Thread: CanisLucidus' Workbook

Originally Posted by Chimpertainment

Perhaps speaking to the wind may work? Or u could imagine yourself as so aerodynamic that u slice through the wind like butter. One more idea, lol...you could produce a wind eliminating forcefield...just some thoughts, sounds like you are having a great time despite that! :-)

Oooh yeah, I've had some luck talking to "lucid obstacles" before. You never know, it could say something back to you like "Don't go against the grain.." Definitely worth a shot, especially since it's so recurring.

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

Whoa! What did that do to this dude?

He became crinkled and wrinkled. :l

And died. (i didnt mean to kill him!)

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

You guys rock! Okay, that gives me plenty, plenty of stuff to try. So in addition to my current top approach of just going with the wind and imagining that it's taking me somewhere great, I've got these additional excellent ideas to work with:
-Airbending (gonna need to Netflix some Avatar!)
-Verbally command the wind (I'll need to wear down a schema I have that convinces me it's difficult to speak in high wind)
-Make myself as aerodynamic as a bullet so the wind has no effect on me
-Create a force bubble where I'm completely shielded from the wind
-Edit: Imagine the air calming and everything going completely still (thanks to dragonmaster21)

I think that even if one of these works I'll want to try them all at some point!



Whoa! What did that do to this dude?

Ya know, I think the most important thing is to really "feel" that no obstacle will stand in your way. In my own experience, if I feel that, an idea or solution will present itself. Things just seem easier when you don't see them as difficult. Exercise metaphor: Running up a hill, while feeling that it is easy, despite sweating, huffing and puffing. You will take your body to the limit, and that is the point! I heard somewhere that the mind quits long before the body does. In other words, we think we can't because we have never done it before. I'm sure you will conquer it soon enough, your approach is always impeccable.

Originally Posted by paigeyemps

He became crinkled and wrinkled. :l

And died. (i didnt mean to kill him!)

Suuuuuure

Somebody doesn't know their own strength

I pulled off lucid dream #25 last night. I had a natural early waking a little before 4 AM, and I felt like I was in the mood to run some SSILD cycles. After one brief false awakening, this LD hit shortly before wake-up time.

This LD had a fantastic setting -- nearby helicopter, about to board a yacht, hanging with my best friend. But for some insane reason I wasted it talking. I just couldn't shut up about lucid dreaming! I was so busy being impressed with myself that I could spout all this information that I forgot to actually do the thing that I love! Frankly, I'm pretty embarrassed that I did something so silly but I can only hope to learn from it.

Even though it didn't end as I liked (or last as long as I'd have preferred), it was still a great dream. This LD was very vivid and the imagery is still sharp in my mind. I may need to try reincubating this dream scene.

Here's the DJ entry: A Little Less Conversation, a Little More Action - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Pre-bed food: 2 tbsp natural peanut butter, 200mg ubiquinol (CoQ10), 3g fish oil
Technique: SSILD, MILD counting sleep ritual
Sleep: 7 hours+

Spoiler for October Goals:

Goals for October:
-Have 6 more lucid dreams
-Complete one of the October Tasks of the Month
-Stable, sustained flight in at least one lucid dream. Not just jumping or getting blown away by the wind! The Unprepared Astronaut - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Lucid Count for October: 7

Recall Haze
The past couple of days, I've only recalled dreams that occur after my WBTB. This coincides with the weather turning cold and I wonder whether I'm going into some sort of ultra-deep hibernation-style sleep. I'd like to do a few things to help improve the recall of my earlier dreams:
-Go to sleep visualizing the sort of dreams that I wish to experience (suggestion from RareCola)
-Try to experience at least 15-20 minutes of good fantasy material at some point during the day. (Watch some Avatar, play Journey, view images of a setting I'd like to visit, etc.)

Hopefully this will help my recall from the earlier phases of the night. If it doesn't, I'm going for the apple juice! Of course, please let me know if any other ideas come to mind.

Lucid Fragment
I experienced a lucid fragment the night before last: "It's midday and I'm wandering through someone's backyard, searching for something. I suddenly get the feeling that I shouldn't be intruding on some stranger's property. Or perhaps this is all a dream? I half-heartedly try to push my finger through my palm and it doesn't go. Recognizing my previous RC as half-assed, I try again, really grinding my finger into my left palm. My hand begins to stretch like taffy and now I'm lucid. I know that I had LD plans but for now they elude me. I have no direction and I'm enchanted by the perfect weather. I stand there for a few moments, enjoying the sun on my face until I wake up."

