Hi everyone, I'm not sure if this is allowed here (mods can remove it if necessary), but I'm conducting research on Lucid Dreaming and Sleep Environments as part of a uni major project, and would like to share the link to a survey:

https://tally.so/r/Z95QNe

It's short - only 2-3 minutes and would help greatly in my research. Thank you!

It was about 3 months ago when I had my first lucid dream after just over 2 weeks of trying to do it. Everyday for 15 days at least 10 times a day I would count my fingers and pinch my nose while trying to breath and after 2 weeks it worked, I had my first lucid dream.

I was running down the stairs when out of nowhere I got the instinct to pinch my nose and I did, I breathed air. Immediately in my mind I thought: "I am dreaming" and at that moment I was at a white room with some kind of green cracks in the walls of the room and it was kind of glowing. Then I went on with my dream, but after 10 min, which I read was a long time in terms of lucid dreaming, I woke up and just after 2 min got back to sleep, then I again pinched my nose and lucid dreamed. Since then I have only had just 1 other lucid dream about 2 weeks ago which lasted no more than 20 seconds but it was like a lucid dream within my dream, not me realizing that I was lucid dreaming but my dreaming self dreaming that I was lucid dreaming, I don't know exactly because it was very short and I might not remember correctly.

Now my question is, why haven't I lucid dreamed again, even though I've done all the same tricks after all this time, and what else should I do to lucid dream?

I am considering a few induction methods right now as I am finding no success.
I'm interested in finding out more about ACILD since I don't have the time to dedicate to multiple WBTBs.

I tried putting a simple text tone (not an alarm where I have to get up and shut it off) on my phone to go off during my REM hours, but it just kind of woke me up. I adjusted the volume and set it to go off during my next cycle, but I didn't register it in my dream that night.

How to do ACILD?

Hey, I’m looking for some good reality-check ideas. I already know the classic ones like the nose pinch and hand/finger checks, but are there any other interesting or unusual ones that you guys use?

hello, last nigh when i fell asleep i had a weird experience. for context, i have already lucid dreamed but when i was around 6.

so I remember being really tired and falling asleep almost immediately and then I was dreaming but then i was awake (not quite since I was still really sleepy) and aware that i was in my bed. that happended like 3 times, where i was jumping between those states, and then it kinda came to me the feeling that I was going from a dream to awake. i wanted to jump back to the dream and suddenly i felt like i was free falling and i believe that i re entered the dream but i cant really recall anything else.

was that me entering a lucid dream? i cant really tell because it has happened to me before that i've dreamed that i was dreaming and then waking up (in my dream). idk if this made any sense, i hope that i explained myself. would love to hear someone elses thougths :)

Ever since I heard about Lucid dreaming i felt more and more interested and this summer i tried Lucid dreaming and I heard that I cannot Lucid dream in a week or month so i tried the MILD trick and it kinda worked and now I want some tips on how to lucid dreaming because after the MILD trick worked,I wanted to redo it but I couldn't so yeah I need some help for that

Don't know if this is the right place of if there's a better sub for this question but anyone know if it's possible to reach this state while being fully awake, without going to sleep? Tried searching but can't find anything about getting there without falling asleep. Or would it by definition not be the hypnagogic state unless you fall asleep? Is there a word for the same state while being fully awake?

I have aphantasia and occasionally I can get some faint visuals when I'm falling asleep so I would love to be able to enter that state on command.

To me it almost feels like something is in the way when I'm fully awake so I can't visualize and when falling asleep it lose control and let my brain work more freely.

BEFORE U READ JUST IGNORE MY BAD ENGLISH IDK ALOT OF THE FANCY TERMS USED

I woke up very early then went back to bed and then when i woke up in my dream

I was in 1st person and saw like a big yellow light infront of me and basically I’ve been wanting to go to this place for a long time in my dream so i got really excited and i tried to envision my hands and arms so then they appeared , and just to test my movement i jumped around a bit then i tried to go the place

I didn’t really know how to so i just thought “I’ll jus try envision the place” and i jumped through the yellow light to go there but instead I woke up as soon as i crossed it :/

I think maybe it’s coz i got too excited but idk ? How can I manage to stay asleep while im in the dream ?

Im scared of a dream I had last night

I 18f had the creepiest most realistic dream I’ve ever had, and i’m scared to sleep tonight. I never have dreams. Im a pretty heavy weed smoker so usually so fried I don’t even remember falling asleep but last night was different. I was having trouble falling asleep the usual tossing and turning, heavy eyes super tired but just can’t drift off for some reason. I always have on scary Reddit stories or true crime of some that effect so it wasn’t different for that night. After trying all the sleeping positions in the book I lay on my back which is NOT normal fhr me, I only do this when I can’t sleep I always sleep on my belly. I remember feeling like I was finally drifting off, at the point where my breathing is steady the tv sounds funny and im ready fhr it. I remember being stuck in thst state and starting to feel like something was extremely wrong. I remember wanting to grab my ohine my instincts were to reach for it and call my mom and tell her something wasn’t right. Then right before I wake up it’s like I realize what isn’t right and i realize I can’t grab my phone I can’t move my eyes are stuck half shut like there heavy and I need to see who’s beside me. But no one is supposed to be in my room not even my dog slept in room that night. When I woke up I was sweating I wanted to cry I was terrified. I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night and im wondering if maybe it was some sort of sleep paralysis?? I’ve never experienced anything like sleep paralysis or like last night. Im a huge believer in ghosts, spirits and signs in dreams but the house i live in was built by us it’s brand new. Please give me your thoughts or similar experiences.

