QUOTE(Zyden @ Sep 28 2006, 02:13 PM) [snapback]1369209[/snapback]
I really look forward to lucid dreams bit when i realise i'm in one i start to panik trying to stay lucid. Thus my "Lucids" on last seconds.
Do you keep a dream diary?
Try these things for help with your lucid dreaming:
Achieving and recognizing
Many people report having experienced a lucid dream during their lives, often in childhood. Although lucid dreaming is a learnable skill[12], achieving lucid dreams on a regular basis can be difficult and is uncommon, even with training. Despite this difficulty, techniques have been developed to achieve a lucid dreaming state intentionally.
There are some factors which can affect the ability to experience lucid dreams:
* Some naturals have lucid dreams more often and more easily than others.
* Meditation, and involvement in consciousness focusing activities can strengthen the ability to experience lucid dreams.[13]
* Children seem to have lucid dreams more easily than adults do. (The ability to sleep appears to decrease when people get older.[14])
* Induction techniques can help much in becoming lucid.
The most important aspect in lucid dreaming is to recognize that one is dreaming. Any time that a person recognizes a dream sign, or anything that is out of the ordinary, they should perform a reality test.
Dream recall, the ability to remember one's dreams, is very important to lucid dreamers because it is usually desired that the lucid dreamer be able to remember lucid dreams. Improvement of dream recall is usually the first step people take to learn to have lucid dreams. A common practice used to increase dream recall is to keep a dream journal, or a notebook of dreams. The dream journal should be kept right next to the bed so that dreams can be written down as soon as a person wakes up. This is important because waiting until later in the day to write dreams down will usually cause one to forget most of their content. After waking up, it is often helpful to keep the eyes closed while trying to remember a dream.
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Common techniques
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Reality testing
Reality testing is a common method that people use to determine whether or not they are dreaming. It involves performing an action with results that are difficult to re-create in a dream. By practicing these techniques during waking life, one will eventually dream of performing a reality check—which will usually fail—helping the dreamer realize that they are dreaming. Common reality tests include:
* Read some text, look away, and read it again, or to look at your watch and remember the time, then look away and look back. Observers have found that, in a dream, the text or time will often have changed.[15]
* Flipping a light switch or looking into a mirror. Light switches rarely work properly in dreams, and reflections from a mirror often appear to be blurred, distorted or incorrect.[16]
* Closing one eye and looking at your nose, seeing that it's not there. This was proposed as an experiment on a popular lucid dreaming forum,[17] and there were several anecdotes of success on that forum, but its principle has not been scientifically studied, and this reality check may not be reliable.
* Covering your nose and seeing if you can still breathe through it.[citations needed]
* Pressing the index finger firmly into an area of the body such as the chest or leg. Since matter is usually plastic in the dream state and does not resist change, the finger will usually penetrate the dream body with little resistance and no pain.[citation needed]
* Observe your hand in a dream, often the hand has incorrect number of fingers.[citation needed]
* Pinching oneself — in a dream no pain may be felt, though in many situations, lucid dreamers have observed that they do experience realistic sensation of being pinched.[citation needed]
* Observing the face of another character in a dream -- often their face will be blurry or unclear.[citation needed]
Another form of reality testing involves identifying one's dream signs, clues that one is dreaming. Dream signs are often categorized as follows:
* Action — The dreamer, another dream character, or a thing does something unusual or impossible in waking life, such as photos in a magazine or newspaper becoming 3-dimensional with full movement.
* Context — The place or situation in the dream is strange.
* Form — The dreamer, another character, or a thing changes shape, or is oddly formed or transforms; this may include the presence of unusual clothing or hair, or a third person view of the dreamer.
* Awareness — A peculiar thought, a strong emotion, an unusual sensation, or altered perceptions. In some cases when moving one's head from side to side, one may notice a strange stuttering or 'strobing' of the image.
* Cohesion — Sometimes the dreamer may seem to "Teleport" to a completely different location in a dream, with no transition whatsoever.
Though occurrences like these may seem out of place in waking life, they may seem perfectly normal to a dreaming mind and learning to pick up on these dream signs will help in recognizing that one is dreaming.
