*HELP* Getting into Dreams and Lucidity

[AuroraSkies]

Hey guys, I have been reading this forum a lot and thought it would be the perfect place to share my current problem.

I literally only found out about lucid dreaming a few days ago and I would love nothing more than to be able to do that one day. The thing I have trouble with in the first place, is actually dreaming.

What happens is that when I go to sleep, I don't experience my dreams. I'll try to explain. I went to bed last night and constantly told myself that I would remember what I dreamt about when I woke up. When I woke up this morning, I just had one single image of a kitchen in my mind (boring, I know ). I was really happy that I had remembered it but that is where my problem is coming from. When I wake up, I have a fleeting glimpse of an image or idea but I can never experience the actual dream itself.

Rather than going to sleep and dreaming about a kitchen, moving around in it and interacting with it, I just wake up with a single image of that place. No memory of doing anything there during my dream.

I will also tell you that I experience Deja vu quite often. Usually every few weeks. When I am having a conversation or walking down a street, I will suddenly feel as if I have seen and heard all of it before. Presumably in a dream but I can never experience them.

I am very sorry if this is all very confusing but I will try one last thing.

To have a lucid dream, you must be experiencing/having a dream and then realise that you are dreaming (thus taking control of the dream). My problem stems from the fact that I cannot realise it is a dream, if I am not experiencing it at the time. I have a flashback when I wake up but by then it is too late.

So I ask if any of you would be able to help me figure out this problem so that I can one day experience normal and lucid dreams

[AuroraSkies]

Also, when I woke up this morning (9th Aug), I couldn't recall anything at all about my dreams. This was without moving at all and trying really hard to remember. I also ate banana just before bed last night which should have helped the intensity of my dreams. Not sure where to go from here!

[LucidLink]

Keep up every thing your doing, but try this.

first sleep in for an extra two hours if possible. It should easier to experience these dreams because you'll be more awake then normal because this is extra sleep you don't need.

Also after 5 hours of sleep, wake up by setting an alarm beforehand. If you don't remember any dreams after 5 hours of sleep thats ok, go back to bed and wake yourself up again in 45 minutes. Now and try and remember a dream, if you can't its ok. Go back to bed and wake yourself up again in 45 minutes, and try to remember any dreams.

repeat this process intill you wake up, and this will give you quite a few different chances to remember and experience the dream.

after all these tries, its just about guaranteed you'll remember a dream after atlesst one!

plus don't forgot the extra sleep, I never remember any dreams either unless I sleep in.

[ Post made via Windows Smartphone ]

[AuroraSkies]

I am thinking of trying the Wake back to bed method but I will be going to work early in the morning. Would it be possible for me to wake up 5 hours after I go to bed then sleep the 3 or so hours until I have to get up? The thing is that I have some trouble getting to sleep.

And what are your thoughts on Calea Z or other herbs/food that increase lucidity of dreams. Should I use them. I don't want to have to rely on them in order to have lucid dreams

[ Post made via Android ]

[LucidLink]

I am thinking of trying the Wake back to bed method but I will be going to work early in the morning. Would it be possible for me to wake up 5 hours after I go to bed then sleep the 3 or so hours until I have to get up? The thing is that I have some trouble getting to sleep.

And what are your thoughts on Calea Z or other herbs/food that increase lucidity of dreams. Should I use them. I don't want to have to rely on them in order to have lucid dreams

[ Post made via Android ]

yes you can try this strategy with only the 3 yourse you have left before work, but if you have trouble falling asleep it may leave you tired during the day.

id say this practice will have best results on the days you have off where you can sleep in as long as you please.

and here's a tip to help you fall asleep. I think a lot of people have this problem simply because your trying to hard. Your trying to fall asleep, but that's not how it works.

they key is not to try to fall asleep but instead do the opposite. Just lie there, and get as relaxed and confortable and possible, now here's the hard part but try not to have complex thoughts or these will keep you awake thinking, the key is tojuat relax. Relax your mind, relax your muscles and get as confortable as possible. Now as your relaxing I bet you fall right asleep without even noticing it!

the last thing you wanna do is start to panic and think "I should be asleep I need to fall asleep right now!"

and finally, I actually highly recommend calea z, I've experienented with it myself with great results. But you said the key idea yourself, don't depend on them. You use them sparingly, maybe twice a month as a nice little treat.

[ Post made via Windows Smartphone ]

[AuroraSkies]

I tried the Wake Back To Bed method last night with absolutely no results.

I went to bed at 10 but set my alarm for 4:30am because I knew that it takes me about 30 mins to get to sleep (if not more). When I woke up at 4:30, I got up and went to the toilet. I walked around for about 5 minutes, then I went back to bed and listened to the audio of this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUonnnlEj-8&feature=youtu.be). Keep in mind that I didn't look at any screens or light for this whole 15 minutes that I was awake.

I then listened to that 10 minute video and tried to relax but I couldn't really. I finished the video and sat there in silence. I willed each part of my body to relax and his worked, but my brain wouldn't shut up (probably the reason why I have trouble getting to sleep normally). I eventually got to sleep but I woke up at 6:30am with no memory of any dreams (fuzzy, lucid or vivid). Also, when I woke up at 4:30am, I had no memory of any of my dreams before that either.

Maybe I'm just not supposed to be a lucid dreamer. If I can't even remember or experience my dreams, how can I realise that they are happening?

[AuroraSkies]

Maybe I am just rushing into it too fast. I was just so excited about lucid dreaming when I first heard about it. At the moment, it is all I can think about. Do you think that the fact I cannot recall/experience my dreams, is due to me being to over excited when I try to go to sleep? I might try to relax and not think about it for a few days and see if that works

[ Post made via Android ]

[AuroraSkies]

I am so jealous! I just asked my brother and he told me that he has vibrant dreams almost every night

I know that everybody dreams differently, but is there a way that I do have vibrant dreams but I am somehow forgetting them by the time I wake up? How could I unlock them if that is the case?

[AuroraSkies]

I didn't think about it too much last night and I ended up remembering a dream that I had last night. It wasn't just a still image either. It was a whole scene that was set in a bar. Hopefully I am starting to get it! Just need to relax

[AuroraSkies]

The same thing happened last night. I went to bed and tried to relax and not think about lucid dreaming too much, and I had a really vivid dream. It was a GTA V race but a bunch of my family and friends were all in the game with me and we were all in different cars. I was winning the race when an attack helicopter chased me and blew me up. When I "spawned" back in, I was immediately in the attack chopper. I flew up higher to a bridge above me. There was a giant eagle the size of my helicopter there, and we had a really cool midair dogfight. I don't know who won. Then, all of a sudden, I was standing on the bridge with one of my friends and we were playing with and feeding that giant eagle, except it wasn't injured anymore. Last of all, I went to the end of the bridge and sat with a few more of the people I know and we were taking photos. Then I woke up.

This was my first full on vivid dream. I must also state that I did not become lucid at any stage throughout the dream but the fact that I could remember it in so much detail is amazing to me. I must finally be getting there!

Also, I woke up from the dream at about 3 and wrote in my dream journal before going to the bathroom. As I got into bed again, I saw my brother's light turn on and he went to the bathroom as well. When I talked to him this morning, he told me that he had a similar dream where we were in GTA V and he was shooting me in an attack helicopter