Sharpshoey's Workbook

Hello everyone, my name is Sharpshoey. I am a complete noob when it comes to LDing but I am willing to work very hard to be able to do it. I was practicing on my own using these forums but now that I found this class I thought that it wouldn't hurt to do it and so I decided to take part in it.

I have a lot of LD goals that I want to achieve, and I will be listing them here as I achieve them. One of my main goals is to have a Persistent Realm set in the Harry Potter Universe so I would be able to attend Hogwarts and go through all 7 years. I know that may sound dorky but I've been a fan of the series for a very long time. :P

I'm looking forward to Lucid Dreaming!

Reality Checks:
- Nose Plug
- Counting Fingers
- Digital Clock RC
* Main RC is Gravity RC...those are just helper RC's

Dream Signs:
- Running slow
- Not able to function properly if I'm running away from something

Short-Term Goals:
* In order of importance
- Learn to summon objects/people behind me (after this will work on summoning things in front of my face)
- Meet my Dream Guide (If I can't find him I'll summon him using the skills I learned above)
- Learn to fly/teleport consistently (I may have to summon my DG to help me...if he/she doesn't show up then I'll summon superman to help me fly)
- learn to wield all four elements to be a better fighter (Fire, Water, Earth, Air)

Long-Term Goals:
- Have 2+ LD's per night
- Create a persistent realm that I can visit and enjoy every night (I want to create multiple realms but I want sort of one main one to visit the most)
- Dilate Time

Lucid/Dream Recall History:
- I have had 2 or 3 lucid dreams in the past but I lost lucidity in the first couple of seconds
- I can usually recall 4 or more dreams per night whenever I feel like it. As long as I think that I want to remember my dreams I can do it. I could even do that before I started a DJ. Sometimes though, I will only remember a dream fragment or one dream so I still benefit from a DJ.

Current Technique:
- MILD/WILD
-Gravity RC
-WBTB

Why I want to Lucid Dream

- Have a main Persistent Realm/multiple non-main Persistent Realms (one of my main goals)
- Have an epic lightsaber battle with a Sith Lord
- Gain total control of my dreams
- Go on some epic quests based on my favorite games/movies/books
- Have fun being able to do whatever I want :)

These aren't all of my goals but just some of my main ones that will motivate me the most.

In my first Lucid Dream I want to keep things simple. I want to first just walk around a little and explore the landscape. Then I want to work on flying as I want to learn that Dream Control Technique first because it seems the most useful. Basically I then just want to keep on flying around and looking at all the different things, and then eventually do some cool maneuvers while flying. If I still have time left, I'll land and then maybe talk to some DC's about anything I feel like talking about.

After that, assuming I still have some time left in the dream, I want to work on other Dream Control powers.

Welcome to intro class, Sharpshoey! Awesome dream goals!

Looking forward to reading about your first ld. :)

Day #1

So today is officially the first day that I really start my Lucid Dreaming Journey. Yesterday I was still figuring out kinda what I wanted to do, I still did some ADA but just a little bit. I have also tried LDing in the past but wasn't nearly as serious about it as I am now so I think that this is officially my first day of training.

Last night, I was tired when I went to bed. I kind of forgot to do my MILD visualizing and repeating of my mantra. I did it for a couple of seconds and then drifted off. (My mantra is, "I know I'm dreaming. Is that a good mantra?) I remembered 4 dreams last night! There was one really long one and then there was one dream that lasted about two seconds. The other two were about medium length. I'm pretty sure in a dream I got lucid last night, but I didn't right it down cause I remember no details about the dream, other than getting lucid. Except I was only lucid for a few seconds if I ever was lucid.

When I woke up, I wrote it my dream journal and got out of bed. I became aware of my surroundings, and then asked, "Am I dreaming?" I then performed a reality check, while still being aware. I went through the nose, hand through palm, and counting fingers RC. Then, after I was done with that I walked downstairs and continued to maintain my level of awareness. I got through about 10 minutes of ADA so I got one session down today. I also did another RC when I was close to being done with my first ADA session. (I say "I realize I'm dreaming." After doing RC's. Do you think that this is good and necessary? Or should I just do my RC and then be done with it, saving my only mantra for MILD?)

P.S. I would love to hear some feedback from you guys so I can see if I'm doing anything wrong. I will also be updating this post throughout the day as I do more RC's and ADA sessions.

Edit: I have changed the mantra I say when doing MILDs to "I'm dreaming". It seems more effective and "I know I'm dreaming" and "I realize I'm dreaming" are really close, so they'd basically be doing the same thing. So I took away "I know I'm dreaming" during my MILDs. I still do "I realize I'm dreaming" though throughout the day and during my ADA and RC's.

I need some help with the ADA though. I get distracted easily and it seems that even when I try to notice everything I'm doing and everything around me, there is always something I am missing. Will this improve over time and get easier to start noticing everything?

Update: I am just going to write this update now, so I don't forget later. I have done a few more ADA sessions and in eah one I have done 2 RC's and said my mantra quite a few times. I have also said my mantra randomly throughout the day. I will be doing a few more ADA later as well.

Hi there! You can use your mantra or number of mantras at any time of the day. It's really helpful to repeat it while doing RCs and ADA and also if you encounter any wake life dream signs. You can attach your mantra to anything, even if you are in the mood repeat it while doing chores and stuff. Usually we recommend using shorter mantras (yours are ok), but what's most important is to use a mantra that sounds good to you.

Day 2

I did my MILD last night, repeating "I'm dreaming" while visualizing. I forgot to do an RC before bed and I also forgot to read my DJ of the dreams I had the night before. During the day yesterday, I repeated another mantra a ton of times and did quite a few ADA sessions, with RC's in them. I only remembered 3 dreams last night, non of which were lucid.

I have also noticed that ADA is very mentally exhausting and in the beginning is very hard to notice everything around you. I think I will start with Puffin's SAT guide, and then work my way up to ADA. Or is Puffin's SAT as good as ADA?

I think what's more important is to remember to be aware, and being aware of things in general rather than trying to be aware of everything all the time. When you practice those techniques, you should feel an enjoyment of sorts which is acquired through practice as well as a side effect from lds, and also curiousity. It shouldn't strain or exhaust you. It's like alert relaxation. It's a bit like if you are working, you lift your head and observe the clouds in gentle examination. If you are going somewhere you listen to the sound of your footsteps.

You can expand this by observing the general situation of what's happening at the moment and relating this to dreams. You can ask yourself whether an item is likely to appear in dreams. This is done more on a sporadic basis otherwise you won't be able to perform anything. :P

Thank you for that advice. I will try it and it seems like a really good idea.

Day 3 & 4

I didn't have time to make a post yesterday so I'll just do 2 in one. The past two days, I have been practicing ADA as much as possible but I haven't had much time. I even have less time to include RC's with those but I'm sure that's fine, as RC's don't seem to be as important. This morning, I didn't have time to write down my dreams and I ended up forgetting them. I guess I've learned my lesson and won't do that again. :P

Day 5 - 8

I will try and start posting one a day now, I should have enough time again.

I have been continually doing your suggestion for ADA, focusing on being aware in general rather than trying to be aware of everything at once. It is a lot easier and I think better. I still haven't gotten my first lucid dream, but I am determined to keep trying until I get one. I have been doing all 3 of my RC's at the same time randomly throughout the day when I am aware. I do them in the same order every time.

I hope I get my first Lucid soon.

Day 9

I had my first LD last night! I became Lucid in a weird way though. I didn't ask, "am I dreaming?" or anything like that and I didn't do any RC's. I also didn't have a sudden moment where I said, "I'm dreaming!" I just for some reason knew I was dreaming. I quickly lost Lucidity though either because I didn't do any stabilization, or because I was too focused on shooting a web. (I was spider-man)

I've been lucid before but only for a few seconds. This was still a short amount of time Lucid but it was the longest I've ever been Lucid! I don't count short LD's as being Lucid but since this is my longest one yet, I'm counting it. I will post this dream in my DJ.

I didn't get to do any of my goals for my first LD though. It was like I had to follow the path of the dream for some reason.

EDIT: I just remembered a short LD I had earlier in August. It was when I had basically just joined Dream Views. I can't remember any past short LD's, though I know I've had them. I haven't put that dream in a DJ yet so I will also post that dream I just remembered in my DJ on these forums. This bumps my lucid count up to 2! Yay :D

QUESTION: OK so I have a quick question I have been wondering about for some time now. Every time I do an RC, do I have to do all three of the ones I chose, in the same order every time? Or each time I remember to do an RC, can I just pick one or two out of the three and do whatever one I feel like at that time? If I did it that way, would I still be able to do it in the dream?

Day 10

Had another LD tonight! This one was my longest and best one yet. I actually did stabilization in the beginning and was able to practice a bit of flying, though I didn't progress past the hovering part. I also wasn't really able to do anything else, I couldn't summon objects and an item that I wanted (a potion to fly) didn't appear in my pockets when I checked them. But that's OK, I'm just excited I finally had a good Lucid. Well, it was good for my standards anyways :P

I have been doing some general awareness lately, asking myself questions if something is working right, or why its there. I have also been doing RC's randomly. But now, I am going to start practicing the Gravity RC, as that seems to fit my style better than anything else. I have just been doing kind of random type stuff lately and I'm going to stop that and replace it with this RC.

Hopefully the benefits will be greater with the Gravity RC, and all of my hard work will pay off in the future. I'm looking forward to see how it works for me!

Yay! Congrats on the lds! This is so exciting, I can feel more lds coming soon! :D

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QUESTION: OK so I have a quick question I have been wondering about for some time now. Every time I do an RC, do I have to do all three of the ones I chose, in the same order every time? Or each time I remember to do an RC, can I just pick one or two out of the three and do whatever one I feel like at that time? If I did it that way, would I still be able to do it in the dream?

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No, you don't need to do all of them in the same order. People do multiple RCs to be sure because we sometimes can get confused and conclude the dream is reality if the RC fails. More RCs would solve that problem.

I have noticed that trying to do the Gravity RC (or any awareness practice) in school is very hard. It's a lot easier than doing the more common RC's, since I don't look like a weirdo but its just so hard to stay focused on your gravity. I usually get lost in thought when doing work or listening to the teacher. Hopefully this will get easier as I practice it more.

