# Lucid Dreaming > DV Academy > Current Courses > Intro Class >  >  Taylord94's Workbook

## taylord94

Hey, I'm Taylor and you're reading my work book! :Bliss: 

*Reality Checks:*
-Nose-Plug
-Finger-through-hand
-Hand-through-door

*Dream Signs:*
-Fear
-DC's telling me I'm dreaming
-Game scenes
-Contradictions

*Short-Term Goals:*
-Have a lucid dream by the end of October!
-Have a WILD
-Have a DILD
-Fly in a lucid dream.
-Control elements in a lucid dream.
-Wake up at 4 every morning by autosuggestion. (This was an old skill of mine that I seem to have lost over time.)
-Remember to repeat mantras during the day
-Be more aware through the ADA program
-

*Long-Term Goals:*
-Be able to lucid dream at will.
-Master WILD and DILD
-Have fun
-Teach lucid dreaming to others

*Lucid/Dream Recall History:*
-I recall one to two dreams per night and various dream fragments.

*Current Technique:*
WBTB, DILD/WILD

*WEEK 1:*
This week I will complete lesson 1 and begin lesson 2.
*Lesson 1*
DONE!
*Lesson 2*
Practice MILD for two weeks along with ADA.
Practice WILD for two weeks

*WEEK 2:*
*Lesson 2*
Finish the last week of practicing:
1.)MILD along with ADA
2.)WILD

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## paigeyemps

Hooray for rainbow-colored text!!  ::happyme:: 

Welcome to the intro class, Taylor  :smiley: 

So I was wondering, which particular element would you be interested in controlling?

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## taylord94

> Hooray for rainbow-colored text!! 
> 
> Welcome to the intro class, Taylor 
> 
> So I was wondering, which particular element would you be interested in controlling?



Haha thanks. (: I thought I'd make it look somewhat attractive.
And I'd really love to earth bend.. Something about how still and structured it is, yet the power to still manipulate it just makes it such a great idea in my mind.

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## paigeyemps

> Haha thanks. (: I thought I'd make it look somewhat attractive.
> And I'd really love to earth bend.. Something about how still and structured it is, yet the power to still manipulate it just makes it such a great idea in my mind.



Ooh, nice, nice! Beware though, the earth element is one sneaky bastard. Lemme explain. Ever since, I wanted to be an earthbender. Loved it. Obsessed with it. I always thought I'd be an earthbender in dreams. But no. Earth apparently doesn't like me very much  :Sad:  Whenever I'd try, I would always fail, and if I did succeed, it would be very short-lived. I dunno why, but in dreams, I am always a waterbender. Whenever I try to waterbend, it just comes so easily and effortlessly. I hated myself. But then I learned to love it. 

*And this has been Elemental Confessions with paigeyemps. Goodnight folks.*


LOL. But that's just me. I hope you have great luck with earthbending!

(why am i even talking about it like it's a normal and legit thing hahaha)


Hmmm so, why do you wanna lucid dream? Aside from it's fun and awesome of course  ::D:

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## taylord94

> Ooh, nice, nice! Beware though, the earth element is one sneaky bastard. Lemme explain. Ever since, I wanted to be an earthbender. Loved it. Obsessed with it. I always thought I'd be an earthbender in dreams. But no. Earth apparently doesn't like me very much  Whenever I'd try, I would always fail, and if I did succeed, it would be very short-lived. I dunno why, but in dreams, I am always a waterbender. Whenever I try to waterbend, it just comes so easily and effortlessly. I hated myself. But then I learned to love it. 
> 
> *And this has been Elemental Confessions with paigeyemps. Goodnight folks.*
> 
> 
> LOL. But that's just me. I hope you have great luck with earthbending!
> 
> (why am i even talking about it like it's a normal and legit thing hahaha)
> 
> ...



That was great information. I've looked at your workbook and you're quite the comedian. Haha. I like that.

Hmm.. Aside from fun and awesome?? I guess just to escape for a bit and to tap into my subconscious. 

I'd post more but I'm at school right now and it's kind of hard on my iPhone.. I look forward to chatting with you soon!

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## paigeyemps

> That was great information. I've looked at your workbook and you're quite the comedian. Haha. I like that.
> 
> Hmm.. Aside from fun and awesome?? I guess just to escape for a bit and to tap into my subconscious. 
> 
> I'd post more but I'm at school right now and it's kind of hard on my iPhone.. I look forward to chatting with you soon!



Aww thanks :3 and that's alright, I'll see you around. I'm on here like everyday. Maybe we can talk in a DVA chat class, will you be joining us there?

