BlairBros Workbook

Hi peoples, hopefully this will be the start of something wonderful :)

Reality Checks:
- Checking fingers/hands, pushing fingers through palms
- Checking clocks/signs and checking agai to see if it changes
- Spinning a coin and seeing if I can make it stay up (got this from inception :P)

Dream Signs:
- I don't really know any yet, as i can hardly remember my dreams, but a lot are at my school i think
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Short-Term Goals:
- Remembering at least 1 dream every night (preferably 2-3, I am at rock bottom right now)
- Being lucid within a week (i took 5 days before, so hopefully I'll be faster this time round)
- Attempting a WILD

Long-Term Goals:
- Remembering at least 3 dreams every night
- Having a lucid dream every few nights (or once-twice a week, depends how realistic that goal is)
- Being able to maintain lucidity for longer and increase my level of control

Lucid/Dream Recall History:
- When i tried for lucid dreaming for a week I had about 10 dreams recalled and one turned from non-lucid to a very short lucid.

Current Technique:
-DILD with a little bit of MILD. I plan on meditating more but I haven't been doing it regularly at the moment.

I am reading through lesson 1 now and its all good stuff!
My motivations for lucid dreaming includes:
The thrill of having control
Being able to have magical powers and bending elements (probably my personal favorite, and what I want to do when i get the hang of lucidity :P)
Learning more about myself
Getting inspiration and perhaps being shown some amazing things

I naturally go to sleep around about 9:30PM, but it can vary by half an hour each way. My waking up times are a little sporadic, as it can change from 4:00AM to 6:30AM, so I don't know if that is what is affecting my recall, or if it has any negative affects on my attempts to LD.

Hey BlairBros, thanks for starting your workbook thread.

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Originally Posted by BlairBros

I naturally go to sleep around about 9:30PM, but it can vary by half an hour each way. My waking up times are a little sporadic, as it can change from 4:00AM to 6:30AM, so I don't know if that is what is affecting my recall, or if it has any negative affects on my attempts to LD.

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That's actually a pretty good stretch of sleep time you're getting there. I need roughly 7 myself before I attempt a WBTB, and I get pretty decent recall this way also. So have you started a dream journal yet? That helps recall too.

I have started my dream journal for the past 2 nights, but even though i have willed myself to remember my dreams and I have followed all the instructions I have only remembered the barest of glimpses of my last dream, barely enough to write down anything, so I haven't written anything on this sites DJ because theres nothing really to write. This is different from when i tried this last time, where i remembered 10 dreams in a week, which was an unheard miracle for me :). Maybe it has to do with how long i sleep for, cause it tends to be 8-8.5 hours, which from what ive read isnt in a REM period, perhaps you could clear this up for me.

On a side note i attempted a WILD for the first time as a morning nap about an hour after I woke up, but I tried for about half an hour but no sleep/SP was forthcoming, so I stopped trying and then slept for about an hour, with no dreams I could remember.

Also I can't really set alarms as I share a room, and he wouldn't be too happy waking up early in the morning, but I think I could quite easily alter my sleeping times if that;s whats needed.

Hi and welcome, which part of Australia are you from?

I'm from Melbourne, about half an hour north from the CBD. Also I once again tried to have a nap for a WILD, but couldn't fall asleep. I wish I could actually sleep more throughout the day :).

Well I only managed about 6 hours sleep last night because of the naps I had taken, but still I have remembered absolutely NO DREAMS! This is really annoying, as its not like I just forget the dreams, but I have absolutely no recollection of them when I wake up. I am doing what the people say here, but nothing seems to be working so far :(. This isn't anything like last time, where most of the time I didn't just remember the dreams when I woke up, but I full on experienced them instead, if you know what I mean. Does anyone have any suggestions? Stress/being busy could be a factor, as I do have a lot of work coming up, but idk.

Don't worry, just stay persistant and things will improve!

Remember to write in your journal even if you wake up and don't remember anything. I usually do something like 'No recall last night, I will remember dreams to record in my journal tonight.'

The core idea is just to set your intention towards remembering your dreams. I frequently go through bouts of no recall. With persistance in using my journal, and keeping track of goals I want to accomplish it always passes. Just stay diligent and you will see results :)

Thanks Penny! have read some more and I am trying out some stuff as well to try improve my recall. It is annoying how I don't even recall fragments but I'm sure to improve soon, and I probably haven't been doing so great because I have exams in a week and I just completed a monster Media task (short film, photo narrative and a production design plan !!!) hopefully after the exams I'll start seeing an improvement and hopefully some LDs!

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Originally Posted by BlairBros

Thanks Penny! have read some more and I am trying out some stuff as well to try improve my recall. It is annoying how I don't even recall fragments but I'm sure to improve soon, and I probably haven't been doing so great because I have exams in a week and I just completed a monster Media task (short film, photo narrative and a production design plan !!!) hopefully after the exams I'll start seeing an improvement and hopefully some LDs!

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In times of very poor recall before I go to bed I'll write a short paragraph of my day, a 'waking life' journal so to speak. An idea someone here on Dreamviews gave me, just a quick summary of whatever I did that day to jog your prospective memory. That coupled with 'reverse reality checks' - where you stop a few times a day and ask yourself "where was I 15 minutes ago?" Then the next time you think about it "Where have I been since I last asked myself this question?" so on and so forth throughout your day. This is just what seems to help me.

Good luck! :cloud:

Yeah I did that Penny before I saw you write that, as I remembered I did that before, and It worked! Well kinda. I remembered a pretty good stretch of the dream I reckon, but I was so excited because of that that I almost jumped out of bed to write it all down and... I forgot most of it >:( . I forgot to lie still to try and recall it, and I payed the price :P. What I do remember is that it was about the Hangover movies, which is odd because I have never seen them. Oh well. Should I write that in the DreamViews DJ or not, seeing as it is so short?

