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The only thing that ever reliably worked for me was laying down to sleep and staying entirely still but "typing" my name with my fingers in incredibly subtle mo

The only thing that ever reliably worked for me was laying down to sleep and staying entirely still but "typing" my name with my fingers in incredibly subtle motions over and over again. Something about it let's your body fall asleep but keeps your mind just barely awake. Also doing this after waking up in the middle of the night is highly effective. The only thing was that instead of realizing i was in a dream while inside it, o was fully aware while undergoing the transition from awake to sleep which was... somewhat disturbing. Usually you forget the exact moment you fall asleep by the time you wake up, but i distinctly remember a dark cloud descending over my mind, flowing past me. Then a skeleton hand reached out from the cloud and i _felt_ it grab my shoulder. It tried to whisper something to me, maybe it did and i can't remember what it said. It was giving "you shouldn't be here" vibes though. Then as quickly as the state came, it left and i was fully awake and aware, standing on a street in my neighborhood. I tested the fidelity of the dream world by scrutinizing the tiniest details of the visuals, sounds, smells, physical sensations of the world and the acuity of simulation appeared perfect to me. I can't be sure that sensation wasn't part of the dream but i literally bent down and took a flower apart, piece by piece, it had water in the stem, smells grassy when i crushed it, and the closer i looked the more detail everything had. It honestly shifted my perception of reality a lot

Scubabear68 3y ago
Interesting. I have had success going into a lucid dreaming state by locking my hands together with the fingers interleaved with each other, with both hands resting on my chest. Perhaps something about hands is a unique sensory input?
macrolime 3y ago
Variations of this technique is what has worked for me also. The trick is to focus your attention on something as you fall asleep, it doesn't have to be imaginary typing. Keeping attention focused as you fall asleep after you go to bed is hard, but doing it after you awake at night is quite easy if you don't wake up too much. The best way I have found to wake up just the right amount is to use a wristwatch with a vibrating alarm and set that to go off maybe two hours before I'd normally wake up. When it goes off, turn it off with as little movement as possible. It seems important to keep almost perfectly still. Using this I have been able to observe the transition to a dream quite gradually by watching hypnagogic patterns (the noise you see in the dark) turn from colored blobs and noise slowly into objects before transition gradually into an immersive scene. I find it quite hard to stay in the dream though, and usually wake up after a couple minutes.

Scubabear68 3y ago

Interesting. I have had success going into a lucid dreaming state by locking my hands together with the fingers interleaved with each other, with both hands resting on my chest. Perhaps something about hands is a unique sensory input?

macrolime 3y ago

Variations of this technique is what has worked for me also. The trick is to focus your attention on something as you fall asleep, it doesn't have to be imaginary typing. Keeping attention focused as you fall asleep after you go to bed is hard, but doing it after you awake at night is quite easy if you don't wake up too much. The best way I have found to wake up just the right amount is to use a wristwatch with a vibrating alarm and set that to go off maybe two hours before I'd normally wake up. When it goes off, turn it off with as little movement as possible. It seems important to keep almost perfectly still. Using this I have been able to observe the transition to a dream quite gradually by watching hypnagogic patterns (the noise you see in the dark) turn from colored blobs and noise slowly into objects before transition gradually into an immersive scene. I find it quite hard to stay in the dream though, and usually wake up after a couple minutes.