Thread: Tlalocs Workbook

Thanks for the encouragement NyxCC! Must have helped as I got lucid 39 this morning.

Lucid 39 - wbtb 6 hrs, vibe + RC
I have fallen asleep after a brief awakening from the vibe + RC, and am dreaming I am at a large table, in the dream I have to get up and refill a container with water as part of a reality check, I am doing this but then realise the mp3 player/san disc, is on the table and detatched from my headphones and I think....this cant be right, and I realise immediately I am dreaming! I remember what you said NyxCC so immediately try and move onto the totm and yell out 'say something in french' towards the people at the table but it all goes black and into the void but a voice comes back (in English!) 'what do you want me to say?' - after that nothing, I try imaging myself clapping to try and DIELD but nothing.

So I am still suffering massively from waking too quick. I think I was in a very light sleep, I really have to practice (in real life) not getting so excited when I get lucid.

After that I got very close to a WILD, with some HA (someone shouting a random name 'Andrew' near me) and my whole body had a thrumming viberation like I was lying on a ferry boat, and then I had a sensation my whole body flipped 180 so I was lying on my front, but I couldn't get any visuals, perhaps this would have come with time, but then my daughter woke up in her room and started playing and her voice carried down the hall and started to wake me up, interesting some of the sensations continued so I tried to imagine flipping again, but it didn't work and I eventually gave up and broke the SP.

Hopefully not too long till number 40, and perhaps a longer LD!

Awesome! Congrats on getting another one! You were close to completing the totm, well done! Oh, by the way one trick that CL uses often when the dream collapses is to get a DC give him a hand and drag him out of the void. You can also pretend (which is partially true) that you have just lost your eyesight but NOT the dream, try to navigate with the rest of the senses from there are maybe linger a bit in the void vs waking up if possible, expecting to start distinguishing things in the dark and then when they appear interact with them. Same logic applies for wilds. Seems you were pretty close with the wild by the way!

Just got back from a road trip with the family so a bit knackered - but had a good run with the LD'ing which has really, really pleased me. Got 5 LD's in in the last few days. Plus a few tactile incorporations into the dreams as well.

And finally a had a bit of a longer LD again - last night - a brilliant one where I managed to run and take off and fly through the night sky looking down at a twinkling rural landscape at night - man - just delightful!

anyways I'm going to fully post them in a day or two, too late to do more now, but thanks for the ongoing encouragement NxyCC! : )

Yuhuuuu! Congrats!!! Looking forward to reading those!

Thanks NyxCC! Now I've got another one to add to the pile!!! Lucid #45 - nice to be able to complain about the volume of LD's for once!. Got another LD this morning, I'm thinking that's 11 (?) in the last 4-5 wks - something like that anyway - so really pleased. I think (without looking back) they've all come through the same kind of method - an interrupted sleep method. And I am starting to concentrate on stabilizing etc now - think I've made some progress in that direction too. Will update sometime soon when have some childfree time! T

Ok - here goes - trying to update the LD's
first two were using the vibe to interrupt my sleep with the RC. Both from 22/08 (I think).
LD #40
I have arrived at a London street with a trainstation with my wife and am surprised how neat and tidy the street is. We pass a shop with a bold sign saying Chai on it and head down to the trains. These are outside and open top - like a roller coaster. My wife gets in but as I start to the train begins to move off - I grab on and say 'its fine' but then I think 'this is too weird - I'm dreaming' and am lucid - it all makes sense now, I manage to get my butt into the seat and thrash around - I can feel it stimulating my dream body but its competing with my sleeping body awareness so I keep writhing around to try and get more tactile sensation, Becky turns to look at me....and I lose it! Still the tactile stimulation thing definitely was working

lucid #41
same night, same method. Short one - I am in our house, its early morning (like a FA I guess) and I notice our front door is partially open, I think maybe its robbers - then I click 'I'm dreaming' but wake up.

Also had 2 tactile incorporations into other dreams that morning
1. the vibe goes off and I am dreaming about programming it so I don't do a RC (doh!). This is about the only way it could go off and me not do one, odd as it normally gets perceived as being on my leg when I'm sleeping with it, perhaps I heard it more than felt it this time.
2. I am at an amateur haunted house show, a disabled person takes me into a room with a 'ghost' (am man with ghostly hands suspended on wires) brushes my bottom. I wake up to find my daughter in bed kicking me in the butt!