You know, you can be focused on people talking or your work and RC on that. What is the teacher saying, does it make sense? Sometimes in dreams especially on the verge of lucidity if you focus on DC speech it will become gibberish. And you can read texts and see if they change.

OK thank you for the advice, I will try that. So as I stated, I have been trying out the Gravity RC. I haven't gotten another lucid after trying this technique out. I'm not expecting the Gravity RC to already get me a lucid but I think its because I stopped doing the ADA in favor of the Gravity RC. Hopefully in the end, the Gravity RC will have a greater reward.

Also, do you recommend that I stick with Gravity RC, or do you think I should go back to the ADA I was doing, where I am aware of what things are doing and then I ask myself why they are there or if they are working correctly.

How about a little bit of both depending on the circumstances. Don't overburden yourself of course. The desire to do these things will come more naturally if you try to connect them with why you are doing them. Think about dreams themselves, how exciting it will be to have an ld, what you will be doing in your next dream. Feel the euphoria during the day and then go on performing your checks or ADA. You want to have an awesome ld, you are excited about all this, could you be dreaming right now? That state of mind makes it easier.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.

Day 11-16
Had another LD last night. I had a dream within a dream and because of that I realized I was dreaming my second dream. It was weird because I just knew I was dreaming and I had to o what the story line was. The second I woke up though, I was non-lucid again.

I've been practicing the Gravity RC and I've noticed its been getting easier to do and I think I mostly understand it now.

So I don't think I'm going to update you day by day anymore. I don't think its really needed and I don't have that much time to do it. So I will just be keeping you updated with the important things, and I just remembered I still haven't recorded any of my LD's, so I'll get right on that.

I have gone back to doing the awareness like I was doing before, the Gravity RC just doesn't feel natural to me and it seems like I have to make a HUGE effort to remember to do it. It is easier to me with the technique I used before. I have learned that with LDing you should do things that feel natural to you and you feel like doing.

Anyways, when I first started with LDing, I thought that you just had to do constant reality checks and then it will be habit in your dreams and that will make you lucid. Then I learned to keep constant awareness. So does doing RC's increase your awareness or do you have to do RC's and awareness? The reason I was asking is because it is kind of annoying to notice things all day long and then ask yourself if they are working properly or how they might appear in a dream. Is there another way to go about this?

Also just to clarify, when I am aware of my surroundings, do I need to ask questions about everything, or can I just be aware? It is a lot of work and gives me no time to just think about things when I constantly have to ask questions bout my surroundings.

Don't worry about regular updates Sharpshoey. What's important is to keep up the practices, especially questioning reality which is the point of RCs.

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The reason I was asking is because it is kind of annoying to notice things all day long and then ask yourself if they are working properly or how they might appear in a dream. Is there another way to go about this?

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Doing all this shouldn't be annoying. Just examine things with interest and be more aware, more present. Think about Sherlock Holmes, how does he figure out who did what? He does so by observing the world around him and every item he looks at tells him a little story. He doesn't push it, rather he has this interest in items and people. Reality checks and ADA are like that too. They help you be more present, more aware of what's going on around you, instead of jumping from one activity to the next. If looking at a certain item isn't your thing, then by all means find something to look at/hear/perceive that you like. You can pick one thing or many things and make it your RC. By picking the thing you like you'll be more motivated to perform those checks. Some people pick gravity, others blinking, others focus on more items from the environment. Or you can go with the classical RCs, nose plugging, finger counting, text changes, etc.

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Also just to clarify, when I am aware of my surroundings, do I need to ask questions about everything, or can I just be aware? It is a lot of work and gives me no time to just think about things when I constantly have to ask questions bout my surroundings.

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Again, that's up to you. The core is to have a little pause in our everyday life and use that pause to raise the awareness. You can focus on yourself or your environment, and think about what is happening (event), who is participating, where you are now or were before. Don't need to do all of these. But be sure to relate all your pauses, RCs, ADA or whatever you do to lds. Why are you doing all this? Because it may be a dream. This is what is exciting, and when you perform your checks try to be excited about that upcoming ld.

Just had another LD last night! :bliss: It was weird this time though. I was dreaming and in that dream I knew I was dreaming. So it was like a lcid dream within a dream. Except that I never woke up or went to sleep in the dream, I just somehow was asleep at one point and 'awake' the next. I knew in the dream that I should be practicing other things like flying, but I couldn't pull myself away from all the girls :P All I was doing was talking to them, but I couldn't seem to make myself go away and practice dream control even though I even had the thought I should practice it.

Also, earlier I had a dream and I didn't know if it counted as an LD or not, so I'd like to ask. I got to a certain point and I had to find a hostage in the dream. While I was dreaming, I had the thought that I'd had this dream before, so I knew where to go to find the hostage. (I get thoughts that I've had the dream before a lot) But I don't think I never had a moment where I realized I was dreaming at the time. What do you think about this? Hopefully you understood what I meant.

My first LD can be found in my DJ here First Lucid Dream from the Start of my Journey - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views Just in case you felt like reading it.

My other LD's will be written later but don't worry, they are coming!

I had TERRIBLE recall last night. I only remembered one very tiny dream and then one image from what I think was a dream. I also had to lay in bed and try to remember my dream for about 5 minutes. So not a very good night.

I started a workbook in the dream yoga class by sivason so I think that should help.

I am also going to read Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming and do the reflection-intention technique talked about in their, along with dream yoga. Hopefully, that will help me out a bunch.

Congrats on the ld Sharpshoey! :)

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Also, earlier I had a dream and I didn't know if it counted as an LD or not, so I'd like to ask. I got to a certain point and I had to find a hostage in the dream. While I was dreaming, I had the thought that I'd had this dream before, so I knew where to go to find the hostage. (I get thoughts that I've had the dream before a lot) But I don't think I never had a moment where I realized I was dreaming at the time. What do you think about this? Hopefully you understood what I meant.

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I think this is a low level ld moment. Those can be very helpful and you can use them to achieve higher levels of lucidity. I've had this dream before - therefore I'm dreaming - so what to do next? and then remember the tasks you have set for yourself.

Have a nice time with Laberge and sivason's yoga class! Lots of good stuff to be learned from there!

I have finally come up with a solid way to practice dreams that works great for me. I am going to go through my DJ and underline all of the dream signs so when I see them again in dreams I will be able to become lucid off of them. I also have 2 mantras. I say "I'm dreaming" whenever I remember throughout the day and sometimes I set aside a few minutes where I do nothing and I just say "I'm dreaming" over and over. My other mantra is "I realize I'm dreaming". I only use that mantra after doing my RC's. I do RC's whenever I see a dream sign in the day, whenever something strange happens, or randomly when I remember to do it. I usually do the nose-plug first, with the counting fingers RC to back it up in case it fails. In case both of those fail, I have the finger through palm RC but I rarely practice it. Most of the time I just do the nose plug then count my fingers, but if that gets too routine like I will switch it up. I say "I realize I'm dreaming" once after I am done doing the RC's.

Also, if someone is talking I will focus on what they're saying to see if it makes sense. If I'm reading I will see if the sentence makes sense or if the words change, and I will also check a clock and then check again. When I do those RC's, I usually don't ask if I'm dreaming and I don't say the mantra I use with RC's, I just do them as a very quick RC.

Throughout the day, whenever I remember to be aware, I have sessions of being aware of things in general. I get lost in thought so I have to constantly be reminding myself. That along with Dream Yoga (which I do towards the end of the day except on the weekends which I do whenever) should greatly improve my awareness level. I love doing Dream Yoga, it relaxes me a ton and also makes me feel energized afterwards. When I do dream yoga, it is a struggle to be aware and its hard to do. When I do my awareness throughout the day, I do it so its not so much of a struggle like you suggested. So since dream yoga is only once a day I think its good that its hard to do, and I think they'll compliment each other nicely.

Finally, before I go to bed, I read my dreams from the past night to get into a dreaming state of mind. Then I'll lay down and imagine myself in a recent dream scene. Then I imagine myself becoming lucid and doing an action. I repeat "I'm dreaming" over and over. After I can't think of anything else to do in that dream, I'll imagine myself in a different recent scene or if there are no others, I will just restart my visual from the beginning of the dream until I fall asleep.

Thank you so much for all the advice and support you've given me. I have finally found a way to practice that I enjoy doing and it keeps me more motivated than ever. I know that it takes a lot of time out of your day to answer my never ending questions and that is greatly appreciated. I can't wait to see the results I'll get from this practice in the months to come.

I am very proud of myself from last night. I remembered 6 dreams and none of them were fragments, they were all full, quite long dreams. So I guess that makes up for my low recall yesterday. I was sure I would get an LD but I didn't :( there were so many obvious dream signs that I should have picked out it was embarrassing. I almost figured out I was dreaming when I was driving a different car but the car was better so I enjoyed it. I wish I would have completed the thought though, because I was literally just one thought away from becoming lucid. Oh well though, at least my recall was great. I can tell I'm improving, and its really fun to see the results.

P.S. I will try to get all my LD's up to date written in my DJ and I will provide a link to them. If they aren't all completed by today, then I promise by this weekend they all will be. I'll try not to fall behind with writing them again.

I've noticed that my awareness in dreams was a lot better last nigh. Several times I'd notice things I normally wouldn't, or I'd notice something that was off. I never took the final step and became lucid, but I was more aware. So hopefully this is a good sign of things to come. :)

That's a great strategy you've got there Sharpshoey! I think things are indeed starting to fall into place. Really happy to read about your progress with recall and also the increased awareness in dreams. You're definitely very close and one of these days it will fully click to bring you another lucid dream. :)

I had a GREAT lucid dream last night! It turns out you were right and I was about to have another one. When I fell asleep, I had 100% confidence that I would have one. I spent the entire time trying to fly, but it seems that I can't. I even read that Sensei once drank a red bull to give him wings so he could fly. I remembered that in the dream and tried it but I still wasn't able to fly. Do you have any tips or anything that could help me be able to fly? Because that is the first goal on my list so I have to complete it.

On a side note, by Saturday I promise you that I will have my DJ updated to contain all my LD's to date. I won't let myself put it off anymore!

Awesome! Congrats on the ld! :D

Have you ever flown in a non-ld? You could relate to that experience. For me it works best when I really feel an urge to do it and just take off, willing myself ahead and forward. But if that doesn't work you can try levitating or even swimming forward with your hands as if in outer space and in weightlessness. You can also try day dreaming or visualizing yourself doing this so that you become familiar with the action. This practice can even incubate dreams, especially if you do it before bed. :)

Alright thanks for the help, I'll try that.