Tech: MILD w/ counting ritual
Pre-bed food: 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter, 200mg ubiquinol, 3g fish oil

Upcoming Vacation
I'll be on vacation and away from DreamViews Friday, November 2nd through Friday, November 9th. I'll probably have very little chance to post during this time but hopefully upon my return I'll have a pile of LDs to unload.

Congrats on the lucid fragment

Apple juice sounds good (lol don't mind me, I'm biased towards apple juice). Bananas also weirdly give me bizarre dreams.

And go take a vacaaa we shall be awaiting your return :3

Enjoy your vacation! Hope you have many lucid dreams

Apple Juice!
Well, I finally tried bedtime and WBTB apple juice. Wow that stuff worked! I don't know whether it's the sugar, the acetylcholine preservation, or some kind of freaky placebo, but my dream recall and vividness were both way up. I didn't get lucid but I had less than 7 hours of sleep anyway, so I wasn't expecting it.

In my prior post you may remember me pissing and moaning that I'd been having bad dream recall before my WBTB. Last night, I had 3 vivid dreams before the WBTB, one of them very long and movie-like. I'll have to post that in dream snippets.

One interesting effect was that after drinking the AJ, it took me a couple of minutes to fall asleep (whereas it usually takes 5-10 seconds.) It could be a simple matter of the high levels of fructose and, secondarily, glucose in the AJ getting the brain into sort of a primed state before sleep and making it more aware during dreaming. I really don't know, but it worked on me!

My protocol was one cup before bed, then one cup during WBTB. I was also paranoid and kinda brushed my teeth after each time I drank all that sugar, ha ha...

Many thanks to RareCola and paigeyemps for this idea! Amazing. Highly recommended to anyone who's curious, at least as an experiment.

Edit: There is no dancing apple, but there is a dancing you-know-what!

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

Apple Juice!
Well, I finally tried bedtime and WBTB apple juice. Wow that stuff worked! I don't know whether it's the sugar, the acetylcholine preservation, or some kind of freaky placebo, but my dream recall and vividness were both way up. I didn't get lucid but I had less than 7 hours of sleep anyway, so I wasn't expecting it.

In my prior post you may remember me pissing and moaning that I'd been having bad dream recall before my WBTB. Last night, I had 3 vivid dreams before the WBTB, one of them very long and movie-like. I'll have to post that in dream snippets.

One interesting effect was that after drinking the AJ, it took me a couple of minutes to fall asleep (whereas it usually takes 5-10 seconds.) It could be a simple matter of the high levels of fructose and, secondarily, glucose in the AJ getting the brain into sort of a primed state before sleep and making it more aware during dreaming. I really don't know, but it worked on me!

My protocol was one cup before bed, then one cup during WBTB. I was also paranoid and kinda brushed my teeth after each time I drank all that sugar, ha ha...

Many thanks to RareCola and paigeyemps for this idea! Amazing. Highly recommended to anyone who's curious, at least as an experiment.

Edit: There is no dancing apple, but there is a dancing you-know-what!

That's awesome, glad you had some luck with it! I'll have to go and read your dreams. You know, I've never actually tried drinking apple juice during a WBTB. I've stayed away from drinking anything during my WBTB as it seemed to actually kill my lucid success. Not sure why.

Oh, and here's your apple!

YES!!!!!!!!! WE HAVE ANOTHER APPLE JUICE MINION!! great job, canis :3

Originally Posted by RareCola

That's awesome, glad you had some luck with it! I'll have to go and read your dreams. You know, I've never actually tried drinking apple juice during a WBTB. I've stayed away from drinking anything during my WBTB as it seemed to actually kill my lucid success. Not sure why.

Oh, and here's your apple!

Ha ha, thanks! Interesting that drinking interfered with your lucidity during a WBTB. I didn't become lucid either, so I don't exactly have a great counterexample. Even so, I'll still have to give it a try... getting lucid during one of these should be amazing.

Originally Posted by paigeyemps

YES!!!!!!!!! WE HAVE ANOTHER APPLE JUICE MINION!! great job, canis :3

Yes!! Soon, soon we'll have all of DreamViews experimenting with a variety of delicious bedtime snacks.

