Thread: Dolphin's Workbook

I commented on the DJ entry, but again, great job, Rocket Man. Out into space without having to experience any unpleasant high G-force!

I wish I had a tip for you on hearing / recalling DCs better. For some reason, this isn't something I've had to repair before so don't exactly know how to go about it. Definitely keep listening to em and hopefully one of these days something will stick. Everyone's DCs tend to have their own unique way of doing things so this will be a fun thing for you to discover.

I had another lucid fragment. Lucid #11 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

My stabilizing has really become lazy lately so I'm going to reread the "Dream Stabilization and Clarity Control" tutorial here and really try to put it into practice. I don't want any more dinky lucids!

I've been dream journaling for over 5 weeks straight now though (haven't missed a day I don't think) so my recall is getting to be pretty good! I slept for 12 hours and had no less than 8 dreams, both of which are records for me! It seems like every night now is like a fun adventure for me as I've been having 4-6 dreams a night.

I've found that I can fall asleep pretty quickly if I just relax my body and mind as much as I possibly can. I'm just trying to find the final piece to my technique that will allow me to become lucid consistantly. I'm trying to find a mindset to sleep on. Here are the ones I've narrowed down-the mindsets I keep as I'm relaxing with the "I'm dreaming" mantra.

1-Focus on the blackness and stabilize as soon as I see something.
2-Be sure to look out for anything unusual and stabilize when I see something.
3-Constantly decifer whether I'm awake or dreaming and stabilize when I find I'm dreaming.

Which one to choose!

I had my lucid tonight with mindset #1. Mindset #2 seems to be the most traditional and effective but I haven't had any success with it. Mindset #3 quickly becomes mundane so I haven't stuck with it long enough to see if it works. I think it might be effective though if I'm focused enough.

Good good good! Way to keep up with the recall and systematically zero in on what combination of steps works best for you. And top it all off with a crapload of sleep.

The stabilization, I think, will come. The tutorial should be a great place to start. I think that in general what works is to draw in as much detail from the dream scene as you can and try to get a real sense of your dream body (by probing, rubbing your hands together, or whatever comes to mind). You're just going to get better and better at this the more practice you have. Getting lucid as many times as you can and just giving yourself that practice will work wonders. I notice, for example, that OpheliaBlue and paigeyemps almost never need to bother with stabilization anymore. I think that at some point this process becomes almost completely natural and automatic. (Not always there yet myself, that's for sure!)

I think you've got a great series of steps laid out and it's exciting to watch how much success you're having. (I, too, am a fan of the "I'm dreaming" mantra.) You are doing it right! And I am terribly jealous/impressed by your 12 hours of sleep.

Originally Posted by TwilightShawn

It seems like every night now is like a fun adventure for me as I've been having 4-6 dreams a night.

This is a great attitude and it's completely true. Sleep really becomes something to look forward to. This helps keep the practice exciting and sets you up with loads of positive expectations. So much better than thinking of bed time as simply "warping" you to the next day when you'll have to drag your butt out of bed to go to work.

I think I'm getting close to a technique that works very well for me! In my usual trial and error, (read the following carefully) I discovered that if I convince myself that I'm dreaming while I'm still awake falling asleep, I'll be convinced that I'm dreaming when I'm dreaming and therefore will instantly become lucid if I don't miss a rem period or otherwise forget while I'm unconcious. This is basically a different way for me to remember I'm dreaming while I'm dreaming so it's a MILD technique.

A couple nights ago I tried this and became instantly lucid twice in a row. I just tried to convince myself I was dreaming, was in a void and I would walk into the dream as soon as I saw any sort of imagery. This resulted in Lucid #12 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views. All I remember from the second dream was that I was at a festival or fair type place and I instantly started actively listening too and looking at the dream characters to see what my mind would create; this was a sign I was lucid. I lost lucidity and forgot everything after that though so it won't go into my lucid count. I forgot to stabilize both instances so I changed my thinking to stabilizing as soon as I saw imagery.

