Thread: Pickman's Workbook

I turned in at 12:50am last night, but it took me a while to get off to sleep. I had too much stress in my system. I woke up at 7am and failed at attempting DEILD.

A late update for the past two nights. Dream recall is coming back, but still no lucidity. I think I need a change a plan for this project. I might prolong it for another two weeks, but with a change of strategy.

I turned in at a reasonable hour - about 12:30. I decided to take a slightly different approach. This time I would lie in bed and daydream as if I was already in a lucid dream. It seemed to work for my DEILD successes, so why not for MILD?

It didn't work - I dropped off and woke up at around 5am. However, my dreams became incredible vivid. The colours were more intense and my recall had increased. I thought this would be a good time to attempt WBTB.

I still didn't become lucid, but my dreams for the rest of the night became even more intense. I recalled even more of them. I might have even been briefly lucid, although I cannot remember.

So no lucids, but this is still a good sign. I have decided that the best way to induce a lucid dream in my daily life is to immerse myself in lucid dreaming as a topic. Maybe set an alarm on my watch to go off every hour and remind me to do a RC. I watched Inception today, so maybe that might help.

Turned in a little later, closer to 1am. I attempted the same thing as the previous night. Not much dream recall, but I woke up at 5:50am, and attempted a WBTB since I needed the toilet. Actually what I did was more like a WILD. It didn't work, but again I recalled more of my dreams.

I did manage to get into that daydream-like state where I see dream images but I'm conscious. This happened to me in my earlier successes with DEILD. However, I had to get up early that morning so I couldn't take advantage of it.

I think I might experiment with WILD over the next few weeks.

So I turned in at a reasonable hour last night, about 12:45. I decided to try a technique I found on someone else's workbook. Just lying back and focusing on the darkness behind my eyelids, while repeating a mantra.

There were no lucids from this. But I woke up at 8am, about half an hour before I need to get up, and I decided to give it another go. In that time, something interesting happened. A dream character started to emerge from the darkness - no visible background or anything. I could have kept this going, but I started thinking that I was oversleeping. So I snapped out of it and looked at my clock. It had only been 5 minutes! I thought it was about half an hour. I wish I hadn't bothered, I think I was on the brink of a lucid dream. Another near-miss. Better luck tonight I suppose.

I had a near-success this morning - I didn't quite reach lucidity, but I was so close.

I turned in a little later than usual at around 1am. I attempted the same thing I did yesterday. It didn't work, but I woke up at some point in the early hours of the morning and attempted a WBTB. Again, this didn't work.

However, when I woke close to 7am, I attempted a DEILD. I had a couple of dreams, but in the final one I should have become lucid. I say I should have, because the signs were around me in the environment. I was walking up a stretch of road near where I live, but there were some differences to the environment which I didn't pick up on. Such as an entire patch of overgrown land where there are buildings in my waking reality. Also, the weather was producing some spectacular effects, so I had to capture the scene on camera. I got my smartphone out and took a picture, and another sign should have been the way my smartphone switched into camera mode without me having to do anything.

I did do a reality check, but it was such a long walk that I could easily trace how I got to where I was. Also, I even had a reason to be there, although I cannot remember what that reason was. So I assumed that I wasn't dreaming. And then I woke up, and spent the next 45 minutes trying too hard to DEILD again, only to give up at around 8:20am.

I need some better reality checks.

I didn't sleep too well last night. That was my fault as I spent too long online last night and I didn't turn in until 1:20am. So I could not remember any dreams when I woke up at 8am this morning. I did attempt the same technique that I have been doing for the past two night, but I had no luck. Better luck tonight I suppose.

Again, turned in a bit too late last night, just past 1am. I did the same technique that I've been doing for the past few days. I did see some hypnagogic imagery, and I tried to focus on it in a relaxed manner. I still fell asleep without any lucid dreams, although I could recall more of my dreams than I did last night, so that's something. I woke up at 7:50am.

I've been a bit lazy with the updates over the past couple of nights, although there has not been much to report. I turned in at a reasonable time on both nights, but I had to get up at 7am on Saturday morning so no time for DEILD's. I think last night my bpdy just wanted to recover from the previous day, so I slept soundly - probably too soundly to attempt lucid dreaming. I did manage to recall significant details of my dreams though.

Success - two lucid dreams in one night!

After doing my usual technique when I turned in at around 1am last night, I woke up some time in the morning - probably 5am. I attempted to DEILD, but this time I did it in a slightly different way. I remembered something I read about dream yoga a while back. It was a technique that involved lying on your left side instead of your right. Apparently this blocks off your left channel which is lunar (or something, I can't remember).

