Thread: Azaleaj's workbook

Sorry for the slow response. I was on a road trip and now I need to get a few more last minutes gifts but I wanted to respond to your question and congratulate you on more success! Nice work!

My most common way of becoming lucid for a good while now has been sensing a feeling of boldness. I am not sure if this is what other long time lucid dreamers refer to as "feeling it" but it has become a good trigger for me. It often involves boldness with a DC I find attractive but sometimes it is also boldness to fly and I realize: "Wait a minute! I'm dreaming!" I consider this boldness a dream sign. I went from specific dream signs earlier in my practice, reviewing them before bed and/or at WBTB, to more general dream signs - or perhaps most of the general ones can be called "feeling it." I sometimes get lucid after looking at my hand and seeing an oddity, usually an extra finger or two, but it can be argued that I was already partly lucid to think to look at my hand. It is rarely because I just happened to see my hand. More often, I am looking at my hand because I think I am dreaming but I want to be absolutely sure before I do something crazy like jumping off a ledge.

Thank you for the compliments regarding the "about me" info. That is a good point about the daytime realization feeling's connection to the feeling of becoming lucid - you really are waking up within the waking dream of life and this process can grow for us.

Thanks for the response F. It's interesting that we all have different ways of realizing we are dreaming. I think I must just be using prospective memory. I usually remind myself to remember I'm dreaming then spontaneously remember. I rarely recognize dream signs or become lucid because of an oddity or particular feeling.

Well, I did not accomplish my goal of incubating my dream question. I should have just asked my LD the question now that I look back....next time.

Fri night, brief LD without any induction. This came after a long dream full of emotion and good feelings. I was floating outside an apartment building and became lucid. I decided to look in the windows to see what was in there. I see some women at desks. I cheerfully say hi, then I say I love you. I was aware they were DCs so I was giving myself some love I guess. That was a goal I had written down at some point previously. I then woke up and alarm went off shortly after that.

LD goals before bed sun night....1. Listen to or find music or to even just listen to sound. 2. Notice color. 3. Ask the dream what different elements mean or represent.

I did WBTB, up for 10 mins with 5 mins of reminding myself to remember I'm dreaming. I also took 6 mg of galantamine and some choline.

I became lucid while walking/floating down a stark hallway. I look ahead and see a pile of bloody body parts. Yuck, bad feeling. I immediately turned around to go somewhere else. I remember to look at my hand then back at the scene. This seems to help increase clarity and increase my awareness somehow. I'm outside practicing my flying skills now. I try the superman technique but I'm still moving at my usual slow speed, just in a different position. I remember a friend told me about trying to fly while holding a large object. I consider a car but grab a tree branch instead. (Can't remember part of dream here) I'm floating around in a building and enter a room. I decide to try for a new scene by spinning. I have trouble picking up speed in the air so I slowly rotate in he air. Two DCs appear. I go down to one and start to do something sexual. I then woke up. I briefly went over the dream in my head and went back to sleep.

Lucid again (lost part here) I find a couple and decide to get in the car with them. I come on to the guy .....wake up after about 5 mins. I went over the dreams in my head but should have written them down. I have one more hour of sleep.

I became lucid as I walked in a school like building. I entered an auditorium and saw two young men. I really liked one as he seemed very good natured. Even though I'm aware this is a DC I told him "I'm in a dream", to see what he would say. He seemed interested but I don't think he said anything. I then saw my friend from waking life, Eric. I went over to him and said "I'm in a dream and who knows, you might be also". I told him to try to remember this dream and that I Would ask him about it tomorrow. I then woke up. I wrote my friend to ask if he had dream about me but haven't heard back.

Snippets:
I also remember thinking about my sounds goal so I started singing. It didn't sound too good. I was also at some point thinking about my body sleeping in bed and my waking life. I was careful to not think about this too deeply as I felt it would wake me. I'm not sure when these pieces took place. I think I lost parts of the first two LDs since they happened earlier and I didn't write them down. All the dreams felt like they lasted 5-15 mins each and felt really stable and fairly clear visually.

