# Lucid Dreaming > DV Academy > Current Courses > DILD >  >  Broth's Workbook

## broth

Hi everyone,

Thanks for providing this 'service'! I definitely think it will help to maintain my motivation. A little background: I'm 24, a private pilot, and studying for a career in web development.

 My experience with lucid dreaming began a couple years ago. I don't remember how I learned about it, but I began exploring on the web. I was a member of DV, and I might have even posted a few times. This was back around 2010. From that practice I had a few lucid dreams. Most were just seconds long, although I remember 1 or 2 being a few minutes. I lost motivation and went off to college where I was focused on other things. Still, there were a few occasions where I snoozed my alarm repeatedly in the morning or took naps in the afternoon and experienced brief moments of lucidity. These always caused me to wake up immediately.

 Recently, I was browsing an eclectic book store and purchased EWOLD which immediately rekindled my interest in lucid dreaming. Now that I'm out of college and my life has somewhat stabilized, I'm finding it much easier to create and stick with a lucid dream training routine. I've been practicing now for 10 days. In that time, I've recalled 4 FAs and 1 very short moment of lucidity which promptly caused me to wake up!

I'm practicing Laberge's MILD technique. I do almost the exact same practices as are written in Arch's guide about "getting your first lucid dream or breaking a dryspell" (great guide btw!). During the daytime, I do RC's/random awareness, the prospective memory exercise from EWOLD, and meditation. Before bed, I do the MILD procedure. I wake up either from alarm or naturally during the night and perform another MILD procedure while falling asleep. This WBTB + MILD is what gave me my recent lucid fragment.

My most frustrating issue with practice right now is that I sometimes have a hard time going back to sleep once I wake up. I think it's caused by the idea of "inducing" a lucid dream. I sometimes had a problem with this before practicing lucid dreaming, but very rarely. Now it's very random. Sometimes I can fall back asleep quickly, other times it takes a while or I just can't go back to sleep at all. The night of my lucid, it took me 20-30 minutes to fall back asleep even when I decided my intention was set and I stopped repeating the MILD process. Last night, I woke up at 5:00am (by alarm), used the bathroom, and couldn't fall back asleep till 6:30 or 7:00.  

I was planning to try the rhythmic napping method last night, but needless to say that went out the door when I couldn't fall back to sleep. From now on, I'm going to use autosuggestion to notice the micro-awakenings after dream periods (as suggested in EWOLD) as opposed to using an alarm. I'll immediately go back to sleep while reaffirming intent using a quick MILD procedure as I drift off. Hopefully this will prevent more bouts with insomnia.

I've been keeping a written dream journal for all 10 days of my practice and I've just started keeping one on DV as well. I'll start copying those entries to this thread along with commentary. I appreciate you guys taking the time to read this!

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## FryingMan

Welcome, Broth, to the DILD class!   

You'r in good hands with ETWOLD.   It is a self-contained resource to go from zero to lucid dreams in just a month or two.   I recommend it to everyone as an ideal starting place.  You have a head start, though, with your prior experience, which is allowing you to get back on the wagon quite quickly, congrats!

Ah, insomnia, the scourge of lucid dreamers everywhere.   Not everybody, but I happen to also belong to that club, and it can be very frustrating when it happens.   It is the excitement and anticipation that keeps your mind racing in a high-idle condition that doesn't allow you to fall asleep.     The key to solving insomnia (and just about every malady in the practice) is to relax and "just let it happen."   Don't worry about it, don't stress about it.   Be completely content to just float in relaxation.  Do not "try" to sleep as this can lead to a vicious cycle of "sleep/dream performance anxiety" which leads to more insomnia.   Your body and mind already know how to fall asleep without you "helping" the process along.    

Relaxation is the key.   Read up on it with an internet search, and experiment with different approaches.   Placing your mind gently on one focus of attention is generally the way to go.  I like the breath (very common anchor in relaxation and meditation alike).   With every breath, release more and more tension.  Feel the tension melting out of your muscles and your mind.   Feel yourself going deeper and deeper with every breath.    I sometimes speak to myself a sort of self-hypnosis script using that wording to really get going.

Falling asleep with a more alert mind can be challenging: the key is not to give up.  Every time you find your mind getting more active with thoughts, just let them go and re-focus on your breath and the relaxing exhales.  Be completely content with where you are and what's happening to you, avoid any frustration which can kick-start more thought chains and raise your heartbeat.

Practice it every chance you get, and in time you'll find what works for you.

We look forward to hearing about your future dreaming exploits!     Reading the DJs of other members can be very educational and entertaining.    Sensei, sivason, Hukif, fogelbise, PercyLucid, ~Dreamer~ and a whole lot more (you could peek into mine if you wished as well!  :smiley:  ) have great DJs.

p.s. I've compiled a list of informative posts about LDing here, I'd recommend reading through them!

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## broth

FryingMan, thanks for your thoughtful response! You definitely know the "performance" insomnia I'm experiencing. 

I think the advice you've given me is great. It's clear that when I go to sleep normally, I simply relax and let my body handle the business of falling asleep. There's no reason I should do anything differently here. During the day, when I meditate, I focus on my breathing as you described. I did try to do that last night while I was experiencing the insomnia. The issue seems to be subtle and based on my mindset (expectations, anxieties, etc.). 

I'll follow your advice in the future if/when this happens. Simply relax, let it go, and focus on my breathing. As I said, hopefully waking up naturally and going back to sleep quickly should help as well.

I've read through yours and a few others dream journals. Definitely inspiring! Thanks again for all your help.

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## FryingMan

Glad to be of assistance!  For those tough later morning insomnias, you have to be really obstinate (in a relaxed way).   Many-a-time I've been partially relaxed and something prods me to wakefulness again and returned to following thought chains.   I'll sometimes think, "darn, should I just get up?"   Those times which I stuck to it and just kept returning to relaxation, I usually made it back to sleep and had some great (often lucid) dreams.

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## broth

Good to hear, I hope I have the same results!

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## fogelbise

Welcome Broth! It looks like you have a good base of practices and a great manual in ETWOLD. FryingMan has more experience than I in combatting insomnia, so I can't really add anything to his great post. I will say, like he mentioned finding the case to be as well, that I do find very good results with lucidity when getting to sleep after spending more time than normal getting to sleep after a WBTB. That said, I'm sure it was no fun taking 1.5 to 2 hours to fall asleep on that occasion.

How far along are you with ETWOLD?

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## broth

Thanks fogelbise! Interesting what you say about achieving success with lucidity when spending more time falling back to sleep. I've read that elsewhere on this forum from other members. In my case, I estimate that it also took 20-30 minutes to fall asleep on the occasion when I had the lucid fragment.

I've just started chapter 5 in ETWOLD. Great book so far. I appreciate the scientific background and the stories of other people's experiences. I've found the information on dream recall as well as the MILD description/technique especially relevant and helpful. I'm excited to get on to the rest of the book, but I want to have the lucid ability to "practice along" with the following chapters.

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## broth

Sleep: 11:45
WBTB: 5:00
Awake: 8:45
Tech: MILD, Autosuggestion, WBTB + MILD
Dreams: 4 (plus one short fragment/image)
Lucids: 0

1. My first memory from this dream is "watching" my younger self play hockey (I recently found an old home-video of one of my hockey games). The jersey's and our age were identical to the home video I found. (Memory Blank) Now I am playing hockey. I believe I'm still younger than now, possibly in high school. One of my current friends is there, along with my teammates from the home video. It was so much fun to play hockey again and it felt so realistic. This was a practice session but we also did a short scrimmage, where we played a "fake game" against ourselves. I also remember a scene where I'm driving "home" with one of my teammates and his grandpa.  I woke up and had to use restroom. I laid there for a moment to better recall the dream. Apparently I quickly fell asleep again.

2. I'm in the front of my old neighborhood standing on a lawn. There are a couple of large trucks around. One is even parked in the yard I'm in. I decide that before I walk the rest of the way to my house, I need to get out my journal to write down my crazy hockey dream! So, I vividly recall every detail of the dream and meticulously write it down. Out of nowhere, a truck comes barreling down the street from farther in the neighboorhood and almost hits me. I think it ran into the other truck which stopped it, but I don't remember. I wake up, frustrated, and write down what I remember from the hockey dream. I have the feeling/memory that I remembered and wrote down MUCH more about the hockey dream in this dream, but I simply can't recall those additional details.

3. I'm with T in this enclosure with an animal guide. It's a weird "natural cat enclosure". Eventually, we see a mother cat and her kitten. But something's wrong. The mother is VERY aggressive and appears to be foaming at the mouth. I realize she has rabies. I ask the guide and he very calmly confirms. The cat runs over to me. I'm trying to get away. It manages to bite/scrape me enough to draw blood. (Unfortunately I've had experience with possible rabies and the immunization process so I know that this scrape is enough to transfer the infection). I'm furious with the guide. We leave and are picked up by T's brother. As is typical for him, he's very carefree about the whole situation. He says something along the lines of "oh yeah, well you've dealt with that before right?". I wake up.

4. Sex dream.

5. I wake up at 8:45. I know I've been dreaming a long dream but I instantly am thinking about stresses of the day and I can't recall. I only have the image of exiting a front yard and walking on the sidewalk of a neighborhood.

Commentary: I went to bed around 11:15. I did 15 minutes meditation on breathing, then autosuggestion to notice when I wake up after dreaming periods and to recall all my dreams. Then I did the MILD technique using a recent dream. I then let myself go and fell asleep without much trouble.

At 5:04, after using the restroom, I laid back down to sleep. Instead of focusing on MILD, I decided to relax and watch my breath so that I could fall asleep without insomnia. The idea was to notice as I was drifting off and perform a relaxed MILD process. I thought this might allow me to go to sleep, whereas focusing on MILD from the start might keep me awake. Unfortunately, I still didn't feel close to sleep after a while. I decided to set intention with MILD and then totally let go and turn on my side to sleep. I did hover in that weird restful state that's close to sleep but I don't think I truly fell asleep until 7:00. 

At least I've identified the issue to be worked on which is insomnia after WBTB.
Edit: Just read a thread on reverse blinking. I will give that a try tonight both when going to sleep and during WBTB to help me relax. I'm still going to use MILD but I'll also use RB to help with falling asleep.

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## FryingMan

(You were missing some detail from #4 ::chuckle:: ).

Nice night of dreams!   Nice recall.   For insomnia after WBTB: further, there are several things to do: 

* Make sure you get enough regular tiring physical exercise during the day, this helps get oxygen to the brain and helps you fall asleep easier at night.   Need to moderate the amount so that you're not so tired that you don't notice wakings.

* Decrease the length of your WBTB, and try to hold on to a dream-y mindset, thinking lightly of dreams.   Don't try to do anything to physically or mentally stimulating.   Some people can do "micro" WBTBs where you're awake for just a very short time.    This takes a lot of experimentation to find your personal sweet spot and is part of the practice.

* Knowing what to do and what not to do is a major step forwards for falling back asleep: doing it is another.   It takes practice and repetition to find what works for you.   Just like how one progresses slowly by stages in meditation, same thing with mastering relaxation.    Mastering the art of completely relaxing your body and mind is an investment worth making in lucid dreaming (and life in general!).  

* Simply doing it more times.    Early practitioners usually have a high level of excitement and anticipation that can overrule the most otherwise successful relaxation techniques.

* Get up earlier.   Past about 5.5 hours I have to "work hard to relax" to make it back to sleep.     If you have a flexible morning schedule and a quiet house in mid-morning, you can just try getting up and doing some light activities, studying, working a bit at home, then when drowsiness catches up with you, head back to bed.    

* Keep a close and careful eye on your drowsiness level.  You'll gain experience with this over time.    You want to have enough drowsiness left to fall asleep again fairly easily.   If after some time you find that you don't have any residual drowsiness, sometimes just getting up for an hour or two can bring it back (this is related to the point below: you don't want your mind to think "it's OK to be in bed and not to be sleeping").   Doing something like reading a book can help.

* Practice good sleep hygiene: your sleeping environment should be clean and pleasing.  Don't do anything in bed other than sleeping (and uh, dream #4 stuff).    Never read, or watch TV or lounge around in bed (unless you're working on recalling dreams).  You want your mind to equate being in bed with only sleeping.    Refuse to think of daytime todo's, stresses, tasks, until you physically get out of bed.     At bedtime specifically put aside all thoughts of daily things and say to yourself the best thing for you is a full, restful night of sleep (and dreaming!).

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## broth

Haha well my memory of #4 is sadly pretty hazy.

Thanks for those excellent pointers. Since I remember having this issue from when I practiced a few years ago, I have only attempted micro-WBTBs. I never physically get out of bed unless I have to use the restroom. And I immediately try to go back to sleep. The issue has been mindset and excitement, as you stated. 

However, I did wake up 2 times after 7:00 this morning to write down tags for dream #3 and #4 and I was able to go back to sleep after doing that. So some of the issue might be physically getting up to use the bathroom. Short of wearing diapers, I'm not sure how to resolve that. Of course, before resuming lucid dreaming practice 11 days ago I occasionally woke up to use the bathroom and was always able to fall asleep. So again I'm sure the problem is mental. Which means it can be overcome. As you said, it's an investment worth making to learn to fully relax my mind (and body) so I'll keep practicing.

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## FryingMan

I have a long, cold walk to the bathroom, so I use a night pot.   TMI perhaps, but it's effective for me: minimizes movement and time spent awake.

I also just starting putting a few drops of lavender essential oil on my pillow at bedtime.  Each time I did that I have slept very well.

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## fogelbise

Nice recall Broth! 





> I have the feeling/memory that I remembered and wrote down MUCH more about the hockey dream in this dream, but I simply can't recall those additional details.



I've had FA's where I wrote down some dream notes only to wake and find the notes gone, meaning I only dreamt that I recorded the dream.

I use reverse eye blink from time to time...as well as rolling my eyes back for a half a second, then relaxing the eyes back to normal position. 

FryingMan, what do you think about the release technique for Broth? I use it for a quick return to sleep, but I seldom have significant insomnia. The problem is that the site that the release technique video was on redirects to a new site where it is not posted. I tried to explain it in Dionisos' workbook, but I don't think I conveyed the technique very well or it may have some prerequisite experience required for the way I described it.

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## FryingMan

Release is good.  I sort of alluded to a similar version in my advice for relaxation.  In short, just STOP, let go (release) of all thoughts & tension, and just exist fully in the present for a while.  It's amazing how much you'll realize you were filtering out of the present moment before you did this!

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## broth

First off, thank you both for your input! 

FryingMan - I wouldn't say it's TMI about the night pot but personally I don't think my girlfriend would appreciate it haha. She's very interested in essential oils though and I know she has lavender here so I will definitely try that out. Glad to hear it works for you.

Fogelbise - Thank you! That type of FA is so frustrating because not only did you miss a chance to become lucid but you also have to "re-write" everything down in your dream journal. I tried reverse blinking for a bit last night but it made my eyes feel strained so I stopped. I didn't have too much trouble sleeping, probably due to my insomnia of the past two nights so I will try RB again perhaps tonight. 

I appreciate both your descriptions of the "release technique". I think that will come in handy once I feel as though my intention has been set by doing MILD after WBTB. Then I can release everything just be in the present. Hopefully that will allow the natural course of drowsiness to lead me to sleep.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:45am
WBTB: 5:30am, 7:20am
Awake: 8:35am
Techs: MILD, autosuggestion, WBTB
Dreams: 3
Lucids: 0

1. (FA) I woke up at 5:30 to use the restroom. While trying to recall any dreams, I must have fallen asleep. I experienced a false awakening where I had just woken up and had to use the restroom. I stumbled into the bathroom, using my book light as a light (which is accurate to real life). It was hard to stand, and I almost fell during the act. Needless to say, my aim was poor. Then I walked back to bed and laid down. I felt one of our cats walking on my legs (we don't let our cats sleep with us anymore so this should have been a red flag!!). Then I woke up for real to use the bathroom. My aim was fine.

2. I was on a bridge with several people who I no longer remember, although I know that one person was a cast member from the TV show Homeland (Brody). I recall a scene where I attempted to army crawl under an obstruction because we were worried that the obstruction would be electrified or that during our crossing the electricity would be turned on. Once we got to the other side, there were cops and lots of people.

