Minime's workbook

[minime12358]

Hey, it's Minime. I am 16, and I have been trying to lucid dream for the past few weeks with no success. I have read about lucid dreaming for the past few years. A few weeks ago, I had my first experience: Spoiler for First Experience: I was in school, and the teacher was collecting homework. My mind rapidly cycled through a list of reasons as to why I did not have my homework done. As I was cycling through the reasons, I realized that this didn't make any sense -- school had ended a few weeks ago. I asked the person next to me (interestingly, the face made sense; it was someone next to whom I usually sit) why we were in school during the summer, but he gave sort of a murmured response. I realized that I must be dreaming. I tried doing things like asking my crush out, but the dream was very foggy. I had a slight gap in memory, and I began walking towards my after school bus. I realized that this definitely made no sense, and that I was dreaming (again). This time, however, the world became a lot more clear around me. I attempted to fly up, and I did. I soared over the roads where the buses were, noticing the white dashes whiz past. I tried flying far up and dive-bombing, landing in a field and leaving a large explosion from the impact in the distance ( dream logic). After a second time, I then --- <Alarm clock>. Damn. Since then, I have tried a number of methods. I tried a mantra to wake up after each dream cycle for WBTB. The waking up was surprisingly successful. The WBTB was not. I have tried WILD, DILD, and (occasionally) FILD repeatedly. I occasionally take Melatonin to aid sleep, and I have experimented with that as well. I made a program that would say things like "You are sleeping" in the middle of a night. Those just half-woke me up with no consequences. Using the same program, I made it sound a piano noise in the middle of the night. I had previously trained myself to do a reality check when this occurs. The single time that the sound penetrated my dream, I thought to myself "ugh, I am too tired to do a reality check". My most common reality check is trying to breath with my nose covered. The problem I have had with WBTB/WILD is that I will either doze off and lose self-awareness or stay awake while being self-aware. Occasionally, I will remember I am dreaming, but in a 3rd person and not self-aware way. It is sort of like watching myself go through motions that are not my own despite supposedly being self aware. During these times, however, I do not have control over anything (nor do I think I should have control over anything). As for dream recall, my memory is very good. I have found no reason to write my dreams down, because I can remember just about every dream I have committed to memory. I have never had a problem with forgetting something I recall in the middle of the night. The only problem occurs when I don't recall any dream! Alright, well that should be just about it! Helpful comments and suggestions are always nice! Thanks

[minime12358]

So, I tried WILD again last night. I took 1mg of melatonin because of a slight shift in my sleeping schedule. I naturally (and groggily....) woke up at 5:26 after going to bed at 1:10. I turned on the light, walked over and grabbed a book, and read for 45 minutes, going to bed at 6:11 (I didn't mean to make it so precise, but it worked out like that). For a while, I was wide awake. I really thought I would get this. I didn't. I was there, but never really got to sleep while I was so awake. I tried doing relaxing techniques, but I fell asleep by the end. Perhaps tonight I will try melatonin + penguin mints. Has anyone ever tried this?

[gab]

Welcome, Minime! 1. I have heard that Melatonin, even in small amounts of 0.5mg can reduce chance of having lucid dream. But 0.3 should be enough to help you sleep and it should not effect LDing. 2. WILDing takes practice, as it's a real tight balancing act between awareness and falling asleep. I believe you would benefit from Sivason's WILD class here in DV Academy. But in general, falling asleep too soon or staying awake is a result of staying up too long/not long enough for WBTB. 3. DJing has so many more benefits that just to have a record of your dreams. And you say sometime you have no recall. Although that's normal, keeping a DJ may help with that also. You can read about DJing and other usefull info that can help you with getting DILDs here. 4. Have you considered DEILD? If you say you wake up at night to the program, you could try DEILD. I have not tried mints, sorry, so can't comment on that. But I know they are doing an experiment with menthol in Research forum. Please keep me posted about your progress and ask any questions. Happy dreams

[minime12358]

Welcome, Minime! Thanks! 1. I have heard that Melatonin, even in small amounts of 0.5mg can reduce chance of having lucid dream. But 0.3 should be enough to help you sleep and it should not effect LDing. Ah, I have gone back and forth about this, unsure. I have just been taking it for a number of reasons, not generally for lucid dreaming (save a few experiments, as mentioned). I used to take 5mg, dissolved, but now I switched to a 1mg pill. I'll keep your dosage suggestion into mind! 2. WILDing takes practice, as it's a real tight balancing act between awareness and falling asleep. I believe you would benefit from Sivason's WILD class here in DV Academy. But in general, falling asleep too soon or staying awake is a result of staying up too long/not long enough for WBTB. That is certainly something on which I need to work . I have read through the class, but I really need to do the exercises seriously. 3. DJing has so many more benefits that just to have a record of your dreams. And you say sometime you have no recall. Although that's normal, keeping a DJ may help with that also. You can read about DJing and other usefull info that can help you with getting DILDs here. Ah, I suppose I should then. Would you suggest writing down dreams from the past as well? 4. Have you considered DEILD? If you say you wake up at night to the program, you could try DEILD. Ohh, yes I should! I forgot about that for a bit. Through self-suggestion (Way way too easy!), I do wake up naturally during the night, presumably naturally between sleep cycles. I haven't tried the program in a bit, but I really should to try to get more times in. What made me abandon it before was that I kept having a problem where I would wake too suddenly, moving in the process . Recently, however, I haven't had that problem. I'll try some more self suggestion! I have not tried mints, sorry, so can't comment on that. But I know they are doing an experiment with menthol in Research forum. Hehe, I should have been a little more specific. I got some penguin mints from ThinkGeek recently. They are mints with about the caffeine of 1/3rd of a coffee. I have read for various methods that one can use caffeine to aid in awareness. Please keep me posted about your progress and ask any questions. Happy dreams Sure! Thanks for the help!