Thread: Emnition's workbook

Originally Posted by NyxCC

Do you mean the one with Scarlett Johansson?

Yes <3

Originally Posted by NyxCC

That is a really cool movie!

Honestly I expected more from it.


Last night I tweaked my attempts a little bit. I didn't do much visualising, focussing more on the mantra, which I repeated throughout my SSILD attempt. It took me forever to fall asleep though so after a while I started moving around trying to get comfortable again and also lost some focus. Still no lucids. I think I've had a dryspell for at least 2 months now.

Well, I'm sure you're going to break it any time soon!

the one with Scarlett Johansson?

Originally Posted by Emnition

Yes <3
...
Honestly I expected more from it.

What did you want more of?
A) more clips of animals on the Serengeti
B) more speeches from Morgan Freeman
C) more of Scarlett
D) more Drug Lords

Originally Posted by cooleymd

What did you want more of?
A) more clips of animals on the Serengeti
B) more speeches from Morgan Freeman
C) more of Scarlett
D) more Drug Lords

A man can never have enough Scarlett

Last night I did something I should've done a while ago: I re-read the instructions for SSILD. All this time I figured there was no need to because I still remembered how to perform SSILD. Turns out I forgot one essential part: do it after several hours of sleep, not immediately when you go to bed. stupid stupid stupid stupid. So that's what I did last night, but I really had trouble motivating myself to get out of bed for a few minutes. Again tonight!

2 nights I didn't get enough sleep in to even make a serious attempt and 2 nights I did set an alarm, woke up... and was too lazy to drag my ass out of bed for 5 minutes. *sigh*

^^ I call that "the pull of the pillow" - the irresistible desire to just sleep and ld some other time.

Originally Posted by NyxCC

^^ I call that "the pull of the pillow" - the irresistible desire to just sleep and ld some other time.

Haha I like the name! Well I made *some* progress. I managed to get up at 5am, stayed up for 5-10 minutes and then performed SSILD... and failed to fall asleep. Though suddenly I do recall that SSILD is known to cause FAs and I didn't do an rc. I really think I didn't sleep anymore though, seeing as I'm a bit tired.

Because of yesterday I was afraid of not being able to fall asleep again... no worries there, cause I went to bed so quickly again that I fell asleep too quickly! Need a bit more finetuning to find that sweet spot. I did have a dream I liked though I remember some things in a bit more detail than usual.

Crap! Woke up at 5 again, went to the toilet and read a passive-aggresive text I received. Went back to bed, performed SSILD, though I was somewhat distracted and then... stayed awake for 2 hours. I finally did fall asleep, but perhaps this was too long after having performed SSILD.

Agh! Can you describe how your awake time went by? Try not to be as stressed out about not being able to fall asleep because worring will only make things worse. One tech I find helps me is to either "pretend" to wild or do some relaxation exercises. Basically, I just stay still and focus on the feeling of being relaxed and how nice that feels without thinking about anything else. I don't really try to wild, but sometimes it may happen accidentally as a result. You can also try to come up with your own version of relaxation or focus points.

Originally Posted by Emnition

I went to bed so quickly again that I fell asleep too quickly!

While intention setting you can visualize or whatever while in an uncomfortable position like legs all crossed weird or some such
(this will prevent falling asleep during this practice part)

then when you begin your mnemonic part like "the next place i'll be will be a dream... then next place..."
then uncross your legs to a relaxed position hopefully all that visualizing previous dreams and imagining reality checking, imagining doing chosen task, etc will have tired you out so you get back to sleep fast (from your WBTB)

Originally Posted by NyxCC

Agh! Can you describe how your awake time went by?

I probably fretted a bit too much about not being able to sleep and my attempt going to waste. Other than that: lots of rolling around trying to find a comfortable position.

Originally Posted by NyxCC

Try not to be as stressed out about not being able to fall asleep because worring will only make things worse. One tech I find helps me is to either "pretend" to wild or do some relaxation exercises. Basically, I just stay still and focus on the feeling of being relaxed and how nice that feels without thinking about anything else. I don't really try to wild, but sometimes it may happen accidentally as a result. You can also try to come up with your own version of relaxation or focus points.

Great idea, I'll keep it in mind for next time

Originally Posted by cooleymd

While intention setting you can visualize or whatever while in an uncomfortable position like legs all crossed weird or some such
(this will prevent falling asleep during this practice part)

then when you begin your mnemonic part like "the next place i'll be will be a dream... then next place..."
then uncross your legs to a relaxed position hopefully all that visualizing previous dreams and imagining reality checking, imagining doing chosen task, etc will have tired you out so you get back to sleep fast (from your WBTB)

Last night I (sort of) followed your advice. After waking up and going to the toilet I sat straight up in my bed with the lights off and started visualising and using a mantra. I also performed a few cycles of SSILD and then made myself comfortable and continued the SSILD cycles.