I usually sleep on my back and then turn onto my right side during the night. When I woke up last night I decided to try sleeping on my left side. I tried to hold a picture in my mind of the dream I had just finished, but that didn't work, I just fell asleep and had a non-lucid dream. Then, this dream became lucid when I found myself in my bedroom. There were two people from work sitting on my bed having a chat. At one point I saw my cat who has been dead for about five years, so that was a pretty solid dream sign.

I decided to attempt a dream stabilization technique that I heard from a Dream Views podcast a while ago, where someone from this forum decided to make out with the ground. Apparently it worked, so I gave it a try with my disgusting carpet. It didn't seem to make any difference, but I noticed something interesting - I had no physical sensation of my tongue. I was moving it, but it wasn't there, which was weird.

I got up and decided to have some fun with this stable lucid dream. As soon as I decided to do this, I got too excited and woke up. So then I DEILDed straight back into it and had a second lucid dream. This time I was still in my bedroom, but just my cat was there. I tried to manifest something into visible appearance, but I had no idea how. I decided to get out a pad of paper and a pencil and try to draw it into existence, like I'm Penny Crayon or something. The pencil made hardly any impression on the paper. It was like trying to write on paper with a biro that has no ink. Not long after this I woke up.

I might look more into this whole dream yoga thing after this course. It could have just been that I'm not used to sleeping on my left side and that kept part of my mind awake. Either way, dream yoga is sounding more interesting to me now.

No such luck last night. I turned in at around 1am, which probably wasn't a good idea, and tried to do the same thing again with sleeping on my side. It didn't work - I think I was too tired. I think my body just wanted to recover from the workout I had done earlier in the day and couldn't spare the energy for lucid dreaming. That's my pet theory anyway. I woke up at 8am.

Congrats on the lds! lmao when I read about you using the popular Xanous dream stabilization technique. Every once in a while I get bananas and do it as well. It's pretty funny although licking trash off the ground or dusty carpets isn't very appealing.

Next time you could try just rubbing your hands or finding something more appealing to lick. Now, jokes aside you really did a good job, especially not giving up on the dream and DEILDing back there.

As far as dream yoga positions are concerned, I have a favorite position to DEILD or WILD as well. In my case it facilitates me falling asleep easier since I generally tend to have a restless mind. I think if you tend to fall asleep really fast then the right side for men may be better, while if you are more sleepy, the left. However, these are just dream yoga theories and it's better to experiment to see if they fit your sleep patterns. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Pickman

I decided to attempt a dream stabilization technique that I heard from a Dream Views podcast a while ago, where someone from this forum decided to make out with the ground. Apparently it worked, so I gave it a try with my disgusting carpet. It didn't seem to make any difference, but I noticed something interesting - I had no physical sensation of my tongue. I was moving it, but it wasn't there, which was weird.

The Full Xanous!

I tried this one as well and it didn't quite work for me. I think that it was maybe a bit too much. I'm with Nyx -- hand rubbing is a good, reliable way to get yourself in the scene for starters, then you can move on to really taking in other details of the scene, basking in the vividness, etc. All of that's a good idea, but you can let it happen in due time.

Congratulations on all of that stable lucid as well as a DEILD! Obviously this was a great night for you.

Hey, if you have any interest in Dream Yoga, obviously Sivason's course is a great idea for something to try. In addition to that, you may want to pick up a copy of "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep". The Dream Yoga portion of the book is actually quite accessible and has lots of little great tidbits on the lucid dreaming mindset.

Last night wasn't too successful. I turned in late 1:20am after having a pretty heavy meal a few hours earlier. My dreams were crazy, so recall was pretty good. I woke at 6am to use the toilet, then attempted WBTB, but lying on my left side. It wasn't successful as it just kept me awake. My body was working overtime trying to digest all the food I ate. I turned over and went to sleep. Dreams were still crazy though. I woke up at 8:20am.

Originally Posted by NyxCC

Congrats on the lds! lmao when I read about you using the popular Xanous dream stabilization technique. Every once in a while I get bananas and do it as well. It's pretty funny although licking trash off the ground or dusty carpets isn't very appealing.

That's the thing with lucid dreams - once you're in one, all sense of dignity and respectability goes out of the window, because there is no one around to shame you (unless you post about it on a public internet forum ) The weirdest thing about it was that my mind still thought I had a tongue when I didn't, and I was going on some kind of residual body image.

I'll check out the dream yoga course when I'm finished with this one. And thanks CanisLucidus for the book recommendation.