I briefly remembered my sound goal but forgot about noticing color and to ask the dream what different elements represented. 4 LDs this week, yahhh

Originally Posted by Azaleaj

Thanks for the response F. It's interesting that we all have different ways of realizing we are dreaming. I think I must just be using prospective memory. I usually remind myself to remember I'm dreaming then spontaneously remember. I rarely recognize dream signs or become lucid because of an oddity or particular feeling.

I would say most of my early LD's in adulthood were like yours also. I chalked it up to the SSILD technique producing many spontaneous lucid dreams. The specific dream signs I caught earlier in my practice weren't that frequent but this general boldness feeling has been happening more frequently for a good while now, maybe about the last 18 months or so, off the top of my head. It could be argued, and I think it is the case, that we are already semi-lucid when we notice a dream sign and in those cases it is the dream sign that pushes us over the hump to becoming fully lucid.

All the dreams felt like they lasted 5-15 mins each and felt really stable and fairly clear visually.

I briefly remembered my sound goal but forgot about noticing color and to ask the dream what different elements represented. 4 LDs this week, yahhh

I am happy that you are experiencing these longer LD's and didn't let that long-ish time lucid dreamer's comments phase you in that other thread. I either try to avoid reading other's negative experiences by skipping to a new thread as soon as I see a hint of negative. If I've already read something negative I dismiss it as best as I can reflecting on other ways my experiences have proven other's experiences separate from mine. I wanted to argue with that member in that thread but I was concerned that doing so would put the thread back to the top of the list and thus would spread the "infection" of his experience to more newbies. We call this "schema infection" where one person's negative experience becomes what newbies expect to happen to them. Most threads, other than the classics, quickly fade into oblivion for the most part. I think I will check if it is already near the top again and if so, I plan to reply.

*Congratulation on the 4 LDs this week!

That's really interesting about the avoiding negative comments.

That is interesting. God I feel like that kind of applies to waking life too.

Busy week, husband left for work and will be gone two and a half months. The main benefit for me is that I focus more on my personal things like art, exercise, and dreamwork. I woke up two different days to do WBTB but was too tired/lazy to get up thus no LDs and poor dream recall in general. I finally got to it last night but without very clear goals. I've written a few down but didn't really solidify any. I'm reading EWOLD and remembered in Leberge's other book "I think" he suggested letting the dream lead you to the highest?? Something like that so that was a goal. I also wanted to meet a dream guide though I feel a little tentative about that goal as I fear the guide will disappoint and I'll be left disillusioned.

So I did my routine then back to bed. I remember laying there waiting for a dream to form and hearing a news broadcast. I was aware this was an auditory hallucination or maybe a dream at this point. Not sure if I slept first before this. A little muddled...I remember being in that state where you are half making up a story and half actually dreaming. I'm driving around a corner too fast and go off a cliff. I go with it and joyfully float through a blue sky. I float to the ocean. This part is more thinking/trying out scenereos, less vivid dream. I'm thinking about how to face and interact with a whale. What if it eats me. Could I handle that? I try out saying I love you and that feels good. Poor memory after that, not 100% sure of the sequence of events.

I got up to close the window and tried to turn on the light. It didn't work. I went to the living room and that didn't work. I thought the electricity must be out, how weird. It must be from the wind. I laid back down to sleep. (First false awakening I've had)

Again I watched a dream form. I noticed a room with intricate flower patterned wallpaper. It had that crystal clear sparkly quality LD vision sometimes has (just for a few moments here and there for me) I was a little nervous about waking and may have had some fading and reforming a few times. I thought "I need to go with the flow, get a little more involved in the dream and not get too lucid so I don't wake up". (This may be false reasoning as I've not had a problem waking up too quickly lately and who knows if being less lucid actually help you stay in the dream but it's something I think to myself often when LDing) I start walking in a room with abstract paintings on the walls. I go through a door into another similar room with similar paintings and do this several times. I then go down a tight cement walkway and start to feel clausterphobic. I searched for a way out and found an opening an got out. Poor recall then clear again.

