When I woke up from a vivid dream last night, I wondered: what now? Anchor? MILD? Meditation? Thinking about @The Lucid Guides latest video ("ILD technique") I didn't want to focus too much on a technique, but rather on the right mindset. BUT.
While thinking about it, a memory suddenly popped into my head: in 2005, I was in medical rehab for a few months, and additional to physiotherapy, they offered classes like yoga, qigong and meditation, even self-hypnosis. I remembered that one of those classes taught us a meditation technique that worked so well for me that it felt like I lost touch with the waking world a few times.
EDIT: As Marcelo Braga rightfully pointed out further below, losing touch with the waking world is usually NOT the point of meditation, quite the opposite. When I said this medition "worked so well for me", I meant to say that I had a very strong reaction to it. It did feel a couple of times as if I was entering a dream.
Wait a minute...
Thinking back to it, I realized that this meditation was actually very, very close to the SSILD technique! I suspect this memory popped up because I read @Marcelo Bragas post yesterday where he mentioned that the SSILD technique had worked for him, and I re-read the description of SSILD afterwards.
So I tried the meditation last night as I remembered it from rehab, but couldn't get it to work as well as it did for me back then. I lost focus pretty quickly, and then just fell asleep without experiencing hypnagogia (which I experience rather often) or entering the dream world. I did have a very clear, vivid dream later in the night, though! How can I keep the focus on a sense without getting too aware or falling asleep too soon?
I feel like I want to play around with this more. One problem I have is that when I try to focus on a sense, I can't stop myself from counting in my head, which is counter-productive! I think I'm counting because I remember that I was supposed to do a few quicky cycles, then a few slow cycles, just like in SSILD...
isn't ssild a kind of meditation? Paying attention to my senses during meditation is a lot easier for me than paying attention to my breath.I think that if it's counterproductive or not, varies from person to person. For example, I have problems with losing focus, so this actually might be better strategy for me (thanks for sharing! Haha). Like with everything else, you have to find what works for you, so there's no harm in experimenting and tweaking. I feel like most of these 'forum created' techniques are very subjective and people who are coming up with them are writing the steps like if it were set in stone. "This exact approach worked for me, so it has to work for you."
Since I wrote this post, I've watched a few videos by german Youtubers who spoke about the SSILD technique.
One of them proposes to adapt the technique slightly: focus on sight, then ask yourself two times "What do I see?", then same with hearing, "What do I hear?", and touch, "What do I feel?". This is supposed to prevent your attention from shifting. After this, you ask yourself "What will I think next?" and that is supposed to sort of short-circuit your mind so you have no thoughts at all.
I feel like this goes against the "philosophy" of the technique. CosmicIron, the maker of the technique, cautions against trying too hard when focusing on the senses, after all! I think I'll try it, because what's the harm in it? But to be honest, I'm very skeptical if this is not counter-productive.
What do you think?
"About meditation you are misunderstanding, meditation is not to "lost touch with the waking world" it is the opposite." Oh, in general, with any other meditation, I would agree with you, absolutely! I think I might have worded wrong what I wrote. When I said this medition "worked so well for me", I meant to say that I had a very strong reaction to it. But this specific self-hypnosis meditation that we did back then, I focused on my senses, one by one, and eventually felt the waking world went quiet and then was far away and a few times I felt like I was entering a dream. And since it basically was the same as what is described in the SSILD technique, in retrospect I wonder if that's actually what it was! ADA or mindfulness is something I'm striving for every day, but certainly still need to work on.
Hi Mikka!
I am Certainly no authority in LD. But I have some experience with self-hypnosis and meditation. I practice every day, I use induction from hypnoses than I start to meditate when my mind is really still.
About meditation you are misunderstanding, meditation is not to "lost touch with the waking world" it is the opposite. In between many lucid dreams techniques there is one called ADA, it is basic a 24 hours meditation.
I started my path in LD few months ago, had success, and fail, and fail... Once I woke up in LD land I become obsessed. I started to do 1000 techniques a day, I was doing RC 50 times a day, I was trying really hard!
Have you ever had a problem and you can not find the answer no matter how hard you try? Than some day you stop and go do something else, forget about, suddenly the answer came to you effortless.
This week I did this, I stop doing RC completelly, When I sleeping and wake up am not caring if I was dreaming, I am not using my journal. I was not talking about or reading nothing related to LD.
Yesterday, I was watching TV lying in my bed, I started to nap. than I felt the vibration, wow!!! In seconds I was rolling out of my bed! without effort!
Am I saying LD is easy and effortless? NO WAY! It is very hard!!! But sometimes you have to step back, take a deep breath and do something else.
I watched the ILD video and I think what Daniel meant was that one technique is not solving everything, you have to discover how your brain works, be a detective. You are inside your brain, the best way to do that is to clear your mind of all thoughts and intention.
Again, I am not a LD authority, but I think like meditation and self hypnosis, LD is a form of self knowledge. You ar going in, not out.
About SSILD, it is a fantastic technique, but you have first find out what is going on with your brain. If you want to train your focus the best way is meditation, use a mantra or count breaths. SSILD works for me when I do wbtb and have trouble to go back to sleep.
Good luck and do not forget breathe!
When I woke up last night, I tried the meditation again and could focus on it a lot better.
I did not become lucid, but had extremely clear dreams later in the night, very real – it did not occur to me at all that they might be dreams. I wonder if it's an effect of the meditation or just a result of dream journaling. Well, or just a fluke. But I do feel that I was pretty close.