3. I am working in the restaurant where I currently work part-time. The time in the dream is 1:45am (which is way later than I'd ever be there in real life). The restaurant closes at 10:00am. The other closer and I are trying to get rid of our remaining guests so we can clean up and leave for the night. We are in the back, cleaning/sorting some items. When we walk to the front of the restaurant, we see that the managers have allowed another 4 tables to sit down at 1:45am!! We're obviously furious at this point. The first table I greet has a man and a woman, sitting on the same side of a booth. The man orders some weird drink that started with a K. I don't think the word made sense and I don't think it's a real drink. The drink menu had pictures and looked way different than our drink menu in real life. The woman asked for a white wine that was sour and had notes of "carrot" in it. I said I would check with the bartender. I walked over to the bartender, who was one of the bartenders from real life. She suggested one of our wines which I have now forgotten. I then walk over to the managers and start arguing with them.  (Memory Blank) I walk lto the front of the restaurant which now appears to be a convenience store with aisles of items for sale?  I don't remember anything after this point and it's possible that this is when I woke up at 8:35.

Notes - I had to fly this morning (private pilot) so I needed to get sleep. Since I've been experiencing insomnia the last few nights as a result of WBTB + LD practice, I decided to skip the MILD attempt after my WBTBs. I still did MILD before going to sleep and I still woke up twice last night and experienced a FA. Thankfully, I was able to fall asleep rather quickly after both WBTBs. This gives me confidence that I will be able to do the same even while trying to induce an LD with MILD. I'm excited for tonight since I don't have to worry about what time I have to be up in the morning.

I'm also encouraged by the FA I experienced. Although I didn't get lucid from it, I know it's only a matter of time until I catch one. There were also several obvious dreamsigns in my dream about work (mostly differences between the way certain things looked in the dream compared to real life). I'm working on general awareness, RCs, and meditation so hopefully I will start to notice these signs as I progress.

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## fogelbise

When I use the reverse blink I only open my eyes and quickly close them a few times, less strain.

Good job remembering the FA, some people find them tricky to remember if they don't become lucid in them.

In the restaurant dream I also picked up on some awareness. That is usually a good sign that a lucid dream is likely in the next few days.  :smiley: 

I am copying what I wrote in another DJ to give you some additional ideas:

"I think I forget sometimes that I did have some issues with insomnia early on, but it seems like I resolved it before too long not giving me a ton of experience with combatting insomnia. The way I approached it was to continue doing the practices at WBTB that were often leading to insomnia (only counting insomnia episodes ranging from perhaps 20 minutes of trying to get to sleep up to around 1.5 hours...it rarely went anything above that range) - but only on nights when I could sleep in like the weekends or days off. That gave me the chance to experiment with falling asleep more easily without the stress of worrying about whether or not I would get to sleep. That worry or stress seems to compound the effect of insomnia so by keeping it to the weekends I was able to eliminate most of that worry or stress knowing I could sleep in to get all the sleep I needed.

SSILD and WBTB were huge helpers for me. I think WBTB helps almost anyone, and SSILD may be more up for debate as to what percentage of people it is ideal for. Almost all of my early LD's for maybe the first 1.5-2 years(??) were achieved after performing WBTB and then SSILD. I now mix in MILD maybe 50/50 with SSILD."

-You might want to stick with your MILD for now, and if you do try WBTB and/or SSILD perhaps only try it on nights when you can sleep in until you get a good procedure in place for getting back to sleep fairly reliablyI can see why you didn't want to do WBTB before flying. Lucky you flying frequently IWL!  :smiley:

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## broth

Thanks for reading and for the advice, fogelbise!

I was actually reading AstronomyDomine's workbook earlier today and saw this exact post (as well as your follow-up). Some very good commentary there! And interestingly I was reading about SSILD earlier as a potential technique to try during a WBTB if I ever feel so awake that MILD might keep me from falling asleep. When you say that now you mix in MILD with SSILD about 50/50, do you mean you try MILD half the nights and SSILD the other half? Or that you literally mix the techniques together during a WBTB?

Anyways I think you're probably right about saving WBTB attempts for nights when I can sleep in, until I feel comfortable with a personal routine that won't cause insomnia. Luckily tonight is one of those nights so I'll report in tomorrow hopefully with some good news. And I wish you and FryingMan some great lucids tonight!

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## broth

Asleep: 11:40
WBTB: 2:18, 5:30, a couple other times in the morning
Awake: 10:15
Dreams: 2
Lucids: 0

1. I woke up only 2 hours and 40 minutes after going to sleep to use the restroom and recalled fragments of this dream. I believe this is the first dream I've recalled in an earlier REM period since starting my dream journal.  The first scene I remember is a sexual scene on a bus or train, where we are trying to hide what we are doing from others. (Memory Blank) The girl with whom the scene occurred and I are now in the forest by a house that is hidden from the public.  I wrote down "witness protection" as a tag but do not recall where I got that from. I see her walking along a path with her friend. But the way I see her is by watching a reflection that somehow exists in the forest, although there is no mirror or other surface that could give off such a reflection. I see myself as well, and I am wearing blue jeans and white T-shirt. Her friend says she notices me immediately. I think I am a bodyguard.  I don't remember anything else.

2. I am at an amusement park in this large mansion. Several of my co-workers are also there. It is a weird, horror mansion. All the workers there are evil (as I found out later in the dream).  I have the sense of this being a long dream and of experiencing a lot while exploring the mansion, but I don't recall details. At one point, I learn that my co-workers are looking for "treasure" that is kept in the mansion. It turns out the whole time the treasure was on the necklace worn by the woman who owns the mansion, whose room was on the top floor. It is a necklace with a ridiculously large pearl that is worth (only?) $7,000. There is a fight while my co-workers are looking for the treasure and somehow the necklace ends up on the ground. I remember many of the workers have guns. There is also a large blast and we all go running from the mansion to escape it. (Memory blank).  Now out of the amusement park, I'm in a different location and receive a call from one of my co-workers asking about the necklace. I wake up.

Since I experienced insomnia the past 2 nights before this, I think I slept very deeply and had trouble with recall. For one thing, I fell asleep during meditation while laying in bed without doing MILD or any autosuggestion. When I woke up at 2:18am to use restroom, I did the full MILD induction after which I had some trouble falling asleep. I estimate I was awake for about 45 minutes. I felt like my intention was set for remembering to recognize dreaming but since it took a while to fall asleep after stopping the MILD affirmations and visualization it perhaps "dulled" the effect. I woke up several other times as the night went on, but only managed to attempt LD induction one other time, when I did a full SSILD induction. After doing the longer cycles for a few minutes (about 5 cycles) I turned over and fell asleep rather quickly but did not LD. One other time I attempted SSILD but fell asleep very quickly during the cycles. I'm not discouraged because I know that I'm one night closer to success. I did my MILD for the night and I continue to do RC's during the day, prospective memory training, general awareness, and meditation. It's only been 13 days since beginning my training so I'm very confident that I will see success soon.

To everyone reading, we're all one night closer to achieving our dreaming goals so that is something to be proud of!

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## FryingMan

I really like the affirmation this guy uses in his post here.  The use of the word "allow" instead of "will" I think places less stress and performance anxiety on the dreamer.   "I allow myself to notice the dream state" instead of "I WILL notice the dream state".   It's also not "setting yourself up for failure" if it doesn't happen.    I think we want to avoid giving ourselves ultimatums that we cannot guarantee we'll fulfill: I tend to believe that can weaken our confidence in our abilities in the future.





> To everyone reading, we're all one night closer to achieving our dreaming goals so that is something to be proud of!



That's the spirit!   Stay positive!   Enjoy the ride, every night is an adventure, we just need to learn to tune into it as it happens!   Go to bed with the attitude "Woohoo, I can't wait to see what my mind has in store for me tonight!  It'll be awesome whatever happens!"

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## broth

FryingMan, I can definitely see the benefit of using an affirmation like that. In fact, I began using it last night, so thank you!

Asleep: 1:00am
WBTB: several times throughout the morning
Awake: 9:15
Techs: MILD, autosuggestion, WBTB + SSILD
Dreams: 3 fragments
Lucids: 0

1. Fragmented dream. I remember being with my parents. My mother was experiencing bad memory loss/dementia. I noticed it immediately. When I brought it up with my dad while we were out of the room, he said that he hadn't noticed it. I realized he has been experiencing some of the same symptoms, only more mild. I remember my mom acting weird around all my friends as well. She didn't remember what age she was, or who she was talking to or what actions would be considered age appropriate. I have other notes written in my nighttime dream tag book but I can't read them.

2. (Possible FA) I believe this dream occurred after I woke up and did SSILD.  I dreamt of doing SSILD cycles in bed. (Memory blank) I'm in Chipotle standing in line with my dad, but strangely I am doing SSILD cycles with my eyes closed while standing in line? I remember having to continuously open my eyes and pause the cycles to walk forward in line. 

3. I remember that T's grandma, and someone she was with, ran over T's cat at her parent's house and killed her. This immediately made me think of our own two cats because they go outside as well. I was very sad during this dream as I like her cat. 

4. Fragmented dream where I am with a group of guys and we are confronting another group of people. We are trying not to cause a problem but the confrontation leads to a small fight. I fight the guy that we are talking to, and once our point is made, we walk off.  

5. This dream is somewhat personal. It's a fragmented memory of a conversation between my girlfriend and I about an issue we had earlier in the evening. I'll keep it vague but it did provide me with a way to broach the subject this morning.

Commentary: Due to a relationship issue, as well as a small cold that I developed, I wasn't particularly motivated last night. I am happy to report I still did MILD (long) before bed, and I did wake up several times throughout the night. During one awakening I did a short MILD and during another awakening I did a complete SSILD induction after which I fell asleep quickly. I know on at least one occasion I dreamed of doing the SSILD cycles both in bed and then at Chipotle lol. It seems that SSILD does not cause insomnia in the same way that MILD does for me. Perhaps I will try that more during the week when I cannot sleep in as long. I still do MILD before bed every night.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:00
WBTB: 5:30, 6:30, 7:47 (maybe a few more times)
Awake: 8:30
Tech: WBTB + MILD, WBTB + SSILD
Dreams: 4
Lucids: 0

1. I am playing soccer in my friend's apartment. Everything has been cleared out of his main living area and office area. The floor is still the same fake wood. I'm not sure what we were using as nets but they seemed smaller than regulation. Teams were 3v3 although I don't remember who else was there. I remember scoring one goal where I got the pass up near the net, I paused, and then lightly tapped the ball in off the post. Andrew said "I bet you could have been really good at hockey if you kept playing". I said "thanks".

2. This next dream is written in my tag notebook but I don't recall it now nor do I remember writing the tags. The tags are "uber, dog shelter, library, rich movie star brought us food then I ubered". I'll update this if I recall it.

3. (FA) Woke up and checked the time. My phone said 6:29. Then I laid back down and did SSILD. I then woke up for real and realized my alarm that was set for 6:30 had already gone off so it couldn't have been 6:29. The real time was 7:47.

4. I worked at an office. I decided to go to this weird cult building because they served free lunch. In order not to seem suspicious of just wanting free lunch, I pretended to study their beliefs during the time there. When I was leaving, the cult leader followed me out. I thought he was going to accuse me of just wanting free lunch, so I explained I was studying their beliefs. He said he knows, he's been watching me. But then he takes out a gun from a concealed holster and I again become afraid. At this point we're walking through a public parking lot, but there aren't any people around. Suddenly I look back at him and he now has 3 guns, one of which is a machine gun? I again accuse him of getting ready to shoot me and he says no.  (Memory Blank) Now there is a dog with a collar running through the same parking lot. The cult leader shoots it with a bow. I freak out and shout as loud as I can for help. Then he gets in a car and attaches the dog's leash to the back of the car. As he starts to sadistically drag the dog behind the car, I run and leap on the dog to hold the pressure off it's neck. I also eventually am able to get the leash unhooked from the dog's collar, and the dog is able to run away. (Memory Blank) Now the cult leader, several cult members, one of my co-workers, and I are standing in an abandoned parking garage-type structure. We are kicking this marble around, and it seems that if the marble gets passed you, you die. I purposely quick it slowly and easily to someone near me and he somehow misses. I'm worried, shouting for him not be killed. I freak out at this point and decide to try to escape. I let my co-worker know but he says he thinks we'll be caught if we try. Then I start running and I make a huge jump which somehow doesn't hurt me as I land softly. I run out of the parking garage to an area that is enclosed by a fence. As I approach it, I see signs that say it is electric. I try the adjacent fence but it is also electric and shocks me (the feeling was really cool). So I run the other way and eventually find an open area with a lot of people around and I feel safe. Then I wake up.

Commentary: I'm still recovering from this cold and I was exhausted yesterday. I still did WBTB + MILD and WBTB + SSILD, but I fell asleep before doing MILD at the beginning of the night. Overall I'm happy with my recall even though I forgot one of the dreams I tagged. I had another FA, possibly as a result of SSILD. I need to continue getting better at RC'ing every time I wake up so I can catch these. I also didn't experience any insomnia, even when I got out of bed to use the restroom so that is encouraging.

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## fogelbise

I see a lot of encouraging info in your posts since I last posted (I took the weekend off from DV). I see signs of awareness, great adjustments to avoid insomnia, nice recall, and I think you might have been close to catching the moment in Chipotle. Nice work!

And I love the "We're all one night closer" mindset!





> When you say that now you mix in MILD with SSILD about 50/50, do you mean you try MILD half the nights and SSILD the other half? Or that you literally mix the techniques together during a WBTB?



I actually do both, but more often I do MILD and SSILD on separate nights. I see nothing wrong with experimenting with hybrids and that may be the way to find a strong path for some individuals. When I mix it on the same night, sometimes it is doing a little MILD and then starting SSILD. Other times I start with SSILD and mix in some brief MILD if HH's pop up. Other times I just watch the HH's, and other times I actively engage the HH's. As you can see, I like mixing things up and keeping them fresh but that may not be the ideal path for a beginner or for certain practitioners.

I am confident that you are on a path that will bring you lucids by keeping up what you are doing and making slight adjustments as needed.

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## broth

Thanks fogelbise for the encouragement and for reading! Glad to have you back. Hope your weekend went well.

Asleep: 11:45
WBTB: 3:26, 4:46, 6:25, 7:15ish
Awake: 8:30
Tech: MILD, WBTB + MILD, WBTB
Dreams: 2
Lucids: 0 (read on, I had an experience that is hard to fit into a category)

1. Fragmentary recall - I am at the restaurant where I work part-time. While my usual co-workers are there working, there are also beds (or at least 1 bed?) in the restaurant. My manager, Michelle, gave me the 'early section' that is usually empty before the rest. I went to eat food but Michelle told me I couldn't sit at the usual section because it was too early and we were still too busy. Around 8:56 dream time (I thought we closed at 9:00pm), I decided I needed to make the bed so I could leave? I remember struggling to do that, and it was taking much longer than I thought so I didn't think I would finish by 9:00.  (Memory Blank) I then got desert which was a huge plate of cookie cake served with ice cream and ate it on the bed while talking to 3 of my co-workers. I kept seeing their eyes look towards the bowl so eventually I went and grabbed three forks (or spoons?) and let them have the rest. One guy, Joey, seemed to eat the rest of the cookie cake in one bite.

2. This next experience was either a lucid moment or very vivid HH. I'm not an expert on the terms so I'm hoping someone can tell me based on this description. I woke up when T was leaving for work and used the restroom. I then laid down and did MILD. I was tired and my thoughts were drifting; I was experiencing visual HH. Suddenly, I'm walking out of a restaurant (with no memory of being in bed). It is very vivid. I see my friend Kyle having dinner with a girl. Although we make eye contact and I wave, he doesn't seem to recognize me. After I exit the restaurant, I see my best friend from high school and his girlfriend walking through the parking lot. Again, they don't seem to recognize me. I think about how weird that is and that maybe this is a dream. I try to do an RC but I feel sleep paralysis holding my arm down and this attempt at movement causes me to "wake up". After this event, I relaxed to to fall back asleep and entered sleep paralysis on 4 more occasions. It seemed that by laying still, I could enter full paralysis within 20 seconds. Personally, I hate sleep paralysis and it freaks me out. So each time, I struggled to move my head/neck until the paralysis "broke". This is why I stick to DILD's lol.

