Hermine_Hesse's Workbook

Hello, I am 28 and am a natural lucid dreamer. I had my first lucid dream when I was around 8 years old. When was I around 16, I began experimenting with meditation, and also became more interested in my dreams. I would meditate before sleep and keep a dream journal. Eventually, I began to exert control over my dreams and even achieved a few WILDs (although I did not know the name for them at the time). I soon discovered internet forums and progressed well with my LD skills.

When I was 21, I lived in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina happened, which forced me to move to a new state, and resulted in many moves across the country and many adventures. I would occasionally keep a dream journal, but my focus on LD's fell by the wayside.

After a long hiatus of not paying attention to my dreams, four months ago, I accidentally did a WBTB and had two very vivid lucids. After that I remembered, how amazing Lucid Dreams are and have been devoting much energy to not only achieving LD's, but bringing a new level of awareness to all my moments. I now keep a Dream Journal daily now and practice WBTB, DILD and RC's. I instantly saw my LD count jump to about two a week as soon as I started paying attention to my dreams and awareness.

The past month and a half I have been on a bit of a lucid dry spell, and have lost most of my recall. My partner and I are in the process of moving to a new city, so the stress of my WR seems to be affecting my dreaming ability. My hope is that setting goals with DILD will help give me the jumpstart I need to bring back my recall and frequency of LD's.

Hi hermine_hesse, nice to have you here.

Sorry to hear about you being forced out of your place b/c of Katrina. IMHO, It should have been handled better by the gov. Yes, stress is definitelly not good for LDs or recall, hopefully after you settle in it will get better. You mention awareness - do you do any technique? Keep us posted how it goes. Happy dreams:)

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Originally Posted by gab

Hi hermine_hesse, nice to have you here.

Sorry to hear about you being forced out of your place b/c of Katrina. IMHO, It should have been handled better by the gov. Yes, stress is definitelly not good for LDs or recall, hopefully after you settle in it will get better. You mention awareness - do you do any technique? Keep us posted how it goes. Happy dreams:)

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Yes, I suppose I am doing a version of ADA. I meditate occasionally and try to bring that same state of mind throughout my day. If I am cleaning or involved in a repetitive task, instead of letting me mind wander, I focus on my breathing or my favorite mantra for Green Tara. At all other times of the day, if I find my mind wandering or inner monologue rambling away, I gently bring my attention back to the present moment. I try to absorb every detail and sensation available to my experience. I notice smells, sounds, shapes, colors, shadows, the feel of the clothes on my body, my breath, my state of mind, my emotions, energy, other peoples emotions. I try to feel how the moment I am in is like a dream.

Last, night I was too tired to MILD as I feel asleep, or do a WBTB. No lucids, but better recall! I remembered three full dreams and two fragments.

Wow, way to go, that's some discipline :) What is mantra for Green Tara?

Welcome!
Your recall sounds good, how many dreams do you remember per night?
Your awareness technique sounds good, if it's working for you, keep at it :D

I've got afew tasks for you:
- Keep doing your awareness technique, make sure to be aware during 'busy' moments, because in a dreams every moment is a busy one.
- Try out a WBTB MILD, although from the looks of things you've had some good success with it already
- Make sure your dream recall is up to scratch, if it isn't I'd definitely advise keeping a dream journal.
- Write your progress here :D

Good work, keep at it (:

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Originally Posted by gab

Wow, way to go, that's some discipline :) What is mantra for Green Tara?

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Om tara tuttare ture soha. When I first began experimenting with hallucinogens, I encountered under various states what looked like a goddess made of intersecting rainbows. I later learned eastern mystics and yogis call this a "psychic body" or "body of clear light". I also later came across the Bodhisattva Green Tara. Her pictures seemed to be what I had been seeing during hallucinations. I read her story and immediately connected with it. I think of her as a Buddhist feminist. When she lived, her contemporaries believed you had to be in the body of a man to achieve enlightenment and that she should pray to be reborn a man. Tara instead vowed to achieve enlightenment in a female body and to always be reborn female to help other women achieve enlightenment. She also represents compassion in action. I now use her as a tantric deity. Conjuring her image and chanting her mantra immediately makes me feel calm and aware.

