Hello!
Over the past few months I have developed a new method to lucid dream that I believe to be extremely effective (if done correctly!) and should dramatically increase the amount of lucid dreams you have per night...and over time you may find yourself lucid dreaming every night. This technique is essentially a variant of the MILD method, but differs in the fact that it avoids most of the setbacks that the MILD method has in being the "perfect" lucid dreaming method. If you have any constructive criticism/suggestions pertaining to the method please leave a comment below, as I'm always open to improving it! However, PLEASE DO NOT SKIP TO THE METHOD INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE PRIOR INFORMATION BELOW! I feel that knowing WHY this method works will be essential in how well you actually perform the technique.
The Setbacks of The Mild Method 1. The MILD method, and many of lucid dreaming methods, relies heavily on prospective memory. Prospective memory is defined as a form of memory that involves remembering to perform a certain action at a certain time. For example, remembering to put the cap back on your toothpaste after brushing your teeth every night is a form of prospective memory. In the case of the MILD method, prospective memory plays a major role, but in what way? Well, all those mnemonics
you are chanting to yourself(Tonight when I'm dreaming I will remember when I'm dreaming, ect.) are used to get yourself to remember to perform a certain action(remember you are dreaming) at a certain time(When you are dreaming). I hope that makes sense so far! Time for some neurology...
Prospective memory is mainly regulated by the Prefrontal Cortex which is the part of the brain responsible for holding that intention to remember something until a later time. Because of this relationship, it is easy to see that any inhibition to the Prefrontal Cortex would therefore inhibit prospective memory. Well that is exactly what happens during a dream: During a typical dream, one major area of the brain that is suppressed is the Prefrontal Cortex...which as a result should suppress prospective memory. If prospective memory is suppressed, than the overall effectiveness of the MILD method decreases.
Note: Prospective memory can still be effectively used to stimulate a lucid dream as it reinforces your intention to have a lucid dream which can actually increase the amount of lucid dreams you will have.
2. When you are in a dream, do you know you are dreaming? Of course not; if that were the case you would be lucid every night. You think you are still in real life, so it should seem fairly obvious that a mnemonic reminding yourself to become lucid when you are dreaming should intrinsically not be as effective as it should be. The mnemonic reinforcing the idea to become lucid when dreaming will become much less effective because we almost always simply assume we are awake, regardless of whether we are actually awake or not.
3. Another big part of the MILD method is reality checks. Let me ask you a question...when do you perform your reality checks? For most of you, the answer will be when you are sitting at home watching TV, switching between classes at school, taking your daily walk, ect. What all of these situations have in common is that they all are times with low stress or at times when you are not performing other activities. In a dream, however, you are busy slaying dragons and running from ghosts....you are nearly always doing another activity that takes away your focus from reality checks and therefore makes them less effective.
-Regardless of these setbacks, the MILD method is still a very versatile and effective technique for various other reasons and is in my opinion one of the best lucid dreaming techniques out there!
The Technique As a reward for getting through that wall of probably dull and boring information, I will tell you my technique first then go into the details. I think I will call this technique the CILD(Cue Induced Lucid Dream) method. You will find out why I call it that shortly!
1.Pick an event/activity that occurs ALL THE TIME in both your dreams and in reality. For example, do you talk/interact with other people daily in both your dreams and in reality? Do you run consistently in both your dreams and reality? The idea is to pick a very broad event, and the more constantly they happen in your dreams and reality, the more lucid dreams you are likely to have.
2. Every time you perform that event, become more aware of your environment and internally question if you are awake or not (Similar to the All day Awareness (ADA) technique. Read about it here:
All Day Awareness, A DILD Tutorial by KingYoshi). For example, when the event I chose occurs in reality, I become more aware of what is going on around me and think to my self "Am I really awake?..." The article on ADA really puts this concept of being "aware" into great terms. I highly suggest you read it. For most people, a reality check shouldn't even be needed to confirm whether you are awake or dreaming. Most of the time, if you are dreaming you will know once you truly question your surroundings, but if you want to perform a reality check at this point go for it.
3. That's it.
Why Does This Technique Work?(And further details on the CILD method) 1. You are reinforcing an association between performing the action picked and an awareness increased awareness(which leads to lucidity). This is why choosing an action you perform consistently in both waking life and dreams is crucial: You must be able to reinforce this association by practicing the technique in reality and, when the association becomes strong enough, will trickle into your dreams when you perform the same action and cause lucidity.
2. When practiced long enough, this association between the action performed and internal/external awareness will become more and more automatic and unconscious. And what state are you in when you are dreaming? Unconscious. The same parts of the brain responsible for creating this sort of unconscious memory are still activated in the dream. Therefore, this unconscious association is easily implemented into the dreamworld, causing lucidity every time you perform the picked action in the dream. Once you get to this point, the event/action you chose will be accompanied by an automatic heightened awareness every time.
3. You may be thinking "Hey, this technique uses prospective memory(Remembering to become more aware when performing the intended action). How is this an improvement to other Lucid Dreaming methods?" True, prospective memory IS used....at first. However, as the process of becoming more aware as you complete your picked action becomes more unconscious and automatic, prospective memory is no longer used as you are no longer consciously trying to remember anything. Becoming aware every time you run or interact with others(for example) just becomes automatic. This is why, and I stress, to be persistent with this technique because YOU WILL NOT BECOME LUCID DUE TO THIS TECHNIQUE UNTIL AN UNCONSCIOUS ASSOCIATION IS MADE between the event and increased awareness. And to make this unconscious association, you need to keep up and stay persistent.
4. As a continuation to the previous paragraph, through this method you are developing something called an implicit(unconscious) cue. A cue is defined as "a thing said or done that serves as a signal to an actor or other performer to begin their performance." In the case of this technique the "cue" is the activity performed(running, interacting with others, ect.) which serves as a signal for you to become more aware. Once an implicit cue is established through repetition and practice, this cue is all you need to become lucid. No prospective memory. No reality checks. Just the cue. Hence, I call this technique the Cue Induced Lucid Dream method.
-NOTE: This method is pretty difficult to perform at first. You may find yourself having trouble forming that association between your activity and your awareness, but as I said before stay persistent! It gets easier over time, and before you know it you will become aware every single time you perform your activity without even thinking about it...and the same thing will happen in your dreams.
Well, that's it! As I said before please leave as many suggestions as possible to help further improve this method and try it out yourself! Ever since I started using this method, my lucidity count skyrocketed and I would love to hear how it works for others. Thanks for reading!
