Thread: IHadADreamWhere's DILD Course Workbook

Night 1:
Today was fairly good. I got most of my "beginner" LD questions answered and now i can go to bed with a smile on my face
I've gotten better with keeping up my awareness, but it still isn't perfect.

Tonight im going to try taking 300mg Vitamin B6 one last time right before bed rather then an hour before, just to see if it makes any difference. I know that a certain amount of B6 can be dangerous if taken Daily for a few months or so, but i am willing to experiment for a few days just to see what happens. If i find that B6 does not help my recall by thursday or Friday, i'm going to toss it.

I've also created a new DJ based off of Sensei's thread, only this time its in Digital format to help me keep track of things easier (:

Right after i post this i am going to write in my newly created Waking Life journal, and then meditate before bed
While reciting the following Mantra " I notice every waking, remain still, and recall my dreams"

I may or may not wake up about 6 or 7 hours after sleep to attempt WILD and write down my dreams. Let's see! (:

Ill update you all in the morning with my results, Good night and happy dreaming!

Morning 2:
I remember having around 4 vivid dreams last night
But i had only journaled one down and a fragment from another dream :/
The mantras i used as i was falling asleep are "I notice every waking, remain still, and recall my dreams"
And "I remember my dreams"
I did infact notice my waking, and the first thing i did was lie still in bed and recall my dream. It was surprisingly easy, will be trying this Mantra again tonight.

Also, i decided not to take any supplements such as B6 or melatonin. I'm deciding to build my recall the natural way (:
This morning, i don't know if i am finding it harder to be aware or if being aware is becoming more natural haha
Either way, i'm having pretty good progress so far.
Will update tonight

Welcome to the DILD class, David!

Congrats on last night's success in noticing your waking and recalling your dream! If you do that every waking, you'll wrack up a ton of recall very quickly!

I of course like your mantras and have an idea where you found them . I'm happy somebody's benefiting from my recall tips.

Yikes! 300mg B6 is more than a heaping helping, it's in the danger zone! There's anecdotal (though not conclusive) evidence that even considerably smaller doses (50mg, not sure it was over time or not) caused problems in some people. The thing with supplements is to *start with very small doses* and *gradually increase over time*.

I'm not a fan of supplements for recall. I have sufficient proof in my own practice that they're not necessary. I'm not a huge fan of supplements, period. I've tried various ones over the last few years. I tend towards insomnia on middle of the night wakings, and all supplements in essence work by stimulating the brain, so I usually end up awake for hours. The (relatively few) times I've managed to get back to sleep on galantamine + choline mixes, the dreams were incredible, but it's not clear to me if it was the supplements or the hours and hours I spent incubating dreams while trying to fall asleep (basically a massive WBTB). I've also had incredible dreams without supplements.

Much more effective for great dreaming is a healthy dose of awareness work every day (in short, pay attention to life), together with strong desire and intent to recall dreams, good general health & exercise, a positive outlook on life, and good sleep practices (enough sleep on a regular basis, regular sleep schedule, etc.). And reaching for dream memories *every time you notice you're awake* (after sleeping of course ). Do just these things, without fail every day and every night, keep interest high, and you'll be having really awesome dreams in no time.

I also recommend all beginners read LaBerge's Exploring The World of Lucid Dreaming -- it's a must read, really.

Let us know if you have any questions, and keep those progress updates coming!

p.s. never quit! As you found progress doesn't necessarily pick up where you left off.

Love all your dreams, especially the non-lucid ones, they're what you'll have every night whether you're lucid or not. Lucid dreams are really a trip beyond anything else, but a good solid non-lucid epic ("epic" means a particularly fun, fascinating, long, detailed, involved, usually vivid dream) can be even more entertaining. Developing a close connection to your dreams is part of building lucidity in the dream state.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Welcome to the DILD class, David!

Congrats on last night's success in noticing your waking and recalling your dream! If you do that every waking, you'll wrack up a ton of recall very quickly!

I of course like your mantras and have an idea where you found them . I'm happy somebody's benefiting from my recall tips.

