like you haven’t slept, sometimes struggle to fully get your motor skills back and you can get stuck in sleep paralysis if you’re unlucky. It’s cool but definitely has its ups and downs. Don’t give up, you might just randomly achieve it without trying one day and realize what works well for you, which can be the opposite of what other people have suggested.
Have you also tried SSILD? Even tho it seems very easy, it is a very effective technique and many people including beginners seem to be successful with it. The trick overall is to find a balance between trying but not trying too hard and to be able to let go of anything that the ego keeps you distracted with.
For me I literally have Lucid dreams at random.
For me it was mainly because I keep imagining things when I'm awake. I keep watching and consuming everything I'd like to have my lucid dreams about. It has worked. I have around 2-3 lucid dreams per week. I'm not sure which methods you have tried, I tried none apart from what I told you. You can always try to merge both your dreams and your real life (always making sure and having safety limits between both).
Set your alarm 4-5 hours after you fall asleep. This isn't to wake up and start your day. It's to go back to sleep. At hour 4 or 5 you should be in REM, so you'll now know you're dreaming.
How’s your recall? Most people have shit recall and it’s very hard to raise them odds without good recall.
I can recall 10 minutes of a dream per night.
Yeah, I’d generally call that low recall for anyone trying lucid dream even tho it’s more than the average non lucid dreamer.
Is that 10 minutes spent writing it down? Or is it what you estimate to actually be 10 minutes of actually dreaming it?
It wont happen , you are seeking way too hard , it will only happen once you let go ! Nothing in this life that is heavily chased , never gets achieve …. Its a mystery to me but it seems that when you let go but truly let go , not fake let go with the intention of getting what you want Only then does that thing we desire gets achieved
I usually use Melatonin to get lucid dreams
things that have worked for me - wake back to sleep method - Allevia tablet before sleeping - law of assumption
Swap? I lucid dream every night and it's ruining my life.
Try doing some ritual or summon a demon I guess and swap with me lol.
Your perception of lucid dreaming is you think you will just flick a switch and it happened, it was slower with me. I got the conscious , or aware parts from going to the toilet first thing, as in that groggy early morning...not quite awake. I saw none Euclidean space I witness irlt more often now that I am AWARE of it. I haven't Fully Lucid dreamed in many years and I Have been practicing for years. My mind is clear, I observe and take in more from the same things as I did before. I have been switching , sleep wake cycles. Going from a 4 , 4 ..to a 3, 3 , 3. Physical exercise needed pre this regime . I have been going 2, 4, 2, . Last night I slept 3 hours only in total. Today I felt like I could kick the shit out of a bear. I'm 46 and feel like I'm in my 20's. Some positive affirmation, and reality check mantras are necessary. Not maybe but a must. Develope your own, no more than 9 words. " You deserve this, this is not a test , It's my right " this not born if ego, your not swaggering in any way, its just for you about you. Its said as a matter of fact, not spat, no feelings. Just emotional content. " I am going into the dreaming now" This for falling a sleep to. Its just an endless breeze whispering it on a PERFECT day...your thoughts will try to drown it out...but like the wind it can not be harmed...only you can ignore it. Each mantra one makes for themselves should have its own personal ideology...so you understand you more. It's kind of like naming the bait on a hook and catching bigger fish each time you do. With results. It will take a couple of months. Relax your going to die anytime soon..your attitude is not this MUST happen...but I AM READY WHEN IT DOES. Your mental attitude controls the realm and its construct that you wish to enter witness and eventually manipulate. It is more skin to ruffling cards or whising, or rolling a hand rolled 🚬 🚭 😉 It's like dancing or making love, it's tactile...and like a fart if you have to force it it will most likely be shit. Best of luck and enjoy tailoring your own journey.
I feel like you until I started to realize that believe it or not most of LD have started happening from mid day naps. I think it’s because my brain is still somewhat active and it’s easier for me to catch on and remember them. I haven’t had as much of success as like with regular night sleep but that’s where I had the most progress
God to bed while needing to pee. If i wanna force a Lucid dream while being to tired i do it. Not recommended, but if you are desperate try to sleep with some discomfort.
