Camdave's Workbook

Glad to be onboard and have a little "formal" learning.

Here are my notes for lesson 1:

Reality Checks:
- Pinching nose and trying to breathe. I have adopted this as a regular reality check as recommended as per a guide and have successfully transitioned into a lucid dream using this.
- Looking down at hands. This is a slightly more subtle reality check that I perform on a regular basis, but as of yet have not recorded in any dream diary a scene in which I looked at my hands to indicate that I had performed the RC in a dream.
- General questioning of awareness and reality. Approximately every hour I interrogate myself - is anything strange or irrational, is the place familiar (why?), do I have a memory of how I have arrived at this place. This is accompanied by the other two RCs. I have done this in dreams, but my subconscious mind (or people in the dream) generally invents "rational" explanations to fill in gaps; I need to question myself harder and not just accept the first answer that comes to mind.

Dream Signs:
- University/college: I am in full-time work and have been now for several months since completing a PhD, but I find myself regularly dreaming of going back to college/university for further study. Interestingly, my "subject" or "major" at these establishments tends to be the arts/social sciences; sociology, anthropology etc. For reference, my major is Chemical Engineering and my day job is as an R&D Engineer, so it seems to be diametrically opposed to my actual educational background.
- Work and work colleagues: I quite often dream about work, being at work (or in the general vicinity) or travelling on work business with colleagues. It's not too bad as I enjoy my work! However, it is a common dream sign - generally once every couple of days or so.
- Driving: I drive to work most days, so it's probably not too odd that I frequently dream of driving or about cars. About half of the time these dreams involve my own car; other dreams involve other (usually older, for some reason) cars.

Short-Term Goals:
- Gain better control of dreams and build lucid focus.
- Recognise irrational elements of dream and realise dream state with DILD.
- Maintain reality checks and perform in dreams.

Long-Term Goals:
- Use lucid dreaming to further advance self in terms of artistic expression and self-confidence.
- Be able to consistently lucid dream.

Lucid/Dream Recall History:
- Recall: since the start of the year I have been keeping a dream diary; most nights I am able to remember at least one dream. My recollection has become more detailed; at the start of the year I was writing a few lines or a short paragraph (of an A5 diary) whereas now most dreams are 1-2 pages long. I would like to recall more details in dreams such as names of places, more detailed visual descriptions and recollection of other senses such as sound and smell.
- Lucid: I have realised that I was dreaming a few times but have not been able to take advantage of this to transition into lucidity. Two nights ago I used WBTB and successfully did a RC and became conscious, directing some elements of the dream. This happened again this morning via another WBTB, but I did not have so much control over the dream. I need to keep recognising the dream state and learn to exercise better control over the dream.

Current Technique:
- I have had recent success with WBTB but this is not viable in the long run as I share my bed with my wife. I need to develop DILD and ensure that I regularly complete reality checks in order to perform them in dreams more often.

Current sleeping times:
- Currently I sleep at about 10-10.30 pm and wake up at about 6.30 pm for employing the WBTB technique. My general sleep schedule is 11 pm bed, read and talk in bed and then sleep at about 11.30; wake-up is 6.30 am giving me 7 hours of sleep. I find that I have been waking up at about 1.20/3.10, perhaps indicating that I have an initial sleep interval of about 3 hours and then about 1 hour 45 minutes. I need to record my brief waking interval times more regularly in order to establish more of a pattern. If I sleep for 7 hours I usually recall dreams well, perhaps indicating that this is towards the end of an REM period.

Why lucidly dream:
The simple answer is: almost a third of our lives is spent asleep, so why not make it an exciting, interactive journey rather than merely a requisite for surviving? The dream world is fascinating: limitless in scope, peculiar in its essence and essentially a large playground for the mind. I want to explore this world and take advantage of all the wonder it contains.

Lesson 2 - Placeholder

1) Find a technique that suits you.

After having read through over 100 pages of tutorials on the site (from the links) and trying to distill things down to their essence, I think that the technique that best suits me is DILD/MILD - I'm not entirely sure what the exact difference is between the two methods, as at face value they seem pretty similar in concept.

An important part of this that I have discovered that I wasn't aware of was the need for awareness (no pun intended . . .). I began to practise meditation last week to help to build awareness and also as a way of de-stressing and relaxing after lunch at work; I do a 10 minute session at lunchtime and then a 15 minute session in the evening before bed - I find that this helps me to relax and get ready for bed. I'm historically a light sleeper who takes a while to fall asleep, but I've found that meditating and clearing the mind of thoughts works well.

I have started to incorporate some visualisation during meditation or general daydreams to try to reinforce what lucid dreaming is like (from the couple of times I've managed it) and how I will realise that I'm dreaming. I still need to build a greater self-awareness, however, as I'm still missing things in my dream that seem obvious when I wake up. I find that I quite often realise that I'm dreaming - I even told myself last night in my dream that something I did in my dream was OK as it was only in the dream world and not the real world - presumably this counts as a lucid dream in which I am not controlling the dream.

Over the next few days I shall be performing WBTB. I've experimented waking up 4.5/6 hours after going to bed and staying up for 30/45 minutes - at the moment, the best combination for me seems to be waking up after 6 hours for a 30 minute wake-up session in which I note that night's dreams, go through previous nights' dreams and read through some DV forums. I'm going to try 15 minutes tonight as I need to be up fairly early for work tomorrow, as the Monday traffic is awful around the London area, so the earlier I go in, the better.

2) Choose a second induction technique

I think WILD could be a useful technique for me in the future, when my wife returns home on Friday. WBTB is going to be impractical when sharing a bed, but my wife quite often wakes during the night to go to the bathroom and thus this could serve as a good "jumping-off" point for a brief WBTB/WILD.

General to-do over the coming week(s):
- Practice waking awareness by engaging all the senses and focus on the details. Try to do this approximately once an hour to develop a second-nature for doing this. I should also think about how I affect my surroundings and how I am affected by them; how I got to this place and where I am going afterwards (with visualisation). This will be accompanied by a couple of RC's (nose-pinch and one that is relevant to the area, such as mirrors, digital clocks etc.). Start to question everyday things such as conversations people are having, the warmth of a tea-cup and environmental sounds.
- Visualise dream control and performing it when daydreaming. Perform dream incubation before sleep to reinforce dream scenes and the sensation of becoming lucid, imagining obviously lucid behaviour.
- Keep recording waking times and recording in dream journal (I have a book for this).
- Develop own mantra for repetition when sleeping.

Welcome to intro class, Camdave! From my experience and also observations around the forum, wbtb is a great method to help you achieve lucidity! Wish you success with on your ld induction path! If you have any questions, feel free to ask here or in the http://www.dreamviews.com/intro-class/145523-raise-your-hand-intro-class-q.html thread.

Take care! :)

Thanks :) I just have a couple of questions at the moment - no better time to ask them than during a WBTB period!

1) Is it necessary to wake up in an REM period for better recall? If I wake naturally (presumably during after REM sleep and back into a non-REM stage) then my dream memory is usually worse than if I’m woken in the middle of a dream. (but with thought and recall techniques I can still remember them)

2) When using incubation techniques, is it worth keeping the base "world" that you incubate consistent in order to further reinforce it? Having something that is fixed in your mind as being a sort-of gateway to the dream world, I presume, would be useful as a mental signpost for dreaming. I guess I would act as some kind of mentally pre-fabricated dream sign.