Yikes! 300mg B6 is more than a heaping helping, it's in the danger zone! There's anecdotal (though not conclusive) evidence that even considerably smaller doses (50mg, not sure it was over time or not) caused problems in some people. The thing with supplements is to *start with very small doses* and *gradually increase over time*.

I'm not a fan of supplements for recall. I have sufficient proof in my own practice that they're not necessary. I'm not a huge fan of supplements, period. I've tried various ones over the last few years. I tend towards insomnia on middle of the night wakings, and all supplements in essence work by stimulating the brain, so I usually end up awake for hours. The (relatively few) times I've managed to get back to sleep on galantamine + choline mixes, the dreams were incredible, but it's not clear to me if it was the supplements or the hours and hours I spent incubating dreams while trying to fall asleep (basically a massive WBTB). I've also had incredible dreams without supplements.

Much more effective for great dreaming is a healthy dose of awareness work every day (in short, pay attention to life), together with strong desire and intent to recall dreams, good general health & exercise, a positive outlook on life, and good sleep practices (enough sleep on a regular basis, regular sleep schedule, etc.). And reaching for dream memories *every time you notice you're awake* (after sleeping of course ). Do just these things, without fail every day and every night, keep interest high, and you'll be having really awesome dreams in no time.

I also recommend all beginners read LaBerge's Exploring The World of Lucid Dreaming -- it's a must read, really.

Let us know if you have any questions, and keep those progress updates coming!

p.s. never quit! As you found progress doesn't necessarily pick up where you left off.

Love all your dreams, especially the non-lucid ones, they're what you'll have every night whether you're lucid or not. Lucid dreams are really a trip beyond anything else, but a good solid non-lucid epic ("epic" means a particularly fun, fascinating, long, detailed, involved, usually vivid dream) can be even more entertaining. Developing a close connection to your dreams is part of building lucidity in the dream state.

Thanks FM
Last night i decided to take 50mg melatonin and 50mg of b6.
Surprisingly, such a low dosage actually worked! I remembeered like one really long dream, another really long dream and like 4 long fragments.
Idk if this because of the supplements i took or because of my mantra and will power. But either way it worked (:

I recently came up with a theory.

I am already practcing my awareness and doing an RC everytime i catch myself unaware and i am sure that this will surely get me lucid alot on its own.
But i added a little twist to it.

What if i set off a 10 minute timer to do RC's every 10 minutes?
I decided to place an Order on amazon. I brought a Vibrational timer watch. It has 3 alarms and is fully water proof.
Here are a few uses for this watch

-I can use it in public, to remind me to do my RC's with a vibration. This way, i won't look like a complete loon having my watch beep off every 10 minutes.
-If i wear this watch daily, it'll eventually start showing up in my dreams and become its own little Reality Check in a way (I stole this idea from you, since i remember reading one of your DJ enteries about you looking at a watch and realizing your dreaming. Care to tell me how it works?)
-This watch can also work for me as a silent orr sound or both)
Alarm clock for in the morning during my WBTB and WILD attempts.
The vibrational feature will wake me up just enough, but not to much to make me not want to go back to bed.
-I could also use this watch as an anchor for WILD. I can set it to vibrate every few minutes or so, to allow me to fall asleep but gently always bring my attention back to awareness a bit.

If i couple this watch and 10 minute constant RC's and my awareness, wouldn't this be perfect for making me Lucid in alot of my dreams for DILD?

Instead of getting annoyed at myself for doing RC's every 10 minutes, i'll do what Sensei says and think of it as a game
What do you think?
I think i've finally found a technique that will work for me. This watch can work as my own personal "Totem" like from inception haha (:<


edit: I've been thinking. Wouldn't this technique be basically a mix of DILD/and MILD mixed together haha?

Try it out, see how it goes! LDing is all about experimentation.

I will say, though, that for doing RCs and critical reflection moments, you really want those to come entirely from within. You want to "feel" like it's time to do an RC. If you have a hard time at first doing them frequently enough a timer can help, I used one myself for a while on my phone. But I stopped using the timer for RCs after a short while.

For lucidity at night, it may help. You may need to experiment with duration and strength so as not to wake you up but strong enough to notice it in dreams. Also have a regular sleep schedule and learn your REM times by recording lots of dreams throughout the night, so you know when the best time is to have the device signal you.

