Nazrax' Workbook

**Nazrax** · 10-08-2014 09:01 PM

General info:
I found out about lucid dreaming many years ago, and I've been interested in it ever since. I dove into it in earnest about 5 years ago, reading everything I could on it. Unfortunately, though I have a lot of "head knowledge" about it, I've had few successes.

When I become lucid, it's never been through an RC. It's not that my RCs in my dreams fail; rather, I have no memory of ever RCing in a non-lucid dream. Instead, I typically just become aware that I'm dreaming, usually as part of a scene change. In most of my lucids, if a DC walks up to me and says "Hey, you're dreaming," it would have about the same effect as if he'd walked up and said "Hey, the sky is blue." I've never had the "OH WOW I'M LUCID" moment that so many people talk about. Most of the times I've become lucid, I've tried to exert some kind of control over the dream, but my awareness has been so low that it's been more of an instinct than a conscious decision. The obvious answer is to stabilize my dream - but since I don't get that moment of non-lucid to lucid transition, it never even occurs to me that there's anything to stabilize.

As far as I can tell, MILDing hasn't helped at all (so far). Many of my lucids have followed from failed WILD attempts, while others have "just happened." I've done some SSILDing, usually with a MILD as a followup, but I don't know if it's affecting anything. Due to my incredible lack of awareness and control in my lucids, WILDing is very attractive to me. Unfortunately, every time I've ever tried it I've ended up with fairly bad insomnia. When I fall asleep normally, it's a very, very quick thing. If I'm awake for even 5 minutes after I lay down with the intention to sleep, I know I have insomnia that night, and it's going to take me a long time to get to sleep. When I attempt a WILD, I can easily stay perfectly still for 30 to 45 minutes, and I can keep my thoughts relatively calm - but sleep evades me. Worse, once I give up on the attempt, I can't get the sleep back. It sometimes takes me over an hour after giving up on the WILD before I can get to sleep. Sometimes I just have to give up altogether and go read somewhere to get myself really tired before trying to sleep again.

I normally get between 7-8 hours of sleep each night. A short WBTB doesn't make much difference, but I can't do a long one. I normally try my WILDs on Friday and Saturday nights, when I can afford to lose a little more sleep.

Late last year, I finally started having a few more successes: I was probably getting 2-3 lucids a month from about September through November. December was crazy, and my attempts dropped off, and then I became more tired and didn't want to lose the sleep to lucid attempts. I've finally gotten over the tiredness, and I'm hoping to make even more progress this time around.

Reality Checks:
I do reality checks on a regular basis throughout the day, usually unscheduled. Unfortunately, most of my day is either sitting behind a computer or sitting behind a steering wheel, so there's not much variety of "odd" things to kick off my RCs (or, maybe I'm just thinking too small ...). The nose-pinch is my most common RC, followed closely by studying my hand. I'm trying to get more into the habit of questioning how I got to where I am. Occasionally I'll jump or try to stick my finger through my hand.

Dream Signs:
* HUGE areas (so large I'm not aware of the ceiling or far walls)
* Really uncomfortable / awkward situations
* Driving
* Very low light levels and lights that don't work right
* Very recently, gaming

Short-Term Goals:
* Have more regular lucid dreams
* Increase lucid awareness and control
* Fly

Long-Term Goals:
* Be able to shapeshift and have the shift "stick"
* Use LDs to combat social anxiety

Journalling:
I've kept a DreamViews journal for a while, on and off. My dream journalling usually goes pretty well as long as I put the effort into it. I have my tablet near my bed along with a Bluetooth keyboard. When I wake up, I gently roll onto my back, grab my keyboard, close my eyes, and type out as much of the dream as I can remember. In the morning, I download the entry from my tablet, clean it up, and post it.

