Thread: Elaol's DILD Workbook

GRC+meditation, same as before.

I have one new thing to report. I am having really interesting dreams lately. FM, do you think that could be because of meditation? I read in Dream Yoga that when you meditate, the dreams can become more interesting, since you are having more access from clear-light mind. Could these very interesting and emotional dreams be glimpses of clear-light mind?

I had a dream couple of day ago which gave me insight into my feelings toward one girl. I didn't know I felt that for her, but after the dream it became so clear to me

It could be! Or it could be just that time in your dream cycle. Or it could be day residue is just producing different, more interesting dreams. Or it could be that you're paying more attention to your dreams and finding parts of them that are interesting! I find the overall theme and quality of dreams evolves over time, sometimes they're silly, sometimes serious. They generally reflect what's going on in our wakings lives to some extent, to what we're spending our time thinking about.

As for clear light mind, maybe! But from what I understand it takes considerable dedication and very lengthy practice to really start penetrating to the clear light mind. I don't think that's something that happens in days, but I could be wrong....

Awesome! You had what very well could have been a lucid dream last week and then you realized that you had a definite lucid dream 2 nights later! Nice result! Keep up the great work!

Thanks guys so much

Yeah, FM, I guess you need a lot of work to experience clear-light mind. Maybe those were dreams of clarity

I tried SSILD last night. It worked I had one more lucid dream Still not fully lucid, but I will get there eventually, although in this one I was close, I think

I also meditated last night and it was very productive meditation, I didn't experience mind-wandering as often as I use to.

So here is the link to the dream, if anyone is interested

Woohoo! Congrats on the LD!

Congratulations once again Elaol! You really should be proud of your consistent LD's! I can't remember if I mentioned it to you, but SSILD was my primary WBTB technique and was used before most all of my LD's for the first 3 years or so of my adult practice. You have been getting good results from multiple methods though!

Thanks fogelbise, that means a lot to me Care to share some tips & tricks for SSILD? I know the warm-up cycles and 4-6 cycles lasting 30 sec for each sense. Since you have used it for so long, I guess you have some tips that aren't shared on the tutorial page

Today, GRC+meditation. Will try SSILD+WBTB when I wake up in the middle of the night.

Originally Posted by Elaol

Thanks fogelbise, that means a lot to me Care to share some tips & tricks for SSILD? I know the warm-up cycles and 4-6 cycles lasting 30 sec for each sense. Since you have used it for so long, I guess you have some tips that aren't shared on the tutorial page

Today, GRC+meditation. Will try SSILD+WBTB when I wake up in the middle of the night.

I would be happy too. You might want to consider continuing with what worked for you the other night though and just let me know later if you really want to change it up at all or if you don't really like the way you were doing it, or just love experimenting (which is great). I don't want to take you off the course too early, for something that is already working for you. Does that sound good? I do like your enthusiasm to try different things and maybe that is a good course of action for you. Let me know.

My advice for SSILD is: do what you like, play with the cycles. I prefer shorter cycles, sometimes I skip the body and just go back and forth between vision and hearing. Most important: continue to relax throughout, since you need to make progress towards sleep. So keep your attention lightly on the cycles, not a sharp, laser focus.

OK, fogelbise, I will experiment and if I have any questions, I will ask FM, thanks for the advice

Today, a bit of GRC. I honestly think it doesn't even matter anymore, I rarely remember to do it. I will try for one more week. Then I will make final decision about GRC

I'm off to meditate.

OK, for the first time in a long time, I have new insights and something interesting to write here:

1. I have realized that my GRC was more of a mindfulness practice than actual Hukif's GRC. I wish it was more like Hukif's, but in the last few weeks (I feel horrible I had to write weeks), I just haven't been doing it Hukif or Azul's style. Anyway, since I have hard time following my breath without influencing on my breathing patter, I have decided than in my future practice I will do some kind of mindfulness during the day: gravity, visuals, sounds, tactile sensations, etc. and practicing mindfulness of breath, since it is the best one. If I feel like it, I will do GRC Hukif's style. What do you think about this idea?

2. I have a question here. I had lucid dream, but this is first of a kind for me. Anyway, I have schedule on the website I am working on, where I see how many classes are booked, cancelled, completed, etc. This night I had a lucid dream where I was looking at that website. There were a lot of cancelled classes (the ones that were booked, but I didn't show up). I know I only have one a month or less, so I figured out this was a dream. But, I didn't have physical body, so I didn't know how to do transition, there was only the schedule in the dream. What to do the next time something like this happens?

