主题:Lucid Dreaming Techniques Messing With My Sleep Pattern.Are you attempting lucid dreaming as soon as you go to bed?
You absolutely are, common mistake people new to this is they try to go 100% doing every technique they read. Along with this, you are keeping yourself awake with anticipation, which you will hopefully get past eventually so you can be in the right mind set to LD.
You say you fall asleep in seconds with Net Flix, you should stick to just MILD or just WILD if thats the case. If you really fall asleep in seconds, I think you have a shot at getting reliable results out of either of those techniques if you practice them enough.
keep it up, but don't try to force it so hard; you'll just burn out completely and lose any desire to keep this up long term (Which is needed to really be consistent with lucid dreaming)
Meditation, IMO, creates a state of mind which not necessarily is compatible with better sleep or lucid dreaming. In fact, more often it can have adverse effects. This is the very reason that I don't encourage people to mix SSILD with meditation, relaxation, and other techniques that involve mental activities. The proper way to do SSILD is the "quick and dirty" way. Wake up after a few hours of sleep, stay awake for just a few minutes then return to bed while still drowsy. Perform the cycles without any sort of mental effort (concentration, expectation, suggestion, analysis, and so on), just as if it's the mandatory routine you have to perform before going to sleep, such as brushing your teeth. After a few cycles, which shouldn't take you more than 15 minutes, you should drop everything and go to sleep. You do NOT need to think about lucid dreaming and keep that as the last thing in your mind as you drift into sleep. If you must tell yourself a little story and do some role playing to help yourself to sleep, then do it! If you have to count lambs, by all means go ahead!
With SSILD, do not expect it to work right away. You should have a very relaxed attitude. The bottom line is to be able to sleep quickly and soundly. Treat SSILD itself as a relaxation method and sleep aid, and consider the resulting LDs as an added benefit! The SSILD cycles, if used correctly, indeed have a hypnotic effects. It is very similar to Betty Erickson's self-hyponosis method.
Meditation is useful for cultivating the feeling of lucidity. If you are mindful of your surroundings in the waking world, you are more likely to pay attention in a dream. In fact meditation can be the practice of NOT exerting any mental effort, like concentration, expectation, etc. It helps you relax and pay attention to your body and mind states without forcing things. Very helpful if you are serious about lucid dreaming.
That is, if you do it correctly. But how many average people can do that? I was a trained zen Buddhist since more than two decades ago, and I know what proper meditation is, how much effort it needs for average people to learn it the proper way.
Eh, I think most people are pretty capable of successfully meditating. There are lots of ideas out there about the proper way to meditate but it can be approached and taught in ways that are simple, accessible, and non-religious, although they require real effort, consistent practice, and often guidance. I think average people are very capable of meditating and seeing benefits.
There is such a thing as trying to hard.
I experienced this myself after first discovering LDing. I slept like a baby and would knock out in under 5 minutes. I started practicing techniques and it would take me an hour to sleep sometimes.
I decided I would take a week off to try and lessen the pressure. I remembered 4 dreams that night and had my first Lucid. I had no recall for 2 entire weeks before this