CanisLucidus

Congrats on the hotel OBE, CL! As I said, I find lding during vacations quite an achievement and having an obe in an unfamiliar location even more so!

As you maybe know, I don't get too many lds in my bedroom (yet) and whenever I do there is either some sort of confusion or I try to leave the place as fast as possible. Lots of the confusion starts when I end up rolling over or floating around with my dream body and wondering what the hell is going on there.

At any rate, my behavior means that I never have the chance to look back and check out if there is an actual me sleeping in the bed. I've read somewhere that it is recommended to get as far as possible from the body location to prevent waking up, but I am still curious. Have you ever checked?

The hallway is now better lit, but it's still fairly dim. From out of nowhere, I hear Wife's from behind me: "And there waaaaas light!" She follows this up with a mocking trumpet sound like "doo doo doo DOOOOOOO!!"

Lol, this was very funny!

Thanks, I like the OBE feel quite a bit. In part this is because it's so novel. I tend to naturally gravitate toward DILD, and that is all about getting plopped into an existing dream scene and working from there. These WILD -> OBE dreams are just so much like staggering out of bed kind of groggy after you just laid down.

I actually had another OBE last night that I need to journal up. In this one I did what you are talking about... I looked back and checked out my sleeping body! Very cool and weird, but I didn't wake up! So I guess I didn't break any mystical LD rule.

Congrats on the bizzare dream.

I too have had a few of these (similar?) and I remember looking back at my bed twice where I sort of noticed my body sleeping. (I did not go up and check however!)

They are quite challenging dreams/experiences to work with even though you are conscious at the time.
With me however the jury is still out regarding OBE? I'm still a bit sceptical although I would love to prove myself wrong! (I like to keep an open mind regarding this subject.)
(The reason I'm so sceptical is I feel that the human mind and brain is capable of incredible feats - lucid dreaming and dreaming in general being one of them.)
Maybe there is some sort of overlap between LD and OBE? (I feel there is or might be when people report about transition/WILD states, etc.)

I would love to prove it to myself given the right opportunity.

Thanks, it was fun! I agree with you that everything I've seen seems to indicate that it's just a lucid dream that follows a certain pattern. Basically just a very, very common style of WILD. Although I suspect that DILD-style OBEs could be possible!

That's not to take anything away from the experience, of course! It is in every way just like rising up out of the body, just like how flying in an LD is just like flying through an incredibly vivid, realistic world. Like so many great experiences, "what it is" is a less important question than "what the experience feels like".

I completely agree about what the human mind is capable of. Once you hit an LD whose vividness approaches or surpassing waking life, it gives you a whole new perspective on many different sorts of phenomena.

All mine seemed to be from DILDs. (I must really learn how to WILD as I seem to do DILD with stabilizers on hoping I don't fall off.)
I think when I'm on G. then I would have my best opportunity maybe as I've experienced some bizarre transitions so far.

They are memorable (and can be unnerving) experiences like you say at least.

I'm tempted (if I remember) to try and phaze through the party wall into next door - maybe that might be a good experiment next time?

Yeah, G tends to make it more likely that I'll WILD instead of DILD, but I still get a lot of DILDs with G as well.

The phasing goal sounds great! Go for it! Once you get phasing down, you just see opportunities for it everywhere and it becomes the normal way you get around in lots of situations. You're much harder to "trap" when you know you can phase.

Just remember that the wall's not really there. In fact, there is nothing there at all.

I actually had another OBE last night that I need to journal up. In this one I did what you are talking about... I looked back and checked out my sleeping body! Very cool and weird, but I didn't wake up! So I guess I didn't break any mystical LD rule.

Ahhh, this is awesome! Looking forward to reading it.

@ CL, Highlander

I also prefer to keep an open mind about these things, leave the question with an indefinite answer. Such phenomena are very complex and it may take a while until science comes up with an appropriate explanation, so I totally agree with CL's

Like so many great experiences, "what it is" is a less important question than "what the experience feels like".

Btw, Highlander you may be even closer to those wild/obe experience than you think (these are the impressions I get from reading Highlander's entries).

I am certain there is lots of knowledge on dreaming that has been stored in our subcon. I mean we have been sleeping and doing all kinds of cool stuff for a third of our lives. The challenge is to bring that knowledge to the surface and be able to apply it with confidence.

Thanks guys. I find these posts and the DJ entry (above) inspiring.