23/8
had an almost WILD -after 40mins of trying this time the vibration was more erratic like a faltering motor or a person in a plane with turbulence, I knew my alarm was going to go off so I tried to speed it up by squeezing my eyes and pulling them inwards - this gave me lots of visuals like white drifting and zooming snowflakes, I looked into them hoping one might expand into a dream scene but I think I was just trying too hard mentally and it didn't happen and I gave up.

24/8
next 3 all over 1 night - away with the whanau (family) all in one room. No equipment, but similar theme - interrupted sleep. PS this night had drunken at least 1 bottom of white, prev LD night had had probably 1/2 bottle - so white wine still seems ok prior to attempts (thank god!).
LD #42
tried a WILD (get some HA - someone yelling 'chocolate' by my head) after being woken at 3am by my daughter grinding her teeth in the bed next to me (ohhhhhhh! ). WILD didn't work, drop back to sleep. At 4.00am I am dreaming we are at a bed and breakfast place in the countryside, its early late but lightish (dawn or dusk) and a lad comes in and tells us to come quick, I follow him out of the room and outside. We are on a gentle hillside outside the house, theres a bell clanging and he points down the slope and I see the stream below is rising at a phenomenal rate. I say to him 'it must be a really strong tidal pull' and he points out towards the mouth of the stream where it meets the sea, I follow his direction and gasp - there is this massive amazing wave suspended in the air, like a suspended tidal wave, with the top shimmering and frothing and water droplets streaming off it! It is intensely powerful image and beautiful and I immediately realize this can only be a dream. I remember I need to take action to keep the dream going, so I run a few steps down the hill and launch myself into the air and....I am flying! YEEEHAWWW - COOOOLLLLL I am bouncing in the air a couple of times then am zooming over this beautiful rolling country landscape with small hamlets below in a soft predawn light with their lights on but details visible. I go higher and then I get into clouds and the features go grey through the clouds with just pink patches where the town lights are coming through, I get a bit worried because its hard to concentrate on anything now and I am worried I'll lose the dream, I can feel my body but I am worried its my bed body as I am supine flying and I worry this is kind of a void because it grey with out much detail in the clouds, so I stop flying and move my arms and try and clap but then I just lose the thread of the dream (can I clap standing up 100's of metres up in the air? ) and the dream ends - but I AM BUZZING.
LD#43 same night, same motel room, more interrupted sleep, my daughter (sigh) feel out of her bed! Back to sleep.
I am dreaming I am in the hotel bed (this is a FA) and my daughter has said something to wake me and my wife up. Becky leans across me, pinning me and starts kicking my daughter screaming 'shut up shut up!' (shes 3! But a sleep deprived mother will do anything ha ha!) - I think this is definitely a dream and become lucid - it kind of makes me laugh that my subcon has created this scene, but find I can't move due to my wifes DC pinning me, then I get alittle concerned and think - what if this isn't a dream?....and then I wake up for real, and my wife and daughter are sleeping peacefully next to me.
lucid #44
this was preceded by a long NLD, I am at a friends house in the country for a party, I am cleaning something and can't believe I get my dinner gear dirty, I get cross through a show and crazily it smashes their window and I feel awful. Alittle while later I am walking by myself away from the house before the party starts and reflecting how I have to look for oddities in dreams, and I look up and silhouetted on the hill line about 15m away is a black figure of an old lady with a hat (like a sort of witch) - and I know she is evil. I know I am dreaming because I know I just created her with my suggestion, but freak out and wake up, its 7.00am and I must be in a light sleep.

These 3 LD's all had 2 common themes IMO - all were due to broken sleep (my daughters moving, grinding, yelling during the night) and I became aware I could tell I was dreaming just by looking for the abnormality in the dream - rather than 'going with the flow' I correctly saw the dreamsign for what it was - this was a cool feeling (the wave, my wife being out of character, the sudden appearance of the figure). I felt I had cracked a kind of mental nut, if something is too weird to be real - you literally are probably dreaming!
(ps the last dream was interesting in that it showed it is easier when the dream is less busy to make this leap in logic, the first part of the dream was busy and I got caught up in it, but when I had some time for introspection I got lucid).

and finally lucid #45 this morning - using vibe and RC and interrupted sleep method (ISM). Awake 5.30, lucid around 6.45.
I am dreaming I am finishing an eyetest - its going pretty smoothly but suddenly I think - hold on their something different about my equipment - the stand is on the wrong side of the chair! (Its not when I think about it later, but the colour is wrong - so my premise that somethings not right is correct). I do a watch RC and it goes from 4.30 to 555 and I'm lucid, I do as I planned which is to fall backwards onto my butt and start rubbing my hands on the carpet, it feels really bristley and my hands can feel it but the feeling of my dream body starts to come in - I keep rubbing my hands but become awake, I can feel the tingly in my hands even after the dream has ended. I try to DIELD for a second but am happy to get up as I need to get up asap anyway.