So, last night I tried convincing myself I was dreaming while falling asleep, trying different mantras and such. I came very close to becoming lucid twice. In one dream, I was dreaming (I think) that I felt the vibrations that signaled a wake induced dream. I woke up in a different bed though and my dream ended just as I was about to do a reality check. The second time I was playing a wii or kinect type of video game where I was throwing baseballs into the screen and the game would tell how fast I was pitching (I topped out at 57 MPH, about 10 MPH more than my top speed IRL). My dream ended soon after I was thinking about how cool and fun this dream was. At the end of my sleep this morning though I decided that mantras seemed to be contradicting was I was trying to do. I was trying to convince myself I was dreaming because I wasn't convinced. I need to be convinced I'm dreaming while I'm falling asleep. I think the way to do this is to distort my perception of what a dream actually is. Just like that guy in "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming"

Twenty years ago I attended Tarthang Tulku’s workshop on Tibetan Buddhism
at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. Rinpoche (“precious jewel”), as we called
the teacher, had been forced to leave Tibet when the Chinese Communists had
invaded, and had “just gotten off the boat” from India. He therefore spoke precious
little English. The bits of his speech that weren’t already broken were frequently
broken with laughter. I had been expecting esoteric explanations of advanced theory,
but what I got was something incalculably more valuable.

Rinpoche would indicate the world around us with a casual sweep of the hand
and portentously announce: “This... dream!” Then he would laugh some more and
pointing at me or some other person or object, rather mysteriously it seemed, he
would insist: “This dream!” followed by more laughter. Rinpoche managed to get the
idea across to us (how, I don’t really know; I wouldn’t rule out telepathy, considering
how very few words were exchanged) that we were to attempt to think of all our
experiences as dreams and to try to maintain unbroken continuity of consciousness
between the two states of sleep and waking. I didn’t think I was doing very well with
the exercise, but on my way back to San Francisco after the weekend, I unexpectedly
found my world was in some way expanded.

Here's my technique as it stands right now-

I lie down and get into a comfortable position. I relax and take deep breaths until my body goes numb. Then, I close my eyes. As soon as I close my eyes, I'm dreaming. I dream that I'm in a void and am waiting patiently for a scene to stabilize. The color of this void might vary in color depending how bright it was at the moment I closed my eyes. I might hear sounds that mimic the real world but I'm well aware they're part of the dream and not real. I stabilize and anchor myself to this dream. If I notice any instability (thoughts that I'm awake) I will restabilize. I stay focused on patiently waiting for imagery to appear and once it does, I take my time stabilizing it and am good to go...


I'll see how it goes tonight. Even if it doesn't work out, it's fun to do!

That's a really interesting approach, Shawn. Very exciting, actually!

If I understand the strategy correctly, what you've done is shift the mnemonic trigger a bit. Basically, you are convincing yourself that the very next thing you see will be a dream scene. (Which is true!) It really moves MILD into the here and now. I notice this in the mantra that you (and coincidentally, I) selected: "I'm dreaming."

Personally, I love the sound of this. It's got all of the important elements: firm belief in success, a reliable mnemonic trigger, and a logical, straightforward mechanism. Looking forward to hearing more!

No success last night. The method, specifically the looking for imagery part, really seems to affect my recall as I didn't have any dreams using it. One interesting effect it has though is that I'm slower to decifer when I'm awake when I wake up.

I only had 2 non-lucids, another one at my Grandma's house. My grandma's house is definately my strongest dreamsign (who would have thought). I'll update my opening post with that.

I really like the "I'm dreaming" mantra. It's given me such great recall and success that I'm not sure I want to part with it. So, I think I should build my technique on the base of relaxing my body and mind as much as possible and mentally repeating "I'm dreaming" in between breaths. I know this technique gives me lots of non-lucids and conservatively 1-3 lucids a week.

I know now that looking for imagery seems to harm my recall so I'm not going to add that part yet. Trying to convince myself I'm dreaming makes it harder for me to sleep because I'm thinking too much so I'm not going to add that part yet either. I know that imagining things doesn't harm my ability to sleep. In fact, it seems to enhance it. So, imagining I'm in a void should be okay to add.

I thought about getting ear plugs and a sleep mask to help me imagine I'm in a void. Earplugs seem like a pain as they don't last forever so I have to keep buying them (They would cost about 25$ a year), I would have to insert them just right every night to avoid injuring myself, and I'm not sure what effect they would have on my dreams themselves. The sleep mask though only has a one time cost of about 6$, the darkness would really help me imagine I'm in a void and it might even improve my sleep further. And it would reletively confient to use as well. So, I'm going to buy a sleep mask. Who cares what others think!

