Sometimes when I do this I dream that I am awake laying in bed. Then a dream sign apears hopfully so that I know that I am in another dream.From here I can continue the new dream or wake up.

Hi, Latch!

Welcome to the LI - Forum!

What you report sounds like what is commonly called "false awakening". Many lucid dreamers experience this, when they get lucid.

From your short message I conclude, that you had more than a few LDs. And that you seem to be quite good in recognising dreamsigns. How did you acquire these skills, or are they kind of natural to you?

We are always keen to listen to the lucid dreaming "history" of new participants.

Looking forward to interesting discussions

Yours Ralf

P.S.

If you want to find examples and discussions re false awakening use in the forum keyword search and type in "false awakening" (use the quotes!) you get 56 (after I posted this maybe 57) pages where the search string appears. This is one way to find the forum's treasures...

If you want to find interesting information on lucid dreaming browse the

http://www.lucidity.com/

website. I especially recommend

http://www.lucidity.com/VOLDE.html

There are tons of other worthy information on this site.

Thanx Ralf- That makes sence- False awakening- Ive done this many times and always amuses me in the AM. & your right I have had hundreds of lucid dreams but never knew what they were till last month.In erlier life I described my dreams to people but no one new what I was talking about so I quit asking @ age 20. So now age 38 I find a book- La Berge of course- about 2 months ago- "Exploring The World Of Lucid Dreaming". That was the 1st time I ever knew it had a name, & that other people do this for sure. Right now I'm working on prolonging LDs & was sucsesfull again this morning in 2 of them by closing my eyes & relaxing in my dream. After relaxing I swam my way using the breast stroke- 2-3- strokes got me back to lucidity. Though knowing to stroke means I was lucid from the beginning, right , huh? (sometimes confusing) I started lucid dreaming about age 12 or 13 & knew drean signs from the start- learned to wake myself from nightmares as these were very clear dream signs. I'v been LDing for over 25 years. Please write- Latch

PS- Ralf - thanx for info on other sites- gana check them out for sure!

Hi, Latch

I'll write...

Firstly I'm very impressed, that you did lucid dream for decades, but couldn't really talk to anyone. That is one advance of the forum: We share experiences and thoughts. I think you have to learn how to use the terms and you have to make up your mind about the dreamworld, consciousness, what it means to be awake (body / mind), so you wont be so confused. Lucidity is simply knowing, that you are dreaming, while you are dreaming. Given your example I would say: You were lucid all the time, from waking up in the primary dream to relaxing, to swimming and then into entering the new dream. You didn't loose lucidity, but the dream changed. So maybe you can say: You lost the first dream and "found" a new one. But that seems not to be entirely true, because your dreambody is part of dream, too. So you prolonged both, dream and lucidity. The thing with lucidity is simply defined as above, but somewhat tricky. You have to discern lucidity from consciousness in general. In VOLDE (http://www.lucidity.com/VOLDE.html) it says, that lucidity includes "reference to state", it is metacognition, i.e. thinking about what kind of experience this is. We sometimes speak here of getting lucid day and night. This is a wider definition of lucidity, alluding to a wider definition what dreaming could mean, i.e. saying, that we are at least sometimes caught up in a kind of dream, while in the common agreed waking state. Just think over the wording: "This vacation was a nightmare". Or how many times we experience situations, we want to wake up from. Or how many times people seem to be caught in a strange dream. Acting stupidly in our eyes. Don't you want to shake them so they wake up? OK. I'm rambling. But the closer (psychological, philosophical, epistemological, metaphysical) look upon the central issues of lucidity and dreaming is surely worthy. If you look up a dictionary you find that lucid in the common sense means "clear", a lucid interval is said to be "a period of sanity between attacks of madness, or of quiet between disturbances". (The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 7th edition). So, if I find that in waking life I am arguing with my beloved one and we don't come together, I have the chance to get lucid and try to find out in what kind of dream I'm or we are in this time. Getting lucid in this way has served well in many situations in waking life. I think it was some Sufi who said, asked what he claims to be the greatest problem of mankind: "We are sleeping most of the time." (I read that in a book of Charles Tart, as far as I remember.) Hope, that I cleared up the primary confusion, but I fear I made up a new even more confusing discussion...