I was happy to get lucid again so quick and again through same methods as prev lucids - DILD through questioning abnormalities in the dream, being promoted by the interruption of my sleep and reinforced by a sort of MILD/RC. Seems to be effective which is exciting!

Now I have decided I can work on stabilization more. I decided to do the fall back thing as its very tactile and quick, I can scrub my hands on the floor to increase my dream body sensation, what I want to do in addition is to:
1. do a nose plug RC rather than watch RC. I think based on my experience that the watch RC is reliable BUT it takes your attention away from the visual environment (you're just focused on the watch not your surroundings), its non tactile so the dream body isn't felt, and it gives you a shock when it changes. I think the nose RC would negate some of these things, I can continue to scan the dream environment, its less rapid and more tactile - worth a try - if it makes a difference for me -might be interesting to do a Dreamviews study on whether some RC's do help stabilize the dream more than others.... (this could take a while to change as I've done the time thing for so long now, but it does tend to startle when it changes)
2. stay more calm, and immediately take action - drop to floor and stimulate hands on floor.
3. plan party for when I reach my fifteeth! (you're def invited to party NyxCC!). Seriously hopefully 1+2 might allow me to have longer LD's like the flying one. Even that was only a few minutes long, but I feel I am making progress, if its slow. I am trying to get the fundamentals sorted, and hope if I can do, maybe I can pass on some information to those others who are also struggling, but if there's one thing for sure I am not a natural lucid dreamer, but I am fairly persistant!

New at lding, huh?

I follow his direction and gasp - there is this massive amazing wave suspended in the air, like a suspended tidal wave, with the top shimmering and frothing and water droplets streaming off it!

This must have been quite a sight! Also, loved the flying part after that.

These 3 LD's all had 2 common themes IMO - all were due to broken sleep (my daughters moving, grinding, yelling during the night) and I became aware I could tell I was dreaming just by looking for the abnormality in the dream - rather than 'going with the flow' I correctly saw the dreamsign for what it was - this was a cool feeling (the wave, my wife being out of character, the sudden appearance of the figure)

All these interruptions are not that bad after all. Your daughter is now your bonus ld alarm. Also, excellent awareness and critical thinking on your side!

I think the nose RC would negate some of these things, I can continue to scan the dream environment, its less rapid and more tactile - worth a try - if it makes a difference for me -might be interesting to do a Dreamviews study on whether some RC's do help stabilize the dream more than others.

This is a great idea! It will be really cool to read your and other people's feedback on this.

2. stay more calm, and immediately take action - drop to floor and stimulate hands on floor.

Good strategy. On stabilization, I recall a couple of lds where I poured a bottle of water and also one with some pebbles on myself to increase the tactile sensations. It felt great plus gave me a lot of confidence.

I don't know if this relates to you, I just want to add to avoid thinking about your physical body and banish all thoughts of the kind 'I am starting to feel my body; I am going to wake up now'; etc. While you are in the dream there is only one world to be concerned about - the one in front of you.

Looking forward to the ld party!

Cheers NyxCC - and I love the dancing cow - get down and boggey!