OK, that's it, can't wait for your feedback

EDIT: Oh, and yeah I tried SSILD again. I guess I focused too much on it, since I couldn't fall asleep. But again, I did have lucid, so I count that as success. Seems like SSILD doesn't produce FA or WILD for me, but rather builds awareness for the next couple of dreams.

Also, the unable to fall asleep is wrong. I did fall asleep, but I was kind of conscious of the process. I was in some weird state when it seems like I didn't fall asleep at all, but in fact I know I did fall asleep.

EDIT 2: My 40th LD! WooHooooo!

EDIT 3: GRC+meditation

Originally Posted by fogelbise

I would be happy too.

That should have read "I would be happy to."(share some tips and tricks) but it sounds like you figured out what I meant.

Originally Posted by Elaol

...What do you think about this idea?

I say go with your gut instinct on this one…it sounds like you are already leaning in one direction.

2. I have a question here. I had lucid dream, but this is first of a kind for me. Anyway, I have schedule on the website I am working on, where I see how many classes are booked, cancelled, completed, etc. This night I had a lucid dream where I was looking at that website. There were a lot of cancelled classes (the ones that were booked, but I didn't show up). I know I only have one a month or less, so I figured out this was a dream. But, I didn't have physical body, so I didn't know how to do transition, there was only the schedule in the dream. What to do the next time something like this happens?

Congrats!! Realizing the scenario just didn't make sense is how I became lucid last night too. It feels like a nice success and reminds me of another student's "dream detective" idea.

EDIT: Oh, and yeah I tried SSILD again. I guess I focused too much on it, since I couldn't fall asleep. But again, I did have lucid, so I count that as success. Seems like SSILD doesn't produce FA or WILD for me, but rather builds awareness for the next couple of dreams.

Also, the unable to fall asleep is wrong. I did fall asleep, but I was kind of conscious of the process. I was in some weird state when it seems like I didn't fall asleep at all, but in fact I know I did fall asleep.

This is how it often seemed to work for me…feeling like I can't go to sleep, being done with the cycles and just rolling over and going to sleep at some point and having a DILD.

EDIT 2: My 40th LD! WooHooooo!

#40!! Nice milestone!! Here's to many more!!

Thank you fogelbise, for such a lengthy response.

I have tried SSILD again this morning, I am not sure if I became lucid, I don't think so. I had a very interesting dream, which I will write later in the DJ (I have a class in half an hour, so I can't do it now). Anyway, I was running away from a trolloc (Minotaur-like creature). It was very vivid dream. In one part, I found a hole in the stable, and I hid inside, because it smelled like cows, so he couldn't follow my scent. I heard his footsteps. I was thinking to myself: "He is going away, you can't hear his footsteps". I think I was trying dream control, but I am not sure. Anyway, SSILD gave me one of the greatest dreams ever

I have a question: because of my epilepsy, I need to get a good night sleep. SSILD sometimes prevents me from falling asleep (i.e. this morning, I felt like I was in the bed for the next half an hour). Did anything like that happened to you, and if so, how did you deal with it?

1. I have realized that my GRC was more of a mindfulness practice than actual Hukif's GRC. I wish it was more like Hukif's, but in the last few weeks (I feel horrible I had to write weeks), I just haven't been doing it Hukif or Azul's style. Anyway, since I have hard time following my breath without influencing on my breathing patter, I have decided than in my future practice I will do some kind of mindfulness during the day: gravity, visuals, sounds, tactile sensations, etc. and practicing mindfulness of breath, since it is the best one. If I feel like it, I will do GRC Hukif's style. What do you think about this idea?

Well, I think the Hukif style GRC requires keeping the idea constantly on your mind so that you effectively incubate the idea occurring in dreams. So doing it for a little while instead of every moment of every day will probably be less effective.

I think mindfulness of breath is good because it is very natural, especially for a meditation practitioner. I went with it as an all day RC for a while (or at least an all day mindfulness boost) and I started to get breath awareness in dreams a little bit but didn't continue it. That seems to be the way with all day RC: it's pretty tough to keep it going. I'm a big fan of mindfulness (with LD-focused reflection included), so I think that's a great approach.

