Nightfeather's Workbook

I'm starting this workbook because I hope that the extra focus will help me with with my goals for dreaming and I hope to get some helpful feedback.:)

Reality Checks:
- Count fingers
- Push finger through palm
- Nose plug
- Phase through wall (I mainly try this in dreams)

Dream Signs:
- Recent computer game
- Trying phase-through-wall-RC
- using dream control
- having impossible physical abilities
- Cute animals
- Elevator acting crazy

Short-Term Goals:
- Frequent LDs
- Stabilizing my LDs

Long-Term Goals:
- Accomplishing my concrete dream goals and
- have fun with LDs

Current Technique:
- DILD, planning on MILD

Last night might not fit to my 'current technique' listed above; I would consider this an experiment.
I set my alarm for an WILD 4 1/2 h after going to bed. I did some meditation (from sivason's Dream Yoga Lesson 1): I concentrated on the touch related sensations perceived by my body. After that I focused some time on my hearing. Then I tried to sleep. I felt my muscles relax, but couldn't shut my mind off; I felt too aware. So was meditating before sleep a bad idea? Eventually I looked at my watch and saw that 60-90 minutes had passed (it felt shorter). I still wanted to attempt a WILD but postponed the alarm. I guess I fell asleep not long after.
I woke up four hours later, half an hour before the set alarm (and couldn't remember any dreams). As I had already lost enough sleep I wanted to start with the WILD immediately. This is what happened:

At the beginning I changed my position often, but then settled on lying on my back. I relaxed whilst repeating a mantra. A lot of time passed. I noticed my limbs being relaxed and feeling wrapped in a shell. I could break this shell if I wanted to, but it still inhibited potential movement. (I encountered this several times before.) Is this REM atonia or simple relaxation? Some time later, my mind felt like falling backwards into a more fuzzier state. Even later I began to see some hypnagogic scenes. I still didn't feel like I could fall deeper into sleep while repeating the mantra and gave up.

My watch said that more than two hours had passed. I did remember several dreams fro the remainder of the night including a lucid one! :D

Currently I'm working on my (self)awareness during the day. I estimate that it adds up to one hour per day, so there's plenty room for improvement left. I also try to keep my awareness when I play computer games.

I did some WBTBs this weekend and one did get me lucid. I couldn't keep it stabilized, though I tried. :( But I think, that I can do better next time:
1. Stay where I am, even if it is dark.
2. Study my hands before anything else.
3. When my hands appear clear enough, I'll pay attention to additional senses (e.g. sound and smell).
4. Then examine the environment, but don't forget the other sensations.

I found myself somewhat lucid in my bedroom. I did look at my hands for stability but was absent-minded enough that I turned the lights on, then off (I had planned not to bother with darkness), and then on again (why stay in the dark, if the place can be lit?). The dream collapsed moments later.

Edit:
I just listened to this podcast: Q&A Episode 3: Time Dilation, Stabilization, Common Lucid Dreaming Mistakes
and decided not to worry that much about stabilization.

Welcome to intro class Nightfeather and congrats on the ld! Happy the podcast helped. :)

Good resolution to be indifferent to whether it's light or dark. On many occasions after a while the dream fixes the light by itself. Another way to approach this is to think of what we can do in the dark. One really great idea is to do some star gazing. Stars are amazing in dreams and what a better time to study them than a dark ld. We also have the advanced task of the month this month that nicely fits with this. After a bit of stargazing you can choose to visit a planet and continue exploring there. :)

Thanks for the feedback, NyxCC. Also, I'll keep that with the stars in mind. :)

I reread my DJ (started last December) and found some LDs which I had already forgotten! To this day, I count 14 'real' lucids (10 of those are from before me joining DV) and just as many lucids that lasted only a few seconds (e.g. Post #4).

I think I got my first WILD tonight! (The Phantom)
I cant remember the full transition, but the time (30 min for falling asleep and dreaming) fits for a WILD. I didn't do any mantras. (I had problems falling asleep in previous WILD attempts.) Maybe the SSILD cycles helped?

Congrats on the WILD!

Congrats on the multiple lds! Very cool ld related themes in all the dreams. :) And the chocolate coated marzipan...:drool:

It's possible that ssild helped with falling asleep and also wild. That's been the case for quite a few members here.

