My 3 week all day awareness experiment results!

[Joram]

hello guys, I just want to point out how much ADA has helped me so far. I've started my ADA experiment 3 weeks ago and posting the results so far here now. I've been doing ADA for 3 weeks + Reality checks. ADA was new for me, and I wanted to check it out if it works well. in the first week, there wasn't really big changes. There were changes, but not really decisive. I sometimes noticed strange things, but REALLY did not questioned myself in the dream about it. in the second week, I noticed my more critical look on my dreams. I started to question more things in my dreams. If I saw someone without shoes on, I questioned myself if it was strange. I noticed more and more strange things in dreams. at the end of the second week, I noticed that in every dream, i was being critic at EVERYTHING. Sometimes i even linked these strange things to myself dreaming and doing a RC, but waking up immediately.. in waking life, it becomes more easy to keep my awareness high and search for things out of the ordinary. the third week: My dreams become very vived at this point, because of the high awareness in every dream. I very often link strange things to a dream state with a RC following, but keep waking up very immediately. In waking life, I notice a lot of strange things aswell without really looking for them. It starts to go more automatically. the last days of the third week: I've came to the point where I realize that im dreaming every night at least once. I still have the problem that I wake up immediately after my RC. Sometimes my RC doesnt even say im dreaming, but I KNOW that im dreaming, because of my awareness, but still failing the RC's like the nose pinch loool. Then I think im not dreaming and lose the dream or something.. I REALLY recommend ADA to you all. All my dreams became so vivid and lifelike. It has become way more easy to spot out strange things in a dream AND in waking life. ADA is hard in the beginning. You must focus on things you're not used to to focus on. small details. looking for things out of the ordinary. It's hard, but it becomes a part of your system after some time. It becomes fun to see more and more strange things in waking life and in your dreams. Every night, i enjoy high quality movies now . I love ADA and I will keep doing this technique to master it, to have every single dream lucid..! =) I kinda thing this could be a life changing process in my opinion. I've had days where i wanted to quit seeing everything, but my brain wouldn't let me. My lifestyle has changed , but the good way. It's going to take effort to quit ADA, just like it took effort to start with it..

[DreamyBear]

Joram, this sounds awesome! I know what ADA is, and how it works. But I would like to ask you some questions that pops up in my mind about ADA-practice. I dont know about you, but when I practice ADA, I tend to drift off in to my own thought's after only 5min of ADA-practice. So how many minutes will you manage to get done in ADA at one time? And how many times a day, do you practice ADA? Do you feel that your ADA-pracitce takes a lot of focus from your ordinary daily doing's while pratice ADA?

[Joram]

hey man! first of all, i've tended to drift off in thoughts aswell. Simply correct that when you find yourself drifting off and start over. after some time doing this, you are going to be more focused on the things on the outside, instead of focusing on them in your mind. So if you see a tree, it wont be like - you see a tree - nice tree - i could make a treehouse in it - what if that tree would be bigger -. Nope! Thats just your imagination talking. Try to be more like - nice tree - its very big - its leaves are very red - i can see a butterfly on the tree -. You're more focused on the aspects of the tree that are ACTUALLY there, instead of imagining things around the tree that COULD be there. If you correct yourself while you notice that you drift off to your imagination, stop and start over! after some time, you will notice that you are looking very critical to your surroundings without really imagining things around them that are not really there. It will be tough at first, but soon it will go automatically! How many minutes i can get done: Let's take our tree back here. I could practically look 10 minutes to a tree and focus on its aspects what makes it a tree, but that will get boring and you will drift off to your imagination no matter what. If we take a couple of things in one area like a trashcan, a car, a tree and a couple of people, i can ADA on them as long as im in that area. I first did this by forcing myself and just having a really bad time, but now, in that same scene, i could choose between ADA the surroundings or let my imagination have fun. I think, in the first week, i practiced ADA, forcefully, 10 times a day with a length of 2-3 minutes each session. In week two, i tried to keep on to 5 times a day, same length. In the third week, i skipped sessions. I tried to be aware to whole day, so that was my aim. That turned out to very long periods of being aware, and some moments less aware. I tried to be ADA without forcing moments to do it. It worked out pretty well actually . I now dont do sessions aswell. I only ask myself at the end of the day i was aware enough throughout the day. The sessions are just to let your mind think it's become a new habbit of you - looking critical to everything. Soon your subconscious will take this habbit over and its ingrained. When you lose the grip of this, simple go back to sessions a day and grind ADA in your subconscious again! your last question. yes and no. In the beginning, it took a lot of focus from my daily routine stuff. But the better you get, you wont even notice that you're ADA-ing and doing your normal day routine things at the same time. You will be just aware of what you're doing, without forcing yourself too much. And that is of course what you want, cus it aint fun to waste your day with forceful ADA'ing. I hope i helped some here! Good luck with the ADA practice! You can always ask if you got questions, peace

[Joram]

Wauww, thats a bigg reply over there ;p

[DreamyBear]

Im very satisfied with those answears of yours. And I appreciate your effort to describe your experiences. So many thanks to you, and yes this is helping very much so.

