Thread: Elaol's DILD Workbook

^Agreed. When I read your question about fighting I related to it. Sometimes I fight off attackers or pursuers so I can move on to do what I really want to do but I also sometimes stop and ask the DC why they are coming at me hoping to learn something about myself or about some universal truth. I guess you can also learn how to defend yourself by fighting much like researchers say you can practice sports skills in a dream. All in all though, I agree to mix in types of fun you are into with types of learning that interest you.

I'm not a huge fan of LD fighting ("I'm a lover, not a fighter!"). Meaning, I don't go looking for it. Sometimes it comes up in context and it's actually kind of fun. Sensei does a ton of it and he says it really helps him remain grounded in the dream.

Hey guys, I have some awesome news.

First of, which is not awesome, I didn't recall any dreams this morning. But it is probably because I took 10mg of sleeping pills.

Now the awesome news: I went to therapist today and I found a way to deal with my anxiety. So I hope that my dark posts are over.

About GRC, today went splendid, I am very happy with myself. Yesterday (I didn't have time to write it) was fine, I could have done better.

I also want to tell you that I got that job I was talking about few days ago. I had second chance at applying and I got it, I am starting in a week. This isn't dream related, but writing this has become something I really look forward to, so I wanted to tell you.

See you tomorrow, have wonderful dreams!

Congratulations on the new job! That is great to hear about your new hope on the anxiety front! Wonderful dreams to you too!

Thanks fogelbise!

I had some really weird dreams One was FA-like-dream. I was at my therapist office and I "woke up" to record the therapy, but I was in a room that is totally different that my room IRL and some kid was bothering me while I was recording what I did on therapy.

In the second dream, I was on education. The teacher ask us if we wanted a break and I said yes, but that meant (in dream): "Yes, I need a break of this dream, but I will be back in this dream after the break". So I woke up So weird

OK, g2g now, to many things to do today

Hey guys, it's the 30th day of my practice.

So, I am not pleased with my dedication last few days. I was practicing GRC, but not as the first two weeks. My dreams have changed. Last couple of days they are weird. This morning, I was able to remember few dreams but they were in a format: I am somewhere talking to someone about something. So I don't know the detail, otherwise it would be for example: I am in Sarajevo, talking to Adnan about slacklining.

I definitely need to increase my practice in the next month. But it is hard to constantly do LD practices when you have 1000 other things on your mind.

I was thinking of including daily mindful/GRC walks. My meditation practice has been lacking as well. Today I will really increase the practice, both for LDing and for dream recall. I really dislike not remembering my dreams. I must get new DJ, since I don't like my new DJ.

To sum up my impressions of this month:
I really have learned a lot, from various sources. My LD experience has also increased tremendously. I don't know if the reason for that is writing this, because I really enjoy it, or practicing GRC or meditating, or reading about LD a lot, or thinking about LD a lot. Or a mixture of these elements. Thank you everyone, especially to my teachers fogelbise and FryingMan. My practice has been lacking last week comparing to the practice from the first two weeks. But, I have the next 30 days to correct that.

I'm really looking forward to continuing this journey

EDIT: GRC thingy

So, today I was really gravity-aware For the bigger part of the day. I didn't meditate twice, but I will do it in 20 minutes. let's see what the night is bringing

Hey everyone,

today I did yoga while trying to be mindful of every movement. While doing it, I also played some theta music and meditated afterwards. It was an amazing experience.

Things on GRC front are good as well. I need to spice it up a bit, I am considering three things: fundamentals, dream yoga or WILD. What do you guys think? I need material to write here

Originally Posted by Elaol

Hey everyone,

today I did yoga while trying to be mindful of every movement. While doing it, I also played some theta music and meditated afterwards. It was an amazing experience.

Things on GRC front are good as well. I need to spice it up a bit, I am considering three things: fundamentals, dream yoga or WILD. What do you guys think? I need material to write here

In my opinion, fundamentals are not things that you do instead of some other practice, they're something you do while performing a practice. If a practice doesn't cover the fundamentals, then it's not really a practice. If you did dream yoga ala "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep" and/or Andrew Holecek, I'd say you would be covering the fundamentals.

WILD is always something to be trying along with a DILD practice. Perhaps giving it just one or two days per week, and giving it a serious attempt, your best effort each time. Or maybe just a few times per month even, what ever your schedule will reasonably comfortably allow. You will gain experience and learn more on every attempt, whatever the results.