Current Technique:
WBTB + SSILD + MILD. I can't use an alarm in the middle of the night, so I use a large glass of water instead. It usually wakes me up after either 3 or 4.5 hours. When I wake up, I do an RC, record my dreams, use the bathroom, get a drink of water, and go back to bed. On average, journalling probably takes about 10-15 minutes, so I'm awake and semi-active for about 15-20 minutes total.

Once I'm back in bed, I try to run through some SSILD cycles, then fix in my mind a dream I want to re-enter; fix an intention to re-enter it, recognize it, and become lucid; then fall asleep. More often than not, I don't try to re-enter the dream I just left - my dreams aren't usually anything I want to get back into - but instead a pleasant, older, memorable dream.

**Nazrax** · 10-09-2014 04:50 PM

Last night, I woke up after about 4 hours. After using the bathroom, I started in on some SSILD, but I got distracted and/or fell asleep before I'd moved onto the MILD. I only had good recall at the end of the night.

It's been a long time since I've really reviewed my dream journal, so I'm going to try to get back in that habit soon.

**fogelbise** · 10-09-2014 09:58 PM

-Failed WILDs lead to many of your LDs: This could be key in understanding what works best for you. Perhaps some combination of WBTB and heightened intention to lucid dream. Can you remember anything else common in these successful attempts?

-Your challenge with insomnia: Like you are already doing, keep your real attempts to weekends or when you can sleep in until you learn how to get back to sleep easier - this was an issue for me also early on for a while. I found that on the weekends it took the pressure off of worrying about falling asleep and allowed me to find my own way over time.

-When you do get insomnia: Try enjoyable visualizations or "day dreaming" or use your get up and read solution (sometimes just getting up is enough to reset your intention to just fall asleep)

-Try to "forget what you know" as they say...perhaps in 5 years you have learned a few things that are not for you or may have been bad advice. Same here...take my advice with a grain of salt since I am far from an expert. Somewhere inside you have many of your own answers.

-Some quick ssild and straight to sleep for dild's may be enough of a change up in your routine to help you not worry about getting to sleep. ssild really worked for me but I did find that I was better off doing it on weekends until I found it easier to get back to sleep.

2-3 lucids a month from about September through November

Can you tell from any dream journals, notes or posts on dreamviews during that time what the key was during that period? Perhaps it was just putting more time into wbtb's and less worry about insomnia?

(RC's)...Unfortunately, most of my day is either sitting behind a computer or sitting behind a steering wheel, so there's not much variety of "odd" things to kick off my RCs (or, maybe I'm just thinking too small ...). The nose-pinch is my most common RC, followed closely by studying my hand. I'm trying to get more into the habit of questioning how I got to where I am.

A random timer is helpful to remind you to do RC's until it becomes more natural (took me a long time to do it more naturally). I use the random reminder on the Awoken app for Android phones. I do highly recommend adding that habit of questioning how you got to where you are and maybe also what you were thinking or doing 5 to 15 minutes before.

Dream signs - I have had success with strong dream signs like a deceased person showing up or my love of looking at stars and noticing something odd about them. Also, later in my practice, I found that taking bold action in a dream seems to often trigger lucidity for me. It seems like you have some dream signs listed that could work. Is there anything that you are passionate about that shows up in your dreams? Or anything that makes you look closer to examine even if you don't quite get lucid?

Current Technique: WBTB + SSILD + MILD.

Have you tried mixing up the order. Do you often get HI's or HH's of any kind during this process? I will sometimes stop doing SSILD and do some visualization of desired dream - sounds something like your routine and may go back and do some more cycles. I know SSILD's author says to use it alone so I assume you tried that first for a good while..? I did and got a lot of mileage out of it before changing it up much later.

What do you feel are your biggest roadblocks? I sense that WBTB insomnia is one.

What are your favorite LD practices?

I hope this helps you on your way to your goals.

**Nazrax** · 10-13-2014 09:41 PM

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have posted a new thread the day before I went camping for the weekend

Unsurprisingly, I had no recall while I was gone, but I had some fairly good recall yesterday and today. I don't think I did anything Saturday night, and last night I did a bit of MILD and SSILD. I tried to tell myself that I'd dream of camping and remember that I wasn't camping any more, but nothing came of it.

