Thread: From Russia With... Dreams?

Hi, Rolo.

i think, the main problem is, that You trying too hard. You should be more relaxed if You want to see hypnagogig images.
The same we can say about Intention. it's not about muscle You need to pump hard, but feeling. Also, try to understand, that Intention is not something abstract - it is VERY concrete feeling. The same as feeling of pressure or balance. In our daily life we don't use it, that is why we can't recognize it. But we should try, and train it - as we train balance, for example.

Originally Posted by EnaNaves

Hi, Rolo.

i think, the main problem is, that You trying too hard. You should be more relaxed if You want to see hypnagogig images.
The same we can say about Intention. it's not about muscle You need to pump hard, but feeling. Also, try to understand, that Intention is not something abstract - it is VERY concrete feeling. The same as feeling of pressure or balance. In our daily life we don't use it, that is why we can't recognize it. But we should try, and train it - as we train balance, for example.

Thank you for weighing in.

I would be very grateful if you could provide some material on intent. I find that I always have to really read a lot about a concept to understand it. Not much of a feeling and intuition oriented person.

I can't wrap my head around the idea of wanting something and trying to get something and at the same time NOT trying too hard.

A few thoughts. For starters, congrats on your progress. It sounds like you're making good progress for only 3 months in. Roadblocks are normal and part of the process.

On DILDs -

The reality checking is absolutely key. I don't use a repeated mantra - although I have in the past - because it's not very reliable. The hidden x factor for DILDs is a "critical reflective attitude". Developing that is what will increase the frequency of your DILDs. They will never be on demand, but it can help. Developing prospective memory skills through reality check triggers is another very helpful technique. You can develop this specific type of memory by giving yourself common and randomized triggers to RC to during the day (every time you see a blue car, every time you hear your phone ring, every time you smell cooking, every time you use a key, etc.). Change them daily or weekly. This will help you remember to reality check when within dreams more often. Also, always reality check to anything strange or weird that happens to you in daily life.

Maintaining control is hard in the beginning. Firstly, there's emotional control that you need to develop. That will develop naturally with time. You have to remember to stay as calm as possible during the dream.

You can also practice stabilization techniques. Try looking at your hands when you first become lucid. Look at them until you can see every wrinkle. Then, look up and say out loud "Increase clarity now!". Another trick is to repeatedly remind yourself that "I'm in a lucid dream" out loud, while in the dream. If you feel the dream is fading, you can try to immediately engage your senses. Lick a wall, touch things, crawl on the ground instead of walking. Rub your hands together.

On WILDs -

I find WILDs harder to achieve. I've also never had the problem you're having. I have floated above my body, but I could always move around and explore the world I was in. Can you explore from your floating position, or are you stuck?

If you're stuck, you may not really fully be in a dream yet. Sometimes meditation can give us a sort of 3rd person view, while not being the same thing as a lucid dream or astral projection (if you believe in that). If this is the case, I'm thinking you may not be fully mentally relaxed enough for entering the dream state. This is admittedly a very tricky skill. You have to walk the knife's edge between sleeping and waking. You don't want to be fully awake and attempt a WILD. You need to let yourself fall asleep a little, but not fully. Just awake enough to get through the passage into dreaming land. You're lucidity can increase once the process has started and you're through.

You know you've got it if you feel vibrations (although they are not required). Just roll with those, and you'll be in a lucid dream soon!

I find relaxation techniques, such as the 61 point meditation, to be very helpful. You can try a meditation where you focus on each point of your body, starting with the toes and working up. Hold each area in your attention for 3 full seconds. Then, let it go and imagine that part of you is falling asleep. It's also helpful to imagine a falling or sinking sensation.