I would say you could combine all of them: dream yoga, GRC, and WILD. For example, you could incorporate reflection upon your sense of gravity in the dream yoga illusory form day practice.

Whatever you decide to do, it is most important that you enjoy the practice, so that you keep it up, whatever it is. As long as you're working on building awareness, reflecting on your state, and working on memory (day and dream recall), you'll be heading in the right direction.

Maybe try a bit of each thing and see what resonates with you most strongly.

Hey FM, what's up? Thanks for the response, now the things are clearer for me.

Nothing new on GRC front, I think I lost motivation since I don't have any gravity dreams. On the other hand, since I am really anxious these days, that might also be affecting my dreams. I don't know how to be excited again about GRC. I would really like to succeed in it, it seems like a perfect technique, but I don't have that many gravity dreams. Actually I only had that one LD I wrote about here. What do you guys think may be the problem?

I incorporated WILD this morning. I saw a page I wrote IRL, I tried to hard to read it, so I woke up with a twitch

I also had one dream in which I was counting meds. I thought: This is weird, I might be dreaming. But I gave up, since it looks too real.

Dammit! It's like I learned yesterday about LDing. Lucid dreaming opportunity status: MISSED!

I was doing yoga these days, not dream yoga. I play theta music, and notice my breathing during every position. It really relaxes me and I finish the session with Vipassana. It lasts about 40 min. Do you think that contributes to my awareness? Since I am 40 min constantly aware?

I really like Dream yoga by Andrew H. I will buy it asap

About GRC, it may just be a matter of sticking with it longer to get more of the incubation effect. Or it may be that another All Day RC target would be more appropriate. Remember that Hukif didn't decide to just try gravity out of the blue, he did a WILD and discovered that in his dream gravity felt different than waking. Thus his advice for people to be familiar with their dreams and to choose targets that match their typical dream experience. I think all day RCs/single focus incubation can work, but it does take thinking a LOT about that one thing for most of the day. I find that pretty tiring myself. But I did start to see some results with it. Maybe it just takes a really long time for some people to get it going solidly.

Yes there can be close misses like that counting meds near miss. Just chalk it up to experience. Work on convincing yourself that "looks real" does *not* mean waking state. Take that mindset and turn it around: any time you think anything "looks real", remember that in the dream state you think you're awake. Take that feeling and use it for reflection, and do an RC, especially any time you really think you're awake. At least some of the time you'll be surprised and find yourself lucid in a dream! Awareness&attention/reflection/memory, they all work together.

I love the Andrew H Dream yoga book. I need to finish it now!

Good luck and keep practicing!

Thanks FM, I will get the book ASAP

You didn't answer me to this part of the question, I am really curious what do you think

I was doing yoga these days, not dream yoga. I play theta music, and notice my breathing during every position. It really relaxes me and I finish the session with Vipassana. It lasts about 40 min. Do you think that contributes to my awareness? Since I am 40 min constantly aware?

I had one more lucid this morning. Yesterday, I was doing GRC, yoga+awareness and recalling my day. Here is the dream:

Spoiler for Test:

I was doing some test. I was really confused. The questions were really confusing. Then the scene switched and I was in my room. I couldn't find the test. I figured that this must be a dream, since I can't find the test I was just doing. I did nose-plug RC and it worked. I remembered my goals. First, stabilization using senses. I was touching everything. I remember the dream starting to fade, like my eye was opening, but I continued touching everything and it worked. I was shouting: "Turn on the light!" but nothing happened (it was really dark in my room). The second goal was engaging memory for RL. I did that, but I don't remember this part very well. The third goal was feeling the gravity in my hands and feet. I did that as well and they seemed heavier. I then exited my room and went to the living room, to do the fourth goal: flying. I opened the window and flew out. This is the first time I was feeling the air rushing as I flew. I saw the forest and I went thought it. There were all kinds of freaky animals in vibrant colors.