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Originally Posted by BlairBros

Yeah I did that Penny before I saw you write that, as I remembered I did that before, and It worked! Well kinda. I remembered a pretty good stretch of the dream I reckon, but I was so excited because of that that I almost jumped out of bed to write it all down and... I forgot most of it >:( . I forgot to lie still to try and recall it, and I payed the price :P. What I do remember is that it was about the Hangover movies, which is odd because I have never seen them. Oh well. Should I write that in the DreamViews DJ or not, seeing as it is so short?

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Excellent! Yea, make sure you have the dream firmly planted in your mind before you get up to write it down, I've lost quite a few myself that way :P

Write whatever you want in your Dreamjournal, it's your tool to use :)

Well I have made some progress definitely today! I am 99% sure that I had a FA where I attempted the FILD method, and I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "I'm too tired, I can't be bothered doing a reality check cause this has to be real". Although there is a 1% chance that it was real, but it seems unlikely as I remember it was all fuzzy and I didn't do my normal routine. The best thing about this is actually remembering dreams, so hopefully I'm on the road to recovery with my recall.

Progress!
My recall is getting a little bit better each day, as today i didn't just remember fragments but I actually kind of experienced the end of a dream, if you know what i mean by experienced. It was about my old primary school and dancing to the milkshake song, but I wont go into too much detail here, as I'll put it in the DJ soon. This is encouraging as this is the first kind of non fragment I've had in a month, but the actual quality of my dreams isn't great, like its more like me just thinking the dream, rather than seeing it, as it is really fuzzy and not much is shown. Also the vision kind of cuts in and out. Is there any way to improve that aspect of my dreams?

This is just me saying that I most likely wont be doing much, if anything on DV over the next week or so, because of exams. Not only will I probably spend every waking moment in preparation, and possibly every sleeping moment to :P, but the stress and stuff as well as time constraints will probably mean I wont recall any of my dreams, which is a shame. If i do I'll be sure to post it on here as soon as I can, but I don't know how likely that is. After the exams however I should be set to go and hopefully will start having some lucids!
PS. On a side note a short story I am writing for English is about Lucid Dreaming:)!

Sounds like a. Awesome english paper. Dont worry about the dream break, sometimes its good to get LDing off your mind for a bit.

Besides, gotta have your reallife priorties straight. :P

Good luck!

I remember waking up in the middle of the night and remembering a dream, but forgot to write it down as I was extremely tired, and I had one in the morning, but I forgot to write it down, as I completely forgot about doing that, and promptly forgot it :(. That was annoying, btu the positive is that I remembered 2 dreams, more than I have in months, even If I forgot to properly remember them or write them down. Also I'll probably post my short story for English on Lucid Dreaming on DV shortly.

SUCCESS!!!

I had a LD last night! This came as a complete shock and surprise to me as I haven't been diligent with RC's and such throughout the day and my recall has dropped, boht due to exams I think, but nevertheless it happened! I wont go into great detail here as I'll put it in my Dream Journal, but I am excited! It only went for around 20-30 seconds, maybe up to a minute, but oh well. I have some questions though: Is it normal to not be able to do anything you want? Like in this instance I tried to shoot lightning out of my hands, but it didn't work, even though it did in my last LD. Also, I had an odd experience. When I realized I was dreaming, it was like my eyes shut, and I couldn't really open my dream eyes. I tried really hard, then this blue light started appearing and a pressure built behind my eyes, then my dream eyelids snapped open and I was in a field somewhere looking at the sky. I was confused cause it felt like I actually opened my real eyelids, but It was just my dream ones. Has anyone ever had something similar occur to them, where its like they suddenly lose sight in a dream and have to struggle to open their eyes again?
PS. Should I copy what i write in my DJ for important dreams/LD's in my workbook? Or should I just post it in the DJ?

Woo! Congrats!

Don't get discouraged with the short duration, this is common for people at the start.

I have not experienced the problem with not being able to open your eyes personally. I have a friend who does though, they mentioned if they have control of the rest of their 'dream body' they can open them with their 'dream hands'.

Congrats BlairBros!

When your eyes were having trouble opening, it looks like your dream scene may not have been ready at that moment. Although, the effort to open your eyes could be an effective catalyst for creating a dream scene. I wouldn't worry too much about it either way. Creating a dream scene is a natural process and eventually you can even choose your own dream scenes. Perhaps next time, feel your eyes closed, and wait for a dream scene to form around you. You may hear noises, feel a cool wind, or a hot sun, and once you know you are ready, you can open your eyes to a complete dream scene. The point being that trusting that your mind will create something is important, and will always be useful.

:jester:

Thanks for all the tips guys! My exams are finished, so I can focus more on dreaming now, and there is also a long weekend, so I am hoping to nail another LD soon. I woke up after about 7.5 hours this morning, and tried to do a Wild just for the sake of it, but I couldn't get back to sleep unfortunately. Oh well, there's always the next time, and the next, and the next... :P. The thing I love about Lucid Dreaming is that it doesn't take any time out of your day, and you get multiple shots at it every night, so its not like you can only do it say one day a week or something, if you follow me.

I am back! I'm really sorry that I disappeared for a month or so (not too sure how long I was gone), but I am back now to try and get back into Lucid Dreaming. I kinda lost interest after having my previous LD, and I am really annoyed that I let it happen again, just like after my first. I am on holidays for the next week however so I have some time to try and regain my recall and (very) meager skill at dreaming. Does anyone have any tips for me to keep focusing on dreaming, so I don't just lose interest for a month after a few weeks? I'm very annoyed at all the wasted time.

I had quite a nice night of dreaming last night, which I wrote a DJ entry in, so hopefully I am getting back on the right track after a couple of nights with no recall.