And I've been reading around the forums about a regular sleep schedule. I pretty much go to bed and wake up at the same time everyday, except on the weekends. I wake up a bit later then and sometimes go to bed later. Is this good enough? Or do I need to wake up several times throughout the night?

EDIT: I know I may sound impatient right here but its because I'm just really eager to start practicing. I'm sure sivason is very busy, so he hasn't been able to answer any qustions I have. So I was wondering if maybe you knew. On the dream yoga, even though you only have to post your experiences with one of the versions, should we still do all of the versions?

I just thought you might know if you ever did that class before or something.

Hey Sharpshoey! I think the first basic exercise gives you the option to choose one of the three exercises and then practice it and post. Doing more of the exercises for basic one is optional.

You can VM sivason if you want, to let him know that you have started a new workbook there.

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And I've been reading around the forums about a regular sleep schedule. I pretty much go to bed and wake up at the same time everyday, except on the weekends. I wake up a bit later then and sometimes go to bed later. Is this good enough? Or do I need to wake up several times throughout the night?

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A consistent sleep schedule is very important for both recall and lding. I think yours is ok as long as you don't go overboard on weekends (some reasonable late wake and bed on weekends are fine). Do you have any natural wakes during the night? Most of the people experience micro awakenings, especially at the end of REM cycles but may not always be aware of them. These awakenings can be quite useful for wbtb. The first step is to begin noticing these wakes. Depending on your personal circumstances you can then decide how to use them - some people journal, you can do short wbtb, induction techs, longer wbtb, etc.

Thank you for the reply and it also helped me in another way. Your post reminded me of WBTB's which I had planned on doing before but I kept forgetting. So tonight I am going to try one, and hopefully I will see some results from it. I read that your supposed to keep you mind of Lucid Dreaming when you are staying awake, so I'm going to be DJing all of my dreams up to that point in the night. I'll tell you the results in the morning! I'm really excited to get another LD now.

Another two dreams are added to my DJ here Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Sharpshoey's Lucid Journey - Dream Journals

I will edit this when I have finished putting in all my dreams.

I don't remember any awakenings I had in the middle of the night, but I did wake up somewhere from 6:30 am - 7:00 am. It took me a couple tries to fully fall asleep and then I finally fell asleep and got a very long dream. I never got lucid in it but when I checked the clock, it was 1:00 am and we had only finished first period. (We were in school and had to stay the night because of a giant snowstorm.) I asked around if anyone else thought this was weird and if time really did go that fast. (I must have been semi lucid since I was really curious about this) Everyone seemed to kind of ignore me and in the end I just accepted it.

I recalled 4 dreams which is good. I was slightly disappointed I hadn't gotten lucid but that was only my first try and I realize now that it gave me a very long and good NL dream so I'm happy for that.

^^ Still, a good sign that you questioned what was going on there!

I tried taking an afternoon nap while doing a MILD. Took me a while to fall asleep, and I didn't remember any dreams so I may not of fallen asleep at all...I might of been in the half asleep half awake state. When I woke up, I left my eyes closed and my mind drifted off again. I had a image that I was seeing pajamas on my legs. I immediately jerked back to consciousness on accident and was disappointing because I'm pretty sure if I would have focused on that image more, I would have been put into a dream.

I realized after I came back that I was seeing through my eyelids so it was more than likely the start of an FA, because I was sleeping. I didn't have any pajamas on though IWL.

I didn't remember any dreams last night. Probably because I didn't write anything down when I would wake up and then when I woke up the last time I just didn't remember any dreams. So I have to get better at writing down dreams every time I wake up in the night.

I'm going to try and take another afternoon nap today, to see if I can put something in my DJ and also to see if I can get lucid.

EDIT: Right after writing this I scrolled down to the very bottom and saw an add on the page for The Sims 4. When I saw that, I remembered a dream I had about the Sims 4. So adds are pretty helpful I guess :D

Just read a great article about learning to fly in LD's. The swimming technique you mentioned sounds great and in the article, I read that you can ask a DC to teach you to fly. I just realized that you could probably have DC's teach you to do anything. So if I wanted to learn dream control, I could find a master dream control DC to teach me. Or if I wanted to get better at a sport, find a world class trainer DC for that sport.

So I'm going to be using DC's in my dreams to teach me to do things. Hopefully, this will work out great.

Tried another nap today using the MILD technique and I don't know if I'm falling asleep and not having any dreams, or I am still only on the verge of sleep and being awake. I felt some strange vibrations in my arms at one point but it ended up going away after a while. I was sure I would get an LD with this and the weekends are the only times I have times to take naps so hopefully next week I'll see some results from doing this.

Also, I realized I haven't been MILDing very consistently, so I've been trying to do it every night now. Hopefully that pays off as well.

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Tried another nap today using the MILD technique and I don't know if I'm falling asleep and not having any dreams, or I am still only on the verge of sleep and being awake. I felt some strange vibrations in my arms at one point but it ended up going away after a while. I was sure I would get an LD with this and the weekends are the only times I have times to take naps so hopefully next week I'll see some results from doing this.

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Approximate how long did you nap? Also, how many hours after you woke up did you take that nap? It may be that you have gone through some NREM, which is why it seems like you didn't dream. Try moving the nap for a bit earlier relating to your wake time, maybe you'll get better results with the REM timing.

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So I'm going to be using DC's in my dreams to teach me to do things. Hopefully, this will work out great.

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Cool! Looking forward to your future lds! :D

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Approximate how long did you nap? Also, how many hours after you woke up did you take that nap? It may be that you have gone through some NREM, which is why it seems like you didn't dream. Try moving the nap for a bit earlier relating to your wake time, maybe you'll get better results with the REM timing.

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I napped for about one hour. And I took my nap about 6 hours after I woke up so that may have been a bit too long afterwards.

So recently after waking up I only remember one dream from the night, which I'm pretty sure is my most recent dream. It is a pretty long dream but I'm mad that I'm only remembering one. I sometimes have a second dream along with it, but its just a dream fragment so it doesn't count for much. I was remembering about 4 dreams per night before hand, so what do you think happened? I go to bed at 10 every night and wake up at 6 everyday so I have time to DJ. Do I need to wake up frequently throughout the night? And if so, when do I wake up?

This is just really frustrating because I know my recall is better than this.

Recall can vary, so it may be a temporary thing, especially if you haven't changed anything else (like sleep schedule or other habits drastically). Let's keep an eye on it, it will probably recover on its own.

If you like to wake up more frequently, you can try drinking some water before bed. Here's a podcast that talks about natural wakes by the way:

http://www.dreamviews.com/dreamviews...eamworlds.html

Last night I remembered five dreams so I'm very happy with that! Also, that podcast was very good, thank you for linking me to that. And hopefully my recall continues to be as good as it was today.

When I woke up this morning, for some reason I was really tired and my body just kept trying to go back to sleep so I couldn't get any dreams recorded. I may be able to record a few dreams this morning because I have some time and if I remember any after school I will record those too. I also woke up at about 2 in the morning right after a dream, and I wanted to record it but then fell asleep so I'm bummed about that. This is the first day I've been that tired.

Also, I haven't had a Lucid for quite a while. Is there something else I need to be doing? I've added self-awareness/constant vigilance on top of my daily practice and it sounds like it works really well. So if Im doing everything I need to be doing, do I just need to give it more time for everything to start incorporating itself into my dreams? I notice my motivation has dropped a little, but I'm trying to stay as motivated as I can...hopefully I get another LD soon.

Don't worry all of us have days when we feel super groggy and just want to sleep. :)

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Also, I haven't had a Lucid for quite a while. Is there something else I need to be doing? I've added self-awareness/constant vigilance on top of my daily practice and it sounds like it works really well. So if Im doing everything I need to be doing, do I just need to give it more time for everything to start incorporating itself into my dreams? I notice my motivation has dropped a little, but I'm trying to stay as motivated as I can...hopefully I get another LD soon.

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Ok, so you are frequently questioning reality and doing your chosen awareness practices. That's good, so keep it up. If you want you can add focusing on having an ld after your natural wakes whether you use them for journalling or not. I just realized that you have been doing this for only a month and already got like 5-6 lds for this period. That's really something you should be proud of! :goodjob2:

I guess now that I really analyze it I've been doing pretty good for my first month. I'm the type of person who always wants to get better no matter what he's doing so its never good enough for me. But I guess your right, and I should be proud of my progress. Anyways, hopefully I get another LD soon, cause I really want another one. :)

The Self awareness is getting easier for me, and I've finally wrapped my head around what you are supposed to do, and what works for me. I think I'm going to drop my ADA type awareness because it sounds like its not really needed and I find it really hard to keep up self awareness and an ADA type awareness. Also, with self awareness I am already looking for anything weird going on in the moment.

I also keep forgetting to do my yoga...I haven't done it in a week so I really need to start that again. I'm gonna make myself do it today. Also, I realized that the yoga will take ADA's place, because its basically doing the same thing, and the yoga will slowly build up until it just comes naturally. Then I will be able to do both ADA and Self awareness because they'll come naturally and I won't have to think about doing them.

Last night I had a CRAZY long dream. I swear it lasted the entire night. It might have been different dreams that just continued from one to the next. I only remembered one dream and I think the reason is because that dream was so long so it was the only thing on my mind.

I also had a second stupid dream that I'm not writing down. I fell asleep in my dream and had a dream, so it might have been from there, but I don't think so. I was going to the bathroom, happy that I was relieving myself, when I realized that I can't relieve myself because I was dreaming. Of course I realize I'm dreaming in a stupid dream like that. :bang:

I won't count that as a lucid though, hopefully I get another one soon!

Lol! Well, this is still an ld whether you count it or not. You will be surprised about the sort of pee experiments (to pee or not to pee) and lds that have circulated around here. :lol:

One funny read:

The Torrent - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Lol...I gave that DJ entry a read and it was pretty funny! And I guess I will count it as an ld, I was just kinda frustrated because I would become lucid in a dream lasting for 5 seconds of me peeing. Anyways, thanks for the link I enjoyed the read.

