After two months of LD "widthdraw", I decided to give the ol' BrainWaveGen method another go. I tried to convince myself that I was only using it to help me relax and fall asleep - but as soon as my headphones went on, I couldn't help but try WILD. My lack of excitement may make you think that it didn't work - it did. But it wasn't all that great, I'll explain...
In the past, my BWGen has been as follows:
1) Lay on my back, small towel accross my eyes to keep them shut.
2) Sound relaxes and comforts me
3) Random thoughts start shooting through my head (it's actually annoying)
4) Tingling sensation - numbness (but not sleep paralysis) felt throughout body
5) Still awake - frustration
6) Frustration wakes me back up completely
7) Throw headphones at the wall (usually not so dramatic)
Last night I got to step 5. I then decided to lay on my stomach, since that is usually how I am most comfortable. Next thing I know, I'm having trouble falling asleep - in a dream.
The Dream
I"m at what I think is supposed to be my father's place. He's not home. I think about going to sleep in his room since I'm uncomfortable in the guest room. I see his door is closed, so I walk back downstairs towards a window. Suddenly, items in my pocket start to "float" out. Startled, I push them back in. Then, as if earth's gravity was switched off, I feel a sharp pull at my back and I too float away from the floor. I become lucid!
The good
I've been planning what I would do in my next LD for a long time. I was quite impressed that I was able to remember most of them in this dream. I even thought about the Lucid Task of the Month (I just couldn't remember exactly what it was!).
The bad
First on my list was to establish some dream characters to keep me aware of the dream. I summoned some characters, "dream characters, appear now!". Nothing. I tried a couple other things on my list, still, nothing worked. I remembered reading posts about looking in a mirror, so I tried that. My reflection was the only clear image I remember from this dream. Why was I lacking the control I thought I would have in an LD? I felt myself waking - and then I did.
I could tell that the BWGen was in it's low wave cycle by the tone it was giving off. So, I think it was doing it's job as far as bringing me into REM and slowly rasing my counscious level. I decided that it was a good op for me to try WBTB. I went downstairs and polished off half a box of girl scout cookies, then went back to bed and started the BWGen from the beginning. Got up around 6:30am - no more LDs
Even though I'm not very enthusiastic about last nights events, I will keep trying.
