How to I submerge into a Lucid Dream?

[Zerodyme]

Alright, its 12:56 here, I have been up for exactly, now that I see it ha, 12 hours. i am kind of tired, and I read up on lucid dreaming . . .kind of. To my knowledge its pretty much dreaming while you know your dreaming and kinda controlling it.

If theres anymore info you can give, do tell. And how to help get into one would be greatly appreciated. I will let this go on for about 30 min before I try it, an hour if there is a huge discussion.*/

 

[Zerodyme]

well, been that 30 min, no replies.
Going to try form what I know.
If it doesnt work, shit, least I get to sleep

 

[Faust]

Sometimes waking up in the middle of the night or early in the morning and going back to sleep helps. To me it seems to happen pretty random though.

 

[BrainEater]

i think it works good, waking up early or late in the night and going to sleep again. this way you can overcome the sleep paralysis much easier and go into the hypnagogic state. you'l be in this transitional state just before you fall into sleep, and the trick is not to fall into sleep with your mind, while your body is doing so. this is not very easy and you might need to trick your body into that you are sleeping, but remaining awake with minimal awareness....
also i read that you shouldn't move your body at all and don't let your mind force you to move or scratch your body or something to make it possible to get into hypnagogic states....
but you can also "wake up" in your dream and realize that you are dreaming after some time of sleeping. it's all about awareness.... you dream anyway, the difference is whether you are aware of the dreams or not.
also keeping a dream journal is said to increase lucid dreaming..


peace & good luck!!! if you have more questions i'd be glad to answer.... 8)

 

[Space-is-the-Place]

Sometimes waking up in the middle of the night or early in the morning and going back to sleep helps. To me it seems to happen pretty random though.

WBTB technique (Wake Back To Bed)

There are multiple ways of attaining Lucid Dreams.

The most important one is to keep a log of your dreams.
Every morning try to remember them, in as much detail as possible.
When you wake up keep your eyes closed and if you have trouble remembering them, try remember the last thing you've dreamt about and then ask yourself:"What did I dream before this" and go back as much as possible.
Then when you remember the most, write them down.
Do this everyday, even when you've got just 2 or 3 sentences to put down.
This will enhance your memory.
Even if you have no LD's it is very important to keep track of your dreams.
That way you will get to know your DS's (Dreamsigns)
Things that make you realise you are dreaming.
So if you study your dreams you will get to know your DS's and are more likely to get LD's

There's a lot of techniques.
One of the most popular ones is the DILD technique (Dream Induced Lucid Dreaming)
For this technique it's important to do RC's (Reality Checks) preferably every hour. DILD's can be induced by constantly asking yourself if you are dreaming (RC's) and at one point you will do these RC's in your dreams, so that in your dream you will become aware that you are dreaming.

There is the WILD technique (Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming) but this is a hard one, since you'll have to fall asleep consciously.
(the one Braineater mentioned)

I suggest you check this topic on the Dreamviews Lucid Dreaming forum to read up on techniques and stuff
Lucid Dream Induction Techniques

Good luck!

 

[Jelleb]

can't do the WBTB technique, since i smoke some grass before I go to bed I never remember my dream when I wake up

 

[Space-is-the-Place]

Then don't
All a matter or priorities, what do you want to do, smoke weed or lucid dream?

On the other hand, you can do the WBTB, don't matter if you don't remember the first one. If you've had enough sleep, you will go almost directly into REM after falling asleep the second time, maybe you'll remember that one.

Although it's much much harder to remember any dream at all when smoking.
Could even be you sleep so tight that you don't even have REM.
I always wondered if that would be the case with people who go psychotic from smoking, if they sleep to deep and don't have any REM so don't process their day.
I usually did remember that I had a dream (when smoking everyday) only had forgotten what exactly

 

[Tunnelvision]

there is a guy on youtube who explains the techniques very good;

http://www.youtube.com/user/lucidipedia

His video's demonstrate every little step in the proces.

 

[Twilight]

wtf I know this guy.

Interesting videos, watching them now!

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

What is the purpose of Lucid Dreaming, other than being a fun thing to do?

Does one derive benefit from it? Or are there ways to benefit from it?

It seems like one has to put quite some time and effort into it, so I'm wondering what would be the goal?

I went through some of the websites about Lucid Dreaming, and they seem to focus on techniques and experiences mainly.

 

[aryaman]

depends on what you want to do. Castaneda was looking at it like THE way for the shaman, and in my personal view it has an impressive introspectional power.

For example, you can front your fears in dream, can try to understand what's wrong with you, if you feel something is wrong... and have a really good energy for the rest of your day, or week, when exploring dreams.

