Baku's journey into Dream Yoga - Workbook

Well hello there, time to start writing my experiences with the practices~


So far I tried Version 1 and 2 (though I have only started yesterday practicing them) and going to try 3 later today.

With version 1 my experience was interesting, though I live in a quiet city with not much going on.
When I start focusing on sounds I sometimes start hearing my mom working at the kitchen, my dog walking around the house, humming noises, traffic, birds singing. Non of these sounds last too long to be able to maintain focus on them since they disappear and they may or may not reappear on different intervals.
Still, it's a pretty interesting meditation and I'm doing it about 10minutes a day.

Version 2 feels kinda boring, I still do it at least 5 minutes a day. I start feelings itches, tightness in different places, and gravity itself pulling me down I guess.


Also, Sivason, curious question!
I also practice walking meditation on a daily basis, do you think it could also help towards Dream Yoga and the purposes of this course?

I think any meditation will help you in dream yoga. I am giving these first examples so everyone can exercise the brain. As far as version 2, you have already stumbled onto something! Gravity. This is one of the things i am hoping everyone will notice. I use a gravity RC and it works very well. It is nbot possable to use this RC unless you get good enough with version 2, that you can feel gravity, just like you would feel the tempature. Work on it over many weeks and you will not be bored. You can get to the point where you can feel every square inch of your body by the mearest shift in attention. mastery of this version will be used in an advanced skill I will teach later.
Like so many teachers, I choose to let people find answers, not just feed them answers. It will not be obvious why I want you to learn all of the skills I will present. However, if you practice them, I bet you will be able to tell me many of the things I could just post. However, it is better for you to search and discover. You are only the second student to have felt gravity.

Day 2

V1

With V1 nothing much changed from my last report, I noticed a few more sounds, but generally it's the same as always, it's seriously quiet where I live, very rural place. I still try to make the best of it, and I tried doing it in my backyard this time, I was able to focus on the wind hitting the leaves, birds again, the few cars that pass through nearby, and what I think is some people working with a hammer or something. And a few other things pop-up sometimes.

V2

I noticed a lot of sensations today with this, and again, since I'm meditating outside now, the wind joins in, blowing on my face, my clothes, even if the wind is slight I can start feeling it once I start meditating. And my muscles and arms being affected by gravity too.

V3

With version 3 I used some mentos like thingies, I try not to move my tongue and play with it too much since it tends to break my focus, but after a while I was able to focus on the taste for what I guess was at least 4-5 minutes, I started doing the nail-finger thing after that and was able to stay focused on both things. Candy dissolved and everything seems to have gone ok.


other stuff

In total today I spent about 40-45 minutes meditating, all in one sitting, I felt AMAZING after opening my eyes, it was also like I was seeing the world around me in a "higher quality" and noticed more things than before even when not actively focusing on them. It was a very interesting feeling.

Also, I LDed last night, I was dreaming I was meditating o-o and I noticed some stuff disappearing and I just instantly went "dreamin'!" and awesomeness ensued.

That is all for today :D

Great~ a good LD related to your meditating. I think for version 1 you may want to put two objects that make sound near you to help there be multiple sounds to focus on. I suggest a clock that ticks and very low volume music like letting it play through head phones that are sitting close by.

Hi everyone! It has been almost two weeks. I hope everyone got a chance to practice. The thread Dream Yoga Basic Skills: Lesson 1, has been updated. I have shared a few ways these skills will be useful in LDs, and the thread is now open to Q & A.

Well, here's what I got to share today:


For lesson #1 and V1 it's like I managed to broaden my hearing range or something, I'm starting to catch noises from far off, though most times I can't really make out what they are.
With V2 I have become able to focus on several things at once without loosing focus, feet, knees, ankles, thigh, fingers, wrists, neck, nose, buttocks, and other stuff.

Also tried to do V1 and V2 simultaneously, I can't last more than 30-40 seconds before I loose focus on one of them though.

Also Lesson #2 good stuff, here's my experiences so far:

I sat on my balcony looking at the vehicles and people pass by like instructed in Level 1, and later when I went to my backyard it was pretty windy so I also tried to practice with the moving bushes and leaves.
I jumped to level 2 and tried for a while with a pen, started focusing on it and then trying to relax the eyes, after a few tries and few successes (that didn't last long) I tried to feel what was I doing exactly to achieve the loss of focus. When suddenly after trying one more time I felt like this "OH!, I just have to do this", except you know, I can't really put into words what "this" is. It's like I learnt to control something I never knew I had, and I can now relax them just as I can relax my shoulders or whatever. And after a while of trying some more it was as easy as flicking on and off a switch, focused, non focused. And I managed to stay off focus for what I think must have been at least 5 minutes, after that my eyes just started getting tired so I went back to other meditation.
Oh also, I started noticing some orb-like thingies floating around after a while of doing that.
I tried to introduce this diffuse vision with the meditations of lesson #1 (and on my walking meditation), so eyes open, being aware of vision range without focusing, while listening to sounds or focusing on body sensations. I'm not yet able to last very long while simultaneously doing these without forgetting something, about 20-30 seconds I guess. But I guess good nonetheless, just have to keep practicing.