Also, do you think I should continue doing the yoga. I always forget to do it because I feel like its too hard to fit into my schedule, and its a pain to fit it in. I've learned that if you don't like something in LDing don't do it, but is that different for Dream Yoga?

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Also, do you think I should continue doing the yoga. I always forget to do it because I feel like its too hard to fit into my schedule, and its a pain to fit it in. I've learned that if you don't like something in LDing don't do it, but is that different for Dream Yoga?

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Is this question still valid, I saw you posting an update in the yoga class? If the exercises are too strenous you can try making your own version of them. See if various ways of doing them make it easier or more interesting. At any rate these exercises should help improve your focus, so doing anything related whether it's from that class or from somewhere else like ADA or meditation is a plus.

Ya I posted the update beforehand. I will try to continue to do the yoga, it doesn't take that much time. If I make myself do something, after a while I don't mind doing it anymore.

Also, the last 2 nights I haven't been able to record any dreams, but tonight I will be able to record again. That's about it for updates, nothing really interesting has happened.

Last night I had 3 LD's! I either became lucid in three different dreams that continue from one another, or I became lucid three different times in the same dream at different settings. It was crazy because at one point I decided I better do an RC and when I did the nose plug I could breathe through my nose. I thought that was because I hadn't squeezed hard enough because I was positive I wasn't dreaming. Then I counted my fingers really fast just to check and sure enough I counted six fingers. I was really caught off guard. I'm so excited about last night, it felt like my hard work finally paid off and I haven't had an LD in a while.

If I just became lucid three different times in the same dream, would that still count as 3 LD's?

Way to go, Sharpshoey! :goodjob:

We don't have a single ld accounting standard here, lol, but my usual personal rule of thumb is different place, different ld. :P

I need to start posting more consistently again, as it keeps my motivation up more. I haven't been able to record my Dreams the last week because I keep on sleeping through my alarm clock, hopefully I an get back into writing them down in the near future. I'll really focus on that tonight.

My self awareness is getting a lot better and I'm looking forward to when it really starts to pay off and I'm getting a lucid a night.

I also keep putting off updating my dream journal on DV, and I need to stop doing that and just get it done.

Still haven't gotten anything written n my DJ for this week. A week off is not good but maybe I needed it. Anyways, I'm forcing myself to get back into it and this weekend I'm forcing myself to get caught up on my DV DJ. Hopefully my recall doesn't take a hit for this.

So this post is regarding my Dream Journaling. So I have already been waking up pretty early every day to be able to write all my dreams down. This causes me to be tired the rest of the day, and sports just add onto that. My recall is starting to get a lot better and pretty soon I'm going to have to start waking up way earlier to get all my dreams down. It also is just hard for me to be writing for an hour straight using an actual pencil. So I was thinking, I keep my ipod right next to my bed. Would it be fine if I post all my dreams on DV from my Ipod? Or do you not recommend that? It would be a lot easier and it would go quicker. And because of that I would have more motivation in writing out dreams.

Also, I have heard some experienced LDers say that they don't DJ anymore because they think its unnecessary. I know that right now for a beginner like me it is really necessary but about when can someone quit DJing? And if you quit DJing when you get more experienced, is there something else you have to do to maintain recall?

I used to paper journal before, but also got the problem with my hand getting tired, plus some illegible writting :cheeky:, and it was taking me more time, so I decided to switch to digital. Right now, the tablet is the fastest and most convenient way for me to do it, altough I want to keep all entries in a single file. But for daily djing, it's really quite convenient. And of course easy to post on DV. So, if you think using the ipod is the fastest and most convenient way for you to journal, then definitely go ahead. :)

Time in the morning can be rather scarce, so you might want to jot down the story really fast to make sure you have the key details. One thing I do after every ld and some nlds is to do a mental review where I basically tell the whole story as if I am jouralling. This action really solidifies the dream in my mind, then I either write down the key words, short sentences or the entire story if time permits. But if you do this mental review plus key words, you can come back later whenever you have the time (better in the same day) to write the whole dream.

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Also, I have heard some experienced LDers say that they don't DJ anymore because they think its unnecessary. I know that right now for a beginner like me it is really necessary but about when can someone quit DJing? And if you quit DJing when you get more experienced, is there something else you have to do to maintain recall?

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Well, you saw what my system is. There may be some lders that don't journal because they employ a similar process, Sensei for example shares his dreams with his wife and also uses tags for key words. Most of the frequent lders here still use journalling for lds and non lds. It really helps us keep track of all the stuff that goes on in dreams and learn from past experiences, improve dream control, etc. To sum it up, we still dj but of course we try to fit journaling into our lifestyle and find more efficient ways to do it.

Thanks for the reply and is there any way that DV could crash and all my Dreams in my DJ could get lost? Because that would really suck :P I'm asking 'cause on my Ipod for some reason its hard to copy and paste text so putting it on 2 seperate places would sometimes be a pain if it won't copy and paste.

LD's 8, 9, and 10

Got some more LD's up on my DJ! I know I'm posting them out of order but I didn't have the full dream written out for these, all I had was notes so I decided I better type them out fast. Don't worry though, I'll get all caught up tomorrow...after about a month of putting it off :lol:

I'm still really stoked about getting those three LD's in one night! And I have a good feeling about tonight as well. Hopefully I'll have yet another LD to post about in the morning.

Here it is
Three Lucid Dreams in ONE Night! - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

It turns out I did have an extra LD to write out for you! I just had one last night! :happyme:

LD #11

here it is
Really Long Night for me - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

PS. All my other LD's that I'll type out today will be on the next post

Yay! Congrats on the ld! Your overall dream recall is great too. :goodjob:

FINALLY got my LD's up to date! I am never going to get behind in typing them again :P it took me about an hour that I could have been doing something else.

Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Sharpshoey's Lucid Journey - Dream Journals

Had crappy recall for some reason last night. I only remembered 2 dreams. Hopefully this isn't a sign of another bad recall phase.

I've noticed that suddenly my Self-Awareness practice just made a huge jump. At the beginning, I was struggling to stay aware for more than a minute and it took a while before I realized I'd zoned out. It was especially hard in school. Then, I still couldn't stay aware for more than a little bit but I kept catching myself almost right away or very soon after. That continued for a while and then all of a sudden, today and a little bit of yesterday I was able to keep up awareness for a very long time! I am really excited. Hopefully this is a sign that it will soon transfer fully over into my dreams.

EDIT: I forgot about the goals I put down when I first started my workbook. I realized I have just completed 2 of my short-term goals! I completed having a lucid dram per week...because if you look at how many lucids I've had in the time I've practiced, that comes out to one per less than a week. Also I am remembering one full dream per night. I haven't had enough lucids to grasp the basics of dream control so I couldn't cross that one out.

I realized that I am doing very good (at least for my standards) in terms of getting LD's. I have already about gotten as many LD's as last month (just one less) and I still have another half a month to go! So I am doing way better so far than last month. I'm really excited. :)

That's really great. Indeed, I think with more practice it becomes easier to be aware for longer and just be present in the current moment. And yes, all this should transfer to lds.

Congrats on completing your two goals. You have been progressing very nicely and I'm really happy to read about it. Keep up the good work, Sharpshoey! :goodjob2:

I think I'm going to start doing WBTB on the weekdays too. I don't think I'll lose that much sleep. So if I am doing WBTB, would you recommend that I WILD or just MILD like I've been doing? I've never done WILD before and I've heard its one of the harder techniques. Or do you recommend I just wait until I have more experience with LDing before trying WILD?

Also when I WBTB, I just stay awake for a time and keep my mind focused solely on LDing right? Is there anything else I should be doing that will increase my chances even more of an LD? Or any tips that you might have would be great! :)

Also, I was just curious as to HOW self awareness works? All your doing is being more aware of what you are doing, but how does that help you become lucid? Even if you know what you are doing, that doesn't necessarily mean that you will tell if anything is out of place. And what if you are doing something you do in normal everyday life? How would you become lucid then?

LD #12 Last night! I did a WBTB and stayed awake too long so I couldn't fall asleep for a long time. I thought it would be worth it though if I still got an LD and I ended up getting one! I did my MILD but fell asleep an hour and a half after it so I don't know if that helped at all, but at least I got some more MILD practice in. That is two LD's in the last six days I think!

Here's the link:
WBTB and couldn't get to sleep right away but it was worth it! (LD #12) - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

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So if I am doing WBTB, would you recommend that I WILD or just MILD like I've been doing? I've never done WILD before and I've heard its one of the harder techniques. Or do you recommend I just wait until I have more experience with LDing before trying WILD?

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I'd say keep up with MILD, but if you feel like you can't resist trying for a wild, then do a wild attempt. For me, personally it has become easier to wild with more ld experience but a wild is not a guaranteed deal every time. One can get dilds post wild tries though.

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Also when I WBTB, I just stay awake for a time and keep my mind focused solely on LDing right? Is there anything else I should be doing that will increase my chances even more of an LD? Or any tips that you might have would be great!

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That sounds good. Keep your mind and expectations focused on lding and the tasks you want to complete. :)

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Also, I was just curious as to HOW self awareness works? All your doing is being more aware of what you are doing, but how does that help you become lucid? Even if you know what you are doing, that doesn't necessarily mean that you will tell if anything is out of place. And what if you are doing something you do in normal everyday life? How would you become lucid then?

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I suppose there are a few different mechanisms of how this works. For one thing, you become more alert in general noticing the whole situation more and this might give you clue that you are dreaming, especially if something is off.

But you are right, at other times nothing is off but it is still possible to become lucid for no apparent reason. It's rather difficult to say what triggered this, whether that is a random chemical fluctuation, a result of daily practice, or of frequent lding, because all these can increase your chances of becoming lucid. Also, it may be that the awareness practices allow you to develop a sense of detachment from activities, of being able to watch things from a distance as they happen, so to speak, and this enables you and your awareness to catch the difference between the dream world and the real world, i.e. directly knowing, withough any specific clue that one can reason out. This has been cited by Kingyoshi as well, that after practicing ADA for a long time, he can tell in which world he is because the dream world feels different.

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LD #12 Last night! I did a WBTB and stayed awake too long so I couldn't fall asleep for a long time. I thought it would be worth it though if I still got an LD and I ended up getting one! I did my MILD but fell asleep an hour and a half after it so I don't know if that helped at all, but at least I got some more MILD

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Yuhuu! Congrats! Well done not giving up and getting through the practice and having an ld. :D

Ld #13! That's 2 LD's in a row! I'll get that one up later.

