Congrats! Sounds great! Keep it up and more and more will come your way!
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Congrats! Sounds great! Keep it up and more and more will come your way!
I'm glad to see people are having fun and being excited at the DVA courses! :D
I suggest staying in the laying position and keeping your eyes shut for a while when recalling. Your recall is much better when your body keeps calm with your eyes closed. If you do this make sure you won't fall back asleep. What I do, is that I keep one of my hands pointing upwards from the elbow. It sounds a bit funny, but I find it super effective. Haven't fallen back asleep when recalling for four months with the trick :)
When you find your self being unable to fall asleep, I think it is pretty effective to use that time for visualization of being inside a lucid dream doing your goals. It requires minimal mental effort(MILD and mantras require a bit more) so it shouldn't make it harder for you to fall back asleep, and it coud boost your chances of becoming lucid once you eventually fall asleep.
Nice job with the instant stabilization. :) Touching surfaces ( initiating your senses and connecting with your dream body ) is an effective way to ground yourself to the space and moment. If something like that happens again that you find yourself being unable to speak, just ignore it and keep going with the other stabilization techniques, and your abilities to perform normal bodily functions willreturn eventually.
I love door teleportation! I'm actually thinking of starting to experiment with a new expectation "visualization" that could help you as well. Once at a door in my room ( or any other room or space ), I imagine the room is already at the destination in which I'm trying to get to. Like in the photo below. Give the brain a few seconds to create the scenery and then just open the door and leave the room. :)
Spoiler for expectation "visualization":
Congratz and welcome to the DVA course!:party:
Just a quick note: allowing yourself to fall back asleep while recalling is a great way to DEILD: just keep your mind very lightly considering your recent dreams, and allow yourself to drift back to sleep.
Yay!! Congratulations Elaol!! :D Getting lucid, trying a number of different things, noticing the gravity in your legs, great job!! You can build on this and have many more!!
Wow, you guys made my day :D I really like when someone comments here and gives me feedback :)
@Saizaphod I love the drawing :D
So, about today's practice....
I payed a lot more attention to legs. Now, with effort, I can be aware both gravity in my legs and in my feet. I still have trouble implementing FryingMan's advice to constantly have in mind if the gravity is normal or different. I have hard time doing it without verbalizing it in my mind. That will be my task in the following days.
I am actually really proud of myself. I notice both the pulling from my watch and my hand. And I constantly notice difference between my left hand and right hand, since the watch is on the left hand. I think I am getting good at noticing gravity. Now I just have to pair it with reflective awareness. I find that hard to do. Any advices?
I so love this thread :D I look forward to writing on it.
Anyways, one lucid and one semi-lucid last night :D
First time I DEILDed. I was dreaming of playing Aion. I remembered I don't play that anymore. But everything went black. I imagined rubbing my hands (seems I do WILDs instinctively, what feels right, I don't focus on specific technique). First I imagined my hand rubbing as I was laying in bed. Then I felt them change position, so I was standing. I was in my room. I went in the living room, the door had door knob this time :D My mom wasn't awake, but I awoke her, so I could tell her I was dreaming. She told me I must go to bed, she doesn't care if I was dreaming or not. Seems like my lucidity was shaken a bit, so I decided to wake up.
Not too exciting, but still felt great to have lucid dream.
Now I am overthinking of stopping having these lucids, since they feel so great. I think I will go into dry-spell again. I really like to self-sabotage myself.
About GRC, I will try to reflect on my state today, and we'll see how it goes :D
You're doing great! Keep it up! Congrats!
It just takes time, for now it will take explicit mental effort to hold a reflective attitude and gravity awareness. There's nothing wrong with verbalizing, it reinforces your intention and directs your attention where you want it to be. I've had quite a number of LDs by performing that mental verbalizing in my head in the dream state: I wish I could do it every night in every dream, I'd be lucid way more! If anything I'd suggest doing LOTS of mental verbalization, as much as you can. Doing so is a form of dream incubation: we dream about at night what we're thinking about during the day. So the more daytime thoughts you can spend on reflection/awareness/affirmations about lucid dreaming, the better! Over time it will become more of a background effect and won't require so much explicit effort, but in the beginning it takes a lot of effort to get started. It's worth it :).
Idk if the phone deleted last post or it is just invisible from the phone.
Anyways, I practiced GRC on my arms and legs, it went well. I did lots of mental verbalizations.
I hope I will have good nights sleep tonight and not wake up thousand times like last couple of night. I have feeling I don't sleep at all, while I in fact wake up after every dream. I hope I will get some peaceful sleep with DILD as a surprise.
Good night all and have awesome dreams
I have to ventilate myself. I'm so pissed off.
Anyways, I have medical condition which requires me to have good night sleep. Lucid dreams never harmed me in any way.
I hate myself this morning. This workbook is giving me great joy. I love writing about my progress and I really am making progress for the first time in two years I've been actively into LDing. You guys are very supportive, there are awesome threads on the forum, and for the first time in my LD practice I am genuinely happy about my LDing skills. But last couple of days I'm having irrational fears that I will somehow mess up my sleep. And that calls for more irrational fears that the first irrational fears will make me stop LDing (it real fun being me, don't you think?). Now I am in my room, feeling empty inside because I both love LDing and fear it at the same time.