Here is some brief info about sleep cycles and recall. First of all, we tend to naturally wake after the end of each cycle, which finishes with REM. Some people are aware of these moments, while others are not. In the beginning of the night we experience more N-REM phases and REM sleep is shorter, we sleep deeper, so it may be hard to become aware of those micro-awakenings. As the night progresses and we become well rested, REM cycles become longer and our natural wakes might be more noticeable. Also, while there is a tendency to state that each sleep cycle lasts 90 mins, the truth is this is an average and they can vary between 70 and 120 mins, therefore it can be hard to exactly pinpoint the time where one cycle ends and the other one begins.

The implications of this for wbtb:

- with wbtb you usually will set the alarm or use a natural wake after 4-6 hrs of sleep or something like that depending on your sleep schedule, the amount of time you have available, etc. This means that REM cycles will already be somewhat longer, so there is a greater chance that your alarm might hit during REM (in case you want to have some pre wbtb recall) and it will be easier for your to use natural wakes for wbtb and recall.

2) Yes, it will be better if you keep your baseworld consistent and don't change many elements. When you repeat the same process/though over and over, it will be committed better to memory than if you alter things. But you can have a portfolio of baseworlds, dreamscenes, etc. You can later use elements of these portolios or the entire portfolios to shape your dreams (i.e. summon items, change the scene). You can also try to use them as dream signs, if you associate them with the realization or feeling of lucidity.

Good luck! :)

Thanks for your reply :) I tried a "natural" WBTB last night and found that I woke up quite naturally after roughly 5 hours 45 minutes of sleep - does this necessarily correspond to the end of an REM cycle? I was under the impression that you generally awaken during the first NREM stage in between cycles, in a phase of light sleep. In this case I stayed up for 15 minutes and tried to WILD, but lost focus and dropped off! When I woke up I had zero recollection of the last dreaming but, but as I was going to work I got into my car and remembered the dream - I dream a LOT about driving and being in cars, so I'm now taking more care to be aware in the vehicle and notice all the small details.

I'm still a very inconsistent lucid dreamer, but I think that building my self-awareness will unlock it. I'm still in the stage of "how did I NOT notice that?" - I even had a déjà-vu last night, whereby I saw a very specific scene whilst driving a car and having an option of going down a small gradient on the left or a set of stairs (!?) on the right - the first time I encountered this I drove down the stairs, but this time I took the smooth path to the left. I didn't even realise this memory until I wrote it down in my dream diary this morning and recognised it.

I've read quite a bit about dream-scapes over the past few months - some quite advanced things about constructing them from scratch and the visualisation needed for that. I think I'll start small and work my way up! I've put together some images as a visual cue to read from time to time that represent my dream-scape (a private island somewhere warm - the UK is blessed with many things but tropical weather is not one of them :cheeky: ) and am working hard to internalise it with as much awareness of the place as possible. At the moment I'm also including lucid dreaming cues (such as a oddly-coloured coconut that is very light to pick up, flying to my beach cabin and making clouds transform into shapes) - I'm hoping that this will reinforce things further.

One interesting thing that has happened is that I've noticed a dream character of someone who I don't think I know from my awakening life has been consistently appearing in my dreams; this has mainly been in the background, but a couple of days ago it came to the front as we were at some indoor waterpark (again, blame the UK weather for this memory!) and having fun together. Usually if I dream about being close with a member of the opposite species then I feel remorse (as I'm married!) and other dream character's also notice this and question it. However, when with this character I feel totally at ease and feel like they have been a best friend for a long time; I do not feel any sense of remorse and other dream characters are completely accepting of it. Have I found my dream guide? I've not yet met them whilst lucid, but I'm trying to visualise meeting them so I can ask them more questions. I've read quite a bit about dream guides and it seems that this DC appears to fit virtually all of the requisites; if it is the case then it gives me an added motivation for lucid dreaming.

edit/ I'd also just like to mention/ask, how specific does a mantra have to be? I've been struggling to consciously think about one specifically, and then when I was meditating one night I just thought "I am ready", and it seems to fit. This triggers thoughts of mental relaxation and visualisation of my dream scene so I presume it's OK - does the mantra have to be more explicit in its worded intentions?

Hope the pics upload properly. Unfortunately, some of these hypnograms would to put the wake up point at different places of mostly REM (possibly because it varies?) which can be so confusing if you are a lucid dreamer!

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Well, I can't tell for sure at which point of your sleep cycle you woke up, but it's very likely that it was at the end of REM. If you fall asleep too quickly after wbtb, you may increase the time a bit, do some mental gymnastics. Actually, what do you do during your wbtb? I usually get up, if too sleepy stay out of bed for a while thinking of mantras, goals, then continue this in bed till I fall asleep and adjust the intensity depending on if I am sleepy or not. If very sleepy, more task thoughts and mantras, if too awake I just try to relax. I takes some practice and adjustment.

What you are telling me about this DC sounds so exciting. :D Maybe that is your dream guide. It will be cool if you remember to recognize her as a dream sign and become lucid next time you do encounter her.

About mantras - anything that has an appeal for you and elicits the necessary association will do. Short ones are somewhat more effective and easier to repeat. As long as you have the intent attached to it and associate it with lucidity "I'm ready" will work too. I usually go for "I realize that I am dreaming" and then one or two words for any tasks I have planned for the ld.

Thanks for the pictures - that's cleared it up. Last night my sleeping followed it almost to a tee - I went to bed at 10:20 pm and then had awakenings at 1:32, 4:58 (dream recall) and then awoke at 6:14 (also with dream recall). I've been experimenting with different time periods during wake (I go and re-read a few dreams from the journal and highlight dream signs, and come onto these forums or read up about the awareness techniques) - last night I tries just going straight back to bed and it didn't seem to help. Next time, I shall force myself to get up and go to the bathroom or have a sip of water in the kitchen to try to prompt the conscious into activity. At 4:58 for example, I really struggled just to force myself to write down the time at which I woke up and a couple of lines for later dream recall! It's progress though, as a couple of weeks ago I would have just dropped straight back to sleep :cheeky:

I'm almost certain that this DC is my dream guide, as looking back through other dreams from previously, I've noted the presence of a woman whose face was in the background and I couldn't make out, but I could notice their presence; this happened again last night when I saw a "picture" of her on the dream-internet. I made a rough sketch so I can try to Google it later on, but I can't help but feel that this is needle-in-a-haystack sort of searching! I'm relying on my subconscience, I suppose, to leap out if I go past the correct picture on Google images.

I tried repeating my mantra last night when falling back asleep after a brief awakening, but found that I quickly forgot to say it and fell asleep. Just need more practice and focus, I suppose! My recall has definitely improved - I'm now starting to remember multiple dreams at night and writing a couple of pages in my notebook each night (rather than a couple of lines when I started out). I've always been able to remember a couple of dreams every week (and have had some really vivid ones when I was a child/teenager that I still remember clearly now) - I feel like I just needed that extra push to really recall them.

My wife tells me that I quite often sleep-talk about seemingly random things and that I appear awake when I do so (upright and looking at her) - she can ask me a question and I'll respond in gibberish. I've done this when I was a child too - my Dad often told me that I slept-talked, and on one occasion when I was about 4-5, there was a lunar eclipse and I got out of bed to see if with my Dad. I was talking to him about the positions of the constellations (I loved space-stuff when I was a child!) and Dad took several photos of us with the lunar eclipse, but I had zero recall of it the next morning! Is this a case of REM atonia not quite kicking in fully on occasion, or is it something quite common in the LD community?

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At 4:58 for example, I really struggled just to force myself to write down the time at which I woke up and a couple of lines for later dream recall! It's progress though, as a couple of weeks ago I would have just dropped straight back to sleep

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Lol, that sounds familiar. Sometimes when I wake I'm so sleepy it's really hard to convince myself to do a proper wbtb. Then the day after when I'm angry enough I missed my ld chance I find the strength to do it...:P

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Is this a case of REM atonia not quite kicking in fully on occasion, or is it something quite common in the LD community?

