Thread: Azaleaj's workbook

Originally Posted by Azaleaj

Thank you fogelbise. Yes I am interested in the pre DEILD technique. I had success on two night with the DEILD technique but not this week for some reason.

This link will take you to a post where I talk about what I have come to call pre-DEILD: http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...ml#post2177196
The original post in the thread is also handy if you haven't seen it…the whole thread really.

I've been working on having a WILD this last week. I attempted right at bedtime and did get some somewhat clear images.

A WILD attempt at bedtime is quite a challenge, so the recommendation is to do them at WBTB or during morning naps. If you have the time and just want to experiment with it, you can certainly play with WILDs at bedtime. Sageous answers questions about WILDs over in his WILD class which is great. Another WILD procedure I found interesting recently was this one: http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...technique.html
This was his original one which is shorter and may be less daunting than the first one I recommended in that previous post.

The night before last I did not do any LD techniques except a few RCs and a quick meditation before bed. I had a very long vivid and stable dream about being at a festival and going on a date. I became spontaneously lucid and immediately shouted to the sky, show me something amazing. I then felt the dream might end so I started spinning. I did this for maybe 5 seconds before I woke up. I stayed still and tried to re enter the dream but it didn't work. I'm happy I had 4 LD s (3nights) this week but they were all very short. I can't help but feel a little worried that this is my new normal. I try not to focus on that expectation though as my LDs always seem to surprise me.

That last line is crucial. I went through a period like that as well where I was worried that I was getting into a pattern of short LDs and finding a new expectation is key here. That link to pre-DEILD talks about it. It really doesn't matter what you are expecting as long as it is something other than waking up. It could be expecting to enter the void. It could even be expecting that "when the dream fades it means I am heading to a new scene!" (which is basically the pre-DEILD). If that next scene is your bed, make sure you do an RC - it very well could be an FA. See if any of those ideas connect with you and run with the one that you connect with the most…you can always try other ideas later.

I bought the book by Andrew Holecek on dream yoga. I'm also going to start meditating regularly again and doing mindfulness (check ins) throughout the day. Maybe this will help with the WILDs.

You may have the book that FryingMan strongly recommends, which I think is his latest book: Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep, which I intend to get at some point.

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EDIT:

Originally Posted by Azaleaj

I'm reading king Yoshi's WILD guide that you mentioned above. I realize I may not be timing my WILD attempts correctly. I may need to note how far into my sleep cycle I am when I awake from a dream, then set an alarm for the next night for that time minus 20 mins or so. I guess that is assuming our sleep cycles are similar each night. I awoke the other night 2.75 hrs into sleep in the middle of a dream so I'll set my alarm for 2.5 hours into sleep tonight to attempt a WILD. I'm well rested too so maybe won't just fall asleep.


Fogelbise, from your experience, did you still awake quickly from LDs often 5 months in to practice (about 40 LDs for me now)?

If you are using an alarm, 4.5 hours is generally recommended. When trying less than 3 hours into the night, you are not really getting good enough sleep before your WILD attempt and you also have less REM happening in those early sleep cycles. I really like the water method which tends to wake you up around the end of a REM cycle, if you don't over-do it by drinking far too much water. It takes some experimenting to get the timing right, around the 4.5 hour mark, but basically you more naturally wake up by needing to urinate due to the extra water you drink before bed.

As far as waking up quickly. I did go through a period like that (see where I talked about it above around the pre-DEILD info). A shift in my mindset/expectation made a big difference, but we all still get short ones from time to time.