Commentary - Regardless of whether the 2nd experience was a lucid moment or vivid HH, I'm still proud because it involved reasoning about the situation to come to the conclusion that it wasn't real. My only previous lucid moment came about from "just knowing" that it was a dream. But this time, I reasoned about weird events to draw a conclusion that it was a dream. My recall tonight was not as good as past nights for some reason. Even though I woke up naturally at 3:26, 4:46, and 6:25 (estimated). I think I will stick with MILD for now since it again gave me this "lucid moment" and did not cause insomnia.

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## fogelbise

That was definitely a dream and not HH's in my book. Very nice Broth! I'd say it was more than a dreamlet as well since there were multiple scenes (inside and outside the restaurant; two different scenarios with two different friends) and you were present in the scenes.

Congratulations on catching the weirdness!  :smiley: 

Edit: Oxford dictionary equates dreamlets to HH's but I like to classify them separately because I think that seeing a brief but actual scene (what I call dreamlets) should be different from simply seeing colors swirling, basic shapes, quick noises or sensations (what I consider HH's).

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## broth

Thanks! That's encouraging to hear! I thought the same thing as you. However it seemed weird that I was able to walk out of the restaurant and wave, but when I tried to raise my hand to pinch my nose for the RC, I "felt" sleep paralysis preventing me from doing so and I immediately woke up. I guess I tried to raise my real hand rather than my dream hand. 

Asleep: 12:15
WBTB: 3:30, 5:30
Awake: 8:00
Tech: MILD, WBTB + MILD
Dreams: 0
Lucids: 0

No recall from tonight.

This is the first time in the 17 days of my practice so far that I have not recalled anything. I slept through my 6:30 alarm so must have been sleeping deeply. I woke up at 3:30 to use restroom and at 5:30 when T got up for work and did not remember anything. I know these things happen. I'm still really encouraged from my "lucid moment" last night.

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## fogelbise

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Recall can have it's highs and lows as far as the number of dreams and the quality of the recall. It does get more consistent over time if you continue to reach for dream recall.

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## broth

Very true. I'm not worried about it. It helped to look at experienced member's dream journals and see their own varying levels of recall. BTW, I love reading both yours and FryingMan's dream journal. Both are a source of inspiration for me.

Asleep: 12:00
WBTB: 5:30, sometime before 8:00, 8:00
Awake: 8:16
Dreams: 1 + a small fragment
Lucids: 1

1. I am woken up at 5:30 by T's work alarm. I feel myself "come up" out of a dream and all I can grab hold of/remember is this: Man speaking: "I encourage you to seek validation..."

2. I am leaving a food/smoothie shop with 3 friends. Myself and 3 others get in a car. At first, Ryan is driving. But then it turns out Gabe is driving.  Both are friends of mine from college. The parking spot that we are in is small and there must be cars close behind us. Gabe pulls out and has to pull forward again to try to turn out of the space. He has a small car, and he gets VERY close to the car in front of us. We all tell him he's going to hit the other car but he tries to pull even closer and ends up hitting the car. I thought he was going to drive off but he parks and walks inside. He comes out with several pink slips of paper and makes us get out and write down what possessions we have in our pockets for when the police come to write up a report? I decide this is taking too long and decide to call an uber. I try to look up where I'm going and the app says an uber is going to be 75 cents, but I don't remember where I was going.  I think it was a zoo but I'm not 100%. I thought about how I had to get home soon so I could "go back to sleep because it was almost time to wake up". (Note, the night before I had no recall so recall was on my mind)

3. The start of this dream is fragmented. My co-worker and another unknown person are sitting at a desk in front of computers. My co-worker is talking to the other person about not sharing some type of information with his mother? (Memory blank) Now I am lying in my normal bed. And somehow I'm communicating with my co-worker and the other person. They help people have lucid dreams? While lying down I experienced sleep paralysis (in my dream) and so I told them about it. Then I laid back down and experienced SP again. This time, I tried to "raise my dream hand" to do a nose plug RC to see if I could "enter" a lucid dream. In my dream, I thought I was raising my "(dream) waking hand".  But, I was able to breathe through my plugged nose! I became lucid! At this point, I forgot all about my co-worker and the other person. I was still in my normal bed room. It was bright like there was light being let in through the window. I thought about how bad it would be if I believed I was lucid dreaming and tried to jump out of a window only for it to be real. So I did another nose-plug RC and looked at my hands. The nose-plug RC worked again and my hands were translucent up to the fingertips, which were darker than normal. I looked around. The room was realistic and detailed. After a moment, I woke up. 

My last two lucid experiences ended immediately when I became lucid. This time, I remained in the dream for a little while. 
I know that sometimes when you dream about laying in bed and sleeping, it can lead to having a "nested" dream about experiencing a lucid dream. But I believe this was a real (semi?) lucid dream because when I woke up there was no "pause of consciousness" and I was very aware of having just been lucid in my dream. The funny thing is, my alarm went off before the lucid at 8:00am which is the time I normally wake up. I debated getting up for the day but I decided to go back to sleep because I wanted to recall at least 1 more dream. And I woke up at 8:16 having just had a lucid dream!

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## FryingMan

Yay, congrats!

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## fogelbise

> I thought about how bad it would be if I believed I was lucid dreaming and tried to jump out of a window only for it to be real. So I did another nose-plug RC and looked at my hands. The nose-plug RC worked again and my hands were translucent up to the fingertips, which were darker than normal.



There's no doubt in my mind that this level of reflection on your state (waking or dreaming?) points to this being a bonafide lucid dream. Congratulations Broth! Don't worry about the length of the lucidity, it will get better with time and also will start to come earlier in your sleep cycles as well. Some people use an alarm like this set before their normal time to get up to increase the chances of lucidity. I don't use it myself, but it may be good aide for you.

I am very happy for you!  ::D:

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## broth

Thanks guys! I'm very encouraged by my progress so far.

Asleep: 12:15
WBTB: 5:30, 6:30, 7:47
Awake: 8:30
Dreams: 1 + fragment
Lucids: 0

1. I walked to a gym with a pool in it. There I joined a woman's water basketball game? There was one other guy playing and he was on our team.  While playing defense, I experienced that sluggish responsiveness that we all know in dreams but it did not tip off my awareness. I found it difficult to move my arms to block shots or steal passes. At the end of the game, somehow I got my phone wet. I wanted to take the battery out but I didn't have time so I set it on the ledge. Then after the game I won player of the game. The other guy who was playing won player of the month? and they had him give a speech. He stood up there silent for a while. I think I woke up before he gave the speech.

2. I remember 2 HHs/dreamlets occurred after my WBTB at 5:30. I had been laying in bed for a while repeating MILD procedure and somewhat struggling to fall asleep. At one point I heard children laughing/crying. At another point, I remember seeing a computer screen next to me on the bed. I was scrolling through but I thought about how the screen's light can keep you awake. Of course, there was never a computer near my bed.

I woke up several times knowing that I had just been dreaming (and even having fleeting sensations/images/words, etc...) but any memory I had evaporated instantly. Very frustrating. I hope my recall goes back to where it was when I was remembering 2-5 dreams per night. I also experienced slight insomnia tonight. I'm still so encouraged by the other night's lucid that I'm not worried about it. Just going to stay consistent in my practice.

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## fogelbise

> 2. I remember 2 HHs/dreamlets occurred after my WBTB at 5:30. I had been laying in bed for a while repeating MILD procedure and somewhat struggling to fall asleep. At one point I heard children laughing/crying. At another point, I remember seeing a computer screen next to me on the bed. I was scrolling through but I thought about how the screen's light can keep you awake. Of course, there was never a computer near my bed.



I would take this as a good sign that you are maintaining some awareness while starting to fall asleep. If you notice things like the children laughing and you have strong awareness, try not to get excited or anythingtry to just passively note it something like "ok, HH's" or just "HH's." 





> I woke up several times knowing that I had just been dreaming (and even having fleeting sensations/images/words, etc...) but any memory I had evaporated instantly. Very frustrating.



That happenstry to avoid feeling frustrated and keep positive thoughts in relation to dreaming and lucid dreaming. If you've given your best in reaching for the recall perhaps just conclude with "it happens sometimes, even to fogelbise and FryingMan" hahait's true! 





> I'm still so encouraged by the other night's lucid that I'm not worried about it. Just going to stay consistent in my practice.



Perfect!  :smiley:

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## broth

> I would take this as a good sign that you are maintaining some awareness while starting to fall asleep. If you notice things like the children laughing and you have strong awareness, try not to get excited or anythingtry to just passively note it something like "ok, HH's" or just "HH's."



I'll give that a shot!





> That happenstry to avoid feeling frustrated and keep positive thoughts in relation to dreaming and lucid dreaming. If you've given your best in reaching for the recall perhaps just conclude with "it happens sometimes, even to fogelbise and FryingMan" hahait's true!



Haha I know, I'll try to keep that in mind. Thanks for keeping everything positive! I feel like the routine I have now is sustainable. Doesn't interfere with daily life too much, nor with my sleep. And I feel confident that it will lead to regular lucids!

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## broth

Asleep: 12:45
WBTB: 3:30, 5:30, 7:30
Awake: 8:24
Techs: WBTB + MILD (and a little SSILD to help fall asleep during WBTB)
Dreams: 3
Lucids: 1

1. (FA) I "woke up" and looked at the time on my phone. I then decided to move my alarm one hour later for WBTB because of how late it was already.  Then I woke up for real.

2. I am in a room with my dad and one of my parent's family friends, Jackie. It is night-time, during a WBTB. I am reading a night-time WBTB recording on (dreamviews?) which has notes from everyone's WBTB from that night. Jackie and my dad are eating turkey burgers.

3. During this dream, two people were present who I genuinely thought were friend's of T IWL. I thought we had seen a movie with them. I even have memories of being at the movie theater with them. Upon waking, I know we've never met these people before. T's two friends, who I apparently remember seeing a movie with, came over to our house early in the morning. They were dressed 'uniquely', kinda metrosexual or hipster.  (Trying not be offensive, I just seriously don't know anything about fashion lol) They laid down in our bed with us and we all tried to get some sleep. Then their other friends came over as well. There were three of them, but I remember this one big guy. He came over and shook my hand while I was lying in bed. Then he leaned down and gave T an awkward hug where they were patting each other's backs for a socially awkward amount of time.  After this dream, I think I immediately experienced the following FA.

4. (FA) I "woke up" in my normal bed. I stayed laying down for a second and then realized that I should write that previous dream down. I turned over and grabbed my penlight, but couldn't find my tag notebook.  I wasn't thinking clearly because I thought, "I wonder if that big guy knocked it down." I looked on the nightstand and the floor. Then I thought, that's weird my tag notebook really should be here. Am I dreaming? I did a nose-plug RC and before I even completed the action, I just knew I was dreaming. The nose-plug RC worked and I could breathe. At that point, I was lying on my side but I felt total sleep paralysis. I couldn't move. My normal reaction to SP took over and I tried to move my head/neck. I then woke up.

Commentary - I did a little autosuggestion before bed but that's it. I woke up a couple times during the night, once to use restroom and once to my alarm. I didn't do any induction techniques during these awakenings. Then, T came home and got in bed at 7:30am which caused me to wake up. She also let the cats in. I laid there for a while and did MILD. Then I eventually got up to kick the cats out. I couldn't fall back asleep so I decided to try SSILD as a cure for insomnia. I guess it worked, although I was still up for a little while. I fell asleep and had those last two dreams, during the last of which I became lucid!

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## FryingMan

I used to freak out at no recall nights.  Freaking out is the worst thing: it can set in motion "dreaming performance anxiety" that can keep a damper on you recall.   One must have a quiet, calm, happy, dreamy mind, reaching ever so gently for those memories, letting them come to you.  You have to trust yourself that they will come.  And enjoy the process, and love all your dreams.   If you establish a consistent habit of immediately reaching for recall the very first thing you do after waking up, and of course a life habit of paying careful attention to all your experiences, your dream recall will skyrocket over time.

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## fogelbise

Very nice! It sounds like you had an FA DILD after doing SSILD! Another LD for you!





> I just knew I was dreaming. The nose-plug RC worked and I could breathe. At that point, I was lying on my side but I felt total sleep paralysis. I couldn't move. My normal reaction to SP took over and I tried to move my head/neck. I then woke up.



I don't think this was sleep paralysis since you were able to move your arm to do the nose plug RC. I think it was sluggishness that sometimes comes with FA's. Sometimes it feels like it is hard to move, to roll out of bed and start interacting with your dream. I had two recent occurrences and had two different solutions, the first one was a conscious solution to just float up off of the bed instead of trying hard to roll out which sometimes wakes me up or throws me into a(nother) convincing FA. The 2nd solution I don't remember influencing but the bed just angled down and I slid off of the bed. When rolling or sliding onto to the floor, sometimes I have to crawl until I can walk.

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## FryingMan

On the other hand, you do have to really want it.    So sometimes I would refuse to get out of bed before I slept and recalled at least one dream  :smiley: .   As in all things in this hobby, you must find the balance between focus, effort, intention ("make it happen") vs.relaxation ("let it happen.")

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## broth

> I used to freak out at no recall nights.  Freaking out is the worst thing: it can set in motion "dreaming performance anxiety" that can keep a damper on you recall.   One must have a quiet, calm, happy, dreamy mind, reaching ever so gently for those memories, letting them come to you.  You have to trust yourself that they will come.  And enjoy the process, and love all your dreams.   If you establish a consistent habit of immediately reaching for recall the very first thing you do after waking up, and of course a life habit of paying careful attention to all your experiences, your dream recall will skyrocket over time.




Great advice all around. I've only been practicing for 3 weeks so I'm definitely still working on finding that balance between effort and relaxation. I'm sure it's a continuous process throughout one's practice.

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## broth

> I don't think this was sleep paralysis since you were able to move your arm to do the nose plug RC. I think it was sluggishness that sometimes comes with FA's. Sometimes it feels like it is hard to move, to roll out of bed and start interacting with your dream. I had two recent occurrences and had two different solutions, the first one was a conscious solution to just float up off of the bed instead of trying hard to roll out which sometimes wakes me up or throws me into a(nother) convincing FA. The 2nd solution I don't remember influencing but the bed just angled down and I slid off of the bed. When rolling or sliding onto to the floor, sometimes I have to crawl until I can walk.



Thanks for the response. It's weird that this 'sensation' has happened twice now. I'm glad to hear you've experienced it before as well. And I know I've read of other members on this forum also experiencing this "sluggishness" when becoming lucid while laying on their bed. Next time I'll try the other techniques of rising up off the bed, or rolling off, and crawling. As you said, my lucid's will increase in time as I become more comfortable.

Asleep: 3:30?
WBTB: A couple times
Awake: 11ish
Techs: None
Dreams: 2 + 1 short fragment
Lucids: 0

1. Fragment - T's friend Page is talking about losing weight through eating...

2I am living in a dorm with T. I'm talking with my mom about us getting an apartment together once we graduate college.  T and I never knew each other in college. The food was really bad. We also had no place to lay down. I remember trying to drape a shirt/sheet across a hallway to lay down on or something?

3. I am on a police training compound. For some reason, the FBI comes to investigate the compound. 1 agent is killed. I remember wishing I had a gun. I've been researching which gun to buy IWL. I remember scenes of running away/being chased.

Notes - last night was T's birthday and we threw a big party. I was very drunk and didn't get to sleep till around 3:30ish so I didn't practice any induction techniques during the night. However, I did keep up my SAT and RC's during most of the party, if a little less frequently than usual.