And congrats on 40 LDs!

Originally Posted by Elaol

I have a question: because of my epilepsy, I need to get a good night sleep. SSILD sometimes prevents me from falling asleep (i.e. this morning, I felt like I was in the bed for the next half an hour). Did anything like that happened to you, and if so, how did you deal with it?

It took time and experimenting with it to feel like I was still getting good rest, but because of your condition I am not sure if it is a good technique for you. If you want to try my adjustment to the cycles and see if that makes it easier for you to get to sleep and feel rested and not have an effect on your epilepsy, let me know and I will share it with you.

I found SSILD also very invigorating the first few times I tried it. The trick is to constantly relax and release tension on every breath as you do the cycles. Try not to "hold on" to your awareness really tightly.

Thanks guys for your responses.

FM, I completely agree with you, I will experiment a bit with this mindfulness.

fogelbise, I don't think I am losing a lot of sleep, I would just like to be ale to fall asleep immediately or at least as if I didn't do the technique. About your adjustments, if it doesn't include waking up after x hours of sleep, please explain. If it does, I can't do that :/ SSILD works great so far, so I will experiment with it until I find a way to sleep more easily.

I have a question for you: did you experience some degree of habituation on SSILD?

I don't think it is necessary to say what did I do today, I will write some important facts here, but I find writing "GRC and meditation" every day is kind of boring

I would just like to be ale to fall asleep immediately

Believe me, I know what you mean! I've lost a great deal of sleep in LD practice, that's for sure. I continue to work on learning to fall asleep quickly. It takes practice. For now, while perhaps exercising relaxation, avoid the more stimulating night-time practices, or put tight limits on how long you do them before aiming directly for sleep.

Originally Posted by Elaol

fogelbise, I don't think I am losing a lot of sleep, I would just like to be ale to fall asleep immediately or at least as if I didn't do the technique. About your adjustments, if it doesn't include waking up after x hours of sleep, please explain. If it does, I can't do that :/

I've only ever used it after a WBTB.

I have a question for you: did you experience some degree of habituation on SSILD?

I don't believe so. It worked strongly for me for over 3 years and then only stopped using it when I started playing with MILD again...just because I enjoyed MILD more. I am itching to do some SSILD again though. My MILD felt a bit habituated last night like I wasn't really putting any effort into it so maybe I need to switch off of it for a short while to refreshen my MILD.

Thanks for responses guys.

fogelbise, I am glad you didn't have any sort of habituation to SSILD. That's good to know. I never managed to do MILD, either it doesn't work for me or I haven't done the right technique.

FM, I see what you mean. If the SSILD is too stimulating, I might awake myself too much. If it is not very stimulating, I can fall asleep before doing the cycles. last couple of nights (with the exception of last night) I did very focused cycles around 30 seconds each, 4 sets last night, I did less focused cycles, and I caught myself having dreamlets after second cycle. I am not very good at watching dreamlets and doing WILD in that way. As soon as I realized what is happening I woke myself up. I continued with the rest of the two cycles, but I didn't have LD this morning. I guess it can't work every time

Btw my phone is screwing up with me. I had three dreams recorded, only to find out, this morning, that the files are corrupted. 3 points less on the competition

Originally Posted by Elaol

I am not very good at watching dreamlets and doing WILD in that way. As soon as I realized what is happening I woke myself up.

This is very common. Dreamlets *hate* being looked at, they are very shy, they tend to vanish if you focus on them .

Ack sorry about the dream recording corruption -- that happens to me once in a while and it's very disappointing.

For exactly this "shy dreamlet" issue, sivason has a dream yoga exercise in his class which I really like: diffuse vision.

Thanks FM, I will definitely read that post

FM, I would like to hear your opinion about something. I have read 54% of the Dream Yoga, at least my Kindle say so. Anyway, I don't find anything new there. I really like dream yoga tasks for accessing clear light mind, I think those can be life-changing, but reading techniques for DY, there are reality checks and WILD with anchoring technique. Nothing special. I might say I am a bit disappointed. What do you think about this?

Also, illusionary form techniques aren't exactly clear for me, I don't understand them completely. I do understand what he says, but considering everything a dream is hard to grasp on.

I would really like to hear your reflections on these two paragraphs.

Inbox full, clean some space there

Originally Posted by Emixman

Inbox full, clean some space there

done