And guess what - I got lucid AGAIN this morning! WOW! Same tech - can't believe it. Woke up after 6 hrs (c 5.15am) set the IC for 24 mins repeat and did 1 audio RC. Then returned to sleep (almost getting caught out by wife who heard the click of the san disc mp3 player clip and demanded - 'whats that?!'). Anyway got to sleep and got after 3 RC's
Lucid #46
I have finished a dream about being on a pirate type ship and am walking back into my room, this is kind of a FA, I'm thinking - I'm goin to be too tired for work, I haven't been able to get back to sleep at all after my 515am waking - and then I suddenly realise I am dreaming and this IS a FA (the rooms different and I think I realise I couldn't be up and out of bed without remembering how I got there) - cool! :-). I start rubbing my hands together vigourously to get some tactile sensation (I forget to fall backwards), my hands appear to be wrapped in linen (like a mummy) and the friction is excellent I can really FEEL the sensation, RUB RUB RUB, much more than my normally sweaty hands would feel in Real life (!). I keep saying as well ' I will maintain lucidity, I will maintain lucidity' The more I rub and the more I talk the more stable the scene is, kind of like cranking one of those dynamo machines in a science museum where the more you turn the crank the brighter the light bulb burns. As soon as I slow though the dream starts to fade, so I start going faster RUB RUB RUB and it comes back, I try and steal a look around but I seem to have linen bandages over my head and around my eyes (like a real egyptian horror book mummy!). I want to see where I am so I risk not rubbing to try and brush this away, I get a glimpse of the same bedroom in white, but the dream degrades, I start rubbing again and it starts returning but not enough and I slip into half wakingness. I try and speak outloud but no voice comes out. And I awaken more fully. A few seconds later the vibe goes off (it would have been interesting to have felt it within a lucid dream as opposed to a NLD). I do the audio RC to confirm this isn't another FA, and then my son gets up in Real life - so the dream probably wouldn't have lasted any longer anyway.
I remove my kit and lie back down to sleep, and start to get really vivid scene of my wife and another lady coming into the bedroom and sitting down on the bed next to me (maybe like a DIELD starting up) but the alarm goes off.

Man though I am AMAZED how frequently I am getting lucid at the moment and really pleased that I managed to prolong this late morning dream for at least 2-3mins but rubbing vigourously, I see no reason why I couldn't go further and fully stabilise a dream like this again! It was cool to feel my dream body so intensely, and the link between the dream vividness upping and downing with the rub was kind of cool too! Its cool that all these dreams are coming from an increased awareness of the the oddness of the dream as well - proper DILD's - this makes me not reliant on perceiving the viberation in the dream at all, the technique rather is enhancing my awareness and intention to be aware which is kind of empowering and cool too!
On with the show!!!!

more random thoughts....
tried the system again, but perhaps not the best night to have tried, had half a bottle of bubbly with my wife before bed, so tired, and missed the vibe to wake me up so woke up later, hadn't turned the sound up enough to hear the audio, did rc's though to the vibe but much less alert and felt groggy and slow doing them. Had 2 dreams, 1 where I did think - 'this is weird, I thought all those bugs were dead...' but didn't take it further and then had to get up.

I often have NLD's where I think something is weird or alittle odd but don't make the connection to dreaming. HOWEVER that night in the travel inn I KNEW after a while if anything were odd it was most likely a dream - hence getting lucid 3 x in one night. And looking back at this journal, in the earlier part (before I took my 6mth sabbatical away!) I got lucid 5/10x in the 'vibe nites' without feeling the vibe.

Looking at it all together the following seems to make sense:
1. going to bed earlier increases the chance of me getting lucid, as the wbtb is earlier, I feel more refreshed and excited I have more 'time to play with' and everything to play for.
2. sometimes staying away after the wbtb alarm has helped - ie trying to wild for a while, or the rare occ I get up to the loo and risk the wrath of wifey! But this isn't essential as long as I am relatively awake and excited before returning to sleep.
3. The repeat awakening/sleep disturbance is KEY to getting lucid, esp if I've had an earlier wbtb and have some time to play with (see 1!) and aren't too groggy and tired (hence the earlier bed time). This is what fundamentally seems to help me cross the threshold from saying 'that weird' in a NLD and continuing on oblivious to my true sleeping state to going fully lucid - ie going 'that's weird.....hold on - its a dream!'. That tiny difference and tiny progression in logic that = lucidity.
4. hopefully this shift in my focus to just 'feeling the vibe' to the above 'get excited and get more aware and recognize the dream' might bear more fruit.

ps - just calculated that I have had 12 LD's in the last 23 days! man that cracks me up!!!

Good job catching the FA! Those mummy bandages were crazy! <<< Now I need to forget about this, especially since I need to complete the challenge of finding the Pyramid of Giza and exploring it.

12 lds in 23 days is awesome! Keep it up!

Lucid again this morning!!!! Yippay! Using same tech! Decided to give it a name - [planned] interrupted [sleep] audio method - or more simply - the Interruption Audio Method (I-AM).

Anyways this mornings lucid = #47
Initially had had a bad nights sleep, my daughter (=3) kept getting up in the night (around 2-3am) so eventually got some rest after that (plus had had 2 glasses NZ sav blanc). My vibe alarm went off at 5am and woke me up but I was tired and crashed back into sleep (got some good HA though as going under). Then I woke up at 6am and realised I'd forgotten to set things up. I then thought - shall I do the I-AM? as I figured I only had 1 hr left before my kids got up. Thought it would be unlikely to work - but tried it.