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## broth

Asleep: 11:45
WBTB: 4:04, 5:00, 7:30
Awake: 8:30
Techs: WBTB + MILD and SSILD
NLDs: 1 + a fragment
Lucids: 2

1. Fragment - Woke up with the image of drinks in champagne glasses

2. I had insomnia after last awakening. I did MILD and then SSILD to help me fall asleep. I'm not sure if this is an FA because I didn't realize I ever fell asleep till after. T said I was keeping her awake. At one point, I started typing loudly on a computer? She got mad and grabbed her pillow and said she was going to sleep in the guest room. She said, "I can't afford to not get sleep before work". After she left, I got out of bed to use the restroom and I brought my phone with me for light. The screen was very dim. I tried to adjust the brightness but it still wouldn't get much brighter. Then, I heard male voices coming from above me. But we live in a single-story house so I knew there couldn't be anyone else near-by. As I was leaving the bathroom, I thought both these things were weird so I did a nose-plug RC. I was still fully convinced I was awake, so when I could still breathe through my plugged nose, I rationalized it by saying that maybe I didn't hold my nose fully closed. I tried again. I could still breathe.  I became lucid! Suddenly, the whole dream started to vibrate or shake. I tried to stay calm but I woke up and used the restroom.

3. (FA) Again, I had insomnia. Eventually I must have fallen asleep. I'm laying awake in my normal bed. Now, the bedroom door is open which is unusual as I sleep with it closed. I got up for some reason and "it felt like a dream". As I walked out of the bedroom, I did a nose-plug RC and became lucid. I tried to remain calm. I walked a few steps in the hall, then remembered to try looking at the ground. The floor was our fake-wood. I then looked at the wall and saw a light switch. I got up close to it and it was very detailed and impressive. After a few more steps down the hall, the imagery started to fade. I tried to spin. I remained in a black void for a few seconds after which I woke up. I felt rushed/pressured during the lucid portion.

4. I'm watching a sci-fi movie that I've apparently seen before at an unknown house. There are cats roaming around. At one point, I let a cat in from outside and it starts hissing. I think to myself that maybe it is rabid. I let in another cat and it seems friendly but has long claws. It is playing with me, but comes close to scratching my arms several times. I remember one of my co-workers was present in the house. I then walk into a main area and see my mom, except she is black. (we're both white). Somehow I rationalize this as real LOL. And when I hug her I see she has a "new" tattoo on her back, in addition to one already there. It is for her mother (who is still alive). My mom would never get a tattoo!)

Notes - Today was a great night. Two lucids and the 2nd one was the longest I've had so far (though still only 30sec - 1min). I feel so confident and excited! I did experience some insomnia which is frustrating and caused me to lose out on some sleep. Also I find it funny how I missed my mom changing races and getting a tattoo lol. As always, thank to fogelbise and FryingMan for all your help. I know this workbook, as well as your advice and encouragement, is largely responsible for keeping me motivated and for developing a sustainable practice!

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## FryingMan

Excellent, congrats!  I understand that rushed feeling, but from the experts, (e.g., Sensei), he found that his lucids started getting quite a bit longer when he stopped worrying about waking up.   The best thing after a few seconds of a "I just got lucid" ritual (asserting that "my physical body is asleep in bed and this is entirely a mental lucid dream experience" really helps raise lucidity and stabilization) is to dive right into LD goals.       Don't stress about dream length: if you have enough time to look around and interact with the dream environment a little, that's quite a nice length in the beginning.

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## broth

> Excellent, congrats!  I understand that rushed feeling, but from the experts, (e.g., Sensei), he found that his lucids started getting quite a bit longer when he stopped worrying about waking up.   The best thing after a few seconds of a "I just got lucid" ritual (asserting that "my physical body is asleep in bed and this is entirely a mental lucid dream experience" really helps raise lucidity and stabilization) is to dive right into LD goals.



Thanks! I'm definitely going to work on both those things. What is your normal "I just got lucid ritual"? Is it just the assertion that you specified above or do you incorporate other actions such as looking at the ground/your hands, other affirmations, etc? I want to develop a set ritual that I can memorize and use every time I become lucid to help stabilize. 

Additionally, I will start writing down and thinking about LD goals before bed so that I can have a goal to work on in the LD to keep me focused. Perhaps flying or one of the beginner tasks in the TOTM.

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## FryingMan

When I was really assiduously practicing my IJGLR, it was: rubbing my hands for a second or two, then vigorously patting down (with fists) my dream body from chest to feet (sort of like the "Tarazan chest beating" thing) while counting to 5 and looking around (brings your dream body fully into the dream)[*], then the assertion then goal recollection.   I did it in my dreams almost right away after I started rehearsing it in waking life.   I haven't been rehearsing it or doing it as much in the last few years and I think my LDs have suffered because of this.   The assertion is extremely powerful, when you realize fully that you are asleep in a lucid dream, there are no boundaries to dream control, no nagging feelings of being scared or concerned about consequences that comes from not fully realizing the meaning of your current state.  It is Sageous's recommendation, and it helps establish a connection to waking memory, which helps in overall lucidity level and in goals, etc.
[*] I would also sometimes after this body patdown do an, uh, shall we say, "equipment check," (in the pants, that is) which is always amusing and usually finding things slightly different from in waking life.

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## broth

Great, thanks! I'll work on incorporating those actions and assertions into my routine when I get lucid.

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## FryingMan

I also made up an acronym for all the things I wanted to do in the ritual, like: "BE STRONG" (Breath, Enjoy/Engage, Stop/Stabilize, Remember [waking body dream assertion], Narrate [like making a mental/vocal dream journal entry while you're dreaming], Goals"

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## broth

That's a great idea. I really like the narration idea as well. I need to start doing that.

Asleep: 11:30
WBTB: 5:30, 6:30, 7:00
Awake: 7:55
Techs: Autosuggestion, WBTB + MILD
NLDs: 0
Lucids: 2

1. I woke up to my alarm at 6:30 and laid down. I didn't notice falling asleep. I'm laying in bed. I see an alarm clock on my nightstand that says it's 7:13. That's weird, because I feel like I just woke up to my 6:30 alarm a few minutes ago. But its happened before where I wake up and feel like I've just blinked and suddenly an hour has passed. So I reach over to grab my phone to turn off my 7:30 alarm. I press the 'home' button on my phone repeatedly but the screen won't turn on. That's weird. I do a nose-plug RC and become lucid. Instantly, I start floating up toward the ceiling! I will myself to stop rising up before I go through the ceiling. While hanging in mid-air, I remember FryingMan's advice to pat down my body. I start at my chest and work my way down. Then I rub my hands together. The feeling is different than waking life. Very rough, almost like sand paper. Then I will myself to float out of the bedroom and down the hall. Halfway down the hall there is a bathroom, which I float into. I then turn around and float down the hall some more. This whole time I'm floating on my back, in the same position I was in when I was laying down on my back in bed. Then I wake up.

2. I'm on a bus sitting next to one of my co-workers. I think we are driving back to school/dorms but I'm not sure. I hear two girls in the seats in front of us talking about one of my other co-workers stand-up comedy routine that they are listening to on their phone/ipod.  This co-worker doesn't do stand-up IWL but is really funny. At some point, I do a nose-plug RC. I don't know why, I can't remember anything causing me to. I can breathe slightly through plugged nose, but I'm so convinced that I'm awake that I don't believe it. I do the action several more times, struggling harder each time to successfully close off my nostrils. I keep thinking that I'm somehow not pinching my nose all the way shut. But after doing this several times, I can still breathe. I'm becoming VERY suspicious that I'm dreaming. I look at my hands. There's no doubt now. I'm lucid. My hands are mutated and fingers are missing. Just for fun, I see if I can count my fingers; I can. I count 4 fingers on one hand. I remember someone on DV saying that as they counted their fingers, an extra finger would grow. As soon as I thought that, instantly another finger started to grow. I looked to my left and now I'm sitting next to T instead of my co-worker. We start to kiss and the bus pulls up to wherever our stop is. I want to have sex right there, but I guess I'm still a little shy about doing that on a crowded bus. As we were getting off the bus, I remember thinking how weirdly quiet/silent it was. As though I would have to consciously put effort into creating the appropriate sounds for this mental "model". And I also felt some sort of pain in my mouth that I told myself I would ask about on DV later. As I was walking off the bus,  I woke up. 

I laid completely still as I was exiting this dream and found myself in bed on my side. I didn't move, and after 20 seconds it felt as if my legs had shifted position even though I didn't move them. Then I felt pulsating/vibrating as well as a "rigidity" that I associate with SP. I got freaked out and broke it  :Sad:  then did a RC and confirmed I was truly awake.

Notes - I was very tired after not getting much sleep the night before last due to insomnia. I slept VERY deeply, and didn't wake up till T left for work at 5:30. I instantly fell back to sleep and woke up to my alarm at 6:30. All I did was repeat my MILD mantra, "I want to remember to recognize when I'm dreaming" a few times before falling asleep. That is when I had the 1st lucid. After the 1st one, I repeated the same mantra and visualized that 1st lucid several times. Then went back to sleep and had the 2nd.

----------


## FryingMan

Congrats!  You're on a roll!  Interesting, in my 2nd lucid dream I started floating unwillingly up to the ceiling as soon as I got lucid, I then immediately started rubbing my hands and then I slowly floated back down again and continued on  with exploring the dream.   





> I'm still a little shy about doing that on a crowded bus



It's hard to break strong taboos in dreams, but doing so really asserts your lucidity.  Just remember, "there is now crowd, there is no bus," do as you like in the dream!

My LDs are also usually without much or any background sound.   Once however I went out into the back yard of a house after getting lucid there (FA), and heard an absolutely perfect imitation of a typical suburban back yard soundscape, particularly birds chirping in the distance.  That's one dream where I achieved ongoing narration for the first part, so it really helps in raising vividness and lucidity.   So sound is definitely possible!

I also sometimes doubt nose pinch, that I'm not completely closing the nostrils.   Much better is to always assume that ANY air escaping means you're dreaming.  I had a number of missed LDs from this even, so I forced myself in waking practice to realllllly sloooooow dooooowwwnnn when I did the RC and gave it my full, undivided attention.   That helped and I stopped missing LDs from semi-ambiguous nose pinches.    It's always good to have a couple more RCs to do, hand check is a great backup as you've shown, as is testing gravity (jumping into the air and seeing how quickly you plop back down to the ground).   I have had gravity test  fail me on at least one occasion though, in an ultra-vivid dream, and others report hand-check fails.    So nose pinch I recommend as the always first RC.

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## broth

Thanks! Very interesting that LD's are often without much background sound. I wonder if all my dreams are like that and I just don't notice? But I remember in the last dream from last night hearing the people sitting in front of me on the bus talking about my co-worker. So I know there is SOME sound. Do you know if your normal dreams usually have sound?

I'll definitely have to work on narration as well as the IJGL ritual to raise the vividness and lucidity of my LDs. As you said, that might cause/allow there to be sound in the environment.

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## FryingMan

Oh sure there is sound, no doubt.  I hear people's answers to my questions (when they deign to answer).   Most of the sound is voices or the vocalization of my own thoughts or my speech, I don't recall much background noise in non-lucids either.

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## fogelbise

Congratulations Broth! 2 more lucid nights and 2 lucids on each of the nights, you are progressing very nicely! 

Keep your foot on the gas as much as you can  :smiley:

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## broth

> Oh sure there is sound, no doubt.  I hear people's answers to my questions (when they deign to answer).   Most of the sound is voices or the vocalization of my own thoughts or my speech, I don't recall much background noise in non-lucids either.



Yeah I guess there's definitely direct sound in terms of answering questions or speaking to you. But I don't even know if my normal dreams contain that background, environmental sound. And certainly that was what was missing from my lucid on the bus.

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## broth

> Congratulations Broth! 2 more lucid nights and 2 lucids on each of the nights, you are progressing very nicely! 
> 
> Keep your foot on the gas as much as you can



Thanks, I'm definitely trying to do that!.

Asleep: 11:50
WBTB: 3:55, 6:30
Awake: 7:45
Techs: Autosuggestion, WBTB + MILD
NLDs: 2
Lucids: 1 (maybe, read description)

1. I'm sitting in a college lit class. The office manager from the restaurant I work at is there. We are all taking a test. It requires you to draw and/or write your responses and is very challenging. Everyone is cheating as we are seated in a weird arrangement where we are across from other students.  I have other tags written down. "salad", "musical note", "sequence of characters". But this dream happened before 3:55 and I don't remember these additional details anymore.

2. This dream is fragmented. In one scene, I remember my friend M meeting with president Obama. In another scene, I remember watching a documentary about my dad being in jail. He had a ponytail. None of that is true lol. I was working on getting his name cleared.

3. I woke up around 6:35 (apparently I didn't wake up to my 6:30 alarm and it had auto-dismissed). I did MILD then turned over to go to sleep. I 'came to' still lying in bed. I didn't move as I felt like something was weird and I might have already been sleeping at this point. Quickly, I felt the same pulsating/vibrating feeling from last night. Suddenly, fractal patterns of light appeared behind my eyelids. I felt the sensation of moving/falling forward through a tunnel. I "knew" I was going to appear in a dreamscape. I thought of water but then I realized I didn't want to appear in the open ocean. So I very quickly visualized a pool. Suddenly, I found myself in a busy, suburban pool.

I do a nose-plug RC and can of course breathe. I look around and the pool area is full of adults and children. I walk up to the first beautiful woman I see and we do sexual things together (except after a minute or two, I thought to myself I don't want to waste a whole lucid doing just this). Then I get out of the pool and walk through a grassy area. I decide to look at my hands. They look completely normal except that there are purple marker lines on one hand. I think to myself, "that makes sense that they are represented like this since I was at work last night and sometimes my hands get marker on them". I decided to jump up and test gravity. I came right back to the ground like normal. I then walked over to a swing set. I tried to jump to the top but didn't make it. Then I decided to try again and willed myself up as I jumped. I reached the railing with my hand. I came back down and jumped again, this time with renewed confidence. I managed to jump all the way up to the top of the swing set, clearing the railing with my feet. Then, the DC parents came over and asked me where I was from. I said I'm from another place and I come here to have fun. They asked me to leave and said I'm disrupting them.  That's all I remember. A few minutes later I woke up in bed feeling somewhat distant from this experience.

Edit - I just remembered this as I was reviewing the experience in my head. As I was walking through the grassy area over to the swing set, one of the kids asked me where I'm from. I started to think of my bed and waking body, but could feel that this was drawing me away from the dream. Whenever I've thought about those things in the past, I've woken up. I immediately stopped thinking about the bed and my waking body, and I bent down and ran my hand through the grass to ground myself in the dream.

Notes - My other lucids have been very immediate. I noticed imagery fading, then I woke up in my bed with no pause of consciousness. This time, I don't remember any imagery fading and I feel like I woke up minutes after the end of my memory, with a feeling of distance. Besides that, I don't really know why this wouldn't be a real lucid. I distinctly remember stopping the sexual experience with the woman because I didn't want to waste the lucid. And I also remember thinking about the fact that I had work last night as a reason why my hands were represented with marker lines. So I'm sure there was some level of lucidity there, even if it was less than in my previous experiences.

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## FryingMan

Sure seems like a 100% lucid to me.  It's possible you lost lucidity and continued on in the dream and so didn't wake immediately from a lucid state, which would account for the discontinuity.

As a note on the "memory" assertion, I think it should be only intellectual, you shouldn't reach for your actual waking body feeling, as you mentioned that could cause waking perhaps.  Just note abstractly that "somewhere out there in the waking world," your physical body is asleep in bed.   More important is the corollary to that: your present experience is ALL A DREAM taking place in your mind.

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## broth

Yes, I thought about that as well. I think I either lost lucidity and continued on with the dream unremembered, or I dropped into a dreamless sleep period for a few minutes before waking. 

Basically, I woke up and remembered this dream in the same way that I remember normal dreams during the night. This differs from the previous lucid dreams I've had where I've woken up from them directly and so there was a more direct memory/knowledge of the entire experience. I still think it was a lucid dream; I just think it was the first lucid I've had where I've remembered it slightly after the fact as opposed to transitioning immediately from the lucid dream to 'eyes-open' awake in bed.

And I agree with your point about the 'memory assertion'. That was my understanding of what you said earlier as well. The only reason I began to think of my body/bed was because of the DC asking me where I "came from". I definitely think that the intellectual understanding you're mentioning will raise my lucidity and stability in the dream.