I tried to find my Dream Guide and I "found him" but then he did something that made me less lucid. He said he was my Dream Guide, but now I'm not so sure. He doesn't seem to be it. Also, should I be looking for my Dream Guide? Or should I just wait for him/her to appear and try to practice things on my own for now?

I had to wake up really early last night so I couldn't remember any dreams, and even f I would've I wouldn't have had the chance to write them down.

The past two days my awareness level has dropped and I have to use more effort to keep it up. I'm guessing its because I've been a little tired. I feel like I'm not trying as hard as I can on awareness so I'm gonna try to push myself a little more.

Congrats on yet another ld, Sharpshoey! :D Looking forward to reading the full entry when you post it! It's cool that the DC said he was your dream guide, did you ask him to show you some tricks?

Ld #13

Still not sure if the DC is actually my Dream Guide or not. Hopefully I'll find out soon because I'm curious.

Boating, Army, school, and annoying Dream Guide (LD #13) - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

And yes I did ask him to show me some tricks, but sadly he made me lose lucidity. :( He totally ignored me when I asked him to teach me to fly :lol:

Read the entry, and you know what? I see a little lesson in it. :)

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my "Dream Guide" (not sure if he actually is because I lost lucidity because of him) says to do something, (speak maybe? I'm not sure) you have to make him laugh.

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So, you mention the DCs have been somewhat aggressive in your last couple of lds. In this part, your angry brother was coming in the house, and you weren't sure how he would behave. Your dream guide told you to make him laugh. Changing your mood like that is one of the best weapons with uncooperative or unpleasant DCs.

I guess i never really thought of that before. I've been told to ask DC's what they want, but the last couple DC's had no times for questions, they just wanted to kill me. I'll try being really friendly next time and hopefully that will take care of the issue. Thanks for the advice :)

I found the audio aid repository last night and I was going to listen to a subliminal messaging audio. It said that it was proven to work so I thought I'd give it a try...no harm in it. Anyways, I listened to it on the computer and then went to bed. I couldn't get to sleep for an hour. It didn't get me lucid or anything, was that because I couldn't get to sleep right after, or do I need to listen to the audio as I'm falling asleep? Do you even recommend the audio?

And I've started doing Vipassana Mediation to help with my mindfulness practice all day...it seems to have made it easier to keep up awareness throughout the day.

Also I am going to write a new and improved goal list out and post it here. The goals I posted at the beginning I kind of did it quickly and sloppily and it wasn't that big of a list. I am going to create a much better one to give me even more motivation to go after!

Do you mean this one?

http://www.dreamviews.com/lucid-aids...epository.html

I haven't listened to it, so can't say if it's effective or not. The instructions say to listen to it before bed. Not sure if this was the cause of you not being able to fall asleep, maybe using the PC with all the bright light contributed too. You can also make your own audio track, the only thing you need is a voice recording app, then play the stuff during the day, at bed time, etc. You can list your dream signs, repeat mantras or list your goals, etc.

Yep its that one. And I just figured out I was listeneing to an old track that wasn't really effective :P

Also, form now on I have to wake up an hour earlier than usual two days a week. If I go to bed an hour earlier, would my sleep schedule not change and could I still get lucids effectively? Or on those days would there be no hope of a lucid?

A little bit of an update too I guess. This morning was a day I had to wake up earlier, and I did the meditation but I don't know how effective it was. I was so tired my mind was constantly wandering off and I could almost see the tings I was visualizing. I always brought it back, but it took a while to.

It seems that when I'm practcing MILD, I can only imagine myself doing a couple of things. For some reason I an't think of anything else to imagine to do, but I know there are a limitless amounts of stuff do do in Lucid Dreams. Maybe I just need to look at a list of things you can do in an LD to get some more ideas?

Hopefully I'll get this straightened out.

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Also, form now on I have to wake up an hour earlier than usual two days a week. If I go to bed an hour earlier, would my sleep schedule not change and could I still get lucids effectively? Or on those days would there be no hope of a lucid?

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This will be interesting to see. You may get a boost on your later days as a result of what is referred to as cycle adjustment. You can read more about it here:

CAT Tutorial - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

At any rate, if you can't do wbtb on those days, you can still practice a few mins of pre bed mild and expect an ld. Won't hurt in the very least and you can get an ld. :P

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It seems that when I'm practcing MILD, I can only imagine myself doing a couple of things. For some reason I an't think of anything else to imagine to do, but I know there are a limitless amounts of stuff do do in Lucid Dreams. Maybe I just need to look at a list of things you can do in an LD to get some more ideas?

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I find that coming up with things to do, especially new ones is great for motivation, but I usually keep my practical goals to a minimum. That is, while in the long term I want to do all sorts of bending, all possible totms, totys, etc. when I think about what I will do in the next dream, I focus on one to four items. It works best if I don't change those too much for a certain amount of time, say couple of weeks. This allows the tasks to sink in and you can more readily recall them during the dream compared to if you change your goals every couple of days. That may work too, but then you probably have to ld on a very frequent basis where you complete one task after the next, which allows you to generate more tasks.

So with the CAT tutorial, do you suggest I actually change my sleep cycle? I only have to wake up early for 2 days a week, but maybe because I already have to do that it will be a perfect set-up for the CAT technique? Also, if I don't do the CAT, would I still see the same benefits by waking up early only 2 days a week?


And I can do a WBTB on the days I have to wake up earlier, I just WBTB earlier.

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So with the CAT tutorial, do you suggest I actually change my sleep cycle? I only have to wake up early for 2 days a week, but maybe because I already have to do that it will be a perfect set-up for the CAT technique?

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Precisely! I think your two days of early wakes may work in a way similar to CAT.

And if wbtb on those days isn't too demanding for you, then you can do it. :)

Had 2 LD's last night! I haven't had an LD in a while now and that just refueled my motivation... I needed it. Ill type it up later today, I'm too lazy to do it now. I was able to fly, but I went into 3rd person mode and then it was like I was playing a computer game. I knew I was still dreaming and I tried to press the R key to go into first person and I was close, but I never actually got to experience the flying :(

Also, yesterday I started doing the Gravity RC again. This time it is a lot easier starting because I've done it for a little before. The mindfulness I was doing seemed to be too broad and after about to months of practice I haven't seen any of the effects transferring over into my dreams. The only things that come over are me doing my RC's. Anyways, I was thinking for a good awareness technique to do and the Gravity RC kept coming back to me. I also thought of trying to do another "natural" RC as Hukif puts it but I couldn't think of one. I was worried that gravity would be the same in my dreams as in WL but that could go for any technique. I'm pretty certain in most of my dreams gravity will be different, and if not there has to be a way to overcome that obstacle. So I'm going to be working on this from now on, along with saying "I'm dreaming" throughout the day and during MILD, Dream Journaling, and a WBTB a night.

I've noticed my practice has been getting kind of unorganized and cluttered but I think I've gotten it back on track now and I'm excited to see this Gravity RC pay off! Me and dreambh are both working on it and we are experimenting to see how well it works.

If you have any recommendations for another "Natural" RC please tell me them! Hopefully this will pay of in the next couple of months!

(Or in your opinion, do you think these types of RC's are not reliable enough? And what do you use to boost your awareness?

(forgot to add this in) I will also be trying to meditate every morning, except the two days I have to wake up early. I will just be clearing my mind of thoughts and focusing on my breathing, gradually building up the time I'm meditating as time goes on. Do you think that is a good meditation to do and will that transfer over into my dreams with increased awareness?

And do you recommend to do a different meditation practice instead, or to do in addition to it? Also, if you recommend a practice to do in addition to the breathing meditation, would I just do the other meditations later in the day?

Do you do meditation, or do you think it is not needed?

SORRY for all the questions. I know I've asked questions like these before but for some reason my thoughts are really jumbled and I need clarification on things. If you want, you an just answer a few questions at a time and answer the others when you are ready so you're not answering questions for an entire day :P

Congrats on the lds, Sharpshoey! :)

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[So I'm going to be working on this from now on, along with saying "I'm dreaming" throughout the day and during MILD, Dream Journaling, and a WBTB a night.

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This sounds like a well organized and good plan to me.

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If you have any recommendations for another "Natural" RC please tell me them! Hopefully this will pay of in the next couple of months!

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With natural do you mean stuff that appears both in dreams and the waking world? There are two similar omnipresent RCs that I can think of, those are being mindful and RCing on your breath and also your blinking. There was a thread somewhere about that, I will post the link if I find it.

http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...0%25-time.html

About meditation: Yes, I practice meditation frequently (I want to say daily but some days I skip :P). This has been going on for a while with me, so I switch techniques as my mood permits. Some of the things I have been doing include focus on breath, general body relaxation, gazing objects, concentrating on internal silence directly or on inner chatter, and visualization. The breath meditation is classic and works really nicely. You can do it with eyes closed or open depending on how you feel (if you are drowsy then it would be better to keep your eyes open). Meditation is about learning to focus on one thing and keeping your attention there, so much like with wilding anything can serve as your object of attention. The breath is easy to focus on as it is always there. But you can visualize an image and hold it for as long as you can and you will also be doing meditation. These practices are beneficial to dreaming because what we do in the dream is to hold the images much like we do with meditation.

OK I had to delete my last two posts...they were getting too jumbled. :lol: Anyways let me condense it down. I don't know if I still should do the Gravity RC, because what if the gravity in my dreams never changes? I don't want to waste a couple months of practice. Should I just go with a Sageous type Self-Awareness? I thought I was doing Self-Awareness before but I don't think I was. What are your thoughts on this.

Well, the thing is, most RCs have the potential to work, but you must practice them consistently and you must expect them to work. For example, some people rely on finger counting as RC. If you really expect to have multiple fingers in your dream and your RC to work, then you will have multiple fingers. Same thing with gravity. Always be focused on the RC working and revealing you are in a dream. Also, think of it as the more techs you do (RCs, MILD, wbtb), the more chances for lds.

Thanks a ton! You reminded me that if I expect gravity to be different, it will. That's how my counting fingers RC and my nose pinch RC work I think. So I'm going to stick wit the Gravity RC, because I think it may be better than Sageous's self awareness technique because its all day. I think that the Gravity RC also builds up self awareness too. Sageous said that memory is very important though, so I'm going to add something. Every hour 1-3 times, I am going to stop and question where I was 15 minutes ago, where I am going and why I am going there. Just some memory questions like that, and I will couple it in by doing some traditional RC's.