On Intent -

Intent is great, but you must keep a positive feeling about it (maybe that's your hidden x factor). There's a difference between intent and trying to force something to happen. If you are so focused that you're stressing yourself out and wanting it to happen right now, you will have trouble. I think the key with intent is to hold your goal in your mind, but with the positive feeling of knowing your goal will be achieved in good time. Not necessarily on your schedule, and not necessarily exactly the way you see it happening. Start with smaller goals and work your way up. Celebrate your progress, no matter how small, and focus on enjoying the ride.

Originally Posted by Hilary

A few thoughts. For starters, congrats on your progress. It sounds like you're making good progress for only 3 months in. Roadblocks are normal and part of the process.

On DILDs -

The reality checking is absolutely key. I don't use a repeated mantra - although I have in the past - because it's not very reliable. The hidden x factor for DILDs is a "critical reflective attitude". Developing that is what will increase the frequency of your DILDs. They will never be on demand, but it can help. Developing prospective memory skills through reality check triggers is another very helpful technique. You can develop this specific type of memory by giving yourself common and randomized triggers to RC to during the day (every time you see a blue car, every time you hear your phone ring, every time you smell cooking, every time you use a key, etc.). Change them daily or weekly. This will help you remember to reality check when within dreams more often. Also, always reality check to anything strange or weird that happens to you in daily life.

Maintaining control is hard in the beginning. Firstly, there's emotional control that you need to develop. That will develop naturally with time. You have to remember to stay as calm as possible during the dream.

You can also practice stabilization techniques. Try looking at your hands when you first become lucid. Look at them until you can see every wrinkle. Then, look up and say out loud "Increase clarity now!". Another trick is to repeatedly remind yourself that "I'm in a lucid dream" out loud, while in the dream. If you feel the dream is fading, you can try to immediately engage your senses. Lick a wall, touch things, crawl on the ground instead of walking. Rub your hands together.

On WILDs -

I find WILDs harder to achieve. I've also never had the problem you're having. I have floated above my body, but I could always move around and explore the world I was in. Can you explore from your floating position, or are you stuck?

If you're stuck, you may not really fully be in a dream yet. Sometimes meditation can give us a sort of 3rd person view, while not being the same thing as a lucid dream or astral projection (if you believe in that). If this is the case, I'm thinking you may not be fully mentally relaxed enough for entering the dream state. This is admittedly a very tricky skill. You have to walk the knife's edge between sleeping and waking. You don't want to be fully awake and attempt a WILD. You need to let yourself fall asleep a little, but not fully. Just awake enough to get through the passage into dreaming land. You're lucidity can increase once the process has started and you're through.

You know you've got it if you feel vibrations (although they are not required). Just roll with those, and you'll be in a lucid dream soon!

I find relaxation techniques, such as the 61 point meditation, to be very helpful. You can try a meditation where you focus on each point of your body, starting with the toes and working up. Hold each area in your attention for 3 full seconds. Then, let it go and imagine that part of you is falling asleep. It's also helpful to imagine a falling or sinking sensation.

On Intent -

Intent is great, but you must keep a positive feeling about it (maybe that's your hidden x factor). There's a difference between intent and trying to force something to happen. If you are so focused that you're stressing yourself out and wanting it to happen right now, you will have trouble. I think the key with intent is to hold your goal in your mind, but with the positive feeling of knowing your goal will be achieved in good time. Not necessarily on your schedule, and not necessarily exactly the way you see it happening. Start with smaller goals and work your way up. Celebrate your progress, no matter how small, and focus on enjoying the ride.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm pretty sure that I've been out of body for real because I went through the vibrations and the rumbling as I left my body. If you know a technique for getting into a lucid dream from the OBE state, I'd love to hear it.

>I find relaxation techniques, such as the 61 point meditation, to be very helpful. You can try a meditation where you focus on each point of your body, starting with the toes and working up. Hold each area in your attention for 3 full seconds. Then, let it go and imagine that part of you is falling asleep. It's also helpful to imagine a falling or sinking sensation.

