Anju's Workbook

[Anju]

Reality Checks: - Looking at hands, counting fingers - Re-reading text - Recalling the events of the past hour Dream Signs: - Confusing staircases/elevators - Animals - My hometown, school Short-Term Goals: - Have a long and vivid lucid dream - Have at least one LD per week - Dream control Long-Term Goals: - Induce LDs at will, with total dream-control - Improve creativity - Create a beautiful landscape and fly over it; then wake up and paint it on a huge canvas to be hung on my bedroom wall - Talk about my life to a dream counsellor - Meet the child me and have a conversation with her Lucid/Dream Recall History: - Maintaining a dream journal since last week of June. As of now, I can recall 2-6 dreams per night. Current Technique: - WBTB

[Anju]

I usually go to bed around 11 pm - 12 midnight. I wake up between 7 am - 8 am. When I'm trying for a WBTB, I would set my alarm to ring after 6 hours. I record all dreams in my phone as a note (just keywords). Then I expand it and write down the entire dream in my DJ (It's a diary, because it feels more personal to me than an online journal). 10 pm to 11 pm, before going to bed, I'll be reading my dream journal and also reading generally about lucid dreaming. During the day, I do reality checks usually when I use the elevator/stairs in my office building, when I go to the bathroom, when I'm waiting at the signal to cross the road and whenever I feel like doing an RC. I do a RC at least 2 times in an hour. Also, when something happens out-of-the-ordinary, like there was a fire in the building today. Why I want to lucid dream: 1) To create beautiful dreamscapes 2) To fly and have supernatural powers 3) To spend time with people I admire 4) To have direct conversations and seek answers from my subconscious mind 5) To rehearse for real life and overcome stage fear In my next lucid dream, I want to stabilize it, make it as clear and vivid as possible. Then float around to see, hear, touch, smell and taste my dreamworld! I want to get familiar with it.

[JoannaB]

That sounds like you have a great start already!

[Anju]

I hope so!

[Anju]

Added new long-term goal: Meet the child me and have a conversation with her

[Anju]

LUCID DREAM INSIDE A NON-LUCID DREAM Okay, so this is what happened last night.. I wasn't able to sleep well as my room felt hot and humid. I kept waking up every now and then. So i decided to try this - every time I wake up, I will observe my hands. I have false awakenings very often, so this might help me realize when I'm dreaming. I did look at my hands several times during the night. Then I started dreaming (non-lucid) that my family is moving into this new house with another family (a middle aged couple with a daughter of my age). They showed us around the house. There was a strange clock which displayed beautiful moving patterns when anything touches its surface. I became friends with the girl. We had dinner and some friendly conversation. Then I went to my new room and went to sleep. Then I opened my eyes (still in the dream) and remembered that I should look at my hands. When I looked, I saw six fingers, realized I'm dreaming and got excited. But before I could stabilize, I woke up.. But I didn't wake up in the real world, I woke up in the dream house (no longer realizing that I'm dreaming). Then I saw the house owner's pet cat had wandered into my room. I carried him to the hall, left him there and shut my door. **Woke up in the real world, Recorded keywords in DJ **Went back to sleep Dreamt that I'm looking at my hands again. Six fingers. Realized I'm dreaming. (this dream was just 5 seconds long) **Woke up in the real world, Recorded in DJ **Went back to sleep Looking at my hand again. 5 fingers, all the lines in place, nothing strange. Still not feeling so convinced. So i thought "if I'm dreaming, I should be able to grow a 6th finger." I stretched my fingers away from each other and wished for a 6th finger to grow in the gap, and it grew there right in the middle! Then I made a 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th finger grow. It looked funny. Then I made the extra ones disappear and appear again. It was fun to finally have some control! Next, I wanted to make some text appear in the air. I wished for text, but got some commas and special characters. I thought, maybe I need to specify the text. So I wished for my name to appear. And i got 'ANJU' in bold white letters, hanging in mid-air. All this while I'm lying in bed. So I decided to levitate. Tried forcing my body to float. No success. I tried holding onto the curtains for support. No luck. As I exerted more force, I woke up... And once again, I woke up not in the real world, but in the house from the first dream. (At this point I forget that I'm dreaming). I saw a painting in the room and assumed it was done by the girl. I was disappointed that my room has no attached bathroom. Then my dad came in and asked if I had slept well. I thought about telling him that I just had a lucid dream, but decided not to (Because he already thinks I'm doing a lot of weird stuff. He wouldn't understand). **Woke up in the real world, Recorded in DJ So, I'm not sure if this counts as a lucid dream because it was inside a non-lucid dream.

[JoannaB]

Of course it counts as a lucid! And it is not that it was inside a non-lucid dream: it's not that you dream within a dream - think of it instead as one level of dreaming, but with a false awakening that caused you to loose lucidity. It's kind of like if you tell a story and the story is about you, and in the story you tell a story, ... See it's still all part of your story it's just that your stories content is about you telling a story. Similarly, you dream that you are waking up, that does not mean that you moved from a dream within a dream into another level of dream: it's still all one dream, but the contents of the dream contain a false awakening. Am I making this clearer, or more confusing? I am not sure myself about that. Anyway, congratulations on your two lucid dreams - you had two there I think, the first was just a few seconds long, but still counts. Congratulations also on not believing the false result of the reality check!

[Anju]

Yes, I understand. Thanks So I can count this as my first experience of dream control! I hope I remember to stabilize and increase clarity next time!

