Thread: Forced Brief Awakening (FBA) Induction Technique - Early Testing

Attempt (long sleep, uninterrupted): full lucid

Sleep graph (red is awake, green is light-sleep, blue is deep-sleep, yellow is rem-sleep -- I'll improve the screenshot-export later so it's zoomed in to just the one session):

Spoiler for Sleep graph:

Had a number of brief awakenings this first attempt, from the audio prompts.

At least once, I succeeded and entered back directly into a dream -- which is pretty rare for me, as I usually have DILDs. It's unusual enough for me that I actually got pretty nervous just from this (it's weird to be sinking into an ocean of vibration and darkness), but I persisted. I remember feeling waves of sensation, especially around my head and chest, which finally lessened as I entered into an interesting vortex-like structure. I began exploring the environment, but I think I eventually got caught back up in the dream, and something of a plot where I tried to save someone stuck in the structure.

Anyway, it wasn't a great one quality-wise, but it was nice to remember what a WILD/DEILD feels like.

Success rate:
Long sleep: 1/1(+0 interrupted) (0 weak, 1 full)
Post-sleep nap: 0/0 (0 weak, 0 full)
Isolated nap: 0/0 (0 weak, 0 full)

Did I understand you correctly that you app signals with sound once the S+ Sleep tracker detects REM? What are the details of interfacing with the tracker, I may like to try it myself.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Did I understand you correctly that you app signals with sound once the S+ Sleep tracker detects REM? What are the details of interfacing with the tracker, I may like to try it myself.

Yep, that's correct.

Are you asking as a software developer (api-wise), or as an end-user (app usage/options)?

If as a software developer, you can see the high-level api here (which connects into the lower-level interfacing code): https://github.com/Venryx/LucidLink/...lusModule.java

If as an end-user, you'd have to download the latest version of the Lucid Link app, once I update it on the Play Store to include the new S+ sleep tracker support: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...id=v.lucidlink

Also, note that what the app signals the user with is actually configurable -- though support for other options isn't really added yet. But other things are planned such as controlling the brightness and color of external bluetooth light strips, bluetooth bed vibrators, etc. But that's down the road a ways since sound seems to be working well so far. (and is the most convenient)

Attempt (post-sleep nap): full lucid

Spoiler for Sleep graph:

This one was brief, and I only remember the last minute or so, where I was conversing with a dream-character, and then heard the voice prompt before awakening a couple seconds later. Sorry for the bad recall; I should get better once I get more used to this new awakened-every-dream (but not having cues while falling asleep) setup, and purchase a bluetooth keyboard for easier sleep-time text entry

Success rate:
Long sleep: 1/1(+0 interrupted) (0 weak, 1 full)
Post-sleep nap: 1/1 (0 weak, 1 full)
Isolated nap: 0/0 (0 weak, 0 full)

P.S. Ignore the two/three other sleep sessions on the sleep graph other than the most recent. They all had a technical issue where my script malfunctioned and kept waking me up even after the S+ sleep tracker determined REM to have ended. Still not sure what caused the malfunction (the code looks correct), but I did implement a workaround that seems to have fixed it for this last session.

Originally Posted by Venryx

Yep, that's correct.

Are you asking as a software developer (api-wise), or as an end-user (app usage/options)?

Both. Thanks for both.

Also, note that what the app signals the user with is actually configurable -- though support for other options isn't really added yet. But other things are planned such as controlling the brightness and color of external bluetooth light strips, bluetooth bed vibrators, etc. But that's down the road a ways since sound seems to be working well so far. (and is the most convenient)

Any links to these bluetooth signalling devices you mention here? It's an exciting time for DIY EILD projects if such things are already on the market! You could PM me since admins will delete any URLs. Thanks!

PM sent. (yes, there are some commercially available options for both)

Attempt (long sleep, interrupted): failure

Sleep graph:

Spoiler for Sleep graph:

The prompt malfunction occurred again, which distracted my sleep (and may have messed up the graph some). But I'll count it this time anyway, since it was a partial attempt/chance, and I excluded it last time.