Do you think the Gravity RC builds the same type of Self-Awareness that Sageous's RRC technique does?

I need to stop reading all the other techniques out there, I tend to over think things and I get wrapped up in all these promising techniques when I really just need to stick with one.

Last night I had a fake LD. In the dream a crazy sadistic madwomen was coming after me and a friend. I suddenly realized I had powers because I was in a dream, so I would move things around and send things flying at her to slow her advance on us. (I guess when its a fake LD my Dream Control is perfect :P) I knew it was fake though because I really didn't *know* I was in the dream, I just knew I had powers and I was still scared out of my mind.

Also got LD's #14 and 15 written here

http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/shar...s-14-15-61782/

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Every hour 1-3 times, I am going to stop and question where I was 15 minutes ago, where I am going and why I am going there. Just some memory questions like that, and I will couple it in by doing some traditional RC's.

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That is a great idea, keep up the good work.

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Do you think the Gravity RC builds the same type of Self-Awareness that Sageous's RRC technique does?

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You are asking difficult questions, Sharpshoey. :) I wish there was an effective way to measure awareness, except for running around with an EEG device. I think it might be a different type of awareness in terms of classification, but then depending on how you do the RC (i.e. being mindful, aware of the environment and engaging in critical thinking when performing the RC), then it could have similar (but again not exactly the same) effects in terms of enhanced cognition and awareness.

Your fake ld sounds like it could be a low awarness ld, if you knew it was a dream. At any rate, you had the chance to practice dream control, so you can be more confident about the things you can do in a dream. :D

:lol: sorry about all of the difficult questions! Thanks for the great answered you have provided, they've helped a lot. I've also found it quite enjoyable to periodically ponder the thought that I could be dreaming at any moment throughout the day. I like to notice my surroundings during this time, and I also become more aware of my gravity even more. I become ultra aware and it really is quite enjoyable. Everything seems more vivid and then when I am done pondering, I do a Reality Check. So I guess it's a bit like the memory questions I do.

Had another instance last night where I was hoping something wouldn't happen in the dream, and then I realized that because I even had the thought it might happen, it could possibly happen because I was in a dream. I am seeming to have a lot of these moments of boosted awareness in dreams now so that is a good sign. Hopefully my awareness is transferring more and more into my dreams. This wasn't enough to make me lucid, but I could tell I was really close.

Having micro ld moments like these is definitely a good sign. It will be helpful to review your ld goal before bed or wbtb and think about completing it. This could help detach from the dream - "It's a dream, oh yeah, I had to do this task".

Another dream last night where I had a thought that if I was dreaming, I could be able to do so much stuff. I was going to do a reality check but then decided not to because the dream was too realistic. :doh: IWL I even tell myself that I could be dreaming at any time, and it doesn't matter how realistic things look or feel. I'm disappointed but I find it a really good sign that in the past few nights in at least one of my dreams a night, I've had thoughts of lucidity and become a bit more aware!

Highest recall yet last night! I was sure I would have an LD because I woke up a ton in the night, but I'm still really happy from the recall. My recall has been a little low the past few days so this is a big confidence booster!

Here's the Dream
http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/shar...ate-yet-61885/

10 dreams? That is a lot! Fantastic recall! :D

I haven't been on DV in a couple of days, but I've kept my practices up. I kind of stopped doing the memory exercises, those got to be too much of a pain to do, and with the Gravity RC I don't think I'll really need it. So my day practice is basically just Gravity RC with a mantra and occasionally a traditional RC.

I've had some interesting dreams, and a fake LD last night and I tried to fly in it but couldn't even fly then! I don't know what the problem is, even in a fake LD I can't fly. I'm going to do what dreamer suggested and try to use some objects to assist me until I get a feel for flying, then try it on my own.

I think I am going to set up a workbook in the WILD Class and start trying to WILD. I was going to wait longer to try it, so I could get more LD experience under my belt, but I feel like NOW is the right time. It's hard to explain, but I just have this feeling like now is the right time to WILD. I don't see why I shouldn't, because if you fail to WILD, you can still DILD and if I start practicing now I'll be able to master WILD sooner which means more LD's. I also like the idea of being able to just "pop" into a dream and being able to LD at will...so I'm going to start praticing that.

I kind of rambled on there, but I just wanted to let you know that I was going to do that too.

Just saw you can't make a workbok :P but I'll be taking the class regardless

Also, I've decided to add this bit because I have nothing else better to do :P You probably don't really care though, so feel free to skip reading this if you don't want to. Another reason I'm taking the WILD class is because my motivation has dropped again. I don't know why it keeps on dropping. The only thing that keeps me practicing LDing is the thought of the awesome things I can do, but it doesn't increase my motivation, it just helps me continue to practice. I even have trouble dream journaling one dream every day. I'm hoping that by taking Sageous's class, it will help to overhaul my LD practices and increase my motivation again. Hopefully my motivation will stay high up until I start getting the hang of WILD. Then it will be easy for my motivation to stay high because I'll get way more consistent LD's.

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I've had some interesting dreams, and a fake LD last night and I tried to fly in it but couldn't even fly then! I don't know what the problem is, even in a fake LD I can't fly. I'm going to do what dreamer suggested and try to use some objects to assist me until I get a feel for flying, then try it on my own.

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That's a good idea, you can also try levitating and see if movement is easier from there. You can also make swimming motions to help turning around or moving. :D

Hope you enjoy the new class and learn a lot of things. You will probably notice that a lot of the practices help increase overall awareness, so your dilds will benefit too. To keep motivation, why don't you check some DJ entries - either some of yours, ld or even if non-ld, surely there is interesting stuff there and great dreams that will lift your mood just by reading them. You can also browse other people's DJ, especially lds for some extra motivation and ideas. :)

Another LD last night! That makes LD number 16. I tried flying again, and when I couldn't do that I tried hovering. When I was right on the verge of being able to hover I would just fall over. I totally forgot abut summoning an object to help me. After I failed a couple of times I went into caveman mode. I tried to resist it and almost did. I saw a hole in the wall and was trying to go on an adventure, but finding other girls was apparently too exciting to pass up. :doh:

Haven't posted here in a while so its a good thing I have a question :P

Does writing in my DJ in detail increase the vividness of my dreams. It would be cool to have HD type dreams, but the main way is to pay attention to your environment all day like ADA, which is super hard. I've heard some people say that writing down detailed dreams increases vividness though, is this true?

Dream journaling helps with recall, but I'm not sure about vividness; someone may have some info on that. Awareness in waking life definitely helps with that though. You don't have to do ADA to get HD-type dreams because, yes, it's incredibly exhausting, especially after a few days of doing it in my experience. Sporadic moments of awareness during the day would be great though. As an example, when I have sporadic moments of awareness I do: RCs, reflect back on what I did during the day, look around to find anything out of place or strange (plus try out Dream Control to try and change anything), and ask myself questions like, "Where am I?" or, "What am I doing?"

In my opinion, it's easier than ADA. :mrgreen: I just realised that I went a bit off topic. Whoops! Well hope you found this helpful, regardless.

Great advice from Astralmango! :)

I also have to say that journaling will probably not result in truly increased quality but rather better recall of details. I'm thinking of two alternative ways you can try to pump up your dreams.

1. During the day, look at some awesome high quality bright color pictures. This will help saturate your mind with perceiving in better quality and may result in dreams simulating this. It may also result in incubation of specific scenes from the pictures so again you may become more likely to perceive those more vividly, especially if you associate those with a positive emotion (emotions in general amplify dream vividness for better or for worse).

2. You can extend this a step further and after looking at awesome pics, try visualizing those. Visualization is a super versatile tool that can help with lding, dream control as well help boost vividness. It's like a muscle and the more you practice it the better your skills in these areas will become.

http://1hdwallpapers.com/wallpapers/...orest_path.jpg

I need to start writing down goals to keep me motivated and hopefully to help me get lucid even more. I am just going to write out each week's goals when that week comes up and then put the monthly and yearly goals I have with each one. I'll edit in my yearly goals when I've really thought those over.

December

Week 1 Goals

Out of Dream
- Have 1 LD
- Remember 30 dreams
- Get my daily practice ingrained into my mind (Finally have a consistent practice to work on)
In Dream
- Summon a jetpack to aid me in flying (was going to do a magic carpet but a jetpack seems more believable)
- Get the feeling of flying down (This will kind of be one of my goals for most of the weeks until I get it)

Monthly Goals For December
- Have 10 Lucid Dreams (It was lower but I remembered Christmas Break so I raised my goal by 2)
- Be able to fly consistently (Going to try to do this before the month ends.)
- If I have time after learning to fly, work on a basic task of the month

Just a quick question I can't seem to find the answer for. Right now I am working on my MILD technique before going to sleep. I want to start incorporating SSILD in my WBTB and then once I get more LD's and I start noticing my awakenings in the night more switch to WILD. So during my WBTB, do you recommend I only do SSILD, or is there certain conditions where I should be doing either MILD or SSILD? Any tips on this would be greatly appreciated.

You can do MILD + SSILD if you like or only SSILD. One of the major concerns of people is they are falling asleep too fast to do both, but if you can manage to do both techs, then why not? Do a few trials and see what the effect is for lds, dream contents, your sleepiness levels etc.

Just a quick update...Not able to do any lucid dreams this week because my sleep schedule was super messy. So I'm going to be starting my goals next week. So I'll only have three weeks of goals this month, but I guess I'll have to make do with that.

Alrighty then...I'm back for good! I know I haven't been gone, but what I meant was that I'm back into the practice of LDing. I set those goals up earlier thinking that they would help me. But one, I haven't had time to work on LDing and two, I keep changing practices and I can't seem to stick to one. I now have time again to focus on LDing, so after about a month of on and off practicing and stressing about which practice to do, I took a step back and observed the situation.

I realized that if I ever was going to stick with a technique and become good at LDing, I was going to have to largely come up with my own practice. Now I'm not saying that I invented these techniques, because obviously I didn't, but I have finally pieced them together in a way that I like and will be able to stick with. It isn't so effort intensive that I lose motivation, but it's not so light that it doesn't do anything for me.