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It could be. I haven't come accross many Qs regarding this here, but I've seen and experienced similar things over the years. This includes family members, friends, etc. As long as you're not waving arms around or see a sudden continuous spike in that kind of activity, I think it's kind of normal, especially if you've had it since kid.

Thanks for your replies; it's good to be able to discuss these things and pick the brains of people with experience! Wall of text incoming . . .

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Originally Posted by NyxCC

It could be. I haven't come accross many Qs regarding this here, but I've seen and experienced similar things over the years. This includes family members, friends, etc. As long as you're not waving arms around or see a sudden continuous spike in that kind of activity, I think it's kind of normal, especially if you've had it since kid.

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Yeah, I did a bit of background reading into it and it seems that children are regular sleep-talkers (presumably because of their elongated REM periods / brain activity) and most people grow out of it, but I never did. I don't do anything physical other than the occasional sitting up in bed when asked a question! (i.e. I won't just sit up on my own accord, but only as a response to an external stimulus) There's no Bart Simpson-style windmilling :cheeky:

Well I had a pretty good session last night. I've been working hard on waking awareness and it seems to be paying off as I feel more aware of dreaming. I went to bed at 22:17, woke up at around midnight with no recollection and then 4:10 with no recollection. At this time I thought that this was an ideal time to WILD, but I managed to get myself out of bed and went to have a glass of water and read some notes that I made about WILDs (so I didn't need to turn the computer on). I went back to bed at 4:17 (I thought at the time that the symmetry was nice with the bed time!) and tried to do a finger-initiated one for 3-4 goes just to see if it worked, but it didn't quite work for me; I was pretty awake when I went back to bed and I think that this didn't help.

I then tried to WILD and stayed still for the best part of around 15-20 minutes repeating my mantra and visualising a dream scene, but I never managed to drop off to sleep. I remember a few times feeling some kind of sensation swoop through and thinking "ah, maybe this is it" but I wasn't sure whether to RC or not by pinching my nose as that would involve moving. After a while I tried it and found that I couldn't breathe through my nose; what would be a good secondary RC to do in a dark room? Whenever I'm doing awareness practise, I always do a back-up RC just-in-case; I found during dreams last night that the pinching nose didn't always work as a RC.

On one occasion I woke in bed, and I always do a noise-pinch RC here as I've had quite a few false awakenings. I pinched my nose and found that I couldn't breathe, but decided that I could be dreaming anyway from a general feeling; if I could have backed this up with a secondary RC then this would've been great.

I tried to find my dream guide last night when I became lucid in a dream (I was driving in a residential area that I know - driving is a big dream sign for me - and the road wasn't correct; I realised that the road wasn't correct and that I must be dreaming) and ended up walking up a road shouting her name, and the other DCs were looking at me in surprise. I just said to them "no, you're not her, keep walking"! When I had the FA above, I also climbed into the cupboard as I believed that if I was dreaming then it could act as a teleportation device - I've been visualising this in case I wake up in my room! However, it didn't work - I presumably didn't fully convince myself that I was dreaming as the RC had failed.

I also had another odd sensation whilst trying to WILD; towards the end of my attempts, I did a nose-pinch RC and found that I could breathe through my nose, so I thought "finally!". I sat at the side of the bed, rubbed my hands to try to stabilise the dream (as it was dark in my room, so couldn't see anything) and then stood up. When I stood up, my body suddenly felt very heavy and I "fell" very slowly to the floor; once I hit the floor, I woke up.

I presume that this is all down to practice and training your mind for stabilisation in a dream and becoming used to not only the feeling of being lucid, but the ability to control dreams. I've been able to recognise logical fallacies in dreams for quite a long time (I'm an engineer by background, so I guess rationality is generally the norm!) but have never acted on them and have just accepted them - for example, in one dream I justified someone pulling down their trousers after hearing thunder as "the zipper has metal in it, so it's safer to be lower to the ground". Made perfect sense in the dream world, and other DCs agreed with me! It seems in the last few days that I've really started to question in my dream now - instead of recognising something as being strange, I'm now looking around and doing RCs in my dreams.

I also can't help but feel I'm trying to dive straight into the deep-end by trying to find my DG straight away by summoning/teleporting - am I better off doing some training first, Rocky-style? I was hoping to find my DG and let them do the teaching!

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I have had recent success with WBTB but this is not viable in the long run as I share my bed with my wife. I need to develop DILD and ensure that I regularly complete reality checks in order to perform them in dreams more often.

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For what it's worth, I share a bed with my wife as well and employ WBTB for the great majority of my lucids. I can't use alarms or anything, so I've had to try to form a habit around WBTB. Getting to bed early helps. When you're first forming the habit of waking in the very early morning, drinking some water pre-bed helps ease you into the process. Just resolving to be more aware and to wake up after your dreams helps, too.

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I also can't help but feel I'm trying to dive straight into the deep-end by trying to find my DG straight away by summoning/teleporting - am I better off doing some training first, Rocky-style? I was hoping to find my DG and let them do the teaching!

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I say just try to get lucid as often as possible! Don't get too hung up on whether you can meet a particular goal, but if shooting for the stars motivates you, cool!

A good starter goal I recommend is to try cranking up dream vividness as high as it can go. Check something out in great detail and see what your brain can produce. It's a truly mind-expanding experience and you just never look at dreams the same way after that. And of course, flight! :superman:

But honestly, go for whatever you find motivating. There's no better way to learn than to simply have lots of lucid dreams IMO. Good luck!

Well congrats on the awesome night of dreaming!

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I also had another odd sensation whilst trying to WILD; towards the end of my attempts, I did a nose-pinch RC and found that I could breathe through my nose, so I thought "finally!". I sat at the side of the bed, rubbed my hands to try to stabilise the dream (as it was dark in my room, so couldn't see anything) and then stood up. When I stood up, my body suddenly felt very heavy and I "fell" very slowly to the floor; once I hit the floor, I woke up.

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From reading your description here I get the impression that the wild was indeed successful! You actually did transition! :banana:

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what would be a good secondary RC to do in a dark room? Whenever I'm doing awareness practise, I always do a back-up RC just-in-case; I found during dreams last night that the pinching nose didn't always work as a RC.

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Some transitions can be very subtle. One moment you are lying in bed in your room, the next moment you are in your dream room, in the same position. How can you tell? One of the things that tips me off is that while my eyes are originally closed and I am looking at the darkness ahead, parts of the room become visible, as if you are seeing through your eyelids. At other times I have felt my dream eyes suddenly open when I fully transition. You might want to wait a bit depending on your gut feel, then either slowly get up or imagine some movements. Here you can imagine all sorts of motions, repetitive ones, touching surface, grabbing objects. If your dream body reacts to these thoughts and they become more real, then you are already in. You can also try summoning different objects - maybe a flashlight would be cool! Summoning or tk can be a RC then. Also, the numbers on your clock if they change or stay the same.

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When I had the FA above, I also climbed into the cupboard as I believed that if I was dreaming then it could act as a teleportation device - I've been visualising this in case I wake up in my room! However, it didn't work - I presumably didn't fully convince myself that I was dreaming as the RC had failed.

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That's a great idea to try! Maybe spend a little more time in the cupboard next time, examining it from the inside, to give the outside world more time to change? You can try this with doors too, btw.

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It seems in the last few days that I've really started to question in my dream now - instead of recognising something as being strange, I'm now looking around and doing RCs in my dreams.

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That's the perfect attitude to have! :D

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I also can't help but feel I'm trying to dive straight into the deep-end by trying to find my DG straight away by summoning/teleporting - am I better off doing some training first, Rocky-style? I was hoping to find my DG and let them do the teaching!

