vamp rocks said:
Waif said:
I too have been interested in Lucid Dreams for quite awhile now. Mostly for personal empowerment. For me, many lucid dreams occur from a wake induced stance. Where you slip into a dream with your awareness intact. However, when most people think of Lucid Dreams, they think of mid-dream LD's. Where you become aware of a dream while inside of a dream. Either works the same, but there is more control from a wake induced stand point than one where you try to trigger it from within a dream.
If you are looking to train yourself, you could try, just as a starter. Binaural beats, which use different frequencies to achieve certain states of consciousness, or physical reactions. It all depends on frequencies used. I have experimented with these beats in the interests of LD's among other things. I personally have had little success with LD Binaural beats, however, other people swear by them.
You can also use herbal supplements to trigger a lucid dream. In fact there is a book with some extensive information on the different kind of supplements you can use to help trigger a LD. Here is a link with some information on that:
http://dreamstudies.org/the-truth-about-lucid-dreaming-supplements/
However, one of the more important facets of Lucid Dreams, is the discipline and training required to trigger them on a consistent basis. I would recommend training yourself to form a habit of reminding yourself to have a LD. Whenever you are in bed. I found that my chances to have a LD increase if I am able to get into the habit of visualizing the dream before it happens. That is to say. When I am extremely tired and I know I am about to fall asleep. I begin to let my mind wander and focus on certain things. When these things begin to balloon into a vision. I know that I am beginning to fall asleep. It is at that point that I focus on two reference points, very subtly. My dream hands (dream sign) and the environment. Doing this keeps your awareness from slipping away. The more subtle you make it, the easier it will be to slip into a dream with your awareness intact.
I could talk at length about this. Though this should be enough to get your started.
I came across binatural beats when i first started looking into Lucid Dreaming, I tried them and felt... something but nothing major, the ones i have used are ones i ripped off of youtube as most people try to sell them, do you think these would work? are there any free ones you can reccomend that might work? also all the good binatural beat creator programs seem to no longer be shareware.
at this point i would rather not use a supplement but if after a while of trying with no result i may try them. or maybe just a melatonin supplement.
I am a person who finds it very challenging to keep awareness when getting to sleep and often my problem is once i realize i am about to fall asleep it tends to snap me back to reality, but i have been trying recently and i believe i'll get there eventually. Thanks very much for your advice though,hearing how others do it is helping me loads
I've tried numerous Binaural beats, Monoaural beats, and Isochronic beats. In an effort to achieve lucidity within a dream. I can say conclusively that in my own experience, it is not effective. That being said, others find that it works for them. There are two ways to use these beats in conjunction with an LD attempt. Before sleep, and during sleep. So you have to be careful how you use these. When it comes to using BB's and the like, there may very well exist a placebo effect. Which would explain why others experience success while others do not. If this is true, the power of suggestion can potentially be of assistance. Which means hypnosis CD's might help, but I cannot confirm. It would only be speculation in this case. As for people selling LD BB's, I would recommend not buying them. I actually spent 30 bucks on a professionally made LD BB that was Isochronic, and it did nothing. Don't waste your money. This is the beat that I bought:
http://www.store.unexplainable.net/products/lucid.php
There are many testimonials touting the success of these BB's, yet still, proved ineffectual for me. If you are looking for a good BB creator program. I would recommend GNaural, as it's the program that I mostly use. The GUI is easy to use, and it is freeware.
As for melatonin, you would likely not experience LD's. In order to understand why, you must first be aware that there are different parts to sleep, the two most important parts are: Deep Sleep, and REM sleep. In deep sleep, it is typically dreamless. It is the stage that your body uses to rejuvenate itself. REM sleep is where you dream, and where lucid dreams can happen. Melatonin is a hormone that your body uses to induce deep sleep, what it will give you is deep, mostly dreamless sleep. Depending on the amount of melatonin. What can trigger a LD is the Acetylcholine (which is the hormone that induces awareness) which is produced in small amounts during normal REM sleep. This is the chemical trigger you must focus on.
Now the reason why I say you would "likely not" experience LD's, is because of the REM rebound effect. This is where your body attempts to balance out your deep sleep with your REM sleep. A person who has deep dreamless sleep for a night might experience more vivid and real dreams the next night. Sometimes these vivid dreams in of themselves can alert the dreamer as to the presence of the dream, and therefore trigger a mid-dream LD.
Even though I have been practicing Lucid Dreaming for years, with some success. Even today I still find it difficult to induce these dreams. It is a long path, and we are working against a powerful biological trigger that is designed to keep us in an unaware state in dreams. However, with enough pressure over time, the mind and the brain has to acquiesce. They must bend to our will. These days I get a Lucid Dream every week or so, I used to get one every 5 months. That is power of determination, and the power of will. Just keep at it, and eventually something has to give.
