Thread: FryingMan's DILD course workbook

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Only 4 dreams recalled from 1 waking last night. Nothing lucid.

Awesome Fryingman I can often remember three dreams but that's from multiple awakenings during the night (I'm 69 YO) I've been trying for just over three months and I had my first (very small) lucid dream last Saturday. I'm old and I did it and I think you'll be lucid very very soon. I'm now working at getting dream #2 but I suspect that you may take off like a rocket.

If you work as well as try for LD I think it's no wonder you are tired sometimes. I'm retired and I sometimes find it difficult to stay the course at night..so work at it but don't let it affect your health or any relationships. You've got the rest of your life to enjoy it + what you're learning about yourself, the brain and dreams generally can be enough to "entertain" you while you move steadily towards being lucid. It's great isn't it?

Re the "formless darkness...my son's wife had a major op recently and just before she went in hospital he dreamt that a monster was climbing across his wife and he somehow seems to have overcome SP as he tried to tackle it. I'm sure you'd know if there was something really worrying you and that's another amazing side to LD...it helps you face problems head-on I'm told

Originally Posted by LukeSid

Awesome Fryingman I can often remember three dreams but that's from multiple awakenings during the night (I'm 69 YO) I've been trying for just over three months and I had my first (very small) lucid dream last Saturday. I'm old and I did it and I think you'll be lucid very very soon. I'm now working at getting dream #2 but I suspect that you may take off like a rocket.

Thank you LukeSid for the encouragement! And congrats on your first LD! Yeah all these young little "whippersnappers" writing "I tried to LD and it got it the first time!" can be depressing for us geezers (uh, I mean, "mature folk"). My personal nonscientific theory is that after decades of walking through life zombie-like on autopilot, it can take us a little longer to instill the waking awareness necessary to reliably LD. I am very encouraged with my recall results so far and my response to setting intent (no need to set alarm clocks). Yes balancing the desire to sleep more "just one more dream period! Just one more!" with family & work life can be challenging!

I'm sure if you keep working on it the recall will improve. Some advice I recall is that physical activity during the day is very helpful for LD and recall (just not within about 3 hours of bed time or you may be too alert). I need to follow this advice also. Also, really try to recall those dreams that slip away. (It's amazing to me how fast can happen, two nights ago I had a fairly clear mental sequence of a dream I just had and was going to journal. I opened my eyes and partially sat up in bed and POOF I felt it ALL VANISH in an instant. Argh!). Staying still after waking is really important. I've noted that I have a habit of rolling over as soon as I wake up. I've started setting the intent to remain still when I wake up, and it's starting to work, just last night I started to move upon waking without thinking and I just stopped myself suddenly and realized "aha, have to recall before moving!"

I've been doing the LaBerge prospective memory exercise about 1.5 weeks and I'm just now starting to see small improvements, it takes a while. Once that gets reasonably developed I think it helps with intention setting and MILDing, I encourage you to try that if you're not already.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Yes balancing the desire to sleep more "just one more dream period! Just one more!" with family & work life can be challenging!

How's the wife re this? If she's going along fairly well you're lucky. Mine just doesn't understand but, as long as I don't start waffling on about, it she's fine.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

I opened my eyes and partially sat up in bed and POOF I felt it ALL VANISH in an instant. Argh!

I've had that...it felt really weird...as if a very thin rubber band just snapped. I suppose we're part of the lucky few who have actually experienced how the movement of a memory feels...like a thin rubber band snapping...I've also made the mistake of laying there too long, to get the smallest detail...and drifting off back to sleep. I've tried TAGs...giving a dream a few tags to make it more memorable without having to get up but I can't guarantee to remember it

Originally Posted by FryingMan

I'm sure if you keep working on it the recall will improve.