Yes, I use the Alexander relaxation technique. Sinking into the ground leads to an OBE. I think the path bifurcates when one focuses on hypnagogic imagery (Lucid Dream) as opposed to just the sensation (OBE).

> I think the key with intent is to hold your goal in your mind, but with the positive feeling of knowing your goal will be achieved in good time.

Seems that intent is very difficult to maintain steadily and depends on our emotional state. I know that staying aware during the day helps with lucid dreams, as you mentioned, so maybe intent is the same, you have to maintain it during the day at all times.

Originally Posted by Rolo

Thanks for the reply.

I'm pretty sure that I've been out of body for real because I went through the vibrations and the rumbling as I left my body. If you know a technique for getting into a lucid dream from the OBE state, I'd love to hear it.

>I find relaxation techniques, such as the 61 point meditation, to be very helpful. You can try a meditation where you focus on each point of your body, starting with the toes and working up. Hold each area in your attention for 3 full seconds. Then, let it go and imagine that part of you is falling asleep. It's also helpful to imagine a falling or sinking sensation.

Yes, I use the Alexander relaxation technique. Sinking into the ground leads to an OBE. I think the path bifurcates when one focuses on hypnagogic imagery (Lucid Dream) as opposed to just the sensation (OBE).

> I think the key with intent is to hold your goal in your mind, but with the positive feeling of knowing your goal will be achieved in good time.

Seems that intent is very difficult to maintain steadily and depends on our emotional state. I know that staying aware during the day helps with lucid dreams, as you mentioned, so maybe intent is the same, you have to maintain it during the day at all times.

Unfortunately, I don't have strategies for that. I've never had that happen where I was stuck floating. Have you tried moving around the room? Nearly all WILDs I have experienced have started with me floating above my bed at night, in a very realistic setting to my bedroom. But I never have trouble moving around. Once I move around, I am easily within the lucid dream. Do you think the problem is less getting lucid, but more a problem with moving your body one lucid this way?

Don't stress about maintaining intention 24/7. That will defeat it. What can really help with intention is to get super motivated. Find something your really really really want to do in the lucid state. That, more than anything, will give you the intention you're seeking in a positive way.

An exercise you can use for building intention is writing fake dream journal entries. Write your dreams down and diverge from them when you find a good spot where you could have gotten lucid. Write it as if you did get lucid. Write a story of what you did, based on your lucid dream goals, as if you did them. Make sure you mark them as fake so anyone reading your journal knows.

>Nearly all WILDs I have experienced have started with me floating above my bed at night, in a very realistic setting to my bedroom. But I never have trouble moving around. Once I move around, I am easily within the lucid dream. Do you think the problem is less getting lucid, but more a problem with moving your body one lucid this way?

That's interesting, the next time I have an OBE, I'll try moving around. I think this will simply lead to an astral journey, but hey, worth a shot.

>Write a story of what you did, based on your lucid dream goals, as if you did them

Sure, worth a try. I wanted to try meditating in dreams. Any experience with that?

Originally Posted by Rolo

That's interesting, the next time I have an OBE, I'll try moving around. I think this will simply lead to an astral journey, but hey, worth a shot.

Hmm. I see. I don't view lucid dreaming and astral journeys as different. To me, it's all a form of conscious dreaming. There may be higher and lower realms within lucid dreaming, who's to say? I don't know. But, I think it's all one in the same in the sense of the state change. I know people's views on this differ.

If you're able to have an astral journey, I would say you are already a lucid dreamer.

Originally Posted by Rolo

Sure, worth a try. I wanted to try meditating in dreams. Any experience with that?

No. I have never tried it. Perhaps someone else can weigh in this one.

Originally Posted by Rolo

That's interesting, the next time I have an OBE, I'll try moving around. I think this will simply lead to an astral journey, but hey, worth a shot.

Next time try to explore what You see around. Then try to walk out from that place, go to the street. As for me - as farer You go, the less control You have. Every time I am trying to go farer I start to detect more mismatches with reality.