Here's my technique as it stands right now
I lie down, put on my sleep mask and close my eyes. I mentally repeat "I'm dreaming" in between breaths while relaxing my body and mind as much as I possibily can. I continue repeating I'm dream while imagining myself in a void until I go to sleep.

If I'm understanding correctly, it sounds like the "looking for imagery" technique jumbled your recall a bit but you still managed to recall 2 dreams? Really, that's not terribly bad. Still, if you are getting the sense that it's compromising your recall, moving on to other ideas makes sense.

Since you're reluctant to use ear plugs, is there any chance that some sort of white noise machine could help you feel like you are experiencing a void? That would be much closer to a one-time cost and you'd be very unlikely to injure yourself with it.

It's a real pleasure reading your workbook. It's great that you are taking the time to methodically note down your thoughts as you evolve. I think that you are going to love having this to review as you continue to refine your techniques over the months and years ahead.

I actually didn't recall any dreams with the "looking for imagery" technique last night. I recalled both dreams with the "I'm dreaming" mantra and by trying to convince myself I'm dreaming. After 7 hours of sleeping without dreams I was getting a bit desperate to dream so I figured that the "looking for imagery" part of my technique was the culprit of my poor recall, given that it has in past nights as well while I was testing it. So I ditched it and managed a couple of dreams the last 2 hours.

Personally, I don't really like the concept of white noise. My dreams are typically very silent except for dialogue so I don't associate noise with dreaming. I feel silence would better convince me I'm dreaming. While shopping I was actually looking at noise cancelling headphones. They ran out so I wasn't able to test them but they cost $50 for the Sony brand (the only type they had), an investment I'd be willing to make if they worked well.

My new sleep mask is awesome! I got "The Bathery" Luxury Padded Sleep Mask at Target for $6.22 after tax. With it on I can't see anything! I can't even tell if my eyes are closed or not. I'm looking forward to trying it out tonight!

Yeah it's good to be able to know what works for you and what does not. I think it's good to be able discern that be flexible when needed.

With that sleep mask on, I think you will have a built in reality check. If you can see and you know you went to bed with a mask on then BAM! Lucid. No worries about false awakenings. Just a thought.

Another bad night for recall! Only 1 dream and 2 fragments. Ugh!

It's okay though because looking back at my previous posts and writings here, I noticed a pretty strong pattern that tells me what I need to do.

It all comes back to this old technique I came up with a while ago (9/15):

My adjusted technique-
This technique is an all day cycle. When I wake up, I do a reality check to make sure I'm awake. Then I write my dreams in my dream journal. As soon as I done with my dream journal I think "I'm awake", enter "awake" mode and I start my day. As I'm in "awake" mode, as much as possible, I take slow breaths and in between my breaths, I think "I'm awake". As soon as my day is over, I relax and make sure my mind is clear. When I'm relaxed and I'm just about to close my eyes to go to sleep think "When I close my eyes to enter dreaming mode, anything is possible". I close my eyes and take deep breaths at first thinking "I'm dreaming" in between breaths. I take deep breaths until I feel completely relaxed. Then I switch to slow soft breaths still thinking "I'm dreaming" in between breaths. If I still have trouble going to sleep doing this I visually transport myself to the most relaxing location possible and continue with slow, soft breaths until I go to sleep. Then I hopefully lucid dream at will all night! When I think I'm awake, I do a reality check to make sure I'm awake and the cycle continues until I become proficent at lucid dreaming. If I need to work on my dream control, when I have time, I will relax and think "As I enter dreaming mode, anything is possible". I will then work on my visualization and daydreaming thinking "I'm dreaming" in between slow soft breaths. When I'm finished, I'll think "I'm awake".

Then I wrote:
I seems simple enough that I can be consistant with it every day. Hopefully, I see some results!

I had 4 lucids the next 6 nights.

Then I dropped the technique. No lucids for 10 nights.

Then I went back to the technique. But not all the way! 7 lucids in the last 25 nights.

There's more! If I look at the DILDs themsleves, I notice they gradually diminish in quality each time I go back to my good old technique. Hmm... why could this be? Also, why is it I had instant lucidity right after I created the technique but didn't after stopped and started doing it again? Did I leave something else out?