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Originally Posted by BlairBros

I am back! I'm really sorry that I disappeared for a month or so (not too sure how long I was gone), but I am back now to try and get back into Lucid Dreaming. I kinda lost interest after having my previous LD, and I am really annoyed that I let it happen again, just like after my first. I am on holidays for the next week however so I have some time to try and regain my recall and (very) meager skill at dreaming. Does anyone have any tips for me to keep focusing on dreaming, so I don't just lose interest for a month after a few weeks? I'm very annoyed at all the wasted time.

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Welcome back, BlairBros! No worries -- what matters is that you're back!

My best tip for staying motivated is to have very specific goals for lucid dreaming that get you super excited. Think of something specific and awesome that genuinely excites you. Remember that in a lucid you can do literally anything imaginable. When you have that power, what will you do with it?

Think often of these things you wish to do. Let them get you crazy excited. Indulge in a little fantasizing about all the great stuff that you will do in your next lucid.

This will not only help motivate you but also make you more likely to remember your dream goals when you find yourself lucid!

Thanks Canis!
By the way, is there something like a lucid day dream or something, or some kind of super detailed day dream, as I this morning I had a very realistic and intense dream, but I don't know whether I was actually asleep or not. It was just like a dream but I didn't kind of jolt awake from it or anything, when it finished I instantly knew what was going on and got up straight away, like it was a day dream. I know this sounds weird but I'm just wondering if there are lucid day dreams or something similar to let you have extremely detailed and realistic day dreams.

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Originally Posted by BlairBros

Thanks Canis!
By the way, is there something like a lucid day dream or something, or some kind of super detailed day dream, as I this morning I had a very realistic and intense dream, but I don't know whether I was actually asleep or not. It was just like a dream but I didn't kind of jolt awake from it or anything, when it finished I instantly knew what was going on and got up straight away, like it was a day dream. I know this sounds weird but I'm just wondering if there are lucid day dreams or something similar to let you have extremely detailed and realistic day dreams.

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This is interesting. Can you tell me more about when this happened to you? Were you asleep in bed, then smoothly woke up from a dream without feeling groggy?

At any point during this experience, were you aware that you were dreaming?

Is it possible that you became aware that it was a dream at the very end, and transitioned from sleep to wakefulness with the knowledge that what you had just experienced was a dream?

Intriguing stuff. I'll be interested to hear more.

Well, it's been a while, but I'll remember as best I can.
I know that I woke up and then did a RC, checked the time and just layed back in in bed and closed my eyes. I started having random thoughts, and started visualizing stuff, and it got to be very vivid. I can do this if i get really relaxed sometimes, like if I've been meditating or just about to go to sleep/just wake up, but I think this time it was a bit more vivid and engaging, but I can't remember to well. When I woke I kind of suddenly snapped out of it, but not like waking up I don't think. I just kind of regained consciousness kind of and got up straight away. It was like when I was visualizing my consciousness took a back seat, and was just observing the scene, if that makes sense. Then It kind of came back to me and it was like when you snap out of a day dream.
I know Ive been a bit vague but it happened a while ago so that's the most I can remember.

No, that's pretty informative, thanks!

My take on this is that you were probably experiencing very strong hypnagogic imagery. When we're on the way to dreamland, it's common to experience these sensations of half-dreams flickering in and out of existence.

If things go right, you can ride these into a full-on lucid dream via WILD. This is all just a matter of practice. I'd definitely continue exploring this ability and see whether you notice it other times when you're falling asleep, particularly after a WBTB. If you can passively observe this imagery long enough while retaining your consciousness, you should be able to eventually interact with the dream scene in some way that pulls you in. The safest way to do this is by willing something to happen in the dream scene rather than by using your muscles. If all goes well, you'll be lucid in a full dream!

WILD's not my usual technique, but when I use it, this is the way that I always enter! Let us know how your future explorations go.

Thanks for the help!
When I went to sleep last night just normally I kind of experienced the same thing, but differently. When I was drifting off I was trying to visualize a lot to see if I could get the that level of realism and such, as I think its pretty cool that I can imagine things/daydream the most vividly when I am about to go to sleep, and I think I experienced real Hypnagogic Imagery. I was just going to sleep like normal, I think I was fairly close to actually nodding off, when under my eyelids these pulsing white lights started. My eyes were closed and stuff yet it was like this bright white light started pulsing on and off. After a few seconds I opened my eyes to see if someone was flashing light in my face or something, but there wasn't as far as I know, and also the flashing light was still visible slightly while my eyes were open. I closed my eyes again and the flashing lasted another few second, so it was between 5 and 10 seconds in all. Now I think about it I am undermining myself by thinking it may have been my brother shining light in my face or something, but I'm pretty sure that it was HI. With my limited knowledge of HI and WILD related stuff though, I thought that HI only happened after you had gone to sleep the first time and were going back after waking up like in a WILD or WBTB. Hopefully someone knows whats happening :).

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Originally Posted by BlairBros

Thanks for the help!
When I went to sleep last night just normally I kind of experienced the same thing, but differently. When I was drifting off I was trying to visualize a lot to see if I could get the that level of realism and such, as I think its pretty cool that I can imagine things/daydream the most vividly when I am about to go to sleep, and I think I experienced real Hypnagogic Imagery. I was just going to sleep like normal, I think I was fairly close to actually nodding off, when under my eyelids these pulsing white lights started. My eyes were closed and stuff yet it was like this bright white light started pulsing on and off. After a few seconds I opened my eyes to see if someone was flashing light in my face or something, but there wasn't as far as I know, and also the flashing light was still visible slightly while my eyes were open. I closed my eyes again and the flashing lasted another few second, so it was between 5 and 10 seconds in all. Now I think about it I am undermining myself by thinking it may have been my brother shining light in my face or something, but I'm pretty sure that it was HI. With my limited knowledge of HI and WILD related stuff though, I thought that HI only happened after you had gone to sleep the first time and were going back after waking up like in a WILD or WBTB. Hopefully someone knows whats happening :).

