New to DV, and hopefully to LD!

[Cegtzh]

Hello everybody, I'm Eduardo, from Mexico, and I'm really exited about finding this community!, since I was 15 more or less (I'm 24 now) I've been interested in lucid dreams and outer body experiences although I haven't succeed to achieve neither of them yet (by purpose). I remember when I was a child sometimes I was partially conscious when I was dreaming, I even remember to change the dream or the environment by jumping, and jump "harder" or hit the ground strongly when I wanted to wake up. Eventually I forgot about that until about 9 or 8 years ago when during the night, suddenly I was upside down over my bed (like grabbed by my ankle), fully conscious and watching at my room, and something under the blankets (that assumed was me), everything super realistic. I tried to scream but anything but a hoarse came out of my mouth, and suddenly I was back on my body. Since then I research about this, and in different periods of my life tried to achieve an OBE or LD, but ended up frustrated and stopped. Also, I have a chronic problem with SP (specially when I have bad seep habits for several days), which somehow in my case is accompanied by pain (plus hallucinations and the other stuff), and most of the times I tried to have an OBE or LD the attempts ended up in SP, so it wasn't really nice. Now that I found this forum and read more experiences and techniques I am exited and committed to, at least for now, try LD through DILD method, and maybe WILD if I don't have SP episodes, (I rarely have them now) before experimenting with OBE. I'm now incorporating reality tests and last night tried WILD for the fist time, and though I feel asleep and could't remember much of the dream, at least it was related to the intention that I set before starting, so for me, its an step!. Lets see

[midnightfire]

Hi Eduardo, I am new to DV as well but thought I would say a welcome That sounds pretty scary the experiences you had when you were young. I never had such strong experiences but I became interested in astral projection when I was in my early teens but it was fear that always kept me from trying too hard. People say that it's completely safe to Astral project and lucid dream but I wasn't sure if I could handle it mentally. I think that trying to access these experiences from within a dream could be much less intimidating which I why I am focusing on Lucid Dreaming now. Because when you astral project you first go into the lower astral where there are lower vibrations and sometimes entities so there is more to deal with. But the more education and more practice eventually we can overcome this fear. Have you looked into some methods to help with sleep paralysis? I have had it a few times but I luckily it didn't freak me out. I actually thought it was really nice because my body was that numb, and I had a lazy approach to it. But I think that you can use sleep paralysis as a springboard to AP/OBE so don't look at it as a bad thing! Best of luck with your journey

[Cegtzh]

Hello midnightfire, thank you for responding . I understand your feeling, somehow feel similar about AP, but what happens to me is a mix between fear an excitement, and I think that keeps me from getting into a deeper state, because I get distracted by the feeling. I also decided to star with LD because of that, as I believe it will become easier to experience it after managing lucid dreams and getting used to them, and specially used to the idea of having your conscience away of your body. Have you had any successful experience yet? About SP, the solution that worked at least for me was to have healthier sleep habits. In the past I used to sleep from 4 to 6 hours every night because of my studies, but after I spend a year in another city much more calmed and get used to sleep at least 8, my SP problem got better (though I can't manage to sleep less than that now haha). And when it do happens, it helps me to look straight into a light for about 10-20 seconds, otherwise the episode comes back. I certainly wouldn't have problem with it if it wasn't because of the painful feeling, for sure! but maybe for you could be indeed helpful . BTW, welcome to you too!

[midnightfire]

I have had just one lucid dream and a few ones that I don't count because I realised I was dreaming for like 1 second and then went straight back to being unconscious haha. It does take a lot of work and effort for most people and the biggest struggle is the constant motivation to keep practising when you don't see results, which is why it's so great to have places like this forum to keep inspiring/motivating ^^ Yes I think when you get more control you can use lucid dreaming to springboard into the astral - there is probably some discussion of this in another thread, but then a lot of people don't think there is a difference between luciddreaming/OBE. I think it is more likely that there is but don't have any real wisdom from personal experience. I actually haven't had SP for a long while either, perhaps because like you I got a lot better with my sleep habits instead of 4 hrs per night now 6-7hrs. I notice I get a lot more dream recall when I sleep 7+hours so that is one of my currant goals to try to fit in more sleep

[Cegtzh]

I read about a technic that works with "rewards", in which you reward yourself every morning with a candy or something special for you when you have a lucid dream, that could be extra motivation! About OBE, I know that some people don't believe in it by itself, maybe the difference lies in your own beliefs and experiences lets say with "supernatural" stuff or in the concept that there is something beyond, something that I do subscribe to. I never thought about the possibility of jumping from LD to OBE, maybe after achieving LD we could do a little research Yes, more sleeping time! it is healthier and you'll feel with more energy during the day, so that hour will be paid by itself, or you could try to synchronize your current habits with your sleep cycle to take the most of them