Nighthawk09's Workbook

[Nighthawk09]

Hello, i am nighthawk and i am 20 years old. My obsession with lucid dreaming began sometime in january of this year when i had my first lucid dream. It was simply incredible because i never thought that i had the ability to do that. Immediately, i did a significant amount of research on the subject and bought and read stephen's book, "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming." Since then, i have had about 5 more lucid dreams with varying levels of control. All of my lucid dreams except for one really short one occurred while taking a nap and they were all DILDS. Over the summer i had difficulty making progress due to some annoying habits of late night call of duty...etc. Even though i have final exams coming up, i am ready and motivated to start making some serious progress. I've already restarted recording my dreams daily and have so far remembered most of my dreams over the last couple days. Thank you for the opportunity to partake in this class. Its pretty great what you guys are doing.

[gab]

Welcome DILDshop It's good to have you here. I found, that the excitement you feel in the pit of your stomach each time you recall your first lucid is important in inducing them. So keep that feeling alive. I know what you mean by that incredible feeling. I'll never forget my first one, or the second, or the third one... haha And yes, being recruited can mess up your dream schedule. I don't participate in Call of duty, but I'm a proud member of Clone army of the Republic and cops in Liberty city and San Andreas are after me for wreaking havoc on their cities. OK, so your recall is good. Keep it up with your DJ. For DILD, I recommend daytime awareness+RCs training and mantras. Awareness is something, that makes dreams more detailed, vivid, and it will give you feeling of being more 'there' in a dream. The idea is, that if you go through your day paying attention to details, colors, what has changed and what has not, then you will start doing that in your dreams also. Here is my Collection of techniques for DILD self-awareness in sivason's WILD class All day awareness So, let's do this thing. Read up and report your progress and ask your questions. Happy dreams

[Nighthawk09]

Those are all great games! I've been working on awareness and reality checks over the last 3 days fairly consistently. My favorite RC is definitely reading something twice, its actually the first reality check that got me lucid in one of my dreams monthes ago. I was in a classroom and i reread the words on a buletin board and BOOM they changed into hieroglyphics haha. I will definitely read up on those techniques you posted to further increase my awareness! Thank you very much!

[Nighthawk09]

I've continued doing multiple reality checks throughout the day and performing awareness techniques. Last night i managed to recall 2 dreams which is pretty good for me. The first one i can only remember a little bit of but the second one was pretty solid. I've recorded them in my DJ. Kid Cudi and i were listening to music on a rooftop at night. The fog in the air was lit up by a colorful billboard and the fog molecules themselves seem to almost vibrate with the music. It was pretty cool. Before i went to bed yesterday i continued repeating to myself that i am dreaming and i pictured myself in a recent dream scene standing in front of a sign that said i was dreaming and has an audio speaker that told me i was dreaming. I never experienced any serious HI or SP yet but i felt heavy after laying awhile before i went to bed. Since i have a roommated its difficult for me to try WBTB so i am going to try to add in a little training to help me wake up naturally during the night. Main goal right now is to push for better recall and to have a lucid dream before school ends.

[Nighthawk09]

Last night i was able to recall 2 dreams and i attempted a WBTB. As a side goal i tried to get myself to wake up after a dream and it actually worked. Maybe it was just luck but i will try again. Nonetheless the WBTB failed and i had a hard time falling back asleep. Either way i consider this progress I am going to try to continue to bolster my recall and increase my awareness throughout the day. i will also perform my nightly mantras telling myself that i am dreamming... etc. My one dream was pretty interesting, i was golfing at a driving range and one of the ball options were squishy red eye balls. I dont how my brain convinced me that this was normal haha. Next week begins my finals and last minute cram sessions so it is going to be interesting how this will affect my recall, hopefullly i can get through it with minimal damage and still manage to get a lucid dream by the end of that saturday!

[Nighthawk09]

The final exam anxiety is starting to hit me as more and more is being demanded of me for next week, however; i managed to have a fairly productive night (no lucid tho :/) I managed to recall three dreams last night which i havent done in a long time. The only catch was i was unable to remember then in as much detail, but nonetheless i am satisfied. I attempted another WBTB, i was aiming to wake up at 8:00 but my mind woke me up at 7:19. i still surprised that i am able to do this for a 2nd day in a row. I then tried to relax and essentially WILD into a lucid but i still havent even been able to experience any Hypnagognic imagery :/ Its really killing my motivation but i am not giving up. Today i probably performed 3-4 reality check randomly and i will prob do 3 or 4 more before i go to bed tonight. I am still continuing my nightly mantras to hopefully produce a DILD by the end of next week. Any advice for my WBTB attempt? I've been trying to visualize the dream i came out of and picture what it would be like if i were in it again but lucid... so far no results. I feel as though when i think too much about visualizing that i have alot of trouble falling asleep

[gab]