[Anju]

Confusing staircases and elevators are undoubtedly my #1 dreamsigns! I see lots of them in most of my dreams but keep failing to recognize them as dreamsigns. Last night's dream was so full of these. I'm taking the elevator, getting down on the next floor, taking the stairs, then catching up with the elevator again on the next floor! At some point I reach this huge auditorium kind of a place with lots of staircases all around..all twisting and turning. While descending one of them, I was thinking 'Why do people even make such confusing staircases!'. But that's it! Didn't even come close to realizing it's a dream. However, I was not trying for a lucid dream last night. So, gonna catch you red handed next time, staircases!

[JoannaB]

I might be misremembering but didn't Stephen LaBerge us the image of stairs in describing the WILD technique? I think it was one way of getting oneself into a wake initiated lucid dream, visualizing climbing or descending stairs. Anyway, you might want to try it, since you already have an affinity for stairs in dreams.

[Anju]

Yes. Have tried that. After visualizing climbing stairs for a minute, I was outside my old landlady's flat with my old roommate and it continued as a non-lucid dream. Every time the staircase visualization made me slip into non-lucid dreams. Need to try harder to stay lucid!

[Anju]

I'm currently taking a break from lucid dreaming as I'm busy with some issues. And I haven't done reality checks or filled in my DJ for 3 days. But today I was taking an afternoon nap and I dreamt that I'm visiting my college from where I graduated a year ago. Halfway through the dream, I had a sudden urge to touch and feel everything. I started touching every object I saw, though I had no idea why I wanted to do so! Though I was not lucid, I'm sure the urge to touch came from the fact that I was learning stabilization techniques 3 days go. I hope I do this the next time I become lucid!

[Anju]

Today after waking up in the morning, I was lying in bed daydreaming. At some point, I fell asleep and entered a dream, and woke up immediately when I realized that. Then I closed my eyes again and tried to get back inside the dream. I saw nothing for sometime, then I started hearing voices which sounded like movie dialogues. Soon I saw a video playing within a small rectangle like a television screen. I was still aware when all this was happening. I just continued watching it passively; then it got clearer and larger and became an entire scene. I'm still watching like audience, I'm not part of the scene. And I'm still aware that it's not real. I'm not quite sure what to call this. Can this be the beginning of WILD? Lol..I tend to forget that I'm taking a break from lucid dreaming till september

[JoannaB]

Yes, congratulations, this was the beginning of a WILD. If you were in the state between being awake and asleep then any images and voices you perceived that were not real are called hypnagogia. Interesting, aren't they?

[Anju]

Oh..so cool! Maybe this is not the right time to take a break from lucid dreaming after all.

[JoannaB]

Anju, I know you were thinking of taking a break, but may I tempt you to consider joining the competition? http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...read-14-a.html This is a great way to get motivated to LD, and it is fun. Best, Joanna

[Anju]

Thank you so much for asking, Joanna . But I'm afraid I can't join the competition this time. I'm already on a break. Under stress due to some personal issues & not getting good sleep. Hence the break. Hoping to sort things out in 2 weeks' time and get to some serious LDing afterwards!

[JoannaB]

Wishing you all the best in sorting things out in your personal issues!

[Anju]

LUCID So I'm still on a break but today morning I had my longest and most vivid lucid dream till date. It started as a non-lucid dream in which i'm living in a dorm room with many other girls and we give shelter to a family because they were being chased by some men with guns who wanted to kill them. (Not explaining in detail as the dream was very long..Let me get straight to the lucid part). I was going to bed (in my dream) when a DC (a guy of my age) told me that if I lie in bed and a few seconds later find myself sitting cross-legged without remembering changing my posture, that means I'm dreaming and I can become lucid. Thanks to him, soon after going to bed I found myself sitting cross-legged and became lucid! The scene was becoming dim, so I started spinning to stabilize and it worked. (First successful attempt at stabilization!) The dream became clear and vivid. I decided to go out on the streets. I was naked, but who cares? lol. Nobody paid attention to me walking naked on the road. That re-affirmed that I'm dreaming! The street was beautiful and it did not look like India at all. I saw a flower shop. I read the board, looked away and re-read. The text had changed. Wanted to try telekinesis. Pointed at a distant tree and moved my finger upwards. The tree flew upwards, leaving behind a cloud of soil. Then i saw a man who had tried to shoot me in the non-lucid part of the dream. I forgot that he's just a DC, instead I thought he's a real person who has somehow managed to enter my dream. I turned to run and remembered that since it's a dream I could fly. I tried to float up to the sky, but couldn't. So I started jumping as high as I could. On the 3rd jump, I got high enough to grab the overhead electricity lines, which I used like a catapult to launch myself into the sky. Flew all over the city, above the tall buildings! But I could not control the direction, I was just flying in a random manner. I wanted to land, but didn't know how to. I was only going higher and higher. I knew I'm going to wake up and couldn't spin as i was in mid-air. And I woke up! P.S: I hope the helpful DC who advised me on getting lucid shows up more often in my dreams!

[JoannaB]

Anju, Congratulations on the lucid dream! Sounds very good. Yes, DCs can be quite helpful that way at times.

[Anju]

Last night I dreamt that I'm going to the toilet. Then I peed in bed and woke up

[Anju]

After a 1 month break, I'm getting back to lucid dreaming, starting tomorrow.

[JoannaB]

Yay, Anju! Welcome back!

[Anju]

Thank you!

[Anju]

I haven't got back to the habit of recording my dreams in my DJ and doing reality checks, as I was busy with a lot of things... But I'm having lots of vivid dreams. I can remember them when I wake up, but as I don't record them immediately, I forget everything 5 minutes later. They're all happy dreams...they leave me with a happy feeling that stays throughout the day. MUST...WRITE...THEM...DOWN