Originally Posted by EnaNaves

As for me - as farer You go, the less control You have.

It's interesting because everyone has their unique challenges when it comes to lucid dreaming. For me, I have no trouble with control the farther out I go, but I have trouble sometimes with phasing through objects, such as walls, windows, or roofs. Would much prefer a door!

>Hmm. I see. I don't view lucid dreaming and astral journeys as different. To me, it's all a form of conscious dreaming.

What I've read on this topic is mostly esoterica stuff, so there's a clear difference made between internal work and engaging with higher realities. I'd rather not astrally project, as there seems to be some danger involved.

my thouths about OBE, Astral projection or LD - all this words are just words. Difference is only how we are interpreting what we see (actualy feel). Also we know, that there is no difference for brain what we see in "real" life or in dreaming - the same parts of cortex activated and for our brain all this is real. So its about our dictionary for how we can describe what we feel. I mean, what we see is not what is real, its just a picture in our mind. Its like - map vs real landscape, You know?
So for me, the main difference is different level of our perception.
Again - this is my perspnal opinion only.

Originally Posted by EnaNaves

my thouths about OBE, Astral projection or LD - all this words are just words. Difference is only how we are interpreting what we see (actualy feel). Also we know, that there is no difference for brain what we see in "real" life or in dreaming - the same parts of cortex activated and for our brain all this is real. So its about our dictionary for how we can describe what we feel. I mean, what we see is not what is real, its just a picture in our mind. Its like - map vs real landscape, You know?
So for me, the main difference is different level of our perception.
Again - this is my perspnal opinion only.

Fair enough, but I myself do believe in objective higher realities that are simply beyond normal levels of human perception.

Originally Posted by Rolo

>Hmm. I see. I don't view lucid dreaming and astral journeys as different. To me, it's all a form of conscious dreaming.

What I've read on this topic is mostly esoterica stuff, so there's a clear difference made between internal work and engaging with higher realities. I'd rather not astrally project, as there seems to be some danger involved.

I don't think there is any physical danger involved in lucid dreaming or astral projection. I think that's a misconception more than anything. But I agree that there may be negative energies in the astral. I don't think they can hurt your physical body.

I understand the thinking that differentiates astral projection from lucid dreaming. I just haven't seen enough differences to make me concretely believe that they are separate worlds, despite projecting through my chakras on multiple occasions. As it is, I view lucid dreaming as part of the astral; it's all astral to me. I suspect many DILDs, and even many non-lucid dreams, are in the astral.

Sivason would be a great person to give you more insight on the astral realm, including higher and lower realms. I recommend sending him a PM about it. He's done a lot of work there, and has a lot of knowledge.

Try exploring, and try not to let the fear of the astral realm become an obstacle for you. That fear will get in the way of your ability to further explore the world of lucid dreaming.

Here's a tip, it has served me well: Whenever you feel afraid in a lucid dream or astral, practice radiating love from your heart chakra. Any negative energy body cannot mess with you if you are not a match to their vibration or frequency. Know they cannot harm you. If you feel that radiating love might be too hard to do, simply call upon Light. Imagine yourself surrounded by golden light, like a bubble of safety. When you use these practices, any negative entity cannot penetrate unless you allow it in (by radiating fear).

Also, when I feel that I may be being attacked by negative energy, or if I just have some bad nightmares, I will go get one of my big smokey quartz crystals, and sleep with it in my hand. It works like magic.

Originally Posted by Hilary

But I agree that there may be negative energies in the astral. I don't think they can hurt your physical body.

IMAO They may hurt You only if You will allow it. I mean, they CAN do it only through Your mind, using psychosomatic effect. So if You will not acccept this "bad influence" to Your body - You will be safe.

And again, my vision about OBE, AP, LD - it may be like onion. one world but different levels of perception. That what I trying to tell.

P.S.