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## FryingMan

My early LDs were all like this, probably up to 100 or so (don't remember exactly), I'd wake up from them directly and the transition of consciousness was seamless: I was lucid in the dream, then an instant later (I rarely have slow fades to awake) after a brief buzzin feeling I was lucid awake in bed.

As the LDs move earlier and earlier into the night, and earlier in the REM cycle, the possibility of not  waking up from the LD directly increases, which makes recalling them harder, and that's where a solid recall practice (basically it's a never ending effort to recall in more and more detail and more dream experiences) really helps.

----------


## broth

That makes sense. I can definitely see why recall is extra important for those early cycle LDs. In your experience, when you've recalled a lucid dream from which you did not wake up directly, did your recollection of your lucidity differ than other times when you wake up directly from the lucid dream?

In other words, did your sensation of being lucid and in control feel different when you recall lucids than when you wake up directly from the dream? I figure that would be the case, since the overall recall of the entire dream is likely somewhat diminished. Thanks for any input.

----------


## broth

Asleep: 11:30
WBTB: 6:11, 7:20
Awake: 7:30
Tech: WBTB + MILD, DEILD/CAN-WILD
Dreams: 2 + 2 fragments
Lucids: 1

1. Fragment - I touched my mom's face and 90% of the blemishes disappeared

2. I'm having dinner in Russia with my family and two other families. We are the only guests in a fancy restaurant and we are sitting with a high-level Russian official. My old friend D is there. We ordered food, and it was kind of a competition to see who could order the healthiest. D ordered right before me; he got chicken, toast, and an unhealthy side that I can't remember. I got chicken, vegetables, and toast. I initially asked for avocado/guac on my toast, but the Russian official said there was a food shortage in Russia and they would only have a tiny amount of guacamole. He later came back with 3 avocados in his hands?  (Memory Blank) We are all walking down the street. The Russian official accuses 1 family of something, but I never figured out what it was.

2. I was involved in a large, multi-car wreck on the interstate. Somehow, I think I was at fault for the crash or part of it. I got out of my car before police arrived. Later, they stated they couldn't find any identification in the vehicle at fault (mine) and I never admitted to it.

3. Fragment - I was driving down the road. There were about 5 buses on the side of the road in a line. They all put out their "stop signs" because they were going to pull away from the curb. I started to brake but my brakes weren't working well. I ended up slamming slamming down on my brakes as hard as I could and barely stopped in front of the crossing guard who was also holding a stop sign.

4. My auto-snooze alarm woke me up and I remained perfectly still. After 20-30 seconds I heard weird sounds and the white noise machine seemed to increase in volume. Suddenly, it felt like I was being flipped around? Then a feeling that is hard to described moved up my whole body. At one point, I knew I was asleep and could enter a lucid dream. I did a nose-plug RC and opened my eyes. I could breathe. I was in my normal bed. I got out and saw my two cats. The lights were off and it was dim. I rubbed my hands together which felt rough again and I thought about how I was actually asleep in my bed. I went into the hallway and there were more cats and dogs. I tried to turn on the lights but the light switch didn't work. I thought about how people use that as an RC. I went into the main living room, and realized I was naked and holding a sheet around my body. I walked back towards the bedroom to get some clothes and tripped over the large dogs that kept appearing. I tried to lock them in the bed room. Soon after, I woke up.

Notes - Very happy with tonight. Had pretty good recall and I experienced a true DEILD or CAN-WILD entry into a lucid. I know I was awake, stayed still, and quickly entered a new dream while staying conscious the whole time. Very cool experience. During the dream, I rubbed my hands together and remembered that I was truly asleep in my bed and this was a dream. However, I didn't follow a set IJGL routine so I need to continue working on that.

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## FryingMan

Awesome!





> I'm having dinner in Russia with my family



Ой!   Ты русский что ли?!

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## broth

I'm gonna guess you asked if I speak Russian?! My dream journal entry was ambiguous. My family doesn't live in Russia; I have no idea why the dream took place there (besides my great-grandparents having lived there) but I do not speak the language  :Cheeky:

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## FryingMan

Haha awesome.   It seemed not to phase you at all and there was so much Russian content that I thought you might be from there!   I wrote "Oh ho!  So you're Russian, eh?

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## fogelbise

You are killing it Broth!  :smiley:  Goodness, keep doing what you're doing, keeping that foot on the gas and taking heed of my mistake over and over: me getting over-confident and thinking I could coast a little and still stay consistent…I wasn't able to coast, though maybe I have been able to a little bit now after 4 years of dedicated practice. I still stay consistent with getting to bed on time and doing WBTBs knowing that is a huge boost for me.

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## broth

FryingMan - Haha I was close. Since you seem to speak the language, are you from there?

Fogelbise - Thank you! That's always a danger. I'm trying to keep a consistent routine. One of the keys, at least so far, has been a sustainable routine. I remember getting burned out last time. This time, I'm not doing too much too fast, so I feel like I can maintain this level of effort for the foreseeable future. Like you, the main things are getting enough sleep and doing consistent WBTBs. But 4 years is a different story! Very impressive that you and FryingMan and others have stayed dedicated for so long. I hope you continue to see success and stay motivated to practice every day.

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## fogelbise

> One of the keys, at least so far, has been a sustainable routine. I remember getting burned out last time. This time, I'm not doing too much too fast, so I feel like I can maintain this level of effort for the foreseeable future.



That is a great point! I also made adjustments to avoid burnout and never really stopped practices over the 4 years, I just adjusted intensity (though sometimes adjusted way too low when thinking I could coast).

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## broth

Asleep: 12:00
WBTB: 4:30, 6:30
Awake: 8:00
Tech: Autosuggestion, WBTB + MILD, CAN-WILD
Dreams: 1 + 2 fragments
Lucids: 1

1. I wake up to use restroom and lay down. I do MILD and visualize two of my recent lucid dreams. I also do several nose-plug RC's and tell myself I will nose-plug RC when I am dreaming. I don't even notice falling asleep. One minute I'm laying there doing this, the next minute I'm doing a nose-plug RC and I can breathe through my nose. Suddenly, after doing this a few times, I realize I can breathe through my plug-nosed and I must be dreaming. I get out of bed and walk over to T's side. I wake her up and say "this is a lucid dream T". She seems mildly curious. I have the thought that I might want to have sex with her, but when I walk over there I realize I "feel" really tired and not in the mood for sex. I open the bedroom door and our cats are waiting there as usual. I'm careful not to let them in. I walk in the hallway. It's dark again and I decide to try the light switch. Again, it doesn't work. I remember reading someone's DJ on DV where they said a "magic spell" to increase the light in a room. The second I thought that, the light increased a little (but it didn't seem like a light bulb had turned on). T comes out and asks me what's so cool about lucid dreams. Then I looked over and saw our front door so I walked outside. It was totally green with ivy around us; there were no other houses or streets.  At this point I think I lost lucidity and the scene shifts. I'm standing on the front porch of a house. A guy walks up asking if I want to be his golf partner? He usually plays tennis but his buddy isn't here. Suddenly his friend walks up. They both hand me business cards. They work at Ameriflight, which is an aviation company that I was looking at working for when I was still planning on going into aviaiton. Then, my manager at work walks out the front door?  The next thing I remember is lying in bed awake. It was about 4:55am.

2. Fragment - I am telling Taylor about the lucid dream I just had. Her dad is there, although he didn't look like himself. There was another guy and girl present in the scene who had apparently just started dating.

3. I'm in a banquet hall for some celebration. One of my co-workers is there. I walk up to her and we sit together and talk. I drop a huge drink and walk out to find a bathroom. I realize we're in a hotel. For some reason, this hotel has a live-animal exhibit. There are a bunch of birds in these relatively tiny cages on the wall. There's also a huge bearded dragon in one cage. I walk over to the bathrooms. A couple woman and I try to figure out which bathroom is male and which is female, but these seem to be unisex bathrooms. I see men and women walk into the same one. Right before I walk in, some guy comes up to me. He asks if I can stay here and watch his bag. He will save some money for me. I ask how long. He says 12 minutes. I say that's too long. 

4. Fragment - I'm standing in front of a restaurant with a couple people. There are a lot of people present in this area. One woman makes a comment that she is looking to have fun tonight. I suggest myself but she laughs cause she's so much older than me.

Notes - I'm very satisfied with last night. First, I had a lucid dream using MILD (although maybe a slight variation on it). But secondly, I set an auto-snooze alarm for 4:30 and then for every 15 minutes from 7:00-8:00. At least 2 times, I woke up and remained completely still after the alarm. In one case, I truly felt like I might have been able to enter a dream immediately (like I did yesterday), but I was in such an awkward position. I started hearing the rushing sounds and feeling that "deepening" physical sensation that I felt yesterday, but I started sliding off the pillow and therefore had trouble breathing enough where I had to change position. The other time, I remained still and heard the rushing sounds but it didn't go anywhere. Maybe I was too awake, or woke up in NREM, or something else. But it's still training me to wake up to that alarm and stay completely still which is good. I know one of those times will also lead to a lucid which is encouraging.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:15
WBTB: 4:00, 7:15
Awake: 9:20
Tech: Autosuggestion, WBTB + MILD
NLDs: 1 + 1 fragment
Lucids: 0

1. I'm with two other guys outside on a wide street. There is a small animal, maybe a mouse or rat but I can't remember for sure. It has been trained by some organization (possibly the government?) to dodge objects/weapons that are thrown at it. We take turns throwing rocks or other things at it and it recognizes and responds by moving out the way. We are all impressed.

2. Fragment - A few guys and I are flying drones. One of them "goes rogue" and doesn't respond to the remote controller anymore!

Notes - I had a few beers before bed and slept extremely deeply. I woke up around 4:00 to use the restroom and fell right back to sleep. I woke up at 7:15 to my alarm but I didn't remain still for a CAN-WILD so I did MILD. After my intention was set, I turned over and went to sleep. I slept through my 4:30, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 7:45 alarms so I must have been out last night. Not sure why except for the couple of beers I had. Anyways I might look at increasing the duration/volume of the alarms but during the week they usually wake me up at just the right level to remain perfectly still so I'll probably leave them. Tomorrow will be a better night!

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## fogelbise

I really think you have a good combination here: consistent WBTBs combined with DILD/MILD and WILD/DEILD techniques. That nose plug RC MILD was impressive, a seemingly quick transition into the dream and catching it!





> Anyways I might look at increasing the duration/volume of the alarms but during the week they usually wake me up at just the right level to remain perfectly still so I'll probably leave them. Tomorrow will be a better night!



I probably would leave them as is also. That night seemed unusual for you and full of deep sleepsometimes that's just what the body and mind needs. Ultimately you will be the best judge of any adjustments you may need though.

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## broth

Thanks fogelbise for the encouragement and suggestions. That's just what I needed to hear. You're right that the practices so far have been working, so I will definitely continue with them. And thank you, I think 7 or 8 of the LDs have come from doing a nose-plug RC during a FA so that's definitely something I'm working on. I RC every time I walk into/out of the bedroom and bathroom, every time I lay in bed and get out of bed, etc. How's your practice coming?

----------


## broth

Asleep: 12:50
WBTB: 4:30, 7:15
Awake: 9:45
Tech: WBTB + MILD
NLDs: 1 + 1 fragment
Lucids: 0

1. Fragment - I am looking for websites that will allow me to host my own server on the internet. I find a site that starts with an "S" but cannot remember the name now.

2. I am at a steak house. I order a filet but I am served ravioli. I'm upset but I eat the ravioli anyways.

3. (FA) I "wake up" from this steak dream (which I have now mostly forgotten, possibly due to this FA occurring before I truly woke up) and decided to write my steak dream down in my DJ. At first, my pen light wasn't working. I had to mess around with the button a little but it eventually turned on. Then, when I started to write, I realized quickly that I was writing in pencil. I knew that before now this "light pen" had always written in pen. I 'realized' that while trying to get the light working, I must have rotated it to the pencil writer. (remember those old pen/pencils that twisted to write with both?) I got it to write with pen again, but the way I did it makes no sense looking back. I pivoted the bottom portion outwards so that it was perpendicular to the main part of the pen cylinder. Then I did something and pivoted it back onto the pen. Then it wrote normally. I then woke up from this FA. 

Notes - Again another deep sleeping night. Not much recall, went to bed later than usual, and didn't wake up to most alarms or as much as normal. I did do MILD after the 7:15 awakening which might have led to the FA. I'm encouraged by the fact that I DID have some awareness during the FA, as indicated by the fact that I knew the light pen had always written in pen before this event. I knew that something was wrong, but I did not RC and become lucid. I will get back to the intensity of my normal practice during the week. The weekends are hard when T sleeps in bed all night (as opposed to leaving for work in the morning) and when I go to bed late. I also drank a bit before bed. Anyways, I'm encouraged by this FA and I know another lucid is just around the corner!

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## broth

Asleep: 12:50
WBTB: 4:30, 6:11, sometime around 7:15
Awake: 8:20
NLDs: 1 + 2 fragment
Lucids: 1

1. My auto-snooze alarm wakes me up. My eyes briefly open but I don't move. I'm laying on my side but my legs are in a weird, slightly uncomfortable, position. I remain still but I feel my legs moving/relaxing into a more comfortable position naturally. I wonder if this movement will affect my attempt, but I don't worry about it. Eventually, I feel vibrations and the "deepening" physical sensation I've felt before. Also there was a wave of energy. Not much in the way of auditory or visual hallucinations. Eventually, I knew I was sleeping. 
I did a nose-plug RC. I could breathe and was lucid. I was in my normal bed room. I got up out of bed and patted my body down from chest to lower legs. Then I slowly spun around in a circle to fill in my environment. Everything looked relatively normal. I thought (abstractly) about how I was actually in a bed sleeping. I walked to the door and went into the hallway. There were spots of water on the ground and footsteps as if someone had gotten out of the shower and walked around without drying their feet. I walked down the hall way. I woke up, possibly due to the uncomfortable position of my body.

2. Fragment - I'm traveling with two female friends. We are in some house on the 2nd floor. There are a couple guys around us, and one of them is hitting on my friend. He's being weird about it though; he's not talking to her. He's just standing really close. He keeps making these fighting gestures, not really towards me but just in general. It's like a "mating dance" to show her that he's worthy. There's 2 other guys near us who are "play" fighting similarly with themselves. I think it's amusing.

3. Fragment - I'm in some foreign country. I meet up with an older couple, who are apparently my friends. The guy is driving. He backs out of a parking space. I'm not sure where we're going.

3. (FA) I wake up in bed. I lean over to T's side of the bed, because there is something on her nightstand. It's a large, green basket-type thing without a bottom. Inside are a box of large chocolates in unique shapes. I think how weird it is that earlier in the night I was able to turn down our white noise machine, even though this huge basket is in the way.

Notes - Can't believe I missed that FA! I need to get back in the habit of more regular RCs, especially when in bed and waking up in the middle of the night. Again an indication of heightened awareness because I knew that earlier in the night I had turned down our white noise machine, and I realized that it was weird that I hadn't noticed that large basket there. I'm very happy with the CAN-WILD. I don't always wake up to the auto-snooze alarm, but when I do, it's usually subtle enough that I don't move which gives me the opportunity for a CAN-WILD. I woke up to it 1 other time last night and didn't move, but I wasn't able to slip right back into a dream. I also did MILD when I woke up at 6:11.

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## fogelbise

Congratulations once again!





> I'm laying on my side but my legs are in a weird, slightly uncomfortable, position. I remain still but I feel my legs moving/relaxing into a more comfortable position naturally. I wonder if this movement will affect my attempt, but I don't worry about it.



This is really good that you did not worry about it…that is the primary issue for most people - the worrying part.

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## broth

Thanks fogelbise, I agree. And with a DEILD or CAN-WILD, it's really not worth worrying about. Either I'll be in a lucid dream within 60 seconds, or I'll get a shot at practicing MILD. Win-win situation.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:50
WBTB: 6:40, 7:30
Awake: 8:30
Techs: WBTB + MILD, auto-snooze alarm
NLDs: 2
Lucids: 0

1. It's the first day of my senior year of highschool. Apparently, all the students live in a large dorm-type structure with several floors. I remember feeling like a bad-ass cause I'm a senior (lol). I walk out of my room and as I shut the doors, I look inside and realize I have one of the largest rooms in the dorm! Two large, mostly glass doors. I take the 3 flights of elevators down to the main lobby with all the other students as we head towards our classes/school? I realize when I've gotten to the bottom that I grabbed the wrong watch! I check the time and realize it will be cutting it close, but I REALLY want to wear my new watch. So I start running up the elevators, trying to get up there in time to make it to school. (I have a memory of earlier in the dream trying to select which watch to wear. I initially selected a Casio G-Shock but changed to the Timex expedition. Unfortunately, I must have grabbed the wrong watch off the counter). 