Also, it's quite clear how awesome this could be for dreaming, every second of our lives our mind is always filtering out stuff we deem unimportant, learning to "see" them without necessarily focusing on them, a.k.a being aware of them, is definitely something that will help on LDs.

Oh, also tried Level 3, though I find myself forgetting about some object after a while.

Hmm, alright, I think that's all I wanted to say~


edit: LDed tonight and had the chance to test some of this stuff in a dream.
With diffuse vision and V2 I was able to stabilize the dream quite easily and was able to have a very vivid dream and quite more lengthy than my average ones.
I also think diffuse vision is also helping me to not lose lucidity, a problem I tend to have in LDs is that I lose lucidity once I do what I wanted to do in the LD and then it all goes to randomness as a normal dream. Well, probably just awareness in general helps me stay lucid.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bakuryu

Well, here's what I got to share today:


With V2 I have become able to focus on several things at once without loosing focus, feet, knees, ankles, thigh, fingers, wrists, neck, nose, buttocks, and other stuff.






I jumped to level 2 and tried for a while with a pen, started focusing on it and then trying to relax the eyes, after a few tries and few successes (that didn't last long) I tried to feel what was I doing exactly to achieve the loss of focus. When suddenly after trying one more time I felt like this "OH!, I just have to do this", except you know, I can't really put into words what "this" is. It's like I learnt to control something I never knew I had, and I can now relax them just as I can relax my shoulders or whatever. And after a while of trying some more it was as easy as flicking on and off a switch, focused, non focused. And I managed to stay off focus for what I think must have been at least 5 minutes, after that my eyes just started getting tired so I went back to other meditation.

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With Lesson 1 V2 you do not have too keep focus on multiple body parts. That is a more advanced version, but I have no problem with you doing it. For this version, try to actually feel the body part. If it seems easy feeling the weight of your tee-shirt against your shoulders, or the pressure the elastic in your socks puts on your legs, then go down to trying to actually feel the sensations coming from a specific toe.

I like this part of your post, and will copy it into the thread and give you a "Gold Star" worth 30 hall points when I open the lesson thread in less than 2 weeks. Have fun!

Oh, I guess I misunderstood Level 2 of it then. :p But alrighty then! And thanks!

Just want to share a little something here, and thank Sivason for this amazing course that it's already helping me tons :)

Diffuse Vision - Been also doing it with my eyes closed, at first it was really hard stopping the eyes from moving, but after a few days you sort of learn to keep them relaxed while seeing all the colors and shapes formed. This with the meditations (V1 and V2) from Lesson one AND wandering mind recall gave me an idea (and some inspiration by SSILD), something I've been using for a few days with great results (also, since I believe you mentioned somewhere we should try to come up with some form of meditation of our own inspired by the ones you taught us); and also just thought it would be interesting to try :p

I do it at the end of my meditation sessions (which include everything taught on the course), before bed and after a WBTB. Anyway, it basically consists of using the hearing and feeling meditation, diffuse vision and wandering mind recall.

I repeat to myself "I am aware of everything I see, everything I hear and everything I feel."
When I say "see" I use diffuse vision for a few seconds, when I say "hear" I do the hearing meditation, when I say "feel" I do the feeling meditation.
Now, basically, when I say the keyword I do the corresponding meditation for 10-20 seconds and proceed with the next line. After a couple days of doing that simply saying the words (i.e "I am aware of everything I feel") started producing an instant a reaction from me where I suddenly start feeling/hearing/seeing everything I feel/hear/see when doing the meditation. And I cycle through them several times.
The "see" portion of it I do it both with eyes closed and open (depending on when I'm doing it) ; and well, the whole cycling I do it with both eyes closed and open, just switching from time to time.
I've been having LDs really often, (6 LDs in the past 8 days) and I'm positive I have this course to thank for that, I've been noticing things in dreams more often, and they also work amazingly for stabilization of them.

Wonderful. I am glad to see you expanding and creating your own versions. I am also thrilled you have been having so many lucids. This stuff is a big part of learning to master LDs, but it takes work. I figure with all the world of dreaming has to offer why not take the time to train your brain so that you can do it well.