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## taylord94

> Aww thanks :3 and that's alright, I'll see you around. I'm on here like everyday. Maybe we can talk in a DVA chat class, will you be joining us there?



Of course I'll be there! I'm so willing to do anything to have a lucid dream. I'm quite serious about this.  :tongue2:  You're an enjoyable converser.  :tongue2:

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## paigeyemps

Yay awesome! We might talk on regular chats too if there are no DVA classes, I'm mostly on #DV or #LucidDreaming just spouting nonsense and scaring all the newbs talking to people and stuff  ::D: 


Btw, how long have you been keeping a dream journal? If you have a good number of entries, you can check this out to identify some of your dream signs: http://www.dreamviews.com/f11/cant-f...s-read-135497/

Good luck!

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## taylord94

> Yay awesome! We might talk on regular chats too if there are no DVA classes, I'm mostly on #DV or #LucidDreaming just spouting nonsense and scaring all the newbs talking to people and stuff 
> 
> 
> Btw, how long have you been keeping a dream journal? If you have a tood number of entries, you can check this out to identify some of your dream signs:
> Good luck!



I've kept many dream journals over the past couple of years.. I've lost them all except my recent online one that I started on about a week ago. I'll bookmark that link for when it becomes useful, though!

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## taylord94

Not many dreams the past couple of nights.. I wonder what's up? It could be my new routine.
I'm waking up at 4 in the morning and using MILD and hoping for a DILD. (: It's kinda useless without dreams though, eh? Haha. Oh well. This too shall pass.

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## Kaenthem

You can use autosuggestion to help with your recall, It helped me whenever I had bad recall.

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## taylord94

> You can use autosuggestion to help with your recall, It helped me whenever I had bad recall.



I seem to have a difficult time with autosuggestion. How do you go about "autosuggesting" something? Do you just tell yourself and let that be the end of it.. or?

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## CanisLucidus

> Not many dreams the past couple of nights.. I wonder what's up? It could be my new routine.
> I'm waking up at 4 in the morning and using MILD and hoping for a DILD. (: It's kinda useless without dreams though, eh? Haha. Oh well. This too shall pass.



No problem.  We all have to repair our dream recall from time to time.  First, make sure you are getting plenty of sleep.  The longer REM periods in the early morning are where you usually get your best, most vivid dreams.  (And most lucid dreams!)

Assuming that you are keeping up with your dream journal, my go-to dream recall repair technique is Mastermind's Day Journal strategy http://www.dreamviews.com/f15/if-you...ams-try-93005/.  It really helps raise your general level of awareness throughout the day and you'll find your dream recall at night improving as well.  Every time I hit a recall rut, I do this.  Rut's over.

As for autosuggestion, here's one thing that you can try.  Go to sleep thinking about how vivid and memorable your dreams are.  Get excited about them.  If you keep a written dream journal, write a couple of sentences about what vivid, interesting, and meaningful dreams you have.  If you do not keep a written dream journal, perhaps a mantra to this effect could work.

But my best advice is to try out that day journal!  It works wonders.

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## taylord94

> No problem.  We all have to repair our dream recall from time to time.  First, make sure you are getting plenty of sleep.  The longer REM periods in the early morning are where you usually get your best, most vivid dreams.  (And most lucid dreams!)
> 
> Assuming that you are keeping up with your dream journal, my go-to dream recall repair technique is Mastermind's Day Journal strategy.  It really helps raise your general level of awareness throughout the day and you'll find your dream recall at night improving as well.  Every time I hit a recall rut, I do this.  Rut's over.
> 
> As for autosuggestion, here's one thing that you can try.  Go to sleep thinking about how vivid and memorable your dreams are.  Get excited about them.  If you keep a written dream journal, write a couple of sentences about what vivid, interesting, and meaningful dreams you have.  If you do not keep a written dream journal, perhaps a mantra to this effect could work.
> 
> But my best advice is to try out that day journal!  It works wonders.



Thanks! I like this idea. It's like telling your mind that EVERYTHING is important. I can see how this would play out for dream recall. Thanks for the idea!

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## taylord94

After trying King Yoshi's WILD method last night, I had no lucid dreams.  :Sad:  I did, however, fall asleep REALLY quickly while using this technique. Before I had time to even change my position, as the method entails, I had fallen asleep. I woke up shortly after, though, and turned over.. After feeling uncomfortable for a while, I just turned back to my original position and fell asleep as usual while doing some autosuggestion. No dreams occurred until 3 AM when my alarm went off.