The follow-up dream, which I am pretty sure is the previous dream, I just lost lucidity

Spoiler for Follow-up dream:

I am in a park with my friend, we are walking on tree trunks that are ready for sawing. One lady wants to push us aside, we don't allow her to do so. we found some candy and I refuse to eat one of them, since it might be poisonous. While my friend is eating the candy and I am opening another one, I see one woman with curly orange hair, but it was really ugly, like she wasn't brushing it for months. I get another thief-alert, as you might know from my previous dreams. I become lucid instantly. I run away from her. I fail to stabilize and wake up soon after

Things to note:
1. First dream was lucid, the best I ever had, but far from fully lucid, since I have memory holes and some parts were less lucid than the others, as the dream progressed I was less lucid. But yaaay me for having LD while being so stressed out. Second dream was semi-lucid, since I ran away from the thief, instead of just ignoring them.
2. I did remember my goals, but failed to to first two properly. I did them, so I can give myself pat on the back, but for the next time I must pay more attention to them
3. The longest lucid ever
4. I actually did something fun
5. This yoga thing might be the cause of my lucidity.

That's about it.

What do you guys think?

Yoga, breath awareness, and vipassana sounds good! Try to also always work in thoughts of dreaming and reflection into what you do, for example, Sensei always relates the videos he watches to things he'd like to do in dreams.

Congrats on another LD! Seems like you're doing just what you need to! I don't know if full waking memory is attainable in the dream state all the time, but the more you work on it, the better you'll get. Most important is full realization about he truth of your experience (that it's a dream).

Thanks FM for you response. I actually do the same thing as Sensei. When I see something cool in a movie, I make a mental note to do that in a dream.

Today my GRC practice was lacking. I have some issues which were bothering me, so I didn't have time to do GRC properly. I've noticed gravity periodically during the day, but not constantly.

How I'm going to do yoga. See you tomorrow, guys. Have wonderful dreams!

Excellent job Elaol!! Another lucid with a lot of nice accomplishments along with a semi-lucid!

I like the way that you patted yourself on the back while noting what you can do even better next time. I think it is important to appreciate and celebrate your achievements along the way. I feel it gives us the fuel to improve further.

I think your yoga practices are beneficial to your lucid dreaming practice much the way people note correlations between mediation and lucid dreaming, especially maintaining awareness for 40 minutes at a time!

Thanks fogelbise for your response. I really enjoy doing yoga, it is very fulfilling. It comes mot as something spiritual, thank as lucid dreaming technique.

Today I have started working. I tech Japanese people English. I open classes and they book them. Because of that, I sit at my computer most of the day. That stops me from doing GRC effectively, since it comes easier to me to do it while walking. Do you guys have any advice what to do while sitting that is beneficial for lucid dreaming?

About today's practice, it was lacking since I was working while day. I'm going to do yoga now. Recall this morning was excellent.

Sitting and working at a computer is one of the most challenging things for keeping awareness of any kind. My usual response to this is: just do it! Try to notice the times you've zoned out or focused so intently that you've lost general awareness. Try to set particular points in your lessons or triggers for flashes of self-awareness. Put sticky notes on the edges of your monitor: "RC! Reflect! Dreams!" What I mean is just feel in a quick instant that you come back to yourself and that your awareness is focused back in your head, seeing yourself sitting at your computer, rather than being lost inside the contents of the screen. See yourself sitting at your computer and notice things in your peripheral vision. Just all in one quick flash, not spending a lot of time reflecting because you don't have that time generally in a class. Try to have a bunch of these little flashes. Be creative, try to think of new triggers and new ways to feel your self-awareness during these times. The beginning of building awareness in times of extreme focus is first to recognize the phenomena of getting lost in the details.

For sitting, I'd think that would be great for GRC: butt/back gravity awareness!

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Sitting and working at a computer is one of the most challenging things for keeping awareness of any kind. My usual response to this is: just do it! Try to notice the times you've zoned out or focused so intently that you've lost general awareness. Try to set particular points in your lessons or triggers for flashes of self-awareness. Put sticky notes on the edges of your monitor: "RC! Reflect! Dreams!" What I mean is just feel in a quick instant that you come back to yourself and that your awareness is focused back in your head, seeing yourself sitting at your computer, rather than being lost inside the contents of the screen. See yourself sitting at your computer and notice things in your peripheral vision. Just all in one quick flash, not spending a lot of time reflecting because you don't have that time generally in a class. Try to have a bunch of these little flashes. Be creative, try to think of new triggers and new ways to feel your self-awareness during these times. The beginning of building awareness in times of extreme focus is first to recognize the phenomena of getting lost in the details.

For sitting, I'd think that would be great for GRC: butt/back gravity awareness!