One thing you could use it for is as a DEILD alarm, assuming it turns itself off: wakes you up just a bit and you try to fall right back into sleep. This is best in the later hours of the morning where you're in basically 100% REM.

Definitely perseverance will get you lucid

I agree with FM in terms of reality checks, even though, for the first weeks maybe you want to set an alarm. Not every 10 minutes, that feels exaggerated and you will end up mechanically RCing and that is terrible. But maybe every hour or every other hour, PLUS, as FM well said, when you feel you need to do a reality check Question everything at every moment and in case of doubt, do a RC.

I am feeling that at this pace, you are going to have a lucid dream very soon.

Use this mantra:

I am going to lucid dream tonight or very soon

This is an aggressive mantra that you can't never fail (so can't get discouraged) and if you chant it by heart with a strong visualization, you will induce a DILD... In fact, this is part of my personal MILD variation technique

Keep up the good work!

Originally Posted by PercyLucid

Definitely perseverance will get you lucid

I agree with FM in terms of reality checks, even though, for the first weeks maybe you want to set an alarm. Not every 10 minutes, that feels exaggerated and you will end up mechanically RCing and that is terrible. But maybe every hour or every other hour, PLUS, as FM well said, when you feel you need to do a reality check Question everything at every moment and in case of doubt, do a RC.

I am feeling that at this pace, you are going to have a lucid dream very soon.

Use this mantra:

I am going to lucid dream tonight or very soon

This is an aggressive mantra that you can't never fail (so can't get discouraged) and if you chant it by heart with a strong visualization, you will induce a DILD... In fact, this is part of my personal MILD variation technique

Keep up the good work!

Thanks percy and everyone! (:
Last night i took melatonin 1.5mg 2 hours before bed, and vitamin b6 straight before bed.
I awoke remembering a super long dream about me being in a public scho yet again, and starting my first day there among a few other kids who i consider "friends" but have no idea who they are IWL. I've been having a dream like this exactly for the past 3 days.
All my dreams last year when i practiced lucid dreaming uaually involved me being at a school i went to when i was younger, so a school being a dream sign really isn't new to me.
After awakening for my WBTB, i took 50mg of b6 again to see what would happen, then went back to bed. I had a super long vivid dream about doing things with my uncle and his girlfriend, then going shopping at a store, and then having sex with this random girl lol.

That dream overall felt like an entire days worth but i only remembered the shopping part-through the end of the dream (:

Also. Thanks for the tips on the reality checks. I'll bring myself to doing one every hour and during that monent, i'll really stop amd question my reality. And whenever i feel the need to do a reality check, i'll do the same. (:

I wanted to do reality checks every 10 minutes because i find myself home most the time (since i've heen doing school online lately, and now summer has started)
So weird things never really happen for me to question my reality you know?
So i wanted to substitute it with something else.

I guess i could also do a reality check every time i walk through a door (:

Took 30mg of melatonin last night as an experiment in determining how my body reacts to certain vitamins and supplements. Rather then having 10+ vivid dreams with such a large dose, commonly mentioned by others, I only found myself remembering a vivid fragment.

Moral of the story is. Stick to lower dosages. I found myself remembering 2 dreams the first night on 1.5mg and 50mg of B6, and then I started remembering 4 dreams the second night. Seems as if the lower dosages work better then the higher ones

You seem determined to start out with massively huge amounts over the recommended starting doses for supplements. That's not "experimentation," that's …. well, not good. Don't do that, really.

I think the moral of the story is, particularly for beginners, stick to the all natural route for a good long while. That's IMO.

Update: 30mg of melatonin has made me very tired :/ although i slept 8+ hours, it feels as if i was up all night

Originally Posted by FryingMan

You seem determined to start out with massively huge amounts over the recommended starting doses for supplements. That's not "experimentation," that's …. well, not good. Don't do that, really.

I think the moral of the story is, particularly for beginners, stick to the all natural route for a good long while. That's IMO.

Yeah your right FM. I just figured since Melatonin is relatively safe i'd go ahead and give it a try. Never again lol

Just remember that dosage is *always* relevant to safety, regardless of the substance (even water!).