So anyways, on to my practice. I'm mostly just writing this down so I don't forget it, but also so then I can get some feedback on it and suggestions to make it better if it needs to be. I first looked at all of the ways to become lucid. I cam down to four things.

1. Realizing you are dreaming by noticing something odd
2. Realizing you are dreaming because a thought about dreaming pops into your head.
3. Remembering in the dream that you need to become lucid (Basically the same as number 2, but for me there is a very thin line between them, so I put them seperate)
4. Consciously entering the dream so you're already lucid

After coming up with those four things I proceeded to come up with ways to practice becoming lucid from all of them. After all, if I could master each and every one of those (and to me those are the main ways to get lucid) then I'll have a very high rate of lucidity. Mainly my practice is what you hear all around the forums and I've read about doing this for a long time on here, but I never really did it thinking that it would lead to becoming good at LDing. I think breaking it apart like I did helped me.

Starting with number 1 - Realizing you are dreaming by noticing something odd
So I thought about how I could become lucid by doing this, and I realized this is exactly what I was doing when I first started practicing Lucid Dreaming. I looked back in my workbook and noticed all I did was ADA and an RC with a mantra. I got 6-7 lucid dreams each month for the first two months, so that probably was working for me. I think I stopped doing that because I got "too much information" and was always thinking that doing a different technique would be better.

I decided that throughout the day, I would just constantly be on the lookout for anything odd going on. To go hand in hand with that, I would keep up a general awareness of things (like ADA...but less effort intensive) so I could notice odd things easier. Whenever I notice something strange I'd do a RC with a critical question of "am I dreaming?" Then I'd do a memory check and an actual RC. If I feel like it on some of the RC's, I'd imagine what I would do if I was in a dream.

2 - Realizing you are dreaming because a thought about dreaming pops into your head
This practice was very easy to come up with because it only involves on thing. I try and keep in my head all day the mantra "I realize I'm dreaming" That doesn't mean that I'm constantly saying it, but I'm holding onto that feeling of becoming lucid and that thought that I need to realize I'm dreaming. Every time I notice myself losing these thoughts, I'll just say my mantra again to the point where it just becomes second nature. It does two things in my mind. First it makes you constantly wonder if everything around you is a dream or not...and second, it gets that thought of realizing you are dreaming into your head so then in a dream you may think that and remember to realize that you're dreaming. I also say this whenever I do an RC to associate the mantra with becoming lucid.

3 - Remembering in the dream that you need to become lucid
So this is basically the same as step 2 because the mantra will hopefully pop into my thoughts in a dream and remind me to realize I'm dreaming. The reason this is another step though, is because throughout the day the "I realize I'm dreaming" mantra is also reminding me that I need to become lucid in my dreams, and I'm also doing MILD before going to bed at night which sets even stronger intentions to the fact that I need to become lucid, so then hopefully I'll remember to become lucid in a dream.

4 - Consciously entering the dream so you're already lucid
This is just WILD so I don't need to describe anything here, but I will briefly describe how I'm going to go about my night work. Before sleeping, I do a MILD. Then at any natural awakenings throughout the night I do a MILD. I'll set an alarm for 5.5 hours after going to sleep (I've noticed waking up at this time the most) and then do my WILD then.

So any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions about my lucid dreaming practice would be greatly appreciated! I want to make this the best practice that I can and I'm hoping that this will help me to get good at Lucid Dreaming. I mostly just went back to what I was doing when I first started LDing, but I added in some more stuff that I've learned in that time.

EDIT: I didn't know where to put this but I don't use dream signs. I never have because my thoughts are that you should be able to become lucid all the time, not just every time you see a specific dream sign. But if you have any thoughts on this that would be great too. And hopefully you could understand what I was saying in my post, sometimes my writing can ramble on and you lose the basic meaning of it.

Welcome back, Sharpshoey! Nicely laid strategy and practices. I think if you manage to practice these consistently you will start seeing great results.

About dream signs, one can focus on them as main technique or as a complementary technique. You already have a few core techniques, so for now, I would suggest just take note of your dream signs, maybe highlight them in your journal and if you want think about them. This way, you would have them written down in case you might want to experiment with DS related induction in the future.

Keep up the good work Sharpshoey! You've already achieved some nice results and once you get reorganized lds will start coming again at full power. :goodjob2:

Been sick the last couple days so haven't had much time to practice. :( I have been still trying to at least MILD before going to sleep though. Hopefully I'll get better soon and can start getting back into my practice. My day feels so empty now when I'm not focusing on LDing. I've gotten so used to it.

Hope you feel better soon, Sharpshoey.

:bliss: :dancingcow:
Just had my 16th LD! I think I may have posted a different 16th LD in my workbook before, I'm not sure, but I totally forgot that one and didn't write it down and I think it was pretty lame. I started up with my practice like an hour before I went to bed last night and became lucid! It may have been from the MILD though, as I woke up and did that. I didn't really get that excited feeling because I can't remember how I became lucid. I was obviously excited it was an LD but its even more fun when you are so surprised you literally jump in the air. I have been working on remembering that my physical body is in bed, and that this is my dream body, but when I did this in a dream I had a false memory of going to bed in a chair so I don't think I fully convinced myself that I could do anything. I jumped off a balcony to fly and...was able to float!!! I know that's not flying but even that felt really cool and it shows that I'm slowly making progress toward being able to fly. I also did an RC to reconfirm that I was dreaming and the RC showed that I was dreaming, but my memory must have been mostly shut off because even though I could breathe with my nose closed, I thought that showed I was awake. Luckily I was aware enough to still stay lucid though.

Question about MILD. I've heard people say you should visualize in first person. For some reason, that is hard for me. I can visualize in first person for a bit, but my visualizations are easier and more vivid if its in third person. Maybe I should just work through it and keep practicing in first person until those become very vivid. What do you think about this?

So my original plan was to do MILD, DEILD at any natural awakening, and then WILD with an alarm awakening about 5 and a half hours into sleep. But I think that I have found a better method. I don't really notice waking up after dreams so that means I'm going to have to set an alarm for the DEILD, and then once I get used to waking up I an drop the alarm. My plan is to just do MILD before sleeping, then set alarms that automatically shut off to DEILD throughout the night. If I fail to DEILD, then I can just make it a WBTB and then MILD again. Once I've more or less mastered DEILD and got the feeling of going consciously into a dream, I can start to work on WILD. DEILD seems to be better all around than MILD, but I'm sure there will come a time where I will want a WILD. (Like if I fail a DEILD, I can WILD instead of MILDing).

Yay! Congrats on the ld! You really made a quick comeback! :goodjob:

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Question about MILD. I've heard people say you should visualize in first person. For some reason, that is hard for me. I can visualize in first person for a bit, but my visualizations are easier and more vivid if its in third person. Maybe I should just work through it and keep practicing in first person until those become very vivid. What do you think about this?

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If I try to remember a past dream, I just visualize the way it happened. If I try to think about my next ld, I imagine some key elements from the tasks - bag of gifts, etc. and think about the action. I think it's ok to do it in third person if that is easier for you, see if this leads to lucid dreams or dreams about people in third person. Best way to test it is by trying. :)

I think I'm going to have to take a different approach to how I'm doing DEILD. I read that you should repeat a mantra that you wake up after dreams until you fall asleep, but I can't do that because I want to be able to focus on my MILD to get me lucids. So maybe for now I will just remember to DEILD after every lucid dream or the ones where I become lucid as the dream is ending so I am aware I'm waking up. Also, those autosuggestion things have never really worked for me but I haven't done them for very long at any time so who knows?

I'm going to go back to practicing a WILD after 6 hours of sleep but I'm going to try and combine my WILD with my MILD at that time so I still have a chance at an LD if my WILD fails. Part of my MILD is just looking at the back of my eyelids and knowing that the next thing I see will be a dream, so I am going to try an do that in my WILD as well.

Tried WILD last night but ended up not being able to sleep for an hour :/ Maybe I should just do my MILD and since I guess it could lead to a WILD the way I do it, just let the WILD's happen when they will? What do you think about this? I've been debating but can't decide if I should focus on WILD or just do my MILD and let the WILDs come. It seems every time I focus on WILD or keeping awareness, I can't get back to sleep. I even barely focused on awareness last night but still couldn't fall asleep.

Here's LD #16

http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/shar...y-ld-16-63049/

Also, I think I want to get started working with some dream signs. How do you choose dream signs? Do you just choose one main one? Or do you choose multiple? I don't see how you could keep track of all the multiple ones. But I also don't think I have one main dream sign. So any tips or ideas about this?

I had another LD last night. But the problem is, I really can't decide if it was a lucid or a false lucid. I'm leaning more toward it being a lucid dream. In the dream, I went to turn on a light and realized here was more switches than usual. I thought about how that would have made me lucid, if I wasn't already lucid. Then it felt like I had no control as I invited a girl over and "messed around". My brother came home and I quickly got into my room and shut the door and wanted the girl to be quiet so my brother wouldn't know. But before I invited the girl even though my DC mom said not to. So at some points I thought that my actions would actually have consequence and at other times I knew they wouldn't affect me. Throughout the dream I was afraid of it ending prematurely and I was surprised that it continued and was very stable and vivid, so that's why I was leaning more toward an actual lucid dream. So yay for that! That is 2 lucids in the span of 4 days!

Congrats! :D Could be a lower level ld with on and off lucidity.

About dream signs, do you already have a list of those? You can certainly have more than one dream sign, and it can also be something that appears in both dream and real world or only in dream world. If it is in both, RC when seeing it. If it is only in the dream world, you can do visualization plus mantra or just mantra, "I see DS I know it's a dream" type of mantra. You can go over a list of your dream signs during the day or prebed and think how they occur only in the dreamworld or again, use mantras or visualization.

If you have been tagging your dream journal, some items that appear a lot could point to your DS.

Thanks for the help on the dream signs.

Also, I had another Lucid Dream last night! I have changes up my mantra. I first changed it to "be aware" and then "I'm dreaming", but I've settled on "see the dream". This allows me to constantly think I could be dreaming and allows me to be on the lookout for the dream throughout the day. It also goes with my MILD better than the other two mantras. It is more direct in what I am trying to do in my MILD, so I think it will work better.

Awesome! Keep them coming! :goodjob:

Another Ld last night! It was pretty short but I did a bit of dream control in it, so I'll count it as a success!