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Do whatever feels right for you! There are really no steps with dream control, although one could put things in categories to allow us sort of mental order for our mind. If you look for other things to do, then you can check out our tasks of the month and year. At any rate the more practice, the better! Have fun!

Tasks of the Month & Year

I posted a reply this morning but it didn't seem to go through - did my RCs at the time and I don't think I was dreaming :cheeky:

Thanks again for your replies - they are a great help. I unfortunately didn't have any dream recollection last night as I wasn't feeling well, so I ended up having a very scattered sleep. Attempting to WILD made my headache worse, so I gave up after a while to just try to sleep. It did give me a little time to reflect, however, and I've just got a couple of questions about WILDs:

1) What is the best thing to do with your mind whilst attempting a WILD? I've read several sources that say it's good to just focus on breathing and notice changes in body sensations (HI, onset of atonia etc.), some say repeat a mantra and others say proceed with visualisation and dream incubation. I've tried visualisation/incubation - this usually also happens when I repeat a mantra as the mantra, to me, implies the concoction of the dream - and my conscious seems to become a little too stimulated/excited at the prospect of lucid dreaming. Is it just a case of needing to keep relaxing for the incubation to be more successful, or should I try just focussing on breathing? (I think just focussing on breathing makes it too easy to lose your consciousness, without lots more meditation practice!)

2) I've had a couple of goes at a finger-induced LD and found that they weren't successful, although the technique appears to have a lot of endorsement amongst the community. This has always been after a 5 minutes (or so) WBTB session of getting up and having a glass of water. Is the FILD technique better to do immediately after waking without "waking up" your conscious mind as much?

As an aside, I saw someone this morning at work walking into the office looking around and pinching his nose. I think I spotted a fellow lucid dreamer!

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What is the best thing to do with your mind whilst attempting a WILD

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Unforunately, there is no best practice as the process is very subjective and experiences vary for people and even with the same individual. One very important thing to keep in mind is not to get overexcited when getting closer to an ld. It's about finding the perfect mix of awareness and relaxation. Personally, since I tend to sway more towards the wakefulness side, I rely more on simply relaxing and following my breathing. I may repeat the occasional mantra to make sure I'm focused on lding and don't drift off into normal dreams. The best thing is that even if you fall asleep as usual and miss the transition, all the effort and expectation might translate into a DILD later on. :) I think it's best if you try out different things to see which one works best for you. Here's a very good link with our wild class, don't hesitate to also ask sageous for some more tips on this.

WILD

Also, there's this quite nice technique that works well for both dilds and wilds, it's called SSILD. You can try doing a few of these cycles - they help you maintain awareness while keeping you relaxed at the same time.

http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...eam-ssild.html

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Is the FILD technique better to do immediately after waking without "waking up" your conscious mind as much

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I haven't used this tech but from what I read is that you need be more sleepy, yes.

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As an aside, I saw someone this morning at work walking into the office looking around and pinching his nose. I think I spotted a fellow lucid dreamer

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Awww! That's awesome! :D

Thanks for pointing out the SSILD technique - I hadn't come across it before. I gave it a go last night but haven't been successful for the past 3 days in dream recall; I seem to wake up with nothing in my mind, not even a small fragment. I've been a bit busy at work and my wife came home last night from abroad so maybe I was more distracted than usual; when I woke up after 5 hours sleep last night, for example, I did a few SSILD cycles and fell asleep straight away!

I've read quite a lot about people having "nights off" from lucid dreaming and recollection. Do you think that the poor/zero recollection of the last 2-3 days is just my brain taking a rest? I've been going at things pretty hard (in terms of research, trying techniques, all-day awareness etc.) for the last two weeks with pretty good success.

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I've read quite a lot about people having "nights off" from lucid dreaming and recollection. Do you think that the poor/zero recollection of the last 2-3 days is just my brain taking a rest? I've been going at things pretty hard (in terms of research, trying techniques, all-day awareness etc.) for the last two weeks with pretty good success.

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You've been doing great. Don't worry if recall isn't top notch or even slacking some days, that's pretty normal. Sure, you don't have to try to ld every day, just don't put it aside for too long. Even on days where you're not too involved with ld practices, there are small things that you can do to keep it at a certain level - RC when waking up, some thoughts about lding pre bed and the occasional critical thought during the day.

Have a nice weekend! :)

Thanks for the kind words; I'm starting to realise just how much of an impact the mental state has on the success (or not) of dream recollection and lucid dreaming. When I woke up in the morning, I just instantly thought "I can't remember anything!" in a panic as recollection usually comes immediately to mind, like a short-term memory. This morning when I woke up I made an effort to just let the mind wander and pick up the fragments of what I'd been dreaming about, and I recalled five dreams of which I think one was a continuation of an earlier dream after a brief awakening. Unfortunately no lucidity, but I did question the situation a few times without following it up with a reality check.

I've been trying the SSILD technique after a WBTB for the past couple of days, but I find it makes me almost too relaxed; I complete the short cycles to relax and then about 1/2 cycles into the longer time periods I fall asleep! The dream following this was the one in which I questioned things the most, but as mentioned I didn't gain lucidity or follow things up with a RC. I think this just needs a little more focus on my behalf, so I shall combine the SSILD cycles either with a mantra or following breathing to keep conscious thought; at the moment I start to get amplifications of thoughts and get carried into them a little too easily. I'm starting to sense better what is needed for lucidity and how to get into the correct mental state for it; I've also noticed positive steps in meditating (self-adjusting my position, becoming relaxed and focussing more quickly, improved visualisation etc.) so I know that the hard work is slowly paying off :)

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Thanks for the kind words; I'm starting to realise just how much of an impact the mental state has on the success (or not) of dream recollection and lucid dreaming

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Indeed, it has a great impact. Whatever we think/say to ourselves sinks in directly in the subcon and can affect our success rate.

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The dream following this was the one in which I questioned things the most, but as mentioned I didn't gain lucidity or follow things up with a RC. I think this just needs a little more focus on my behalf, so I shall combine the SSILD cycles either with a mantra or following breathing to keep conscious thought

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Good idea! I think you have the right mindset, so keep up the great practice. Sweet dreams! :)

I've had good recall recently but haven't made it back into the lucid state. I've been busy at work and so have been slacking a little on the all-day awareness, but I had a relatively light day of work today (and not very much sleep last night) so hopefully tonight will be a good one. I almost had a nap when I got home as my wife isn't in this evening!

I was wondering about naps - I always assumed that naps weren't long enough to get into REM, and I don't think from any naps I've had that I actually fall asleep, but just get very groggy and go over thoughts in my mind. Is it true that naps are actually very conducive to lucid dreaming? If so, do you aim to WILD into it, or just drift off and let DILD take over as your conscious mind should be pretty active?

Well, I'm not much into napping, but from what I've read - you usually go straight into REM when napping. I guess this would hold mostly if you had a decent amount of sleep prior to that. For me it, takes way too long to fall asleep to be able to take any advantage of any benefits. There are lots of dreamers that say napping is very conductive for lding. You might want to ask Gab or Scionox regarding their nap routine for more info on how they usually do it.

Well good news to report, and a wall of text to go with it! Again, my recall has been pretty good over the last couple of days and I've settled more into a rhythm of questioning reality and performing reality checks regularly during the day, and then at night time hoping for a M/DILD early on and then waking up about 5-6 hours into the night to attempt a WILD. For this I set an alarm, but I've not yet had to use it as either I or my wife wake up throughout the night anyway.