If ya'll really want to trip balls do WBTB B6. I took 400MG this morning and OMG I had the craziest LD in a while. And no calories

I had a great time on vacation (and managed to get some good lucids) but man did I miss talking with you good folks while I was out! I'm glad to see that everyone's been staying active (and that Xanous left me at least one bottle of B6 at the drug store.) Anyway, it's great to be back and see you all here. Over vacation, I had 3 lucid dreams, and wound up playing with B6 (intentionally) and sleep cycle adjustment (unintentionally.)

My Best Lucid So Far
I had a vivid, extremely long lucid dream near the beginning of the vacation after jumping time zones. I also took 100 mg of B6 before bed, so this could have been another factor as well. On top of that, I was excited about the task I was performing (the 17th century turkey hunt) and spent some time incubating imagery about my strategy at bedtime.

The dream felt like it lasted an hour and a half. (I even told this to a DC in-dream.) The entire sleep period where it could have taken place was about 2 hours and 15 minutes, so it's at least conceivable that it lasted this long. I tend to think that time is mercurial and elusive in an LD and you can't really pin this sort of thing down to well. But in the end, what I think matters most is how the experience feels. It was an amazing dream. Exactly the kind of thing I always hope for in an LD.

Transcendental Turkey Shoot - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Converted Nightmares
I also had a couple of converted nightmares during my vacation time. Walter White showed up in another one. It seems that Mr. Heisenberg's starting to become a bit of a dream sign.

Another interesting occurrence was that I produced a firearm from out of nowhere when I was frightened in one of these dreams. It "felt" very much like when I produce objects in an LD. Are the skills starting to bleed over to non-lucids? Or was I perhaps very, very dimly aware that I was dreaming? Either way it was interesting.

Paranoia - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
REBMEVON rejected - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

November Goals
-Have 7 lucid dreams this month
-Complete a Basic Task of the Month
-Complete an Advanced Task of the Month
-Fly, jump or climb to the top of the Great Pyramid
-Write something down correctly

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

Are the skills starting to bleed over to non-lucids? Or was I perhaps very, very dimly aware that I was dreaming? Either way it was interesting.

I have noticed a lot of non lucid dream control. I think it does naturally bleed over because you become used to it after so many lucids.

Lucid Dream #29
I didn't have a huge amount of sleep last night so I was pleased to get an LD. In this one, Wife directly made me lucid. I'm not sure if this is just pure luck or perhaps down to some of the work I did to prep Wife's DC for Character-Assisted Lucid Dreaming. Regardless of the cause, it was really cool to have her walk me across the threshold.

Here's the DJ entry: The Lucidity Machine - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Technique: SSILD
Pre-bed food: 1 cup apple juice, bag of popcorn, 200mg ubiquinol, 3g fish oil
WBTB food: 1 cup apple juice

Lucid Aid Strategy
I've recently started employing two lucid aids on some nights: apple juice and vitamin B6. B6 in particular I run on a cycle to avoid building up some kind of tolerance. Currently, I will take 100mg of B6 before bed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays if I will be getting adequate sleep. I'll intersperse apple juice at will on any night where I'll be getting adequate sleep and not using B6. (I'm not yet prepared to combine these until I'm familiar with how each works for me.)

I've had good results with both of these, so I'll try to keep very precise records to see what works best for me and in what amounts.

I like your lucid Aid Strategy. I will mostly likely be doing something like that myself. And I totally forgot to mention that I started apple juice myself. I think drinking AJ when you don't B6 is a good idea. I think I will just B6 on the weekends.

How has SSILD been working for you? Do you do it every night? About what is your rate of success with it?

Sometimes I can't focus long enough to do it. Last night I wasn't so tired and I had some strangeness but no lucid and was really close the night before. It's been over a week for me but like I said being so tired was not helpful. I don't know, I was thinking about trying another method but maybe I should give it more time. I think maybe I tend to switch techs too soon. I just want to get to the point were one tech becomes consistent and I can LD at will. Maybe that's a pipe dream, I don't know

Originally Posted by Xanous

How has SSILD been working for you? Do you do it every night? About what is your rate of success with it?

Sometimes I can't focus long enough to do it. Last night I wasn't so tired and I had some strangeness but no lucid and was really close the night before. It's been over a week for me but like I said being so tired was not helpful. I don't know, I was thinking about trying another method but maybe I should give it more time. I think maybe I tend to switch techs too soon. I just want to get to the point were one tech becomes consistent and I can LD at will. Maybe that's a pipe dream, I don't know

Yeah, lately I've been using it on any night that I have a successful WBTB. (Unfortunately, this is not every night!) It's been working very well recently but I was also on vacation and doing my first experimentation with B6.