The good news is I finally fixed the prompt malfunction... I'm 85% sure. Which means no more annoying prompts even after rem has ended and I'm just lying in bed falling back asleep. (I was forgetting to clear a certain list of listeners when the scripts were re-applied, leading to multiple listeners and thus multiple timers, only one of which would be canceled by the on-sleep-stage-changed code)

(also, I didn't have a lucid this time, but did have one part with the standard ironic situation... thinking about dreams where you miss your lucidity cues, without realizing you're in a dream right then and are missing the cues )

Success rate:
Long sleep: 1/1(+1 interrupted) (0 weak, 1 full)
Post-sleep nap: 1/1 (0 weak, 1 full)
Isolated nap: 0/0 (0 weak, 0 full)

Attempt (post-sleep nap): full lucid

Sleep graph:

Spoiler for Sleep graph:

Yay! A normal, successful sleep session, without rogue voice prompts keeping me up post-rem.

In this lucid I was able to practice what I intended: emitting fire from my hands. I've done this a few times before, but I've never done it solidly enough that it "sticks" and I can do it easily from then on, so I decided to buckle down and keep practicing it until I can. This was my first training session, and it went... okay.

Spoiler for Dream entry:

For a long time, I could only get slight transparent wisps of it.
Eventually, I got it to show up better.
With it came pretty strong heat, however!
It was tolerable though, so I persisted and used it to put a couple objects on fire.
The main thing on fire was my hands though. : |

Success rate:
Long sleep: 1/1(+1 interrupted) (0 weak, 1 full)
Post-sleep nap: 1/1 (0 weak, 1 full)
Isolated nap: 1/1 (0 weak, 1 full)

P.S. Oh by the way, something to note is that I currently have the volume a bit lower than I would like. I wanted to have it just loud enough that it would almost always wake me, but due to family members not liking too loud noises, I settled for a medium volume that wakes me up about half the time. It's enough that I get some data on its DEILD efficacy (i.e. some are DEILD, some just DILD), but I would have liked to have every rem segment modulated with it instead of just some. Oh well. (I'll probably try it with bluetooth in-ear earphones at some point, which would solve the problem)

I'd say you're getting some great results so far! My LD fire is also quite translucent still, I need a lot of work on it.

Attempt (long sleep, uninterrupted): weak lucid

Sleep graph:

Spoiler for Sleep graph:

Dream entry:

Spoiler for Dream entry:

Came to awareness in my bedroom. I remember lying there and sensing something was off, before things then transforming to eventually become more intense, with fire or something on the wall. I eventually got out of bed, and went into a large building where I met with a number of dcs in some plot that I then got wrapped up in.

I realized it was a dream (it's hard not to with fire (or whatever the bright substance was) on the wall), but did not take advantage of that fact or specifically remember my dream goals. (hence a weak lucid)

Success rate:
Long sleep: 2/2(+1 interrupted) (1 weak, 1 full)
Post-sleep nap: 1/1 (0 weak, 1 full)
Isolated nap: 1/1 (0 weak, 1 full)

How should the graph be read? What's the difference between bottom and top? Which of the lucids were due to the sound prompt?

Originally Posted by FryingMan

How should the graph be read? What's the difference between bottom and top? Which of the lucids were due to the sound prompt?

Sorry for the non-clarity -- that's what happens when app beta's are used. (it will have labels later on)

The graph shows the sleep sessions from today, and yesterday. So only that one on the bottom row is for this session.

As for which ones are caused to the sound prompts... I'm honestly not sure as my memories get very jumbled up at the moment (in part because I don't record them until a good while later, partly because I don't have a good keyboard for my tablet yet). I do know the first night was caused by a sound prompt. And most of the others seem like they were at least closeby to one, given their content. But I don't know for sure.

Certainly the idea is to have more direct-transition-into-dream cases. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, I have to temper the volume at night due to other family members. Perhaps I'll try louder volumes for naps. I didn't like this idea at first since it means inconsistency between sessions, but it might be worth it.