This was probably my weirdest experience while sleeping. I could feel my real body as I was dreaming and I was trying to move it because I didn’t want to stay in bed all day. And so I was trying to wake up, but I could feel that my body was not moving and it was making me mad. What can I do differently to avoid this. I knew that I was dreaming too. Any ideas? I knew that I was lucid so I could’ve done anything cool in my dream but instead, I was at an abandoned house just chilling out. So mad.

Hello, I've never posted here, but I've been obsessed with dreaming, and specifically lucid dreaming for a very long time. I've always wanted to do it, but never have been able to. I have a note at my working desk reminding me to perform reality checks, and have various that I've been doing for more than a year now. I sometimes do them to fidget. Though I don't know if I want to reach full ADA due to my anxiety.

It's gotten to the point where I can vividly remember every dream I have as-if I'm watching them on a screen right in front of me, and my dreams have gotten so accurate to reality that they are indistinguishable, even when they're incredibly long and detailed. All the reality checks I've been able to train into myself ike checking if a clock is accurate, pinching my nose and breathing through it, pain, using technology, thinking about turning on/off lights without doing it or seeing if my finger passes through my hand don't work because my dreams account for all of it and are entirely realistic. I've never even done the scene change thing before where I'm suddenly in a new location, all my dreams are incredibly grounded, almost like following a movie script and never straying from the set.

The closest I've gotten is getting kicked out of the dream and watching it from an out-of-body first person perspective in a movie theater, but every time that happens, I always just sit down and watch without being fully aware that I'm in a dream. It feels like a rule. I don't know if I ever will be able to do it.

Has anyone else struggled with lucid dreaming like this, and were you able to solve it?

this is a dream i had a few days ago

I was lying on the operating table unconscious, the surgical light was illuminating my body leaving behind no shadows, and i was also the one performing surgery on myself. I cut open my stomach and everything was deep crimson inside. I made an incision from the centre of my chest to my lower abdomen and then I stuck my hand inside my own body, I could feel everything. I felt my own organs. I could feel my own hand inside my body, shuffling my organs around. It was all squishy and wet. It felt disgusting but also satisfying at the same time. I had an irresistible itch and wanted to scratch my organs. I grabbed my guts and pulled them out and then squeezed them as hard as i could and it all broke apart like wet sand or clay.

hey everyone i jus started a dream journal any tips that will help me with this lucid dreaming thing?

As far as I can remember, I’ve only had lucid dreams. I know I’m dreaming, but that doesn’t mean a dream can’t be scary.

And that’s what I want to talk about more! I remember from a young age, I could control my dreams. I do not control every aspect of it, but I can get out of a scary dream entirely, or change the outcome (small change). Is there anyone else here who can consistently control their dreams?

Because I’m able to, I thoroughly enjoy dreaming. I remember learning to fly in my dreams. I think I was 8 or 9? Running really fast till my feet were off the ground, but didn’t feel that was enough. Then I tried controlling more. I remember blanking out everything - the background turned completely white, I simply bent my knees, and it was like being in space, feet off the ground and I was hovering. Then I made myself move around, much like swimming in the air. What I find hardest is imagining how would things look like when you’re high up in the sky. I find a lot of dream control is simply how competent you are of imagining a scene. That’s the reason I don’t usually control too much of it, only when needed.

There were apocalyptic dreams, where I built a home in another part of space or a safe place on earth, like an island or planet, then a house, etc.
And minor changes where I sensed I was in danger and built a glass wall barrier. Or simply closing my eyes and imagining something different.

I do think it is hard, because it is possible to wake up when I’m doing this. And I wake up tired. But is it such immense fun.

There’s many instances where I made small changes, to building entire worlds in my dreams. I was just wondering if anyone else here has done the same? I would love to hear how you started and your techniques. Because I have read some others on here doing it differently from me. Anything about you controlling your dreams, really. Please share! I haven’t met many others IRL who can dream control. Only one.

I was trying to lucid dream for like a month, half a year ago I managed to do it, but only once and for like a few seconds. But today out of nowhere it just happened and I had my first Lucid dream that lasted longer. How does that work when I am trying to lucid dream I can't but now when I am not trying I just did it?

When I was a beginner to dream journaling, I've learned something which immensely boosted my dream recall. Basically, I started treating it like an essay for school on which you need hella words. I started describing every littlest detail about the dream I remember as extensively as I could. I know some people find it hard to lock in on journaling in the first place so this may not sound attractive, but it puts so much of your brain's focus on remembering the dream, that it quickly boosts your recall by a ton. If you just started journaling or about to, I can't recommend this enough.