Originally Posted by Hilary

Also, when I feel that I may be being attacked by negative energy, or if I just have some bad nightmares, I will go get one of my big smokey quartz crystals, and sleep with it in my hand. It works like magic.

yes, this is very good trick. may be crystal, may be something else - any artifact You made.
We use this in little bit different way. Before going to sleep we put on glove, place inside something like bean or acorn or chestnut(crystal, button...). This is very useful trick for moving our focus to this place. as a result - inner silence.

So, I'm kind of stuck here, and was hoping to ask the forum about how they go about triggering hypnagogic images.

A tricky trap that beginners (and many veterans, *cough* me *cough*) fall into is, once you know a little bit about a process (like falling asleep), and are familiar with the steps involved, out of the desire for the LD experience, we begin to try to force the process or "make things happen." I can tell you unequivocally that trying to "force" the process of falling asleep just leaves you wide awake for hours!

There is a lot to the "set your intent then relax and let it happen" approach. Your body already knows how to fall asleep. Just try to learn how to really quietly, passively observe the process, without actually interfering with it. Get out of the way. Stop trying to "do" anything at all. It is a delicate balancing act that usually takes people quite a lot of time to get right, and is never (unless someone is a natural or particularly gifted) a guaranteed thing.

I've been trying to master WILD because MILD appears to be very unpredictable.

This is a very understandable viewpoint, but I believe it is incorrect. After all, WILD promises "lucid dreams on demand!" MILD and DILD are "random" and you have no "control" and so you are at the mercy of your dreaming mind cooperating. So WILD would on the surface seem to be the ultimate way to go. This is the image. I think this, however, is not really correct.

First of all, we're talking in generalities. LDing is a highly personal discipline: everyone sleeps and dreams differently. Some people are more naturally gifted WILDers, some tend more towards DILD. Although I have to say the "natural WILDers" in the community seem to be pretty scarce.

But in the general LD practitioner population, I'd say that most people tend towards DILDs in terms of the volume of their LDs. Sure there are exceptions, and then there are those who get really good at DEILD, which is sort of its own thing even though it's considered a subvariant of WILD.

If you read the literature, you'll find people who get VERY reliable with MILD, even to the point of almost guaranteed LD nightly and multiple LDs per night even. If you build intent high, practice daily awareness exercises, have concrete goals you're excited about, keep a DJ and become very familiar with your dreams, it's very possible to get DILDs (with or without MILD) at a very high frequency.

With all LDing, be it WILD or DILD, there is no guarantee. Everything we do, daytime practices, night-time practices, WBTB, etc., only can increase the chances of having an LD. Over time with consistent practice, the base chance goes up. But this takes time, because we're talking about rewiring the brain to work more in a lucid mode, both in the daytime and at nighttime in dreams. Do the work, and even though it may not feel like it at first, you are improving and making progress.

Everything in LDing is personal, again. The best practitioners: 1) never give up; 2) always experiment (unless they've hit on their personal winning approach); 3) keep careful records; 4) consistently practice; 5) set constantly-moving forward-progress goals, and constantly reevaluate these goals.

So congrats on your progress, and good luck with your future efforts!

Since you're here, you may look into the DILD and WILD class sections in the "DVA" (Dream Views Academy) section of the site. They're both excellent. The DILD class (where I'm a co-instructor) allows you to open a personal workbook thread where you can ask questions and record your progress, if you so desire. The WILD class is excellent, and although while the teacher has since retired from DV, still has a lot of fabulous content.

I wish I could understand Intent better.

It's like learning to deal with a cat, right? Approaching it head-on leads to it running away.

I guess I don't understand the art of "not-doing" or setting one's intent and then waiting. Do you feel something when your intent has been set? Does something click in your mind/body to let you know that it's been set? There's a subtle difference after all between "not-doing" and doing nothing at all.

Any literature on the subject that you can recommend?

I'll check out the DVA, thank you.