Hope that is at least food for thought and heart

Awake in dreams

Yours Ralf

P.S.

And I'm looking forward to see some more examples of your LDs in the thread "Post Your Lucid Dreams"

CU

Hi, Latch. I'm glad you found the forum after all those years with no one to talk to about your LD's. I wonder how many people sort of did know what you were talking about, but didn't want to admit it? Some people find LD's scary. Keep dreaming, Kate

Hi Kate- LDs were scarey for me at first. But I got used to them in my teens. Could wake myself at any time if I wanted to. Can't agree with you. People having LD's will admit it. Nothing to hide here. Though- I'm no expert !

Hi, Latch. I'm no expert either! But I'd like to be...based on experience. Kate

Hi,

I'm fairly new to this forum and this seems like good place to introduce myself. I've been on here before, commented on a couple of things but never really got involved as much as I intended (probably due to currently writing my thesis - my LD frequency has also plummeted!). I too have been lucid dreaming since being a young teenager and until only a few years ago (I'm 24 now) I also had no idea there was a name for and that other people readily experienced it. But still even now, outside of this forum, there are only a handful of people who know or care to know what I'm on about! One of the most important (too me) LD's I've had I'll share with you here because it relates to false awakenings. Most people I tell this tale to find it the most dull dream story imaginable, but you guys might see its importance. I have frequent false awakenings, which seem kind of like out of body experiences to me. I get up and wander about the house. It's dark and seems just as it would in 'reality'. I have a Nova Dreamer now, but didn't at the time, so I had to reality check by putting my hand through a wall (a favourite of mine!). Even though I was convinced it was a dream, it was so real that for a time I also seriously questioned if I might be sleep walking or something else as well. I wanted to jump out of the window and go flying, but the paranoia stopped me! So the next time I had a false awakening I walked down stairs with the intention of waking myself up when I got there and seeing where I was when I awoke. Just as I got to the bottom of the stairs my alarm clock went off (this wasn't planned, but good timing eh?) and I awoke, reality checked and there I was safely in bed! This was a huge shift for me, and now (after reality checking of course) I enjoy the freedom and confidence to jump out of my bedroom window whenever the urge takes me, just so long as I can put my hand through the glass first, I still like to double check!

Hope you found this account interesting,

Caroline.

Yes, interesting! Hi, Caroline, welcome. You've come to the right place. There's a whole gang of people here who will not only find your dream fascinating and relevant to their own experiences, but will wonder what's the matter with people who find it dull!

I looked up your profile; I like your field of study (I do a little free-lance scientific illustration) and love your wild photo. May your thesis go smoothly.

Sometimes when my dreaming mind is not at its sharpest, I can have a series of something like false awakenings but without even the impression of a transition to waking - rather just the thought, "Oh, that was a dream, but now I'm not dreaming!" Funny how long it can take me to catch on that I'm still dreaming in the face of overwhelming evidence! Here's an example from yesterday morning:

K returned from his 2-week work trip (as he will do today in waking life) ' he'd taken up smoking! But I realized that had been just a dream when, late in the night, he returned again. This time he was with his boss T, looking just like K but short; at that point I thought I remembered I had dreamed of them arriving together earlier, and told them so. Both wanted to hug me; T got between me and K and rather overdid it. I felt embarrassed and finally broke off and walked away, thinking, "But he's the big boss; what was I supposed to do?'

Then I realized that, too, had been a dream. I thought about how I'd write it up for LI if I'd been lucid. I went to find K in real life, and located him in the bedroom of my childhood home. I flew into the room in the dark and hovered near the bed where he lay. He said "I have a place beside me if you want to snuggle,' but I didn't. I hovered near the ceiling; he stood up and pushed me gently by the feet, playing with the zero-gravity effect, and told me that this time, while I was dreaming about flying, I was also really flying.

"I'm really really flying?'

"Yes, sometimes in the dark of the very early morning hours you guys really fly.'

"Wow!' Thrilled, I flew around the room, marveling. I wondered briefly whom he meant by "you guys" ' me and my sisters? me and other lucid dreamers? Then I asked him, "Okay, where am I now?' I was testing: I wanted to confirm that he perceived me in the same part of the room as where I perceived myself.