Could it be because that I've not been doing the ADA part of the technique, thinking "I'm awake" in between breaths! I think so! My best DILDs came as I was doing this! Could I not be getting instant lucidity anymore because I stopped saying "As I close my eyes to enter dreaming mode, anything is possible". I think so!

So, I think I ought to go back to my old adjusted technique (all the way this time!) and build off of that without eliminating any of the components. I guess this is why we write stuff down! I should add the date when journalling as well to make it easier to find patterns like this in the future. Also, now that I learned the importance of ADA, I should research it again and see what I could do better.

Aside from all this, with my new sleep mask, it should be easier for me to sleep in the morning when it's light outside. Since most of my lucids come during this time, I could experiment with a longer WBTB, say 2 hours, during the time when my mom waking up keeps me from going back to sleep. Since sleeping 10 hours doesn't seem to increase my lucid count more than if I sleep 8. I could sleep for 8 hours so I have more time during the day to boot. I'll try sleeping from 1-7 and from 9-11 when I work nights (which is mostly the case now). I could probably go to bed 1 or 2 hours earlier if I get bored during the night. I might even be able to sleep from 10-5 and 7-9 if I'm really tired at night and I could bump that schedule back an hour if I have to work during the day.

More quality lucids for me!

Looks like your fastidious record keeping is paying off! This is the way to do it: write it down, react, and adjust. Keeping these long-term written records will help keep you aware of broader patterns in your personal sleep and dreaming habits. This is IMO the most efficient way to conduct the "experiment of one" that we've all begun to find our personal best routes to lucidity.

Your analysis is so thorough here that I can only add my encouragement and compliments. Well done!

I had the most unusual lucid last night. Lucid #13 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views. It was my first WILD (maybe a SSILD?) that came without any vibrations, after only 3 hours of sleep, after only a minute or two after lying down, where I had no control whatsoever, and where I was another animal throughout the entire dream. It was pretty obvious, given the context of the dream, that I was a dog even though I was never really aware of my dream body, if I had one. I found it tough to stabilize, given I didn't have any hands since I was a dog and since I had no control over the dream. It was a cool dream though, even if it lasted only 20 seconds. I found it tough to sleep the rest of the night because I kept thinking about the dream the rest of the night and I think it came at the end of a rem period, given I was very tired before the dream and very awake after.

Congrats Shawn! I read your journal. That's pretty interesting. That reminds me of my dream where I was lucid, but I was a tumbleweed. Yep, and no control whatsoever. Hahah

I wasn't having any success this morning. I started thinking about how natural LDers have lucid dreams. They just go to sleep and wait for the next dream to begin without any techniques and are already lucid when the dream starts. I thought, "Hey, I could do that! I'll just lie down and wait for the dream to begin. I know when I'm dreaming! (IRL at least)". So that's what I did. I just lied down and waited for my next dream to begin without any techniques. Bam! Lucid#14 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views. I forgot to stabilize again, but I think this little dream is important in my development as a lucid dreamer. I went to sleep waiting for a dream to begin so therefore I was looking for signs of a dream beginning. Because of this, I was immediately looking for dream signs as the dream began. If this technique works consistantly I might even become a natural! Fingers crossed!

Ahahaha well whaddya know! Raking in the lucids huh?

Originally Posted by TwilightShawn

I wasn't having any success this morning. I started thinking about how natural LDers have lucid dreams. They just go to sleep and wait for the next dream to begin without any techniques and are already lucid when the dream starts. I thought, "Hey, I could do that! I'll just lie down and wait for the dream to begin. I know when I'm dreaming! (IRL at least)". So that's what I did. I just lied down and waited for my next dream to begin without any techniques. Bam!

Great technique! I love the sheer confidence of it. If you've proven that you're capable of having lucid dreams, why shouldn't you be able to do it all the time? Ultimately everybody can once they acquire enough skill.

Once you accept that, what's hold you back? Nothing! It's just what you're supposed to be doing when you dream. That's the ultimate "MILD", isn't it?

Originally Posted by TwilightShawn

If this technique works consistantly I might even become a natural! Fingers crossed!

What do you mean, become a natural?