As per the comments above, I've found that for the WILD I relax and prepare myself for the onset of atonia and generally get to the stage where my body begins to feel heavy before getting lost in thoughts and falling asleep. Last night I tried to WILD on my back as I've never before fell asleep in that position - in the past I have tried but always end up rolling onto my side. (my usual position is on my side, either foetal / "yearner" position) I didn't WBTB last night as when I woke up I felt confident that I'd be able to lucid dream. I relaxed and started going into paralysis, but again fell asleep! I had an odd dream in which I was playing a Fallout-style game for someone who couldn't beat the boss of a certain level, which turned out to look like a large version of Homer Simpson. Unfortunately this didn't prompt me into a DILD (!), but the person who I beat the level for thanked me and said "as a reward, you will now wake up in a lucid dream - enjoy!".

I woke up in my bed and did a nose-pinch reality check, and I found that I could breathe through my nose! So somehow my brain has "granted" me permission to lucidly dream :cheeky: I got out of bed and tried to "open" the door (light was shining through the cracks even though it was about 4.30 am - should be totally dark) to my private beach/tropical island (I've been visualising this regularly) but found that it didn't work, and I entered the hallway. I sat down in the study instead and found that the table is pretty much replicated perfectly in my dream - nothing odd or strange about the objects, after having taken a mental photograph and comparing it to what I see now. I touched the objects and rubbed my hands to stabilise the dream and did another RC just to confirm, and then I managed to summon an object in my pocket by thinking about it. I then could start to feel my body in bed whilst sitting in the chair and began to wake up - about 30 seconds of lucidity but it felt great!

I tried to DEILD in order to get back into the LD, but I've not really read up too much about it. I woke up on my back so stayed still and tried to get back into the dream, but found consciousness coming back quickly so I turned over to my side to sleep. Again I fell asleep as I couldn't keep concentration on my previous brief dream, but when I fell back asleep I found that I was consciously aware that I was dreaming. I was in a different location, walking out of a house and I saw an African Grey parrot sitting on a perch in the garden. I told the parrot that I knew I was dreaming, and then summoned a peanut in my pocket to give him. So I suppose I chained together two lucid dreams inadvertently - in the second one I didn't perform any RCs as I had supreme confidence in the fact that I was dreaming. I suppose the peanut-summoning is an inadvertent RC.

One thing I have noticed is that my (lucid) dreams are actually pretty realistic. I've been doing a lot of observation and awareness during the waking day - I did it last night in my first dream and everything was pretty much spot-on. I was impressed by the subconscious memory, but I was expecting some crazy and out-of-place things! I did manage to change the colour of an object by focussing on it, though, so I guess that's one manipulable thing. I'm assuming this is something to do with awareness and your conscious mind starting to become active, so that would explain the lack of "irrationality" that is standard in the lucid dreamscape vs a regular dreamscape - that is, until you intentionally introduce the irrationality!

I also notice that I quite often dream of "home", but with this not being a constant place or somewhere I've been. Is it common that an emotional feeling (in this case, homeliness) becoming attached to certain places to trick your mind into being grounded somewhere? I quite often wake up in (or return home to) flats, houses, castles etc. and feeling like I am home - in fact, my actual home is almost never visited apart from during false awakenings!

That's fantastic, congrats on the lds and the successful chaining, Camdave! :banana:

It looks like your confidence played a great role with inducing the lds! I liked how you went from non-ld to ld after this DC told you about your reward. Nice dream control too! :)

Your contemplations about realism and out-of-place items are interesting. I haven't thought of the randomness as a result of being further away from waking, but it makes sense.

Apologies for the lack of updates! It's been busy recently at work and with my wife home I'm no longer allowed to set my alarm in the middle of the night, so I've had a few nights of sleeping completely through. I'm trying to change my schedule a little at the moment to fit this - changing my mantra to wake up after each dream and drinking water to get around the no-alarm rule :cheeky:

My dream recall is still pretty good, but a little patchy compared to previously. I've not had a lucid dream since a week ago, but I assume that they are in general not a regular thing until you develop the skill and the mental awareness for it. Just so I've got a ballpark figure, for a beginner what sort of frequency do you think is possible? My dream diary seems to suggest one every 10 days or so, which I think is just coinciding when conditions are perfect from the day - good awareness throughout the day, waking up in the night and not falling asleep instantly when going back to bed.

I think I'm going to try sleeping on my back more often too, as I think most of my lucid dreams have occurred when sleeping on my back. I've never been able to sleep in this position before, even when very tired (I'm a side-sleeper) - I think the combination of meditation before bed and a better understanding of relaxation techniques has helped me to get over the mental block of sleeping on my back.

Hey Camdave, nice to see you around again! :)

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I'm trying to change my schedule a little at the moment to fit this - changing my mantra to wake up after each dream and drinking water to get around the no-alarm

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It's great to hear that you haven't given up the ld practice despite the recent ld routine change and trying to find ways to make it work. I had some sleepless days in the last few weeks which totally threw my wbtb and ld shedule off track. Recently, I have been trying to offset the days when it's absolutely impossible to do wbtbs with some prebed ld thoughts and also increase day work and focus on dream signs. That way lucidity attempts are never fully out of the picture for long.

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Just so I've got a ballpark figure, for a beginner what sort of frequency do you think is possible?

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Oh, we really don't have average statistics and it's difficult to compare one lder to another. My overall impression is that you had quite a good start so far and if you keep up your enthusiasm and practices, you should be nicely progressing towards getting more lds. :)

Thank you, as ever, for your replies. I've had better recall over the last few days but nothing lucid as yet - I'm banned from setting an alarm in the night by my wife so I've had to be a bit more creative and drink plenty of water before bed instead, but it's a little unreliable for timings!

I remember dreaming last night when I woke up a couple of times but didn't write anything down as I don't want to disturb my wife too much - I'd have to sit up in bed or get out of bed to go and write on a table. Is there any way round this other than just getting up and getting on with it? I convinced myself in bed that I'd remember my dreams, and then when I woke up in the morning I couldn't remember anything. I had a couple of fleeting moments where recollection started to come back, but then I found that I couldn't remember again.

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Is there any way round this other than just getting up and getting on with it?

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Whenever I don't have the time to journal, I try to first journal in my mind, and then I can write down the entry whenever possible, at best during the same day. You know the way you journal - you think and talk to yourself in your mind and then write it down. I am in a cafeteria, queing to buy something, there's a DC in front of me, bla bla. Well, I tell the story to myself in the same way, as if writing it down in the journal or as if I'm reading it. This might require going over the story a few times (which serves as wbtb anyways). Or you can try with keywords, but be sure to tell yourself the story around the keywords. I like to count items, say five key items - I go over them. Cafeteria. Castle. Lions. Three items, maybe three dreams or elements from the same dream. Make sure I can remember those and think a bit about the details around them. Once you get the hang of it, it becomes a bit easier. Works for remembering lds too.

I kind-of had the problem in reverse last night - woke up and wrote down lots of the dream by the bedside, and then realised that this was part of a false awakening, so that writing went to waste!

Firstly, I woke myself up at about 3.30 AM, roughly four and a half hours into sleep. I got up and wrote down a couple of dream fragments that I had whilst on a trip to the bathroom. I have now left some paper and a pen in the bathroom and kitchen so I have a justifiable reason to get out of bed and go to get a drink or go to the bathroom :cheeky: I then wanted to try a WILD; I was aware that previously that I had either fallen asleep during relaxation or had forgotten to repeat a mantra to keep focus. I was more aware of this as I had forgotten to repeat the mantra for MILD when I went to bed the night before.