Set it up and went back to sleep after 25mins (had 1 A-RC (audio r/c) at 24mins and the audio really sunk into my brain...reality check, keep lookin for the vibe...). Anyways I must have drifted off and I am dreaming....
....I am dreaming I am standing in my daughters nursary school and there are 2 boys behind a desk in front of me dressed in little roman costumes, a friend we know who is a teacher aid comes and pours water over one of the boys head and completely drenchs him (like the bucket challenge raging at the moment) and I am watching and (just like in the travel lodge) my brain is completely logical and I simply and calmly think 'this is very realistic and kinda funny but that wouldn't happen in real life - this is a dream' and that makes total sense, its more logical its a dream than real life - I am calm and lucid and I start rubbing my hands vigorously together and get a good tactile sensation. The problem is I seem to have been disembodied in the dream and I so I kinda think maybe I dont' have a body in the dream, I can feel my hands but not see them, the scene goes black but I can still feel my hands and now I am imagining I am in my bed, I keep rubbing as I know this is my dream body (not my real body) and I start to rise up in the bed, I am alittle worried that I might be awake and about to wake up my wife next to me, so I go slowly (Iam 99.9% certain I am dreaming but the potential wrath of wifey makes that 0.01% doubt kinda troubling!). Anyway I slowly push myself up through the sheets but to do this I have to stop rubbing my hands and I lose myself into a grey void, this stays like this for maybe 1 -2mins, I am still in bed and know this is the void, I hope another dream scene will appear but its just grey and misty - not black, I try imagining I am clapping but slowly wake up. Its 7.05.

So 1. really happy the method worked I tried it 2x since my last update (with nights off). On the nights off = no lucid. Nights doing I-AM, lucid =1 and other night see below (almost got it).
2. reckon I've got the method for me sussed - very happy with it! It means I can avoid getting out of bed, I don't feel tired, I don't rely on the vibe being incorporated and I like the mental side of it - I am aware I am dreaming rather than being reminded I am dreaming.
3. I am making steady but slow progress on stabilization, last few dreams have been able to prolong lucidity through rubbing hands and no longer so excited when becoming lucid as the lucidity is not so much a shock more something I am expecting.

Anyways I've got a sec so I'll update on the other night I did I-AM - morn of 30/8 (sun). WT =5.30am. Set up 5 sec vibe, 24min repeat with audio
I am dreaming there is an earthquake and people are falling out of the ceiling. And then I wake up into a FA, thinking I am awake, but in a childhood bedroom, I decide to remind myself next time I am dreaming I will write RC in big letters in pen on a piece of paper I have with me in bed, and I do this...and then the vibe hits and I think 'thats good' but then I realise I am not in that bedroom but I awake in my real bedroom! I try not to move to do a DIELD but decide to do the audio RC instead after a second and am fully awake.
So on that night not really lucid as such, but very much focused on lucidity and the vibe did get incorporated into the dream before waking me up (if it hadn't woken me up perhaps I would have gone lucid after a RC?). So I have shortened the vibe to 2 secs to help this happen again.

anyways gotta go! But really stoked with another lucid!

Another success! Awesome! I like the name of the tech. You really are getting lucid every other day these days.

Got lucid #48 this morning! Didn't do the method yesterday and no lucid, did the I-AM this morning and got lucid! This time it was an eild with the vibe being incorporated.

Bit bittersweet however as I'll explain later, might need your help with this NyxCC. I'll have to post later tonight as gotta get the kids to the childminder and onto work - but am pleased am slowly inching closer to the big F-I-F-T-Y! and did a ham fisted attempt at your basic task NyxCC too! (with the shoe!).

When I get a chance (hopefully later on tonight?) I'll update this again - but just to share the good news - got lucids # 49 and #50 yesterday morning using the same method (other 2 mornings didn't use the method and no lucidity) so I have cracked the half tonne! Yay! Party, party, party!!!

I've had a quick chance to look at my stats for this too. So I've done this tech (I-AM) 12 times total (only started it last month when on hol in Brittainy). And I got 12 lucid dreams from it on 10 of those occassions, so its 83% successful (so far!), but on some of those 83% nights I got multiple LDs.

I also had 1 night I haven't included where I had a similar type of technique (interuppted sleep, but without the audio), where I go lucid 3 times. If I'd included that then the success rate would be slightly higher.