I think I was a bit overzealous yesterday when I implied I might become a natural. I'm never going to become a natural. I night of non-lucids like last night will ground me real quick.

Last night, I was either dreaming faster than I was expecting or I would let my awareness wander off before I was dreaming. I have to be ready for and expecting a dream at any time for the method to work. I like the method though. I'll keep working at it.

Usually my weekend serving shifts are so busy and mentally exhausting that when I'm trying to go to bed that night, my mind will create imaginary guests that I feel obligated to serve! It's so wierd! It makes it tough to concentrate and be as aware as I need to be which probably explains my lack of lucids on the weekend.

Originally Posted by TwilightShawn

I think I was a bit overzealous yesterday when I implied I might become a natural. I'm never going to become a natural. I night of non-lucids like last night will ground me real quick.

I'm not so sure! You're just starting out and you're getting better all the time.

It's my honest belief that nearly anybody is capable of having a lucid dream every single night. It takes work, patience, a good attitude, and a great deal of learning and self-awareness. Maybe we're not there yet but I believe that we can get there. Just don't be surprised if this takes a while!

Keep up the great work and the deep thinking!

Another lucid fragment! Ugh! I decided to try the waiting for imagery technique again and got this-Lucid#15 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views. I think I entered the void because my mind couldn't decide what to come up with for a dreamscape. I should have tried imagining something while spinning, running, or shouting "lights on!". I'll know better next time. It's only fitting this month ended with another pathetic DILD I suppose. Novemember 1st is tommarow!

I really want to come up with a consistant approach this month to get some more consistancy. This last month I did a lot of trial and error with techniques and I kept going to bed at different times.

Heres the plan for this month. Every day I'll try to make an effort to notice as much as I can. (ADA) I'll sleep from 11-8. I'll go to bed repeating "I'm dreaming" in between soft breaths while looking for imagery to stabilize. I know that the "looking for imagery technique seems to result in poor recall but when I do see something, it usually seems to result in lucidity. It's also a fun technique to do which will keep me motivated! Anyway, I'll write down all my dreams in my IRL dream journal. When dreaming my #1 priority is to stabilize my dreams! When my dreams are nice and stable I'll work on my dream powers and work on remembering more details from my dreams, especially dialogue. Hopefully a consistant approach will make me lucid more consistantly and will result in more stabiltity.

This month in my lucid dreams I flew on a flying saucer, I waterbended, I flew to space, and I was a dog. Those were my favorite lucids this month. Even though I really liked only 4 out of my 10 lucids this month, one memorable lucid a week doesn't sound too bad. I can't wait to see what's in store for this month!

That sounds like really great progress, Shawn. Try not to call bland lucids pathetic though! Every experience is practice, and practice makes perfect. Lol, cheesy, but true

Hooray for waterbending!

I had another lucid this morning! Lucid#16 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views. This one seemed more stable, even though I forgot to stabilize again. This was probably because a DC assured me I had plenty of time, though unfortunatly his estimate was off! It was really nice to have a one minute DILD again though!

Anyway, to induce this dream I really took my time and focused on doing one breath and repetition of my mantra at a time while assuring myself that after one of the repetitions a dream would start.

I was very close to having a second lucid. In the next dream, I thought I might be dreaming but was never sure. One of my goals is to have 2 lucids in one night.

WOW So many people are racking in lucids today (or yesterday)

Congratulations

I had trouble sleeping for much of the night to my mantra for some reason which isn't usual for me. The first couple of dreams I had were centered around cooking shows so I figured I was hungry too. I ate a banana. I tried thinking less during my next MILD attempt. I still had trouble going to sleep but ended up having a dream with a brief moment of lucidity; not long enough to add to my count though. My next attempt I dropped my mantra all together. Then I had a long, pretty weird lucid (3-4 minutes is long for me which this dream was!)Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Shawn's Lucid Dreams - Dream Journals. This is definately the weirdest lucid I've had! I figured out how fast I could fly as well! San Francisco Bay, in a straight line, is about 18 miles from my Grandma's house. I think once I was in the air, it took me about 5 seconds to get there. That comes out to 12960 MPH ! It's real nice that my dreams are getting more stable! Can't wait till tonight!

Sounds like a lot of fun man! Stability is that basic key to future success! keep that up!