Thread: Santoryu's Workbook

What the fuck is a workbook, anyway?

Welcome, Santoryu! It's good to have you here.

You've got a nice collection of dream signs going, so I have to assume that you are keeping up a regular dream journal. If not, that's going to be step #1 for you. It'll really help your recall along. If you're just remembering fragments or vague feelings, write those down too. When you awaken, try to think of your last dream before you even move. Run through it in your mind if you can, then get up to right it down as soon as you can. Your recall will come around. If you have trouble getting unstuck, don't worry. We've all been there and we can give you advice.

When you have some time, give Lesson #1 a look, and keep us up to date with how things go for you.

Welcome to the class, Santoryu!

Canis is right. The important thing when it comes to dream recall is intention. Just try to remember them, and keep putting importance on your dreams. The more you do that, the more your brain remembers that it's something significant to you, and that can help boost your recall. In fact, you may have even noticed that most of the people here have an increase in recall since they started lucid dreaming, since they started paying attention to their dreams.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Carôusoul

What the fuck is a workbook, anyway?

It's something the DVA students keep in order to track their progress, share their experiences, and receive personalized advice and feedback from the teachers, apprentices, as well as other students in the hope of becoming more proficient with their chosen technique for lucid dreaming. Also, might be a nice idea to tone it down?

Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to update you guys about my progress.

Since it's the end of the week, would you guys recommend me attempting WBTB?

Sure, do it!

Originally Posted by Santoryu

Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to update you guys about my progress.

Since it's the end of the week, would you guys recommend me attempting WBTB?

Welcome Santoryu!

Personally, I do WBTB every night. It increases recall and likelihood of lucid dreaming quite a bit. At least 20mins of waking time usually does wonders. It might seem like a while, but its a trip to the bathroom, two pages in a book, then back to bed. If you have trouble waking up, look into a light.

Happy Trails!

Since it's the end of the week, would you guys recommend me attempting WBTB?

If you can perform a WBTB, it is the single best enhancer that I know of for any other lucid dreaming technique. While I've had LDs that occurred without the use of WBTB, they are very, very few in number. WBTB makes an enormous difference.

OpheliaBlue pointed me toward some great research from the Lucidity Institute that convinced me to try a 30-minute WBTB. I've found this to be a very effective length, although anything helps. Here's the article if you are interested in learning more: Wakefulness Makes Lucidity More Likely

So, I attempted a WBTB. I set my alarm to wake me up 5 hours after I went to sleep. I randomly woke up like 2 hours 45 mins after sleeping, but remembered one dream. I then went back to sleep. I woke up at the time I set my alarm and got up. I then started reading about LD'ing for 30 mins and then tried going back to sleep.

Now the problem I had was that it felt like it took me ages to just fall back to sleep and when I woke up for the morning I didn't remember any other dream other than that one.

Ah no worries. That happens to me more than I'd like to admit. Maybe you were just too tired? Did you try WILD? Maybe you need a mantra or something to visualize?

That also happened to me the first few times I did WBTB. Last night I did it, staying up the longest I have so far, and it went pretty well. I didn't recall dreams the way Id like or successfully execute a WILD as Id like; however, when I went back to sleep, it was much easier to fall asleep, plus that dream feeling was much easier to access. After a few attempts, it seems like my mind is getting use to the idea.
Honestly, it has taken months just to get to the point where I can will myself out of bed in the middle of the night. So good job on that part, everything from this point on is the fun stuff

Originally Posted by Xanous

Maybe you were just too tired? Did you try WILD? Maybe you need a mantra or something to visualize?

I felt wide awake. Well, I attempted a WILD, I felt a tingly sensation in my hands and that's about it. About the mantra's, I'm never quite sure what to say. I'm always changing it, so maybe tonight I should stick to one. I'm not great at visualization.

Originally Posted by Chimpertainment

Honestly, it has taken months just to get to the point where I can will myself out of bed in the middle of the night. So good job on that part, everything from this point on is the fun stuff

Yeah, it gets quite annoying but I'm motivated to do this so I can achieve my first lucid. And thanks, hopefully I can start seeing some results.

Now the problem I had was that it felt like it took me ages to just fall back to sleep and when I woke up for the morning I didn't remember any other dream other than that one.

I had some trouble with this before as well. I'll describe how I addressed it and you can give this a try if it sounds appealing.

Try to minimize your exposure to light during your WBTB. I just write or read my dream journal during WBTB. I don't read on computer screens or tablet devices, either, so if you are reading on something like an iPad, maybe try changing this. I just turn on a light in an adjacent room and use nothing but the ambient light for illumination.

Next, when it is time to fall asleep, I do two very specific things. First, I willfully shut off my conscious mind. I think, "I am letting go of my consciousness" and then try to actually do so. Any thoughts of waking life are part of what I am letting go. If they pop up, I gently set them aside and mentally place them alongside the consciousness that I've now relinquished.

I then begin a sort of MILD counting ritual. Starting from 100, with my inhaled breath, I mentally say, "100." While slowly exhaling, I think, "I'm dreaming." Then I move to 99, I'm dreaming, 98, I'm dreaming, etc. counting backward for as long as it takes. My conscious mind has been relinquished and I try to think of nothing but this ritual. I keep breathing nice and slow. Perhaps 5 seconds in, 5 out. That's just an estimate, though. Slow and steady is fine. I pour all of my focus into this.