I forgot to mention that two days ago, I woke up completely still with my eyes closed remembering to DEILD, but I couldn't get back to sleep so I just got up and did a WBTB. But at least I got that first step down. :)

Congrats! :D I find that deild works best for me after a lucid dream, so my advice would be to try it after one.

Well since I have come back to lucid dreaming, I figure that I better start my workbook back up again. I was just looking back over my past workbook entries and holy crap I was so inconsistent with my practices. I changed it like every week cause I always found something better :P

In the time that I was away I have somehow gotten rid of that trait I had where I always had to change things. So now my practice can be way more steady and hopefully give me more results. I really wish that I wouldn't have taken a break for those few months and I could be way ahead of where I am now but oh well, I can't change the past.

I have really slimmed down my day work to keep myself motivated and I'm going to start up the same night work that I was doing before. It seemed to be working for e. Since I've been doing the Gravity RC for a bit now, I wasn't going to start doing MILD again because I thought that if when I got better I could get lucid from gravity any time there would be no point. But after thinking all day I've decided to start MILD again too because even if I didn't get lucid in dreams the way I imagined in MILD so I thought it wasn't doing anything, I'm sure it was still the reason I got lucid. I'll just MILD and imagine myself noticing gravity to become lucid (however I'm not going to be imagining the gravity as different or telling myself that it is because Azul told me that messes up the RC).

Basically I'm hoping to get back into my practice with the only difference being instead of doing normal RC's I'll be dong Gravity RC instead.

It's good to be back and this time I won't leave :)

Good to see you back, Sharpshoey! :)

Just a Quick update that I had my 20th LD on June 18, 2015.
My 21st LD on June 25, 2015.
And my 22nd LD on June 28, 2015.

I'm so excited to be having these lucids semi-close together as I've just recently got back into a consistent practice. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come :)

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Originally Posted by Sharpshoey

Just a Quick update that I had my 20th LD on June 18, 2015.
My 21st LD on June 25, 2015.
And my 22nd LD on June 28, 2015.

I'm so excited to be having these lucids semi-close together as I've just recently got back into a consistent practice. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come :)

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Great stuff, Sharpshoey! You're exactly right... this kind of consistency is an excellent sign! Once you've got this kind of momentum rolling, just let success build upon success.

With your consistency, you're convincing yourself that this is what you do, placing yourself into a frame of mind where you anticipate having frequent lucid dreams. Keep up the good work! :goodjob2:

Haven't had a LD in 5 days :(
Hoping to get another very soon. On a side note though, I do have some good news! I've been experimenting with MILD more this time around, I've always done MILD but my first time around I never really changed up the technique to see what worked best. This time I've tried it incorporating the Gravity RC, without mantras, with different mantras, and a few other ways. I have finally narrowed it down to something I think should work. It also helps me fall asleep quickly and I don't know if this is related to the technique or not, but when I used the technique the number of dreams I recalled went down, but the length and quality of the dreams went up. So I' thinking that I just remembered the connection between the dreams. And my dreams felt very vivid and I was present in them...it was very fun actually!

My technique is:
When I go to bed and at any mini-WBTB throughout the night I start off by imagining any dreams I can remember from the night and then noticing anything weird in them and becoming lucid. I do that part fairly quickly, just imagining myself becoming lucid, stabilizing, and remembering my goals and that's it. Then I move on to just visualize me anywhere (made up or a past dream) and doing anything fun I would potentially like to do in an LD. Not necessarily one of my goals, but just something fun. Then I do 2-3 cycles of SSILD, without the warm up part of it described in the newer tutorial, and I repeat "I'm dreaming" very rapidly. Once I complete SSILD I repeat my mantra a few more times until I fall asleep. If I can't get to sleep with the mantra I'll just let my mind go blank so I won't have any more thoughts and I'll drift off to sleep.

I didn't originally have visualization but recently added it because it's fun and imagining becoming lucid will just set more intent for me to become lucid. Also imagining doing anything fun in an LD will just increase my motivation to LD when I fall asleep and I'll be excited for it. I just today decided to add SSILD to my technique. I had done it on it's own and gotten a lucid from it a week or two ago but then dropped it because I wanted to do MILD. Well today I decided that I wanted to see if it worked for me so I wanted to combine it with MILD. I am doing less cycles than is recommended with SSILD though so then I'm not up for too long. I'm going to experiment with how many cycles I should do and also if I should include the mini cycles to warm up for SSILD as I'm using this technique.

Still my only day work is Gravity RC...and I think I'm about 20 days in on that. I've only done it once in a recent dream but I didn't get lucid from it. So I just need to build up more awareness of gravity. Also, I still haven't been able to fly so I'm thinking of putting that dream goal on hold, and going to practice other things. Like practicing summoning, teleporting, using superpower things, and stuff like hat. Hopefully if I show myself I can do things like that that are impossible IWL, when I go back to flying it'll be easier since I've already done some impossible things. I just think that my motivation for LD's has lowered because all I've tried to do is fly and I keep failing, so the key for me here I think is to put that on hold and move on to goals I can succeed with and gain more motivation.

Finally, I've been trying to use a mantra to get myself to notice my awakenings in the night but it hasn't really been working. So I think my plan now is to just drink lots of water before bed and to set multiple alarms throughout the night. Then hopefully after a week or two of that I will be used to waking up throughout the night so I'll be able to notice myself waking up a lot better.

I haven't felt this excited about LDing since I first learned about it!

Hey Sharpshoey, your current tech looks really solid! Keep it up, I'm sure the lds will follow soon!

I agree about putting the flying part on hold for the time being. Find something else to do that resonates with you at the moment. Don't worry about flying, who knows you may actually find yourself doing it by accident while in the process of completing other goals. At any rate, the dream world is amazing so you can discover cool things to do wherever you look. Just grab an object and explore it in detail - you will often be surprised at the richness of the experience. :)

I have been trying to wake up naturally in the night so I don't have to use an alarm and every so often I can...usually though I don't notice my wakings. So I am now definitely going to just set one alarm a night until I can wake up at that time naturally, because if I wake up once in the night I notice more wakings after that usually.

Anyways, I now want to start practicing WILD again. If I am doing MILD as well, how would I go about doing this? I was thinking about doing my normal MILD and then just trying to hold awareness as I fall asleep so even if I fail with the WILD I have my MILD to fall back on. Is there any downsides to combining my technique like this, or is combining techniques the best way to go about things?

Also yesterday I was practicing a WILD in the afternoon. I was sort of stuck in the "daydream mode" where you are awake and daydreaming but its really vivid daydreaming, so it like one tiny step below dreaming. When I was doing that all of a sudden my awareness snapped back because of something that fell over in my daydream I think. As soon as that happened I felt a wave of some sort come over my body and things started to get tingly. I tried o stay calm but I thought that this meant that I was close to dreaming and my heart rate started speeding and my eyes were moving around like crazy. I couldn't calm down no matter what I did. Finally I settled down and I tried to stay still and imagine a dream scene to pop into it but my mind was too awake so I just opened them. Do you know any tips on what I can do in the future if it happens again so that I can enter the dream?

:muffin::aphiusiscrazy::rockon::dancingcow::breaki tdown: Finally flew in an LD!!!! :happyme:

I just jumped off of my back porch and spread out so I was parallel to the ground. Instead of hitting the ground like usual though, I kept on moving forward and I screamed in the dream I was so excited. Then the dream took me up way high and as I was looking around I flipped over and had an FA.

The sensation of flying felt very cool...and finally after 26 LD's I've completed my first in dream goal!

I'll get the dream typed up sometime soon, I've been excited since I woke up. It feels so good to have finally completed that. I did learn something too. When I realized I wouldn't hit the ground because I kept rising up, I was very surprised that I was able to fly. So even though I may have been thinking I was confident I could fly, somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking "I can't do this". Even as I was flying I was hoping and hoping that I wouldn't drop and hit the ground.

Hopefully this experience has taken away any doubts I have about flying...maybe this will even help with other dream control as well since I have done something impossible IWL in a dream proving that I can do impossible things in a dream without a problem.

Congrats on the ld, Sharpshoey! Really happy that you have completed your dream goal! Indeed, nothing is impossible in dreams! :)

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Anyways, I now want to start practicing WILD again. If I am doing MILD as well, how would I go about doing this? I was thinking about doing my normal MILD and then just trying to hold awareness as I fall asleep so even if I fail with the WILD I have my MILD to fall back on. Is there any downsides to combining my technique like this, or is combining techniques the best way to go about things?

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Yes, you could absolutely do that. If your body has enough awareness, it is possible to wild while trying to mild. This has happened to me a few times. So, don't hesitate to mix and match techs - to find out which yield what results and if these work for you.

Congratulations, Sharpshoey!! What a great accomplishment, not only for the experience, but also for showing yourself what you're capable of! :goodjob2:

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Originally Posted by Sharpshoey

Hopefully this experience has taken away any doubts I have about flying...maybe this will even help with other dream control as well since I have done something impossible IWL in a dream proving that I can do impossible things in a dream without a problem.

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Absolutely right. This flight is a map toward your future dream control successes. You've seen what you're capable of and you'll never look at dreams the same way again. Not know that you know what you can do! :superman:

I'm really happy for you on this one! I'm so glad you stuck with this goal, and now you've made it happen! I look forward to your continued success. :)

Man I haven't been here in a long time! I've been really busy but I'm ready to start LDing again with all the free time I have now. I want to jump back into doing the Gravity RC again, but in the past that has seemed to be really mentally demanding and provides no results for quite a while, so I think that'll completely kill my motivation right from the beginning. The only way this'll work is if I slowly and steadily incorporate lucid dreaming into my life and see my progress steadily rising, then once I'm getting a fair amount of LD's and I've made some progress I might consider jumping back to Gravity RC again.

So I'm just going to look around the site for now and refresh my memory a bit, then I will come up with some goals and a routine to do and I'll post that here later.

Good to see you back! :)

One thing I need to work on is trying to wake up after each dream. This will benefit me by allowing me to remember more dreams, and it will help me to increase my awareness going into the next dream. I usually just sleep through the night and don't really notice my awakenings until like 4 or 5 in the morning. So Tonight I'm going to try going to bed while repeating a mantra to intend to be aware of my wakings throughout the night.

Sounds like a good idea - mantras can be quite useful for such things.