Alas, I can't think of any common threads between the times I actually had a lucid.

Normally, WBTB doesn't bother me - it's WILDing specifically that causes me to have real trouble getting back to sleep.

I'll check out Awoken. I used to have a random reminder a long time ago, but it didn't seem to encourage random (non-alarmed) RCs, but I'll certainly give it another shot.

The only times I get HI or HH are when I'm really, really tired and trying to stay awake. I have no memories of getting them when I'm actually in bed.

I try to visualize what I want, but nothing's come of it yet.

My biggest road blocks? Not having a reliable way to get lucid

Other than that, lack of awareness and control in dreams. It's frustrating to wake from a barely-lucid to realize what I could have done. As I mentioned earlier, in many of my lucids I treat the dream as real, even though I know it's a dream. I specifically remember one dream where I had a dream goal to ask a DC a question, but I decided I couldn't do it because it was night and everyone would be asleep!

I've flown twice in dreams - once lucid, once not - and I really, REALLY want to do that again!

**Nazrax** · 10-14-2014 09:24 PM

Recall last night was good. Before bed, I spent a few minutes reading over the previous week's dreams, and in the middle of the night I did some MILD / visualization of being back in the campground, then some SSILD. Alas, no lucids for me.

**Nazrax** · 10-15-2014 08:22 PM

I was rushing to get in bed last night, since I knew I'd have an early morning this morning. I ended up with a nightmare (first in a long time), so I had a poor night with poor recall.

**fogelbise** · 10-16-2014 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by Nazrax

I don't think I did anything Saturday night, and last night I did a bit of MILD and SSILD. I tried to tell myself that I'd dream of camping and remember that I wasn't camping any more, but nothing came of it.

I find SSILD and WBTB in general to be very powerful for increasing chances of having an LD. That experimentation with looking out for camping dreams is just the sort of things you should continue to try...find things that make sense to you and even though that didn't produce results that time, it could in the future. You may even try switching up the way that you approach it.

Alas, I can't think of any common threads between the times I actually had a lucid.

Keep an eye out then for commonalities with your next lucids. Could a common thread be perhaps that you did a substantial WBTB on many of them?

Normally, WBTB doesn't bother me - it's WILDing specifically that causes me to have real trouble getting back to sleep.

That is great to hear that WBTB is still available to you without worries of getting back to sleep...so you can still use the powerful WBTB's and just avoid WILDs except for times when you can plan for them, perhaps on some of the nights when you can sleep in.

My biggest road blocks? Not having a reliable way to get lucid

Other than that, lack of awareness and control in dreams. It's frustrating to wake from a barely-lucid to realize what I could have done. As I mentioned earlier, in many of my lucids I treat the dream as real, even though I know it's a dream. I specifically remember one dream where I had a dream goal to ask a DC a question, but I decided I couldn't do it because it was night and everyone would be asleep!

To improve this, I feel that you need more of you in the dream, specifically: more self-awareness. In addition, "practicing" during the day what you plan to do in those moments that you realize you are dreaming. Since your moment is not a big a-ha moment usually, try to recreate the common scenario where you realize you are dreaming but instead take action and remind yourself, this is all my dream and I can do whatever I want! Practice this process during the day when you do RC's or any LD day practice of your choice. Some MILD and prospective memory work with the same aim would also be helpful.

I've flown twice in dreams - once lucid, once not - and I really, REALLY want to do that again!

I have no doubt you will again with your mind set to it!

If you like the advice here, don't forget to hit the like button.

It shows me that my efforts are appreciated. Good luck!