I'm now walking down some steps in a garden area where people are standing around socializing. Ther is a pool. I remember I can fly so I float up over the pool slowly. It's a pleasurable familiar feeling. Poor recall again here then clear again. I'm then walking down some steps and think I should find a cute guy. I remember I can summon a DC by saying " behind this door will be such and such". I look behind several doors and find an attractive guy. We start making out and poor recall again. I don't remember waking up.

Summery: First false awakening, pieces of clear LD events mixed with muddled parts I don't remember well. I didn't do any stabilization except trying to be less lucid and go with the story (possible poor reasoning). I didn't do my goals but but was happy to remember to summon a character. I'm happy my LDs have been long lately.

Fogelbise, do your LDs vary in clarity? Do you get that hyper real sparkly vision and if so how often? How long do your LDs last? Do you lose parts of the dream if it's fairly long? Have you ever re visited a previous dream location? If so how similar was it?

Goals: (spiritual shit, find a guide, meditate, ask what is consciousness etc), stop and look around, notice each sense especially sound, smell and feel, oh and color, go to a previous dream locale.

Originally Posted by Azaleaj

I thought "I need to go with the flow, get a little more involved in the dream and not get too lucid so I don't wake up". (This may be false reasoning as I've not had a problem waking up too quickly lately and who knows if being less lucid actually help you stay in the dream but it's something I think to myself often when LDing)

I've heard this mentioned before but I have not found this to be the case at all for me. I see nothing wrong with going along with the general theme of the dream though. I just wouldn't spend any energy worrying that going "off script" will have a negative effect.

Fogelbise, do your LDs vary in clarity? Do you get that hyper real sparkly vision and if so how often? How long do your LDs last? Do you lose parts of the dream if it's fairly long? Have you ever re visited a previous dream location? If so how similar was it?

-They do vary for me, but please see below.
-hyper real sparkly vision: not as much as I would like, but I think this is something that we have a fair amount of control over with a little focus and especially by avoiding expecting it to be an unusual thing.
-I'd guess many are about 5 minutes (and growing!). I still get the short ones from time to time and I get longer ones fairly often. Galantamine+Choline definitely gives lengthy ones quite consistently (with at least one week off between using the supplement). I believe with the right mindset, a newer student can surpass these levels.
-I do lose parts sometimes. Diligence during transitions and false awakenings can help combat this.
-I don't think so in an LD (will think some more-real life locations yes, multiple times in LD's) but I believe it is possible with focus. I haven't tried to create persistent realms. Definitely some very similar scenarios, similar locations.

Gotta run now, but let me know if I wasn't clear and I will get back to you soon.

Congrats on the lucidity and noticing the false awakening!

I joined spellbee's LD contest and am signed up to participate in a study on galantamine. I'm excited to have some outside motivation. I've been kind of lazy lately with meditation and induction techniques but I did have 14 LDs this month. Almost twice my average so that's exciting. I've been having more LDs per LD night which is a new development. They have been longer too mixed in with occasional short ones. WHY DIDN'T I DO THIS YEARS AGO!! it's sooooo fascinating and has changed how I think about life and reality.

Last night I did a very brief WBTB (10 mins) with about 20 seconds of affirmations. I also took 6 mg of galantamine and 500 mg of choline.

I had a very long dream with many parts involving kittens, a stream, a journey of some kind etc etc. I became lucid spontaneously. I immediately felt I might wake up. I thought about what I said last time about not getting too lucid or I might wake up and thought no, that's not right, I just can't think about my sleeping body. I must stay engaged in the dream world. I then flew down a staircase. It took some effort but I was able to float a few ft above ground. I was then walking up a hill. I couldn't see over the top. I remembered my goal of asking to see a spiritual truth (or something like that). Instead I asked to see or feel god. (I'm not religious) I then woke up. Hmmm

I set my intention to LD again and went back to sleep. I'm pretty sure I had a second then a third LD. I don't remember the second one but I remember remembering it when I first woke up.

