Can I Learn To LD At Will?

When I first got into lding a few months ago I established a goal that eventually I want to reach a point where I can ld at will. What I mean is being able to recognize that I’m dreaming every single time. I know that it could take years but I want to know if this is possible. Can anyone tell me if you’ve learned to naturally ld and how long it took you?

well Stephen LaBurge (sp?), the master of LDs, says that he can LD at will, so im guessing its possible, just very very hard. :bored:

I think he said it took him 2 years.

yeah but he also said that he had been having LDs without trying to (natral LDer) long before he really got into it

Mb even in my best time not every dream was a ld.

But some will…depends on talent for the best, and below that level…talent and dedication! All my afternoon naps were lucid when i was very busy with lds. But thats cheating an afternoon nap for a ld is way easier then having always one at night ld :smile:
i heared some ppl here saying every dream was a ld. And why not…

Jeff

Ahhhhhh…My Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D., is a research associate at Stanford University’s sleep and dream laboratory. He is founder of the Lucidity Institute in Palo Alto, California, and is author of Lucid Dreaming and Exploring the World of Lucid Dreams. IS MISSING!!! I will be going to get another copy and, oh boy!!! I suggest you get one too.

This book Is one of the “KEYS” to Lucid Dreaming. Along with this Forum :smile: .

Oh yes it possible. Stephen says so :smile:. Since the book is missing I also forget how long it took him.

I am to the point to where I have at least 3 a month.

I think it’s possible. It’s definitely the ultimate goal for me: to stay lucid all night (even while sleeping).
I’ve noticed that when I’m really thinking all day long about LDs (like I did last summer a lot) I could get up to a 2-4 LDs a night and this for 2 or 3 nights in a row. But it’s hard to hold on to this. You must stay concentrated all the time, constantly thinking or imagining that everything is a dream. Perhaps if you have a really really strong intention you could learn pretty fast how to have them as often as you like. It really depends on your natural talent, on your motivation and on the techniques you’re using.
Within a few years I’ll probably go to Tibet for a long time. With the aid of these people my goal will become reality I hope :smile:

Allnight mystic??? you then also need to be lucid in the deep sleep or u aint get enough deep sleep. Rem sleep is not enough for body.
Mm some ppl set there goals high lol :wink:

Jeff

It’s definitely possible to stay lucid for a long time during deep sleep. Although it’s much harder than learning to stay lucid in dreams I think LSing (lucid sleeping) can be learned in a reasonable time period (5-10 years or so, depends on your natural talent) with LOTS of practice ofcourse :smile:

By lucid sleeping, do you mean that you are always aware when you are asleep, when you go into your rem, ect.?
I am sometimes aware that I am asleep in bed and I ask myself if I have dreamed yet or not.

Yes, lucid sleeping is the same principle as lucid dreaming: staying fully lucid/conscious while you’re supposed to be unconscious. So basically this means you stay fully conscious from the moment you fall asleep until you wake up in the morning, all the way through your sleep stages and REM sleep.
A little information about why someone wants to stay lucid during sleep: Buddhist monks can do this (ofcourse after decades of practice). Their motive is to be able to stay fully lucid at the moment of death. They believe that after death we’ll go through 6 levels of confrontation with our own illusionary lives we’ve led (they call them bardo) before we are reborn again in a new cycle. These bardo states will be shown to us in the form of dreamlike images. There are three possibilities of how we can interprete them:

  • If you didn’t learn how to stay lucid during the night, you’ll identify yourself with these images and you’ll be thrown back into the cycle of life and death (this happens to 99.99% of world population)
  • If you learned to really master yourself in LDing (dream yoga), you’ll probably recognize the images of the higher bardo states as illusions. The result is that either you’ll be born again and in the next life you’ll certainly find enlightenment, or either you’ll enter nirwana right away.
  • If you learned to master yourself in LSing (sleep yoga), you’ll experience death and the 1st bardo fully conscious (and ofcourse the following bardo images). Then you’ll certainly enter nirwana.

Sounds like a good reason to me to practice this :content:

[EDIT: All the above is only the main belief system of a particular buddhistic sect (Dzok-chen), so these are no absolute objective facts, only a certain point of view]

mystic: Wow! That’s really interesting! I didn’t know that! Now I have other reason to work on my LDs! :grin:

LDing at will: that’s a very ambitious goal, and to get there one needs talent and discipline. I like the idea and I think it’s possible but personally I choose a “step-by-step” approach so I can already celebrate the fact of having more LD’s this month than last month, otherwise wanting it all too fast too soon (and the disappointment about not reaching that goal) would influence my dedication very badly.

Has anyone gotten to the point where they have like 5 lucid dreams per night. If so how long did it take?

mystic, thanks, now I remember why I kept a break from these forums :wink:

lol, jk :smile:

I’d thought you would reply to this one :wink:
As I said: it’s only a point of view. Perhaps there’s nothing after death. If someone can actually PROVE that, I’ll be the first to reconcile (English?)myself to this.
But since we simply can’t know it, people have created various explanations just to have something to hold on to. It’s a remedy for the shroud of uncertainty which surrounds death one has to live with.
I don’t have a problem with other opinions. They could be more true than mine. As long as we respect each other opinions.
Take care.

As I said, it was a joke :smile:

Anyway, I respect your point of view and don’t get me wrong, I do believe in God and that theres heaven and all (yeah, naiive, aint I :happy: ) and I give two thumbs up for enlightenment, but I think you don’t have to die and wait for your next life, if there is one, to be enlightened. The one base pilar of zen buddhism is, that enlightenment can be achieved in this life if you just really dedicated for achieving it.

I totally agree with you :smile:
I think Dzok-chen acknowledges this too, but they are more focused on how to handle with death and what lies beyond.

Im unsure about the idea of LS.While knowing that we can extend lucid time to enormous lenghts just in one REM period i find it hmmm…not really needed.Additionally id think it wouldnt be too healthy or restfull.

I’m sure it’s possible, but that doesn’t make it a good target. I’d just aim for having x more Ld’s than you do at the moment.

Buddhism sounds like, for the most part, a really reasonable religion. They’re open-minded, which is a good thing (they’re supposed to “question everything”). Although, there is the whole vegetarian thing, which I don’t agree with, but it’s definitely the religion I like most.

edit - I forgot to mention, it’s apparently unhealthy to Ld all the time. Dreams are (according to Freudian psychology) there for your subconscious to try out the stuff it can’t do in real life, without feeling guilty. So being conscious means you can feel guilt, which takes away the whole point