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Originally Posted by Arch

Welcome!
Your recall sounds good, how many dreams do you remember per night?
Your awareness technique sounds good, if it's working for you, keep at it :D

I've got afew tasks for you:
- Keep doing your awareness technique, make sure to be aware during 'busy' moments, because in a dreams every moment is a busy one.
- Try out a WBTB MILD, although from the looks of things you've had some good success with it already
- Make sure your dream recall is up to scratch, if it isn't I'd definitely advise keeping a dream journal.
- Write your progress here :D

Good work, keep at it (:

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If I am diligent with my DJ, I usually remember about three dreams a night. Without DJ, usually just one or a fragment. I sometimes have as many as nine in a night. My recall has been lower the past couple of weeks, so I am remembering just one or two a night.

I will definitely work on the task of maintaining awareness during busy moments and am glad you pointed this out. I have plenty of down time at work, so its easy to be aware then, but I am sure I am letting it slip during busy times. With all my planning for the future right now, I also now I have been daydreaming and worrying more than usual, so I need to bring my attention back to focus during those moments as well.

I do attempt a WBTB/ MILD during most night, but don't always make it out of bed and stay up long enough for the WBTB to work for me. I have had success with this in the past. I actually got back into LDing by doing a WBTB on accident and having two lucids!

Thank you for your explanation of Green Tara. Inspiring. I'm gonna look it up. Happy dreams:)

Interesting, it seems stress is your greatest enemy for lucidity. Ever tried to meditate in a dream? Since you say that you get ocasional natural DILDs every week, maybe to meditate and take the stress out. That is something I do when there is a lot of stress so that it won't affect much my dreams.

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Originally Posted by Hukif

Interesting, it seems stress is your greatest enemy for lucidity. Ever tried to meditate in a dream? Since you say that you get ocasional natural DILDs every week, maybe to meditate and take the stress out. That is something I do when there is a lot of stress so that it won't affect much my dreams.

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Meditating in a dream is actually my current dream goal! I need to meditate more in WR as well, though. Stress is my greatest enemy to lucidity right now. I am usually pretty low stress, however, going through a drastic life change is definitely taking its toll on my lucidity and awareness. The good part is, I should be pretty settled in about a month and a half, so at least my stress has an expiration date. :)

DILD Update: I have been a bit unfocused in practicing awareness, WBTB, and MILD. I also have not been keeping up with my DJ. However, my recall is been pretty good (I am remembering at least one dream at night and sometimes three or four.) Last night I did have a lucid through DILD, but it was brief and turned into a sex dream. When I haven't been lucid in a while, I usually just end up flying or having sex. :p

Tonight I am going to start being more diligent with my WBTB and DJ, and my next lucid should be more stable.

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Originally Posted by hermine_hesse

DILD Update: I have been a bit unfocused in practicing awareness, WBTB, and MILD. I also have not been keeping up with my DJ. However, my recall is been pretty good (I am remembering at least one dream at night and sometimes three or four.) Last night I did have a lucid through DILD, but it was brief and turned into a sex dream. When I haven't been lucid in a while, I usually just end up flying or having sex. :p

Tonight I am going to start being more diligent with my WBTB and DJ, and my next lucid should be more stable.

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Yeah quite alot of lucids become quite primal when you aren't very concious, I'm glad you are listening to me though :D
Perhaps we need to work on stabilisation and becoming more aware?

Good good, how long do you stay for WBTB?
And lol @sex/flying, well, now that it is out of your lucid-system, should be easier to concentrate on other things, right?

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Originally Posted by Hukif

Good good, how long do you stay for WBTB?
And lol @sex/flying, well, now that it is out of your lucid-system, should be easier to concentrate on other things, right?

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Lately, I am really struggling to complete anything. I haven't been getting out of bed or staying up for more than a few minutes in my WBTB. Ideally, I wake up about every two hours and stay up for about 15-20mins. Any longer than this and I find I am too awake. During this time, I will either be recording my dreams in my DJ or reading on Dreamviews.

As a part of my big move to Austin I am going through right now, I had really been struggling with a very important decision regarding my career. The past few weeks were spent listening and following other people's advice as to what I should do and it was weighing heavy on my conscience. My sleep and dreams have been more and more restless. Finally, yesterday I disregarded everyone else's advice and came to a decision on what I knew I needed to do. I did a Tarot reading and it confirmed my decision. Last night when I went to bed, I finally felt at ease and had restful sleep and dreams. I didn't complete my WBTB or DJ, and no lucids, but I feel that having resolved this my mind is free to fully concentrate on dreams now. I'll report back tomorrow with results!

Oh, glad to know that you got that sorted out! Thats good, you just needed a good day of rest and dreams without any worries so its good there was no WBTB or DJ for that day, hope to see some lucids there tomorrow!