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It's very cool that you experience this sort of thing! Hypnagogia can definitely occur during the onset of sleep at the beginning of the night. I've had that happen a number of times. While you're less likely to slip straight into REM at the beginning of your sleep, hypnagogia is a very normal thing to experience.

If you can hit this at a WBTB, this makes for a great transition into a WILD! (As you mentioned!)

Hey, if you want to get full coverage on this, this is a cool question -- I bet we'd be happy to cover something like this on the podcast. If you're interested, I can bring it up as a possible Q&A topic.

Anyhow, definitely play with this more and let us know how it works out for you!

Definitely I'd be interested in learning more about Hypnagogic stuff. That time was the first time I can remember experiencing something like that, and it may be that my dream yoga training has helped me be more aware of it. I've only attempted WILD a few times, with no success, mainly because I am lazy and I didn't really read how to do it properly. Back to the point it would be cool to learn about hypnagogic imagery and sounds and such, perhaps like how to trigger them if possible and what to do when you experience them. Meanwhile back to studying, both IRL kind and LD kind :).

I had a kind of mini LD last night. I woke up at 3 AM after suddenly thinking, 'oh, I'm dreaming' and jumping straight to being awake. I realized I was dreaming without doing an RC though which is encouraging. I tried WILDing but failed miserably (I still haven't really read the tutorials properly :P) and I couldn't get back to sleep for about 2 hours. Then my brother woke me up in the middle of a dream and made me forget everything except riding horses on my schools hockey field. Oh well, at least that has broken my dry spell for recall!
Ps. I don't know if I should count that dream in my LD count, as it was basically 1 second of awareness before waking up.

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Originally Posted by BlairBros

I had a kind of mini LD last night. I woke up at 3 AM after suddenly thinking, 'oh, I'm dreaming' and jumping straight to being awake. I realized I was dreaming without doing an RC though which is encouraging. I tried WILDing but failed miserably (I still haven't really read the tutorials properly :P) and I couldn't get back to sleep for about 2 hours. Then my brother woke me up in the middle of a dream and made me forget everything except riding horses on my schools hockey field. Oh well, at least that has broken my dry spell for recall!
Ps. I don't know if I should count that dream in my LD count, as it was basically 1 second of awareness before waking up.

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Congratulations, BlairBros! That's great! It's totally up to you whether or not you want to include it in your LD count, but no matter how you classify it, it's a very good sign.

I have these pretty frequently and I refer to them as "micro-lucids". If you get a lot of these, the DEILD tech is perfect for turning them into full-length lucid dreams.

Also, when you woke up, did you pop completely awake or did things just sort of go black first? Because if a dream goes black, that doesn't necessarily mean it's over. If you can remember, try doing something like immediately rubbing the hands of your dream body together. Sometimes you can keep things going!

Either way, good stuff...

Oh I just remembered, I have wanted to ask about this for a while.
In my childhood I had a very vivid nightmare, one of the only ones I've ever had (fortunately) and it ended a bit weirdly. I was on a pier in a stormy night when an old guy with an eye patch, walking stick and wooden leg walked slowly towards me. He pulled out a gun from his jacket and then shot me in the chest. I fell backwards into the water, started drowning and then woke up. Now this is interesting to me for a few reasons.
1: This is the most vividly remembered dream that I ever had, and the most vivid and lifelike that I can remember.
2: The fact it was one of my very very few nightmares is also interesting
3: This dream was so poetic now I think about its kind of like something out of Inception (me getting shot, falling back into water, etc. (I know Inception is horribly wrong about dreaming!))
4: The most interesting thing was the sensations. I actually felt the bullet hit me, and it was really very painful, I also felt the sensation of drowning just like in real life. The most interesting thing however, is that when I woke up the drowning sensation continued. My eyes felt glued shut, and I couldn't breath. My eyes refused to budge and I was screaming inside to try and draw breath, and after what seemed like forever I was able to open my eyes and I could breath again. My conclusions are:
- It may have been an FA, now that I know what they are.
- I don't know if I had my blankets wrapped around me so I couldn't breath or anything.
- Finally I was wondering what this might have been if it was actually in waking life, instead of my new found suspicion. My guess is that the shock of being shot like that, combined with the falling backwards into water, would have shocked my brain so completely that my brain woke up while my body was still asleep. In my second lucid dream, which was a fully propery kind of LD, I experienced something similar when I woke up, where my conscious was awake, but my body was still asleep for a few seconds. My other suspicion is that it was some form of sleep paralysis or REM atonia, although that doesn't really explain the breathing. I now think that it was probably an FA, but It is interesting that this has stayed with me all these years so keenly.

Oh another thing, the feeling of being shot like that was similar to a dream I had a few days ago where I ended up being stabbed in the heart and the knife being dragged down my chest (sounds worse that it was). It is really fascinating how realistic the sense of touch is in some of my dreams, and pain especially. The myth of pinching yourself in a dream causing no pain is busted I think!.

And another thing, I remember another thing from my childhood, where I looked out on the hallway outside my bead, and saw a strange kind of white monstery thing. I couldn't really make out what it was, since it was very dark, but I thought it may have been a blanket, yet I was filled with dread. When I woke up it was gone. Now I know it may have been a blanket and my brother or someone else could have moved it, but now I think about it I believe it was a FA, but the thing that gets me is the insane REALISM of FA's. This one I remember in almost better than waking life quality and vividness, which scares me a bit, as some experiences I thought were real may have been entirely false... disconcerting thought.

