Lucid Dreaming/Glossary

CAT: See Cycle Adjustment Technique.
Cycle Adjustment Technique: Adjusting your sleep cycles to increase the likelihood of having a lucid dream.
DC: See Dream character.
DILD: See Dream-Initiated Lucid Dream.
Dream character: Any character inside your dream. Some people believe they are real people or spirit guides, others that they're just products of the dreaming mind.
Dream-Initiated Lucid Dream: A lucid dream that begins during a "normal", non-lucid dream.
Dream recall: The ability to remember details of one's dreams.
Dream Result: Result from a reality check that indicates that one is dreaming. Ex: Breathing through your nose while pinching your nostrils.
Dreamscape: The landscape and scenery of one's dreams.
Hypnagogic imagery: The images, sounds, etc. that you perceive as you fall asleep. Not to be confused with phosphenes.
EILD: See Erotically induced lucid dream
Erotically induced lucid dream: A lucid dream with sexual activity. They may trigger a real orgasm, a phenomenon know as nocturnal emission or wet dream.
HI: See Hypnagogic imagery.
LD: See Lucid dream.
LILD: See Lucid Induction of Lucid Dreams.
Lucid dream: A dream in which you are aware that you are dreaming.
Lucid Induction of Lucid Dreams: The technique in which you do something in a lucid dream that theoretically will remind you that you're dreaming in your next dream.
MILD: See Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams.
Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams: The technique in which you mentally repeat to yourself, as you fall asleep, your future intention to realize that you're dreaming.
Named Subconscious Technique: (See "Getting more help with MILD from your subconscious", in the forum links box in the MILD section.) This technique is a useful aid to the MILD and autosuggestion techniques where the dreamer actively engages his or her subconscious for dream results.
NST: See Named Subconscious Technique.
Oneironaut: A skilled lucid dreamer.
Phosphenes: Patches of colour (usually red or blue) that you can constantly see while your eyes are closed.
Rapid Eye Movement: The stage of the sleep cycle that your most vivid dreams occur in.
RC: See Reality check.
Reality check: A simple and quick method of determining if one is dreaming. Ex: Breathing with your nose shut, faulty light switches, etc.
Real-life result: A reality check result which indicates one is may not be dreaming. Ex: Being unable to will oneself to fly.
REM: See Rapid Eye Movement.
Sleep paralysis (SP): The body's natural phenomenon of paralyzing the limbs of the body while asleep. This may be experienced consciously, either by accident or during the WILD technique.
VILD: See Visual Induction of Lucid Dreams.
Visual Induction of Lucid Dreams: The technique in which you incubate a dream that reminds you to do a reality check and become lucid.
Vivid dream (VD): A dream with a notably higher level of detail.
Wake-Back-To-Bed: The technique in which you wake up for a bit after a few hours of sleep and go back to sleep again. Usually used in combination with other techniques.
Wake-Initiated Lucid Dream: A lucid dream triggered by consciously falling asleep.
WBTB: See Wake-Back-To-Bed.
WILD: See Wake-Initiated Lucid Dream.

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