Awesome advice, thanks FM. I was working so hard that I see this at 10 PM xD I will apply this, perhaps when I am doing new exercise I will become aware for few seconds, or when I am teaching new word to a student. I also have to tell you guys, although this isn't a place for it, but what the heck, I have really good booking rates, for a beginner, so I am really happy

Today's GRC: while going to the bank, and the gym. The rest of the day none.

Now I am going to do yoga.

I have to note one more thing: I am thinking about my job whole day, since I have to check for classes every 15 minutes. After every REM, I wake up thinking about it. 6-7 times a night. Now I understand how if I thought about LD as much I would have LD all the time. Also, because of that, my DR is slightly worse.

See you tomorrow, I have to do yoga now to relax a bit, my eyes want to pop out of my head.

I was lazy ass today. I noted gravity only while walking with my friend.

Idk if I will catch time to do yoga.

My dreams are all about work, in dreamy, hidden meaning kind of way

Shortest post ever

good night!

I am definitely better today. GRC is better than yesterday, not on the level it was before.

I suck at dream journaling on work days. I still haven't written my dream, and it is 10 PM.

I probably won't do yoga this evening, I have dreams to write.

Nothing much to report, I hope tomorrow will be more material.

Oh and yeah, I had semi-lucid, really low level, I think I was doing stabilization when I woke up. Yaaay me

Originally Posted by Elaol

I also have to tell you guys, although this isn't a place for it, but what the heck, I have really good booking rates, for a beginner, so I am really happy
...
I have to note one more thing: I am thinking about my job whole day, since I have to check for classes every 15 minutes. After every REM, I wake up thinking about it. 6-7 times a night. Now I understand how if I thought about LD as much I would have LD all the time. Also, because of that, my DR is slightly worse.

It sounds like you are referring to the how many students are booking you for the English classes…that's awesome!

I think the frequent wakings thinking about work will calm down over time as you settle into this new job.

Originally Posted by Elaol

Oh and yeah, I had semi-lucid, really low level, I think I was doing stabilization when I woke up. Yaaay me

Yaaay! Semi-lucids can be good fun and are a good sign that you are close!

Thank fogelbise for your response. I hope I will have lucid soon

Today I was better at GRC I was with friends, drinking coffee, and I payed attention to the gravity.

I also got the book called The Mind Illuminated, it is about concentration meditation. About that, does every meditation increases awareness required for LD, or just mindfulness meditation?

I will now do yoga and hit the bed

Oooho I love collecting and starting (but not finishing, shame on me!) meditation books, I'll look into that one. And start finishing some of the ones I've started!

About that, does every meditation increases awareness required for LD, or just mindfulness meditation?

This is not a question with a straightforward answer IMO. Mindfulness is, as described in "Mindfulness In Plain English", about training yourself to recognize the truth about your present moment experience, on a moment to moment basis. That sounds pretty much right up the alley of lucid dreaming to me. It's about paying attention to life experiences. Dreams (and waking life) are life experiences.

Concentration meditation is useful for training and quieting your mind, which comes in handy at night time for falling asleep and WILDing. Being able to concentrate also is a useful precursor for mindfulness.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Oooho I love collecting and starting (but not finishing, shame on me!) meditation books, I'll look into that one. And start finishing some of the ones I've started!



This is not a question with a straightforward answer IMO. Mindfulness is, as described in "Mindfulness In Plain English", about training yourself to recognize the truth about your present moment experience, on a moment to moment basis. That sounds pretty much right up the alley of lucid dreaming to me. It's about paying attention to life experiences. Dreams (and waking life) are life experiences.

Concentration meditation is useful for training and quieting your mind, which comes in handy at night time for falling asleep and WILDing. Being able to concentrate also is a useful precursor for mindfulness.

Yeah, I once read in Mastering the Core Teachings of Buddhism that Buddha advised first to master basic levels of concentration and then to do insight practices.

Hey guys, I have some bad news.

I have been praying less and less attention to my practice in the last few days. As the consequences, my dream recall is getting worse and I've fallen out of my GRC practice.

For example, today I was carrying a bag and I didn't notice that weight, I used to notice the weight all the time, while I was walking.

What are your advice in synchronising your life with your lucid dreaming practice? I'm having hard time finding that balance. When I have a lot on my mind, I just forget about lucid dreaming.

LD is something awesome and I've made real progress and I've learned a lot. You've been great and I would like to get back on the right track.