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Mnemonic induction of lucid dreams (MILD)
The mnemonic induction of lucid dreams is a common technique used to induce a lucid dream at will by setting an intention, while falling asleep, to remember to recognize that one is dreaming, or to remember to look for dream signs. Because it is easy to master (almost everyone sets intentions frequently), it is ideal for those who have never practiced lucid dreaming induction techniques before.
The MILD technique was developed by Stephen LaBerge, and is described fully in his book Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming.
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Wake-back-to-bed (WBTB)
The wake-back-to-bed technique is often the easiest way to induce a lucid dream. The method involves going to sleep tired and waking up five hours later. Then, focusing all thoughts on lucid dreaming, staying awake for an hour and going back to sleep. The odds of having a lucid dream are then much higher. This is because the REM cycles get longer as the night goes on, and this technique takes advantage of the best REM cycle of the night. Because this REM cycle is longer and deeper, gaining lucidity during this time may result in a more vivid and lengthy lucid dream.[18] This may also offer an explanation as to why many people claim to have more memorable dreams in the early morning hours before they wake up for the day. However, the explanation that people may simply recall a dream more easily if they directly wake up from it has also been suggested.
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Wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD)
The wake-initiated lucid dream "occurs when the sleeper enters REM sleep with unbroken self-awareness directly from the waking state".[19] The key to this technique is recognizing the hypnagogic stage, which is within the border of being awake and being asleep. If a person is successful in staying aware while this stage occurs, they will eventually enter the dream state while being fully aware that it is a dream. Because one does not have to recognize a cue in order to induce a lucid dream using this technique, it tends to be more reliable than other techniques. There are key times at which this technique is best used; while success at night after being awake for a long time is very difficult, it is relatively easy after being awake for 15 or so minutes and in the afternoon during a nap. Users of this technique often count, envision themselves climbing or descending stairs, chanting to themselves, controlling their breathing, concentrating on relaxing their body from their toes to their head, allowing images to flow through their "mind's eye" and envisioning themselves jumping into the image, or any various form of concentration to keep their mind awake, while still being calm enough to let their body sleep. During the actual transition into the dreamstate, one is likely to experience sleep paralysis, including rapid vibrations.[20]Also there is frequently a sensation of falling rapidly or dropping through the bed as one enters the dreamstate or the sensation of entering a dark black room from which one can induce any dream scenario of one's choosing, simply by concentrating on it. The key to being sucessful is not to panic, especially during the transition which can be quite sudden.
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Cycle adjustment technique (CAT)
The cycle adjustment technique, developed by Daniel Love[21], is an effective way to induce lucid dreaming. It involves adjusting one's sleep cycle to encourage awareness during the latter part of the sleep. First, the person wakes up 90 minutes before normal wake time until their sleep cycle begins to adjust (Love suggests at least a week for this stage). During this 90 minute period regular reality tests are performed. After this initial period is complete, the normal wake times and early wake times alternate daily. On the days with the normal wake times, the body is ready to wake up and perform reality tests yet remains asleep and dreaming. These sleep cycle adjustments should create favourable psychological and biological conditions for lucidity.
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Don Juan's technique
This technique is the one endorsed by Carlos Castaneda's guide, Don Juan, in the book Journey to Ixtlan. Before going to sleep one must look at one's hands and say to oneself: "Later, when I am dreaming, I will look at my hands and realise that I am dreaming." While dreaming, one must look at one's hands, then look around and repeat the procedure throughout the dream.[22][23]
See also: The Art of Dreaming (a book by Castaneda)
Induction devices
Lucid dream induction is possible by the use of a physical device. The general principle works by taking advantage of the natural phenomenon of incorporating external stimuli into one's dreams. Usually a device is worn while sleeping that can detect when the sleeper enters a REM phase and triggers a noise and/or flashing lights with the goal of these stimuli being incorporated into the dreamer's dream. For example flashing lights might be translated to a car's headlights in a dream. A well known dream induction device is the Nova Dreamer [24]; however, as of 2006, the device is no longer manufactured.
