CursedSeraphim's Workbook

Hi DV!
I've known about lucid dreaming for a few years now. About year ago or a bit more I briefly tried it - had a few LDs but nothing fancy.
I recently had my matura in my engineering school which basically are the university qualification exams where I live.
Before that I got into lucid dreaming enough to have 2 LDs a week for 1-2 months but then the exams meant that I had to take a short break.
Now that they are over I've been trying to get back into lucid dreaming. I had one or two lucids but they were as most of the LDs I've had pretty short and uneventful.

Usually it takes quite some time for me to fall asleep - I would say on average 45min (sometimes 30 but sometimes 90)
I go to sleep very regularly at about 22:00 and wake up naturally at about 7:00 or 8:00.
I cannot take naps during the day as I just cannot fall asleep.
I have studied the topic of lucid dreaming for a long time and read up and tried lots of techniques and methods.
I try to make entries in my dream journal every day.
I try to do WBTB every one or two days.
I usually put my alarm to go off at 4:00 and when I do that I occasionally wake up about half an hour before that naturally.
When I do the WBTB I don't even get up because I naturally need a long time before being able to fall asleep and don't want to wake up too much (also I'm lazy and tired xD)
I meditate every other day for about 15 minutes.
I often do RCs (and they have on some occasions helped me in LDs)
After doing my finals at school seeing my now former classmates has become a dream sign but I am unable to make myself do an RC whenever I see them. I try mantras, imagining how I see them and do an RC but up to now that hasn't worked.
I am able to have very vivid LDs (if my level of lucidity is high enough and I follow the instructions of concentrating on my senses as can be read when following the link blow my dream becomes more realistic than real life)
I have read up on dream stabilization techniques such as this one "http://www.dreamviews.com/dream-cont...-hours-ld.html" (by atkins513 not by me) but still my dreams haven't been very long nor have I been able to do anything I ever planned to do or wrote down (I only managed to remember once but my efforts of reaching the goal didn't give me any results). This might just be because overall I have only had about 20-30 LDs.
i have written down many activites, helpful tools such as archetypes, locations I want to visit, techniques for teleporting, techniques for summoning, vehicles I want to use, items I want to use, things I want to morph into and so on for when I am inside a lucid dream as a motivation and to keep my mind on the topic of lucid dreaming.
SSILD has often made me lucid and on some occasions given me several FAs.
If I remember correctly FILD has worked for me once but it is very hard for me to know when I am between being too sleepy and too awake for it to work.
WILD has never worked for me - I just lie there not moving at all apart from my eyes and my breathing and my body gets kind of numb but if I want to I can still move it but nothing ever happens at all - I don't ever enter a dream like that. Also very often the saliva in my mouth makes me swallow and the attempt has to be repeated.

Really hardcore scary nightmares make me become lucid easily.

Went to bed a bit before 22:00
Woke up to my WBTB alarm going off at 3:40
I don't remember doing any particular technique and just fell asleep
When I woke up again there was lots of content I could have written down in my DJ but I was so tired that I kept my eyes closed until about 8:10
I then wrote down 2 dreams of mediocre size into my DJ

went to bed at about 22:00 - did a few SSILD cycles
had an LD but it was probably one of the lamest one I have had up until now
I became lucid naturally inside the dream DILD style maybe triggered by SSILD but could be unlikely since it was without WBTB
at the moment I became lucid I saw some illegal activites of a DC who then started to pursue me with his car through suburban streets with lots of houses
I wasn't lucid enough to realize that he is no threat and instead of going through my routine of concentrating on my senses and so on I started super jumping from house to hosue to get away from him before waking up
had my WBTB set to 3:40
woke up naturally a bit after 1:00
turned off my 3:40 alarm because 1 WBTB is enough and I don't really want to get too sleep deprived
I think I tried some SSILD cycles again but I'm not sure
didn't have another LD
wrote 2 dreams of mediocre size into the DJ one of them being the LD

