Thread: ThreeCat's WILD/DILD Workbook

If i were fogelbise, ahaha, i would suggest Castaneda hand's technique

Originally Posted by ThreeCat

fogelbise, do you have any simple techniques you could recommend, anything in your experience that would work during a time like this? Something I could easily do upon waking during the night.

Sure. MILD or SSILD. For SSILD, if you've tried it and don't connect with the normal instructions, my variation is copied here:

Spoiler for SSILD variation:

How I perform SSILD:

"My variation with the cycles is to do two breaths focusing on the backs of my eyelids, two breaths focusing on hearing and then two breaths focusing a tactile feeling (I use the pressure that I can feel in my sternum area when laying on my back). This "warm-up" reminds me of how to focus on each of the 3 senses that make up SSILD and takes however long it takes to take 6 total breaths unless I start over due to feeling too sleepy to get the three points of focus correct. Then I combine the 3 senses into each breath. I focus on vision as I start to breathe in. I focus on hearing as I am at the transition from breathing in to breathing out. I focus on feeling as I am breathing out. When I am trying to DILD I will do this for 2-3 minutes and then attempt to fall asleep. Not being able to fall asleep on occasion is when I started experimenting with WILDs, sometimes with my sole intention being just to get to sleep but then when noticing the HH's I would remember various things I read about WILDing and experiment with them. Sometimes I would just fall asleep but more and more I was starting to succeed at WILDs. I found that my SSILD variation helps my WILDs in two ways. The first is that it does seem to create a bit of a trance like state which seems to help keep my mind from getting too active with "the noise" as Sageous says. The other way I feel it helps is like a WILD anchor, it is something to keep my intention in place while helping to create the fine line between just enough consciousness needed to become lucid and not so much consciousness that you stay awake. When trying to WILD I will do more repetitions of the combined cycles in each breath than when trying to DILD, but I may stop for a while especially if HHs occur. I may go back and do the combined cycles a few more breaths depending on if it feels right or if nothing seems to be happening. A few times I gave up, rolled over and only then did I quickly start to transition into a dream."

If you want to see some of the back and forth clarification regarding this style of SSILD that I went through in a member's workbook you can find it by using control-f (find) with the search term "cycle" on the following page:

http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/14763...orkbook-3.html

For MILD I always refer people to your post in your signature. I think it is the most succinct explanation I've seen.

Originally Posted by fogelbise

For MILD I always refer people to your post in your signature. I think it is the most succinct explanation I've seen.

Absolutely! And if you want a "lighter" version of this -- I'd recommend just good ol' reaching for dream recall. The benefits (other than remembering your dreams more and more) include the possibility of a DEILD if you manage to fall asleep quickly enough. To that end I'd say don't try to recall too "hard" -- just let the last moment(s) of your prior dream float around a bit in your head. And perhaps work on micro-WBTBs: just reset your intent to get lucid, and allow yourself to fall back asleep. I rarely perform a "real" WBTB, but I'd several times a night do micro-WBTBs consisting of dream recall and voice recording. When I was in the full swing of practice, this was good enough for 6-15 LDs / month, depending on the strength of my motivation and intention for lucidity.

Well, I'm back after another less-than-ideal reboot. Was still reeling from my divorce, being institutionalized, and so on. I think I'm in a good place to move forward and try something new. This morning I voice-recorded some dreams, but didn't like unlocking the phone and all that noise. So I found an app that will just record anytime I speak during the night. I'm guessing it breaks it down into files? No idea, will let you know soon.

I'm trying, my friends. Would so much like to make lucid dreaming a cornerstone of my life again. Was recently on a date and this girl said, "So lucid dreaming is like having a second life." Exactly! I'm ready to get back to that one. Fuck all this real life boo-boo.

It's always good to see you on DV ThreeCat! Sorry to hear about the "less-than-ideal" stuff, though part of the stuff makes me cautious about giving advice. I hope it is all behind you and that the only way is up from all that.

Welcome back, ThreeCat! I'm familiar with waking life boo-boo interfering with dreaming practice. I've been attempting some half-assed LD comebacks recently but lucidity in dreams remains distant. Connecting with dreams again via focusing on recall is a great way to start -- it's how we all started in the beginning, it's how LaBerge recommends it. I think the most important thing is establishing that "wake - remain still - recall - record" sequence every waking. A voice-activated voice recorder app sounds great. When I was recording at night it was always with voice recording.

The best dreaming times I've noticed also correspond with the best waking times. Having a mindful, relaxed, attentive, reflective, positive (even playful) outlook, "always on", in waking life and dreaming, I think yields the best results. Trying to live waking life one way and dreaming life another IMO constructs an internal, albeit perhaps subconscious conflict, that impedes both waking and dreaming experience. At the very least, it limits your practice time. Mindlessness during the day translates to mindlessness in dream, and lucidity during the day translates to lucidity in dream (with time).