Last night I hardly slept at all. I made the mistake of eating too much sugar and trying to turn in at around 1am in the middle of a sugar rush. I think I got around 1-2 hours sleep last night, and I barely remember any dreams.

I turned in at 1am last night, and to be honest, lucid dreaming wasn't high on my agenda after two nights of hardly any sleep. I just wanted to recover, and I slept soundly until I woke up at 8am. Dream was reasonably good.

I won't be posting an update tomorrow because I won't be sleeping tonight - or at least not for an hour or two. I will be participating in a paranormal investigation that will go on until 5am. This means I will not get home until 6am. Depending on how I'm going to feel when I get back, I'm probably only going to get one or two hours sleep at most, so there's just no point.

Turned in at a reasonable time of around 12:45am, and I slept soundly until around 8am. Dream recall was good although no lucidity. Lucid dreaming was not on the agenda for tonight - I just wanted to recover from the weekend. I should look to get back into it this week.

Last night got back into my old routine of trying to induce a lucid dream, although I turned in a bit late at 1:20am. My dream recall was good is a bit patchy during last night and I woke up at 8:20am. No lucidity.

I turned in a bit late at 1am, made an attempt at my usual technique, and then woke up at 7:30am with no lucid dreams. My recall was half-decent, although still a bit patchy.

My activities last weekend seem to have stalled my momentum with this, so I have come up with some new ideas about how to approach lucid dream induction. One thing I have noticed is that I always have the most success when I immerse myself in the subject - doing reality checks all the time, listening to podcasts about it, reading the forum everyday. I have a list of things I want to do while in a lucid dream state.

So here's my plan: I'm going to give myself from now until New Years Day to immerse myself in lucid dreaming daily before I give it a rest, doing the activities I already mentioned. My technique will be the same as the one I have been using over the past couple of weeks, although I will allow myself to experiment with other techniques I read about on the forum and in Lesson 3.

I aim to get everything on my list done and out of my system by the end of the year. Hopefully at that point I could have completed the Intro course.

I turned in a bit too late last night at 1:15am and I barely remembered any of my dreams when I woke up at just before 3am. I attempted WBTB with no luck, and woke up again at around 7:30am. Fell asleep again and woke up at 8:30am.

I think part of my problem is eating too much sugar in the evenings and staying up on my PC until late. I need to stop doing that.

I turned in reasonably early at 12:45, and woke up again at 6:45am. I got up for about 10 minutes then attempted WBTB. No luck, although my dream recall is getting better. I woke up again at around 8:20am.

I've been pretty busy for these last couple of days, hence the lack of updates, so I'm posting something now.

Friday night was nothing special - I turned in at a reasonable hour, at around 12:30 am, woke up at 8am with no lucid dreams and patchy dream recall.

Last night was more interesting - I had my latest lucid dream.

To give some background, that day I had my first experience of Crossfit - a high intensity form of fitness (google it if you want to know more). I had the most intense workout in my life and I thought I would pass out. It really pushed me to my limits, and just beyond. The result was that afterwards I was operating on a sort of high, like an adrenaline rush that people might get after a parachute jump or something. FOr the rest of the evening I could still feel the after-effects of the adrenaline.

This had an impact on my sleep and my dreams. I experienced intense hypnagogic imagery as I drifted off to sleep, while using my usual lucidity-inducing technique. I won;t go into the details of my dream, but they went crazy. They were so crazy that on two occasions I knew that I had to be dreaming. One of those occasions is when I was in a supermarket with a woman I know and I bumped into a family member. I then bumped into a clone of this family member, then a third clone, until I was surrounded by identical copies of this character. So then it clocked. I went lucid, but the lucidity was short-lived as I was trying to get away.

The second time happened when I met some "bad guy" character who told me that he was going to set his bodyguard on me, who was Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan the Barbarian. From listening to dreamviews podcasts, I knew how to deal with adversarial DC's, so I tried to make friends with the evil Arnie, but I woke up shortly afterwards.

So that's it - my latest success. I only wish it could have lasted longer.

Yesterday was also spent at the Crossfit gym, and I had the same experience but not with the lucidity this time.

I turned in at around 1am. Not as much hypnagogic imagery this time. My dreams were long, vivid, bizarre and I can recall much of them. Despite how weird they were, it did not trigger lucidity. I woke up at 7am and I couldn't get back to sleep.

Last night I turned in at 12:45 and I slept through until around 6am when I woke up and attempted a DEILD. I did not manage any lucidity this time, but my dreams are still going crazy and my recall is still high. This is the third night after my crossfit experience, so I wonder how long this will go on for?