So, I participated in Sensei's competition the last two weeks and did get six lucids (though two were very short). I did SSILD cycles for every WBTB. I managed some dream control (like changing clothes and throwing fire).
I also focused on my recall. In some nights I could see how multiple fragments fit together to form one long dream. There are flowing transitions between; thoughts belonging to one scene can still linger while the next location is already present. I also find it interesting that one common theme can be found in multiple sleep cycles, even if they are separated by WBTB. I even remembered a dream of an early sleep cycle inside a later sleep cycle.

I think one reason why my last lucid was so hazy is that I didn't pay enough attention. I plan to examine my environment with all my senses next time.

I'll continue my SSILD attempts, but add more techniques. I made a list of my dream signs and expand/change it as I record more dreams. I'm still working on observing them in WL.
I'm getting serious about WILD and have started lesson #1 of Sageous WILD course this week.

Fantastic performance, Nightfeather! I saw you won in your tier! Congrats! :)

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In some nights I could see how multiple fragments fit together to form one long dream. There are flowing transitions between; thoughts belonging to one scene can still linger while the next location is already present. I also find it interesting that one common theme can be found in multiple sleep cycles, even if they are separated by WBTB. I even remembered a dream of an early sleep cycle inside a later sleep cycle

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I remember when I was focusing a lot on recall, I would notice the same thing. It's like the mind subconsciously follows a vague storyline and you can even refer to previous dreams (even if non-lucid) just as you said. A number of other members have reported something similar - that dreams aren't separate stories but they kind of flow one after the other. Fascinating!

Not much LDing this week. I nearly caught an FA though, but my RCs didn't work. I also had a short lucid; lost my lucidity when my surroundings transformed from inside a building into somewhere in the wilderness.

Last night I had two ... pseudo lucids? I don't know what to call them. :uhm:
I apparently knew that I was dreaming, referred to the dream as a 'lucid dream' and had dream-related thoughts (like: "I might wake up if I go through this door"). In the second I changed the color of my clothes and then went looking for a mirror to climb through (both on my list of dream goals).
But I didn't have this level of awareness like in lucids. Also, there was no moment when I thought "Hey, this is a dream!" much less an RC; I was just, well, dreaming on. I remember them like normal non-lucid dreams, the second one even had a diffuse beginning and ending.

This night, I had another lucid without clear defined beginning: bank-banana
I'm not 100% sure how lucid I was, but the increased awareness in the bank was definitely a good sign. And I have no idea why the dream provided me so conveniently with a banana and a bank. I made no effort to incubate this task.
I definitely had a real lucid later in the night. It started with me phasing through walls and suddenly wondering why I continued following the dream plot.

Congrats on the lds! I would say, you probably had lower level awareness in the first ones, but they still count as lucid. Sometimes I would have low level lds like this where I know it's a dream but decide to continue with whatever is happening at the moment rather than going for any tasks or remembering about tasks. :P

Fantastic unintended incubation for the task of the month! :goodjob2:

So, I didn't write anything here for some time but that was because there wasn't actually something to report.
I had two lucids at the start of this month which earned me my wings. It seems that I hadn't something to motivate me for more lucids. Now I've worked on getting my motivation up and saw some little results last night: In two dreams I noticed that what I just experienced was a dream. I failed to realize that I was still dreaming, though.

Something else I notice is that I start moving as soon as I wake up. I'd go so far and say that I might wake up (or at least notice that I'm awake) because I shifted my position. I'll work on this,too.

Is there something that you really feel like doing in a lucid dream? I usually have lots of goals to keep me motivated to ld, but at the same time just having lds can be enough of a reward. :)

Yes, I already have a list of goals. Independently, I first of all intend to enjoy the vividness of the dream. That should make anything else I do even more enjoyable. The thought of being in a lucid dream is exciting as well.

Honestly, I didn't spend much effort on lucid dreaming the past few months. Consequently there weren't any long lucids since January. I'm not sure how to concentrate on this when stressfull WL keeps distracting.
On the upside, I can remember something to write into my Dj every morning. I'll stick with DILDing for now and will report my weekly progress here.