I'm pretty amazed how successful this seems to be. On the nights I've haven't done it, even though I've wanted a LD I haven't had much success (1 LD, and that was on the first night where I tried to do the technique but dropped the mp3 player on the floor, woke my wife and just had to do a wbtb without it). And the 4 months prior to that I hadn't been lucid at all.

Prior to that the most success I had was with the similar vibe nites - but even that was only at most 53% successful (10 LD's on 19 nights, and no multiple LD nights).

Suprisingly I feel that I can pretty much expect to get lucid on the mornings I try this, and equally oddly its through DILD's, and it happens within a short time span. For example on some of the mornings I didn't think it would work as I'd only have 1 hr of sleep left and I still got lucid. I'll try and keep the stats going to see if this truely does pann out as a successful technique. I guess others might benefit from trying it - esp newbies or people who can't or won't get up to a wbtb.

so time to catch up on last 3 LD's. I am now focusing on stabilization and dream control. Any help appreciated!

#48 = I-AM, 4/9 morn. WT 4.30, LD around 5.30am - eild.
I am in a NZ house, having just heard a poem read out by an old school friend DS. My wife and I have just had a fun sort of quickie on a couch and she says her parents are coming around. Laughing I stumble in the kitchen and start trying to put my clothes on, but can't seem to do it, but I find this funny, like I'm about to get caught out by the inlaws. I then feel the vibe against my leg and without rushing I just look around for something to do a RC with, I find an electric clock on a dishwasher or oven and look at it and back and the time changes from 4.00, to 5.32 then again as I blink and I am now fully lucid (EILD). I start rubbing my hands together and the dream feels very stable, I am in the kitchen, and I decide to try your shoe challenge NyxCC (totm) given my clothes are on the floor, I lift my foot up, but then...and this is what I need advise on...I start to kinda of feel this dread that I am 'stuck' in this place/dream and something dark might happen. And I sort of panic and drop the dream and wake up.

If I am completely honest with myself I think is the reason why I have dropped some of my LD's before, its this odd contradiction, on the one hand I WANT to get lucid, on the other, when I am sometimes I feel kind a kind of panic that I am in this massive empty place alone and that something bad might happen. If you remember I had a dream a wk or 2 ago where this happened after I became lucid and low and behold a silhouette of an old lady (like a sort of witch) popped up on the horizon, brought into being by my thoughts.

Anyways the day after this I read up some stuff and decided I needed to be more positive, so I decided I would concentrate on being curious of my environment in term of focusing on the details in my environment rather than swallowed up overthinking how 'big' the unknown the dreamworld could be.

The next morning I got lucids 49+50, after a few drinks, bed 12.00 (london), WT 4.30 first LD 6.00 I-AM
49 - an odd NLD I am playing tennis with celebreties in an indoor hall, the actress who plays Kalassi in Thrones goes past with something dangling from beneath her, at first I think it might a sort of 'crying game' moment, but then I think maybe shes in the process of a really long child birth (! weird). Anyway the dream changes to me looking at myself in a mirrored surface of a kettle. I have a stubbly beard and even with the curved surface distorting the image I can tell its not me and I think 'this is definitely a dream - cool' I remember my stratergy so I start rubbing my hands to stabilise and say 'I will maintain lucidity, I will be curious' over and over again, this seems to help but the dream has sort of morphoed I have lost the vision in my LE completely and the RE is like looking through a diagnonal slit. I keep saying the mantra so I think I should be curious and explore, I try pulling my RE eyelids apart but this doesn't help my sight so I think, 'just keep going', I decide to experiment pushing my thumb through my hand (haven't done this for ages) and start doing, it stretches like plastene but then I am not rubbing my hands and I think I'd better do that and I start rubbing my hands but too late and it fades to the void. I am in the void for around 60-90secs, just lying there, can't feel my body in bed, can't feel my dream body, I am not sure what to do, I start of clapping but then I slowly start to wake up for real.