Sorry for this rant, but I have noone else to talk to about this.
Btw, wasn't lucid last night. I realized I wasn't much into GRC yesterday, so that could be it. I did have good night sleep, though.
That's really crappy. I hope you beat that fear. Sleeping well and lucid dreaming shouldn't be two exclusive things. :hug:
(And my mind is racing, trying to think what medical condition would cause such a fear.)
Thanks, I know, it is like you know something is true on cognitive level, but you continue to believe in that on emotional level. In my analysis of the fear, I think I am actually scared of my sudden bursts of lucidity and that I will progress so well that every dream of mine will become lucid. On cognitive level I know I am far from that, but I am still eating myself from the inside.
I have Complex Parital Seizures (CPS). It is mild form of epilepsy characterized by reduced consciousness, without losing it, so it is not grand mal seizure. I made real progress in accepting it in the past month (I have it since I was 8). I will use the same techniques to get rid of this stupid fear. I would ignore the fear, but I know how LDs are susceptible to suggestion and if I fear it on any level, that can be mental block. I think if I had LD tonight, I would get rid of that fear immediately.
I'm not lucid anywhere near as much as I'd like to be, but I take great pleasure in recalling dreams, in having extremely vivid and present dreams, even "alternate life" level at times. Recalling dreams takes nothing away from sleep, so at the very least you can focus on getting a good night's sleep, but recalling your dreams at the same time. Having a mindset of loving all your dreams, lucid or not, helps in promoting lucidity. One of the best pieces of advice I've read about lucid dreaming is "take care of your life." Do what you need to do, take care of your responsibilities, etc. Cultivate a happy, joyous outlook on life, and your dreams will continue to entertain and amaze you your whole life long.
It really is a long-haul discipline, dreaming -- and there will be lots of ups and downs along the way. Just realize that there will always be another "up" time as long as you stick with it, so settle in and enjoy the ride!
First of all, I want to thank everyone for helping me with this fear, both by answering on this topic and by PMing me. This is truly a great community, I love you all :D
My fear is reduced by all the help I got here. I even understood the irrationality while talking with you guys. There is still emotional residue, but that will pass as well. And I didn't even need to pay for therapy :D
About GRC, I am really proud by my practice today. I noticed gravity at least ten times today, and for more than 10 min each time. Now, I notice both feet and hands. I guess, by time, it will become easier and easier. And I've been doing a lot of mental verbalization, credit goes to FryingMan :D
I've noticed my visualizations are also getting better. My friend today was explaining some scenes from amusement park, and I drifted away, like I was dreaming, I was seeing it in front of my eyes :D I had hard time getting back to this world xD
Happy dreaming everybody :D
Great job working on your fear, and great job with GRC! Verbalization is great I even do spoken verbalization. If anybody followed me around during the day, I'd be locked up in the funny farm for sure, haha. All those "crazy" people on the streets talking to themselves, maybe they're just LD practitioners!
Awesome job!! Congrats on the LD and on your first DEILD!! :D
-Isn't it great to have a place you can talk to others about lucid dreaming and get support…It is a great community!! :D
-I am so happy to hear that you were able to put a lid on that fear! Great work to everyone who helped!!
-Great progress on the GRC!! You seem to be connecting with the GRC very well! Yes, FM!..I don't know how I would keep up with these workbooks without FryingMan and his wealth of knowledge and help…thank you FryingMan!!! :D
-Awesome job improving your visualizations!!
Last night FryingMan gave me an advice to mindfully watch that emotional residue of my fear. I did that, and I thought it would be fine to post here and see what do you guys think (let me know if I am going against the rules here, since this starts to look more like therapy than DILD workbook).
Anyways... The meditation went well, I meditated for 10 min, I couldn't stand the back pain anymore. I noticed that emotional knot in my chest. I observed it mindfully and it seems to disappear after a while and then appears again when I think about LD. I was actually thinking it would disappear through mindfulness, because that was my previous experience. Maybe I wasn't so mindful after all.
Can you guys recommend some of the most exciting dream journals with magic here? I never read those, and I would like to invoke some positive feelings about LD :D
@fogelbise Thank you for your response. Yeah, GRC comes very easily to me. I have yet to have dream with gravity, but again, this is only day 11. Thanks for all your support.
You're doing great! Especially with the three WILDs, really nice! You can post all kinds of things here, this is your personal thread/workbook.
I think it's also possible to meditate on your back as well if you're getting back pains in sitting position.
The most clichey DJ to recommend here, but still worth a look :D Hyu's Adventures Also this entry
Keep it up!
Thansk for your response. That second link is truly, well, out of this world :D I can't wait until I am able to do that. It is truly marvelous. I also love those permanent realms, like Hyu and Sensei have. One of my dream goals is to make permanent realm. I find that concept very fascinating.
Btw, I just finished meditating. I have found that half-lotus on a cushion doesn't induce so much discomfort. Also, I get hypnagogia when meditating, which can be used for WILDing, I guess.