I managed to catch my thoughts drifting this time and went back to repeating a mantra. I think I managed the transition this time as I have done once previously after turning back onto my side to sleep. I don't seem to have that much in the way of the onset of REM atonia; I've read about hallucinations and vibrations but I seem to have none of the sort! I just get a bit of "white noise" in my eyelids, like looking through a very blurry/dull kaleidoscope. My heart also seems to beat a little bit faster on the onset of atonia, which gives the impression that I've got too excited and that it's failed, but I learnt from last time I tried that it is actually a good sign that I am now in the "dream" body. I also noticed that my body felt quite light, much more so than usual. I did a nose-pinch RC and found that it worked, so went to get out of bed. I had the same sensation as before of my body suddenly being very heavy and falling to the ground, but I recognised this so I stopped and looked at my hands to stabilise the dream. This worked well, with everything coming back into focus. I then managed to get out of bed and tried to turn the light on, which didn't work. (which is actually unusual for me, as lights usually work in my dreams) After a bit of stumbling in the dark I tried to command the lights to turn on, but this didn't work - I'm guessing that I still didn't quite "believe" deep down that it would work. I remembered my dream goals then of travelling to my private island (visualised most days) and meeting my DG, but I woke up shortly after this.

I then managed the double-whammy and kept my focus on the dream as I woke up, and managed to DEILD straight back into the dream again, doing another RC to make sure that this was the case. I then figured that since my "door open" teleport wasn't working that I'd just go outside and try to fly there instead! I've never flown in my dreams before, so I thought might as well make this the first time. I went outside my house (the neighbourhood didn't look much like my neighbourhood at all!) and looked around thinking about how to fly; there were other people walking around but I didn't want to ask and rouse attention. I just sort of jumped and aimed my arms forward like a two-handed superman pose, and found that I took straight off! It was a beautiful clear day and I flew over our suburb and out towards the countryside, over some golf courses and some huge country estates. I went towards what looked like beaches but decided that as they weren't islands that I wouldn't land there; I woke up shortly afterwards. I wrote down my dreams in my book beside the bed, and then awoke properly and realised that it was a false awakening. D'oh! In my excitement to write down the lucid dream details, I had forgotten to do a RC to catch the false awakening.

It was a great feeling :) I think it's come around as I've become more focussed on certain methods and less taking an impatient scatter-gun approach to trying lots of LD methods. I'm running a MILD method of 3 actions/items to prompt a RC alongside general increased awareness of questioning my environment around me and my recent and longer memory. If I wake up in the night then I attempt a WILD, which is usually relaxation on my back (where I find it hard to sleep) and then rolling over to my side to sleep. It worked last night as I remembered to keep my mind awake! Just realise that now I need to be a little more aware of stabilisation techniques and methods to lengthen LDs.

Awww, that's fantastic, Camdave! Congrats on the lds and your first flying experience! You really are getting some impressive results, wilding and deilding in one night! Great stuff! Keep up the good work. :goodjob2:

I've had a busy few days due to completing a house purchase and having a lot of things going on at work - my dream recall has gone through the floor in these days! Not helped by a lack of will in the evenings - I had recall last night when I woke up at about 4, but didn't write it down and then couldn't remember it in the morning. I started to WILD but fell asleep almost instantly because I didn't get out of bed, and also was very tired from carrying things to the new house all day.

Will be back into the dreaming world shortly :cheeky: Having recall last night was a good thing, even if I didn't write it down, as it means that it's picking back up again. Last time I had one of these dry-recall spells I rebounded with a lucid dream, so I'm hoping it's going to be the same again tonight!

One thing I did notice when going through the dream diary is that I quite often note that the overriding emotion is anxiety, whether about an event involving me or one not involving me (e.g. watching other DCs play out some TV scene / video game scene). I've read that anxiety is the most common emotion felt in dreams; I'm not a particularly anxious or negative person in reality. When lucid these emotions drop straight away and I feel confident and limitless. I'm not sure I buy completely into dream definitions / dream dictionaries, so at the moment feelings of anxiety in walking life provoke reality checks as it's another good dream sign - I'm realising that it's not just objects that can act as dream signs!

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One thing I did notice when going through the dream diary is that I quite often note that the overriding emotion is anxiety, whether about an event involving me or one not involving me (e.g. watching other DCs play out some TV scene / video game scene). I've read that anxiety is the most common emotion felt in dreams; I'm not a particularly anxious or negative person in reality. When lucid these emotions drop straight away and I feel confident and limitless. I'm not sure I buy completely into dream definitions / dream dictionaries, so at the moment feelings of anxiety in walking life provoke reality checks as it's another good dream sign - I'm realising that it's not just objects that can act as dream signs!

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Right, I've also seen this being mentioned in studies or by other members here. Something similar with me. For lding, I try to categorize the different anxiety scenarios as dream signs for easier recognition.

Hope most of your daytime anxiety goes away soon or in the very least helps you transfer more RCs to the dream world. In general emotions help us retain/record info much better.

Sweet lucid dreams! :)

Again, apologies for updates. No lucid dreams to report and it's been a little hectic here due to moving house! Sleep quality is a bit down and I think that the worst impact on recall is inconsistent sleep times - I usually wake up around the same time to go to work, but bed time has been rather erratic over the past week or so.

I've been working on prospective memory using the timer method (set a timer for a longer period of time, and remember to turn it off before it goes off) as I've found that many of my lucid checks for the MILD I carry out retrospectively, rather than as the event occurs. I've become much better at remembering to RC as I note the LD checks during the day. It probably sounds strange to say, but even though I've not LD'd for almost 20 days now, I feel like I am in a better position to do so as I am continuously RC'ing throughout the day, do not get caught up so easily in what I'm doing and constantly think and ask myself if I'm dreaming.

The night before last I experienced a phenomenon that I think I've read before on this site - dreaming about lucid dreaming. I woke up at around 5.30 in the morning and thought that I would try to WILD. I heard a loud buzzing/vibrating noise as I practised my mantra. (I think I've read that some people experience loud noises when falling into sleep atonia; the times that I have managed to successfully WILD has been pretty mild in terms of experiences for me) I didn't feel afraid of this as I recognised it as a sign of an impending dream. However, I then woke up . . . on the floor of my office, as I had had a nap at work! I thought I'd try to WILD again as the clock on the wall said 5.30 AM. I did and had the same experience of the loud buzzing noise and waking up in the office, but it was now 6 AM on the clock on the wall. I then started to check some emails as other people were coming in to work. I then actually woke up and realised that I had tried to WILD inside a dream that was induced by the WILD in the first place - whoops! Must remember to reality check, even if I think a WILD has failed . . . :D

Well, even if your sleep schedule has been erratic, it's great that you have been keeping up all the practices and even had such a close call with the in-dream wilding. It's quite possible that you are in a much better position than before, because these practices have been solidifying in your mind, so you just need a little bit of opportunity and lds will catch up.

Also, congrats on the new house! :D

Thank you! Unfortunately lots of hard work means that I'm falling asleep almost straight away at the moment. I did manage two lucids over the weekend and I feel much more perceptive about questioning reality. My first LD came from this; I was at the bottom of a tall building and had to get to the top by a long staircase; I thought if I was dreaming then I'd just fly to the top so I did a RC, and found that I was dreaming. I then managed to fly/float to the top of the building without even thinking that indoor flying may be more difficult than outside flying! I found the dream a little unstable so I performed stabilisation techniques a couple of times, but it felt almost like the dream was determined to "force" me out; I turned a little too quickly around a corner and woke up from that. I was in two minds whether to try a DEILD or to write down what I remembered so as not to forget; I chose the latter as I've been a bit lazy recently at getting out of bed and writing things down.