I think I'll stick with the lower volume for now, but try louder volumes in a week or so. (which should guarantee that when the sound prompt plays I wake up, allowing for deild more consistently)

Attempt (isolated nap): failure

Sleep graph:

Spoiler for *:

Okay, I noticed this at first, but am wondering more about it now. Why are the sleep graph's in my app more volatile than those from the official app? (ie, more numerous and thinner slices)

It's possible it's because of the sound prompts changing my sleeping patterns, but it's also possible I got something wrong and that's reducing the accuracy of the sleep-stage calculation. I'm going to investigate it more, to make sure the latter is not the case. (it's also possible I'm just polling it too frequently or something like that)

Success rate:
Long sleep: 2/2(+1 interrupted) (1 weak, 1 full)
Post-sleep nap: 1/1 (0 weak, 1 full)
Isolated nap: 1/2 (0 weak, 1 full)

I tried using a "real time" stream instead of a "night sleep" stream to monitor the sleep-stages today. Wasn't sure if it'd work, but wanted to try it.

Indeed, while it recorded data fine, I found after awakening 5 hours later that real-time streams apparently shut down automatically after 25 minutes. (I'm pretty sure, as results just stopped there without error message or disconnection -- though will confirm later)

So I'll be sticking with night streams. (which work perfectly fine, just wanted to explain why there was no sleep report today)

Attempt (long sleep, uninterrupted): full lucid

Sleep graph: (ignore the red and green segments on the top row, those were from testing)

Spoiler for *:

Dream entry:

Spoiler for *:

Heard voice prompt. (the very first one of the night, in fact -- as verified by the logs immediately after waking)
Thought about possibility of having it say more than just one short phrase -- of it saying quieter ones in gaps between loud ones, as anchors to think about.
It then happened!
Voice started saying, in male British accent, continuous sentences.
I listened closely and with interest as it said about 4 sentences worth of commentary about an old movie.
It eventually stopped, in glitch on-and-off, then complete absence.
I then felt what I thought at the moment to be an awakening, while noticing my dad folding a blanket in my room.
I started exclaiming, "Dad, it is *so* interesting, how there's a clear cutoff between voice and no voice in lucids."
Then I realized my dad would not be folding a blanket in my room, and knew it to be a false-awakening.
A second after this, I felt a tingle on my chest, like as though my dad had poked me there.
Then I forced myself awake, because false-awakenings still make me nervous to just lie there. (and it was too faded to just go back in-dream)
Getting actually up took a while though (like 30 seconds), as my body was being very difficult to move -- I had to progressively "unlock" my neck, head, shoulders, arms, etc. from their most-of-the-way sleep-paralysis. (I think it was real this time as I don't remember any discontinuity/transition during the process)

This one was nice, as it was initiated directly from a voice prompt. I checked the logs immediately after waking (at 6:59), and in fact the dream was triggered from the very first voice-prompt of the night! (3 minutes earlier at 6:56 -- I increased the delay to 3 minutes between prompts) Which makes me happy since it raises the prospect of gaining lucidity the moment REM begins in each cycle. (you'll see on the sleep graph how quickly it was triggered)

Anyway, very little to report dream-wise -- you can see the short dream entry. But nonetheless it was neat and raises my optimism for the technique, after a couple of disappointments. (and not-so-great circumstances at the moment, family-wise, so it was refreshing)

Success rate:
Long sleep: 3/3(+1 interrupted) (1 weak, 2 full)
Post-sleep nap: 1/1 (0 weak, 1 full)
Isolated nap: 1/2 (0 weak, 1 full)

Attempt (long sleep, uninterrupted): failure

Sleep graph: (Fiinally added full-screen mode! Though it could still use some improvement -- such as a larger font for the hour labels.)

Spoiler for *:

This one failed, but the voice prompt did come through clearly into my dream. My brain just misinterpreted the words, as being a phonetically similar, but incorrect, sentence. The real phrase was "remember lucid dream", but the dream-me thought it was "are you a member of leadership drew" -- as spoken by an old lady living with her grand-daughter in a small house, as she walked down the stairs. After waking, I waited for the next prompt, and indeed, it sounded very much like that even in waking life. (once I knew what phrase to compare it to)

Anyway, this is a good approach I think, but the voice prompts are just not loud enough to reliably wake me (since my family members sleep next door) -- which is the first step of it. Thus I'm going to, as considered before, try bluetooth earphones. I'll probably pick one out on Amazon tonight, and be able to try it in a few days. Then I can just make it as loud as I want (while still only playing it briefly, as I've done so far). Hopefully I'll be able to find some really comfortable ones.