Doing a quick check of my records, I've gotten lucid the last three times that I did a WBTB w/ SSILD. While that may just be a hot streak, it's been encouraging for me.

In case it helps, there are a couple of changes that I've made lately. I've been doing a little bit longer WBTBs, staying up at least 20 minutes, writing dreams, and reading old dreams if there's time left over. Really reaching hard for recall when I first wake up, too. Plus lots more sleep, generally.

Once the cycles actually begin, I've performed 5. The first one I do very quickly. Perhaps 5 seconds for each sense. The second cycle is also pretty quick. I slow it down to a more leisurely pace on the last 3 cycles. This seems to help me get my head in the game. I've had less of the trouble where I either fell asleep instantly or got myself too wired doing cycles forever. At some point, Cosmic Iron suggested speeding up the first cycle or two and I've enjoyed running it that way.

As for whether it's time to switch, we've all got our personal style. I like to just grind on one tech for as long as possible once it's given me some success. It takes me time to tune it just right and make sure I've removed all of the possible variables like sleep quality, luck, etc. Like you, I'd love to find the magic bullet that lets me just LD at will! I believe it's out there and I think we both know what it is -- confidence and top-notch awareness skills. My feeling, at least presently, is that the best way to enhance both is with good practices and getting lucid as often as possible. So here's to that.

Maybe try getting some good sleep and shortening the first two cycles. If you still stay dry after that, maybe a fresh tech would be a good idea? And regardless of your primary tech, you of all people should always be looking for the odd DEILD.

Well your input and my experience this morning just renewed my love of SSILD. You reminded me of DEILDs so I was keeping a DEILD mentality last night. I got up to go to the bathroom at around 3:30 plopped straight back into bed. I started with SSILD right away. I got a few cycles and went straight into a half dream. I could blindly feel and hear myself walking. Finally it became so real that I thought maybe I was in the dream so I began a lucid task but at the moment SP hit so I did my usual thing but it didn't quite work out. So I rolled but I thought I really rolled in bed and gave up. After the fact I realize it was a FA. The bed was too big and the rolling was too easy and didn't feel right. I even blew through a nose plug but I had given up so I didn't notice. God I feel stupid when that happens. LOL. I guess technically that walking around part was a lucid but I'm not putting that in my count because I was just on the cusp of it and failed miserably.

Hey, great to hear! Nice that you made it even without doing a really serious, full-length WBTB. And on poor sleep too!

When the SP hits, are you pulled out of the dream and suddenly fully aware of only your physical body in bed, locked up tight? I've never experienced any form of SP so my understanding of this experience is pretty limited.

The close calls make me slap my forehead, too, but getting lucid, even for a short time, is always a good thing. It'll be interesting to see how your caffeine / B6 withdrawal process goes.

Yes a lot if time I am pulled out if the dream and feel vibrations all over my body. Its pretty much all you can think about at first. It happens so sudden that its a shock. however, I've noticed that I seem to be getting used to it and its less extreme than in the past. Some times I just pause in the dream and resume were I left off. The visualizations I do during induction seem to help. I always visualize myself doing a simple repeditve action like walking.

I slipped up and had a few sips of coffee this morning but no other caffeine. I have a slight addiction to it.

Lucid Fragments
I was experiencing some very light sleep this morning and this led to three lucid fragments. (A scene where I woke up too quickly for it to be a true LD.)
Pre-bed food: 100mg B6, 200 mg ubiquinol, 3g fish oil
Tech: SSILD

First: I'm in the office, speculating with my coworkers S and J about why the ceiling is blackened and scorched. I mention to J that I think she might have popped up in a dream at some point. She says, "No, I didn't. This is the first time." I become lucid, realizing she's right. I get one last look at S and J before waking up.

Second: I'm at the top of a tower, hundreds of feet in the air. I have to cross over to another tower by crossing over this flimsy bridge of old cardboard boxes sort of jammed together. Worse, I have to drop down about 12 feet to even get to the bridge. Fear is making me procrastinate on this task but then I suddenly realize that this is just a dream -- I don't actually have to do this. Rather than hang on, I wake up, feeling relieved.

