Stuck, no progress, and some ADA concerns

Hi there,

I started writing my dream journal around july/august 2013, so that's almost 6 months. Except some specific days, I always write on it, both when waking up at night (3am... 4am... ) and when the alarm clock hits at around 7am. Some nights I write just 1-2 dreams, other nights I have like 8 entries from different "wake ups", possibly same dream in different situations, but lots of entries, and sometimes 1 dream can be 2 pages long.

For months I've been reading guides and tutorials here about different techniques (by the way thanks to all the authors), I've tried ADA for a while (I'll get later into this), and I have really put effort into achieving this. I REALLY want to LD.

The thing is that currently I'm (almost) able of having a small and short LD when I have the purpose, and under certain circunstances of course. It usually happens on weekends when I wake up and at around 10am, after staying in bed doing nothing and feeling I'm a bit sleepy, I put my ear plugs and procede to sleep telling my self that I'll become lucid.

Oh, and I do... but always happens at the very end of my REM stage, and no matter how hard I try to stabilize the dream, I can't. I'm not excited as it used to happen the first times. Now I detect the dream and just try to think on the things to do. Touch something, look at something, rub hands... maybe I'm able to go to another room but the dream just fades away.

This saturday I had like 6 FAs one after another, and funny thing is in the 4th one I almost got tricked because I stayed there in bed, on the darkness, until I suddenly realized it was another FA. But as I said, dreams just fade away.

Tonight I woke up at 5-6am and tried the SSILD tech I read here, and told my self I would become lucid. And again I did, but at the very end of the dream. In the dream I had tonight, I felt a bit scared for a moment because of what was going on in the dream before (and light switches on a building didn't work, in the worst moment), and I got lucidity here, so then I remembered one thing I read here on a tutorial, so I told to myself "it's my dream, nothing can happen to me", and just flew downstairs in the dark, and went outside through a wall. I did this because of what I read as excercise to lose fear and to learn that you have the control. But in any case the outside was also dark and I woke up.

What I feel in these situations is that I stop feeling my body and I start feeling in my bed, eyes closed. I'm not sure if I do this by accident just to "make sure I'm sleeping", or if it just happens because I'm waking up. But things like these have been happening for several weeks now, and I feel stuck.

I started practicing ADA a few weeks ago, to see if I could get lucidity earlier, but my problem is that I forget to do it, and I don't want to use reminders, as those don't exist in dreams. Also, my problem with ADA is that I'm not sure if I'm doing it correctly, because I try to notice things that otherwise I wouldn't (shadows, smells, etc.) but I also feel like I'm doing a long reality check looking around, etc... and I'm not sure if this will help in dreams.

Any comments are appreciated, and feel free to ask if there's something I left.

Thanks!
Regards.

It sounds as it you're not stuck at all! You're getting lucid! Every time you get lucid your brain is becoming more and more aligned with the process of lucidity and getting better and better at it! Be positive about all those lucid moments and FAs you're experiencing. I've been practicing about the same amount of time you have, I started around the end of last August. And also for me, the most of the lucid dreams come close to waking up for the day. This is normal for beginners. sivason mentioned that it can take around 100 LDs before the dreams can cart coming earlier and earlier in the REM cycle where the real adventures begin. I have just in the last week had two LDs that came earlier in the sleep cycle, so maybe it's finally beginning for me? Keep at it, and it will for you, too!

My personal opinion on ADA (there's a great recent thread on ADA vs. self-awareness, check it out and read some of the great posts there!) is that the "animal awareness" portion of just paying attention to every single sense is not required (and maybe not even helpful at all) for lucidity. It's also exhausting, we're not built for that sort of sensory attention, like mice are. But rather, "all day mindfulness," or "continuous RC", where you take one aspect of your environment and maintain awareness of this relative to your self. I'm working on location: I'm trying to be continuously (lightly) aware of my self in my surroundings and constantly evaluate whether these surroundings are dream-like or waking-like. I also do a lot of explicit reflection/intention moments through the day, and nose-pinch RC in response to just about ANYthing interesting (and this got me lucid 3 nights ago: see weird scenery, "that doesn't belong here, I must be dreaming", nose pinch, I'm dreaming! yay!).

So instead of focusing on the minutiae of that shadow over there, that breath of wind, that dog barking, use your higher human mental brain function and synthesize everything together into a single scene and just ask yourself "is this a waking scene?" or "Why do I think I'm awake?" And try to keep this background mindfulness/evaluation going all day and eventually as you do it over and over it will become easier and easier and take less and less effort, with more and more results in lucidity.

Also, and this is hard I know, try not to be concerned with the dream ending, as the SC is really good at picking up those expectations and making them come true. I'd say: if you're lucid enough in the dream and have enough time to have conscious thoughts and make decisions about what you want to do, that you're doing great, even if they don't last that long.

Do you rehearse a getting lucid ritual? Like, as soon as you're lucid, a brief stabilisation technique? I haven't been doing that for a while, but when I was, I got my longest and most vivid LD yet after doing my full-body pat-down (brings the dream body into the dream) and looking around while slowly counting to 5. That can also help.

So I say: just keep getting lucid, and rehearse in waking life what you want your responses to be to various dream scenarios, like everything going dark (happens to me, too, and I usually just stand there stupidly wondering what to do until I wake up...better is to move around a lot, dancing, stomping your feet, patting down your body, trying to "see" your dream body and your hands), and keep getting lucid!

And remember it takes the brain a while to learn something and get good at it. So picking one thing and dedicating some real time to it (days/weeks is nothing, you should be thinking at least in terms of months). Repetition, conscious effort, honest self-evaluation and adjustment, staying positive, that's what it's all about! I've stuck through a couple dry-spells and the LDs and the dreams come back with continued efforts, just stick with it! Also participating in things like the DV competitions really helps, so keep your eyes peeled for the start of the next one.