He didn't answer. "Where am I now?' I demanded; again, no answer. At that point I had to admit that I was not really flying but only dreaming, and answered myself, "Wherever I think I am!'

Well, then I could have fun dreaming. I was rising straight up, and noticed the ceiling was getting higher and higher to accommodate me. I considered whether to keep raising it (and did for a while) or move through it and go outside; I decided to just assume myself to be outside now. I could feel cold air on the top of my head.

It was completely dark. I kept flying straight up. I wondered if there were power lines, and remembered dream power lines had no substance if I so wished and I could just fly right through them. I continued rising. A mild sexual feeling developed, but I didn't pursue it. And due, I thought, to the scarcity of dream-sensory input, I gradually woke.

I found myself examining a pink and yellow dress with elaborate crossing straps in the back, realized I was still dreaming and decided I'd better wake for sure and write up my notes ' and finally did.

Hope you found this amusing!

Joy

Hi, Caroline. Welcome. Yes, what you described was interesting. When you jump out the window, do you go where the dream takes you, or make up venues, or both? Hi, Joy. I so envy your frequency! I don't think I'd ever deliberately wake from an LD just to write it up, but I have far too few of them. One way I'm lucky is that they seem to be long-lasting. It must have been strange going from dream to dream to dream, always thinking you were waking and then finding you were still dreaming. It sounds fun! And yes, it was amusing. Dream on, Kate

Hi Joy, Kate,

Yes, very amusing! I had a similar experience about a year ago. I was staying at my x-boyfriends house when I dreamt of waking up and going downstairs. He was sat down there drinking a coffee with his housemates. I had a feeling something wasn't quite right and suggested that maybe it was a dream. But just as they would in reality, they told me not be so stupid. The next thing I know I awoke again, went downstairs and the same thing happened again, only this time I think they all had beards! Only by the third time it happened did I realise what had been going on, I told them so, but they still refused to believe me, so I did my favourite trick and jumped out of the window to prove them wrong!

As for what I get up to when I jump out of ....all sorts. I often just fly over fantasy landscapes, which I usually let my dreaming mind create. I went to the moon once, that was fun, but tricky. I found that as I got into space I started to loose 'reference' points, like trees etc, and I could feel the dream world slipping away with nothing but blackness all around. Fortunately the moon came into view just in time and I was able to focus on something and bring the clarity back. And when I'm being particularly strong willed I fly to my dojo and practice some karate. For some reason I'm always better able to focus if I go there, rather than say in the back garden, and flying seems to be the fastest way to travel!

By the way, I had a look at your web page Joy, and I was most impressed! I particularly like wildlife art and loved your sidewinder!

Keep dreaming,

Caroline.

Hi, Kate and Caroline -

Kate, a dream you posted recently inspired me to have more faith in the possibility of re-entering and continuing dreams and I've been doing much more of that since then. So the admiration's mutual.

Caroline, I'm glad you like the art! Drawing the sidewinder was a meditative experience, one scale at a time.... I wonder what it would be like to draw in a dream? - can't recall having tried it. Practicing karate in a dream impresses me as an admirable example of well-directed mental discipline.

Other people report transcendent experiences when they fly to the moon, stars, etc. but my attempts often run into that same problem of all that vast space with little detail to focus on, and then usually get entangled in my rational considerations about how long it would take to get there! - I should give more attention to the mutability of space and time, and keep on trying! I thought I remembered somehow getting to the moon once but finding a really silly scene there; I just looked back in my notes and found it - part of a long lucid dream that was even sillier than I remembered:

...remembered that before going to bed I'd looked at the moon and wondered if I could go up there and moon-walk in a dream. So I flew straight up, ignoring power lines (but reminding myself not to ignore everything, let some things have substance so I'd stay dreaming) and decided that I was feeling sufficiently sexual that having an orgasm on the moon was a good enough idea, any moon-concept would do, right here would be fine; so I declared myself to have landed on the moon and had a lovely orgasm.