--------

Originally Posted by FryingMan

A tricky trap that beginners (and many veterans, *cough* me *cough*) fall into is, once you know a little bit about a process (like falling asleep), and are familiar with the steps involved, out of the desire for the LD experience, we begin to try to force the process or "make things happen." I can tell you unequivocally that trying to "force" the process of falling asleep just leaves you wide awake for hours!

There is a lot to the "set your intent then relax and let it happen" approach. Your body already knows how to fall asleep. Just try to learn how to really quietly, passively observe the process, without actually interfering with it. Get out of the way. Stop trying to "do" anything at all. It is a delicate balancing act that usually takes people quite a lot of time to get right, and is never (unless someone is a natural or particularly gifted) a guaranteed thing.


This is a very understandable viewpoint, but I believe it is incorrect. After all, WILD promises "lucid dreams on demand!" MILD and DILD are "random" and you have no "control" and so you are at the mercy of your dreaming mind cooperating. So WILD would on the surface seem to be the ultimate way to go. This is the image. I think this, however, is not really correct.

First of all, we're talking in generalities. LDing is a highly personal discipline: everyone sleeps and dreams differently. Some people are more naturally gifted WILDers, some tend more towards DILD. Although I have to say the "natural WILDers" in the community seem to be pretty scarce.

But in the general LD practitioner population, I'd say that most people tend towards DILDs in terms of the volume of their LDs. Sure there are exceptions, and then there are those who get really good at DEILD, which is sort of its own thing even though it's considered a subvariant of WILD.

If you read the literature, you'll find people who get VERY reliable with MILD, even to the point of almost guaranteed LD nightly and multiple LDs per night even. If you build intent high, practice daily awareness exercises, have concrete goals you're excited about, keep a DJ and become very familiar with your dreams, it's very possible to get DILDs (with or without MILD) at a very high frequency.

With all LDing, be it WILD or DILD, there is no guarantee. Everything we do, daytime practices, night-time practices, WBTB, etc., only can increase the chances of having an LD. Over time with consistent practice, the base chance goes up. But this takes time, because we're talking about rewiring the brain to work more in a lucid mode, both in the daytime and at nighttime in dreams. Do the work, and even though it may not feel like it at first, you are improving and making progress.

Everything in LDing is personal, again. The best practitioners: 1) never give up; 2) always experiment (unless they've hit on their personal winning approach); 3) keep careful records; 4) consistently practice; 5) set constantly-moving forward-progress goals, and constantly reevaluate these goals.

So congrats on your progress, and good luck with your future efforts!

Since you're here, you may look into the DILD and WILD class sections in the "DVA" (Dream Views Academy) section of the site. They're both excellent. The DILD class (where I'm a co-instructor) allows you to open a personal workbook thread where you can ask questions and record your progress, if you so desire. The WILD class is excellent, and although while the teacher has since retired from DV, still has a lot of fabulous content.

I had a questions that I'd be grateful if you could answer, please:

I do reality checks with triggers that appear in my dreams. For me it's red/pink dyed hair, the metro, talking to cashiers, and some other stuff I'd rather not mention lol. However, a big one is finding myself back in a school or college setting. These trip me up and I get suckered into going along with the dream every time. I can't train myself to check when I'm back in high school or college during the course of a normal waking day.

Question: is there a clever way to practice reality checks with a setting that I don't see normally that keeps recurring?

Originally Posted by Rolo

I had a questions that I'd be grateful if you could answer, please:

I do reality checks with triggers that appear in my dreams. For me it's red/pink dyed hair, the metro, talking to cashiers, and some other stuff I'd rather not mention lol. However, a big one is finding myself back in a school or college setting. These trip me up and I get suckered into going along with the dream every time. I can't train myself to check when I'm back in high school or college during the course of a normal waking day.

Question: is there a clever way to practice reality checks with a setting that I don't see normally that keeps recurring?

