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    Xanous' Dream Journal

    The Sleep Lab

    8 Comments
    by
    Xanous
    , 08-11-2015 at 03:18 AM (727 Views)
    Night 1:

    #461 - WILD - 3:00AM

    Because it took two hours to set things up, I was extra tired going to sleep at midnight. Or I thought I was, I was having a very uncomfortable time with the EEG net and was in and out of light sleep with long bouts of wakefulness. I realized part of my issue was not having the sound of a box fan to lull me to sleep so I spent a ton of time meditating.

    I finally manage to watch dreamlets form until I hear a loud voice say, "I still remember the smell of her fried chicken." I was curious if the voice was talking about the lab technician, but then, I remember. I latch on to the feeling of being in the dream and try to move my arms. I feel mild vibrations and slight resistance as I sit up. I float up into darkness. I become excited and remember to give the left-right-left-right eye signals. I spend the next few moments in the void trying various things to get some traction. I have the sensation of physically opening my eyes and I see some light on part of the wall. I worry that this is the actual room (it wasn't) so I quickly close my eyes. My thoughts cause me to wake up.

    Night 2:

    #462 - WILD - 6:00AM

    We got set up early and I lay down around 10PM. I felt much more comfortable and tired this time, but my dreams where hard to recall and I had no lucids to report. I decide to pretty much skip my 3:30AM WBTB and I wake about 4:22AM. I have to be disconnected so that I can use the restroom, so all of this woke me up enough that I spent what felt like most of the next hour being very awake. I used this time to meditate into the dream almost exactly like the night before but this time it gave the *indescribable feeling* like before and I have to roll to my left to make it pass.


    Later, I come to some awareness and feeling of being in the bardo. I float up and quickly give the left-right-left-right signal, but I am not sure if I am actually in REM yet or not because it's all dark. I decided this time to go ahead and open eyes. It felt vivid and I was worried that it was my physical eyes. I was happy to see the room was well lit and very different then my actual location. I also note that when I focus on it, I can also feel my physical eye closed tight. I go ahead and give the eye signal once more for good measure.

    I leave the room and find myself upstairs in my parents old house. I see my mom down stairs and glide to her. In a weird, Norman-Bates-tone I ask, "What are you doing mother?"
    She doesn't say anything, but her body becomes gaunt and rotten. Her right arm is now missing with splintered bone protruding from the stub at her shoulder. She looks up at me hungrily with red rimmed eyes and dark circles under. She has a look of hunger as she stared at me with her head hung low. I am taken aback, but only slightly frightened. I decide not to accept this and dismiss it. No.

    The scene resets and I am now standing with her in the Main Room. My mom has returned to normal, so I hug her to put emphasis on the restoration. I say something to her about all of this just being a dream and how everything is OK. I feel excited and overjoyed to be lucid and having completing my goal. I think of waking up, but I remember that I was supposed to stay in dream for a few minutes if I could. I am not sure of the time, but know it hasn't been long at all I turn to go out the back of the house, but all of this, thinking about waking up, actually wakes me up.

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    Comments

    1. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      Great job, man, you're a hero of LD science!

      It's really cool how the pressure to perform doesn't get to you and you meditate your way through the strange environment and equipment. I'm bothered by a little daylight coming into my room.. can't imagine how I'd handle an EEG hairnet!

      Do you know anything about how well the eye signals came through? Will they share anything like that with you?
      Xanous likes this.
    2. bemistaken's Avatar
      Congratulations!!! So proud of you being able to LD under those circumstances! My insomnia would have kicked into high gear for sure!
      Xanous and CanisLucidus like this.
    3. Xanous's Avatar
      Great job, man, you're a hero of LD science!

      It's really cool how the pressure to perform doesn't get to you and you meditate your way through the strange environment and equipment. I'm bothered by a little daylight coming into my room.. can't imagine how I'd handle an EEG hairnet!

      Do you know anything about how well the eye signals came through? Will they share anything like that with you?
      The wakefulness was actually quite helpful for WILD. If I slipped under too much then I would wake up shortly after. I really made a ton of WILD attempts until I hit on one. The dice were loaded, but it was still a crap shoot.

      They missed the first LD and he said he was going to go back and look at the data. The second night he was watching the monitor and the eye movements came through clearly. Ben was in the room almost immediately after I woke up to take my report of the dream experience; he knew before I even told him. It was super cool.

      After that last morning I got to see him digitize the electrode positions layered over my MRI model. I'm not sure what the end result will look like, but the set up looked like a huge XBOX Kinect. They have a giant heap of expensive toys in that place. It was so fascinating even if most of it went over my head.

      Congratulations!!! So proud of you being able to LD under those circumstances! My insomnia would have kicked into high gear for sure!
      Thanks, I was super stoked when I nailed it. I actually wondered if you'd have insomnia if you had been there.

      Remy hit lucidity both nights as well, but he was only able to be plugged in the last night. He gave the eye signals, but Ben was busy with me when he hit so he'll have to dig back into the data. Remy feels it doesn't count because he had one of those in-dream-WILDs. I guess it was the fact that he didn't realize the dream set up was actually a dream even if he did get lucid after the fake WILD. It totally counts to me, but Ben seemed unsure. I really hope for some follow up info, but I doubt he'll want to say much since it's a scientific study — I'm just the lab rat in this case.
      NyxCC and CanisLucidus like this.
      Updated 08-12-2015 at 03:34 AM by Xanous
    4. Highlander's Avatar
      Hats off to you for your work and for a solid performance under pressure.
      Not many people get this chance, let alone achieve under lab conditions, so well done.
      Xanous and CanisLucidus like this.
    5. Xanous's Avatar
      Thanks Highlander! It was a lot of fun for me, but totally exhausting. I wish I had some better LDs, but I count myself pretty lucky to get what I gave them.
      Highlander likes this.
    6. NyxCC's Avatar
      Dude! This is awesome! Congrats on getting lucid and advancing the science of lding!

      Looking forward to hearing any feedback if they give - I guess sooner or later it will be published. Interesting about Remy's in-dream WILD. Since lucidity/awareness varies from dream to dream I think if it was high enough it's also possible to catch an in-dream wild on the EEG. Just because before that you had a fake going to sleep, doesn't exclude a good awareness rise to follow. Sometimes I'm surprised by the sudden change from the in-dream WILD myself - one moment you're not lucid, the next you know you're supposed to be dreaming and voila! But then, that's how DILDs work - realization/expectation. Hope this makes sense. At any rate, good stuff!
      CanisLucidus and Xanous like this.
      Updated 08-15-2015 at 01:17 AM by NyxCC
    7. Xanous's Avatar
      Yeah it does make sense NyxCC. A lucid is a lucid. Thanks. And I was told in an email that I will get some feedback so that should be really interesting.
      NyxCC likes this.
    8. NyxCC's Avatar
      Cool! Oh, and awesome pic by the way!