I managed to recall three dreams last night which i havent done in a long time. The only catch was i was unable to remember then in as much detail, but nonetheless i am satisfied. Three dreams is awesome. Don't worry about them not remembering too much details. It will become beter. But even then, you will have days with no recall, and some with very detailed and vivid dreams. I attempted another WBTB, i was aiming to wake up at 8:00 but my mind woke me up at 7:19. i still surprised that i am able to do this for a 2nd day in a row. I then tried to relax and essentially WILD into a lucid but i still havent even been able to experience any Hypnagognic imagery WBTB is done mostly for WILD, but it will increase your chance of DILD also. If you aiming for a WILD, get out of bed for 1-60 minutes. Put the lights on, but try not to wake up too much. Tell yourself you are going back to sleep. Depending on if you gonna have hard time falling asleep, or if you fall asleep too soon, you can adjust how long you stay up. HH - not everybody gets them all the time. But I bet next time you will notice them. They start out just like a grey fog swirling around behind your closed eyelids. (focus your eyes on your eyelids. Normally you are focust far beyond) Don't pay attention to anything else, but the swirling fog. Start repeating a mantra "I'm dreaming". I'm on inhale, "dreaming" on exhale. Try to think about any of your previous dreams. This will activate your dream center. Soon you may start to notice some simple images in the fog, made from fog. They will show just for a second. Later they may evolve into more complex images, or the images will be not made from fog, but they will have colors. And even later, you may start seeing movies. Try this out and let me know. We'll compare notes, if we see same types of images. Now, if you going for a DILD, there is no need to stay up for long at all. After you wake up, use the restroom and then do a few mantras while sitting on your bed. This is my favorite classic mantra that got me first few DILDs: "Next time I'm dreaming, I look at my hands and realize I'm dreaming." Do the looking at hands RC while you saying this. When you lay down, your goal is to wall asleep fast. So just keep whispering and soon just thinking this mantra and go to sleep. Its really killing my motivation but i am not giving up. Today i probably performed 3-4 reality check randomly and i will prob do 3 or 4 more before i go to bed tonight. I am still continuing my nightly mantras to hopefully produce a DILD by the end of next week. Don't forget to put emotions into your RCs and awareness question. Any advice for my WBTB attempt? I've been trying to visualize the dream i came out of and picture what it would be like if i were in it again but lucid... so far no results. I feel as though when i think too much about visualizing that i have alot of trouble falling asleep Visualize an older dream. When in certain point in the falling asleep process, this will start showing you more pictures, and even some older dreams, that you may have forgotten. Keep aware by saying your mantra. Don't force the pictures, they will come when ready. Ok, keep me posted, can't wait for your first HH If you planning on WILDing, I recommend tutorial by sageous and here are HH and sensations you can get while WILDing

[Nighthawk09]

Thank for the great advice! I remembered 2 dreams from last night with not very much detail but i expected that since i had an early presentation this morning. For some reason my mind is set on waking up around 7 everyday now which i did not really want last night since i had to wake up early for a class... lol but oh well. i'll work on tweaking that. Since tomorrow begins my first finals test of many over the next week, my lucid dreaming efforts may diminish but priorities are priorities. Regardless i plan on continuing my DJ so as to not lose recall and daily RC's and awareness. I am going to try to squeeze a WBTB in this weekend hopefully. I am def going to follow your advice for it. Christmas break is almost here and then i can really try some interesting things!

[gab]

Even when in school, you can squeeze in a few RCs. You tell yourself with amusement - if this was a dream, that wall would be [insert you color], or 'teacher would levitate', or just anything. It takes just 15 sec and it's powerfull. Good luck with your finals.

[Nighthawk09]

No worries i am still going to keep doing RC and my DJ Tomorrow will be my last chance to try to WILD in the morning until after my tests so i have a quick question. When you said that after a while i will start seeing images, will these images be more concrete and tangible compared to the images i see when daydreaming or visualizing? Also, should i try to keep my eyes still and focused on just one spot of the swirly grey cloud?

[gab]

I never really thought about the issue of keeping eyes still. But after someone asked about it, I noticed yesterday, that I do move them to look at the swirls and other stuff. If you try and it will now work for you, keep them still. But it never gave me any trouble. And the HH - first the foggy swirls - the images in them are like when you looking at the clouds and they resemble something, or just a part of the cloud looks like something to you. So they will be not very clearly defined, more just your imagination. But later, they will change completely. It will be like seeing actual clip art or cartoon and later photographs and movies. I give you some examples: Once I saw an image of a classic alram clock with the bell on top. It was just the outline made from shiny golden thick wire. Or geometric shapes. Like whole field of view was filled with image of same shape repeating itself. Quite beautifull. Then I had a little black stick figure walk out into my filed of view. He had a top hat and red bowtie. He did his thing and walked off. Like watching a cartoon. There was no imagination involved in this one. I believe, that these were already beginnings of a dream. And the movies/dreamlets. Once I saw a classic 35mm film like for a film camera. The film was going from right to left, each frame had a different picture on it. It was all in extra HD. My mind was blown. I have never seen crispy, vivid and detailed pictures like that. Another one - I was shown a black and white movie of a family from 60.? Dad and a child standing by a christmas tree, and then mom in her typical era attire and hair serving dinner. When you see a movie, that covers your whole field of view, that's the actual dream already. I always see it from birds eye view, as if flying over it. What I do is, I pick a spot on the ground and say slowly and with intent "I....am....there". And then I feel myslef being moved closer to the ground untill my feet touch down and I feel like I'm in 3D environment. HH are so much fun. Hope you get yours soon.

[Nighthawk09]

Wow that sounds amazing! Thanks for the advice! i hope i get my HH soon too haha

[Nighthawk09]

Hello! I don't know if these classes are alive and well but i'd like to update you on my whereabouts since i kinda fell off the radar. During the days surrounding my last couple posts, my relationship with my gf crumbled and i barely made it through my final exams. Since then, i made a series of rapid lifestyle changes and decisions that consumed all my free time to the point that LDing faded deep into my memory, but never forgotten. Currently, i am better than ever. I've restored my relationship to a new high and made dozens of new friends. I am going to give this another try, and hopefully i can maybe have another chance at having a LD.

[Sensei]

Good luck nighthawk. These workbooks are here when you need them. Personally I would post in here everyday when beginning if I could redo it, but you can post once a day, week, month, year, or whatever works for you. I think that engaging in a community and getting a little repitition will help you.

[Nighthawk09]

Thanks BrandonBoss! We'll see where this takes me and hopefully i can develop a plan of consistency.