Thread: Azaleaj's workbook

Welcome to the DILD workbooks Azaleaj! What a great write up of your LD experiences and goals - I love the enthusiasm! I will quote some of your intro post so that I may respond more thoroughly.

Originally Posted by Azaleaj

I've had a couple of lucid dreams a year my who(le) life and consider them some of my peak experiences. About 5 months ago I decided to learn more about them and try to induce them. It took me about 3 weeks to induce my first one. Since then I've had an average of 2 a week which I'm thrilled about! At first they lasted only a few seconds but they have gotten longer. I've had a few last 20 plus minutes and they average 5-6 mins.

I really connect with what you are saying about them being peak experiences. It sounds like you had those couple of LD's per year your whole life naturally which is awesome! I think that puts you at an advantage and you seem to be advancing very nicely in a relatively short amount of time since pursuing intentionally inducing them. We have some similarities. If you are interested in my background in LD'ing it is found on my profile page under "about me." It would not be a roadmap at all since I honestly believe everyone needs to find their own path which you are already doing quite well!!

Techniques: I use WBTB staying up for about 15 mins and doing the MILD technique. I also do occasional reality checks and read a lot about LDs. I use galantamine with choline a couple of times a week as well which I find helpful.

WBTB is very powerful…so is the galantamine&choline combo. It is recommended to wait at least 3 days between uses but it sounds like you are doing that. When I am on a G+C kick I tend to save it for once a week or once every several weeks.

Experiments: I usually have an experiment or goal lined up ahead of time and almost always remember them. Things I've done/tried...

This is so helpful to have it lined up ahead of time. Congratulations on some very interesting results as well!

I'm excited to hear any feedback about ways to stabilize or bring the dream back when your vision fades. I'm also curious about how to visit certain locales. I've done it once with success by stating the scene would be beyond this wall and it was. I'll try that again next time. I'm also
curious why my sense of taste and smell are absent.

I think expectation is a huge part of stabilization, bringing the dream back and getting dream controls to work. Even though you are not really a newbie, after you finish reading to the end of this post, check out the "Something for every newbie" link in my signature. Also, in one of the posts further into that thread I talk about my approach to stabilizing dreams. I now refer to it as pre-DEILD where you don't need to exit dreaming at all before going back in, in many cases. The great thing about having a fade into "the void" is that it is often easier to go wherever you want from there by imagining that you are starting to see the place you want to go…you are starting to hear the seagulls calling and the waves rolling in…you are starting to feel the sand under your feet…you are starting to smell the salty air. So on that last one…smell, although it may be a little less prevalent, you can definitely experience it in dreamland and I think expectation is a big key there which goes back to my link. Try to not get frustrated if it doesn't happen right away. Same thing with taste but it seems a little easier to experience. Besides the above method of changing locales I also like the closed eye teleport where you think first where you want to go as clearly as possible, with as many senses as possible and tell yourself that when you blink your eyes you will reopen them to the new locale. Others have success with peeling open a scene from the current scene by "finding an opening" somewhere in the scene and peeling it back or going through the opening…down into the rabbit hole.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of that and welcome once again!

Thank you for the feedback! I read the links and they were helpful. I set the intention to not stress out about the dream ending and to focus instead on practicing the DEILD technique if the dream fades.

I set several goals for last night including: creating a ball of healing energy and applying it to sore shoulder, tasting/smelling and developing this sense, meditating-asking if there is a god or higher power, kissing a male DC. I also wanted to conjure a dream scene I've experienced before and to ask a whale what it represents or means to me.

I did WBTB and MILD technique for about 10 minutes after 4.5 hours of sleep. I attempted to have a WILD as I went to sleep but fell asleep quickly instead.

RESULTS
I had a med length dream that I don't really remember. I was eating something and thinking about lucid dreaming which caused me to become lucid. I remembered my goal to experiment with flavor and smell. I was eating a cream pie, really noting the flavor and texture. The dry crust didn't really have and flavor but the cream part had a little sweet creamy flavor. I was really enjoying the texture stuffing it down. The dream faded and I felt I was almost awake in my bed. I remembered to stay still and picture myself back in the dream. It didn't feel like it would work as I felt I was awake. I stuck with it and in about 5-7 seconds a new scene formed.

I found myself hunkered down on a road watching a scene form. I saw a city street with a blue sky. It was sort of sketchy and vague. (Lost part of it here) I'm then sitting on a bar stool in a bar. Other DCs are around me. I feel introverted and feel the dream is fragile. I decide to ask if there is a god. I ask and a strong adrenaline high energy feeling forms. I attempt to then meditate focusing on the quiet feeling within (how i meditate while awake). I feel very peaceful and good and the dream fades. I again focus on staying still and picturing myself back in the dream. I'm pretty sure I'm awake in bed but stay still.

A new scene forms. I find myself on the floor in a room. I see a guy and remember my goal to try kissing. He kisses me, it feels amazing and I start to wake up. I remember thinking maybe I should wake up so I remember all this. I'm not sure if I allowed myself to wake or if I attempted another DEILD without success.

I awoke and went over the dream without writing it down. I went back to sleep for a few more hours. I wish I had written it down then as some parts are vague now. I had 4 other dreams I remember with minimal clarity.

I'm excited I remembered my goals and succeeded with the DEILD technique but a little disappointed that each time I attempted a goal the dream faded quickly. I did forget to stabilize. I usually rub my hands together or fall down or jump off of something. Maybe my goals were a little ambitious causing too much excitement or maybe I was so focused on practicing the DEILD technique my dream helped me do this by fading. The dreams felt very fragile and ready to fade at any moment. I'll do the WBTB and Mild techniques again tonight.