Looking around I found that it was lighter up there than I expected, and there were other people: six black men in red uniforms, apparently members of a football team or something, also bounding around on the moon and having fun; and then there was an old white guy lamenting about how we send these young men off to war but don't ever teach them what to do with their lives. I sort of scoffed to myself at his guilt and noticed I had a plateful of sausages and wondered if they were supposed to be little phallic symbols or something, or just sausages; ate a bite of one; tasted OK but not terribly vivid taste sensation.

It was an effort to maintain a semblance of moonscape. I let it dissolve into a different scene entirely....

I suppose we could start a new topic called "Space Travel" or "What I Found When I Got to the Moon"... or maybe "My Most Ridiculous Lucid Dream," but for that I would have to choose among many other top contenders.

Joy

Hi, fellow dreamers. Caroline- that's interesting about flying to the dojo. That would be a useful tip for the prolonging techniques area. Flying over fantasy landscapes has such a wonderful sound! I can't wait until Stepehn LeBerge creates a mask that transposes our dream images onto a video recorder. Also the version that records sounds, for all those dreamers who compose music in their dreams. Joy - I'm glad I inspired you and that I did anything impressive. It is good that I was able to re-enter the dream, and I seem able to prolong the LD's when I do get them. If I could tell why I can do those things, maybe I could work on my strengths in terms of generating LD's. I dreamed of sausages the other night, and after waking realized it was from your posting. Isn't that funny? I also saw you in a dream. You were very clear, with your black hair and nice features. I've been seeing various people lately in dreams, not necessarily in an invovled plot I can recall. Any suggestions as to what my strengths might be? I've been waking myself up at funny hours, but that isn't working. I've also been using the novadreamer, but I'm not sure it works right and it's uncomfortable. I also tried reading over my dream journal by candlelight before going to sleep. Nada. I also tried looking at pictures I cut out of magazines of rooms in houses. That at least caused me to dream of an interesting house, but I didn't get the cue and go lucid. Oh well. I'll keep trying... Dream long and lucidly, Kate

Hi Kate!

Thanks for your recent inspirations -- to us all. ;)

If you can send us details as to why you think your NovaDreamer isn't functioning correctly, we'll be happy to offer assistance. 'Twould be best to post under: Induction Devices: Technical Support for Lucidity Institute Products.

Regarding missed dreamsigns: Be sure to read LaBerge's article "LUCIDITY HINTS: USING MISSED DREAMSIGNS AS STEPPING STONES TO LUCIDITY" in the latest issue of FLASHES!

Bright dreams to all, Keelin

Hey Kate,

Okay, I'll take a turn at playing Wise Teacher so long as I get to be student sometimes too :-)

You're very strong in dream recall and dream re-entry - I would guess that Stephen's "MILD" technique would work well for you - do you use it?

Another strength of yours is your genuine caring interest in people. For me, my motivation and lucidity frequency went way up when I simultaneously got interested in Tibetan dream yoga and LI's sleep position experiment. Imagine that - my lucid dreams could advance science, and "benefit all sentient beings"!

The sleep position experiment is still underway and I still highly recommend it. I recently resumed participating when I found my frequency falling off, and it went right back up again.

One of my favorite bits of advice from the dream yoga guys is, whenever you wake throughout the night, to happily commend yourself for recalling dreams and be pleased with the experience of them. (This as opposed to kicking yourself in the butt: "Dang! Missed getting lucid again!") Then you say, still all pleased with yourself, "Next time...." Clearly you take interest in all your dreams so, there you go, another strength to cultivate.

More of those JOYful dreams!

Joy

Dear wise teacher, Thanks for your response. So far from using the MILD technique, I was using the keyword search to try and recall what it is! I know it is _____induced LD. But I'm missing the M word. WILD is what I have been attempting to use, but unsucessfully. I'm not at home, so I can't access my Lucid Dreaming book. I will when I get home. Although you have seemingly overestimated me, you have given me an idea about the importance of love and caring in terms of trying to induce LD's. It could never hurt to focus on that. There may be a motive of giving that I'm avoiding, and that could be something in my way. I'm not sure about the sleep position experiment. I recall Keelin e-mailed me about something like that, and it seemed hard for me to cooperate with it, as it had to do with breathing though one side of the nose and sleeping a certain way. But may be this is not the same thing? I had not heard the Tibetan dream yogis' concept of congratulating onself on dream recall and being pleased with the experiencing of them, and the hoping for next time... This is excellent advice. I'll follow it. I've been trying to do that sort of "self-parenting" thing anyway, and that fits right in. Keep having lively LD's, Kate