2. After a brief awakening, this dream seems to continue. I'm at home with my parents and a couple other friends. We are on some type of mid-day break from school. I decide I want to get my computer out to get on dreamviews and ask about the "motivaider" which is a timer-vibrating wristband that a user here uses and has written about in their dream journal. However, I ask my friend what time it is and she says it's 2:45. I ask what time we have class and they say 3:05. So I don't have time to look it up and I have to go to class.

Notes - Got to bed a little late last night. I did practice MILD during my 6:40 awakening and I woke up at least 1 time and remained perfectly still but wasn't able to re-enter a dream. At least the idea of lucid dreaming penetrated my dream. A lucid can't be far behind!

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## broth

Asleep: 12:35
WBTB: 5:45, 7:00, one other time
Awake: 8:00
Techs: autosuggestion, CAN-WILD
NLDs: 0
Lucids: 1

1. Auto-snooze alarm woke me up. I stayed perfectly still. After a few seconds, I started hearing the auditory hallucinations and feeling vibrations. Then I felt like my body was rotating, along with a wave of energy. I knew I was dreaming when I felt my hands and arms "above" where they should be. I raise my right arm and do a nose-pinch RC. I'm lucid and can breathe. I'm still in the same lying position as IWL. I try to move but I'm unable. I'm not sure what to do. I've heard others rolling off the bed or floating. I try again to move, but I put a little too much "force" into it. I immediately wake up. I know it's weird that I can do a nose-pinch RC, but then have SP when I try to move. Perhaps it's a mental thing.

Notes - I woke up with the feeling of having had long dreams several times, but not really able to recall more than faint images. I'm going to focus on dream recall for the next few days. I'm very happy with CAN-WILD. It's almost a miracle technique. I mean sometimes when my alarm goes off and I stay perfectly still, the conditions still aren't right. But when they are, I enter a lucid dream within 60 seconds and it's easy. Nevertheless, I'm gonna continue my training with MILD every night as well. I was sleeping through my last alarm ringtone a lot, so I changed it last night. It seemed to work well. If the same thing happens again, where I'm unable to move off the bed, I'll try rolling or floating off the bed instead.

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## FryingMan

> I try to move but I'm unable. I'm not sure what to do.



Some, like Sensei, teleport in situations like this.    It's sort of a catch-all: if you think you're having a FA, or have entered the dream state, teleport!  If it works that will establish 100% that you're dreaming and it gets you out of bed.

I'm not an accomplished teleporter, though, so can't offer specific advise for that.  There are threads on DV (one big one from Sensei in fact!), you could search for them.

I basically just try to picture the place I want to go and imagine I'm already there.

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## broth

Thanks, that's good advice. Especially because I don't want to start every lucid from my bed room, which is often the case when I do a CAN-WILD or DEILD. It would be nice to teleport or open my eyes in a different location. Not that I'm complaining too much. I'm just happy to be getting lucid!

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## fogelbise

Congratulations again Broth!





> 1. Auto-snooze alarm woke me up. I stayed perfectly still. After a few seconds, I started hearing the auditory hallucinations and feeling vibrations. Then I felt like my body was rotating, along with a wave of energy. I knew I was dreaming when I felt my hands and arms "above" where they should be. I raise my right arm and do a nose-pinch RC. I'm lucid and can breathe. I'm still in the same lying position as IWL. I try to move but I'm unable. I'm not sure what to do. I've heard others rolling off the bed or floating. I try again to move, but I put a little too much "force" into it. I immediately wake up. I know it's weird that I can do a nose-pinch RC, but then have SP when I try to move. Perhaps it's a mental thing.



I do think it's a mental thing and the sluggishness thing we talked about since you were able to reach up and do the nose pinch (and able to breathe). The biggest factor is probably worrying about moving your waking body, but to play it safe I do recommend something less forceful like you mentioned. I second the teleport idea since a new scene sounds ideal for you. Sensei does have a ton of ways to teleport but the only one I've used is his closed eye teleport (let us know if you have trouble finding his teleport thread). I do it like a 1 second blink (versus the typical waking blink of milliseconds). If you want to influence where you end up, you can imagine the location with as many rich senses and details as possible before performing the slightly-extended-blink. If you decide to go from your bed, simply imagine the feeling of slipping off of your bed (or floating, etc)probably safer than rolling considering your concern about being forceful which can affect the results through expectation. Another idea is to imagine your dream body moving until it does, not using muscles but imagination. You will defeat this challenge in no time!

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## broth

Not much time today to write down report. I'll try to edit with the full report tonight or tomorrow.

I had 1 long, vivid NLD and 2 FA's about writing down a a dream (which I now can't recall) in my dream journal. Nothing too special to report besides that.

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## broth

Well I've been slacking off lately. Both in journaling as well as in practice. My daily life has been crazy, so I've been altering my practice to be sustainable during this period. 

Lately, that's meant focusing on techniques that can be worked on mostly at night without much day work. Last night it paid off, as I had my longest and most vivid lucid dream to date. It was a CAN-WILD. I've been setting a series of auto snooze alarms every morning and I try CAN-WILD at each of them. If that doesn't work, then I try a variation on MILD that I read on this forum.

I woke up to my 7:25 auto-snooze alarm. I laid still and immediately heard auditory hallucinations. I felt my body rotating and floating up and down. After a short while, I felt a floating sensation and knew I was dreaming. I did a nose-plug RC and got out of bed. I walked through the bedroom and hallway trying to find T so we could have sex. She wasn't in the house. I then walked up to the front door and decided to try to phase through it. I half-ran towards it and threw myself through the door. It worked! I got outside and the scenery looked different than real life. I decided to try to fly. The first time, I jumped off the ground and stayed up for a while but came back to the ground relatively soon. I imagine it was like jumping on the moon in low gravity. The second time I stayed up a bit longer. The 3rd time I started flying but after a few seconds I got kinda scared and started thinking about what would happen if I fell. So I chose a place to land and willed myself down. I landed in a somewhat busy location. It was a pier/bridge by the ocean. I did several more nose-plug RCs to confirm I was dreaming, then walked up to a girl and started having sex with her. I stopped after a bit and walked into this covered mall. I looked at my right hand and it looked completely normal. I thought about how I had just done a CAN-WILD. I distinctly remembered my alarm going off and the conscious process of entering this lucid dream. I saw another girl at a booth and started having sex with her. Then a guy came over and said I couldn't do that here. I walked back outside. I couldn't remember any of the March TOTM, so I decided to ask someone for a waking TOTM (which I think was for February). Right as the guy started to answer, I woke up. I checked my phone. It had been 6 minutes and 30 seconds since my alarm went off. I estimate the dream entry took about 30 seconds, so this lucid dream was about 6 minutes, which feels accurate to my dream time.

It felt so amazing to have such a long lucid dream. I did notice that I was running a lot because I felt pressured for time. Nevertheless, I'm very satisfied. I'm going to continue to practice like this until my schedule clears up some.

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## FryingMan

CAN-WILD or Alarm DEILD is a great technique if you can get back to sleep in seconds after an alarm.

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## broth

Definitely. It doesn't always work, but when it does it's quick and easy. And when it doesn't, it gives you a chance to renew your intentions. I'm sure your halovision setup will be good for CAN-WILD!

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## fogelbise

Congratulations on a nice, lengthy LD Broth! Yes, you've got your can-wild alarm set up nicely for you. For anyone else reading this, the trick to making it easier to notice the alarm and drift back to sleep can have to do with things like auto-dismiss or auto-snooze, as well as the sound-type of the alarm and volume (nothing too jarring or alarming - haha). I know options like that are available through the free android app Alarm Clock Xtreme and must be available on a similar iPhone app. 

Did you have any tips for the alarm that you've found Broth? Also which MILD variation are you using?

Congrats again! Glad to hear that you are able to maintain some practices through the crazy times!

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## broth

Thanks Fogelbise. I had another lucid dream last night, also a CAN-WILD. T was in the bedroom when I entered the dream so it was a sex dream. Needless to say I won't be journaling that one here. Sorry guys. But I can say that I was able to maintain lucidity throughout the entire experience which was good. Hopefully I don't waste the next lucid completely on sex.  ::tongue:: 

As you mentioned, I do use Alarm Clock Xtreme for Android. It had the best configuration of alarms that I have found so far in a free app. You can select the ringtone (or use vibration). You can do an increasing alarm volume, where it starts off very soft and progressively gets louder. You can set the amount of time it goes off for before snoozing or dismissing. And most importantly, as you said, it has an auto-snooze and auto-dismiss feature which is necessary for CAN-WILD. I personally am a fairly heavy sleeper. I have a ringtone set to go off for 5 seconds, with vibration, progressively getting louder, and it auto-snoozes after the 5 seconds. I have the snooze set for 25 minutes. I start that about 1.5 hours before I wake up for the day which means it goes off about 4 times before my final alarm for the day.

Some people might be worried about losing sleep, but I don't think it's a huge deal. If the CAN-WILD works, I'm asleep within 30 seconds of the alarm. If it doesn't, I do a short MILD and I'm asleep within 1-2 minutes. So I might lose 5-10 minutes of sleep at the most. We all wake up many times during the night so I don't think it's a big deal. It's also after sleeping soundly for 6 hours.

As for the MILD method, it was something I found in the induction methods section of the forum. I'll try to find the link. Basically, you wake up several times in the morning (the book suggests an alarm). Each time, you perform a nose-plug RC and become aware of your surroundings. You then visualize yourself performing a nose-plug RC and you tell yourself you will perform one soon. Repeat this several times throughout the morning and it should lead to a FA or a DILD. I liked this because it seems like a more concentrated form of MILD. It gives your one thing, a nose-plug RC, to focus on repeatedly. I've found that when I do this, it often leads to doing that action in a dream. In fact, there is a LD report earlier in this thread where I became lucid from doing something very similar. And that was before I ever read that thread!

Asleep: 12:45
WBTB: 6:30, 6:55, 7:20, 7:45
Awake: 8:00
Lucids: 1

1. Sex lucid. Not journaling. I stayed asleep through everything though so that's a success.

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## fogelbise

Congratulations on the enjoyable LD! I still pursue those kinds of dreams and see nothing wrong with it…though maybe I pursue them a little less than before. You can have so many different experiences that I can't give them up entirely!

When using auto-snooze after 5 seconds of alarm ringing, do you turn off the gradually increasing volume feature and just go full alarm for those 5 seconds? I find that 5 seconds isn't long enough for it to get loud enough to notice - if the gradual increase of volume feature is activated.

I can see how that MILD method could induce FA's and help catch FA's and other dreams. Thanks for sharing.

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## broth

I do use the gradually increasing volume, reaching full volume at the 5 second mark (which is the shortest period of volume crescendo offered by this app). I use a relatively "jarring" ringtone right now, which is a series of short beeping sounds. 

It doesn't always wake me up. And sometimes, it wakes me up and I'm too alert and not in a state from which I can enter an LD. Or perhaps I'm just not in REM sleep. But often, it wakes me up just enough where I remain still and in a dreamy state of consciousness that is perfect for entering an LD. I think it's just a matter of fooling around with the settings until you find something that works for you. I was lucky in that I naturally tended to stay still when waking up from this alarm, but I do sometimes move before I realize what I'm doing. Like anything, it just requires practice.

The nice thing about this alarm is the variety of sounds and lengths it lets you choose from. You could always set a 10 second auto-snooze, with 5 seconds to peak volume, which would almost definitely wake you up. However, with a 5 second auto-snooze, I find that by the time I'm somewhat awake and conscious, the alarm is already almost finished so I can let myself go back to sleep.

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## fogelbise

I actually missed the "5 seconds to peak volume" option - didn't scroll down far enough and mine was at what must be the default of 60 seconds. Thank you for pointing that out. Most of my LDs come from SSILD or MILD after WBTB and usually 1-2 hours before waking, but I have experimented with this DEILD alarm method off and on and I plan to set one alarm on auto-dismiss daily for a 2nd chance for an LD closer to my waking time.

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## broth

I think that's a great idea. Definitely can't hurt. 

I looked at that 60 seconds to peak volume. It just takes so long to get to a noticeable level that I don't think there's any reason for it. Unless you're the type of person who gets very jarred and alert from an alarm and you need to be woken up as gradually as possible. But I think in terms of training to have lucid dreams, learning to not move after an auto-snooze alarm is one of the easier skills to pick up!

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## broth

Hi guys,

It's been 2.5 years since I've logged in or posted. I recently decided to renew my LD practice. My living and work situation has changed significantly so I've had to rethink my approach.

1. I work full-time 9ish - 5ish meaning I cannot tolerate much sleep loss and I have less time for day practice.
2. I sleep next to possibly the world's lightest sleeper so any alarm is out of the question (even probably vibrating alarms)

I'm actually happy about the 2nd point because I was relying on an auto-dismiss alarm for CAN-WILD as you can see by reading my previous work book entries. While this worked, I'd prefer a method that does not rely on external tools and which works no matter when/where I go to sleep. I've decided to focus on DEILD (with MILD as a backup) since it doesn't require an alarm and there is minimal loss of sleep. It doesn't rely as much on great dream recall or keeping a consistent dream journal (I haven't had much issue remembering lucid dreams). I'm also familiar with DEILD style dream entry from CAN-WILD.

My goal for now is to use intention/visualization/auto-suggestion to recognize when I wake up during/after a dream and to stay relatively still with eyes closed. I'd like to recognize several of these so called micro-awakenings each night. Obviously I'll try for a DEILD (or a MILD if necessary) but for now I'm just focused on recognizing when I wake up and staying still. I'll update daily with my progress. 

Happy dreams!

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## broth

Asleep: 12:00ish 
Micro-WBTB: 1 (natural, unknown time)
Awake: 7:40
NLD: 1
Lucid: 0

1. Vivid dream with good recall but of a personal nature so I won't be sharing details.

Throughout the day yesterday I did RCs/SAT and auto-suggestion to recognize when I wake up during the night and to stay still. Last night before bed, I re-affirmed that intention with visualization. I recognized waking up once during the night and I quickly remembered to stay still. I didn't notice the end of the proceeding dream, but I think I recognized that I woke up fairly quickly. I'm not sure why but I didn't attempt DEILD or MILD before quickly falling back asleep. Overall, I'm satisfied since I noticed an awakening. But I'll keep focusing on this intention until I'm recognizing several each night and staying still.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:15ish 
Micro-WBTB: 2 (natural, unknown times)
Awake: 7:35
NLD: 2
FA: 1
Lucid: 0

1. I had a dream which I've since forgotten. I 'woke up' in my bed and grabbed my dream journal and wrote down that it was a reoccurring dream. I also wrote down the word Quebec. I realized on my subsequent natural wakening that this was an FA.

2. I woke naturally and attempted DEILD, however I had either woken up too much or it was not the right time. So I recorded my previous dream in my journal. I'm in my parents apartment speaking with them. One of my co-workers, who I've never seen outside of work, was sitting at a counter drinking a glass of juice. I told my mother that they shouldn't buy a $2,200 TV as they didn't need it and that's way too expensive. I said they could find even a nice Samsung at $800 in the size they want. My parents looked at my co-workers and asked if this was true. He confirmed. I also remember my mother mentioning that something in my dad's car had broken, further stretching their budget.

3. I'm in a McDonalds playground with my girlfriend. We are wearing climbing harnesses and are hooked into climbing ropes. However the ropes are low to the ground and horizontal. She is able to slide across the playground somehow, but I'm repeatedly getting stuck to the ground. One of the guides walks over and tries to help me out.

Last night was a good night in terms of natural awakenings and recall. I had an 'FA' and recognized two natural micro-awakenings. I also attempted DEILD and then MILD on one of the awakenings.