Happy to say I did finally become lucid again, though for an insanely short time. Basically what happened was that I woke up in bed, looking at the wallpaper. I noticed that it was the wallpaper from my little brother's room, which gave me the very strong feeling that I was dreaming. I told myself to remain calm and attempted to push my fingers through my palm, but failed. Nevertheless I was still quite sure I was dreaming, but at that point I either woke up or had an FA.

Having some concerns about continuing my use of SSILD. Last night I woke up and was unable to fall asleep for 2 hours yet again, leaving me a bit tired during the day.

Sorry to hear this. You might be surprised to find out, but a lot of people actually find SSILD to be a helpful technique to deal with insomnia. One of the reasons is that when you do it, you clear your mind from thoughts and only notice input from your senses - this is close to meditation techniques. Try to find out what prevents you from falling asleep and if necessary modify the technique. I would experiment with pure body points concentration to see if that makes a difference. For example, focus on a certain point of your body and keep relaxing.

Originally Posted by NyxCC

Sorry to hear this. You might be surprised to find out, but a lot of people actually find SSILD to be a helpful technique to deal with insomnia. One of the reasons is that when you do it, you clear your mind from thoughts and only notice input from your senses - this is close to meditation techniques. Try to find out what prevents you from falling asleep and if necessary modify the technique. I would experiment with pure body points concentration to see if that makes a difference. For example, focus on a certain point of your body and keep relaxing.

Nyx's advice here is great!

I in fact used to have this same wakefulness problem with SSILD, just like what you experienced.

Something that CosmicIron suggests (and I heartily agree with) is to do the steps of SSILD quite lazily. Don't get too hung up on doing them with any kind of precision. Just sort of do them, and if you lose track or do them in the wrong order, who cares?

Getting to sleep is far more important than doing the steps of SSILD in any specific way.

Empty your mind of all thoughts and enjoy the stillness of the night. Don't worry about whether you're going to fall asleep. Just enjoy the moment and let whatever happens, happen.

Once your mind is empty of thoughts, your body will just handle the rest.

I'll definitely give your suggestions a go. Up until this point I've been focused on doing it as the tutorial said, i.e. first sight, then hearing and finally touch, because it made such a big deal out of not altering anything about the tech.

Nothing much spectacular going on in my dreamworld, but I did start reading a very interesting book on habits yesterday. At the rate I'm going I might finish it within the next few days. Pretty positive about the possibility of it offering interesting insights which can be applied to lucidity.

Moved into a student house in a different city yesterday evening! Figure this is the best time to change some of my habits and improve those lucids.

First of all, I've committed myself to always writing down my dreams. It helps that I have a high bed (I can't even sit up straight cause I'll bump my head on the ceiling) so that there is not much to distract me before I do so, as it takes more than a moments thought to get out. Lately I've also been attempting to focus more on my hearing, to see if it will cause my hearing to 'improve' in my dreams. It's extremely difficult to keep this up all the time, especially when I'm occupied (for example sitting in class, which requires me to focus on something else). Unfortunately the walls in my new place are pretty thin and I feel too guilty for the person in the room next to me to put my alarm for 4am, so I might have to work around that. Perhaps SSILD is still a good option if you wake up naturally instead of being woken up by an alarm? I have decided to at least put an alarm for early in the morning when I'm sleeping at my mom's place ( because screw my little brother, right? ).

Nice! What's the name of the book?

Yes, you can absolutely do SSILD after a natural wbtb. I remember reading one member's journal, he got really crazy results with it. He would wake up naturally and immediately start doing the cycles. Obviously he got very good at it as he would start wilding almost straight away. I think his strong intention to have an ld played a role too.

The name is The Power of Habit, written by Charles Duhigg. Especially the first few chapters are interesting. It's about 120 pages and I finished it in 2 days.

Excellent! I'll definitely be giving natural wbtb's a go then!

Originally Posted by NyxCC

Yes, you can absolutely do SSILD after a natural wbtb. I remember reading one member's journal, he got really crazy results with it. He would wake up naturally and immediately start doing the cycles. Obviously he got very good at it as he would start wilding almost straight away. I think his strong intention to have an ld played a role too.

Do you happen to remember his name?

Yes, his name is Sangfoot, but he hasn't been active recently. This is the entry that impressed me so much I remember it up to this day.

7-5-13 Dream Journal - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Ah, the Power of Habit! I bought a digital version of it a while ago. I recall it was very good, but never finished it - it's what happens when I don't have the thing on paper. (Bad habits!) Perhaps it's time to give it another go. Thanks!