I am pretty pissed off after this! Even though I got lucid, it annoys me that again I haven't been able to do much, even though I got some stabilization and remembered to do what I intended (the curosity mantra) it still didn't come together. ARRGH!

so I try again, its 6.00am and I figure I've 1 hr max left. I return to sleep and get LD 50 (yay!) at 7.00am
50 - I am outdoors at a sports fixture, a atheltic meet, oddly the sprinters have scottish soltares on their shoulders (even though its not glasglow) and have headphone ear buds taped to their arms (to stop them bouncing around during their run!). The run is cancelled and the athletes file out to a judge, some of the athletes have the bottom of faces blanked out just eyes, no nose or mouth just smooth skin and I wonder if they are wearing onezees or in a movie. I look down at my watch and its all scratched out and blurred so I can't do a RC and I am instantly lucid. I think 'fuck it, I am just going to go for it this time' so I immediately sprint off, I am running along the raised spectators bank and I jump off and start flying and start going up and I think 'I'm doing that again' recalling my last flying LD where I went too high into the clouds and into the void, so I correct it and fly lower around 3ms above ground level. Its very detailed I am flying above the referrees and athletes but then BAMMM the dream goes black and I am chucked into the void. Again I don't know what to do (I think about canis lucidis' waving of the gladius but nothing happens, no dream scene appears) and I wake up.

Good and bad - getting some dream control (I can fly, change direction and height), I can easily recall memories from real life (intentions, other dreams etc) but I am still frustrated about the length of the dream, and I think I haven't resolved my 'fears', I think flying helps defeat this, but with flying I feel I am not stimulating my dream body enough, (maybe I should flap rather than superman?).

any thoughts NyxCC? am I on the right track? cheers and hopes all well - T

Yeah!!! :Congrats on the milestone, T!
Fantastic results with your new tech! As you said it's also quite nice that you don't waste much sleep with it either.

I start rubbing my hands together and the dream feels very stable, I am in the kitchen, and I decide to try your shoe challenge NyxCC (totm) given my clothes are on the floor, I lift my foot up, but then...and this is what I need advise on...I start to kinda of feel this dread that I am 'stuck' in this place/dream and something dark might happen. And I sort of panic and drop the dream and wake up.

Let me say that this a normal reaction that even experienced lders have. Every once in a while we would freak out for a reason or no reason at all. But we must learn to control all this. I used to have frequent nightmares but simply by repeating a mantra over a long period of time until it got internalized, the number of unpleasant dreams significantly decreased. There are numerous ways to handle bothersome situations and related concerns. First of all, on the conscious level, decide that there is nothing to be worried about, nothing will happen, always approach the dream with confidence. Resolve that you will have no fear or worry and if necessary repeat this in your mind.

When in the dream and a thought like this crosses your mind, try to suppress it. There is actually a slight delay between the thought and the manifestation of anything so it's possible to nip it in the bud. If by chance you summon something undesired than you can again approach it with confidence and turn things around. You can influence your mood and change the mood of the DC. Even if there is a scary figure in front of you, why shouldn't it be on your side? Be creative and win them over to your side. I like to hug aggressive DCs, confront them with denial or ask them to teach me something instead.

Good and bad - getting some dream control (I can fly, change direction and height), I can easily recall memories from real life (intentions, other dreams etc) but I am still frustrated about the length of the dream, and I think I haven't resolved my 'fears', I think flying helps defeat this, but with flying I feel I am not stimulating my dream body enough, (maybe I should flap rather than superman?).

I have a similar experience with flying, actually. It's cool to fly but the weightlessness is a lack of tactile sensations and that accompanied with often diminished focus may contribute to me losing the dream faster. Again, my best advice is to try to follow through with a task, something that will keep you engaged and focused. I know it's easy to go into panic mode that you are losing the dream. The problem is when you go into that mode you divert attention from the dream and then it might be too late. But is it too late? Be confident and stubborn, expect the scene to return, to distinguish images through the closed eyelids (no need to open them).

Hope this helps and looking forward to your next lds!

Hi Nyx - firstly thanks again for taking the time to reply - your advice is simply invaluable - you've always got a kind word to say and I can't thank you enough for your help!

I'm keen to try your advise out. I had decided the other night to focus on trying to do one of the totm - thought I'd do your shoe one and figured one way to get over the panic thing is to focus on achieving something - as you said above

Be confident and stubborn

so I figure I'll make it my task to ask a DC I meet (nice or not) to borrow their shoes - I figure this will hopefully result in some interesting interactions and if I encounter some 'trouble' - ie sinister figures - this probably would disarm the situation ('can I borrow your shoes?' is probably enough to throw any misfit off their game!). If I can't see any dc's to ask I'll run around stamping my feet or bouncing and if I start to flop into the void I'll imagine I'm rubbing my disembodied hands on a rough carpet floor, I'd forgotten but I'd done this some months back and it seemed to be a good trick for me to stay longer in the dream.