Third: I'm flying over a vast, multi-layered tessellation of hexagons. Each layer is slightly translucent and floating silently through space. The scene is extremely complex and the frame rate is chugging slightly. I speculate that this is because I have an older model of PlayStation 3. After a bit more of this flying, I become lucid. I feel oddly insecure about my brain generating this low framerate, lose concentration, and wake up.

DEILD Time
The above shows me that it is high time I got better at DEILDing. Those were 3 perfect setups for a chain into a full-length LD and I wasn't ready to pull it off. I want to be prepared for those opportunities in the future.

I'm going to review some tips I've gotten in the past on DEILD and probably some DJ entries of people doing it right!

Sounds like LDs to me. Weak ones, but still LDs. I understand not counting them though I think you should.

Yes definitely time to learn to DEILD! Its really easy if you get the timing right.

Originally Posted by Xanous

Sounds like LDs to me. Weak ones, but still LDs. I understand not counting them though I think you should.

Thanks, man! I appreciate you saying that. The fragments are still special to me, so I could go either way. Ultimately, I decided not to count them since they are just still not quite what I'm looking for. Hopefully I can turn em into DEILD fuel though.

Lucid Aids Results and Tweaks
My twice-weekly dose of B6 does seem to have some effect on dream vividness. My 3 lucid fragments from night before last were after a B6 dosage, and the dream with the towers in particular was extremely vivid. I'm going to continue using the B6 twice per week, but switch to Monday and Wednesday (for scheduling reasons.) On Wednesday I'll try a 200mg dose and compare the effect.

RareCola's thread on mangoes has got me interested in trying to get some more pre-bed tryptophan (like what mangoes have.) Tonight I'm going to have an ounce of cheddar cheese with some bedtime apple juice and see what happens.

DEILD Attempt
I came out of a long (45+ minutes?), very vivid non-lucid and attempted to DEILD, failing. Perhaps I'd emerged completely from an REM cycle because I felt very serene and well-rested, which meant that I just couldn't slip back into sleep right away. I couldn't point to anything I really did wrong on this one, so I'm excited to try again.

I'm adding a successful DEILD as a goal for this month. I need to get this skill back.

Lucidity Machine Incubation
A comment on my dream about "The Lucidity Machine" made me appreciate just how special this LD may have been for me. It's the combination of a machine that literally makes me lucid and Wife herself operating it (Wife being my most common DC and dream sign.) The DJ entry: http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/cani...machine-40666/

I'm going to try to incubate this dream every night before bedtime for a minimum of one week. I'm toying with the idea of somehow incubating it during WBTB as well but I'm not yet familiar with doing that.

Spoiler for November Goals Update:

-Have 7 lucid dreams this month
-Complete a Basic Task of the Month
-Complete an Advanced Task of the Month
-Fly, jump or climb to the top of the Great Pyramid
-Write something down correctly
-Perform at least one DEILD (new)

Lucid dreams this month:4

Lucid Dream #30
I had lucid dream #30 last night, another fun, pure exploration type of dream that stemmed from converting a semi-nightmare into an LD. I had vague ideas about performing the Purgatory task of the month, but I was way, way off. Got some great flight time and explored several different areas. Oh, and encountered Erik Estrada.

Here's the DJ entry: Fire Escape - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Tech: SSILD w/ 30-minute WBTB
Pre-bed food: 2 bags of popcorn, 200 mg ubiquinol, 3g fish oil

Longer WBTB (thank you, OpheliaBlue!)
OpheliaBlue posted a Lucidity Institute study in one of the class workbooks that explored the issue of optimal WBTB length. The upshot of the study was that 10 minutes is a little short, 20 minutes is good, and 30 minutes is even better. I read through it all and made the change last night.

This worked great! I stayed awake reading and/or thinking about LD and past entries in my written DJ. Then I hit my SSILD cycles when it was time to go back to sleep. While it's only the first night, it's very encouraging that I was able to become lucid on the first try. The only downside is that this can cut into sleep time, so it can't be performed absolutely every night. But for the times when it fits the schedule, it's great! I'll be incorporating it whenever possible.

Big thanks to Ophelia and one Stephen LaBerge on that one. Here's the link to the study: http://lucidity.com/NL63.RU.Naps.html

Spoiler for November Goals Update:

-Have 7 lucid dreams this month
-Complete a Basic Task of the Month
-Complete an Advanced Task of the Month
-Fly, jump or climb to the top of the Great Pyramid
-Write something down correctly
-Perform at least one DEILD (new)

Lucid dreams this month:5