Success rate:
Long sleep: 3/4(+1 interrupted) (1 weak, 2 full)
Post-sleep nap: 1/1 (0 weak, 1 full)
Isolated nap: 1/2 (0 weak, 1 full)

Hmmm. My app crashed during this last sleep session, so no data for today. I'll have to investigate this. (afaik, this is the first time it's happened, but it's probably good to add an error-reporting system to the app eventually anyway)

In other news, I ordered a bluetooth earbud, so should be able to start using as loud volumes as I want once it arrives (in a day or two).

Attempt (long sleep, uninterrupted): full lucid

Sleep graph:

Spoiler for *:

Sleep entry:

Spoiler for *:

=saw thief get caught
They stopped him from flying away.
=went into warehouse
=followed procession toward smaller throne area
=came to throne area, king asked if I wanted to join his government
=everything paused (like in rpg's)
I realized I was dreaming.
I decided, "Sure, why not".
=king asked me to appoint someone as head of police
They gave me three names, of people to choose from.
I asked about first two, but they were problematic, as criminals themselves or the like.
Asked for third description.
=heard noise, and looked up to see group of three criminals arrived
=I fled for the back room with an assistant
=I looked for a gun
=came back out, started pursuit
I fired at the two assistant guys, but didn't really damage them.
=came up to the leader, who was a large green lizard man
=conversed a few sentences
His final statement was "You can't leave me here forever!", before I awoke a split-second after.

I increased the volume this time to 50%, since no one else was sleeping, but apparently was still not enough. I did end up getting a lucid anyway, though not triggered from an awakening as the technique intends. I will keep increasing it 10% each time until it starts waking me reliably.

Also, I think I fixed the crash now, so shouldn't have that issue anymore.

Success rate:
Long sleep: 4/5(+1 interrupted) (1 weak, 3 full)
Post-sleep nap: 1/1 (0 weak, 1 full)
Isolated nap: 1/2 (0 weak, 1 full)

Attempt (long sleep, uninterrupted): weak lucid

Sleep graph: too lazy to upload.

Sleep entry: too lazy to record, other than that it was in a warehouse, and lucidity was triggered when I was tasked with creating a wooden barrier, and I realized I could use dream control to bring it about.

Also, was not from a deild, but may have been from hearing a voice prompt. A few minutes later, another voice prompt occurred and did succeed in waking me, although I didn't stay calm enough so stayed awake after that. I'll need to get used to staying calm even after awakenings so I can immediately enter back in.

Success rate:
Long sleep: 5/6(+1 interrupted) (2 weak, 3 full)
Post-sleep nap: 1/1 (0 weak, 1 full)
Isolated nap: 1/2 (0 weak, 1 full)

Attempt (post-sleep nap): full lucid

Sleep graph:

Spoiler for *:

Dream entry:

Spoiler for *:

=in store
realize im dreaming, and that I can walk away from purchase objective in store
fly over to entrance
a couple of dcs are there, who act like they know me
they want me to lift up a manhole cover for them
i do so, and fly up on op of the store id come out of, to put it up there for fun
once there, i decide to bring it back down, as I dont want the dcs to go in the hole afterall (there was standing water just a few feet down)
i settle down on ground again, where I talk with a dc with tablet (unrecorded conversation)
i wake up a minute or so later, and then hear a voice prompt about ~30 seconds after that

Again was not triggered by awakening/deild this time, but at least now the prompts are working and waking me. This time I just reached lucidity before I awoke, so wasn't able to test the deild itself.