Welcome back! Hope things ease irl, leaving some space for ld pursuits. If possible, you can use the time travelling to work/school for thinking about dreams and doing some RCs/autosuggestion/critical thinking.

Update #1:
-My RC-count and awareness increased this week, though there is still room for improvement.
-The dreams this morning had enough detail to fill 3/4 of the page in my DJ.

What I plan to do:
-Keep track of my dream signs
-Join the DV Buddy Program when I'm sure that I can give my buddy the time he/she deserves

Update #2
- I ordered the elements of the dreams of the last two weeks and was promptly rewarded with repeating dream signs. It appears that I often dream about ice and snow – especially on slippery ledges.
- Awareness is stagnating
- Decided that focus/intent on lucidity is top priority. (rather than some elaborate technique)
- RelaxAndDream is now my Buddy.

Update #3
- getting serious with mindfulness meditation
- contemplated about awareness in lucid dreaming
- good dream recall the last few days
- had about 5 seconds of lucidity this morning before I woke up
- my training plan is taking shape:
- integrate critical- as well as self-awareness into my RCs
- meditation before bed
- mantra in the sense of 'I am lucid dreaming tonight'
- I also want to train my prospective memory as it seems to be a very versatile tool.

Update #4
- started training my prospective memory
- I think that my daytime awareness is growing
- a few days with bad recall

I did a WBTB last night which was promptly rewarded with good recall and a lucid: http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/nigh...attempt-68059/
I think that I can do much better. It was longer than the last one, but my awareness/lucidity was low. Not as low as in a semi-lucid, but still not good. I really should pause when I get lucid and think about the fact that I'm in a dream, this all is created by my mind and enjoy the feeling of being there. Also, no waiting for DCs.

Congrats on the ld and the progress, Nightfeater! :)

I see you did a good job with the restaurant summon and also tried some food there! It's supposed to be basic task so maybe what you did is enough for a pair of wings.

Workbook Update #5
- I noticed that my dream-recall has increased since restarting lding.
- some drawbacks with meditation
- 3 dreams with RCs or semi-lucids

Workbook Update #6
Huh, I didn't update here in a month? Well, I didn't stop my lucidity training so here is how it's going:

- No real lucids, but a handful of RCs and semi-lucids. (Lucid) dreaming is also a topic in my dreams.
- I figured out quite a few dream signs and train to recognize them. This goes hand-in-hand with the prospective memory training. (You know, where you choose a three things/situations in the morning and set the intention to notice them throughout the day.)
- Doing RCs, of course, and trying to hold up my awareness.
- Meditation
- From what I read, WILD is the most accurate induction technique. When you got the hang on it, it seems like you can lucid dream whenever you want. Actually, (thinking about my meager results last year,) I didn't dare yet to try this technique. But one night I started and now that I'm at it, I should pull this through. As focus I use counting, but no results yet.
- I'm participating in Sensei's next competition.
- Intent and expectation are important. I think my other skills are sufficient for ld; definitely not worse than last year.
- I've got a problem with mantras. It's too boring, repeating the same words over and over again. Any advice?

Sounds good. Can you tell me more about those semi lucids you are having? One of the things that I find that enhances lucidity is to remind myself that this a dream. So, if you get one of those I-know-it's-a-dream-but-want-to-continue-whatever-scenario moments, take a bit of time and make a pause. Stop, affirm to yourself this is a dream and from then on, do whatever you would like to do in your dream, consciously.

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I've got a problem with mantras. It's too boring, repeating the same words over and over again. Any advice?

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What kind of mantras are you using and when? I have to say, the one problem I actually have with mantras is forgetting to repeat them. I've used a few over the years - mostly the "I realize I'm dreaming" one, but I also make a new mantra for each new task I want to do. For example, for this month "Music - hole - moon rock". Usually, the more I repeat a mantra, the more comfortable my mind becomes saying it. If you find it boring, then I think you should try to put more intent into it - think how this mantra is the bridge between your conscious mind and your unconscious self. You are using it to communicate with yourself. Intend it, feel how your unconscious minds gently starts to receive the message.

Another advice I have is to add some sort of a rhytm to it. You can even add an entire song. Pick any song and change the words to your mantra. Or simply come up with a tune and hum your mantra. :)