Today's tasks are:
1. Learn the feeling of gravity when sitting
2. Go through dream journal and find when do the most of mine REMs end
3. Set intention to wake up at that time
Wish me luck.
My feelings are now mixed. I still feel that anxiety/grief I was feeling yesterday, but in very slight form, almost non-existing. I also feel energy, pure energy I used to feel before when thinking of LDs, but somehow tainted with that grief. It is best explained by wast sea tainted with oil. The oil (anxiety/grief) is preventing me to experience that pure energy/joy LD is giving me. I will cleanse that sea :D
Wow, I so love this thread :D
I love the attitude in that last line! :D The rest of my comments are in order of your paragraphs above.
Isn't it fascinating...and a fun, inspiring read indeed.
That's great you found an adjustment for comfortable meditating, good job! It too have had back issues and have found workarounds.
I love the way you are creating structure to your practice by outlining your daily tasks! :D
Good luck! You are doing great and I am sure you are on your way to cleaning up the oil. I do believe that lucid dreaming and it's related practices help us in such endeavors. Quiet contemplation of the roots of these feelings may help. Uncovering and addressing the feelings and needs that led up to that fear (like the need for a good night's sleep). One way to find solutions is to ask yourself a question like "Will I resolve my fear?" while paying attention to the positive solutions your mind comes up with when you ask such questions. You can promote positive answers by starting with "Yes, I will do…" "Yes I will start…" "Yes I can think about…"
This is a great workbook! Keep it up! :D
Thanks @fogelbise for your feedback, it is much appreciated. I am practicing some psychotherapy techniques, which are similar with advice you gave me. I accepted my seizures in that way, I am sure I can resolve this as well. I am glad you like my workbook, I try not to make it monotonous.
I am kinda feverish today. So, gravity was a bit odd. Also, I realized I was getting sick when I did RCs to see whats wrong with gravity. I got light-headed and didn't believe myself that I did RC at all. I think it is because of the fever.
I practiced paying attention to sitting. I believe I am getting better at it. Now, I am going to look through the journal to find most occurring waking time. I won't set intention to wake at that time, since I have fever and it probably wouldn't work.
I am proud of myself that I still practiced GRC although I am sick.
Hello my friends, how are you? I'm in a good mood today. :D
I had terrible cough last night, so I didn't sleep well, but my fever is passing, my dreams are coming back to normal. I still had few confusing fever dreams, where the plot keeps switching without any logical order. But I also had some interesting gym-craving (haven't been in a gym for two days, I miss it) dreams with continuous plot.
Also, I should note, that even though that fear I was writing you about in the last posts, I had very vivid HH before falling asleep. I was writing on this forum, and I looked at my lucid dream count. It was 90 (I wish xD ). I remembered that I don't have that many dreams, I couldn't remember the exact count, I knew the last number was 8. I thought in the HH/dream that it was 88 (again I wish xD), and I was stunned by the number change, so I kinda jumped in the dream/HH, I haven't reached SP, so I awoke.
Conclusion: This was transition to WILD and even though I have that residue of the fear, I can lucid dream. Yaaaay! :awesomed:
Today's tasks:
1. Go to dream journal, because I wasn't organized last night
2. Continue practicing sitting GRC
3. If I feel well, set intention to wake up for WILD tomorrow morning
EDIT: I want to add two things and two question for you guys.
First, I saw on World-of-Lucid-Dreaming suggestion to do RC every time you reach for your phone. I could use that to become aware of the gravity until it becomes my second nature. :D
Second, today I am doing GRC a bit less, since I am really exhausted from fever.
Question: I read a bit about sivason's Dream yoga class. I like that as well, and I would also love to go to Sageous WILD class. Do you guys think I could incorporate Dream yoga into my practice or it should be better to do 2 months of GRC and then try Dream yoga? I want to do this GRC thing right way.
Question 2: Do you think some gravity dream incubation would be good before bed? To speed things up. Or should I wait for it to come naturally?
I agree, that is quite an awesome result! :) There are some misconceptions out there about SP that cause a lot of people to fail with WILDs so you might want to read this if you haven't yet: http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...alysis-sp.html
Q1: You could get different opinions on this and you might want to go with your gut feeling on this one. It doesn't hurt to learn about different approaches at the same time, especially if you have a lot of free time and you don't feel overloaded already with what you are currently doing. Basically, if you can continue the GRC with the same vigor and frequency while pursuing dream yoga, that should be fine. However, if you do feel like you are doing a lot already and you don't want to "burn yourself out" then you might want to wait in that case.Quote:
Question: I read a bit about sivason's Dream yoga class. I like that as well, and I would also love to go to Sageous WILD class. Do you guys think I could incorporate Dream yoga into my practice or it should be better to do 2 months of GRC and then try Dream yoga? I want to do this GRC thing right way.
Question 2: Do you think some gravity dream incubation would be good before bed? To speed things up. Or should I wait for it to come naturally?
Q2: I don't think it would hurt at all and should actually help. You might have a dream about noticing gravity being off without becoming lucid, but that is not so bad since those kind of dreams often precede actual lucid dreams very soon after. If you include in the incubation a follow up RC confirming "yes, aha, this is a dream!" that helps even more.