During the day yesterday, I began doing Hufik's Gravity RC. I'm finding that I can keep a level of awareness on my body weight without interfering with daily life. Right now it takes effort and attention, but I'm sure over time it will become second nature. This seems more natural to me than something like ADA, which I found interfered more significantly with my ability to carry out daily tasks.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:30ish 
Micro-WBTB: 2 (natural, unknown times)
Awake: 7:35
Fragment: 1
Lucid: 0

1. Fragment of being on DreamViews and seeing a user who I've been wanting to talk to online.

I recognized two natural awakenings last night. After one I tried for DEILD but I believe I woke up quite a bit before I recognized the waking. I fell asleep before attempting MILD. I know on those two awakenings that I remembered previous dreams but I forgot them by the morning. I can't turn on a light to record my dreams because I'll wake my girlfriend (same for audio recording). It's a little frustrating but on the other hand I know I remembered those dreams on waking so I'm confident I would remember a lucid dream as well.

I continued with the Gravity RC yesterday. I'm working on finding my unique way of performing that RC throughout the day without impacting daily life. Right now I seem to focus on the feeling of body weight in my arms/hands primarily, except when walking where I focus often on the feeling of weight in my legs/feet. Tonight, I will begin writing down a journal of my day before bed. It seems like a good exercise for improving day and night recall.

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## broth

7/21/19

Asleep: 12:45ish 
Micro-WBTB: 2 (natural, unknown times)
Awake: 10:45
NLD: 2 or 3, not sure if one was a continuation or a separate dream
Lucid: 0

1. I was riding in a car on the highway. I noticed a silver car driving recklessly, weaving in and out of lanes and driving fast. It passed a car on the left and immediately swerved back into that lane on the right. Seconds later there was a big crash and I assumed that the another car had tried to change lanes at the same time and they collided. I stopped and spoke with the police regarding the crash. They advised that it was not necessarily the fault of the driver of the silver car.

2. I'm not sure if this is a continuation of the previous dream or a separate dream. I recalled these dreams upon final wakening in the morning. I am being questioned by the police. I'm chased and I run. I'm pursued into a building. I run through it trying to lose the police. Eventually, I come to a cafeteria where it seems that they feed homeless people. I eat with them and try to blend in. Eventually I am surrounded by police. But it turns out that this whole operation was a sting against one bad cop.

3. I'm at a grocery store with someone and with my girlfriend. I'm feeding corn on the cob directly to my girlfriend and I have deja-vu about this event (though we've never done that in real life lol). There is a memory gap. Then I'm watching a flood at a house and at a beach. The water is slowly receding back into the ocean. We aren't allowed to use the beach until all the water recedes.

I was happy with today because on when I woke up for the final time, while I had the sensation of having recalled a few dreams earlier, I could not remember any specifics. I continued to lay in bed and let my mind wander, and I eventually recalled these 2 or 3 dreams. I also noticed 2 natural awakenings and tried for a DEILD on one occasion. I continued with Hufik's Gravity RC. I am focusing mostly on my hands/arms, and on my legs when I walk.

I recognized two natural awakenings last night. After one I tried for DEILD but I believe I woke up quite a bit before I recognized the waking. I fell asleep before attempting MILD. I know on those two awakenings that I remembered previous dreams but I forgot them by the morning. I can't turn on a light to record my dreams because I'll wake my girlfriend (same for audio recording). It's a little frustrating but on the other hand I know I remembered those dreams on waking so I'm confident I would remember a lucid dream as well.

I continued with the Gravity RC yesterday. I'm working on finding my unique way of performing that RC throughout the day without impacting daily life. Right now I seem to focus on the feeling of body weight in my arms/hands primarily, except when walking where I focus often on the feeling of weight in my legs/feet. Tonight, I will begin writing down a journal of my day before bed. It seems like a good exercise for improving day and night recall.

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## broth

Asleep: 1:30ish 
Micro-WBTB: 2 (natural, unknown times)
Awake: 10:00
Fragment: 1
Lucid: 0

1. Fragment of running for president. 

I recognized two natural awakenings. On one, I tried a MILD and focused a lot on the sensation of gravity before going back to sleep. I continued with Hufik's Gravity RC, focusing a lot on hands/arms and legs when walking.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:15
Micro-WBTB: 2 (5:00, 6:15 by alarms)
Awake: 7:40
NLD: 3
Fragment: 2
Lucid: 0

1. This one is kind of a fragment. It's the earliest dream I remember in the night. I'm not able to write down my dreams during the night, so by the time I woke up for the day my memory had faded quite a bit. I'm in bed with my girlfriend and another girl. We all start kissing. I remember thinking during the night after waking up that I was semi-lucid during this dream. The reason is that during the dream I wasn't worried about kissing this other girl because I knew it wasn't real.

2. I'm in a tall apartment building near the top floor. I see a cute dog on the roof of the adjacent building. I'm assuming his/her owner took them up there for a walk? My girlfriend and I wave to the dog and make funny faces. Suddenly the dog walks to the edge of the roof and tries to jump to our balcony!! It reaches the edge of the balcony but then slips and falls...we then see a girl, his/her owner, walking up with three other white dogs. She falls to the ground crying.  :Sad: 

3. My girlfriend and I are in the same tall apartment building. This dream is highly fragmented but I remember we walked outside, and I noticed we were now walking on grass, meaning we somehow are now on the ground floor. I tell my girlfriend that it is weird that we are somehow now on the ground floor. I think that shows some element of awareness.

4. I'm in my parent's apartment with my mom. There is an Amazon speaker on the kitchen counter and my mom wants to show me how it works. She says a command, and suddenly the speaker starts to emit smoke. It then starts to catch on fire. It emits water in an attempt to put the fire out, almost like there was a built-in fire suppression system? It doesn't work and the flames continue to grow. I start to panic. Some items on the kitchen counter catch on fire, then the stove top! My mom doesn't seem concerned - she is just sitting there blankly. I remember thinking that her reaction was really strange and abnormal. I scream at her to get the fire extinguisher and tell her I might need to pull the fire alarm. Finally she gets up with some urgency to find the fire extinguisher. I'm woken by an alarm.

5. Fragmented memory. I'm in an office or apartment building on one of the upper floors. I see two of my coworkers, N and K. N tells me I forgot something on the bottom floor.

Good recall and relatively high awareness last night. I decided to set two alarms to ensure that I practiced MILD (recently with natural awakenings I haven't always performe MILD before going back to sleep). Unfortunately, I faced some insomnia this morning after the alarms. I think this vibrating wrist alarm might wake me to much to fall back asleep quickly, unlike my previous 5 second auto-dismiss alarm. My girlfriend is also an incredibly light sleeper and was tossing and turning all morning after the alarm went off. I think it might be more effective to continue focusing on increasing awareness of natural awakenings and using them effectively.

Yesterday, I tried something a little different in terms of day practice. Instead of focusing exclusively on the Gravity RC, I focused on general mindfulness with an emphasis on bodily feeling. Meaning I tried to remain in a state of mindful awareness throughout the day, and made sure to critically reflect on bodily feeling (including body weight). I'm not sure how my practice will progress, but I want to maintain a relatively constant state of awareness of something that differentiates the dream state from the waking state. I'm not sure if general mindfulness will do this, since many meditators focus on mindfulness without becoming frequent lucid dreamers. FryingMan says elsewhere on the sit that it takes mindfulness plus critical reflection in order to recognize the dream state. I would agree because mindfulness as I understand it is noting one's thoughts, sensations, experiences, etc without judgement. I'm not sure this would lead on its own to a recognition of a dream state. Mindfulness + critical reflection on body weight could work, since body weight is generally different between waking and dreaming. Other options could be general awareness plus critical reflection on how you got to a particular location, on what is occurring at the moment, and on how you subjectively feel. But for now I will stick with body weight since I think that could be a quick way to critically reflect and determine state.

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## fogelbise

Hi Broth, it's great to see that you are back at it and that you're keeping good notes! Are you thinking about doing any WBTBs (via natural awakenings) on your days off? I guess it would only work if your partner got up earlier or you were able to get up quietly/slowly enough to not wake your partner.

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## broth

Hey fogelbise! Thanks for responding, it's great to hear from you again as well. How has your practice been going? I'm on a business trip at the moment so I have a hotel room to myself. But I'm planning on doing micro-wbtb via natural awakenings when I'm back home, but not getting out of bed. I just want to become aware of the natural awakenings, then go right into a MILD/SSILD induction. Hopefully once the Gravity RC starts working I won't have to worry about waking my girlfriend up anymore!

July 22
Asleep: 12:30
Micro-WBTB: 2 (5:00, 6:15 by alarms)
Awake: 8:30
NLD: 1
Lucid: 1

1. The alarm wakes me and I go to the restroom. I lay down and perform MILD, then SSILD. My awareness drifts and suddenly I become aware and feel a weird rushing sensation. I know I'm close to entering a dream, but I become too excited and it stops. I lay still and focus on the sensation of breathing, while imagining myself plugging my nose. Quickly I feel the rushing sensation again and soon I know I'm dreaming. I'm in the hotel room. I sit up and remember to check the sensation of gravity (since I've been doing the Gravity RC and I was wondering how it would feel in a dream). I've been maintaining awareness of gravity in my arms/hands, so that's where I naturally check. Gravity feels heavy and wrong. At one point, gravity seems to pull in the wrong direction (horizontally). Although the feeling is hard to describe, it's very noticeably abnormal. I then get out of bed and walk to the door of the hotel room. I fear that maybe I'm awake, even though I can clearly breathe through my nose and gravity felt weird (once I stopped consciously checking gravity it stopped feeling like anything). I wake up. I'm happy because I remembered to check the feeling of gravity and because it felt abnormal so it seems like it's a viable ADA-RC target for me.

2. This is a reoccurring dream. I'm with my dad at a shop with paddles for a game. They cost $30 which I think is too expensive. My dad agrees but says we should buy them anyways. He doesn't understand why that doesn't make sense. We end up going to another shop which has very high quality paddles for a better price. I don't know what the game actually is.

Personally, I'm interested in self-awareness and try to be mindful throughout the day. With gravity, there seems to be a very obvious difference between the waking and dreaming states which is good for use as an ADA-RC target. But I'm not sure if there's a similarly obvious difference between the sense of self in dreams and waking states. Or is there is an effective way to integrate the Gravity RC (or other ADA-RC targets) with mindfulness? These are questions I'd like to answer.

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## broth

I was on a business trip the rest of last week, drinking every night with a somewhat erratic sleep schedule (I blame my co-workers). Needless to my practice changed a little during this time. I continued my dream journal and remembered a decent amount of NLDs but I was not as consistent on inductions. I also continued the Gravity RC.

Asleep: 11:30
Micro-WBTB: 1 (Unknown, natural awakening)
Awake: 7:30
NLD: 0
Lucid: 1

1. I wake up naturally (or because my girlfriend was moving around in the bed). I'm slightly more alert than on other natural awakenings, and instantly remember my intention to lucid dream. I've been having trouble performing a full MILD induction on natural awakenings because I'm generally too close to sleep. This time I decided to do SSILD as it requires less active interaction. I don't remember doing this for long before drifting and possibly falling asleep. I become aware laying in bed, with the sensation of breathing through my plugged nose? I soon feel vibrations but become too aware/excited and the feeling stops. I relax and focus on the sensation of breathing through a plugged nose, and soon the vibrations return and I realize I've "fallen" into a dream. I know I'm in my bedroom and when I open my eyes that's confirmed. I get out of bed and walk to the door. I remember being scared in my last lucid dream of trying to phase through the door, so this time I tell myself I will do it. I take a few running steps to the door and jump through. It works! My memory becomes hazy because I haven't journaled this dream until now. However, I remember checking the sensation of gravity as I walked around my apartment to improve my Gravity RC. Gravity felt less strange this time, but still recognizably different than waking life. I'd describe it as slightly heavier/thicker gravity. Again, once I stopped consciously focusing on the sensation of gravity, I stopped feeling it. I decided to have sex and went back in bed, knowing that someone would be under the blankets. It happened and I had sex, but decided to stop before too long as I didn't want to wake up. I also remember worrying that I would make noise in real life if I continued. I again phased through a door and went outside. I tried to do long jumps to test gravity and the sensation of flight. I was only able to jump slightly farther than normal. Then I woke up. 

I'm really happy as this lucid dream lasted a long time for me. It isn't quite as crisp and clear as other lucid dreams I've had, and there are certainly memory gaps and fuzzy moments. But during the dream I remembered that I'm doing the Gravity RC in real life, I remembered my previous fear of phasing through doors, and I worried about whether I would make noises in real life while having sex in my dream. So I'm confident that this was truly lucid. I also was aware through the entire process of waking up from the dream.

I will continue to focus on the Gravity RC and general self-awareness. During natural awakenings, I will do MILD or SSILD or a combination of both, whichever feels appropriate.

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## fogelbise

I seem to have weeks between visits lately but I see you had some nice successes there! Congratulations! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them and I will get back to you eventually.

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## broth

Thanks Fogelbise! I haven't been updating my journal on a regular basis so I'll give a quick update on my progress since the last entry.

For the past few weeks, I've continued with daytime awareness but I've shifted toward general mindfulness (think Mindfulness in Plain English Vipassana meditation) rather than focusing on gravity specifically. I've had two brief moments of lucidity, both of which followed the same pattern in terms of induction. It's a pattern that you will have seen several times before in my journal. After a WBTB, I drift off (and maybe even fall asleep?) before snapping back to awareness. I immediately notice that I'm in the process of "falling into a dream" (or maybe I'm even already asleep and it's a false awakening?) and I normally have the sensation of breathing through a plugged nose even though I'm either awake or else I'm falsely awake. I use this sensation of breathing as an anchor, and I generally know that I've entered a dream after several seconds.

Many of these false awakenings/DEILD entries seem to occur after WBTB + SSILD/MILD (though sometimes I don't even do the SSILD/MILD). Since that's normally how my LD's begin, I figure I should focus on inducing them in that way. As I stated a month ago in my return to Dreamviews post, I still don't want to lose much sleep so I don't want to set many alarms throughout the night. I'm planning to set one alarm after about 5 hours of sleep to do an SSILD/MILD induction (or something like FILD/DEILD if I'm extremely tired) and hope that this along with my mindfulness practice will cause more of these WILD/DEILD/FA inductions. Lately, I haven't been getting much sleep so I've been too exhausted to practice during the night, even if I set an alarm. I either don't notice it, or I instantly fall back asleep. That will change once I start getting enough sleep again.

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## fogelbise

It's definitely a journey...each person seems to need quite different paths to get good at this and it sounds like you are well on your way to finding your path. Keep it up  :smiley:

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## FryingMan

Getting enough quality sleep and having a regular sleep schedule are both very important to improving the quality of dreams and to having lucid dreams.  I myself am terrible about maintaining an early, regular bed time.   One month in my first year of practice, I decided to dedicate myself to going to bed at the same, relatively early time, every night, something like 10pm.   Within a couple weeks I was starting to have regular, long, epic dreams, and I think I had at least a couple LDs in there as well.

General mindfulness is awesome.  I'm a huge fan of mindfulness and "being a lucid person," 24/7.   For lucid dreaming, though, I find I must also add in specific, strong intent to be lucid in dreams, and to recall dreams.  If you're not doing that, try adding in some LaBerge (ETOLD)-style reflection/intention moments where you specifically really stop, examine your surroundings, thoughts, and think, "hey, this could be a dream *right now*." Look around, do a RC, slowly, carefully.   And if you find that you are awake, don't get upset,  just sort of shrug it off and affirm to yourself, "well, the next time I am dreaming, I remember to recognize that I am dreaming" or whatever works for you.    Then imagine that you are dreaming, visualize getting lucid in your dream, and fulfilling your dream goals (I would imagine taking off flying).

Try this for a while and see how it affects your dreaming!

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## broth

Hi all, 

After another several year pause, I've returned (again)! Many more life changes have happened, but I always seem to find my way back to Lucid Dreaming and exploration of consciousness. I wanted to establish some form of routine before posting here again, and so I've been practicing for the last ~10 days. 