@ CL.
I phazed through the bedroom one time which was strange and put my hand through a window during another. I usually have to be very lucid to do it as it seems to take 'energy' to do.

Thanks for the useful advice BTW. Like you say it is a case of applying belief.

@ NyxCC
Thanks for the encouragement. It is a case of learning and pushing boundaries. That's why I feel the DJ helps.

Happy dreams.

I also prefer to keep an open mind about these things, leave the question with an indefinite answer. Such phenomena are very complex and it may take a while until science comes up with an appropriate explanation, so I totally agree with CL's

That's right. Our theories and explanations for these experiences just seem so small in comparison to the experiences themselves. You know? I mean, I could say that dreams are neurons firing in your brain. Cool. But does that explanation come anywhere close to capturing the magic of an amazing, vivid LD?

I am certain there is lots of knowledge on dreaming that has been stored in our subcon. I mean we have been sleeping and doing all kinds of cool stuff for a third of our lives. The challenge is to bring that knowledge to the surface and be able to apply it with confidence.

Isn't that an exciting thought?

I bet we've discussed this before, but have you ever had your dream compose a soundtrack or any kind of original music for you? It is amazing. It totally changes your perspective on your own creativity. If I can do this when I'm dreaming, what stops me from doing this in waking life?

That's right. Our theories and explanations for these experiences just seem so small in comparison to the experiences themselves. You know? I mean, I could say that dreams are neurons firing in your brain. Cool. But does that explanation come anywhere close to capturing the magic of an amazing, vivid LD?

Very well said as always.

I bet we've discussed this before, but have you ever had your dream compose a soundtrack or any kind of original music for you? It is amazing. It totally changes your perspective on your own creativity. If I can do this when I'm dreaming, what stops me from doing this in waking life?

Actually, we haven't discussed that yet. Yeah, it's absolutely amazing, in some non-lds and lds for example, I have heard complex pop songs that I've never actually heard before. I guess great composers could somehow tap into their subcon like this and they simply heard the music in their dreams and also in their heads and so lots of great masterpieces were created.

Maybe one day we will be able to do the same? And since lding teaches you to work with your subcon, I think that in the long run it has to help you gain access to a larger pool of subcon related creative abilities while awake. Because you are actually learning to use and activate different parts of your brain and the more you practice this the stronger these connections should become.

Actually, we haven't discussed that yet. Yeah, it's absolutely amazing, in some non-lds and lds for example, I have heard complex pop songs that I've never actually heard before. I guess great composers could somehow tap into their subcon like this and they simply heard the music in their dreams and also in their heads and so lots of great masterpieces were created.

Yeah, it really is amazing. It makes me think that what's really special about creative people is how fluidly they can tap into these subconscious currents and bring something back to the surface. I love the idea that we all have at least some of that in us... the major question is improving our access to it.

Maybe one day we will be able to do the same? And since lding teaches you to work with your subcon, I think that in the long run it has to help you gain access to a larger pool of subcon related creative abilities while awake. Because you are actually learning to use and activate different parts of your brain and the more you practice this the stronger these connections should become.

I think that this is true! Ophelia actually mentioned something like this in the most recent podcast (not published yet.) When you get better at dream recall AND when you get better at doing things like remembering task ideas that you had in waking life, you're strengthening that connection between who you are when you're awake and who you are when you sleep.

I have a friend who's a filmmaker and he says that he gets virtually all of his ideas from dreams. That's why when he becomes lucid, he generally does absolutely nothing but let the scene play out and keep reminding himself to remember every detail.

Improving creativity is one of my "bigger" goals for lucid dreaming!

I think that this is true! Ophelia actually mentioned something like this in the most recent podcast (not published yet.) When you get better at dream recall AND when you get better at doing things like remembering task ideas that you had in waking life, you're strengthening that connection between who you are when you're awake and who you are when you sleep.

Awesome! I really like that! Btw, you are always including some podcast teasers, CL. I can see the new podcast is there too. Excellent timing, I will be checking it out soon!

I have a friend who's a filmmaker and he says that he gets virtually all of his ideas from dreams. That's why when he becomes lucid, he generally does absolutely nothing but let the scene play out and keep reminding himself to remember every detail.

The only thing that's cooler than having a friend who's a filmmaker is having a friend who's into lding and filmmaking. It's great you can talk to him about this.