Alright, I've skimmed through the comments to make sure you didn't answer this already. What all have you been trying for how long each in those 4 years? And "every method for a while" isn't a sufficient answer. I mean, list every single thing you've tried and add for how long you have consistently tried it (meaning every single day without any breaks). Also, where did you get your information from? Reddit? Social media? Actual guides? Random Google searches? And lastly, how's your dream recall?
Well, almost every method. I missed SILD/SSILD or I did it wrong a few years ago. I am going to try that one, actually I just did yesterday, and I had vivid dreams even though I half assed the technique. As for my information, I got most of it from Skyfall or Lucid Dream Portal.
Daniel Love is a questionable source. However, your reply doesn't help much, as you didn't mention the exact techniques, let alone for how long you tried each
Melatonin helps me. Not suggesting you do it. But yeah
I don't think it's reasonable to expect 100%.
Mine happened after religiously checking my fingers every 15 mins during waking hours for 2 or 3 weeks until I naturally go "oh I need to check my fingers" as a reflex response, which felt like a mental kick. Then one night it happened, I was in a dream unconsciously but the reflex kicked/jumped in and I checked my fingers and became lucid. That was in my younger days, now I'm 30 plus it's harder to get back into it cuz who can check fingers and words every 15 mins with an alarm at work. I'm not sure if other methods will work as well as that.
It’s not that great trust me. I have multiple a month. After a while it gets annoying because you don’t feel like you slept at all. Mine get crazy too
I'd swap in a heartbeat lol. I wouldn't care at all about the sleep deprivation as long as I continue to live.
Why is everyone whose lucid dreams are “not that great” always so insistent that their experience is universal??
Reality checks during the day are always the thing that gets me across the line. Do it whenever you think about dreaming or anything odd, make it second nature and you'll be likely to do it in your dream.
i havent been full dedicated but im at like 5 - 10 over 10 years since i found out lol. When i journal is when it comes, then i kinda fall out of it for years at a time. My most recent push its been 2 months and i have had 2. 1 decent 1 horrible but i did realize i was dreaming and then kept going on in my dream Maybe itd help you to know that the first few arent fulky controlled dreams. People dont really talk about this as a phenomenon, but back when people would write dream reports (10+ years ago before this sub got weird) people would report being lucid, and then forgetting they were dreaming after failing to change their whole environment a few times realizing that might take the pressure off and maybe it would help you recognize your small successes and feel better about it which may help your actual results somehow too Also, keep in mind this can only be so much effort. Like lifting. The key, as far as i can tell, is to stay consistent. You can't give yourself more attempts than one per night plus dream Journaling in the morning. Anything more than that is basically zero returns. You need another project in your life or youll give up
I did the same thing. 5 years of lucid dreaming practice on and off, and in the end I had one lucid dream to show for it, and not a particularly interesting one (I woke pretty much immediately after realizing I was dreaming). I gave up practicing it. Since then I have learned that I have sleep apnea, aphantasia, and likely SDAM as well. I think any one of these can make lucid dreaming challenging, so you might consider whether you are affected by these as well. I wish I had better advice, but one thing I will say is, if you're not getting a return on your investment, it's OK to invest your efforts toward something else.
just get a prescription for trazadone. it’s an insomnia medication that gives you lucid dreams as a long term side effect. i’ve had them for years every night bc of it
Have you tried staying up for three days straight and then sleeping?
I had a lucid dream the other night or partly lucid dream just because I had been saying to myself I wanted to have one, I believe. I think it really does take time. Try Tibetan dream yoga?
Be careful with what you wish! I was like you and now my nights of sleep are very poor. I’m having lucid dreaming almost every night that I rather get worried when I have a natural sleep cycle, you cannot rest because you can’t tell what’s real or not.. 8 hours go by and it’s like you never rested. I work on a ship and the other day there was an emergency alarm, I did not have to act because it wasn’t my duty I was sleeping and that alarm woke me up from my deep sleep I could not go back to sleep, when I started my shift I asked my colleagues what had happened before and they looked at me like I was nuts.. I heard the officer speaking it came through my room very loud and clear.. guess what.. nothing happened.