My second LD was brief but along the same lines; I had woken up in the middle of the night and was about to get out of bed, before I realised that I was in bed at my old house and this was not my new bed, so I thought I was probably dreaming at that point. A quick RC confirmed this, so I stabilised my dream. I was just getting out of bed to start lucid tasks and then felt "pushed" over; my wife had rolled into me in bed, waking me up.

Is it possible with enough practice to stay lucid even with these exterior stimuli - if I am determined enough, can I "train" myself to ignore the external senses in order to stay lucid? With a better feel for lucidity and a better mindset, I'm going to start to move on to the fourth lesson and begin to practise stabilisation and lengthening techniques :)

That's still great news! Two lds the moment your body was well-rested, awesome! :D

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Is it possible with enough practice to stay lucid even with these exterior stimuli - if I am determined enough, can I "train" myself to ignore the external senses in order to stay lucid?

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It's possible if you try to ignore stimuli from the outside or treat them as part of the dream (the same way stimuli become interpreted as something else in our dreams). Just don't think about the waking world. I once managed to ignore an alarm - it rang for a while and then it seems it turned off. It was surprising because I usually jump to turn it off so didn't know it had some sort of auto-snooze. I guess I was very pissed off it hit during the ld so I tried to ignore it to the best of my abilities.

Well, let's hope it doesn't come to this too often, murphy's law for external stimuli to hit during an ld.

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With a better feel for lucidity and a better mindset, I'm going to start to move on to the fourth lesson and begin to practise stabilisation and lengthening techniques

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Great! Lots of awarenss to you with many stable lds to come! :)

Hi, it's been a while since my last entry but I thought I'd pop back to see if you had any advice. I have started to become more aware during the waking day and practising RC's without being prompted, but I'm going through a bit of an LD dry spell. I had an epic LD about three weeks ago with the same recurring dream character that I previously mentioned - she mentioned that she was my dream guide and was beginning to tell me the best way of becoming lucid but unfortunately again an exterior stimulus made me think about my sleeping body, and I woke up! Since this dream, I've not managed any lucidity. This has happened before (and I figured it was a side-effect of being a newbie!) but the marked difference this time is previously my recall also went down the pan during this period, but at the moment my recall is good; I'd say that my recall at the moment is the best it's ever been.

Are there any strategies for overcoming dry spells? I've upped my meditation a little and as mentioned have generally become more aware during waking life. My current dream signs are quite consistent (work colleagues, one old friend at school and train stations) but when I see them in dreams I don't think to perform a reality check. I can't really reinforce the behaviour with the old friend / train stations in real life as I see neither of them! Is meditation time (or the time when going to bed) the time to focus on suggestion to yourself that if you see these, you need to perform a reality check?

I had an odd moment of "synchronicity" on Friday. On Wednesday I dreamt that a colleague of mine came over to my desk to tell me something about the work we were doing - this is odd as he is more senior than me, so I always go to his desk for questions and not vice-versa; I also dreamt that we were having a three-course meal and the starter was an apple crumble that tasted strongly of cinnamon. On Friday at work my colleague came over to my desk to ask a question about some training courses, and then at lunchtime we had apple crumble for dessert that specified "filling rich with cinnamon" - I don't think I've ever seen it for pudding at work before, and they don't usually go out of their way to specify things. This has happened a couple of times before - it's an odd feeling when you get the recall from dreams to reality rather than the other way around!

Hey Camdave! Good to hear from you! The epic ld sounds super exciting and I'm looking forward to seeing how this DG story goes :). I think going back to past entries can bring additional motivation and focus on lucid dreaming, so that's one thing you can do. It's good that your recall is at a high level, and the fact that you are getting used to doing RCs, being aware and doing meditation, etc is very positive since your practice is becoming solidified. So, I see lots of good signs here. Getting dry spells isn't too uncommon, I'm wondering if you have been getting enough sleep recently, these might hit a bit more if you have been more exhausted than usual. If this is the case, take a few days if possible where you go to bed a bit earlier and focus on getting more sleep.

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I can't really reinforce the behaviour with the old friend / train stations in real life as I see neither of them! Is meditation time (or the time when going to bed) the time to focus on suggestion to yourself that if you see these, you need to perform a reality check?

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Excellent question! Well, you can do this any time - in your thoughts like a mantra - I see old friend, I realize that I'm dreaming/do RC, you can visualize during the day, in meditation, before bed, at wbtb.

This reminds me of the general advice of how to break dry spells as well how to get more lds: Quantity and Quality. Do more of what you do (RCs, critical thinking, DS), add more induction techs (mild, autosuggestion, etc.) and do all these things more thoroughly.

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This has happened a couple of times before - it's an odd feeling when you get the recall from dreams to reality rather than the other way around!

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Fascinating stuff! Sounds like a sort of precognitive dream. I've had a very shocking moment once after something what I said about an unrelated event (a stage performance) in a dream, was the following also said almost with the same words by a friend of mine in a random conversation with another friend. Makes you wonder...

Thanks for your comments. I don't think I did anything particularly special last time I broke a dry spell of 2-3 weeks; it just happened! I think it happened on a weekend sleep-in, however, so I tried that on the past weekend but found that I dreamt without becoming lucid or aware of dreaming.

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Originally Posted by NyxCC

Getting dry spells isn't too uncommon, I'm wondering if you have been getting enough sleep recently, these might hit a bit more if you have been more exhausted than usual. If this is the case, take a few days if possible where you go to bed a bit earlier and focus on getting more sleep.

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I usually get about 7 hours of sleep during the week (bed at about 11 pm, wake up at 6.25 am - factor in half an hour or so for falling asleep and wake-ups in the night) and then on the weekend a couple of hours extra. I found that the best period of LD for me has been when I was "home alone", where I was very rigorous in going to bed at the same time each day (10.15 pm) and having a good 8 hours sleep; unfortunately this isn't possible with my wife at home as she goes to bed later than I'd like to, and so if I go to bed early I'm interrupted in the early onset of sleep.

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Originally Posted by NyxCC

Excellent question! Well, you can do this any time - in your thoughts like a mantra - I see old friend, I realize that I'm dreaming/do RC, you can visualize during the day, in meditation, before bed, at wbtb.

This reminds me of the general advice of how to break dry spells as well how to get more lds: Quantity and Quality. Do more of what you do (RCs, critical thinking, DS), add more induction techs (mild, autosuggestion, etc.) and do all these things more thoroughly.

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Thanks - I'll give it all a try. I've noticed that I'm not as aware at home as I am at work, possibly due to being more "relaxed" and not doing things that demand my full attention. I've started to be more thorough in my meditation in not letting thoughts wander and have had much more success recently in meditating a little longer and in different positions, so I think that'll help. I had a strange lucid/hallucination when meditating one lunchtime which was odd - I was meditating in the back of the car (where it's quiet!) and I was watching TV on some kind of tablet, before realising that it was actually the folded cup-holder tray in front of me. This has also happened a couple of times in thinking that the car in front of me was something else than it actually was; realising that this isn't real seems to snap me out of the trance however, so I think I just need to relax here and "enjoy the ride" rather than snapping straight back to reality.

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Originally Posted by NyxCC

Fascinating stuff! Sounds like a sort of precognitive dream. I've had a very shocking moment once after something what I said about an unrelated event (a stage performance) in a dream, was the following also said almost with the same words by a friend of mine in a random conversation with another friend. Makes you wonder...

