Thread: hello, first post ...and a lazy WBTB that worked : )

Hello fellow dreamers,

I've been interested again in the topic of LD recently and thought about getting back to trying having one after re-reading published articles. I had a few LD/OBE short episodes in the past but I have yet to get a full-blown LD/OBE with proper stability and control.

Been journalling for about a week, only keywords and without much conviction, I can't help finding the journalling thing annoying, my dreams show no recurrent dreamsigns and are made up of very short snipets of oddness - like nephew reading my aura (no idea where that can possibly come from), seeing a giant pink squid slowly floating above the beach, fighting several people, etc... I also find it hard to question myself during the day "am I dreaming" as this seems silly and pretty obvious I'm definitely not! I guess I should stick with it ... but for some reason (or maybe because I'm a bit lazy) I can't help thinking our brain/subconsious doesn't need any of that and knows better, appears to me reaching LD is much more about motivation, importance of LD in one's life in the moment, and intent before sleep (e.g. how much the importance of positive results in Laberge's career influenced the lab experiments outcome vs the MILD technique per se? And why do people who know nothing about LD can spontaneously get their first vivid LD the very first night they read about it? And why is it a common experience to be able to wake up right before the dreaded alarm sets off?).

I naturally woke up in the morning about 6.30 and the idea came to mind to take the opportunity to try a WBTB. I got up, got dressed and on the computer saw an email from a friend telling me about his new blog on his trip with his gf. So I read the blog, and about an hour later realized I had stayed up longer than the 30mn I intended. Got back to bed, and told myself 4-5 times "ok, next time I dream I want to be lucid" then forgot about it (did I say I'm feeling a bit lazy ). The room was quite bright and suspected I wouldn't fall asleep anyway... 1 hour later still no sleep, chances wre pretty off now to fall asleep... then turned onto my belly and covered face partially to block out light. Some time passes.

Next thing I realise my body feels heavy and it seems I have difficulty moving. I know about SP but didn't realise it was what was happening. A bit concerned but decided to ignore it. Very shortly after I felt the OBE symptom of lifting upward and through the back and feet, a noticeable but weak and short movement. This made me realise what was happening. Then with no more body awareness, I saw some dream scenery. Colors were vivid, scenery was moving as if observing from some aerial vantage point, and my view was narrowed to a "frame". I thought about trying to step in that frame but with no success, although the attempt seemed to sharpen the scenery. Next, I suddenly find myself "hovering" (let's put it that way) above a girl, only seeing her face. I realise by her facial expressions that we're having sex that's odd because I didn't have any body sensation, only an awareness of, well, having sex, and also I hadn't thought or intended to have sex. I think to myself she doesn't look too cute and that I'd rather her be a girl in the past that I had a crush on (no idea why I thought of her, it was a long time ago). Instantly, the face changed to be the face of that other girl. Also a nice sunlight started to partially illuminate her face. That definitely excited me and I started feeling aroused - but it stopped short as I woke up. Again, there was no body sensation, only awareness of having sex and arousal increasing.

So it seems WBTB is really efficient to trigger lucidity, considering I didn't put much intent at all and I wasn't thinking about lucid dreaming during the prep (I was reading my friend's blog). Will try it again... I'm thinking a good idea may be to demand the dream "Now I want to *stand* on the beach" for example. Something that will promote having that stable experience I'm looking for, feeling my body and being in control. Ideally I'd like to find myself standing in the lucid dreaming, with clear feeling and control of my body, thinking "ok here I am standing in the dream and in control."

LD is indeed a fascinating topic.