**Nazrax** · 10-16-2014 09:33 PM

Unfortunately, last night was even worse than the night before. Oh well, you win some, you lose some

As I was returning to sleep after WBTB, I tried to visualize where I wanted to be, but I suspect I got stuck into the same trap that prevents me from sleeping during and after a WILD attempt. Either I fall back asleep quickly or I don't fall back asleep at all, and I so wish I had some control over that.

You're right about the prospective memory training. I've tried to do some of that before, both dream related (when I'm dreaming ...) as well as otherwise (every time I see a blue car ...). I'm uniformly terrible at it

I know it's a skill that can be learned like anything else, but it doesn't seem to be one I can easily pick up. I'll keep trying though!

**Nazrax** · 10-17-2014 03:12 PM

Woo-hoo! Last night I had my first lucid in over 6 months

(of course, most of that time I wasn't really trying, but still ...)

Yesterday, whenever I did a RC I tried to run through not just "am I dreaming" but "what would I do if I were dreaming;" and that may have helped. I suspect the main cause was how long I was awake during the night, that once I did fall back asleep I was more aware than I'd normally be.

**fogelbise** · 10-17-2014 06:47 PM

Awesome Nazrax!! Perhaps the longer awake time and your recent re-focus helped you to become lucid and the "what would I do if I were dreaming" helped with having good memory in the dream to remember to ground yourself and remember your goals, bringing more of "you" into the dream. I also read and posted in your DJ and you had a nice longer LD, Congrats!!

**Nazrax** · 10-23-2014 10:29 PM

The last few days have been crazy, and I haven't had a chance to sit down to edit and post my DJs, but I'm still here. Alas, my sleep this week has been poor. I didn't sleep well Monday night and Tuesday night, and I got to sleep really late on Wednesday night. Tuesday night, while I tried to get back to sleep, I kept telling myself that I'd have a sweet lucid like the last time I had WBTB insomnia. Unfortunately, I had no such luck

(though I did dream about what a bad night I'd had ...)

I've continued making my "what if I were dreaming right now" visualizations more vivid. Right now I'm working on exactly how I'd find the pumpkin (I know it'd be behind me, on our dining room table), what I'd do with it, and what I'd do next. Hopefully it'll pay off when I do get another one.

**Nazrax** · 10-24-2014 04:24 PM

I slept much better last night, and my recall was OK. I really have no idea where these school dreams are coming from, but I guess it's time to really focus on "If I'm anywhere near a high school, I'm almost certainly dreaming." I need to get back in the habit of rereading my old DJs so this stuff sticks out more in my mind.

**fogelbise** · 10-24-2014 10:15 PM

Those are good ideas. Whenever I am working with dream signs I like to remind myself right before going to bed and at any awakenings. It is a little tougher coming of several days of poor sleep as I am sure you know, so no need to fret not getting back up to speed right away.

**Nazrax** · 10-30-2014 09:36 PM

It's been kind of a weird week, and I haven't had much chance to clean up my nightly notes into proper journal entries. At least today I managed to post last night.

My recall continues to be OK (for me, anyway), but I was excited on Saturday: I actually remembered two dreams during a camping trip!

I continue my frequent RCs and "what if I were dreaming" visualizations, and I trust they'll pay off again soon ...

**Nazrax** · 10-21-2016 08:24 PM

Well, after fighting with insomnia on and off for quite some time, I'm back

I was able to jump right back into dream journalling with no issue - my recall has been as good as it ever was. Now, I just need to finally take that next step and actually start having lucid dreams ...

**fogelbise** · 10-22-2016 01:39 AM

Welcome back Nazrax!

Let us know if there are any areas that you would like assistance with and try to make regular notes here to gain momentum.

**Nazrax** · 10-24-2016 06:40 PM

Journals from the weekend: Saturday, Sunday, Today. I actually had a really brief lucid Sunday morning

As for help - I just don't know how to turn years of (on and off) really good dream journalling into lucids ...