Fogelbise and FryingMan, thanks again for your words of support and encouragement throughout my workbook. I think the forum has died down considerably, and I'm not sure if Fogelbise is still active. But FryingMan, I can tell you that your post describing your Unified Theory of Lucid Dreaming (Pay Attention, Reflect, Recall) makes so much intuitive sense and provides a (somewhat) practical approach to implementing Sageous' fundamentals, and I believe it will form the basis of my sustainable daily and nightly practice moving forward (more below...).

As with any long-term goal, the key to success in Lucid Dreaming is surely consistency of practice. And to be consistent, I need to establish a routine which is sustainable. I was able to find that type of routine for physical activity (one daily walk + 30 minute work out), and I'm sure I can find the same type of thing for LDing. That being said, I need to create some personal rules from the outset that will help me avoid the mistakes of the past: 

1. No alarms - First, less chance of waking my girlfriend. Second, waking up naturally reduces the chance of insomnia, and I'm often in a better state for lucid dreaming induction. I believe that daily mindfulness practice and setting intentions will allow me to continue noticing when I wake up throughout the night.
2. No ADA or ADA/RC. Every time I read Hufik's gravity-RC, the draw of daily lucidity is hard to resist. But I'm just not sure this practice is sustainable for me with the challenges of real-life. I think an awareness practice, combined with moments of reflection/recall (à la FryingMan/Sageous) will be more sustainable.

Based on my previous LDs in this workbook, it's clear that a quick MILD/SSILD induction following natural awakenings seems to work for me, and does not require alarms nor significant sleep loss (usually). I would like to focus only on this "technique", while cultivating the fundamentals of self-awareness and memory by implementing FryingMan's motto (Pay Attention, Reflect, Recall), as well as some prospective memory exercises.

With regard to this workbook, I will no longer write out my dreams. Instead, I will keep notes on bed time, wake time, number of natural awakenings noticed, number of NLDs recalled, and of course number of LDs. This should take no more than 5 minutes, even if I add notes on progress / issues.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:45
Awake: 8:15
Natural Awakenings: 2
NLD: 2
Lucid: 0

On the first natural awakening, I quickly recognized my intention to remain still and lucid dream. I experienced almost immediately a sensation of paralysis (whether real or imagined) and due to "anxiety" I forced myself to move my head. I then relaxed, and experienced the same thing (paralysis and forced movement) 2 more times! If I had remained calm and focused on the dream sensations, I probably would have entered a dream. Next time I'll do my best to focus on any images, sounds, etc. 
After the 2nd natural awakening, I was quite awake. I performed a very short MILD sequence, then some SSILD cycles. Eventually I fell asleep. I had a vivid NLD where I recognized an oddity in time. My GF sent an important text message for work just before 8pm (the deadline?), but then I saw the time on the phone of a friend a few minutes later and it was 6pm. I recognized that this didn't make sense, but almost immediately my alarm woke me up.

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## FryingMan

> Hi all, 
> 
> After another several year pause, I've returned (again)! Many more life changes have happened, but I always seem to find my way back to Lucid Dreaming and exploration of consciousness. I wanted to establish some form of routine before posting here again, and so I've been practicing for the last ~10 days.



Welcome back!  Life indeed happens, as I've experienced myself poignantly over the last 6 years of on-again off-again LD practice, after life threw me a series of serious curveballs.   I believe Fogelbise is still around, it's just that as you note there's been so little traffic on DV as of late that the workbooks have been mostly idle.

I'm glad my Unified Theory of Lucid Dreaming struck a chord with you!   It still seems to me to be the key for fostering more and stronger lucidity, in both dreaming and waking states.

Every time I return to the practice from a lapse, I always wish I'd stuck with it, at least in some way, shape, or form.   One big reason for the breaks may be burnout -- so use that enthusiasm to help drive your intent and your practice, but perhaps try to find that balance (the "B" word again!) between practice and non-practice activities.

I think probably the best long-term results come with settling in to a practice that integrates well with waking life.   Determining what that is takes experimentation, research, and effort, but it's worth it!

Just this morning I tried a Raduga "The Phase" style DEILD attempt during a late morning waking, that led to a fairly vivid non-lucid where I did at the end start talking/thinking about dreaming and even did a nose pinch RC (which failed because I kept trying to pinch tighter and tighter to stop the air flowing in order to "prove I was awake!"  Oops!).    I've never done much with DEILD.    But I've always believed that the most successful long-term LDers make use of all methods, and create a kind of "ritual" that they perform on many/most/every waking.   Something like: 

+ notice waking, remain still
+ immediately try to DEILD (1-2 minutes, say)
+ recall dreams
+ WILD/MILD
+ fall asleep

Best of luck, and remember that it can take a while for your mind to get back into mindful/lucid/dreaming mindset.  

Have fun and enjoy the journey!

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## broth

Hi FryingMan, good to hear from you! I read the last few posts in your workbook - I'm currently going through a situation with an immediate family member being re-admitted to the hospital for a serious disease, and I understand that it impacts priorities, stress levels, and everything else in life. I hope you're doing well. 

I agree with you in terms of wishing I'd stuck with lucid dreaming practice, and with needing to find the appropriate balance. A routine that can be followed even during periods of transition and change. I'm hoping that following your unified theory, some prospective memory exercises, then DEILD/MILD/SSILD after natural awakenings will be sustainable for me, but I'm open to modifying it if I find that some part of the process is causing me to lose consistency. 

If you were nose-pinching in the dream, and thinking about dreaming, then I'm sure a lucid is not far behind! 
I would really love to become proficient with DEILD, since I've had a few experiences with it through the use of an auto-snooze alarm. It requires very little sleep loss, the transition is fast and relatively easy, and you enter the dream with self-awareness mostly in-tact. That said, without awakening from a lucid dream, it's tough to catch the awakening early enough.

Good luck to you as well!

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## broth

Asleep: 12:00
Awake: 8:15
Natural Awakenings: 3
NLD: 3
Lucid: 0

I noticed at least 3 natural awakenings, including 1-2 caused by my girlfriend waking up early for work. I didn't perform MILD for fear of waking up too significantly and not being able to get back to sleep. Being a light sleeper, I need to refine my routine to work well when sleeping next to someone. I think trying to catch DEILDs or, if that doesn't happen, then performing SSILD quickly and letting myself fall asleep without delay are potential options for these nights. 
I also try to pay attention/reflect during the awakenings, without causing myself to "wake-up" too much.
In any case, I had vivid and fairly long dreams last night and can remember a few weird moments that occurred. I'm very happy that my recall seems to be improving, and the dreams seem to be more detailed and incorporate more senses/awareness.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:50
Awake: 8:20
Natural Awakenings: 3+
NLD: 3+ (fragmented)
Lucid: 0 (Woke up immediately following nose-plug RC, see notes)

I woke up at least 3 times throughout the night, and remember several NLDs, some fragmented and others a bit longer.
At one point, I had a FA and looked over at my dream journal and saw that I had made no entries, and I thought about the fact that I hadn't woken up much throughout the night and had low recall. As it turns out, this FA happened relatively early in the night. I then performed a nose-plug RC and felt a little air pass. I thought for sure I was awake (sound familiar, FryingMan?) and tried again 2-3 times. Suddenly, the "dream feeling" washed over me and I realized it was a dream, and then I woke up immediately! On going back to sleep, I again had the sensation of paralysis a few times which caused me to try to move my body, but I'm not sure if this paralysis occurred within another false awakening or if I had truly woken up and was in the process of falling asleep. I do remember trying to stay calm and focus on the images rather than the physical sensation of paralysis, but at some point I fell asleep (or the FA ended).

I then went on to have a few more NLDs and natural awakenings, in which I noticed elements from my waking life of the past few days. However, I didn't recognize these elements as odd within the dream.

2 things that I think I can improve moving forward. First, as FryingMan discusses in his unified theory, I need to continue the practice of paying attention and reflecting throughout the night, especially when following natural awakenings. Second, I haven't been performing full MILD and/or SSILD inductions during the awakenings. I'm not sure if it's due to being too tired, or from fear of insomnia, but I've been just barely setting intention (and even that's being generous) and then falling asleep. Next time, I'll make an effort to more clearly set my intention and perform the induction.

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## FryingMan

I'd count that as a lucid -- you were in a dream, did an RC (even if a not entirely clear one, and yes, all too familiar!), realized you were dreaming, then woke up.
As for intention and insomnia, try adding in juuuuust a liiiiitle bit more intention, slightly stronger, slightly longer, before allowing yourself to fall asleep.  IMO, you definitely want to (usually) err on the side of falling asleep rather than risk insomnia and loose dream time.

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## broth

Yeah I guess it could be seen as a very short lucid. Either I woke up from excitement, or I became lucid during the transition to the waking state as my consciousness moved out of sleep. 
And that's good advice with regard to always ensuring I can fall asleep, and just extending the inductions only insofar as it won't (shouldn't) affect my ability to fall back asleep.


Asleep: 12:30
Awake: 8:20
Natural Awakenings: 1
NLD: 0 (fragments)
Lucid: 0

Girlfriend slept over. Woke up once during the night, but went back to sleep quickly. I remember having some dreams, but only remember very fleeting emotions/images. I need to focus on my intention/expectation before falling asleep, and not just during nightly awakenings.

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## broth

Asleep: 2:00
Awake: 10:30
Natural Awakenings: Don't know the exact number, but several
NLD: 2
Lucid: 0

Went out and drank some good whisky last night. Went to sleep late and woke up late. I had a very vivid and enjoyable dream, and remember a decent fragment of a second dream. However, I didn't practice any inductions during any of my natural awakenings throughout the morning. Nevertheless, I continued with day practice as well as thinking of lucid dreaming, and I know it's one day closer to consistent lucid dreams!

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## broth

Asleep: 1:00
Awake: 9:00
Natural Awakenings: 2+
NLD: 1 + 1-2 fragments
Lucid: 0

When I woke up naturally for the 2nd time during the night, I remembered a dream but decided not to write it down because I was too tired. On waking up in the morning, I had that sensation of having dreamed and felt certain emotions, but I couldn't remember the dreams. After laying in bed searching for 10 minutes, I finally recalled a a decent part of one dream and one or two fragments from other dreams. I didn't perform any induction methods during the natural awakenings. I definitely need to push myself more during the awakenings. That said, my day practice is consistent which is a good sign. On top of that, in one of the fragments from last night I remember being outside with someone, and being under the impression that we were given a pill/medication that made us forget what happened previously or how we arrived at the area. I think I recognized the oddity of having appear in a location "from no where" (a dream forming) but I came up with a story to explain it away rather than recognizing it as a dream.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:45
Awake: 8:15
Natural Awakenings: 3
NLD: 2 decently long and vivid dream scenes + 2 fragments
FA: 2 back-to-back FAs which led to LD
Lucid: 1

I woke up at what felt like a relatively early time in the night. I remembered a vivid dream scene as well as a fragment, and decided to write down notes so that I wouldn't forget by the morning. I went back to sleep and was woken abruptly by my girlfriend's alarm at 7:00. I eventually fell back asleep and had 2 FAs which led to an LD. In the first FA, I was writing my dream journal on a silver "dry-erase" board. I thought to myself how practical it was for journaling. I then "woke up", walked around a bit, and realized I had just been having an FA because there was no longer a dry-erase board on the night stand. Instead there was just my usual journal. I decided to lay down in bed and write down the FA. As I was laying there, I suddenly realized that I was still dreaming, and felt the "dream feeling" permeate the scene, although I'm not sure what (if anything) caused that initial moment of lucidity/self-awareness. But I felt excited/anxious and the dream seemed unstable. I stayed there for a few seconds, and decided to become aware of the sensation of gravity. I didn't really feel the weight of my body pushing into the bed as I lay there. After a few seconds, I decided to get up out of the bed, but I almost immediately woke up for real. Next time I will try to remember to DEILD. When I woke up for good to my alarm, I remembered another vivid dream scene and an additional fragment.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:30
Awake: 8:15
Natural Awakenings: 2
NLD: 3 decently long and quite vivid dreams + 1 fragment
FA: 0
Lucid: 0

My dreams tonight were quite vivid, present, and long. In one dream, I discussed lucid dreaming and even lay down for a WILD-style entry (on a base on the moon). I experienced a transition to "sleep" (sounds, images, sensation of floating, etc.) but tried to move my body too early and "woke back up". I then left the building and spoke about the experience with a friend, who was holding a book on LDing. Clearly, the subject is on my mind. Earlier, I had felt the sensation of floating as I walked on the moon. In waking life, I've been using the sensation of gravity as an RC and it seems to be making its way into my dreams.
With regard to day (and night) practice, I continue to pay attention and reflect on my experience throughout the day, recalling sometimes where I've come from. At night, I set the intention to recognize my natural awakenings and during these awakenings I pay attention and set an intention to recognize the dream state. I'm feeling satisfied with the progress so far.

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## FryingMan

On a couple occasions I dreamed about doing a WILD and then got lucid!   Easiest "WILD" I've ever done  :smiley: .
And congrats on the lucid!

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## broth

I bet! Did you become lucid once the Wild "transition" occurred successfully? And then did you realize that the induction happened within a dream?
And thanks!

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## broth

Asleep: 2:30
Awake: 7:50
Natural Awakenings: 1
NLD: 1 recurring dream 
FA: 0
Lucid: 0

On a work trip and my flight was delayed, so I got into town late. I continued with consistent day practice, but I slept deeply and only remembered fragments of a reoccurring dream.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:30
Awake: 7:45
Natural Awakenings: 1
NLD: 1 + 1 fragment
FA: 0
Lucid: 0

Still on work trip until Friday. Went out with co-workers last night and drank a lot of whiskey. Slept deeply, noticed one natural awakening and promptly fell back asleep. I continued with day practice, but did not practice any inductions. As long as I continue with consistent practice during this trip, I'll be happy regardless of the outcome.

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## broth

Asleep: 2:15
Awake: 9:45
Natural Awakenings: 4
NLD: 3 + 1 fragment
FA: 0
Lucid: 0

Just got back from my work trip. Obviously my sleep schedule has been messed up for a few days due to the travel and hectic schedule. I've continued with consistent day practice, and last night I woke up seemingly after each dream during the morning hours and was able to write the dream down before returning to sleep. The dreams were vivid, with more clarity and awareness. I believe the day practice is having an impact, and I'm satisfied because I'm finding a routine of practice that is sustainable even during crazy periods that require deep concentration during the day and changing sleep schedules at night.

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## broth

Asleep: 2:00
Awake: 10:00
Natural Awakenings: 1
NLD: 1 fragment
FA: 0
Lucid: 0

I ingested some weed oil yesterday afternoon for the first time in a while. I wanted to see how it would affect my dreaming. Obviously 1 night is not enough to draw any strong conclusions, but I think I'll be hesitant moving forward since it seemed to have a big impact on recall and overall awareness during the night. I continued with day practice yesterday, and will keep pushing forward!

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## broth

Asleep: 12:45
Awake: 8:20
Natural Awakenings: 2
NLD: 2 fragments
FA: 0
Lucid: 0

I was a little sick yesterday, and felt fatigued all day with headache and sore throat. I continued with day practice, but fell asleep deeply. Despite that, I remember two natural awakenings throughout the night, as well as two dream fragments. For the last, I have a strong sensation of it being a long and vivid dream, and I remember certain fleeting images and emotions, but I just can't quite seem to recall the dream. In any case, consistency of practice is the most important thing and in that respect, I'm doing well.

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## broth

Asleep: 12:50
Awake: 8:20
Natural Awakenings: 1
NLD: 2 dreams, 1 of which was particularly long and vivid
FA: 0
Lucid: 0

I'm feeling much better today, and I think that was reflected in my recall and in the vividness of my dreams. Both were re-occurring dreams that I've had before, with minor variations. That said, a few weeks ago I was remembering several natural awakenings per night, whereas recently that has not been the case. I think that is in part caused by the work travel and changing sleep schedule, being sick, and the stress of preparing to move into a house. But I want to make an effort to set my intention each night before sleeping to recognize each natural awakening. I think this helps with recall and allows me to reset my intention to lucid dream throughout the night.

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## FryingMan

Hey broth, how's it been going this last week?

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