Task-Triggered Lucidity
Introduction
Task-Triggered Lucidity, is the creation of dream researcher Daniel Love. It presents a novel, straightforward and logical approach to lucid dreaming.
This technique leverages our brain's inherent strength in remembering and focusing on practical tasks, as opposed to abstract concepts.
Veering away from traditional practices that involve repeating mantras, complex visualisations, and attempts to induce philosophically abstract and hard-to-imagine concepts such as "consciousness" or "lucidity", Task-Triggered Lucidity simplifies the approach and focuses on the brain's strengths.
It works by focusing on a straightforward and easy-to-perform task, with minimal requirements, that one imagines performing with the intention to remember to do it in the very near future.
This uses nothing more complex than the mindset one invokes when attempting to remember to perform a simple task in waking life (such as remembering to post a letter, or to pick up your keys before leaving the house).
The foundation of Task-Triggered Lucidity rests on the human mind's superior ability to concentrate on and memorize tangible actions, like performing the nose pinch test, as opposed to abstract notions.
The technique takes advantage of this propensity by encouraging practitioners to imagine performing the nose pinch reality test in a variety of scenarios, reinforced by a practical physical rehearsal before sleep.
The Technique
1) Pre-sleep Physical Rehearsal: Prior to sleep, perform a physical rehearsal of the nose pinch test. Close your nose and attempt to inhale. While awake, you won't be able to breathe, but in a dream, you will. This activity forms muscle memory and primes your mind for the task-based imagined action you will engage in upon returning to sleep.
2) Initial Sleep: Ensure a good night's sleep for about 5-6 hours. This allows you to enter the latter part of your sleep cycle, where REM sleep (the phase most associated with dreaming) is more common.
3) Natural Awakening or Morning Nap: Task-Triggered Lucidity does not require intentional waking. Instead, you can utilise any natural awakenings during the night or before a morning nap. Optionally, for deeper sleepers, once awake stay awake for about 30-60 minutes to increase your alertness, thereby raising your chances of becoming lucid when you return to sleep.
4) Task Imagined Action: Once back in bed, start to imagine performing the nose pinch test in a variety of simple scenarios. You can pick any scenarios you wish, although I recommend allowing that which comes to-mind easily to be your first choice - as this follows the natural tendency of your mind, and therefore is likely to be similar to your upcoming dreams.
Importantly, imagine it as a task you need to remember to carry out in the near future.
As you imagine performing the nose pinch test, be sure that your physical breathing coincides with the imagined test, or in other words as you imagine pinching your nose, you will be able to breathe through the imagine pinched nose.
This approach simplifies the process, making it easier for your mind to grasp and remember the task. The key here is to keep things simple.
5) Returning to Sleep: Continue with the imagined action until it feels firmly set in your prospective memory. After that, allow yourself to drift off to sleep naturally, trying to keep the task as your last thought before returning to sleep. The intention is for the imagined action to carry over into your dream, thus increasing the likelihood of lucidity.
6) In-dream Nose Pinch Test: In your dream, when you perform the nose pinch test (as a result of the imagined action), you will realise you can breathe despite your nose being pinched, indicating you are dreaming and triggering lucidity.
Author/Inventor:
Daniel Love
Skill Level:
Beginner
Lucid Dream Type:
Regained awareness (DILD)
Effectiveness:
(anecdotal & community reported)
HIGH
Sense preference suited:
All + Prospective Memory
Hints & Tips:
Task-Triggered Lucidity works by harnessing 'prospective memory', our ability to remember to carry out intended actions in the future. By merging prospective memory with a practical, simple action, we can create a robust cognitive marker that can transition into our dream state and trigger lucidity.
The effectiveness of this technique stems from the brain's inclination towards task-based activities.
Our brains are action-oriented and naturally adept at learning and recalling simple tasks.
Task-Triggered Lucidity leverages this principle, using our ability to imagine and recall specific, simple, action-oriented tasks.
Furthermore, it is important to note that the brain operates with limited functionality during sleep and dreaming. Keeping the task simple and practical vastly increases its chances of being recalled and actioned