Anyway sorry if this post seems long winded and pointless, I just remembered this stuff and thought it was important to not only remember some strong dreams from my childhood, but also to try and kind of interpret them and make sense of if they were FA's or things like that. Thanks for your patience for my ramblings.

PS. Thanks for all the help and support Canis!

My guess on the nightmare is that you were experiencing hypnopompic hallucinations while in rem atonia. It is possible that is was an fa. You should be able to tell if you have awoken from a fa as well. On the one hand, you would wake out of a dream which seems pretty easily identifiable, and on the other hand you have an intense waking experience that seems more suited to a dream. In that hypnagogic/hypnopompic state, you can experience just about anything.

As a kid, I experience it without the rem atonia which was especially disturbing. That state is very much like a trance state; sort of like a halfway point between waking and dream reality. Its a very interesting experience for sure. There might be some symbolic meaning in the dream relating to waking life however, each person would have a different take on the dream. Another way to utilize a dream is to explore the emotional nature of the dream, and attempt to correlate the emotions with the metaphor being depicted. That usually produces a much clearer image than searching for specific meanings.

:cheers:

I agree with Chimp's explanation above -- well said, seems to fit very well with what happened to you, and comes from personal experience. :goodjob2:

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Originally Posted by BlairBros

And another thing, I remember another thing from my childhood, where I looked out on the hallway outside my bead, and saw a strange kind of white monstery thing. I couldn't really make out what it was, since it was very dark, but I thought it may have been a blanket, yet I was filled with dread. When I woke up it was gone. Now I know it may have been a blanket and my brother or someone else could have moved it, but now I think about it I believe it was a FA, but the thing that gets me is the insane REALISM of FA's. This one I remember in almost better than waking life quality and vividness, which scares me a bit, as some experiences I thought were real may have been entirely false... disconcerting thought.

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Totally agree. I was not prepared for this at all. I had heard of a "dream within a dream" when I started my lucid dreaming practices, but had no clue at all just how realistic they could be. Now that I see how realistic dreams can be, I'm sure that there's some slice of my memories that are of events which never occurred. Disconcerting indeed, particularly at first, although the more dream work I've done the more I've grown used to this idea.

Getting fooled by so many false awakenings over the past year has helped humble me about my grasp on reality. :)

I am back again!
Sorry for my absence for a few weeks (was it that long? I don't know) I took a break due to school starting again, which threw my sleeping schedule completely out of whack, some headaches from trying to hard, homework and a general lack of motivation since I hadn't had a LD in my attempts. I have realized that I shouldn't have given up so easily, but I did need to take a bit of a break I think. Hopefully however I can get back on track again. I am confident now as I just told myself to remember my dreams last night in a kind of mini MILD and I remembered two dreams in detail, which is better than average for me. I have also been remembering dreams more than average I think, even though I haven't been really trying to do anything in particular. I don't necessarily remember the dreams themselves but I tend to remember that I actually HAD a dream a lot, and perhaps a bit about the dream, which is exciting since I haven't had that before where I've known that I'd been dreaming but not really remembering what was happening. I haven't remembered the dreams themselves that well as I haven't been doing any of the techniques to remember them properly, but I hope to change that now. SO yeah I am back and trying to once again improve, as each time I have come back I have improved slightly.

Last night my trend of good recall continued! I remember having either 3 or 4 dreams, I'm not sure whether one of them was two dreams or one very long dream, but I know that they were in the same REM period. The first dream I did remember when I woke up after it, but I forgot it unfortunately when I woke up in the morning :(. I keep on forgetting to write stuff in my dream journal, which is annoying, but anyway on with the story. The second dream I know I HAD a dream, like what I was talking about in the previous post. I find it interesting that now I am beginning to remember actually having dreams but not remembering the actual content of the dream. I had two of those last night if you count the first dream. I'm wondering if this is a good sign that my brain is adapting with dream recall, and that it is improving after being neglected for so long (before I started LDing), or if it is a bad thing that I cant actually remember the dreams :P. Anyway the third/fourth dream was very long, some of it was fairly vivid and I remember some strong emotions in it, so overall it was a pretty good recollection of the dream. The actual dream wasn't super highly detailed or vivid or anything, but I feel my recall is improving in that the quality of recall is improving and I remember more aspects of dreams that I never used to. I also had the peculiar sensation of dejavu in the dream/s. I felt like I had already dreamt the first part of the dream before, which I kind of thought during the dream, but I didn't become lucid, and I sort of new exactly what was going to happen before it happened. In the last part of the dream I thought I had visited the location of the dream IWL, and thought that I was redoing something I had done IWL. I know now that the last part was false, but I don't know about the first part. Does anyone know why the brain fools us into thinking that dreams are so real? I worded that badly, I already know that, but its kind of annoying and fascinating at the same time how your subconscious so completely dupes your conscious that it doesn't even realize that it has been tricked until you wake up. That is, unless you become Lucid! :)
Sorry for my ramblings (I do that quite a bit don't I?), but hopefully my recall is stabilizing at something like 1-2+ dreams a night, which is what I've always wanted it to be at since I started. If it is finally becoming decent I can concentrate a lot more on actually becoming lucid, since recently my recall has been really good for me but I generally have a very low level of awareness, and I haven't been lucid since... gee I can't remember that well, it was 2-3 months ago I think, when I was on DV before this last session (including the one before my little break). Sorry If I don't make sense, as I'm tired, and If you are still reading this I both respect you and congratulate you :P. Anyway hopefully I can stop having so much trouble getting lucid, and my recall continues to improve!

My dream recall has dropped back down again to remembering nothing for the past 2 days, probably due to a lack of effort and me being tired, but it's the weekend now so hopefully I can get back on track. Also thank you CanisLucidus for putting my question on the podcast! :rockon:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BlairBros

My dream recall has dropped back down again to remembering nothing for the past 2 days, probably due to a lack of effort and me being tired, but it's the weekend now so hopefully I can get back on track. Also thank you CanisLucidus for putting my question on the podcast! :rockon:

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No problem, BlairBros! Thank you for letting us use your question. Check it out when you get the chance and let us know what you think. I hope it's of some help!