I do that for as long as it takes. I do not have any expectations for how many numbers I'll get through, and I don't care if it takes me 1000 repetitions. I don't focus on the outcome. I just let everything go.

I did another WBTB waking up 5 hours after sleep, had remembered one of my most vividest dreams to date. When I went to fall asleep again, I tried relaxing and did a breathing exercise where I would count up by one on every inhale and say "I'm dreaming" on every exhale. After an hour it felt like the WILD attempt wasn't going anywhere. So I just decided to fall back to sleep, didn't remember any other dreams after waking up for the morning.

I did another WBTB waking up 5 hours after sleep, had remembered one of my most vividest dreams to date. When I went to fall asleep again, I tried relaxing and did a breathing exercise where I would count up by one on every inhale and say "I'm dreaming" on every exhale. After an hour it felt like the WILD attempt wasn't going anywhere. So I just decided to fall back to sleep, didn't remember any other dreams after waking up for the morning.

All right, good to hear that you had an uptick in recall! WBTB does help with this as well, I've found.

I realize now that I should have been clearer -- the technique that I described is what I use to fall asleep as quickly as possible once I'm done with MILD or SSILD and need to calm down a bit. I don't currently employ WILD, so I imagine that it would require a different approach to make sleep arrive.

With WILD, you are actually attempting to maintain some awareness yet still gradually fall asleep. With techniques that seek a DILD (such as MILD or SSILD), all that matters is getting your awareness and prospective memory primed up and then getting back to sleep as smoothly as possible. For this, I just get into my favorite sleeping position, don't move, and then do that whole backward counting, "letting go", and deep breathing thing. I don't worry about (or even think about) anything else.

Ah, since I won't be able to have a WBTB attempt tonight, I think I'll try have a shot at a DILD tonight. A usual problem I have is going to sleep, regardless of what technique I do, so I'll try the technique you had described above. I'll also do some awareness techniques during the day.

Good deal!

The biggest obstacle that I used to have with falling asleep was the issue of racing thoughts. Not bringing my daytime concerns to bed with me was a big step forward here. If stray thoughts come up to bother you, just acknowledge them, gently set them aside, and just lose yourself in your meditative breathing once again.

Another kicker for me is keeping the room as dark as possible. If my room's not black as a cave, my sleep quality is noticeably worse. Extraneous light will affect your melatonin levels and create extra headwinds for you to overcome when falling asleep.

Anyway, just a few pointers on stuff I had to work past in order to get better at falling asleep.

Just thought I'd update you guys on my progress, my recall seems to be improving slightly but some days I remember no dreams, others I remember a few. I've been practicing SAT and dream yoga throughout the day and before going sleep I usually try a MILD. Haven't had a lucid experience yet.

Hi Santoryu! I'm glad to hear that the recall's being moving forward a bit, even if there are those nights where you just don't quite get what you're looking for. "Sporadic awareness" is a great thing to practice, as is dream yoga, so I'm liking what you're doing there. These should build skills that will serve you well for the long term.

One thing that I find aids in recall is to also place a bit more emphasis on your recall in daily life. A relatively easy way to do this is to every few hours mentally review the previous few hours by playing it in fast-forward in your mind like a daydream. Try to get better and better and more detailed at doing this. I find that this keeps me a little more aware and carries over pretty nicely into dream time.

A more extreme version (though very effective) is to actually keep a waking journal. I'll do this if I get really stuck on recall, but it is a much bigger burden than the other practices.

I've remembered at least 2 dreams for the past 5 days, and I've been keeping a waking journal as I don't want my recall to start to deteriorate again.

If I wake up randomly during the night, would you guys recommend that I try a WILD? Cause if it fails or I just give up on it I can always end up having a DILD.

Hey Santoryu, glad you're recall is picking up..

If I wake up randomly during the night, would you guys recommend that I try a WILD? Cause if it fails or I just give up on it I can always end up having a DILD.

The answer is yes. Anytime you wake up during the night or early morning, you have an opportunity to set yourself up for a WILD or DILD. I wouldn't spend an hour in the middle of the night if you have to wake up really early. When I wake up like that randomly, I incubate a dream scene and have had alot of luck with that.

Originally Posted by Santoryu

I've remembered at least 2 dreams for the past 5 days, and I've been keeping a waking journal as I don't want my recall to start to deteriorate again.

If I wake up randomly during the night, would you guys recommend that I try a WILD? Cause if it fails or I just give up on it I can always end up having a DILD.

IMO, attempting WILD is always a good idea. Just remember that if you wake up, its usually good to stay up for a little while to increase your chances of an LD. I wake up a lot during the night, but most of the time its only for a moment. Im always too foggy to actually remain aware enough to perform a WILD. After a while, I hope to increase my awareness to the point where I can wake up right after a dream so I can perform a DEILD.
Also, there have been several times where I attempted a WILD, failed, but then ended up having a DILD anyway. So it seems to increase awareness either way. always good

Thanks for the advice you guys.

I'll definitely be trying a WILD whenever I wake up then, and hopefully it may result in me having my first lucid. I'll be sure to update you guys about my progress.

Yesterday I remembered 5 dreams, the most for me in a day for months. I had woken up around 6 hours after sleep and attempted a WILD, but if felt like it was going nowhere so I just fell asleep.