rogrossm
Lurker

Tried another WILD session as a nap starting at 10:56 am. (I'm a polyphasic sleeper so I'll probably have quite a few attempts of this sort.)

Just a fragment ...

Someone is showing me around some sort of institution ... there's a woman in something like a nurse's uniform tending a garden across the street. My guide mentions something about a "forest" ... but we're on a city street with people and children walking around.

Then I drifted into a dreamless sleep and came out gently 45 minutes later, not even realizing that I had slept until I checked the clock.

My first WILD this morning!

I slept about 5 hours, from 11 to 4 am. After I got up, I spent some time on DreamViews, especially studying Mzzkc's Comprehensive WILD Guide.

Around 6:15 I felt sleepy and decided to lay down and try what I'd learned.

I'm already well-practiced at the 61-point relaxation technique from extensive yoga nidra practice over the last several years. So I began with that, then chose my breath as a passive anchor. I just allowed myself to drift toward sleep. I stumbled a few times around the sleep paralysis stage but I tried to apply what I learned here.

After about 10 minutes, I found myself in a dream - and I knew I was dreaming!

There was no sense of excitement, and the dream was poor quality, it only lasted a few moments, and I had no control ... but it was definitely lucid.

I find myself looking at a wall of bookshelves, full of multi-colored books of many shapes and sizes. The book titles are blurry and out of focus.

I think "This dream is out of focus. I'd better put my glasses on."

I put my glasses on, and the books come - slowly - into focus. "How interesting!" I think. "These glasses work even in my dream!"

I remove the glasses and put them on again several times, just observing the interesting fact that they work in a dream.

Then the dream faded away and I emerged into semi-consciousness. I tried to re-enter the dream state several times but was not successful.

An extraordinarily vivid and meaningful dream tonight re-awakened my interest in dreaming. I haven't been conscious of my dreams for several years due to physical illness and several other factors. This dream "called" me back to awareness of dreams, and it seemed to invite me back to the dreamworld.

A few hours later, I found this website

My friend and I are walking through a magical city. We're members of the city patrol, and we are patrolling.

As we walk, we see the forces of evil causing trouble and disorder all around the city. We can see the evil forces flying above us in wave after wave.

My friend wants to intervene everywhere, to fight for justice in every case. But not me.

"That's not our job," I say. "We have specific mission objectives and all the chaos around is isn't our problem - it's someone else's."

Under a bridge, we meet two members of a street gang, obviously looking for trouble. I want to just walk on by, but this time I can't stop my friend. Before I can do anything, he confronts them, leaving me to guard the equipment.

They begin to fight and my friend is hopelessly outmatched. I stay with the equipment, my friend runs away, leaving me alone with the two street gang members.

Next the street gang members turn to me. Two young women. The leader begins to fight me, using some kind of kung-fu. I also know kung-fu and I easily block all her attacks.

Then the leader backs off and the junior gang member attacks me. She has little technique, she's just strong and fast. I can't defend against her and she beats me up badly. Then the leader steps forward and we repeat this cycle several times.

Eventually the leader attacks me in a different way. She begins to hit specific pressure points on my body, which causes extreme pain. I can't defend against this. As she hits me, she laughs and explains exactly what she's doing. She's teaching me! And I find that I like her.

Eventually she stops and offers me a choice. Either they will finish the beating and leave me in a bruised heap by the side of the road, or I can join them.

In that moment, I have an epiphany. I realize how narrow-minded and judgmental I've been, with my sense of "right and wrong" and my ideas about "mission objectives." Who's setting those objectives, anyway? These so-called "gang members" are actually freedom fighters! They're fighting against the dictatorship of the mind, into which I've completely bought in. Yes, they do hurt people. But that's just what they have to do - it's the only way to wake people up.

In that moment I decide to join them - I'm awake!

At that point, my son exploded out of bed, waking my wife and me up and ending the dream.

It was a dream of awakening, a message to drop my rigid ideas and judgmentalism, to take a second look at everything, to reconcile the opposing forces within my being.