I don't remember becoming lucid but I was in a room full of nurses. I was the only one who did physical therapy. I remembered my goal of looking around, taking in the scene so I would remember it later. I looked around and noted my vision was average/a little blurrier or less detailed than average. I noticed some reddish brown colors. I forgot to notice my other senses like sound, smell and sensation. I also rubbed my hands together to solidify the dream.

I then must have lost some or most of my lucidety because I was talking to and interacting with my DCs as if they were real. The dream continued for 5-10 minutes with a giant trampoline we were all jumping on etc etc. it felt fun and posative. Not sure when I woke up.

I don't usually lose lucidety and continue in a non lucid dream once I'm lucid so it was weird I did last night. I used to think this might be a problem so I would repeat this is a dream throughout the dream to stay lucid but didn't really need to continue this.

Meditated before bed and did usual induction techniques.

Dream about trying to get to work on time, need to drop the dog off and feel I don't have enough time. I'm in a 3-4 story house. Realize with delight I'm dreaming. Yes!

Get down on the floor for some reason. Taking things slow, not worried about waking up. Want to experiment with increasing clarity. I look at my hand then back at the room. Average visual clarity. I state, " increase clarity now" several times. This does nothing. I think, "I should fly around just exploring the environment." I jump out the window without any fear and fly through some trees. They become hyper real, very detailed and beautiful.

I'm then floating in the air and remember my goal to examine each sense. Smell and taste =nothing. Sound= sounds like a busy public place despite the fact I'm floating alone in the air in a country setting. Sensation= I think I felt a breeze on my skin. I think I entered the void here (blackness)

New scene. I'm in a busy hallway and see a big monster like man. Scary, I feel I may have a LD nightmare. Something I've never had before but read about yesterday. Oddly I also feel attracted to him. (Fade to blackness again)

Now I feel I'm just making up a story of going into some room with him. I think I was waiting for the scene to re form. I'm not sure what happened next. I think there were other parts to the LD I lost. It felt longer than what I wrote out. I never really felt in danger of waking despite the darkness.

I think I need to actually write my LDs down before going back to sleep. I usually just go over them in my head before going back to sleep and loose parts of them.

I'm loving these LDs where I'm not worried about waking up. I need to take some time and really think about what I want to focus on in dreams. I haven't spent much time on that lately. Without worrying so much about time maybe I could focus on more difficult tasks.

I've had 90% success rate this month with LD attempts. I've had 5 short, 5 med length and 5 long LDs, up to 15 mins approx. I must admit, I'm relying on sups to help. I feel a little guilty about this. I take them twice a week. No side effects so far. I read something Robert Waggoner posted about an experiment his friend did. He had his partner give him galantamine or a placebo randomly to see what the results would be. Apparently he did as well with the placebo. I know Leberge did an experiment where he found a 4-6 x increase in LD frequency with galantamine. So I'm curious about the placebo effect here.

I've set up an experiment for myself. I've put galantamine pills in gel caps and counted out an = number of caps without pills in them 10 of each. I wrapped then in foil and numbered them. I noted which numbers have actual spills in them, (long numbers so I'll never remember which are which). When taking them I'm going to note the number, open the foil without looking and take the cap. I'll keep track of my success rate and in the end look at the numbers. I'll do this after the galantamine study I'm in over the next month. I have the caps all ready to go.

Originally Posted by Azaleaj

I think I need to actually write my LDs down before going back to sleep. I usually just go over them in my head before going back to sleep and loose parts of them.

For myself, it depends on the priority: do I want to try to DEILD?..or do I want to lock in as much recall as possible? You may have to make the decision on what focus you are leaning towards before you go to bed that night. Once you feel good about taking either path you can make the decision more on the fly.

I'd be interested to hear your feedback on the study you are in and also how your personal one goes.

Congratulations on the lucid and hyper real part! You will start to notice similar experiences IWL at some point.