Other associated phenomena
REM Sleep. EEG highlighted by red box. Eye movements highlighted by red line.
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REM Sleep. EEG highlighted by red box. Eye movements highlighted by red line.
* Rapid eye movement (REM) and communication during sleep: during dreaming sleep the eyes move rapidly. Scientific research in the 1950s found that these eye movements correspond to the direction in which the dreamer is "looking" in his/her dreamscape; extraordinarily, this apparently enabled trained lucid dreamers to communicate the content of their dreams as they were happening to researchers by using eye movement signals. This research produced various results, such as that events in dreams take place in real time rather than going by in a flash.
* False awakenings: In a false awakening, one suddenly dreams of having been awakened. Commonly in a false awakening the room is identical to the room that the person fell asleep in, with several small subtle differences. If the person was lucid, he/she often believes that he/she is no longer dreaming, and may start exiting their room etc. Since the person is actually still dreaming, this is called a "false awakening". This is often a nemesis in the art of lucid dreaming because it usually causes people to give up their awareness of being in a dream, but it can also cause someone to become lucid if the person does a reality check whenever he/she awakens. People who keep a dream journal and write down their dreams upon awakening sometimes report having to write down the same dream multiple times because of this phenomenon.
* Sleep paralysis: During REM sleep the body is paralyzed by a mechanism in the brain, because otherwise the movements which occur in the dream would actually cause the body to move. However, it is possible for this mechanism to be triggered before, during, or after normal sleep while the brain awakens. This can lead to a state where a person is lying in his or her bed and he or she feels frozen. Hypnagogic hallucinations may occur in this state, especially auditory ones. People also generally report feeling a crushing sensation on their chest[25] (possibly because they try to consciously control their breathing). People trying to lucid dream sometimes try to trigger this state, or accidentally trigger this state, while using the WILD technique to enter a lucid dream directly when falling asleep.
Things to do
Some general ideas:
* Real-life rehearsal: Since the mental and physical effects of lucid dreaming are almost indistinguishable from real-life, dreamers can rehearse various things (such as stage performances, debates/arguments, soccer moves, etc.) in a lucid dream and readily apply that to real-life. It is possible to essentially repeat the events of a lucid dream as many times as the dreamer desires. As such, the dreamer can explore the effects of any course of action within that dream and/or refine their course of action to get a desired effect without resorting to directly willing the desired effect to happen.
* Look for artistic ideas.
* Spiritual practice: Some religions claim that lucid dream states give the dreamer a special kind of access to the spiritual world. It is claimed that by practicing prayer or meditation during a lucid dream, the dreamer can gain access to mystical states of awareness that would not be accessible from the waking state.[citation needed] Such practices are sometimes classified as "dream yoga".
* Experiment: Without restrictions from physics or society, one can do anything one desires when in a lucid dream. A few popular activities include flying, underwater exploration, having superhuman powers, sexual acts, drug use, unconventional, odd, or extreme forms of violence, and experimentation with extra limbs or otherwise modifying one's body.
* Face fears: Because pain does not exist in lucid dreaming, some dreamers use the dream state to face fears such as claustrophobia and acrophobia. Since one can control the interactions one has during the dream, facing fears in the lucid dream state can help manage fears in waking life.
* Practice talking to people: Some people use the experience of lucid dreaming to practice a conversation they probably wouldn't otherwise have. Some people believe that by talking to dream characters, they can gain a better understanding of the people they are talking to and of their own sub-conscious.
* Practice asking your self if you are awake or if you are sleeping. Ask your self this phrase 10 to 15 times a day: "Am I wake or am I asleep? Is this a dream or is this reality?" Asking your self this when you are awake will have an impact on you asking this in your dream. Once you ask it in your dream, you will realize you are dreaming and you will become lucid.
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Hope this helps some!
I enjoyed reading this, because I'm trying to do the same thing. All I got was a few semi-lucid dreams, but I keep trying. It is nice to read one more "attestation" that 
You said something porfound ,belive it or not, most psychiatrist donot know the way.
But anyway can you reword that last line because I dont understand it. What did you mean by this?