Ullo!

[Odonata]

Hi, I'm Ed, I live in Somerset, England, and all this week I've been thinking about dreams! Somehow, and for some reason, I seemed to have forgotten that as a child, and into my teens, I dreamed very vividly. Now approaching my 38th birthday a recalled dream is a precious rarity for me. At a pre-school age I had regular night terrors that left me distraught, but very occasionally these would be interspersed with a fantastic reoccurring dream of an owl that would protect me. I can still clearly recall how wonderful that felt. I even look back on the night terrors with a degree of appreciation -- I'm amazed at how real and powerful they were. And once, and once only, I had a dream in which I knew I was in a dream and told myself to fly -- so I flapped my arms and up I went. That must have been over 30 years ago now. I'd quite like to do it again... Last weekend I was riddled with dental pain from a particularly vindictive wisdom tooth, resulting in extremely broken sleep for several consecutive nights. This lead to me dreaming like a space cadet on mushrooms, and I remembered most of it. In an epiphany I longed for the immersive dreams of my childhood, and resolved to start a regimen that would kick start my nocturnal inner world. As I always do in such moments of enthusiasm, I looked for podcasts about dreaming and found the DV one. This made me realise that I should aim to lucid dream as an end result of giving my dream world a more general health check. And here I am. Having had a read through the forums it seems that doing reality checks (I've been looking at my hands and pinching my nose throughout the day!) and keeping a journal (I've been out to buy one earlier) is the best way to start. So it's Night 1 for me tonight. I just go to bed doing the hand mantra and write down any dreams I have? I'm hoping that the intent to recall the dreams will aid me in doing so. I was also wondering about alcohol? I do tend to have a couple of pints most nights after dinner, so I'm not drunk but do usually go to bed with alcohol in my system. I'm assuming this isn't good practice? (Crosses fingers that it's ok!). I'm hoping to buddy up with someone once my account is a month old (it could be you!) but until then I hope to meet a few of you on the boards if I have something to add. (If I don't, rest assured of my continued lurking). Cheers!

[goldenphoniex]

hi Ed, welcome to the forums!

[cooleymd]

I knew I was in a dream and told myself to fly -- so I flapped my arms and up I went. ... So it's Night 1 for me tonight. I just go to bed doing the hand mantra and write down any dreams I have? I'm hoping that the intent to recall the dreams will aid me in doing so. I had plenty of dreams as a kid where I flapped my arms and flew but wasn't lucid just thought I could fly as for intent to recall sure that will help, also when you wake up lie still and just go thru a list of things you might have dreamed about, like if you ride a bus think of car, bus ... until something comes to you. Once you start journaling more will come But to set intent to lucid dream you should try to sleep for like 4-5.5 hours and then Wake back to bed, then set your intention as you fall back asleep. Your first REM will only be a few minutes your next one only like 10min usually. But the Third Fourth or Fifth REM 4.5 and 6+ hrs in are the ones to aim for. You want to have the intention be a little younger than 4.5 to 6 hours old, hence the WBTB method to bring the intention closer.

[Odonata]

Thanks for the welcome and advice. You're right, it was too long ago for me to be sure if it was a LD, but my night terrors we so intense as a child I can remember "thinking" in the dream how relieved I was to be having a good dream. Who knows! I'm just focusing on trying to get better recall with a view to LD, and keeping a dream journal has had an amazing impact on my recall already.

[gab]

to Dreamviews, Odonata You seem to be on a good start with RCs, mantras and DJing. And yu have the WANT, which is important. Here is more about DILD, RCs and mantras. I would recommend you also read tutorials for WILD and DEILD. You never know when you find yourself in middle of transitioning into a lucid dream, so it's good to know what to do. Induction Methods and Techniques http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/13212...ods-dilds.html http://www.dreamviews.com/wild/ If yu need any help, just let us know (Love your avatar)