After turning my alarm off and going back to sleep, I had a dream that I was playing hide and seek with guns. Another about going into a new school with interesting classes (read my Dream Journal for more info!)
Then I woke up at 6:45. I forgot what I woke up for and just went back to sleep. I later found out it was for the #DVA class today. (Sorry OpheliaBlue! Haha).

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## CanisLucidus

It seems like recall's picking up again for you!  That's very good.  Let us know if any trouble returns there but it sounds like you are back on track.

I noticed that you are trying WILD now.  That's no problem but I know that originally you had planned to stick with MILD for two weeks in order to give it a full trial run.  Did anything happen that made you decide to cut things short?

BTW, there's an extra space in this chunk of your Dream Journal URL: "str1= taylord94".  I'll attempt to use my Amazing Special Forum Powers in order to remove it.  Edit: or not.  I could either make it into a real URL or wrap it in "code" tags I guess.  Looks like it's something the forum software is doing to the string that you didn't originally have typed in there.  Kind of odd.

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## taylord94

> It seems like recall's picking up again for you!  That's very good.  Let us know if any trouble returns there but it sounds like you are back on track.
> 
> I noticed that you are trying WILD now.  That's no problem but I know that originally you had planned to stick with MILD for two weeks in order to give it a full trial run.  Did anything happen that made you decide to cut things short?
> 
> BTW, there's an extra space in this chunk of your Dream Journal URL: "str1= taylord94".  I'll attempt to use my Amazing Special Forum Powers in order to remove it.  Edit: or not.  I could either make it into a real URL or wrap it in "code" tags I guess.  Looks like it's something the forum software is doing to the string that you didn't originally have typed in there.  Kind of odd.



My dream recall is becoming better.. I'm super happy about that. (: It's also becoming clearer.
 I read of someone who had a dryspell and used Yoshi's technique and had a LD that night, so that's why I attempted it. I thought it might be some surefire way, haha.
In relation to my DJ, new users can't post links, so I just used (dot).. Maybe that's what's messing up?
EDIT:
Try the new link! It takes you straight to my profile, and from there, you just press "View Public Dreams"

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## CanisLucidus

Ah yes!  I remember that breaking in phase where the forum wouldn't let me post URLs.  That's funny.  I thought you were just super paranoid about some bot finding your dream journal and leaving horrible spam comments all over it.   ::D: 

I have fixed it so that it points to your lucidpedia DJ.   ::thumbup::

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## taylord94

Thank you so much! It really is annoying though. xD They could shorten the wait from a week to 3 days. Haha. (: Feel free to read through my dreams, now. xD

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## taylord94

So, I really thought I was going to become lucid after yesterday's shared lucid daydream excercise.. I guess my own mind put me in line.. Not only did I not have a lucid dream, but I didn't even have any regular dreams.. How unfortunate. Oh, well. Better luck next time.

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## paigeyemps

Awww. That's alright! That's not a failure. Think of it as... Your brain warming up...the calm before the storm..  ::D: 

Give it some time, I'm sure the daydreams will sink in soon!

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## taylord94

Thanks Paige. I hope you're right!  ::D:

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## taylord94

Last night I tried doing a WBTB. It was a feeling I've never felt before. I was more numb than usual. It was cool. Sadly, after falling back asleep, I don't recall any dreams. Hopefully that will change tonight!

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## CanisLucidus

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the feeling of the WBTB.  Hey, about how long did you do your MILD mantras for?  I actually won't "judge" your answer... I'm just curious what other people do.   :smiley:   Did you find it pretty easy to fall back to sleep?

I resisted doing WBTB when I first learned about lucid dreaming.  It just sounded like so much trouble.  In the end, though, all but two of my lucid dreams have come by way of performing my chosen technique during WBTB.  Pretty amazing!

Keep at it!

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## taylord94

> I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the feeling of the WBTB.  Hey, about how long did you do your MILD mantras for?  I actually won't "judge" your answer... I'm just curious what other people do.    Did you find it pretty easy to fall back to sleep?
> 
> I resisted doing WBTB when I first learned about lucid dreaming.  It just sounded like so much trouble.  In the end, though, all but two of my lucid dreams have come by way of performing my chosen technique during WBTB.  Pretty amazing!
> 
> Keep at it!



I don't remember exactly how long.. Maybe three minutes? The whole time I was pretty numb. It took until I just rolled over and went to sleep to fall back asleep.

On another note:
LUCID DREAM LAST NIGHT.. 
It was, however, very hazy.. To be honest, I didn't even remember having it until a couple of minutes of "backtracking" my dreams.. I had awareness all of a sudden and I was stuck.. I remember trying to lift my torso up, and it wouldn't move. I was, like, bound down.. After a second of wondering why, the dream crashed.. It was lucid, nonetheless.. PROGRESS. ^_^

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## CanisLucidus

Awesome!!  Congratulations on the lucid!