Yeah, use the weekend to catch back up on your sleep. You'll be back on track in no time. I've been quite sleep-deprived this week so I'll be doing the same thing. :)

More weird stuff incoming!
For the past two nights I have woken up about an hour or two(no concept of time in this state) before normal, and I try to go straight back to sleep, but then I enter a weird kind of semiconscious state. While I'm trying to go back to sleep like that I can't actually go back to sleep, I think, and I end up spending the next hour or so trying to fall asleep and then jumping awake for no apparent reason. OK I'll start again with some more details.
I woke up in near the end of my sleep time, realized that I hadn't remembered any dreams and was a bit disappointed. I then rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. For the first bit I was pretty restless and I sometimes randomly kicked out or rolled over, but that is fairly common when I try to fall back asleep sometimes. What was happening though was I believe that I was kind of falling asleep for short, 5 minute patches or so. What I mean is that my consciousness suddenly disappeared, like in non-rem sleep, but I could still kinda feel that I was awake. It was almost like in a very deep meditative state, where my consciousness was completely quiet and almost non existent. Now I think about it I am pretty sure I was still awake for the whole time, but my conscious kind of slipped in and out every few minutes. I twas almost like a reverse lucid dream if you will.
Hold on, I've had some ideas. I think now that this may have been a FA dream started from my very lazy and halfhearted attempt at a WILD. Hmmm, this might make sense, as I had the same kind of dull headedness that I have during non lucid dreams, if that makes sense, and also I jerked awake like when I wake up from a dream too early. It just kind of felt like a dream really. Orrrr, it might have been a series of hypnic jerks waking me up just as I was about to fall asleep. This also might work as I felt as tired as if I hadn't slept that time. This is confusing :)
So, does anyone know what this might be? I've looked it up a bit, but only came up with sleep paralysis disorder sufferers and fundamentalist Christians, so I am a at a bit of a loss. I have had this happen to me before, like maybe once every one or two months, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I think one time I spent about 3 hours in this state. I have feeling that having a too hot/comfortable bed might be the answer, as i seem to remember heat in all the times it has happened before. Anyway, do you think this might be a weak WILD FA, me staying awake, the hypnic jerks, even SP or anything really, I'm at a loss. Thanks for reading this wall of text :).
PS. Oh one more thing when I did kind of regain consciousness last night for those brief periods I did kind of roll over sometimes to try and get (back?) to sleep, so that might rule out the SP or REM atonia or such, hmmmm the plot thickens...

My dry spell is broken :).
I definitely had 2 dreams last night, but I had some things where I don't know if they were actual dreams or not. I had about 2 or 3 kinds of dreams where I don't know if I was actually asleep or not. They had all of the characteristics of dreams but still I don't think I really woke up from them so much as stopped having them, but I may be mistaken. It could be that I kept on waking up and going back to sleep every 5 minutes or so in the same REM cycle, therefore ending up with like 5 different dreams. Anyway at least I have actually remembered some dreams, hopefully I can actually start getting lucid soon (I know last night was a good time for a WILD, I was just too tired and lazy).

Woo Hoo another lucid! or 3 (kinda)
DJ#8: Lucids Galore!!! - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
So I technically had 3 lucids, but two of them weren't that great. Still, it is progress, with recall and lucidity. I've realized that in each of my lucids one of the key things is that I have been able to feel my body, though whether its my dream body or IWL body I don't really know :P. I also didn't really exert any control over the dreams at all, I was just consciousness enough in the first two to know I was dreaming, but I didn't really change anything, just went along with the flow. Anyway I need to work on my awareness and getting my recall consistent (some times I go a few days/week without remembering anything, sometimes I remember 3-4 dreams in one night), but I am happy with last night :).

:banana:I AM BACK:banana:
Wow its been a while since I've been here. I really hate how I keep on leaving for a month or two, but I can't seem to really stay focused on lucid dreaming for more than a month or so. Every time I have come back though I have lasted longer so hopefully that's a good sign, and at least i'm not giving up. So, I am back into lucid dreaming (hopefully :P) and I need to get back into dreaming shape. I haven't really been doing reality checks or thinking about dreaming at all for the past month, just having the occasional moment where I think, "oh I ought to do a reality check". I had a stretch about 2 weeks ago where I remembered a fair few dreams but other than that I can only sometimes remember my dreams. Most nights however I can either remember a bit of a fragment or a feeling, and sometimes I kind of know I had a dream but instantly forgot it. I hope this is a good sign that my recall even when not trying to remember my dreams is better than it was at the start of the year when I started doing all this.
So, whats going on in my life: Well, I fractured my forearm a little bit near the elbow 3 weeks ago or so playing basketball (I ran into a wall, don't ask xD), and I have another x-ray, and hopefully not having to wear my sling, in two weeks. At least I don't have a cast on anymore, and I can type and use a computer and stuff without it hurting or doing damage (hopefully not!)(I just noticed, I use brackets way too much). I also am having my two bottom wisdom teeth pulled out in a week and a day, which should be fun. I am also filming a documentary for film over the coming days so if I'm not active for a few days that's probably why. I think that's everything important. SOrry If I've bored you with this wall of text and irrelevant info, I just always feel I need to recap my progress and stuff when I start back up on DV.
Here are some goals that I hope will keep me motivated:
-Remember at least 1 dream or fragment at least 5/7 days every week (within 1 month)
-Have at least 1 lucid dream within the month
-Not drift away and lose interest in lucid dreaming (forever)
-Keep a good dream journal (I might buy a book especially for it, rather than the little notepad I have been using)
-Fix up my sleeping patterns so I get at least 8 hours or so every night to maximise my chances of lucidity.