Today I had a sleep paralysis and what normally happens is I just stay calm and get some tingling and then I go to a lucid dream but this time I couldn't get up after the tingling so i just fell back down still calm and then with no warning it literally felt like my heart got ripped off. I have never had a heart attack but that's how I would describe it. It lasted only 2 seconds but the pain was so real that I literally went WTF when normally im so calm but after that I was already up from the scare and got in the lucid dream I was wondering if anyone else experienced something like this I personally would not like to have it happen again :D

I tried for years to lucid dream, not very hard I didn’t want to put too much effort into it until around June of 2026 when I really tried hard and had my first couple of lucid dreams. Ever since then I don’t lucid dream, I have sleep paralysis. At least once a week sometimes more. I thought if I tried harder it would balance out but it didn’t and now I completely stopped trying at all. No more journaling no more reality checks and I’m still experiencing sleep paralysis. I tried fixing my sleeping schedule and making sure I’m getting proper sleep because the internet suggestion that could be the reason it’s happening but it doesn’t stop. Some episodes are interesting but most is just fear. Hearing and seeing someone walk into my room, a buzzing directly in my ear, someone touching me. Please make it stop.

Yesterday I was feeling extremely tired and fell asleep earlier than I usually do which resulted in me waking up around 2:30am.

I went to the bathroom then I didn't want to wake up the wife so I lay down on the couch and felt the same tiredness I had earlier wash over me.

I closed my eyes and I saw myself kneeling in the passage at home, next I was shot into space, this happened a few times.

Then the dream started, I was in a costal town along a straight road, I looked at my medical bracelet and it was on the wrong arm and the letters didn't make any sense.

I instantly realised that I'm 100% lucid in my dream and immediately took off flying.

I noticed at the beginning lucid dreaming, I was still conscious of my natural body, I could hear my breathing and talking in my sleep, there was a moment of a weird back and forth but going deeper into the dream it stopped becoming a distraction.

Another strange thing is I was feeling uncomfortable and wanted to wake up but I just woke up in another lucid dream where I was able to help someone and after that I fell into deep sleep ending the lucid dream.

I woke up excited and refreshed, absolutely beautiful experience.

About 2.5 years ago, I first learned about lucid dreaming. I got pretty obsessed and I know most of the conventional techniques like Wbtb, Ssild, Fild, and Mild, but I never had major success, probably because I'm prone to lose interest quickly. I'm not one of those people who think lucid dreaming can be achieved in half a week without much dedication, but I'm still inexperienced(five or six dilds by mostly pure chance), so I have some questions. I hope you can answer them.

1. I try wbtb, but I have a somewhat immunity to alarms. One time I literally put it in a safe and hid the key under a book stack, I don't even remember Turning that one off. It would probably be best if I quit wbtb and tried something else, but if any of you have fixes for it, I would be grateful

2. Whenever I end up in a dream, I end up rushing to check out the first thing that I see, and lose lucidity or wake up immediately. How do I remind myself to stabilize and do what I planned in waking life?

3. I want to try wild if possible, as I heard they were more realistic and easier to stay lucid (if I'm wrong about this please correct me) but I have trouble not getting excited when I notice the hypnagogia. How do I stay calm?

4. How necessary is dream Journaling? I do it sometimes when I have absolutely insane dreams, but I'm wondering if I have to do it more often.

Thank you in advance

I'm 55. I would lucid dream fairly regularly in the early 2010's (I was never as good as a lot of you - I'd only last a few seconds but it was still a thing)... but went through a phase of depression and meds that absolutely wiped that out.

I'm in much better mental and physical shape now, and I'm trying to get back into LD's. I've been working on it for about 4 months. I write things down. I've tried blue lotus and mugwort together and I've just started trying galantamine. I do a pre-sleep thing where I meditate and afterwards, tell myself to watch for this and that. I've got blinking lights on my phone that go off at certain times when I should be in REM sleep.

I can recall stuff. I have about 2 recalls a night, but I simply can't go lucid. I have a tulpa, which in my case isn't like what you read about in r/tulpa but something I use in a more conventional sense to kind of help with executive function, planning, and perspective, and in that vein I've tried developing her as a dream guide.

Three weeks ago I literally saw her in a dream and interacted with her and I STILL did not become aware that I was dreaming. I can't possibly think of a bigger cue than that.

4 months seems like an amount of time where I should be getting results. Can one try too hard to go lucid and create a block? Has something burned out with age or from the SSRI's I used to take? Is there something perhaps that I'm missing?

I’m curious how many people only dream in LUCID DREAMS? Is this common or uncommon? Does anyone have a similar story; starting as a child or only lucid dreaming?

Context:
I had my first lucid dream when I was 10 and since then
all of my dreams in my life have been lucid expect 1. When that happened it freaked me out. Waking up from a dream that was not lucid felt disorienting and I had to take a moment to tell myself it wasn’t real life. (Is that how it feels for normal dreamers every time?!)

I wasn’t exposed to the term of lucid dreaming nor did I know what it was until my mid-twenties when a friend told me he was trying to learn how to do it. He would explain what lucid dreaming was and I would reply, “That’s just dreaming.” The conversation when in a loop for a bit until he explained what his dreams were like and I explained mine. That’s when I found out I was a permanent lucid dreamer.