About intent: yes it's a bit slippery. I think over time you'll get a "feeling" about it being set. Intent on the other hand is not that hard, we intent to do things all the time in waking life: buy something at the store, remember to do some task.

About waking rehearsal of triggers that only occur in dreams: do what I call "daytime MILD:" visualize the dream scene you wish to recognize as dream, see yourself recognizing the experience as a dream and getting lucid, and then pursuing your lucid goals. You can also reinforce this with saying (either in your head or out loud, "I'm dreaming! I'm dreaming!...". It's pretty much the same as night-time MILD just done during the day and from whatever dream visuals you can remember and want to install as a trigger.

Originally Posted by Rolo

I can't train myself to check when I'm back in high school or college during the course of a normal waking day.

Question: is there a clever way to practice reality checks with a setting that I don't see normally that keeps recurring?

I would RC anything that reminds you of that setting. It could be a picture. It could be a person on Facebook that you went to high school with. It could be a song on the radio that brings back memories. You get the idea.

I actually had a lucid dream the other night.

Did a reality check, confirmed the dream state, and then tried my hand at a few tricks.

I said "light" and it got brighter - very cool.

Started a fire and focused on it to make it bigger, but it wasn't the raging inferno I wanted to create. Also, when I tried to fly, I jumped up and came crashing down into a mud puddle.

I've spent most of my time learning about how to induce lucid dreams, but haven't really spent enough time learning how exactly one does stuff in the dream. I figured it was intuitive.

For some suggestions of dream goals, I always like participating in the Task of the Month/Season/Year. If you satisfy the various tasks you get cool wings on your avatar for the remainder of the period (month/season/year). Some of my best, longest, most stable, most fun LDs were when I had a lot of these tasks prepared (worked on remembering them) ahead of time. So once you get lucid, it really helps to have a plan already in place, so you don't just end up standing there doing "duh.....what should I do?". Of course, looking around and exploring things and trying out dream experiments (how does gravity work, etc.) are a lot of fun.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

For some suggestions of dream goals, I always like participating in the Task of the Month/Season/Year. If you satisfy the various tasks you get cool wings on your avatar for the remainder of the period (month/season/year). Some of my best, longest, most stable, most fun LDs were when I had a lot of these tasks prepared (worked on remembering them) ahead of time. So once you get lucid, it really helps to have a plan already in place, so you don't just end up standing there doing "duh.....what should I do?". Of course, looking around and exploring things and trying out dream experiments (how does gravity work, etc.) are a lot of fun.

Sign me up!

Originally Posted by Rolo

Sign me up!

You'll find them here:
https://www.dreamviews.com/lucid-non-lucid-games/

I wonder if I can just use this thread as a personal update/blog thread.

I took a couple days break and now it's been a week of not being able to recall a single dream. I guess I've been knocked out of my groove.

I've tried mantras such as "I recall my dreams dreams with ease" which seemed to work in the past but no luck.

It might be possible that after several months of stubbornly pursuing LDs I got a bit burnt out. Maybe take a break and come back to it?

Originally Posted by Rolo

I wonder if I can just use this thread as a personal update/blog thread.

I took a couple days break and now it's been a week of not being able to recall a single dream. I guess I've been knocked out of my groove.

I've tried mantras such as "I recall my dreams dreams with ease" which seemed to work in the past but no luck.

It might be possible that after several months of stubbornly pursuing LDs I got a bit burnt out. Maybe take a break and come back to it?

Sure, you can use this thread that way.

Dream recall is cyclical, I've found. Have you had any upsets to your sleep schedule, stressful or important waking life events that have been taking your attention?
I would recommend dialing back your practice to the point where it doesn't burn you out. But I would not recommend to stop reaching for dream recall on your wakings. You could leave it to the last waking of the day, instead of multiple wakings during the night. But I think it's important to keep up at least a small bit of the practice, as long as you still find it fun and interesting! I always wished I'd kept it up when I was at my peak, it's hard getting back into in in later years.