The Love Method
Introduction
The Love Method is a new lucid dreaming technique and the brainchild of lucid dreaming researcher and teacher, Daniel Love.
The Love Method breaks from traditional lucid dreaming advice to "focus on the final REM stages of sleep", and instead aims to induce lucidity in the second REM phase of the night, what Love calls The Golden REM Stage.
The Golden REM Stage is the most consistent period of REM across all age groups and occurs roughly two hours and forty minutes after falling asleep for the night.
This stage of REM also results in some of the most vivid, stable, and realistic lucid dreams. Most people will also experience a natural brief awakening after this period of REM, a perfect opportunity to record your dream.
As The Love Method also focuses on the second REM stage of the night, regardless of your outcome (lucid or otherwise), you will still have the opportunity to attempt to induce lucidity in the following three periods of REM.
The Love Method was announced on the 9th of April 2020 via his series of "Lucid Lockdown Live Streams".
Daniel Love has used this method for many decades and reports a high degree of success. He also recommends it as the perfect start to a night of lucidity attempts, "starting as you mean to go on".
Learn more with our Love Method Video tutorial here.
The Technique
1. Prepare for bed and set your alarm for 2½ hours time.
When going to bed, set your alarm to wake you after 2½ hours sleep.
Also, take a note of the time you retire to bed.
2. When woken by the alarm stay awake for 10 minutes.
When woken, get up and stay awake for ten minutes.
Get out of bed and stand up (get vertical!).
Perform a thorough reality check.
Take 15 quick deep breaths, in through your nose, out through your mouth. After each exhale remind yourself of your goal to recognize when you are dreaming.
If you have time left, do anything else that you find helps to increase your critical awareness.
3. Return to sleep
Once the ten minutes have elapsed, return to bed.
Tell yourself that you will soon be dreaming, and will recognise that you are dreaming.
Clearly and firmly set the intention that the very next thing you will do is to perform a reality check. Engage your prospective memory.
Allow yourself to fall asleep naturally.
As you fall back to sleep try to imagine yourself rolling out of bed.
Imagine your body slowly rocking back and forth, building up towards rolling. Alternatively use the Impossible Movement Technique (IMP).
4. Assess your outcome.
Two outcomes are possible:
1) Success: You will either rapidly enter a very stable lucid period of REM.
2) Unsuccessful: If you fail to attain lucidity and awaken naturally later in the night, refer to the time you fell asleep, and use this to establish where you have woken in your sleep cycle. Then perform whichever lucid dreaming technique best suits the phase in which you have woken.
5. Record Your Lucid Dream
If successful you should naturally wake up after your lucid dream. Take this time to record the dream in detail.
Remember, you still have the rest of the night ahead of you, so prepare yourself for more chances for lucidity.
Author/Inventor:
Daniel Love
Skill Level:
Beginner
Lucid Dream Type:
Regained & Maintained (DILD & WILD)
Effectiveness:
(anecdotal & community reported)
High
Sense preference suited:
Kinaesthetic
Hints & Tips:
The Love Method focuses on the second REM period of the night, what Love calls the "Golden REM Phase", therefore even if you are unsucessful you still have at least three more REM periods remaining to attempt lucidity.
The Golden REM Phase is the most uniform REM period across all age levels, occuring roughly 2½ hours after you first fall asleep. It is also an incredibly stable period of REM.
The Golden REM Phase regularly ends with a brief awakening. Be sure to record your lucid dream during this awakening.
Be sure to record the time you retire for bed. This will allow you to estabilsh during which stage of sleep you have woken from at any point during the night. This will allow you to make an educated choice on which lucid dreaming technique to employ, or if the conditions are correct.
2½ hours is a rough estimate and will vary slightly for each individual. Experiment with small variations in timing until you find the exact timing of your own Golden REM phase (the second period of REM of the night).
Learn more about The Love Method with our complete video tutorial here.
