Saxton's Workbook

[SaxtonHale]

I'm new to the class, so I guess I'll just make this. I usually go to bed at 10 on the weekdays, but I'm considering changing that to 9 so that I get an even 9 hours of sleep so my normal wake time of 6:15 is right after a rem cycle and won't interfere with that. On weekends, I have a tendency to go to bed at 11pm-1am, but I'm attempting to change that to 9 as well so I have a more constant sleep schedule. Ever since I've been doing the mantra "I will wake up after every dream", I wake up after about 3 hours and every hour and a half after that. I remember my dreams most of the time, and if I don't things throughout the day will remind me of those that I forgot which I'll think about a lot so as to not lose them. My reality checks include willing to float up, reading and rereading text and clocks, plugging my nose and trying to breathe as well as looking at my hands. The main reason I want to lucid dream is to figure out the voices I hear in my head. They aren't malicious or localized, but they are seperate from my normal consciousness so I would like to be able to personify that and speak to it. On top of that I'd like to use it as a creative venue to create artwork and music. Every night, I leave my dream journal to my right so I can roll over and immediately start writing with my left. I find that if I don't move my legs my recall stays with me. When I write my dreams down, I don't usually write them down in complete sentences; I usually just write down important details and later flesh them out in more detail as I can type much faster than I can write and I'd rather not spend 10 minutes writing every hour and a half throughout the night. Hopefully the techniques I learn in this class helps me throughout my journey into lucid dreaming!

[SaxtonHale]

The main induction technique I'm using is DILD with reality checks, as most of my training so far has been having to do with increased self and environmental awareness. Primarily they are reality checks, but I also throughout the day just reflect on how I am myself and how I have an effect on others and my environment. I work in WBTB as well as I wake up around every 90 minutes from my auto suggestion to journal, but all of my WILD attempts have done nothing but keep me up. I think I might be focusing too much to fall asleep. For instance I tried to take a nap today to see if I could WILD, but all I did was lay down for 45 minutes trying to WILD without success or any feelings of heaviness due to me responding reflexively to my hypnic jerks. I then fell asleep for an hour and 15 minutes where I dreamt about talking about lucid dreaming, but I only remember that vague idea. Tonight I hope to continue trying my WBTB/WILD endeavors, and my so far awesome streak of 4 dreams per night!

[paigeyemps]

Hiya SaxtonHale, welcome to the intro class! Four dreams per night is great! And you're right about the sleep schedule. Lucidity becomes much more possible if you've got a good sleep schedule. The awareness practice is also great, I do ADA as well so it is, in a sense, being lucid in the waking world. The only thing is to retain that lucidity once we start dreaming If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask :3

[Xanous]

The main induction technique I'm using is DILD with reality checks, as most of my training so far has been having to do with increased self and environmental awareness. Primarily they are reality checks, but I also throughout the day just reflect on how I am myself and how I have an effect on others and my environment. I work in WBTB as well as I wake up around every 90 minutes from my auto suggestion to journal, but all of my WILD attempts have done nothing but keep me up. I think I might be focusing too much to fall asleep. For instance I tried to take a nap today to see if I could WILD, but all I did was lay down for 45 minutes trying to WILD without success or any feelings of heaviness due to me responding reflexively to my hypnic jerks. I then fell asleep for an hour and 15 minutes where I dreamt about talking about lucid dreaming, but I only remember that vague idea. Tonight I hope to continue trying my WBTB/WILD endeavors, and my so far awesome streak of 4 dreams per night! WILDs require balance. I used to just lay there awake myself. I usually just give up and go to sleep about 30 min to an hour if I am not even getting any HH/HI. But I have heard of people waiting 2 hours before they enter the dream. A guess lot of it is just timing... not too awake not too asleep. I think it just get easier the more you do it.

[SaxtonHale]

Last night I had a very strange experience. I had 3 dreams that I can recall, and the first one was relatively "normal". When I woke up after my dream and proceeded to try WILD, it worked! However when I started to go into the dream, my HH was not in my normal visual field. It was more like it was in my imagination... My dream proceeded to build around those and I entered it, but I wasn't able to control myself at all. I was sort of in a trance. I knew I was asleep in my bed, because I could see the black of my eyelids and feel my bed, but I was in a dream at the same time. It was more like a day dream than anything, but it lasted for around 50 minutes. I was self aware, but I was unable to control any of my actions within my dream. Have you ever experienced this? It was very strange, but when I recall my dreams I can remember it more vividly than my other dreams. The dream environment was also a lot more static, it wasn't constantly changing around.

[Xanous]

Sorry it's been so long with no reply. Yes! I have had this many times. I call it the "Half-dream" for lack of better term. It is just one step away from entering a full on lucid dream. I'm surprised you went 50 minutes like this. I suspect you must have entered a full lucid without realizing it. When I get this I usually just do stabilizing techniques or mildly interact with the dream environment until it becomes more and more "real". Then I do my lucid goals. That's really great you got to this stage keep it up.

[SaxtonHale]

Last night I had 2 lucids! My recall needs to be worked on though, because I don't remember anything prior to being lucid. My second one was a DILD that only lasted about 3 minutes. I think it was at the end of my REM phase as I lost consciousness after that. Either way, I'm chalking last night up as a success!

[OpheliaBlue]

Awesome Saxton, congrats! You know sometimes I don't remember the onset of my lucid dream, or what I was doing in the dream prior to inducing lucidity. I think for me it's because I'm naughty and don't journal the dream down right when I wake up from it. I make myself memorize it before going back to sleep, which sometimes helps me remember, or I'll even remember later in the day.

[SaxtonHale]

I did the same thing when I woke up from my first lucid last night and realized that I hadn't moved. I didn't want to move and write down and ruin the quick DEILD method. It worked pretty well, except for a few details i'm a bit fuzzy on.

[OpheliaBlue]

I know right! That's the main bummer with DEILDing. It's forcing me to improve my memorization skills, since we're not supposed to move in between the dreams lol. Someone needs to get on that dream tape-recording invention already!

[Chimpertainment]

Hi Sexton Hale! That is some excellent stuff you have going on there. Being able to remain calm and aware between dreams is a very useful tool. Im sure it will help you a lot, and its always good to use your strengths.

[SaxtonHale]

I had a lucid dream last night and it was much more vivid than any other lucid I've had. Surprisingly I didn't do a reality check, I just suddenly knew i was dreaming as everything surged into focus. After I woke up I tried doing a DEILD, but i started getting psychedelic green swirling light in my vision and loud buzzing which freaked me out and made me move. Didn't realize falling asleep was that intense I've also noticed that I wake up naturally after about 8 hours of sleep and if I try going back to sleep, I can't fully fall back to sleep. I always end up in those "half dreams", where everything is happening but its more imagined senses and not my full view while I still feel my body sleeping in bed paralyzed. It's kind of frustrating when trying to to WILDs in the morning when I have nothing to do. I do lose track of time though; I think I'm just not relaxing enough. I think i'm holding on to my senses as an anchor for awareness. I should try doing my breath or visualized movements. I'll try that tonight if I can.

[SaxtonHale]

Holy crap. I had an intense OBE at around 11 am. When doing a wild I started feeling the vibration and decided to try and use it to my advantage and started visualizing sitting up and rocking back and forth. I could get that, then started visualizing my chest cavity while breathing deeply. I was suddenly sitting up in my room, fully awake and aware. I'll post the dream report later when I'm not on my phone. That as awesome though.