**Nazrax** · 10-25-2016 03:19 PM

Well, last night was my best lucid ever - but, I also cheated ... I finally broke down and got some galantamine. I want to build up my mental muscles to the point that I don't need that, though, so for "daytime work" I'm starting in on some of Sivason's Dream Yoga lessons, and in preparation for WBTB I'm going to brush up on MILD - I'm frankly still not sure what the distinctions are between MILD, auto-suggestion, mantras, and the rest.

**Nazrax** · 10-27-2016 03:28 PM

The night after my last post was a complete wash, but last night I had success with my new WBTB-meditate-get-up-go-back-to-bed-get-up-read-go-back-to-bed-meditate-get-up-meditate-go-back-to-bed (WBTBMGUGBTBGURGBTBMGUMGBTB) technique, though I wouldn't recommend it. That being said, earlier in the day I listened to the old DILD-WILD podcast and worked some meditation, mantras, and visualization into bed time, so it probably all worked together.

**fogelbise** · 10-27-2016 05:42 PM

Congratulations on your 2 LD's!!

WBTBMGUGBTBGURGBTBMGUMGBTB technique lol!

**Nazrax** · 10-27-2016 06:05 PM

Thanks

Now, my goals are still A) to keep going, B) to do it on nights without supplements, and C) to do it without 3 hour WBTBs ...

**Nazrax** · 11-01-2016 07:15 PM

The weekend was weird. I went camping Friday night, and despite all my expectations, I actually had a lucid ... but Sunday night, when I was feeling really confident and took more galantamine, was a total bust. Based on my two most recent successes (nasty middle-of-the-night insomnia and camping), I'm guessing that means I need to step up my WBTBs - not just journalling and some MILD mantras, but ... something. I'm going to print out some of my recent journal entries and read over them and see what that does (no nasty backlights ...).

**fogelbise** · 11-03-2016 06:23 AM

I agree. WBTB's are a big boost to lucidity! Congrats again!!

I will check the other workbooks in the morning. A couple of crazy busy days I've had.

**Nazrax** · 11-03-2016 12:13 PM

Well, I did a longer-than-usual WBTB and woke myself up a little more. It took forever to go back to sleep, and I didn't even get a lucid to show for it. Practice, practice ...

That being said, I'd rather find a method that puts most of the 'work' in the daytime. I can spare time during the day, but it's not really possible for me to extend my night any.

**fogelbise** · 11-03-2016 07:15 PM

Originally Posted by Nazrax

Well, I did a longer-than-usual WBTB and woke myself up a little more. It took forever to go back to sleep, and I didn't even get a lucid to show for it. Practice, practice ...

That being said, I'd rather find a method that puts most of the 'work' in the daytime. I can spare time during the day, but it's not really possible for me to extend my night any.

When you do use WBTB which really is a great boost, keep experimenting with how much to wake up since the last time seemed too long. I did often find the most success when I had trouble getting back to sleep, but I realize that is not ideal if you have to get up at a certain time. Perhaps you can save it for nights that you can sleep in, maybe a couple of times a week and also see if you can get some other "spontaneous" DILD's through day work.

For that I would work hard with Sageous' RRC very nicely described here: http://www.dreamviews.com/wild/13181...prep-part.html

Besides getting the hang of RRC, I also highly recommend to think during the day as much as possible things like "Wow, if I were dreaming right now I would ______!!!" (fly up and over this traffic, fly up over this crowd or obstruction, approach that hottie over there, fly up over those trees, run like the wind, use telekinesis to dispatch with those as*holes!.basically whatever gives you the most inspiration or is the most fun to imagine. You then visualize realizing this is a dream! You can use tricks of perception like squinting and poking one finger from one hand under your other hand to seemingly give yourself 6 fingers. You can lift yourself up on your toes while looking up which often gives the feeling of floating up. Mirrors with bevels or oddities in them can be useful to give you dream like visuals. You may come up with other inventive ways to do this sort of thing. You do all this while repeating "I'm dreaming! I'm dreaming!" along with your favorite tactile stabilization method (like rubbing your hands together).