I really struggle to visualize myself being lucid in a dream, whether just in general or a specific dream I’ve had. I believe this is a tool used in the WILD technique. Any tips on how to improve this skill? Maybe it can be as simple as picturing the scene and saying to myself “I’m dreaming- this is a dream”, however that image doesn’t really translate into the felt sense of un-reality that accompanies a true lucid dream. There’s something experiential about that shift and that’s the piece that I can’t seem to generate.
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I believe the daytime practices bleed into the night and therefore the more we do in the day, the better it gets at night. It’s not a linear progression, but more of a wave that goes up and down. We have to ride the wave and continue with daily practices. Everyone seems to develop their own methods and there are so many in the books about mindfulness and meditations in the daytime. I’ve been doing this for a while and see improvements in my ability to have and recall dreams (Job 1) and getting lucid (job 2). If you attend any of the Dream Group Sanghas you can get a first-hand report about what others are doing, often better than just reading about it.
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Thanks so much. I am looking forward to joining the Lucidity Induction Group when that starts up. In regards to my general difficulty achieving lucidity (I didn’t mention the particular sub-issue I described above), he did suggest working more on the daytime practices, since that’s what matters most in the end anyways. I’m currently making my way through Dreams of Light.
I also had a (non-lucid) dream a few nights ago that I felt was a clear sign about what texts to read next, so that is my plan 
We’ll see how it goes.
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There’s also a Dream Group Meeting at 11AM EST, the second and fourth Saturday of the month led by our resident Dakini MaryAnn. You should get notifications for that as well. She does a nice job of seeding techniques and if it’s an interest of yours, maybe drop by there as well.
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I did drop by there once Thanks for the suggestion.
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This is it!
Question about your original post:
If you’re experiencing challenges with visualization, I was hoping you could clarify if this is similar to aphantasia – the inability to form mental images – or if it’s specifically about visualizing a certain dream you wish to induce. There is a different technique for addressing each issue differs.
For more in-depth information on aphantasia, you can refer to this detailed article.
In the case of visualizing a specific dream, the approach aligns more closely with ‘dream incubation’.
One effective technique, which I have personally found successful (although it requires me to be quite tired, otherwise it just gives me a good case of insomnia 
), involves a combination of counting and affirmation. After counting each number, gently remind yourself, “this is a dream.” This method often involves resetting the count once the number gets high. Add in a meditation on what you’d like to incubate just before going to bed and there isna good chance the dream incubation will be successful. I can find videos from a guy that is a very good lucid dreamer if you’d like more info on this one. I only have very basic understanding of this technique and the majority is from what I’ve read about it.
When it comes to Wake-Initiated Lucid Dreams (WILDs), the key factors are different. It’s more about timing your REM cycles accurately, patience, and maintaining a meditative mindset that allows your body to enter sleep paralysis. Staying calm when the hypnagogic state arises is crucial. The final challenge is to let your mind drift into sleep naturally while retaining a subtle level of awareness. The last part is often the most difficult. It requires experience and can lead to two common outcomes: either you fall asleep completely or you disrupt the dream transition due to excitement. If the transition is interrupted, you might face a new waiting period of about 5-30 minutes before your body attempts to fall asleep again.
Then what you were discussing about visualizing could be applied to a WILD, during dream transition you could begin thinking and visualizing what kind of dream you’d like to form and a version of your concept will appear as the dream forms around your awareness.
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Amen!
Since i posted the predictions that Amanda Lorence said in her video i posted im now getting formless realm Beings coming and showing me future events. Its a bit like when you looking online shopping for say a tent, then everywhere you surf online theres lots of advertisements for tents! 
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How amazing is that! Are these alterable or not specific enough for that? Andrew talks about one airplane crash and the person who saw it and tried to warn people about it to no avail!
I have enough trouble keeping up with the present moment, let alone what will happen in the future. 
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It would appear to be! The dots all connect up. Ive had these a lot before. What ive come to realise like you say, what do do in the day bleeds into night, meaning i need to be more careful about what im doing. Plus what do you do with the information?
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I don’t have problems visualizing things in general- I don’t have aphantasia. I can easily picture the dream scene and myself back in it. It is the “felt sense” of clearly experiencing the scene as illusory, knowing experientially that it is a dream. I have had one true lucid dream as well as one waking experience where I knew my external reality was unreal in this way and it feels/felt categorically different than the intellectual understanding that it is “unreal”. What I have struggled to capture when imagining myself back in the dream is this felt sense.
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Observation and patience. I also say thank you father whenever I recognize deeper experiences. Time to experience and enjoy the Tao for a bit 
.
As the book says, the depths are infinite, never know what new experiences could be around the corner.
monk: why do you teach mind is buddha?
teacher: to teach a baby to stop crying.
when the baby stops, what then?
teacher: then i teach not mind, not buddha.
monk: how about someone who isn’t attached to either?
teacher: i would tell her not beings.
what if you met a woman unattached to all things?
teacher: I would just let her experience the great tao.
-Tao Te Ching
Going for another listen 
. Such a good book!
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Are you paying attention to your bodily feelings and sensations?
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In waking life, it in the dream? Either way, to say I feel it in my body is more of a metaphor to express the difference. It’s a total shift of consciousness, turning something upside down. It’s not something I can imagine in my dream any more than I can experience in waking life on command.
Maybe there isn’t a real answer here and it’s just something that will come in time!
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that is a lovely answer.
There will certainly be new experiences when what i was shown happens. And yes time to enjoy the Great Tao.
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The OP was a bit confusing, not 100% sure what you are asking.
Based off of this statement, it sounds like this may be a question related to Illusory Form Practices.
Have you read Andrews Dreams of Light, & Listened to his commentary videos on it?
Around the 12min mark of the vid, he dives into the basics.
Im no expert, this would be a great question for Andrew, but I think the ‘Felt’ sense you are describing was a Taste of Pure Illusory form. We lives our lives in Impure Illusory form, and this habit makes the pure and perfectly pure illusory form felt sense very difficult to tap into. If you want to ramp up the latter 2, then ramp up your illusory form practices, ‘faking it’ in the beginning, until you make it.
I had a really powerful experience of this the other day doing Shamatha meditation with eyes open, the colors of the surroundings became extra vivid, it was crazy dreamlike. This increase in vividness often happens when I do serious whole hearted reality checks, but yesterday was far more powerful than others, it was one I felt in my bones this is really my mind ‘dreamining’ the vividness or opening the flood gates to awareness…
Not sure if this answers your question, but hope it helps
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Amen
Heres the plane video you were talking about
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Thanks. Back when I wrote the OP I was assuming everyone experienced that moment of, or transition into, lucidity the same way. It quickly became clear that this isn’t the case. We probably just experience it differently, hence my OP being confusing. How to describe something that defies description in the first place? It reminds me of the analogy used in Mahamudra teachings, of giving chocolate (or sugar) to someone who is mute- they can taste it, but are unable to describe it. It enters into the realm of things that are perhaps best conveyed through metaphor, or art.
I have read Dreams of Light and I do want to go through all the recordings but haven’t yet. It is on my (very, very long) list of things to read or listen to! It takes him so long to go through a book that listening to everything could be a full time job
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Yes Metaphor and art is the way to do it, I think this is why Jesus used this technique so much, how else do you speak the ineffable?
I think you you have the creative skills to find a way to describe it with words, just might take some contemplation.
Its possible, but I think more likely you will find people who have experienced what you are talking about, and even some or many who may have the same question you do, just couldnt find a way to articulate it. If you cant get an answer here, I think Andrew will be able to help you with this.
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