F, I like your comment about the possibly of having similar wake my experiences. About 8 years ago when I was meditating 30 mins a day without fail for a few months I had a few waking experiences that felt almost lucid, definitely related to the meditation and nothing I had felt before.
Yep, I'm excited about the experiments too. Start the first one tomorrow.

2 lucids one short, one med length

Did usual routine last night though pushed snooze for WBTB for a full hour. Really didn't want to get up. Once up felt slightly anxious about life and dreaming. Not sure why, life is fine right now. Maybe just that middle of the night fear we all get sometimes, probably instinctual.

Dream about x bf s property. Very pretty countryside. Some new cabin going up. People arriving for a weekend of fun. I'm exploring the cabins, big neat tiles showers. Lots of flowers blooming outside. I became lucid at some point and I think I did a DEILD, don't remember much just being bummed it ended.

Then in similar scene looking at freshly cut wood pieces with roses blooming from them. I became lucid again. I looked at the roses, out at the scene and back. The dream felt fragile. Vision was pretty clear. Rubbed hands together. I did not remember my goal of finding a beautiful ocean scene. I decided to explore. I flew around really trying to memorize all I saw. The grounds were beautiful, lots of flowers, gorgeous green hills and a little pocket of rain. I remembered to notice color and there was a lot of it. I flew around but could only move forward doing a swimming motion with my hands. I tried the superman position but that didn't make me move at all.

Vision started to fade, remembered what a fellow dreamer suggested to do. I focused on sound and sensation. I heard that radio like/public place hum sound and felt wind on my skin. It felt really neat. I felt I would wake up but didn't. Vague here, dark vision, kind of making the dream up in my head, trying to fool around with my ex in a room in the cabin, vision comes back, ex seems creepy, not sure what happened but woke at some point. Went over dreams in my head. 5-8 mins approx, some lost parts.

More dreams. One of note, apocalyptic theme, I told myself or heard " don't worry about death, it's just like waking up from a dream".

Themes this week= noticing senses, working with the void, flying very slowly, sex, having lots of vague goals, nothing solid, not remembering waking up or when I lost the dream.

I'm going to use voice to text in notes on my phone to record middle of the night, morning dreams so I quit forgetting so much.

Originally Posted by Azaleaj

One of note, apocalyptic theme, I told myself or heard " don't worry about death, it's just like waking up from a dream".

That's interesting…I like that! Dreams can be intriguing.

Congratulations on the lucidity!

I like your interesting avatar image with the lady and the floating goldfish…any story behind it?

I'm a portrait painter so I'm always saving images for inspiration. I like this one as I'm imways dreaming about water, whales and fish. The lady looks slightly tense and prim, kind of my personality.

An artist…I wish I had the skill to paint well. The avatar reminded me of a dream sign (I've had only once) where a goldfish was floating in mid-air in a home office scene and instantly made me realize I was dreaming.

Started dream study where I took a placebo/ or galantamine and spellbee2's contest. The pill I took most definitly was not a placebo. It must be a lot higher Gal dose than I'm used to. Wow
I had my second WILD which I'm thrilled about. Visuals were poor and at times I felt I was (making the dream up) if that makes sense. Second lucid was just a piece in the middle of a regular dream. I asked how I can be more at peace and relaxed and a DC said I can focus on collecting ancient antiques. WTF! I thought about this later and wondered if it relates to my favorite hobby ever. Searching for treasure (ship wreck one time), artifacts, but mostly dinosaur bones! There is almost nothing that gives me more joy. Anyway here is my dream journal entry I wrote up for the competition. Do you prefer the link or I can just paste the whole thing here if that's easier. Or of course you don't have to read it all, I kind of summed up above.

Spellbee2 contest night one - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

You are welcome to paste the whole thing here, whichever you prefer. I did follow the link on that night one DJ. I guess it's nice here, but certainly up to you.

Can you say who is conducting the study or how big it is? It sounds very interesting either way.

Nice work having your 2nd WILD and getting a DILD as well!