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Makes you wonder, indeed! I presumed that general events and happenings are either musings of the subconscious mind, or it picking up on fine details of events and messages read during the day that you would not have otherwise consciously noted. When it's a specific detail that is noted, however, it does seem to shock you a bit more. (specific words, colours etc. that you took the time to note down exactly from the dream)

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I was meditating in the back of the car (where it's quiet!) and I was watching TV on some kind of tablet, before realising that it was actually the folded cup-holder tray in front of me. This has also happened a couple of times in thinking that the car in front of me was something else than it actually was; realising that this isn't real seems to snap me out of the trance however, so I think I just need to relax here and "enjoy the ride" rather than snapping straight back to reality

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That sounds cool! It's quite possible to transition to wild or ld if one falls asleep meditating or in some sort of sleep resembling trance. While this perhaps isn't something to for aim during meditation, it can be a nice awareness practice or even training for wild.

Once again best of luck with the practice and looking forward to hearing about your next ld! :)

Well I half-managed it this morning! I woke up at 7 AM and decided to go back to bed (it is a Sunday, after all :lol:) and try to WILD. I've attempted WILD for the last few days and have found myself falling asleep almost immediately, so I went to the bathroom to write down dream fragments in a bit of natural light rather than the light on my phone; this had the effect of waking me up a little instead. I lied on my back and felt my body go numb, but managed to lose concentration and slipped into a dream. Similar to previously, I had been repeating a mantra whilst doing so, so I half-knew I was dreaming. I was at a hotel and sat in a room which looks similar to my room at home, and thought that I've heard that meditation during dreams is epic, so I would give it a go. I sat on the floor and begin to meditate, and almost immediately I could feel a sense of everything being "pulled" towards my head and I knew that I was switching to my dream body, so I tried to get up, but doing so woke me up. I went back into the dream (sort-of DEILD, but without too much lucidity!) quite quickly and tried again, and this time succeeded.

I got up and felt my dream body, which feels a little groggy. This always seems to happen for me - when I realise I'm lucid I get a feeling of everything pulling together and my vision sharply coming into focus, almost like the rack focus you get in films/TV shows. It feels as though my focus is far away and it is "racked" back to where it should be. The odd thing this time is that I go to look at my hands to stabilise the dream before I proceed, and I find that my hands are nearly translucent; I can just see a very faint outline of them. Unfortunately my dream ended after about a minute as my wife woke me up with a sudden movement; need to try and work on ignoring exterior distractions. I want to tell myself to ignore the physical world, but I'm worried if I think of that then reverse-psychology will imply that I then think of my body in bed and wake up!

Not bad, Camdave! You broke the dry spell! :)

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Unfortunately my dream ended after about a minute as my wife woke me up with a sudden movement; need to try and work on ignoring exterior distractions. I want to tell myself to ignore the physical world, but I'm worried if I think of that then reverse-psychology will imply that I then think of my body in bed and wake up!

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One never knows when one will be woken up by externals but it's best not to think about them. Let's hope there will be less of distractions when the right ld moment comes. :)

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Originally Posted by NyxCC

Not bad, Camdave! You broke the dry spell! :)

One never knows when one will be woken up by externals but it's best not to think about them. Let's hope there will be less of distractions when the right ld moment comes. :)

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Indeed! Hoping to get a more consistent bed time / wake-up time to get more sleep and align the body clock. I made a slight mistake before - the gaining of awareness to me feels like the Dolly zoom effect; your focus stays in the same place but it feels like the background "catches up" with you and is no longer blurred or distant.

I've had a few goes at WILD without much success recently, falling asleep quickly. Is it worth staying up a little more during the WBTB beforehand? At the moment I stay up for a couple of minutes, write down any dream fragments and maybe pop to the bathroom. I think that if I stay up a little longer or have some water then I may wake myself up a little more so I should be able to not fall asleep straight away. I also find myself visualising dream scenarios and then getting lost in thoughts as they come forward; I think that mantra repetition is probably better than dream visualisation at the start. When should you start visualisation - when you can feel the onset of REM atonia? (When I successfully did a WILD before, I don't seem to get any of the weird symptoms in the paralysis stage; I seem to get a fast-beating heartbeat that feels like I'm excited and then I "wake up", but in the dream)

Well I'm glad to report another success on the weekend! I wanted to lie in to get some more REM time but I find it hard to get back to sleep when I wake up at about 7-8 am (I usually wake up at about 6.30 for work) - on Saturday I got up at 7 so I could write down my LD.

I woke up in the night and got up to go to the bathroom, then tried to WILD but fell asleep. As before, the mentality of repeating the mantra appears to have woken my senses a little. I am sitting at a dining table eating a meal with my grandparents, but I begin to question this as my Grandma talks to me, as I remember that she passed away a few months ago, and so this must be a dream. I then excuse myself from the table (no need for bad manners . . . !) and perform a nose-pinch RC to verify that I'm dreaming. I decide to go outside to find my DG so I can ask her questions, as that was one of my lucid goals; I can't see any door or way outside, so I decide to walk through the window instead with a leap of faith. The window appears to disappear from its frame as I pass through it.

I wander outside and try to focus on my DG but can't find her, so I think that I'll try to teleport to where she is instead by doing a spin. The first time I spin (never done this before in a LD) I feel the landscape tearing a little but nothing happens; the second time I try I shut my eyes and focus on my DG and end up in a small house. I ask someone in the house (who is a friend in reality with a similar-sounding name to my DG) and she points me to my DG. One thing I notice is that my DG's room is pretty cold (I don't usually "feel" warmth or cold in dreams, like if it's a sunny / snowy day) and that there is a sense of sadness/weakness; my DG has a few plasters on. I comfort her and then get slightly caught up in the moment and find myself in total darkness.

At first I think I've woken up, but then I believe that I am still dreaming and again nose-pinch to check this. I figure that I'm still in the same room but the light has gone out; I try to "shoot" it back on with my hands as I know the switch doesn't work, and manage it on the second attempt. I woke up (properly!) not too long after this. I'd estimate my "perceived" time in the dream world as being around 10-15 minutes; this is also without performing any stabilisation (whoops) methods.

One thing I'm noticing at the moment is that I spend a while looking for my DG; this dream was the first time I decided to take matters more into my own hands. I've read about various teleportation methods; could you please recommend ones that I can work on and try out? I always want to "open a portal" but it feels a little complex for a total beginner!

Awesome, congrats on the lds! :D

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One thing I'm noticing at the moment is that I spend a while looking for my DG; this dream was the first time I decided to take matters more into my own hands. I've read about various teleportation methods; could you please recommend ones that I can work on and try out? I always want to "open a portal" but it feels a little complex for a total beginner!

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There are as many ways as you can possibly think of and I have to say some work better for some people then others so you just have to try. One thing you did quite well was the spinning. Hmm, let me see, you can try the 'it's behind the corner' or 'turn your back and try to change the scene', or cover part of the scene and then imagine/expect/think of the new place. Also, you can try thinking of elements belonging to the place (like sand from the beach) and summon them. You can walk to the place, fly there, drive, ask a DC to guide you. You can zoom in, or move with super speed. Or you open a door and enter a new place or make a portal. Be sure to think about the place or person you want to see.

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I've had a few goes at WILD without much success recently, falling asleep quickly. Is it worth staying up a little more during the WBTB beforehand? At the moment I stay up for a couple of minutes, write down any dream fragments and maybe pop to the bathroom

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Longer wbtbs may increase ld chances if one has the opportunity to use them, so yes.

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When should you start visualisation - when you can feel the onset of REM atonia? (When I successfully did a WILD before, I don't seem to get any of the weird symptoms in the paralysis stage; I seem to get a fast-beating heartbeat that feels like I'm excited and then I "wake up", but in the dream)

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Hmm, I don't think there's a rule about when. You can start before HI appears, this may help calm oneself down and fall asleep more easily or after some HI appear - then this may be used as an anchor or to set a particular dream scene. About weird symptoms - not everyone gets them, and not consistently, so no need to expect them at any stage. :P