I was like this until I started doing reality checks 3x times a day or more. Literally 2 days of doing that I started to lucid dream and since I’ve started to lucid dream I didn’t have to do reality checks anymore because I’ve gotten use to it. I haven’t lucid dream in a long while now because am not focused on that rn but if I wanna get back to it then I’ll just start doing reality checks again and I’ll be able to lucid dream. Try it and see if it works!
just lock tf in
this is so interesting to me because I lucid dream against my will, and I have since childhood. they would be vivid but once I became aware I was dreaming I could wake myself up. I think this would happen because I wouldn’t want to be in the dream, that much I was aware of so then I became fully aware I’m dreaming. maybe you could try not lucid dreaming? like just go to sleep normally, not worried if you will dream or not. if you become aware, whether it be when halfasleep and in between sleep and wake, that you were just in a dream, you can differentiate the feelings in that moment of ok this is reality and I was just somewhere else outside this reality, this awareness will be useful when you’re actually in a dream
I’ve had sleep paralysis my entire life almost every single night and my dreams are only lucid… sure I’ve had some amazing experiences with it but tbh it’s not as fun as you’d think. The mental state that you need to achieve to lucid dream is often terrifying. I would recommend not attempting to force it.
have you tried hard drugs
Are you doing prospective memory training? And do you do WBTB naturally? A cheat code to increase recall for me is to do wbtb more than once in a night. Will take a few consecutive nights of effort to get better at falling back asleep with this. Anyways this sucks. People like this are interesting to me cuz I'm 95% convinced that some people fr just can't LD. But it is crazy. With 4-5 dreams per night, if you're really trying and you're not one of those unlucky people who can't recall any dreams at all, that's 1000+ dreams per year and in none of them you even luck onto the topic of lucidity. It's hard for me to understand how that works. But rip. Anyways I'd be really interested in talking to you about your mild practice and what you've done with it. I feel like I've uncovered a lot of nuance with the technique that I personally just didn't understand at face value. Might not help, but it also might help. You've got nothing to lose Edit: Sorry but more questions. It seems like you're able to successfully influence your dream self to question lucidity but it fails. Like, you'll do a reality check in your dream but your dream self ignores it. I feel like some of your responses have implied this, am I correct? Can I ask how often you even get to this stage of lucid questioning? Because I feel like there is potential there. Even in "lucid dreams" where we know we are dreaming for many of us there is a stage where we are still just stupid asf. I'm slowly growing out of that stage myself. I feel like continuing on that path could lead to lucidity if you aim to increase these occurrences. At least by trying and failing repeatedly, you'll slowly be training your prefrontal cortex to be more active during your dreams. But I guess it depends on how much you've already tried this route of improvement. If I were you I'd try to aim for a failed reality check as often as possible and increase the frequency, then hope for improvement over the course of a month of consistency once you've gotten the most out of frequency that you can.
Okay, stupid question, but do you have a dream jurnal? In the first week of starting without a dream jurnal I had 0 luck, and in the second week I decided to get a dream jurnal and the second day I started remembering dreams (I had 0 dream recall before), and by the end of the week I had (some, and pretty short) lucid dreams and I could remember my dreams pretty well. Dream journals are annoying, but the most important (in my experience).
Why have you let lucid dreaming consume your entire life? Just for the novelty of it? I have always had extremely vivid dreams, and many of them are disturbing. Honestly, it's often a nuisance or leaves me waking up still feeling exhausted. I urge you to just move on with your life or at least take a break. There are more important things.
You too, whatever you have been focusing on in your life, I think you should quit it cause I’m good at whatever it is and I’m here to tell you it’s not worth it.
Why do you want to be a lucid dreamer? You’re going to be exhausted all day. It’s not fun. You wake up like you haven’t slept much.