Hi, Keelin. Nice to hear from you, and thanks for your response. I'll try the novadreamer a couple more times to get some worthwhile data to give back. The main thing that bothers me right now is that it goes off when I'm not asleep. In the meantime, could you tell me how to access Dr LaBerge's article in Flashes? Is there a website? Lulling, mystical dreams, Kate

Hi Kate,

If the NovaDreamer is delivering cues while you're truly awake, I'd suggest experimenting with different sensitivity settings and see if that takes care of it. I trust you've been doing reality checks at those times when this happens and you appear to be awake? ;)

While the experiment you've referred to (The Best Sleep Posture for Lucid Dreaming: A Revised Experiment Testing a Method of Tibetan Dream Yoga) does require specific sleeping positions, one is not however required to breathe differently while dreaming. It only asks that you check which nostril is open after you wake. The nares knows! ;) If you're unable to do that particular experiment, there is an even more simple one (Comparing Lucid and Non-Lucid Dream Content) for which we still need more data. The link below will zip you right to it:

http://www.lucidity.com/dreams4.html

In short, this one asks only for four dream reports via email; Two of these reports should be lucid dreams, and two should be non-lucid dreams. An invitation to one and all!

As for LaBerge's article "Using Missed Dreamsigns as Stepping Stones to Lucidity: How to Set your Mind to Learn to Recognize Dreamsigns", you'll find a copy of it posted under the Forum topic: Learning Lucid Dreaming: Discussion of Primary Techniques: Lucidity Hints.

Sweet dreams to all, Keelin

PS: M in MILD is for Mnemonic (as in memory aid).

TAKE NOVADREAMER CUES SERIOUSLY WHETHER OR NOT YOU THINK YOU'RE AWAKE Kate writes that "The main thing that bothers me ... is that it goes off when I'm not asleep." She is not alone in being irritated by the NovaDreamer giving cues at unexpected or undesired times.

But this, as they say, is a feature, not a bug. ;)

Or, perhaps better, it should be regarded (by those who wish to become lucid while using their NovaDreamers) as a useful feature and used as such!

The fact that "it goes off when you're not asleep" indicates that one of two situations is the case:

1. You haven't remembered to push the Delay/RealityTest button each and every time you wake up wearing the NovaDreamer.

2. Contrary to your assumption, you actually ARE asleep! So your faithful NovaDreamer is trying to tell you that you are dreaming, but you have been ignoring the message (Famous Lost-Cue Words: "Stop flashing, stupid machine! Leave me alone, I KNOW I'm not dreaming...").

Indeed, we first discovered the use of the Delay button as a RT button after Aaron, an early DreamLight tester, reported that the delay button didn't work during the previous night. I couldn't find anything wrong with the device he was using, so I asked Aaron to do a reliable reality test the next time he encountered the problem of the delay button not working. Sure enough, the very next night the delay button failed, and when he quickly took off the mask and looked at a bedside digital clock twice he discovered that it was ... dreamtime!

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Press the Delay/RT button once or more EVERY time you find yourself awake. Be obsessive about it. Don't do it because you think you might be dreaming. Just do it. It does no harm to press the button if you are awake even if it only confirms your assumption that you are awake. But now and then you will be pleasantly surprised to discover that YOU'RE DREAMING!

More Light! Stephen

Hi Kate and all interested in the sleep position experiment,

It might still sound daunting after Keelin's description but the positions that are required aren't "sitting up," "hanging by your feet" or anything like that. It's just the positions you probably sleep in anyway: left side, right side, or back; and you don't need to do them in any particular sequence - just note which one you were in when you wake up from a dream, and also vary them and try to give a fair amount of data from each. Most people change positions a few times every night anyway. So - easy!