It has improved really. I've got blood pressure and that has affected my memory (a former dj who knows all the major songs up to the mid 90's but can't remember the name of most of them) I read a reassuring article that said this type of loss is not related to Alzheimers. I eat blueberries, broccoli and I take beetroot extract (all memory improvement items) But, of course, there's no absolute proof that they help. It's a bugger but I sense that it's only a drawback and not fatal. I'm an "all over the place" type of learner but my LD seems to show that incomplete mastery of one technique (while recommended long term) doesn't necessarily prevent LD happening...probably the sum total of all the things we're learning adds up...but, of course, I will be seeking to improve on them all

I'm pretty conditioned now on laying still with eyes shut and my next move is to look at DEILD Then I can either get up and record a dream or if I can try to get back into it (particularly if it was lucid!) Best of both Worlds then. I've made up a list of things to notice throughout the day and I'll pick three at random. As Tesco say "Every little bit helps"

Originally Posted by LukeSid

I've had that...it felt really weird...as if a very thin rubber band just snapped.

Yes that's a very good description. It was odd, normally they slowly fade and I start struggling to remember what is left but this was all at once in an instant, very strange!

I suppose we're part of the lucky few who have actually experienced how the movement of a memory feels...like a thin rubber band snapping...I've also made the mistake of laying there too long, to get the smallest detail...and drifting off back to sleep. I've tried TAGs...giving a dream a few tags to make it more memorable without having to get up but I can't guarantee to remember it

Yes I do quick mental keyword summaries to start with to make sure I remember each "starting scene", then do mental replays with more detail, then voice record the keywords, then voice record the details.

I'm pretty conditioned now on laying still with eyes shut and my next move is to look at DEILD Then I can either get up and record a dream or if I can try to get back into it (particularly if it was lucid!) Best of both Worlds then. I've made up a list of things to notice throughout the day and I'll pick three at random. As Tesco say "Every little bit helps"

That's good about being still. I think the best approach is a flexible one -- know all the techniques and be familiar with them, and use them when they're appropriate. Keep careful records of your efforts and keep looking back and finding what works and what doesn't (this approach I attribute to BrandonBoss, thanks man!)

Last night was another trouble-getting-back-to-sleep night after some MILD repetitions after awaking about 5-6 hours after bedtime. Forgot lots of detail, waited until morning to journal middle-of-the-night awakenings. Ate too much too close to bedtime and had dreams of thinking about throwing up . I journaled a few sentences from different awakenings so I did have a bit of recall. I know there's a lot I forgot, though.

Again as I was trying to fall asleep after the MILD repetitions I observed myself beginning slowly to fall asleep, so just stayed aware with it and hoped I'd get a spontaneous WILD. As has happened before, I notice bright lights, I see images and short scenes which disappear quickly. I try not to focus on them but they just disappear, and afterwards my wakefulness increases and I'm just lying there awake again. Then I try just to ignore everything and fall asleep but the signs of approaching sleep seem to stimulate me. A few times I tried imagining "diving down through my bed" as if diving down under water, and the first time it helped get "deeper" and closer to sleep but after that didn't seem to help.

I guess I should try the 61-point relaxation with more attention. Having something else to pay attention to other than the HI helps sometimes.

Any suggestions about "getting to sleep when you want to" welcome.

Yet AGAIN another 2-3 hour insomnia spell last night after waking up and voice journaling for about 5 minutes from a fairly well recalled dream, then doing MILD on scenes from that dream. If any other non-MILD thoughts entered my head, I'd do a quick mental statement of "The next time I'm dreaming, I remember to recognize that I'm dreaming." I'm starting to think this is keeping me up? The MILD instructions from LaBerge say to do another cycle any time any other thoughts enter in, to make sure the MILD thought is the last one you have before falling asleep. I'm not doing all that many MILD repetitions at first, maybe 5 or 6 at most, I'm really trying to let everything go and just get right back to sleep. Same pattern as before: I slowly relax and feel myself getting close to sleep, I see suddenly a scene (HI?), then I snap back to alertness, and this repeats for a while. Then I just start "daydreaming" -- I daydreamed of flying around bridges and the ocean. After a while ended up turning on the light and reading for an hour, that helped me get tired enough to fall asleep again. After falling asleep eventually and waking after a dream I was so tired at that point that I didn't journal I just wanted to get back to sleep (and maybe back to the dream I'd just wakened from, but that didn't happen). Awoke again later and journaled dreams from both wakings, detail not that great (probably because I'm tired). Last night as opposed to the prior two nights I was sleeping in a totally quiet and dark place with no distractions at all, but still no luck getting quickly back to sleep after MILD. Argh!