[Baron Samedi]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[Bharmo]

Thanks for sharing, especially for sharing after after three weeks of thorough testing

[ravanoos]

Nice work! When I tried ADA with my own technique I realised that Im dreaming 2 times that night, but they were not so vivid. Anyway because my lazyness I stopped practicing ADA and RCs from like.... 3 months and still got LDs trhough DILD ))

[Bobblehat]

How is your ADA practice going now, Joram?

[Memm]

I got a couple of questions: Can you still "let go" and just daydream? Also what if you want a "normal" dream (a lot of normal dreams are awesome) has being critical of everything lowered your ability to just enjoy dreams? Thanks for sharing your results! =]

[sprada]

That's awesome. Thanks so much for sharing.

[Ctharlhie]

Awesome post. Could you post exactly the exact methodology of your ADA, the exact thought process as you're doing it, moment-by-moment?

[Joram]

sorry for replying so late people, have been bust lately I will answer the questions: My ADA is going well, and in my opinion THE method for lucid dreaming. I've tried wake initiated methods, but im not good at them. yes, I can still let go and daydream. I just close my eyes and there it comes! Yes, i still have a lot of normal dreams which i really like. Its just like watching a movie. I can watch HQ movies for free! My methodology ( at my current ADA level ): lets take me, arriving at a party: 1: I look around. Everything that is normal, i take for granted. 2: I see a big cake. I notice how big it is and how it would taste. No further imagination on the taste here. 3: I walk to the closet the hang up my jacket. I notice how many jackets there are and count them quickly. I really like the white striped one. It has 2 big buttons on its sleeves. They are gold! 4: I walk into the room and see some friends. One of them has new shoes with a real high sole, which boosts his lenght enormous, i notice. I walk to my friends and greet. 5: Outside in the garden, there is a big tree. A girl is leaning on it and smoking a cigaret. I watch how she blows the smoke out of her with a fast, white ray. 6: I see a girl i know and walk towards her. I hug her and notice her warm body. She is really warm. Maybe from the alcohol or from dancing? Something like this. I hope i answered your questions guys! let me know if i didnt.

[KonchogTashi]

Thanks, its always nice to hear the techniques described from the perspective of someone actually practicing, nice example!

[Renyao]

I've been trying something very similar to what Joram describes (based on one of the older ADA tutorials.) I highly recommend it for a number of reasons: 1) Every time I consciously "make myself aware" of some sort of sensory input, it keeps my thoughts hovering around lucid dreaming. 2) I find it very relaxing! if you're a worrier like I am, focusing on the sights/sounds/sensations all around you can be very soothing. 3) I make fewer mistakes. If I'm not trying to plan tomorrow's schedule while driving, for example, I'm much less likely to miss an exit on the freeway. 4) You become more easily aware of "anomalies" or unusual/unexpected things in your environment, which can be signs that you are dreaming. For example: if you're taking a walk and spot a street sign you've never seen before, in a distracted state you might barely notice it, but in an aware state you could easily stop and perform a reality check. Dreams like to spring unusual stuff on you, but when dreaming nonlucidly we tend to breeze right past with an excuse like "I guess I've just never noticed an aquarium there" and other explanations for the strange things. Increasing awareness with ADA makes you notice things l 5) It increases dream vividness! and of course, 6) Because this is a really effective LD technique. Better yet, with enough practice you could theoretically be constantly aware, or at least aware consistently enough to make lucidity almost automatic when you start to dream.

[LivinLucid]

Wow thanks Joram, you've given some pretty good steps on how to build up your ADA! Thanks this has helped a lot

[Joram]

Graag gedaan man!

[gab]

That is a great explanation, thank you for your posts and the experiment. And congrats on your results. I think this will take the mystery out of ADA for many of us. With your explanation, it's not as boring and bothersome as it may sound. And I agree, awareness is the key. happy dreams

[bluremi]

I'm glad this is working for you. I previously tried a 1-week "literal" ADA experiment and found it was not of much use. You can read about it here: http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...roper-try.html My approach was slightly different: rather than trying to slowly weave together a tapestry of intermittent ADA habits, I tried to consistently maintain ADA at all times every day. I eventually found it possible to do but mentally tiring, and even though I built a habit of awareness after several days it did not carry through to my dreams, so my motivation dissolved and I was unable to continue. Based on this experience and accounts of others on these forums, I think some people are more naturally prone to awareness in their dreams, and ADA tends to be an effective technique for them. For others it might be a waste of time. Nevertheless, I think maybe your approach is less mentally draining and motivation-sapping (it's a "gentle" awareness rather than forcing it 100% of the time) so I will try it out for a few weeks and see if the effect is any different.