Success rate:
Long sleep: 5/6(+1 interrupted) (2 weak, 3 full)
Post-sleep nap: 2/2 (0 weak, 2 full)
Isolated nap: 1/2 (0 weak, 1 full)

Attempt (long sleep, uninterrupted): full lucid

Sleep graph: sorry, no graph this time, as my app has a bug that made the sleep-session data get lost... (will fix it soon!)
Dream entry:

Spoiler for *:

I remember dream goal, of teleporting to desktop background scene, and do so by defocusing and imagining new scene
seems to mostly work at first, but then it becomes more like a 2d texture plane, around which I'm rotating
as I approach the 180 point, I (ill-advisedly) remember concern of negative imagery coming up on places that are nice
realize I should think of positive instead of negative, since dreams are so expectation based, but too late as I see somewhat scary images on the back of the 2d textured plane
I get annoyed by this, and leave the area to another part of what is apparently a museum-like zoo
(Argh! I'm going to redeem the above by revisiting later and having a pleasant, relaxing time!)
use mind control with crocodile thing (keeps trying to attack, but I strongly "expect"/imagine/feel it to be kind, and just moving to smile, and it works each time)
defocus until the scene changes back to the in-building one from earlier

have stressful situation/accusation
fly off
prevent other guy from grabbing power sword
finally force bad lady off
see bad lady go with other lady into police building, held by police
see pair from earlier who had broken up
i fly in to family watching video

Note: I kept hearing voice prompts throughout the dream, which was neat/good. It reminded me of my dream-state and increased my awareness each time, and I began to regard it like a personal coach from the real world, checking in every 3 minutes. (like a pestering mother or sibling, except for something actually helpful!)

I'll still increase it later for my main forced-awakening plan, but may keep it here (70% volume) for a couple days first to see if it continues passing through with this clarity and assistance.

Success rate:
Long sleep: 6/7(+1 interrupted) (2 weak, 4 full)
Post-sleep nap: 2/2 (0 weak, 2 full)
Isolated nap: 1/2 (0 weak, 1 full)

Attempt (long sleep, uninterrupted): full lucid

Sleep graph:

Spoiler for *:

Dream entry:

Spoiler for *:

=flying around
=family came in police car, looking for me
=we drive a long way
=false awakening
I begin wake-up attempts for real.
=real wakeup

Note that I count false-awakenings (which are known as such) to be full lucids, since they trigger good self-awareness and understanding of the dream state, and open the opportunity (if desired) of getting up out of bed and beginning a lucid adventure right there. I'm usually too nervous to do so, since I'm kind of a scaredy cat in unplanned false-awakenings, but the state-recognition and potential is still there, thus my categorizing them as full lucids (most of the time, anyway).

There was obviously more to the dream than what's recorded, but this is 4 hours later, and after two other sleep sessions (without the app on, because I keep falling asleep while intending to record things!). I could bring back more memories even now, but am too lazy. Oh, well other than that I again heard the voice prompts multiple times throughout the dream. (but not in the ones later without the app on, so they do seem to be actual pass-through rather than just imagining/reproducing it)

Also, I believe they did wake me up at one point, although I'm not sure where.

Anyway, raising the volume to 90% now! If it goes past 100%, I'll have to start boosting the volume in an audio editor (I'm using a bluetooth earbud now, so have full freedom on volume) -- and/or switching to dream integration rather than wake-up + deild as the main lucidity trigger.

But sorry again for the low-quality recordings. It does get harder doing it in detail when you do it every day. : P

Success rate:
Long sleep: 7/8(+1 interrupted) (2 weak, 5 full)
Post-sleep nap: 2/2 (0 weak, 2 full)
Isolated nap: 1/2 (0 weak, 1 full)

EDIT: Oh, I was wondering why I raised it from 70% straight to 90%, and realize the reason is that I also had a weak lucid this morning which I never ended up recording. Unfortunately, I don't actually remember the dream now, so I don't think I'll count it.

Attempt (long sleep, uninterrupted): weak lucid

Sleep graph:

Spoiler for *:

Dream entry: too lazy, other than that it was long, and had a partial awakening (thought to be a normal awakening) caused by a single prompt.

Success rate:
Long sleep: 8/9(+1 interrupted) (3 weak, 5 full)
Post-sleep nap: 2/2 (0 weak, 2 full)
Isolated nap: 1/2 (0 weak, 1 full)

Great to see all the success you're having so far with this method! To be clear, most of the lucids have been DEILD re-entry's after waking up, as opposed to DILDs induced by the prompts, right?

Also, do you sleep with anyone else in bed with you? Do you think the S+ sleep tracker would be accurate with another person moving around?