GreyBeard's Workbook

Hi all. I've been lurking the forums for about 6 weeks and finally registered today. Quick intro on myself.

I started getting into LD'ing the beginning of the year. This site has given me a ton of motivation as well as quality info. I managed 6 LDs in the first month, albeit they were very short (between 2 & 20 seconds). I'm an instant gratification type of person so I originally looked for "magic" supplements that would do the hard work for me. I quickly realized they did not exist... at least not for me. I did manage a few short lucids while praciting MILD, DILD and WBTB techniques, but I'm still very much a noob.

My recall was getting pretty good (2-5 dreams/fragments per night), but has recently disappeared. I'm hoping that by joining this class and maybe the competition next go-around, that my motivation will increase. I look forward to studying this beautiful art form with all of you.

Due to personal circumstances, I probably won't get to post again till next week. Hopefully I'll complete a task over the weekend and can post the good news.

Peace and good luck.

Hi and welcome to class! :) Sounds like you got everything under control. The recent lack of recall is probably just a phase and it'll pass. Stress makes it worse though, so don't force it to come back.

Just write your score in the competition and I'll include you in a team. Looking forward to reading some of your entries. Keep on dreaming!

I finally made it back. I don't have admin rights on my work computer so I couldn't log in to the real DV. My home PC runs Linux, so it took me a bit to figure that one out. Anyway...

My dry spell ended. I had 3 short LDs last weekend (with the help of Galantamind) and another one last night (non-supplement induced). My biggest problem is that I cannot stabilize the dream for the life of me. Last night for example. I recognized I was in a dream and immediately thought to stabilize. I looked closely at the nearest object to me (the railing of a staircase). It was very detailed and realistic. I tried my best to focus on the details. I took a deep breath to get my sense of smell working. I even stopped some DC's from moving around so they wouldn't distract me. The dream only lasted about 10-15 seconds before I woke up. I was still trying to stabilize when I woke.

Even though I tried my best to stay calm, my heart was racing when I woke up. I realize that I'm just getting too excited once I become lucid. I keep telling myself to stay calm, but the thought of unlimited possibilities is just too exciting to me. Will this pass over time? I'm up to 12 LDs since the beginning of the year, but I haven't gotten past the stabilization phase yet. Any thoughts?

I had another LD experience last night. I realized I was dreaming and immediately tried to stabilize. I looked closely at my hands. They were kind of small at first, but the more I looked the more normal they became. The detail was crazy. I could see every tiny little line in my hand. I rubbed them together and that helped a little. I was in a crowded office, so I walked around looking for objects to inspect. I was touching everything on the receptionist's desk (I don't think they were very happy about that). I picked up a bag of Swedish Fish, and I'm kicking myself for not eating one. At that point I decide to try and complete the first task in the class before I woke up. In retrospect, this was a bad idea because the dream just wasn't stable enough yet. I walked around trying to decide who to ask. Most of my DCs were unfriendly looking old men. I finally found an older lady and said "excuse me". My next question was going to be "do you know I'm dreaming right now?" but I woke up before I could get the words out.

Stupid stabilization! My heart was beating too fast again when I woke. I need to find a way to keep calm. I'm wondering if a new mantra might help. Maybe something like "When I lucid dream, I will remain calm."

Planning a proper WBTB tonight. Goals include decent stabilization and having a conversation with a DC. Nice and simple.

It was a rough WBTB for me this morning. Bed at 12:00, then up at 6:00 with the dog. Was up for 20 minutes and took some Galantamind and A-GPC. Couldn't fall asleep for about 2 hours. When I eventually did I had a lot of short dreams. I did accidentally entered SP once and felt like I was moving at crazy high speeds, but then woke up (I checked with RC).

Managed to get lucid once later in the morning, but my vision was really bad. I spent a long time trying to stabilize. Rubbed hands, looked at detail in hands, said out loud "I'm dreaming", said "increase clarity now", did my first dream spin. All of this helped a little, but I never got full vision intact. I got distracted by a girl for a while, but stopped and did some more stabilization because the dream was fading. This was my longest lucid to date (I'm guessing just over 1 min), but I really couldn't see much so it wasn't super realistic like my other LDs. Overall kind of disappointing.

Will try a WBTB tonight without any supplements.

No luck last night. Did have really good recall though. Remembered significant lengths of 3 different dreams and 1 other fragment. I have the day off from work tomorrow so I plan to WBTB again tonight. May try Huperzine A, as it has worked for me in the past.

You seem to be having some nice success there :) What you can try with G+C is L-Theanine. That'll help you fall asleep.

Thanks for the advice. I did use L-Theanine in the beginning because the G&C combo kept me up for 3-4 hours. Then it seemed as though I had gotten past that and usually fall right back to sleep. That is until this weekend. Will start using L-Theanine again next time.

Any advice on stabilization? I seem to reach lucidity fairly often, but can never seem to fully stabilize the dream. My techniques include hand rubbing, staring at details in hands and other objects and more recently spinning and saying things out loud like "this is a dream" and "increase clarity". Maybe I'm just not doing it for a long enough time. How long do you normally spend stabilizing a dream? Is there anything I'm missing here?

It sounds like you focus too much on hurrying up to be able to achieve the task, and therefore you wake up. It's all about doing it casually, keep your emotions subdued a bit if you can. Ground yourself to the dream and tell yourself that you won't wake up before you decide it's time to. Around a minute of stabiliziation techniques once you get lucid is enough for this. Also don't think: "Stabilizing to make sure the dream I am in will not collapse," but rather: "Rubbing my hands for fun, looking at the wall because I'm curious and tasting this plant because I can."

Excellent advice. Thank you. I will make sure I keep this in mind next time I get lucid.

No luck the last couple of days. Recall has been decent though. I've found that 50mg of B6 really seems to help my recall significantly.

Well, I signed up for this class 2 weeks ago so here's my progress report on the first set of tasks.

I remembered at least 1 dream on 11 of 14 nights. I remembered at least 2 dreams on 9 of those nights.

I managed a few short lucids in which I did activate 3 senses (sight, touch and smell) and I did interact with the environment (mostly by picking up objects while trying to stabilize). I did not get a chance to wreak havoc on the environment. Most of my time was spent stabilizing since my lucids were so short.

To start off weeks 3 and 4, I decided to do a WBTB this morning. I slept for 5.5 hours, then got up with the dog for about 10 minutes. I took 4mg Galantamind, 300mg A-GPC, 200mg L-Theanine and 0.5mg Melatonin and went back to sleep. I was then up for the next 3.5 hours tossing and turning until I gave up and got out of bed.

Unfortunately I think I need to save my Galantamind for mornings when I do not do a WBTB. I've had some success when I wake up just to take the pills then go immediately back to bed. I think the whole WBTB method just wakes me up too much to mix with Galantamind. Looking forward to a REM rebound tonight!

Had my best LD experience to date this morning. I woke after 5.5 hours of sleep, took 4 mg Galantamind, 3 Melissa capsules and about 0.5mg of melatonin. Fell right back to sleep.

Had a non-lucid dream about a lady making gourmet cookies. She gave me a butter cookie that she had dipped in white chocolate. It was the most delicious cookie I've ever had. I woke up and it had been an hour and ten minutes since I took the supplements. I was worried I would not get back to sleep. After relaxing for about 5 minutes, I visualized a scean. It started to come into focus when I got hit by the transition. It felt like a freight train was going through my room. My heart started beating faster so I tried to relax. It was too late and the transition faded and I was awake again. I relaxed for a few minutes then fell back to sleep. I found myself in a bar with a handful of my friends. I immediately knew it was a dream. I reminded myself to relax and stay calm. I spent a little time looking at my hands and rubbing them together. I look up and everything is in extremely sharp detail and brightly colored. My friends are all laughing and having a good time. I grab a beer from the bar. It tastes like bud. I walk around and say hello to my friends. I shake hands with everyone since I figured it would help stabilize even further. After what I guessed was a couple minutes I walk up to one of my buddies and say "you know I'm dreaming right now?" he gives me a friendly shove and says "Get the f$&k out of here."

Everything goes black at this point. I feel like I'm laying in bed. However it still feels like I'm holding a beer.It's at this point I realize I'm still dreaming. A new scene materializes and my buddies are still there. After some inspection of the area I decide to test out my super powers. I look at a vase across the room. I decide to move it with my mind. I concentrate and point at it. I swipe my fingers and the vase gets knocked off it's stand. My DCs are cheering and getting excited. I do my best to ignore them. One is being annoying and keeps asking me what super powers he can have. I notice he's standing in front of a window. I lift my hand and flick my fingers at him. He goes crashing through the window. I feel like testing out my flying skills so I poke my head out of the broken window. It's only a few feet off the ground. I dive out the window fulling expecting to soar into the sky. I promptly fall on my face.

Everything is black again and I'm on my back. It still feels like I have a bottle in my hand, but it is distorted. I realize I'm still dreaming. I'm on the floor next to a table of girls. My confidence must have been high because I did not stabilize at all. After a short time this dream fades.

Total lucid time was probably 6 to 8 minutes, which blows away my previous LDs. I completed the super powers task (telekinesis). I finally got a response from a DC when telling them that I'm dreaming. I'm not sure if what I experienced was 2 FAs, or a DILD with 2 DEILD, or just one long dream.

I'm much more confident I can extend my lucids as now. I'm pumped for my next experience.

Another LD this morning. I'm pretty happy because I didn't take any supplements. I'm not going to post the whole thing because it was fairly lengthy (approaching 10 minutes), but I did complete a task so I'll post a little of it...

...The dream fades to black. I think I've woken up, but do a RC and I'm still dreaming. I back at my Grandmother's house. My Dad is there. I shake his hand. I tell him to hold on a second while I stabilize. I look at my hands. There is crazy detail and my hands are shining for some reason. I rub them together. I ask my Dad to tell me I'm dreaming the next time he sees me in a dream. He says he doesn't want to talk right now and walks away. The dream is starting to fade. The lights seem to be gone and I'm stumbling around the room. I'm touching furniture and stuff trying to stay in the dream. I decide to spin. That seems to do the trick as the lights are back on and the dream seems stable. I walk around trying to think of something to do. I open the front door to see if the world outside looks familiar. It looks exactly like my Grandmother's front yard. I close the door. I then remember to summon a pizza. I say to myself, "I just ordered a pizza". I look at the door and expect a pizza guy to be there. I open it and he appears from around the corner. He hands me a small pizza box. I say thanks and shut the door. I can't believe that actually worked and I have to tell myself to remain calm. I open the box and there is a small personal pizza in it. It looks like it hasn't been cooked and really doesn't look very good. I take a bite of a slice. It actually tastes pretty good. The sauce tastes similar to a pizza I just had while on travel to Colorado Springs. I hand the box to the 2 or 3 other DCs in the room and they each take a slice. I then decide I want to venture outside...

It keeps going from there. I'm happy because I managed to ask a DC to do something for me (my Dad who ignored me) and I successfully summoned a pizza and ate some. Later in the dream I attempted to summon a Lightsaber because I wanted to do some Jedi stuff, but couldn't do it. I even asked a DC to help me find one, but he was worthless.

I'm not going to post all of my dreams, but I did manage to recall 6 dreams/fragments last night. It came after a night of drinking (it was St. Patty's Day after all). I don't drink a lot so this was completely unexpected. I didn't do any MILD mantras, which I do every night. I did become lucid a couple of times, but I didn't really stabilize them and they didn't last very long. I was able to DEILD back into my dreams though, which was really cool.

Still need to free fall to finish up the tasks for the 3-5 week period. Hopefully I can get that done soon. If I do I'll jump to the next week's tasks.