I have found that even just having good dreams without them being lucid is a really exhilarating experience, and I have had a few lucids so I know how much more amazing they are. I think I kind of get complacent with just remembering dreams, rather than getting lucid, because it is still an awesome experience to remember and be in depth in vivid dreams most nights, especially when they are story driven. Hopefully I can achieve both now, remembering dreams regularly and getting lucid.

It is school holidays now, they started 3 days ago so I have plenty of time to get my sleeping pattern good and to practice lucid dreaming, so I really hope I can get back on track quickly.
I missed all of you guys, I felt like something was missing for a while and I've found it again. Sweet Dreams!

:banana:I AM BACK:banana:
Wow its been a while since I've been here. I really hate how I keep on leaving for a month or two, but I can't seem to really stay focused on lucid dreaming for more than a month or so. Every time I have come back though I have lasted longer so hopefully that's a good sign, and at least i'm not giving up. So, I am back into lucid dreaming (hopefully :P) and I need to get back into dreaming shape. I haven't really been doing reality checks or thinking about dreaming at all for the past month, just having the occasional moment where I think, "oh I ought to do a reality check". I had a stretch about 2 weeks ago where I remembered a fair few dreams but other than that I can only sometimes remember my dreams. Most nights however I can either remember a bit of a fragment or a feeling, and sometimes I kind of know I had a dream but instantly forgot it. I hope this is a good sign that my recall even when not trying to remember my dreams is better than it was at the start of the year when I started doing all this.
So, whats going on in my life: Well, I fractured my forearm a little bit near the elbow 3 weeks ago or so playing basketball (I ran into a wall, don't ask xD), and I have another x-ray, and hopefully not having to wear my sling, in two weeks. At least I don't have a cast on anymore, and I can type and use a computer and stuff without it hurting or doing damage (hopefully not!)(I just noticed, I use brackets way too much). I also am having my two bottom wisdom teeth pulled out in a week and a day, which should be fun. I am also filming a documentary for film over the coming days so if I'm not active for a few days that's probably why. I think that's everything important. SOrry If I've bored you with this wall of text and irrelevant info, I just always feel I need to recap my progress and stuff when I start back up on DV.
Here are some goals that I hope will keep me motivated:
-Remember at least 1 dream or fragment at least 5/7 days every week (within 1 month)
-Have at least 1 lucid dream within the month
-Not drift away and lose interest in lucid dreaming (forever)
-Keep a good dream journal (I might buy a book especially for it, rather than the little notepad I have been using)
-Fix up my sleeping patterns so I get at least 8 hours or so every night to maximise my chances of lucidity.

I have found that even just having good dreams without them being lucid is a really exhilarating experience, and I have had a few lucids so I know how much more amazing they are. I think I kind of get complacent with just remembering dreams, rather than getting lucid, because it is still an awesome experience to remember and be in depth in vivid dreams most nights, especially when they are story driven. Hopefully I can achieve both now, remembering dreams regularly and getting lucid.

It is school holidays now, they started 3 days ago so I have plenty of time to get my sleeping pattern good and to practice lucid dreaming, so I really hope I can get back on track quickly.
I missed all of you guys, I felt like something was missing for a while and I've found it again. Sweet Dreams!

Welcome back, BlairBros! Sorry to hear about the arm but I'm glad to hear that your dream life's still been going well.

I agree with you that an enhanced non-lucid dream life is a wonderful side effect of the greater awareness that comes with lucid dreaming practices. I love remembering all those dreams I used to just throw away without even realizing they'd happened.

Happy dreaming!

This is a off a bit on a tangent, but I remember a dream I had a few weeks ago where I was at my school giving a presentation on lucid dreaming to the school. I was showing a power point and talking and stuff, and at one stage I did a few reality checks as part of the presentation, mostly trying to push my finger through my palm. The thing is though it didn't work, and I had absolutely no awareness in that dream. Now I know that RC's can fail, and I wasn't trying to lucid dream at all then, but I still find this dream to be odd. It is a bit hilarious that my entire dream was centred around lucid dreaming, was at my school (The only real dream sign I have) and I did reality checks in the dream, yet I had absolutely no consciousness. It was pretty much the perfect scenario to become lucid, but it didn't cross my mind. Oh well. On a positive that dream made me get back to being interested in lucid dreaming again.

Well my wisdom tooth surgery is tomorrow morning, so I will probably be in a lot of pain for the next few days if what everyone keeps telling me is true. I also have to get up at 6:30 AM because I need to be at the hospital by 7, which is annoying, but what can you do. This might impair my dreaming tonight though, but hopefully it wont. I know I remembered some dream(s) last night but I didn't write them down so I forgot them really quickly. Such is the curse of a lazy person who can't be bothered trying to find where their dream journal has gotten to at 6 in the morning :).

Hey BlairBros! I hope that the wisdom tooth surgery all went smoothly.

Did you manage to have any interesting dreams while under anesthesia? :D

The surgery was fine, everything went well. I didn't have any dreams under the anesthetic (I don't think you actually can dream under anesthetic), but I did wake out of it remarkably well, apparently I wasn't moaning around and stuff I just got straight up. My cheeks are all swollen though so they look a bit like this (minus the beard).
Attachment 5691
I have had good recall the past two nights however, I remembered 1 dream yesterday night (even though I was under lots of painkillers) and last night I remembered 2 dreams without waking up in between, which was nice. I can only actually properly remember one of those two however because I was lazy and din't write them down, but it was quite a long and epic dream. Hopefully this recall trend continues to improve!

Great, BlairBros, I'm glad everything went well!