Gregory Scott Sparrow is doing the study. I believe he's a professor at the U of Texas. They have around 50 participants.

Not a great week as far as LD s go. Not sure why. Last week was amazing. I'll keep plugging away. Worried about the new admin and trump. Weather is cold and grey, just feeling king of heavy and uninspired. Not sure if that may be affecting my dreams. I did start exercising again which is helping the mood. Should probably really get a regular meditation schedule. I'll have some coffee and do it now! Hope all is well Fogelbise and fellow dreamers.

When the dream study is over I'm going to try a nicotine patch at a low dose for LDing. I've never used nicotine so I'll do a little test run in the day to make sure the dose is right and it's not going to make me nauseous etc. Have you ever tried this?

You will be back in the swing of things soon I bet.

I have never tried nicotine. Galantamine + Choline, Alpha-GPC, and 5-HTP I have.

There will be a lot of people joining you in your concerns tomorrow, many protesting. I am also concerned.

Yep, I agree. I made my sign and will protest here in Ashland Oregon.

Huge turnouts across the country it seemed!

Finally, a great night of lucid dreams. During 12 day dry spell I had some really vivid and emotion regular dreams.
Got to try a dream yoga technique I read about last night (no result) but no real daytime prep or real focus, kind of half hazard (is that how that's spelled) attempt.

It's nighttime, I'm in my bedroom with a boyfriend who is a combo of my husband and ex. We are in a hilltop village which feels peaceful and quiet. I'm upset because he won't have sex with me any more. I give him an ultimatum, I may have to find a "side boyfriend".
I go outside to walk around and cool off. I'm walking along a quiet dirt path and realize spontaneously I'm dreaming.
My vision comes and goes here. I rub my hands together. I remember reading about a dream yoga technique and I try it. I close my eyes, plug my nose, and try diving into the ground/into the heart center. Well, nothing happened. I notice a black sky with hints of sparkling stars.
I walk along the path and remember the dream contest goal of walking through a big solid object. I see a house and with confidence walk through the wall. I'm inside now. I start exploring hallways and rooms. I remember my goal of kissing a dc. I say, "when I come around the corner I will see a man". As I go around the corner I see a man laying in a bed. He seems a little too dad like, yikes. I try to transform him by willing it to be. I think his hair changed a little but not enough. I move on continuing my exploration of the house. My body feels big and heavy. Again remembering my dream yoga book talking about losing the dream body, I attempt to become a single point of consciousness. I think I become a little smaller and lighter. I remember I can float instead of walk and do so which feels much better than walking.
I go outside. I feel down to see what my body feels like. Feels like I'm naked (as I often am in dreams which usually feels great, no embarrassment).
I meet a girl and wonder if I should kiss her for my dream points. No, I don't want to. She wants to show me something. We walk to a parking lot where there are a bunch of men who are interested in us. "I think I'm less lucid here as it didn't occur to me to face these DCs or to not be afraid though I'm still somewhat aware I'm dreaming". There is one huge, 8 ft tall DC who seems quite scary. Luckily he walks by us. We get into a truck and try to leave the parking lot. There is a bunch of work equipment in the road but I believe we make it out wit the girl driving. At some point during this dream I noted that it felt very long and I hoped I would remember it all. When I woke up I went over it in my head but didn't write it down.

This one is a little vague in spots. I see myself about 30 feet ahead. I'm naked and I notice distinct tan lines. I'm then in my body. I walk up s ramp into a house. There is someone there instructing us to try to create 3 children. I create a clover with 3-4 leaves. Not quite right. (Lost some here) I go back down the ramp carrying a huge bundle of random objects. I become lucid and realize I don't or can't take any of this stuff with me. The realization feels great so I put it down and feel unburdened and free. I walk away empty handed.

Another long dream about a hospital, huge DCs, a lovely homeless camp on a hill above the ocean with makeshift homes and a little pond with a baby otter. Possibly moments of lucidity but I'm not positive.

Very nice! Congratulation on the LD and remembering and working on some goals Azaleaj!