Platypus's Workbook

Hi there, I'm Toby, I'm 15 and I live in New Zealand. I've recently rediscovered the subject of Lucid Dreaming, It must of been sometime last year I first heard of it but I never thought of trying it myself. Now it was three weeks ago that I read about it on the Internet and I'm determined to have the ability to experience Lucid Dreams for myself.

I haven't done that much so far, I still need to start a Dream Journal and I need to remember to do more reality checks during the day. I usually only manage to remember to do 3 or 4 a day. I already have a decent dream recall, almost always remembering at least one dream in the morning with a near vivid recollection of it. I don't always remember my dreams right away, usually I normally remember my dream (or dreams) 10-60 minutes after waking up, sometimes on my way to school. On a good night I can remember 2-3 dreams. I can never remember my entire dream only the good bits towards the end, I think this should be normal for most people with a good recall? Sometimes I fall asleep listening to Binaural Beats in an effort to help me with lucid dreaming and dream recall, this makes my dream recall excellent in the morning.

For reality checking I look at a freckle on the palm of my hand looking for anything strange. When I look at the freckle on my palm I look for anything strange rather than trying to do or see something impossible. I'm not sure that this is the best way to do it? I also do the finger through palm technique.

I am also good at waking up when I need to, when I set an alarm I quite often wake up five minutes before it is due to go off. Good old mental alarm :D

I'm not sure if I had a near Lucid Dream the other night, it was quite confusing. I randomly did a reality check in a dream by looking at my freckle, I can't remember why but I just knew I was dreaming, it’s hard to explain. I was full of the excitement of realizing I was dreaming. My dream then started going black and I felt a heavy feeling on my chest, like someone was sitting on it. I’ve read that it helps to rub your hands together to keep the dream going, I did this but I woke up into a false awakening. I didn’t realize it was a false awakening until it ended after 2-3 minutes and I woke up in reality. I’m not sure if this was the beginning of a LD or if I was dreaming about Lucid dreaming. :?

Welcome to DILD class!

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Originally Posted by Platypus

I'm determined to have the ability to experience Lucid Dreams for myself.

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Lucid dreams are trully awesome experience. You will not be disappointed:alien:

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Originally Posted by Platypus

I still need to start a Dream Journal and I need to remember to do more reality checks during the day. I usually only manage to remember to do 3 or 4 a day. I already have a decent dream recall, almost always remembering at least one dream in the morning with a near vivid recollection of it. I don't always remember my dreams right away, usually I normally remember my dream (or dreams) 10-60 minutes after waking up, sometimes on my way to school. On a good night I can remember 2-3 dreams. I can never remember my entire dream only the good bits towards the end, I think this should be normal for most people with a good recall? Sometimes I fall asleep listening to Binaural Beats in an effort to help me with lucid dreaming and dream recall, this makes my dream recall excellent in the morning.

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DJ is essential. You can start one here on DV. People can read them and comment. Nice way to keep track. Just don't forget to back them up occasionally.

If you keep practicing RCs, pretty soon you will remember them more often. But each time you remember, do more sets than one. I do maybe 20 of them each time. But more important than quantity is quality. You need to put emotions into RCs. And having better daytime awareness. There is more about that here Collection of techniques for DILD

Remembering 2-3 dreams is great. Just put them in DJ and your recall may get even better.

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Originally Posted by Platypus

For reality checking I look at a freckle on the palm of my hand looking for anything strange. When I look at the freckle on my palm I look for anything strange rather than trying to do or see something impossible. I'm not sure that this is the best way to do it? I also do the finger through palm technique.

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More about RCs is also in the above linked article.

Looking at hands is a good RC. Sometimes I also added looking at little imperfections and they did show up in my lucids, so it will work for you too.

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Originally Posted by Platypus

I am also good at waking up when I need to, when I set an alarm I quite often wake up five minutes before it is due to go off. Good old mental alarm :D

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This will come handy when you do WBTB. wake - back - to - bed can help with DILDs, but it's not required.

I

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Platypus

'm not sure if I had a near Lucid Dream the other night, it was quite confusing. I randomly did a reality check in a dream by looking at my freckle, I can't remember why but I just knew I was dreaming, it’s hard to explain. I was full of the excitement of realizing I was dreaming. My dream then started going black and I felt a heavy feeling on my chest, like someone was sitting on it. I’ve read that it helps to rub your hands together to keep the dream going, I did this but I woke up into a false awakening. I didn’t realize it was a false awakening until it ended after 2-3 minutes and I woke up in reality. I’m not sure if this was the beginning of a LD or if I was dreaming about Lucid dreaming. :?

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No, no, no, it was a Lucid dream:D

Congrats, you better change your LD counter in your profile! :breakitdown:

And the freckle RC got you there, awesome! If you knew you are dreaming, it's a lucid. But the excitement is the best indicator, although not everybody gets it. I still get it when I fly in LD and most of the time that excitement wakes me up. So try to keep your cool and celebrate after you wake up :)

Heavy feeling on your chest could have been sleep paralysis. We all get SP when we dream, so we don't act them out. If you wake up and find that you can't move, just close your eyes and think about some previous dream and you could get a LD via WILD. To know what to do if that happens, read this WILD (sageous) tutorial.

If you RC each time you get up from your bed, you will start doing that in FAs and turn them into lucids.

Post your progress and any questions here. Good luck and happy dreams:alien:

Thanks for the detailed response gab :)

It feels wonderful to know that I've had my first LC, even if the entirety of it was me rubbing my hands together in blackness for three seconds :P

I forgot to mention in my first post that I have been using mantras. I just say to myself every night in bed "I do reality checks in my dreams" This is what happened the other night when I had my first LD. Except this time I think that I really meant it and it sunk in.

Also I know that the more I wake up during the night the better I remember my dreams in the morning. On the DILD technique collection page you mention drinking water before going to bed, looks like it just wakes you up like an alarm. I've never heard of it before but it sounds like a cool and useful trick. How much water do you need to drink in order to wake up during the night?

Even a short lucid is a lucid, haha.

Exactly, I drink water to simply wake me up at night. It wakes you up gently, not like an alarm would. I just have maybe 1/2 - 3/4 of a cup, about 5 sips. Wakes me up in 2-4 hours, and most often I remember a dream. So I have a pieca of paper and a pen on the bathroom sink and each time I write down as much as I can muster.

Then I have another 5 sips and go back to sleep. This is strictly to build up a dream recall, but can be used for a WBTB.

Doesn't seem to work too well for me but, ill keep trying it.

I've started a DJ at last, still trying to remember as much as I can during the day to do reality checks though. I don't seem to be remembering as much detail of my dreams in the morning as usually do, so I might fall asleep tonight while listening to binaural beats. Doing this always re-freshens my brain and I have the most vivid recall, I wonder though if you have ever tried it yourself?