[FryingMan]

I'm glad this is working for you. I previously tried a 1-week "literal" ADA experiment and found it was not of much use. You can read about it here: http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...roper-try.html My approach was slightly different: rather than trying to slowly weave together a tapestry of intermittent ADA habits, I tried to consistently maintain ADA at all times every day. I eventually found it possible to do but mentally tiring, and even though I built a habit of awareness after several days it did not carry through to my dreams, so my motivation dissolved and I was unable to continue. Based on this experience and accounts of others on these forums, I think some people are more naturally prone to awareness in their dreams, and ADA tends to be an effective technique for them. For others it might be a waste of time. Nevertheless, I think maybe your approach is less mentally draining and motivation-sapping (it's a "gentle" awareness rather than forcing it 100% of the time) so I will try it out for a few weeks and see if the effect is any different. A couple things: 1) a few days is WAY too short to decide that ADA is not working for you. I've read stories of it really kicking in after about 1-3 months 2) the beginning is really hard as your mind is not used to doing it. The longer you do it the "easier" and more "background" it becomes so it interferes less with waking life. 3) full ADA is not required for achieving lucidity. Instead, focus on just ONE aspect of yourself and your environment: some people become aware of how gravity feels, some where they are, some how their heart is beating, some how they're breathing/blinking. The term for this is ADA/RC or "continuous RC." Becoming aware of just one aspect of your awareness/environment is much easier than full ADA, and in my opinion, in theory, just as valuable, since I suspect the key to the lucidity is from the awareness/mindfulness itself, not what you're mindful of, that's just a place to hang the awareness. I find that while I'm doing my ADA/RC (I focus mostly on location, sometimes objects, and sometimes gravity), when I have "free" mental awareness (like when walking somewhere), I will notice sounds and other things, but only when I have the extra awareness capacity, and not for long. But I do try to keep location awareness all day long. And I believe it is showing results, I just woke from a dream I swore was real where I noticed my location and the feel of gravity/weight, next step is getting lucid from it!

[fogelbise]

Hi Joram, great follow up description/example of going to a party and integrating your practice. Have you resolved the challenge with your in dream RC/stability?

[Joram]

Yes i did. I figured my dreams are very unstable in the beginning and it needs a stability. By rubbing my hands i am able to keep in the dream

[MischiefManaged]

Do you still find it easy to maintain? In my experience when it got to automatic mode after a few weeks of practicing that's were it went downhill...I just wasn't as motivated to do it all day everyday anymore. What do you do to keep the practice going as fresh and sharp as in the beginning?

[FryingMan]

I find the motivation building even more as I get results. Even good dream recall is a result I think. But even before that my motivation comes from a-priori making a dedication to do it no matter what. And knowing that IT WORKS, but it takes time. The guy who promotes ADA/RC (I don't do ADA, but ADA/RC, "continuous RC" is another name for it is lucid all night, every night. It took him 8 years of continuous trying to get lucid for the first time. EIGHT YEARS. And after discovering he noticed the feeling of gravity in a dream (by WILDing in from bedtime-again, how's that for dedication?), and it took 3 months of constant attention to gravity for him to finally notice it in a dream, and from there the frequency went from a couple per week to several per night and eventually to lucid all night every night. I want that. I want that "like I want to breathe." (From a youtube sports motivation video). You have to want it like you want to breathe. You have to make the commitment. Only you can make that decision of dedication and interest -- do you want it that much? Will you do what it takes no matter if its months or more? I mix both ADA/RC with Tholey/LaBerge reflection/intention: I tell myself periodically "STOP! What is this place? Where is it located? Is everything as it should be here?" and then through ADA/RC I maintain that sense of location, and "watch" myself moving through the world, noticing changes of locations ("doors are magical! I'm dreaming!" I say try to say that every time I go through a door and notice the from/to locations that are linked by the door). Every success, every lucid dream, makes me more motivated....and as I get better at it I just want to keep it going. Yes there are moments where I have sort of a feeling where I don't want to do it, and in those moments I force myself to keep going. I keep lucid dreaming on the back of my mind at all times when I'm not actively concentrating on work, and I'm going to find a way to try to mix in LD awareness during work, too. Another key quote, I got from somewhere: the only difference between the awesome lucid dreamers and the people who "want" to but "can't" is that the awesome lucid dreamers didn't quit in the beginning when it was hard, when frequency was low. Quitting and coming back to it later is not ideal, because you have to battle increased negative expectation.

[MischiefManaged]

I can definitely attest to quitting and coming back being extremely difficult. There is just this mental block that feels impossible to lift. Thank you guys for taking time and actually writing out what actions you perform to increase awareness. I think awareness in itself is such an elusive concept, easy to grasp theoretically, but quite complicated when one tries to practice it. "Being in the moment" just sounds so unbearably vague, I love when people tell step by step what they are actually doing.