It's as TYoDaS says: you can't start at the end. First comes awareness in the moment of experience, then in behavior (the moment of reaction to experience), and only then in dream.

PM exercises and daytime MILD (intention/reflection moments) with RCs as Laberge counsels are so helpful. PM exercises activate the goal-seeking center of the brain, which I believe is critical in dream lucidity. It gives you that little mental jolt that, through practice, we cultivate into full-blown questioning of our state and performing a RC. It keeps the subject of dreaming always on our mind throughout the day, which incubates the thought of dreaming while dreaming (we tend to dream about what we think about [not what we do!] during the day).

I find re-(re-)-reading the foundational literature very motivating, and I always pick up a new nugget that I hadn't noticed on prior reading. Reviewing ETWOLD chapters 1-3 is the perfect way to get back into it. Try reading it with a beginner's mind, and approaching the practice like you're a newbie. As I tell newbies, "follow ETWOLD closely, do what LaBerge says, and odds are you'll get lucid within 30 days, and dreaming will improve dramatically almost immediately."

Best of luck! Let us know how you're progressing!

Thanks, guys. @fogelbise: I'm not full-blown certified, just needed some help getting back on my feet! Advice is always great, even if not taken.

@FryingMan: thank you, FM. I'm re-reading TYoDaS bit at a time. I completely agree with your point about recall, and I'm starting to reconnect with my dreams again. I actually did SSILD last night at some point (don't know when, what time). Normally I start out on a reboot, have some early success, and then drop off. I'm hoping for some more sustained effort, sustained success, and so forth.

And I think that is great advice you're giving newbies. You can't do much better than those first three chapters. Thanks, guys!

I was mainly thinking about how questioning reality may not be the best thing when your reality is in upheaval.

I enjoy switching between SSILD, MILD as well as combining them as a third option for my night practices, throwing in twists from time to time. I do the same thing alternating of my day practices. It keeps my practices fresh and less apt to dropping off.

To throw in my $0.02 -- I don't see it as "real / not real" -- I see it as "waking / dreaming" -- just different states of our singular, all real, conscious experiences.

Thanks, guys. I mostly just do the "this is a dream," thing, so I don't question TOO much. I had the first sad, divorce dreams I've had in a bit, and while they were sad, I'm not crying or anything. Also, I know that as I start digging into my dreams a bit, I'll start processing more emotions and repressed stuff. No lucidity.

Hang in there ThreeCat, as much as you can, and let us know if you run into dreaming/LD roadblocks you need help with.

Originally Posted by fogelbise

Sure. MILD or SSILD. For SSILD, if you've tried it and don't connect with the normal instructions, my variation is copied here:

Spoiler for SSILD variation:

How I perform SSILD:

"My variation with the cycles is to do two breaths focusing on the backs of my eyelids, two breaths focusing on hearing and then two breaths focusing a tactile feeling (I use the pressure that I can feel in my sternum area when laying on my back). This "warm-up" reminds me of how to focus on each of the 3 senses that make up SSILD and takes however long it takes to take 6 total breaths unless I start over due to feeling too sleepy to get the three points of focus correct. Then I combine the 3 senses into each breath. I focus on vision as I start to breathe in. I focus on hearing as I am at the transition from breathing in to breathing out. I focus on feeling as I am breathing out. When I am trying to DILD I will do this for 2-3 minutes and then attempt to fall asleep. Not being able to fall asleep on occasion is when I started experimenting with WILDs, sometimes with my sole intention being just to get to sleep but then when noticing the HH's I would remember various things I read about WILDing and experiment with them. Sometimes I would just fall asleep but more and more I was starting to succeed at WILDs. I found that my SSILD variation helps my WILDs in two ways. The first is that it does seem to create a bit of a trance like state which seems to help keep my mind from getting too active with "the noise" as Sageous says. The other way I feel it helps is like a WILD anchor, it is something to keep my intention in place while helping to create the fine line between just enough consciousness needed to become lucid and not so much consciousness that you stay awake. When trying to WILD I will do more repetitions of the combined cycles in each breath than when trying to DILD, but I may stop for a while especially if HHs occur. I may go back and do the combined cycles a few more breaths depending on if it feels right or if nothing seems to be happening. A few times I gave up, rolled over and only then did I quickly start to transition into a dream."

If you want to see some of the back and forth clarification regarding this style of SSILD that I went through in a member's workbook you can find it by using control-f (find) with the search term "cycle" on the following page:

http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/14763...orkbook-3.html

For MILD I always refer people to your post in your signature. I think it is the most succinct explanation I've seen.

what's HH?

Originally Posted by tblanco

what's HH?

Hypnagogic hallucinations (also hypnopompic hallucinations).

Hi ThreeCat, how's dreaming been recently?