went to bed at about 22:00 did several SSILD cycles - I did the complete technique without it being a lazy half-assed attempt so to speak
set my alarm for 3:40 and put my phone next to my feet
didn't wake up for the alarm - probably the sort of situation where you automatically deactivate the alarm while still being half asleep without really remembering it
when I woke up in the morning I remembered my dreams very vividly - much more than the last 1-2 weeks
I wrote down 4 dreams most of which I remembered very vividly
this might have happened because of the compelte SSILD approach even though it was not during a WBTB
at my peek (months before) I would be able to remember 6 or 7 dreams in vivid details

Hello and welcome to the DILD class! You already have a great start on lucid dreaming practice, I think that you should just keep doing what you're doing. A few comments:

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Usually it takes quite some time for me to fall asleep - I would say on average 45min (sometimes 30 but sometimes 90)
I go to sleep very regularly at about 22:00 and wake up naturally at about 7:00 or 8:00.
I cannot take naps during the day as I just cannot fall asleep.
When I do the WBTB I don't even get up because I naturally need a long time before being able to fall asleep and don't want to wake up too much (also I'm lazy and tired xD)

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For me, the middle of the night wakings are the time when I can get (hours long) insomnia. I fall asleep pretty fast at bedtime most nights unless I'm highly stressed. But once I started noticing middle-of-the-night wakings through intention (in order to recall dreams and perform WILD/MILD), especially when doing SSILD or MILD around 5-6 hours of sleep, I would frequently lie awake for hours. In the end I taught myself relaxation, and discovered that I was holding tension in many places in my face (eyes, jaw). In short, I recommend looking seriously into resources that teach you how to relax yourself and not dwell on pesky thoughts that keep you awake. Sitting meditation is one way to do this. In fact, you can think of relaxation for falling back to sleep as a form of meditation. For LD practice, being able to wake up and fall back asleep a few times per night can be very advantageous. It's also good for general health as well! It's generally preferable to notice wakings through intention than to set alarms, alarms can be too jarring, we're conditioned to wake up fully with them, and they can blast away all dream memories.

It's normal for most LDs to be short in the beginning. Most of my LDs are under 5 minutes, but they're still really fun. I think some people inflate the length of their dreams. If you started paying attention to *every little detail* in waking life, 5 minutes would start to seem like a pretty long time!

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WILD has never worked for me

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I empathize completely, I've hardly ever had WILDs (other than DEILDs). I think many people mistake start-of-dream DILDs with WILDs. In a true WILD, there is no discontinuity of awareness into the dream, and pretty much every time I've observed the start of a dream as it formed (which is a trip and really awesome), I experienced a discontinuity/disorientation and wasn't quite sure how I got there. But WILDs are great to practice, they require discipline and focus, visualization, etc., that are valuable in other aspects of LDing. Expert LDers choose the approach to match the conditions of how they feel. For example: you just notice a waking: first step, try to DEILD, doesn't work? then try to WILD. Doesn't work (after some predetermined time) or doesn't "feel right?") Aim for sleep to get a DILD.

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After doing my finals at school seeing my now former classmates has become a dream sign but I am unable to make myself do an RC whenever I see them.

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This touches on an important topic: training yourself to live "tuned in," paying attention, not living life "on autopilot." With your dreaming background, you've probably realized at least somewhat that *at any conscious moment, you could be dreaming*. Maintaining this mindfulness in waking life, especially with distracting activities that demand your attention, is perfect practice for lucid dreaming. It takes time, be patient, but do you best to try to pay attention to life, waking or dreaming. The more you're present, paying attention, participating in waking life, the more it will happen in your dreams. The more you do it, the more you want to keep doing it, and the more you'll feel "not right" if you're zoned out and in a dull state of mind.

As for stabilization and goals, I recommend rehearsing the "I just got lucid!" moment when awake: see yourself getting lucid in a dream, then: slow down, take a breath, be calm, look around, rub your hands, pat your body if you like (I do this when I remember), recite a mantra that helps you with dream goals, realize the truth of the situation (that you're awake in a dream taking place in your mind).

The balance that you practice during the day to pay attention to your mind and what's going on while it's happening is perfect practice for maintaining the balance of participating in the dream while maintaining the knowledge that it is a dream (in other words, holding on to your lucidity). This is a delicate balance that takes a long time to progress in, but it's worth the effort.

Let us know if you have any other questions, and use your workbook here like you have started to to keep track of your progress and to stay motivated and hold yourself accountable to your goals. Welcome and have great dreams!

didn't set an alarm today because I had to get up early
wrote down 2 dreams in my DJ
one part of one of the dreams I remember very vividly



thx for the reply I will try and look into what you recommended :3

went to bed a bit later at about 22:30
set the WBTB alarm for 3:40
did a bit of SSILD
woke up to the WBTB alarm
couldn't quite concentrate enough to do SSILD efficiently
woke up in the morning and wrote down 4 short to mediocre dreams
in one of the dreams I ate something and I remembered that very vividly

concentrated a lot on awareness yesterday
went to bed at about 23:00
set an alarm for WBTB at 4:00 and put the phone next to my feet
slept through it somehow again
didn't have an LD but remembered a long dream with many details and wrote that down
only one dream though

concentrated a lot on awareness again
went to bed at about 22:00
set WBTB alarm to 3:40 and put phone further away
did a bit of SSILD before falling asleep
woke up to the alarm
didn't manage to do much of the SSILD cycles
after waking up in the morning I wrote down 4 dreams
there where a lot of details but I was so tired that I kept my eyes closed for quite a while afte waking up which probably lead to losing a lot of the details

went to bed at about 22:00
decided it was time to take a day off of WBTB
woke up naturally anyway
couldn't concentrate enough on doing an induction technique though <-- this really seems to be a big problem for me especially during WBTBs
I probably should try and stay up a bit and then go through some relaxation techniques as suggested
woke up and was really tired so I kept my eyes closed for quite a while forgetting a lot of a very detailed and long dream

since taking a day off WBTB didn't quite work out the last time I did tried it this time again and didn't wake up
I was really tired when I woke up and I probably had the least success in remembering dream in quite some time due to that
I'll do a WBTB tonight

1 LD

last night I set 2 alarms for my WBTB
one for 3:40 and another one for 3:50 to keep me awake
I did several SSILD cycles before falling asleep
then I woke up for my WBTB and remembered the double alarm thing
it worked and kept me awake enough to do some SSILD cycles - it wasn't perfect but it was a lot better than usual
I woke up and had bad dream recall but I remembered that I did have an LD
I just knew I was dreaming without doing an RC as most of the time
I should have done an RC and rubbing my hands and so on
I thought about how I should focus on my senses
during the dream I think I was in my room which happens very often when I'm lucid
the dream was over very quickly though - it is still next to impossible for me to have LDs that are long enough to do anything satisfying
I might have been too hectic and really should have sat down not doing anything until I have complete control and stability
I tried to call out for my Dream Guide which I have never seen before nor have I ever tried finding him/her/it
I recall seeing some sort fo massive green dragon like monster after calling out to her (I keep accidentally using the word her when writing this since I want whatever I find to be a girl ffs xD)
so possibly this is what I am going to see when I try to find the DG the next time - a massive scary green dragon

set 2 WBTB alarms again for 3:40 and 3:50
did several SSILD cycles before falling asleep
woke up to the alarm
tried SSILD but didn't manage to do much as I apparently fell asleep and awoke again to the 3:50 alarm
second attempt at SSILD didn't go so well either
probably have to move towards getting up and staying awake for a bit in my WBTBs maybe I need some sort of plan or schedule on what to do when I wake up
had better dream recall and managed to write down more than in the previous days - 2 dreams in mediocre detail and 1 where I forgot most of it

set one alarm for 3:40 and one for 3:55
put the phone right next to me as an experiment to see whether the thought of having two alarms was going to be enough
didn't work out sadly
did SSILD cycles before falling asleep
woke up to 3:40 alarm next to me
was to sleepy to get far with any technique
when I woke up I had much better dream recall than previously

Have you tried either the water or intention method for noticing more waking throughout the night without an alarm? Although it seems like you don't have trouble getting back to sleep on the alarm, it still can jar you out of your dreams and make recalling more difficult.

I haven't tried any methods to wake up without the alarm - it seems like the days I would need to learn how to do that I would probably have to not use an alarm and therefore have quite a long time without any WBTB at all
is there a noticeable difference because you probably wake up between REM phases like that if you succeed?

went to bed at about 22:00
same WBTB alarm 3:40 and 3:55
forgot to get up during my WBTB xD didn't get much of an induction method done again
had good dream recall though

went to bed a bit after 22:00
spent a lot of time thinking about stuff I want to do in my LDs and how I would just not do anything and spend however long I would need to spend to focus on my senses and stabilize the dream
same WBTB alarm 3:40 and 3:55
god damn I was too reluctant to get up
forgot quite a lot of the dreams managed to write the one I had just before waking up though

set my alarms to 3:40 and 3:55
I managed to get up a bit during my WBTB and I was able to do a few cycles of SSILD
didn't have an LD though
remebered an average amount of dreams

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Originally Posted by CursedSeraphim

I haven't tried any methods to wake up without the alarm - it seems like the days I would need to learn how to do that I would probably have to not use an alarm and therefore have quite a long time without any WBTB at all
is there a noticeable difference because you probably wake up between REM phases like that if you succeed?

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With the water method, the only learning required is figuring how much water it takes to wake you up in the 4.5-6 hour range. The water method also tends to wake you up at the end of a REM cycles, so it is a more gentle and natural awakening. If you don't normally wake up at all to use the bathroom then you may need to drink a full glass of water right before bed…maybe two glasses.

the day before yesterday I basically did the same thing as before
since I didn't force myself to jump out of my half sleep to record my dreams I forgot most of them

yesterday I went to bed a bit later maybe 23:30 or sth like that
decided to do a break from WBTB
didn't remember many dreams

1 LD - making a total of 2 LDs since I started writing these entries

think I went to bed at about 22:30
WBTB alarms set to 3:40 and 3:55
didn't do much of a technique neither when initially falling asleep nor during WBTB
when I woke up I was totally oblivious to the fact that I actually did have an LD until a few minutes had passed
in my LD I remember being pretty calm
after some time I focussed on my sense of sight and what I saw became so much more detailed as usual
but then the clarity started fluctuating and I probably lost control or the dream ended shortly after although it might have been a "rather long LD" of about 10 minutes
I didn't do anything interesting or at least I don't remember doing so
made a small DJ entry

Congrats on the LD! Even little ones are great. Yes I sometimes get the ones that I only remember if I dig for recall, they tend to get buried if you continue on dreaming non-lucidly without waking up.

thx fryingman ^^
yeah if the LD is one of the first dreams of the night it is often hard to remember
non lucid dreams that I have at the beginning of the night are next to impossible to remember lately

went to bed a bit before 23:00
had 2 WBTB alarms for 3:40 and 3:55
had a long vivid dream from which I awoke to total awareness
this resulted in a very long detailed DJ entry

set WBTB alarms for 3:40 and 3:55
don't remember much about doing an induction method but I think I imagined what I would do once I became lucid
slept through the alarms
did some longer DJ entries

set the WBTB alarms for 3:40 and 3:55
this time though I tried different ring tunes in order to create a new factor and stop myself from just sleeping through them
it worked and I actually woke up to them
but I was to half assed and didn't raelly do any techniques
I'll have to force myself to act and maybe get a bit more awake so I will probably put the phone far away from the bed in the following days
only managed to write a short DJ entry