Don't worry about how stable it was or whatever problems you had.  Those are going to sort themselves out in due time.  Most of my early lucids were dominated by weird problems of some kind or the other.  It's part of the journey and dismantling these obstacles can be a lot of fun.

I have had *the precise problem that you experienced*.  I got pretty desperate, so I attempted an out-of-body style exit from my body.  Basically, I created a new head, torso, and arms and sat up out of my "old body".  My legs and hips were still glued down when the dream scene collapsed, though, so it was only a very partial success.

This is my old DJ entry for it if you are curious: Sunny Day "Sleep Paralysis" - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

For what it's worth, this never happened to me again, so don't worry too much about it.  If you find yourself thinking about it, picture what you would have happen differently this time.  Don't spend too much time seeing yourself "stuck".  Imagine freeing yourself and moving straight to your lucid goals.

Congratulations again!

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## taylord94

> Awesome!!  Congratulations on the lucid!
> 
> Don't worry about how stable it was or whatever problems you had.  Those are going to sort themselves out in due time.  Most of my early lucids were dominated by weird problems of some kind or the other.  It's part of the journey and dismantling these obstacles can be a lot of fun.
> 
> I have had *the precise problem that you experienced*.  I got pretty desperate, so I attempted an out-of-body style exit from my body.  Basically, I created a new head, torso, and arms and sat up out of my "old body".  My legs and hips were still glued down when the dream scene collapsed, though, so it was only a very partial success.
> 
> This is my old DJ entry for it if you are curious: Sunny Day "Sleep Paralysis" - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
> 
> For what it's worth, this never happened to me again, so don't worry too much about it.  If you find yourself thinking about it, picture what you would have happen differently this time.  Don't spend too much time seeing yourself "stuck".  Imagine freeing yourself and moving straight to your lucid goals.
> ...



Thanks. (: I saw myself as a black figure.. The surrounding enviroment was a sunny day in a field.. Hmm.. I hope this will be a lucid learning curve.

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## CanisLucidus

> Thanks. (: I saw myself as a black figure.. The surrounding enviroment was a sunny day in a field.. Hmm.. I hope this will be a lucid learning curve.



Interesting how similar the scenery was to mine.  Wow.  Did you by any chance get entranced by the sky and sort of stare up at it for a while?  I enjoyed the sky for a while and when I decided to move again I'd gotten frozen.

Anyway, none of that matters.  That's probably the only time you'll have that happen to you.  You're the only player in this game and if you need to move, you can move.   :smiley: 

No matter how you slice it, getting lucid is always a victory.  You'll become more and more familiar with the sensation.  That memory builds up over time and (I believe) helps you with future DILDs.   ::goodjob::

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## taylord94

> Interesting how similar the scenery was to mine.  Wow.  Did you by any chance get entranced by the sky and sort of stare up at it for a while?  I enjoyed the sky for a while and when I decided to move again I'd gotten frozen.
> 
> Anyway, none of that matters.  That's probably the only time you'll have that happen to you.  You're the only player in this game and if you need to move, you can move.  
> 
> No matter how you slice it, getting lucid is always a victory.  You'll become more and more familiar with the sensation.  That memory builds up over time and (I believe) helps you with future DILDs.



I actually was looking towards the sky.. I don't remember getting entranced by it, though..
And yes, a victory indeed.  ::D:  I hope I'll get to the point to where if I'm not aware in a dream, I just become aware by instinct.. The ultimate awareness goal. Haha.

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## paigeyemps

Congrats Tay!  :Rock out:

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## taylord94

Thanks Paige.

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## taylord94

Sorry for the double post. Theres no edit button in the mobile site. I had an unsuccessful WBTB attempt past night. I only rememberd one dream and it was very hazy. :/

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## Xanous

Ah no worries dude. Some night are worse than others.

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## taylord94

> Ah no worries dude. Some night are worse than others.



Indeed.. It could be because I WBTB'ed at 3 AM instead of 4 AM when I had my LD last time. I'll try 4 AM again next time.

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## CanisLucidus

> Indeed.. It could be because I WBTB'ed at 3 AM instead of 4 AM when I had my LD last time. I'll try 4 AM again next time.



Good observation.  Going back to a time that's worked in the past sounds smart.

I'm glad you included this detail about your WBTB time.  It's always good to include as many of these sorts of details about your attempts as you can, successful attempt or otherwise.  You'd be surprised just how much you can forget in a few days or just how much insight into larger patterns you can gain by looking back over your old records.  Trends that never occurred to you day-by-day can suddenly become very obvious when you look back over many weeks of records.