Joy

Keelin, Stephen, thanks very much for the input. It never occured to me that I might not really be awake when the light goes off. But I know when I've had my incubus-type dreams I was totally convinced I was awake, in my real room - everything was so exactly like reality and I was terrified. I guess I'll press the RT button, since you advise it. I just would be afraid the physicalness of it would destory the dream. But what the heck? Experimentation is good. I would be more than pleasantly surprised to find myself dreaming. I'd be very, very, happy! Keelin, sad as it may seem, I'm not sure if I understood the e-mail report thing. Is it one LD and one nonlucid (the most recent) now -in other words, the moment we begin the process- and then the next LD and nonlucid after that? I'd love to do that, but I don't know when my next LD may be. As to the nonlucids, they are not a problem, luckily. Also the dealine said Nov 15. Is there a new deadline? I'll start, at least, and see if I get more LD's in time if there is a new deadline. Joy wrote about being inspired to help the cause of lucid dreaming, but I seem to be a little too self-oriented right now to be inspired that way. Maybe this is a big part of my problem in failing to LD much. Thanks again, Kate

P.S Never mind about the deadline question. Obviously this is August. Kate

Hi Kate,

Regarding the use of the NovaDreamer's Reality Test Button:

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "I just would be afraid the physicalness of it would destroy the dream." Perhaps there is still some confusion here.

If you are truly dreaming, your body will be in sleep paralysis, therefore that would be your dream finger pressing the button on the dream version of the NovaDreamer. Nothing really physical about it -- which is why you will never see the flash, hear the click, and feel the pressing of the button simultaneously in a dream! ;) Furthermore, while any effort your dream body makes may feel convincingly real, remember that it's all part of the mental model your brain is creating. Clever, tricky brain!

As for the comparative dream experiment, you'll find a new revised version of it on the Forum under the topic folder: Research, Theory, and LI experiments: LI EXPERIMENT: Comparing Lucid and Non-Lucid Dream Content.

There are several ways you can participate in this study, so I would suggest checking it out, and if you're still unclear about how to proceed, please do let us know.

Brilliant dreams to all, Keelin

Hi Keelin. You're right. I wasn't thinking. I forgot about the sleep paralysis thing, and that I wouldn't be able to touch the button if asleep. I did touch it 3 times last night, so I'm trying to keep with the program. I'm looking forward to the possible experience of trying to touch it and realizing I'm dreaming. And I'm sure you're right about the sensitivity level. I might even try it at level one tonight, since it wakes me up sometimes. On the other hand when I've done that check in the past to see how many times it went off in the night, I found it went off many times w/out waking me or inducing a LD. I'll keep experimenting if I can deal with the poor sleep. Maybe it's not even that bad, because I felt fine today and still do. Maybe I'm adjusting to new patterns. I'm thinking of sleeping with cats again tonight too, since it got good, unintended results last time. I've decided to look at my watch all the time. It's something I can remember to do all day. Thanks, and continued poetic dreams! Kate

Kate, Perhaps you share my problem; because I think I'm awake trying to get back into sleep and dreaming, I concentrate on not moving. The ND's light goes off & I feel frustrated that I'm still not asleep and don't want to move to hit the button. I now see it as a misguided concern. I try and see this slight movement is just part of the LD prep game I need to play to try and get lucid. I too am concerned by the reduction in hours of deep sleep I get as result of efforts @ LDing. (I used to get 7 unbroken hours. Now I get about 4 hours deep sleep and then after a 30 min. awakening I get ~3 fitful hours between insomnia, awakening, writing out dreams, MILDS etc.

Somehow though, like you I'm not too tired during the day. I find it a chalenge to put in efforts at LD & yet keep it playful & optimistic.

sweet dreams, Ted

Hi Ted,

Thanks for your recent postings! Your message above is a reminder that there's really no reason one should ever be unsure (for more than a moment or two) whether or not one is truly awake or adream. We, as oneironauts, have an advantage, of course. We take our reality checks seriously!

And if I may add to Stephen's earlier suggestion regarding using the NovaDreamer's Reality Test Button to set a delay:

What I tend to do is press it once for the reality test, then slide it up onto my forehead to avoid the additional bright flashes that will naturally occur as I press the button a few more times to give me time to write in my dream journal. When I'm ready to return to sleep, I zero the delay (press and hold the RTB until it begins to deliver a cue sample), then set a fresh delay according to how relaxed and sleepy I feel.