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Originally Posted by BlairBros

I didn't have any dreams under the anesthetic (I don't think you actually can dream under anesthetic)

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I'd always heard that, too, but Ollie had an amazing lucid under anesthesia which he posted in the Task of the Year thread. He actually accomplished the Angel Falls task under anesthesia! Way more hardcore than I am, ha ha...

Here's the link to Ollie's post: http://www.dreamviews.com/task-month...ml#post2011589

My recall is on a bit of a roll, as this past week i have remembered a fair amount of dreams, maybe it has something to do with the painkillers :P (hopefully not). Last night I remembered either 2 dreams or 1 which morphed into a separate dream scene, but I am pretty sure it was 2 dreams. One of them was about me and some friends playtesting DOTA 3, which was quite fun :), even though the actual game was a fair bit different from Dota 2, more like an RPG like the elder scrolls games.

I remembered another really long, detailed and epic dream last night! It was a bit like the book VIII except with alternate dimensions and portals and monsters. I will probably write up my most recent dreams on the DV dream journal when I get the chance. I'm really exited that my dream recall is coming back, and I have remembered more dreams in a week than what I did before in a whole month or so of not trying, so its definitely a good sign. I need to work on my awareness however, as in these latest dreams my awareness is pretty non existent.

Well the past two nights I have also remembered 1 decently lengthed and detailed dream each, so I am very happy with how my recall has progressed in just one week. I have been a bit lax with my awareness and reality checks however so I really need to improve that if I want to get lucid. Back to the basics for me!

Hello everyone!
Sorry I haven't been too active over the past week or so, but I lost track a little bit and wasn't remembering any dreams, although I wasn't trying too hard. Last night though, I had a lucid! My first in ages. I was having a dream after waking in the middle of the night, which revolved around being lat for school, a religious warlord from south western suburbs and a floating, physics defying water park, but I realised I was dreaming. When I became lucid however I almost instantly started waking up, and it felt like a fog being lifted off me. Trying to remember what to do, I stayed calm, didn't think about anything and stopped breathing. I am pretty sure I descended back into sleep for a few seconds, I was definitely fighting a battle between awake and sleep, but I woke up in the end. I didn't get to do anything cool in the dream but oh well, broke my recall drought and a lucid all in one!
I was sleeping in a bed in a motel, so this confirms my theory that sleeping in different beds than normal/being on holiday increases your dream recall/night activity/lucid potential. I also woke up twice in the middle of the night, which is very unusual for me. This is about the 3rd time on holiday where I have broken a dry spell with a lucid, so I am happy. I also recalled reading somewhere that your dream logic isn't impaired in dreams, just that your memory doesn't work so your logic doesn't make sense when you have those memories, and getting lucid usually involves retaining some memory, and I think I agree with that more now. Anyway, I hope this is an omen for what is to come and I am motivated once again.
\m/

Congratulations on the lucid, BlairBros, that's great! :goodjob: I'm with you on the idea that changing locations and subjecting yourself to novel stimuli/settings can bring on lucidity. Of course you still have to get good sleeping habits for best results, but waking up in the middle of the night and going back to sleep is that perfect unintentional WBTB that helped get everything moving in the right direction for you.

I'm very happy for you and I encourage you to keep riding this wave... shamelessly congratulate yourself on your success if you find yourself forgetting or losing confidence! :D If you did it, you can (and will) do it again!

To your continued success!

Welp Here I am again, a year since I was last around here. I've decided it's time to start getting back into lucid dreaming, and I'll try my best even though I am starting year 12 which will be tough (so no promises :P). Anyhow, what have I been doing, I hear the nonexistent crowds clamoring to hear :) . Well:
-Starting year 12
-Haven't had too much success on the dream front due not really doing anything dream related in ages. My recall has dipped down to about once a week which is pretty sad but I'm hoping to improve that once again to about the 2 a night it was at.
-I made a short lucid dreaming related film for my early-start year 12 Media class, which you can see here if you want to see my twins errrr.... interesting acting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaCK2QwwcD0
Sooo yeah i hope to get back to being more active around here, as I've always loved this site, the people and lucid dreaming in general, and I am truly regretful that I haven't kept at it for any length of time :(
Here's to a new year of good things!

Didn't have a great night last night woke up constantly and only remembered tiny little fragments, there might have been a FA in there but i doubt it as it didn't feel like it at all. Ah well it didn't help tha it was 41 degrees Celsius the day before so it was hot lol.

The last two nights I have remembered 2 and 3 dreams respectively :D, Now I need to focus on awareness and hopefully a lucid will be forthcoming soon.

Weclome back, BlairBros! :happy: It's great to see you back around the forums.

No worries on falling off track for a bit! It's never ideal, but it happens to all of us sometimes. I got quite a bit off of the wagon over the holidays myself.

But that's all in the past! We're here today, ready to get lucid, and that's what matters. :goodjob2:

How cool that you did a film on lucid dreaming! :D That's exciting, looking forward to checking it out!

And congratulations on the increased recall. Stick with it, and you'll have it all back in no time. :)

Thanks for the kind words Canis! My recall has been consistently through the roof the last 5 days or so which is very encouraging, next step is to become even more aware and start those lucids rolling in.

I'll be on holiday the next 5 days so you'll all get to have a break from me lol. My recall is still going pretty well, haven't had a lucid yet this year but hopefully my theory of holiday stimulus works again :)

Sigh Why must I continually take breaks from LDing :). Ah well no time like the present to get back into it eh? I got inspired recently by the Anamnesis short tv series and I've been remembering some crazy dreams recently so I'm confident I can get something going again, I just need some dedication. Through the break though I've had a deeper understanding of my awareness (or lack thereof then hehe) of the world and I'd been kind of going along in a daze, similar to a dream, but I am determined to fix that now I understand more of it. Anyway heres to the future LD's :cheers::offtobed: