Thread: Xanous' Workbook

I got #92 and #93 this morning after WBTB 400MG B6. I got a SSILD DILD first and then the ever rare active WILD. Active WILDs are when you WILD straight into the dream using only HH/HI and there is little or no SP. It really cool when I do this but it takes a lot of finesse and patience. The higher dose of B6 made me really restless after the DILD. I tossed and turned some and had to really force myself to be still and focus on the Hypnagogic State more and my body less. I did try to use HI to precog but I could not make it form and trying to hard is counterproductive. Anyway all this ended up being a good balance because I was so sleepy already but the B6 made all the energy go to mind power. It did take a good while because I was crossing back and forth between "Oh I'm dreaming" and "no this is just HI". Eventually the dream got more and more real. I think what finally did it was, I began to observe a conversation between two DCs from my childhood. I found it very amusing and wanted to see what would happen. I was lucid the whole time but after the female DC walked away that's when I interacted. I will do a full DJ entry this evening I just wanted to get these thoughts down before they faded.

Another thing, I have been forgetting my lucid goals that I so badly want to accomplish. My LDs this morning were awesome but I am disappointed in a way that I got so wrapped up in the dream and didn't do what I had set out to do. It's ok I suppose. Just interesting that I can get the lucids but have so little focus.

One more thing. It's important to note that I have been focusing as much as possible on awareness during the day. There is always a direct correlation to how much I practice awareness and how many LDs I have. Never slack on awareness people!

Amen to your last sentence. I find I often have an LD boost (or if not, vividness increases) on days I go all out on my awareness practice.

congrats on the lucids!

xanous, do you find its better to focus on the HH/HI, SP, or the Dream State when attempting a WILD?

Originally Posted by Chimpertainment

xanous, do you find its better to focus on the HH/HI, SP, or the Dream State when attempting a WILD?

It all depends on how awake I feel. It goes better if I don't over-think it. Most of the time I have to wait for SP. Other times I see really strong HH from the start and I just follow that until it becomes more and more real. I am getting better with the HH part and for some reason that allows me to skip over the SP feeling.

I suppose to answer your question, what do I focus on? I would say HH/HI because if I really focus on SP, it goes to crap pretty fast. SP is just a mile marker for me or a signal to get up. Nothing more really. Also, I guess I don't focus on the dream state much until things feel really real. If I do it too early I snap back to my physical self and it feels like a set back in my progress.

That gets me thinking. The difference between the two types of WILD is really odd. If I WILD into SP then I have the more OBE type LD. If I WILD into HH then its more of a normal LD. I am just now really starting to analyise the two and understand why they are so different. I am not sure I believe OBE's are actual out-of-body but I can see why people do believe in it. I have looked back at my own body several times and it was unnerving. I just don't do it anymore because I always slam back in and have to start over.

Damn good post Xanous, you covered alot of great stuff. Like not focusing on SP in particular, and how different transitions lead to different types of LDs. I'm going through this myself, such an interesting process of discovery.

I had a ton I wanted to say this morning but I don't have the time now. But, I wanted to real quickly say I learned a few things last night/this morning. I am really starting to learn that visualization is a great tool. Last night I used a modified form of SSILD to WILD. I did it once at the beginning but fell into a complete non lucid dream. It was literally after being in bed only 10-15min. I was shocked and I only woke up because I started snoring. The feeling was like a Nonlucid WILD or WID? or WINLD? Anyway, I later flunked WBTB and totally passed out but later woke from an interesting dream 20min before the alarm get up and start your day alarm. I knew I didn't have much time but I started thinking about the previous dream and noticed that I was back in it but only partially. I get this state a lot.

It's what I am going to start calling the half-dream. It's like being deep into HH/HI daydream but still in your physical body and not totally in a dream. I don't know if anyone else gets this but I do. It's really fun because I get to test out a lot of dream control and get a feel of things like how a dream RC should feel ec t ect. It is a dream for all intense and purposes but not at the same time. Its really hard to describe. Help me out anyone?

Anyway, I was in the half dream and I happened to look at the sun. It was bright and looked like it does when you stare at the sun but it didn't hurt. So I lost focus doing this and woke up to the alarm remembering something about eating a snake raw.

The point is I am going to explore this more from now on. Hopefully I can master this and be DEILD WILD champ. We shall see.

Sorry again if I neglected to answer workbooks tonight. With voting and diner and running errands and now we have to drive to Carthage to get the wife a new phone as hers died and I hope to sleep sometime soon. Bleh always something

A nonlucid WILD haha. You know, I've been getting what I call a WILD/DILD hybrid, because the inititation is the same as a WILD with vibrations and all. But then I go into a nonlucid for a few seconds, then I get lucid. So whatever. I think I get what you're saying though. There's so many phases and gray areas in between being awake and being in a dream (lucid or non). It makes sense that you could lock into place in any one of those levels and experience it.

What you described as the half dream sounds alot like when I start out a lucid dream in my bed the WILD way. I still feel like I am in my bed, in exactly the same place and position as when I went to sleep. I just manage to get up and do other stuff. So maybe it's not the same thing you're saying. Maybe it's like the beginnings of a DEILD. I know I've experienced tons of different sensations visually and aurally when transitioning between dreams. Blah blah? Read my mind.

So you getting her an iphone?

I think what you are describing is what I was getting. And yes, there are a ton or gray areas. No iPhone. LOL. She's happy with a cheaper Android.

Guess whaaaaat!

I got an interesting precog dream, I think. I'll put it in the weekly report I'm quite excited!

Originally Posted by paigeyemps

Guess whaaaaat!

I got an interesting precog dream, I think. I'll put it in the weekly report I'm quite excited!

Cool. I can't wait to read about it. Sorry, I haven't been very focused on it. I'm still trying but I have not got anything. I've just been really tired.

So last week was tough for me. I have been very tired and with little mental focus. I have found my daily awareness routine to get mundane and lacking effort. I also have been mildly sick off and on. I haven't kept up much with recording dreams like I should. Yes I take a few notes during the night but I didn't post to my DJ much. My WBTBs have consisted of turning off the alarm and rolling over to pass out again. I am not too upset about this I realize that its just life and it will pass. I really just think I have just been too tired.

I was pleased that I got to sleep in this morning with no baby to deal with. It was a well needed break. again I blew past my WBTB alarm but later I focused on WILD. I had a semi-lucid dream where I knew I was dreaming but didn't know I was dreaming. As much as I want to I can't count this one.

I also had another half-dream where I met a shape shifting woman who was trying to guide me into the dream. I totally blew it. I think I will attempt to find her again tonight.

I did the B6 thing again. 200MG at bedtime and 400MG at WBTB. I think the effect may be wearing off but I DID have some very interesting dreams. Unfortunately I only recorded a few. I think maybe I should stop the B6 for awhile.

My dreams all morning were very sexual as well. I think it distracted me quite a bit and ruined my semi-lucid as well as the half-dream. I don't understand were that came from. I am not lacking in real life.

Tonight, I need to a more proper WBTB and actually stay a wake a little longer and really get a clearer more focused induction plan. I have been way too lazy!

Even-though I was not lucid I found my dreams to be interesting this morning - Sexual Tendencies - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Yeah, those times when you're going through several persistent stresses, even minor ones, can leave you without the energy to focus on dream life. Sometimes it just happens and like you said, it will pass. Often doesn't feel like it at the time, but it really is true.

And man, when you're tired, it's just so easy to blow through the WBTB time. When you're that tired, it's probably the best option. Especially if you're feeling that tired on 200 mg of B6 at bedtime. Even 100 mg of B6 at bedtime left me much more awake when WBTB time hit.

Originally Posted by Xanous

I am not lacking in real life.

LOL. Now that's a thorough update!

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

LOL. Now that's a thorough update!

Well... LOL. I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea. I didn't understand it where it was coming from. Its a huge distraction and I'd like to be past that in my dreams.

I think you are right about the B6. Maybe I was just so tired that it didn't effect me. I think when I am that tired I shouldn't be even trying WBTB anyway.

Just a quick thought on caffiene.

This morning I was enjoying my usual cup. I notice that before coffee, I felt alert and rested and wide awake. After coffee, slightly irritable and my mental clarity vanished.

Then I found this post: Caffeine: The Silent Killer of Emotional Intelligence - Forbes
Pay special attention to "The Ugly: Sleep" sleep section.

I decided I will stop all caffeine. I will be difficult at first but worth it. While considering this I remembered the last time I quit the caffeine. It was back in August. My dreams were a thousand times more clear and I had a lot more LDs. This may be the mental block that I have been feeling in my mind but trying to ignore. This morning is already too late and I usually don't have ANY caffiene after lunch anyway but starting now I will do my best to cut it out.

Wow, that's an amazing article! I'm sure that a lot of normal folks would read that section and not worry about losing a little "REM sleep", but the thought makes my blood run cold.

I only have a couple cups of green tea a week and a nightly serving of dark chocolate with Wife, but even this I'm reconsidering after reading this article. I'll have to check the caffeine content on each of these.

So are you going to be cutting out caffeine and backing off of the B6 at the same time? Both at the same time might make your results less clear-cut and "scientific", but I can't think of a good way around this problem...

Good point about the B6. Hmmm. That made me think and do a little research. This website has some interesting information. I think I have been over doing it in that regard. I may continue with just 100MG B6 if at all.

Well I wasn't going to update anymore but weekly but a few things happened to me that got me excited.

First of all, I just met another living flesh and blood human being that was a practicing lucid dreamer. No offense to you fine people but online is so much different than real life. I was really shocked to find such person, having grown up in a Pentecostal home and living in the Bible Belt Mid-West! I was kind of awkward as I am not used to talking to people about lucid dreaming, much less a stranger. There was so much more I wish I had said but I did point him to dreamviews. I forgot to tell him my online name. DOH! Ah well maybe I will run into him later. So that was pretty cool anyway and it was all because I was reading Robert Waggoner's book while donating plasma!

Second, I got through chapter 7 of RW book while I was there. He described a dream that he blelives was not a lucid dream but something else. What he described was much like my begining of the night WILD I had Lucid #90 The White Void - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views.

He talks about a conference were he heard Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a Buddhist lama from the Bon tradition of Tibet who had just written The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep.:
"He also noted that with many years of training and experience, the yogas of dream and sleep may "ultimately lead into one another," if the lucid dreaming practice is "fully accomplished," and result in an experience of the "clear light." Unlike a lucid dream, which has a subject and object, in the clear light experience, "the recognition of pure awareness, the clear light, by awareness itself." He emphasized that in the clear light experience, there is no subject/object duality or sense of self; rather, the ever-present essential, innate awareness appears. Ultimately the common goal for those who go deeply into either dream yoga or sleep yoga would be to experience the clear light."

I did lose all sense of my self in the essence that I thought I was someone else. Or is that the same thing? Close to it, I suppose. I hope to repeat this now that I know what was going on. Yay Buddhists!

Third, Last night I forgot that my WBTB alarm was set so late and I got up naturally to go pee. I did my duty, canceled my alarm, and plopped back to bed. My WBTBs on a work night are always this short. I jumped straight into SSILD and after a few rounds I took note of all 3 senses at once, similar to some dream yoga exercises I dabble with. I got straight into the half-dream and I visualized myself walking. It got more and more real and SP took me over. I later blew it with a false awakening but that's ok. The point is, I had almost quit on SSILD but I love it again now. I think it works well because you focusing your senses the dream and makes you more aware as you fall a sleep. I know that seems like you are paying attention to the "noise" but I think its not the same here. Or perhaps, we are looking for noise. In any event it works when the timing is right. There is no black and white here. Just infinite shades of gray. To think otherwise might be slightly arrogant.

Lastly, Caffeine, B6 and Apple Juice. I slipped up and had a few sips this morning. I am so addicted again I got all emotional about wanting some coffee. Sad I know. But I think I did well. I am also stopping the B6 until the weekends only. I did drink apple juice last night and had really poor recall until after my mini WBTB.

How cool that you met another lucid dreamer. Outside of everyone here on DreamViews, I have only one friend that lucid dreams (and I feel pretty lucky to even have one!) That'd be great if your blood-donating buddy finds his way here.

I have the same view of SSILD's mechanism that you do (although I am keeping an open mind as far as what's actually going on.) It seems to me that SSILD is simply a way of getting your awareness revved up as you fall asleep. Perhaps it activates part of the brain that's typically less stimulated while you're sleeping.

When you think about it, SSILD seems most like a "super WBTB" than any specific DILD- or WILD-specific technique.

Also, I completely agree that you should explore further in your NREM dream experience. (In due time, of course -- no need to rush the super-advanced experiences.) That is pretty amazing stuff and certainly a unique way to enjoy an LD. I'm still firmly in the phase where I treat lucid dreaming largely as the world's most fantastic amusement park. (My personality makes it unlikely I will every truly leave this phase.)

There's nothing wrong with making it your personal amusement park. But I have reached a stage were while that is still fun and exciting its really not all that fulfilling. I enjoy having flappy wings for bragging rights and prestige but I'd rather pursue my own goals and and expand my limitations in my own way. I want to delve deeper, like Rober Waggoner did.

I wasn't going to post this because it was pretty non-eventful but I think it is interesting that it was at the beginning of night and only a few minutes into it. I don't know if it was the apple juice, or the SSILD, or just being really tired but strange things keep happening when they shouldn't.

Originally Posted by Dream Journal

Lucid #94

I layed down and did a little SSILD pre sleep while my wife was feeding the baby next to me. I almost immediately found myself in a short hazy and fuzzy LD. I thought about this a lot to make sure it wasn't a half-dream or HH/HI. I am pretty sure it wasn't but it was a poor quality dream.

I am sitting in a folding chair. There are rows of them around me. The chairs are full of old people. I am trying to go to sleep in the chair. I begin to get worried that the people around me will think I am crazy especially when I fall over asleep. I was really emotional about it then I realize it was a dream and it didn't matter. I am shocked at this and that's when I open my eyes fully awake and notice it had only been minute or two. I suppose I should have done an RC to be sure but it was pretty solid.

I cleared my mind while on a bike ride today and did some thinking about my routine/tech. When I take my past LDs into consideration, I think these combined methods highlight my better LDing capabilities. A lot of times I forget my routine and techniques so during the night it becomes unclear what I was planning to do. I find it helpful to do a new write up ever so often.

Tweaks

SSILD tweaked:

Instead of just cycling, I am going cycle each one until the visuals get strong. If I am extra sleepy I plan to begin trying to use some mantra until the HI gets stronger. Most of the reason I fail is because I pass out too fast.

Then I will focus on all 3 at once. This tends to send me into the half-dream quickly.

Once in the half-dream I will carefully interact with the dream until it becomes stable and realistic.

SP The vibrations or REM Atonia may start at this point. If that happens I will focus on exiting my body by imagining my feet floating up and over the side of the bed. Once connected to the floor, I'm always in. The last time I did this it failed. Not sure why because this is always a solid exit method for me.

So at the beginning of bed time I will do the SSILD tweaked until I'm either lucid or I pass out or just end up spending too much time. I don't expect much but giving my recent experiences, I think it is at least work a shot and some great practice time as well. At the very least it will prep my brain for the rest of the night.

ALWAYS WATCH FOR FA. RC and test reality after doing ANY induction and thinking you failed. I don't always remember this.

WBTB:
Only to get up and pee and return to bed. I want to wake naturtally with no alarms for a while. On the weekends I will have a more prolonged WBTB session. Once back into bed then I'll repeat SSILD tweaked

Random awakenings:
I will begin to treat each awakeing is a chance for DEILD. If DEILD doesn't happen right away then will I take time to record the dream and THEN quickly do SSILD tweaked. Hopefully if I fail DEILD, I won't just fall into a NLD and skip the rest. Also, I realize that my recall may drop by failing DEILDs this way. If I don't record them in the night I tend to forget.

Awareness:
If I fail all the above there is always and increased chance for DILD. So, of course I will continue my awareness practices to the best of my ability.
RRC then sensory. Random RCs/dream control, watching for dream signs

Aids and other things:
B6 - only on the weekends
Coffee - Still trying to wean myself off caffeine
Alcohol - only one night/week if any
Apple juice - I am not sure its helpful. I may alternate days.
Melatonin - seems to cause vivid dreams but give how tired I've been, I am putting that on hold.

Well my tweaks worked out nicely. Lucid #95 was a OBE style DEILD from a non lucid using SSILD tweak and some new stuff I created on the fly. I will post all the details in my DJ later.

btw I may not be so ready to delve deeper. My subC is a bitch. LOL. And something like OpheliaBlue's SP demon came for a visit but I was able to ignore it with disbelief and it vanished. Actually the sensation helped me out.

EDIT: http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/xano...tempt-1-40780/

Great stuff. I love the thoroughness of this plan. Writing it all down should not only help sharpen it in your mind but also help so much when Future Xanous needs to look back and learn from all the stuff that Past Xanous tried before.

To make sure that I understand your tweak, you will simply perform SSILD cycles until your HI picks up, and then you will constantly try to experience all 3 (sight/sound/touch) sensations at once? That about right?

Sounds like it's working well already... congratulations on the LD!

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

Great stuff. I love the thoroughness of this plan. Writing it all down should not only help sharpen it in your mind but also help so much when Future Xanous needs to look back and learn from all the stuff that Past Xanous tried before.

Exactly

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

To make sure that I understand your tweak, you will simply perform SSILD cycles until your HI picks up, and then you will constantly try to experience all 3 (sight/sound/touch) sensations at once? That about right?

Right again. Then I try to keep it going until it turns into a WILD.