Hello Everyone, nice to be here

[dalecooper]

Hello everyone. Im more or less new here, but I've been interested in LD and AP for a long time. I haven't been constant all my life, but now I kind of need it to be, so in order to do that, I have a couple of questions, but first I want to give you a little background just in case. Around 97-98 me and a friend of mine started to screw around with binaural beats, only then we just called it "Brainwaves" (We "Brainwaved" music CDs to relax ourselves with them). We used Cooledit 96, which had that function embedded, and the only document about frecuencies (theta, delta...) was the help file from the program. It was curious that most of the times we got our heads filled with images that we didn't know where they came from. For us it was just an experiment that eventually got used just to relax. Most of the people we gave CDs to test came back to us with the same conclusions ("never seen before images and faces") and that was it. Sometimes people got headaches but nothing else came of it. I already heard about Astral Projection from a previous friend of mine, who was not ready to introduce me to the phenomena because he himself looked kinda scared when mentioning it, and every time I brought up the subject, he would just tell me "another day" or "leave it alone", so I kinda got intrigued by this. Later, thanks to sticking my nose in a couple of books, I knew a little about what he was talking about but no methods or anything else. More or less I convinced myself that was not for me due to lack of tools or guidance. The next year I was in the army and we went to a tactical exercise that took 9 days in the field: You can imagine, playing GIs in the desert, getting at best 5-6 hours sleep, being 4 the average per day, and so on, meaning, I was really tired that week. Then, the day we got back to our base, I was riding in the back of a military car, with metal seats, uncomfortable as hell, with 6-7 other colleagues, and my head started to linger, physically and mentally. I was seeing black with my closed eyes, and the sound of the engines around us (this was a convoy) provoked on me on my head the super real image of a tank going against me, and I jumped scared. Then I realized I had kinda of MILD episode that lasted a second, but it was an unforgettable experience. Something similar happened also the only time I remember doing some DILDing: Again, it was just one second, I realized I was dreaming just due to "weird content" and as long as I got lucid, I exited the dream. Didn't even had time to get excited. And another thing, and this is more embarrasing to say but I think is important: I have been a daydreamer in hardcore mode since I was 11 and up to my late twenties, sometimes more, sometimes less: Every night, I visited a place in my imagination where I had friends, a girlfriend, an ocuppation, and all the elements I thought necessary to give the illusion some meaning, some sense of reality. Music helped me to make it more real to the feeling and It was best for me to do it with my eyes OPEN, rather than closed (I never understood that). The vividness of this thing was only boosted a little sometimes due to the music in my headphones, but it was still daydreaming, I mean, didnt felt as real as a real dream. Sorry for the TL;DR, but now on to the present: Right now Im in the second wave of Monroe's Gateway Experience, and I'm loving so far what is getting into me. But I have problems in other areas: -Even when I set my alarm to WILD, I get lost. I've tried 10 minutes, I've tried 20, but even when awake I feel ok, when I go to bed, I sleep. Any advice? -I sleep everyday with my son in bed, do you see any problem with this? Some fridays he goes with grandma, but usually those fridays I got a lot more going on in other areas. -I've tried when napping, and I had mixed results recently: 2 times I had a marvelous vivid dream (Not lucid) and I was happy because at least I know I had dreams. After all night, I cannot remember anything. The napping dreams made it to my DJ in paper. The rest of times, I get to the point where Im completely relaxed, even my breathing is that of a sleeping person, but I linger in that state for very long, and I end up waking up. So, in all, any advice regarding anything? By now Im putting my hopes in Monroe's CDs, because at least with them I get there and don't fall sleep. Thank you all for this great place to be.

[Kaiern9]

Welcome to DV's! This forum is amazing for learning, and i'm 100% sure some of the seniors have some tips for you Also, how old is your son?

[dalecooper]

Hi there, thanks for answering. He's 4 years old. So far the only thing is that when Im trying to meditate or preparing myself for something, sometimes he moves, and involuntarily touches me, I try to block it of my mind, but sometimes is hard to concentrate knowing he can move and invade your space. Other times he wakes up startled while dreaming and then is almost sure I gotta stop and calm him down to sleep again.

[BeccaConquers]

Hi and welcome to the site! Hope you enjoy your stay here I wish I had some tips to offer you, but sadly I do not. Have you tried the WBTB method? I think that's what it's called...regardless, you go to sleep and you set your alarm to wake you up a couple of hours later. When you wake up, you stay awake for at least ten or twenty minutes and then go back to bed. I've tried the WILD more than anything, but I've found it difficult to achieve, and a lot of people seem to have different ideas about what it really is. Good luck, nice to have you here!

[dalecooper]

Thanks. Yes, I've tried the method. It's just that when going back to bed I end up sleeping and not remembering, even though when awake Im ok and alert (not too alert). And when I do it on a nap, I could go long time just being in the relaxed state not sleeping. That, or I let go and end up sleeping and dreaming, which is fine, because I only remember 2 dreams since the last 2 months and they were not lucid.