Further Options: If you feel your sleep is being too disrupted throughout the night, you can:

1. Set a cue delay of several hours at the beginning of the night (one press of the button = ten minutes).

2. Set the ND to no cues and use the built-in alarm to wake you, then set your preferences.

3. Set your ND preferences, but don't put the ND on until mid-night. Use an external alarm to wake you after you've had the number of undisturbed hours you prefer.

May your dreams be brilliant! Keelin

Greetings fellow dreamers. Ted, have you found that since your regular bedtime efforts of using the ND, recording your dreams, and other rituals, that you have greater lucidity? It sounds as if maybe like me, you also set your alarm for an early awakening. It also sounds as if you spend a disorienting 3 hrs in the early am. Are the MILD's good? It's good you see the whole thing as a challenge and work at the fun of it. I keep getting frustrated and wanting to give up, but I've decided not to for now. Like today, I decided (in the hopes of getting lucid)to nap around four-thirty and set my alarm for six because I was going out later. I couldn't sleep and I got very angry about it. I'm sure I need to lighten up. At least I got up and excercized instead of lying there like an enraged fool, wasting precious time. I guess I'm optimistic too - I have hopes of LD'ing tonight. Here's to optimistic oeironauts, Kate

Dear Kate!

What about spending the energy it takes to be frustrated to focus on the most successful techniques? For me at least the afternoon is no good time for LDing, the early morning hours are still the best. I know how it is, I've often been frustrated, too. But by and by I learn to look for the best ways to succeed. MILD is so simple, once you convince yourself to get up some minutes in the early morning, just as long as it takes to rub the sleep sand off your eyes. Then you are very likely to sleep in fast and be lucid in your dreams.

lucidity comes sooo easy!

Yours Ralf

Hi, Ralf! Can you give me an example of a good MILD exercise? I can't find my lucid dreaming book, although it was right by my bed. Is that the thing where we remember to do RC's during the day every time something happens, such as a phone ringing or a dog barking? Is there a particular reason, do you think, why afternoon is not a productive LD time? Don't go out of your way to answer this soon as I may not see it until next week. I'm using the computer at the library now. Thanks, Kate

Hi Kate:

To quote from the Lucidity Institute FAQ:

The MILD technique employs prospective memory, remembering to do something (notice you're dreaming) in the future. Dr. LaBerge developed this technique for his doctoral dissertation and used it to achieve lucid dreaming at will. The proper time to practice MILD is after awakening from a dream, before returning to sleep. (Modified from "EWLD, p. 78)

1. Setup dream recall. Set your mind to awaken from dreams and recall them. When you awaken from a dream, recall it as completely as you can.

2. Focus your intent. While returning to sleep, concentrate single-mindedly on your intention to remember to recognize that you're dreaming. Tell yourself: "Next time I'm dreaming, I will remember I'm dreaming," repeatedly, like a mantra. Put real meaning into the words and focus on this idea alone. If you find yourself thinking about anything else, let it go and bring your mind back to your intention.

3. See yourself becoming lucid. As you continue to focus on your intention to remember when you're dreaming, imagine that you are back in the dream from which you just awakened (or another one you have had recently if you didn't remember a dream on awakening). Imagine that this time you recognize that you are dreaming. Look for a dreamsign--something in the dream that demonstrates plainly that it is a dream. When you see it say to yourself: "I'm dreaming!" and continue your fantasy. Imagine yourself carrying out your plans for your next lucid dream. For example, if you want to fly in your lucid dream, imagine yourself flying after you come to the point in your fantasy when you become lucid.

4. Repeat until your intention is set. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until either you fall asleep or are sure that your intention is set. If, while falling asleep, you find yourself thinking of anything else, repeat the procedure so that the last thing in your mind before falling asleep is your intention to remember to recognize the next time you are dreaming.

Thanks very much for the quote re MILD's. I saw this a couple nights ago and I printed it out and have been practicing it. I think it may work for me. And thanks to Joy for the suggestion that MILD's may be the best idea for me. Live long and lucidly, Kate