I whink can be a powerfull tool

 

[IJesusChrist]

You can do whatever you want... Why would you not want this ?

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

You can do whatever you want... Why would you not want this ?

That's for fun, like moving through Mario World or some type of virtual reality. I was asking what would be the benefit, from a psychological or spiritual point of view. From psychonautic activities like sensory deprivation and ingestion of psychedelics, practically everyone reports certain emotional, intellectual or philosophical breakthroughs, yet I hear very little about that from current Lucid Dreamers. Is there any benefit to be derived from it that one doesn't derive from ordinary dreams?

Arimane suggested overcoming fears. Has this been investigated? Is there any evidence people have overcome significant fears and fobias?

 

[Twilight]

I think you could learn as much from lucid dreaming as you can from psychedelics, maybe even more.
Although it's hard for me to claim something like that, since I've never had a lucid dream (I've tried real hard over the years).
But you could for example talk to people in your dreams and ask them really complex questions, you could get the most interesting answers.
And there seems to be much more than just flying and having fun, like communicating with a dream guide (some kind of conciousness that can guide you with anything), but that stuff is a bit beyond me. :?

I'm quite motivated again, though!

 

[Space-is-the-Place]

There's a girl that does psychedelics in her Lucid Dreams, what DEA? What laws?
You can also summon your dreamguide, who is a product of your own psyche and knows more about you then you do consciously, so that can also be very beneficial.
Flying is ofcourse a lot of fun.
There's also reports of people overcomming social anxiety or stagefright, or improving your chess game.
You can also learn to create life more as you want it, because in dreams you can create anything you want, so you become more conscious of yourself as a creator.
It's also a great tool to discover more about your own mind an psyche or to discover or develop new aspects of yourself.

So it can definitely be of great value.

I just think a lot of people get distracted by the fun stuff and miss the point where LDing can be of great importance/value

 

[aryaman]

Is there any benefit to be derived from it that one doesn't derive from ordinary dreams?

Arimane suggested overcoming fears. Has this been investigated? Is there any evidence people have overcome significant fears and fobias?

In his studies W. Dement demonstrate how in dreams we have a significant change of our thought.
He gave like 100 person a quiz, they didn't solve it in the daytime, and he ask them to think intense about this quiz before to sleep.
Some of them -even only 1 would be a great number!- solve the quiz in the dream.

At this point, the mastering of more open and different way of thinking comes at first as a great, really great thing of LD.

For overcoming fears, LaBerge says something about this studys in Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, the book, and HERE you can find interesting things about overcoming nightmares, wich I think is a interesting subject

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

Here's an example of proven benefits of ingesting psychedelic mushrooms:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25464338/
Here's an example of the benefits of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy:
http://www.mdma.net/therapy/traumatic-anxiety.html
Benefits of sensory deprivation (floatation tanks) are described here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_tank#cite_note-1
Possible benefits of brain machines (inducing alpha or theta brain wave patterns) are discussed here:
http://www.electronichealing.co.uk/articles/biofeedback_improves_creativity.htm

Can anyone provide similar data for experiments with lucid dreams?

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

There's a girl that does psychedelics in her Lucid Dreams, what DEA? What laws?

During a psychedelic experience you have to give up control, whereas lucid dreaming involves taking control of the experience. This means you can dream of putting a blotter or a mushroom in your mouth, for sure, but you can never dream the ego-death experience. It's wishful thinking.

You can also summon your dreamguide, who is a product of your own psyche and knows more about you then you do consciously, so that can also be very beneficial.

Now that would be a beneficial application of lucid dreaming, but does it really happen?

It's also a great tool to discover more about your own mind an psyche or to discover or develop new aspects of yourself.

Is a lucid dream ever a challenging experience, like taking psychedelics or visiting a skilled psychotherapist?

 

[Zerodyme]

Good morning all, great to see you all got so interested, sorry to see it was AFTER I fell alseep, ha.
The dream was weird, I usually cant remember dreams, for the past 2 weeks, I can only remember 3, and i wrote the 3rd one, last nights, down.
It took place in an old neighborhood I used to live in Florida, I was bein chased by a man who kinda looked like my old step father, But I knew he was,t everything was being acted out like star wars. Anyways, as we got towards the end, he chased me down a side walk, and we ended up in a room. The back wall of the room was some kind of symbol, but I knew that if I shot it it would blow everything up, Death star thing, But that wasnt the point of me being there, nor did I try to att it, the mans head was in front of the symbol and he said " I dont know why you deny me, I am your father" then i woke up.
Lawlz

 

[IJesusChrist]

Is a lucid dream ever a challenging experience, like taking psychedelics or visiting a skilled psychotherapist?

Have you ever had a nightmare?