I tried the tech last night after some rose. Think I'll avoid any red type wines - seem to lose my recall (white seems fine). Anyway had 1 dream - not sure to classify it as lucid or not (any advise accepted! vote - HERE!). Plus I think I should avoid getting too hot, the winter duvet seemed to make me duller (more hibernation mode I guess!).

LD 51? not sure whether to count this or not
Anyway had the following result, wt 4.30 I-AM 2 sec, 24mins. Usually I try and remain somewhat aware before the first vibe goes off (24mins) but I must have fallen asleep as the first vibe I felt when 'vrrmm, vrmm, vrrmm, vrmm' it took me a second and then I realised - 'that's not possible - this must be a LD' (as the vibe is set to only go off once every 24mins). So I slowly did the audio RC but this was correct - so obviously I had then truly woken up after realising that the alarm had been intergrated and changed (as it often is) into the dream. The way it changes is often a great clue it is happening in a dream as opposed to real life. It either repeats (like the above) or has audio as well.

So I am guessing I had drifted back in REM sleep - the vibe got incorporated in to a sort of FA (of me being in bed), I felt I was back in a deep sleep, and then my realisation must have actually woken me up. I went back to sleep very quickly after this, back almost straight into dream sleep - in fact I had some very really HH of seeing a book where whenever I looked at the page numbers - they changed, I knew this was a dream vision but it wasn't more than a sort of still image - so I am presuming (from previous experiences) this was a hypognaemic hallucination.

Anyway after that I have no dream recall at all, though I responded to the regular wakenings. By about 6.20am I started to get the signs a lucid might be coming up (again?) I start to get the audio RC echoing in my mind and was drifting off - when my daughter got up and that was it for the day!

Ah well! If I can get another 1-2 LD under my belt in a few more days using this method then I am really going to concentrate on daytime practice of stabilization and the tips you gave above - using mantras etc, having a pre-practiced game plan and really being confident of what I intend to do....fingers crossed! A little more success would boost my confidence a lot I think.

Whilst I feel I can at last call myself a lucid dreamer (and not just a fluke artist) after the last 2-3wks of successes I still feel like the most un-natural LD of all time! Yet I hope it might suddenly click a bit more and I'll suddenly get a stable LD of some length. I know I can do this, I just want to do asap! Cheers - T

I'm slightly confused if you are referring to the dream with the RC or the one with the book?

Whilst I feel I can at last call myself a lucid dreamer (and not just a fluke artist) after the last 2-3wks of successes I still feel like the most un-natural LD of all time! Yet I hope it might suddenly click a bit more and I'll suddenly get a stable LD of some length. I know I can do this, I just want to do asap! Cheers - T

T, of course you are a lucid dreamer, and no newbie either! You've gotten quite a lot of lds in the last few months, so you really should be proud! And you are going to crack them lds so you would have longer lasting ones, going after tasks and having a great time.

Hi Nyx - thanks for the reply! Just a quickie here - I decided to try and post my LD's in a journal as they are becoming more frequent.
Night before last had a LD - early morning - but my recollection of it is REALLY poor - flying around etc, I think it was a low level of lucidity and it faded into a NLD, however I work from at some point very excited about it, but feel back to sleep so quickly as to hardly recall it!

Anyway this morning got LD52
Lucid #52 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
hope this link posts ok. I was chuffed as I got it in a very workable time frame for the way our weekdays (and some of my weekends) work in a 1 1/2 hr slot before our alarm goes off at 6.20am. Just enough time to slot it in and not be tired for work.

Dream was very vivid, and I was really focused on the TOTM but I think I let the horse bolt, I must focus on stabilising first, I feel I have enough time to do this (and I was rubbing my hands) but I need to focus on this first then go for the prize!

Not bad, T! Loved the view of the green hills and the glow in the air. Very exciting how the lds are comming these days.

A little tip with dream control, when you yell for the stuff you want, be sure to also think about it (also you can add expectation to that). Apart from that I think it is a good idea to yell around, it helps build confidence, maintain lucidity and even stabilize. Funny observation: CL likes to curse sometimes (only) in his lds, and it almost always coinsides with him completing some complicated task.

CL likes to curse sometimes (only) in his lds,

'only' in his LD's - the guy must be a saint!

thanks for the support - aiming to push on and upwards! happy weekend NyxCC! Unfort I am working but might try and slip in an attempt this weekend. Cheers - T

Thanks! Have a nice weekend and some bonus lds despite work.