CanisLucidus

Nice LD, but I think we need a little explanation of Dreamers technique.

Sure! Keep in mind that this is my translation of how she's explained it to me over the past few months, and no doubt misses many subtleties. (And possibly gets stuff completely wrong! ) That said, here's how I set up Dreamer's goal-chaining technique.

Basically, you build up your chain of goals by constructing a chain of feelings or emotions. You think about your mindset and how you'll feel upon completing each step, then tie that into your new goal, pinned to some new emotion, sensation or feeling.

So my chain looked something like [Joy/excitement about being lucid] -> [Sense of feeling cold / desire to show Dreamer something she'd be excited about]. As I was falling back to sleep, I spent a little time thinking about that emotional transition. When it was dream time, it came back to me nicely! (Edit: Oops, I described the chain for my next dream! This one: Flurries on the 58th Floor - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views)

Dreamer does her chains way longer, so she'll tie the feeling of completing a goal with the beginning of the next goal. She favors emotions and sensations over visualization, and her reasoning for this made a lot of sense to me: it's hard not to make visualization too specific, and with a dream you really don't know what you're going to get beforehand. You're better off carrying a feeling with you than some specific vision.

I'm not sure whether I've done the technique justice, but this is what I did, and it worked very well. This is Dreamer's technique, and her explanations (and her lucids, as listed at the top of the entry) are much better than mine!

Very cool. I think I get what you are saying. Is almost MILD but also helps recall goals. Very nice!

Yes, it is really a cool approach, something like emotional incubation.
I hope she doesn't let that dryspell discourage her too much. Dreamer is indeed an awesome DG!

Yeah, that's how I see it too, guys! I'm very excited about this because I do feel like it gets dream control off on a much better footing. The mindset's already baked in there. What I usually end up doing is struggling to remember some description or image of what I'm trying to do, then I try to work up the dream control "feelings" on the fly. That's a lot to handle in the heat of the moment, and maybe more of that work can be done before the dream even begins.

Again, it's early days for me! I'll just see how the experiments roll for me.

I hope she doesn't let that dryspell discourage her too much. Dreamer is indeed an awesome DG!

@Bharmo - I so thoroughly agree! She is a fantastic DG.

Omg, Canis - this is so incredibly thoughtful!
Thank you so much for your encouragement and for dedicating this special dream to me.
I really appreciate your kind words!

You did a great job explaining my incubation technique!
Emotions are often amplified for me in dreams, so it made sense to focus on those sensations during my incubation.
I also feel like I get less caught up in making the scene perfect if I go in with an open mind about the specific details. My dream control often relies on working with whatever I'm given and bending my perception, rather than trying to change too much externally.
Incubating emotions and thoughts is something I can do throughout the day without having to set aside time to do visual meditation, so I repeat these sequences in the background, too. By the time I'm dreaming, it feels like a very natural process, because I've created an expectation for a certain memory to be attached to the feeling of recognising lucidity or completing a goal.

I'm really pleased that you had success with this technique! I look forward to seeing the effect it has on your future dreams.

Omg, Canis - this is so incredibly thoughtful!
Thank you so much for your encouragement and for dedicating this special dream to me.
I really appreciate your kind words!

You are so very weclome! And thank you so much for patiently sharing this great technique. If you'd wanted to, you could have just let me marvel at your dream chains and when I asked how you did it, said, "I guess I'm just awesome".

You did a great job explaining my incubation technique!
Emotions are often amplified for me in dreams, so it made sense to focus on those sensations during my incubation.
I also feel like I get less caught up in making the scene perfect if I go in with an open mind about the specific details. My dream control often relies on working with whatever I'm given and bending my perception, rather than trying to change too much externally.
Incubating emotions and thoughts is something I can do throughout the day without having to set aside time to do visual meditation, so I repeat these sequences in the background, too. By the time I'm dreaming, it feels like a very natural process, because I've created an expectation for a certain memory to be attached to the feeling of recognising lucidity or completing a goal.

That's great, thanks for the extra details! This flexibility and "flow" is something that I noticed in a big way in your LDs and I think that I felt it in my own dreams as well.

It makes so much sense, too... emotion, feeling and experience are the currencies of the dream world, so of course it makes sense that you'd have success controlling those rather than worrying about focusing on lots of other details that ultimately don't matter. (And are more interesting anyway when the dreaming mind is allowed to run free!)

I'm really pleased that you had success with this technique! I look forward to seeing the effect it has on your future dreams. =)

Thanks, me too! I love it and can't wait to spend more time growing into it. I'm not ready to go for a mega-chain like you just yet, but the practicing part will be lots of fun!

Can you post the link to DREAMERS technique?

Hi KarmaSangye! I don't believe that Dreamer's ever published a formal article on her technique. The discussion in the comments to this post (check them out from the top) are probably the closest thing we've got to having it written down.

This was based on my conversations with Dreamer over the past few months about how she manages her crazy, long lucids where she accomplishes like a million tasks.

She's also left some additional comments about the technique on the next Dream Journal entry: Flurries on the 58th Floor - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Good luck!

Oh, an ld from an afternoon nap! How awesome!

The chaining technique makes a lot of sense and is really brilliant. Dreamer should share her great tips more often. Our DGTL is experienced in induction, has long lds, excellent memory and amazing dream control. It is really great to have her here.

Oh, an ld from an afternoon nap! How awesome!

@Nyx - Thanks! I don't have these that often, so it was pretty exciting for me! I mean, I don't have lucids in afternoon naps that often. And come to think of it, with kids I don't get afternoon naps that often either.

The chaining technique makes a lot of sense and is really brilliant. Dreamer should share her great tips more often. Our DGTL is experienced in induction, has long lds, excellent memory and amazing dream control. It is really great to have her here.

I so totally agree with every word of that! =D

Originally Posted by NyxCC

The chaining technique makes a lot of sense and is really brilliant. Dreamer should share her great tips more often. Our DGTL is experienced in induction, has long lds, excellent memory and amazing dream control. It is really great to have her here.

Awww, thank you so much!
You guys are making me feel all !

I've actually had a really nice lucid spike since you posted this DJ!
Everyone's kind comments have done wonders for my confidence and morale, thank you!
I had been slacking on the basics like good sleep and recall habits, so I've been making a better effort to get on track with those.
Thanks again, Canis, for this really thoughtful entry.

Awww, thank you so much!
You guys are making me feel all !

I've actually had a really nice lucid spike since you posted this DJ!
Everyone's kind comments have done wonders for my confidence and morale, thank you!
I had been slacking on the basics like good sleep and recall habits, so I've been making a better effort to get on track with those.
Thanks again, Canis, for this really thoughtful entry. =D

Aww Dreamer that makes me so smiley to hear! Yay for lucid spikes!!

I'm really glad that the dream and the discussion here has helped remind you of what you're capable of and how good you are at what you do.