Dream on!

Hi,

First, thanks for the encouragement. The thing is that days and weeks go by, and I see no special progress, so that's why I feel stuck.

I really hope that it's as you say, meaning that I need dozens of micro-LDs at final REM, before they start happening earlier.

Replying to your ADA comments: Well, the problem is that it's very rare to notice something "weird" on a dream, unless you are one of those ADA masters that are around this forum. Even if during the day I may "stop" sometimes to think about where am I, why, where I was before, etc... and look a bit around me hearing noises or looking for anything unusual, it still doesn't happen on my dreams. In fact, a few times happened that I was chating with a DC about something and mentioned things related to dreams, without stoping to think that I already was in one.

My latest memory about this happened a week ago, where I was walking with some family members and there was some kind of mini-tornado on the street. I tried to cross runing and I started levitating at around 1-2m on the floor, moved by the wind, and a bit laughing I told them: "hey look, I'm flying, like in dream!", joking with the situation.

I also noticed that many times I see my dreams as if they are some kind of video, or movie. I may be watching something happening, and later I'm the main character of the story (even if it wasn't me). No matter how hard I try to set this as some kind of dream sign... I'm unable to detect them inside.


About the rituals you ask, I of course do, or try. And as I go reading advices here, I use to add them to the things to do. First I always check my hands and look around with lot of criticism every time I wake up. When I catch an FA or detect I'm dreaming I also rub my hands, try to look at an object, etc.. but usually it's all dark or as if I was looking through a dirty lens... and in a few seconds I feel my eyes closed.

Also, a couple weeks ago I read here a guide with some excercises to do on "week 1" (I guess it's gonna be year 1 for me...), like leting yourself drop backwards trusting all is good, or trying to go through a wall. This last thing is what I did today, and a few days ago I tried it after a FA, hoping to spawn somewhere else, but I just hit the wall (ouch). In any case, yes, I try to do the things I read around, as long as I'm able to remember them, which is easy on a FA because I find myself more lucid than when I attain lucidity while in a dream.

Anyway I will try to put yet more effort, like setting 2-3 alarms to try writing more dreams, or some ADA sessions or mantras on afternoons and on bed, something I don't do right now.

Thanks!

I am having the same issues. I talk about dreams to dream characters and fail to DILD. I also have performed a reality check and for some reason did not have enough faith in it. I did experience a short lucid dream and felt myself awakening. I knew I was awake but kept my eyes closed. I took the opportunity to try out DEILD here, which is a technique you can apply when you feel you are waking up from a lucid dream. You keep your eyes closed as you focus on the last image or thing you remember from the lucid dream you are waking up from and you hold on to that as you fall back asleep. It's suppose to put you back into the dream and it will be easier to become lucid. This is called dream chaining.

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Originally Posted by Irreo

Hi,

First, thanks for the encouragement. The thing is that days and weeks go by, and I see no special progress, so that's why I feel stuck.

I really hope that it's as you say, meaning that I need dozens of micro-LDs at final REM, before they start happening earlier.

Replying to your ADA comments: Well, the problem is that it's very rare to notice something "weird" on a dream, unless you are one of those ADA masters that are around this forum. Even if during the day I may "stop" sometimes to think about where am I, why, where I was before, etc... and look a bit around me hearing noises or looking for anything unusual, it still doesn't happen on my dreams. In fact, a few times happened that I was chating with a DC about something and mentioned things related to dreams, without stoping to think that I already was in one.

Thanks!

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If you're getting lucid with some regularity then you're doing things right. Some people go years without getting lucid even once so consider yourself doing very well. 6 months is not all that long in lucid dreaming practice. Take the long view and you'll see that you're doing great. It's not my opinion but sivason's (a guy with decades and thousands of lucid dreams under his belt) who said that it takes approx 100 lucid dreams to get to the point where start getting lucid earlier and earlier.

I have some "noticing weird things" in dreams resulting in lucidity but not very much -- mostly I just realize I'm dreaming.

Cultivating a positive expectation that you WILL notice things in dreams will certainly help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starletdreamer

You keep your eyes closed as you focus on the last image or thing you remember from the lucid dream you are waking up from and you hold on to that as you fall back asleep. It's suppose to put you back into the dream and it will be easier to become lucid. This is called dream chaining.

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Thanks for the tip. Honestly I didn't know about this technique (even if I read the name around), and it happened that I already tried it without knowing it a couple times. Just one of those moments where you don't want to wake up and try to go back to the dream. This made me remember what happened this weekend in one of my several chained FAs. I just "woke up" (I though I was) and remained in bed (on my side) a bit frustrated and suddenly I noticed what felt like female hands caressing my back. I sleep alone so in that moment, even if for one second I was about to feel "fear", I just decided to trust that all was in my head and took it as some kind of "transition" back to the dream so I stayed still with eyes closed. If I didn't know it was a dream I could have tell it was happening in real, because the hands felt completely real. Unfortunatelly I "woke up" again in another FA :shock:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FryingMan

If you're getting lucid with some regularity then you're doing things right. Some people go years without getting lucid even once so consider yourself doing very well. 6 months is not all that long in lucid dreaming practice. Take the long view and you'll see that you're doing great. It's not my opinion but sivason's (a guy with decades and thousands of lucid dreams under his belt) who said that it takes approx 100 lucid dreams to get to the point where start getting lucid earlier and earlier.

I have some "noticing weird things" in dreams resulting in lucidity but not very much -- mostly I just realize I'm dreaming.

Cultivating a positive expectation that you WILL notice things in dreams will certainly help.

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Thanks. Maybe I'm being a bit negative as sometimes I can't avoid to think "man.. I'll never achieve this"... I'll try to think just the opposite.