What to do During WBTB

[DrTechnical]

I am often asked this question by newbies and others looking to enhance their LD likelihood. Frankly, I had never given massive thought to it, other than the fact that I like to engage in a repetitive ritual, to let my mind know it's LDing time. But invariably, people want to know "should I read about lucid dreaming" or "should I visualize getting lucid in my next dream" etc ...

I do believe and have always believed that setting a few goals and locking them in your mind before returning to sleep is crucial. But that says nothing about how to spend your 45 minutes or so before hand.

Lately, I have been changing things up, due to some general concerns about insomnia. Basically, I was meditating, lights out and just trying to maintain a sleepiness. I did not want to wake up too much. This was seeming to have a negative impact on my dreams in general.

Then I went back to my original protocol which had me simply going to my on demand cable area, and watching some free music vids during my WBTB. Mostly metal and hard rocking stuff. But what is this type of music? Well, it's creative. But it's also technical. It's simultaneously right brain and left brain on a certain level. Plus, I still enjoy the hell out of it.

So ... I wonder if activities that exercise both areas of the brain in some sense make for a good WBTB activity, to facilitate coming lucidity? Hmmmm. It does kinda seem that way.

[Shellidfl]

Then I went back to my original protocol which had me simply going to my on demand cable area, and watching some free music vids during my WBTB. Mostly metal and hard rocking stuff. But what is this type of music? Well, it's creative. But it's also technical. It's simultaneously right brain and left brain on a certain level. Plus, I still enjoy the hell out of it.

So ... I wonder if activities that exercise both areas of the brain in some sense make for a good WBTB activity, to facilitate coming lucidity? Hmmmm. It does kinda seem that way.

"Dr T - has going back helped to get lucid more easily?  For me, WBTB involves LDS.  I attempted a WILD the other night, had success with keeping my mind awake while body fell asleep, but then.... nada. 
As you and others have said, what works for some does not work for others, but that doesn't mean many of us won't try other ways of getting lucid!  (I think if I got up to watch those videos, my brain would be TOO energized [even if not quite my "thing..] to get back to sleep).

[pj]

Sudoku.  Or coming in here and reading DJs.

We used to have a group who met here in chat during WBTB.  That went on for a long time and seemed like a lot of fun.

[Sunshine]

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[majic]

Eat, drink sweet drinks, drink coffee, eat biscuts, eat marshmellows (found a packet in a drawer this morning and ate most of them  ) look at stock market charts - anything really and just use up a bit of time

[Serenity]

I can't do anything, or I won't get back to sleep. :(

I'm the same as Moonie... I don't get back to sleep easily and my body never took well to the interruptions. Before I went back to school, I had the opportunity to sleep in late, so I did WBTB's... it never mattered how much sleep I got, the interruption made me feel like hell.

I abandoned them in favor of pre-sleep practice. It generally works, if I am focused enough. Intention set before sleep!

When I did do them, it was merely to move from the bed to the couch so I could attempt WILD's.

[iadr]

Iadr takes a much different approach to WBTB than most people, as he generally stays up less than 10 minutes, which is the time it takes him to get something to gulp his supplements down with, and let his cats out to take a dump. He also tries to avoid lights of any kind, which he often does by wearing sunglasses when he gets up.

The reason he stays up such a short period of time and avoids lights, is that it allows him to get back to sleep easily, and also allows him to keep his rem cycles close together, so that by the end of the night they're often so close together that he can just lay awake and just watch the dreams float by.

[MrCrankShank]

Iadr takes a much different approach to WBTB than most people, as he generally stays up less than 10 minutes, which is the time it takes him to get something to gulp his supplements down with, and let his cats out to take a dump. He also tries to avoid lights of any kind, which he often does by wearing sunglasses when he gets up.

This may be the wrong place to ask this, but what supplements do you take? I've done some looking around the interwebs and found CDP-choline and Piracetam.  Anything else you may recommend?  Still a rookie xD Be gentle

[iadr]

This may be the wrong place to ask this, but what supplements do you take? I've done some looking around the interwebs and found CDP-choline and Piracetam.  Anything else you may recommend?  Still a rookie xD Be gentle

Before going to bed we take a CO110, B12, Mucuna Pruriens, Ginko Biloba, and some Arginine Progulatamine, while at WBTB time we take Ginko Biloba again, plus Green Tea Extract, Royal Jelly, Ginseng, and then alternate between either Galantamine, Choline, GPC, GABA, Hzine_A, DHEA, or V.

Although it is much more effective to take a combination of the latter supplements together like Galantamine, Choline and GPC, we just take one of them each night to try to keep from building up too much of a tolerance from taking them too often.

What we take would probably be way too much for someone just starting out, so you would probably want to start slow and try one thing at a time to see how it affects your dreams.

[greg lousy]

method 1.
pee
let dogs out
smoke cigarette
record dreams so far
set intent on lucidity
try to sleep (works better for me if I can barely fall asleep again)


method 2.
pee
decide not to do the damn thing
sleep


so far method 1 seems more effective

[Sunshine]

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[Heidiho775]

Every time I do a WBTB I read in my dream journal or in a panel like this. I also like to chat with other members on the panel. if nobody is online i like to read in lucid dreaming books like "Explore the world of lucid dreaming" by Stephen laberge