This is also helpful for staff since it gives us a sense of what your nights are like, what tendencies you have in your sleep patterns, that sort of thing.  So don't be afraid to add any detail that comes to mind!

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## taylord94

> Good observation.  Going back to a time that's worked in the past sounds smart.
> 
> I'm glad you included this detail about your WBTB time.  It's always good to include as many of these sorts of details about your attempts as you can, successful attempt or otherwise.  You'd be surprised just how much you can forget in a few days or just how much insight into larger patterns you can gain by looking back over your old records.  Trends that never occurred to you day-by-day can suddenly become very obvious when you look back over many weeks of records.
> 
> This is also helpful for staff since it gives us a sense of what your nights are like, what tendencies you have in your sleep patterns, that sort of thing.  So don't be afraid to add any detail that comes to mind!



Thanks.

So, the next time I have a dream worthy of public posting, I'll start a new DJ on this website so members can comment and whatnot.. It seems like it will make it easier for you guys. (:

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## taylord94

I've been having lots of school work to attend to, so in result, I've also been taking lots of naps.. Along with hardly any dream recall during the nights, so I'll be resisting naps from now on and see if improvements are made. Also, I have made my first DJ entry!

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## OpheliaBlue

I read it!  ::happy:: 

and replied.

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## taylord94

So, today I noticed I never set my WBTB time back to 3AM, so I did that today. Hopefully that increases my lucidity somehow (I know my recall hasn't been so great). I'll be staying awake for 10 minutes tonight. Wish me luck!

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## paigeyemps

Good luck! :3

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## Chimpertainment

Ive switched my wbtb time closer to my wake up time. Our REM cycles last longer the more hours we sleep. That was the premise for me switch. I tried it once so far and my awareness is definitely higher. 
Just a thought...moving your wbtb around to find out what works best seems like a good idea. Its all about finding that sweet spot of awareness and sensitivity.

 :Rock out:

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## taylord94

But, REM cycles can be moved around.. They are surely not a set cycle for a 24 hour period. It fixes itself to our own sleep schedule.. Which makes me wonder.. could we train ourselves to have the longer REM cycles at the beginning of our sleep so WILDing is easier? Just a thought.

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## Chimpertainment

I could be wrong but it is my understanding that following the deep sleep cycle, REM cycles are shorter then longer as you sleep longer.

Here is a quote from WebMD





> Usually, REM sleep occurs 90 minutes after sleep onset. The first period of REM typically lasts 10 minutes, with each recurring REM stage lengthening, and the final one may last up to an hour. Polysomnograms show brainwave patterns in REM to be similar to that recorded during wakefulness. In people without sleep disorders, heart rate and respiration speed up and become erratic during REM sleep. During this stage the eyes move rapidly in different directions.
> 
> Intense dreaming occurs during REM sleep as a result of heightened brain activity, but paralysis occurs simultaneously in the major voluntary muscle groups. REM is a mixture of encephalic (brain) states of excitement and muscular immobility. For this reason, it is sometimes called paradoxical sleep.
> 
> The percentage of REM sleep is highest during infancy and early childhood. During adolescence and young adulthood, the percentage of REM sleep declines. Infants can spend up to 50% of their sleep in the REM stage of sleep, whereas adults spend only about 20% in REM.



Ill bet there is a way to lengthen REM. Perhaps maintaining awareness helps, i dont know. Would be an interesting experiment...

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## taylord94

Long time, no post, no progress.

I've been extremely unable to have an opportunity recently due to school. I'll be putting more effort, so you'll be hearing of my progress soon!

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## paigeyemps

> Long time, no post, no progress.
> 
> I've been extremely unable to have an opportunity recently due to school. I'll be putting more effort, so you'll be hearing of my progress soon!



Ahh, no worries. So how are you managing reality checks and awareness at school? I have an idea: try to remember reality checking everytime you switch rooms or subjects. That can also help because you might have more dreams about school :3

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## taylord94

So, the night before last I was finally aware of a dream.. It was kinda at the end, though. Right when I knew it was a dream I woke up. After realizing it was a dream, I woke up and didn't move nor open my eyes. That's a first for me.. I just couldn't seem to rebuild the dream through a DEILD, though.. I just turned over and fell asleep. I hope I'm getting closer to in-dream awareness!

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## paigeyemps

Sure you are! Just having achieved this means you're doing good progress  ::D:  Congrats!  :Party:

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## taylord94

So, today I bought the DreamZ app for iPhone. I'm hoping this will be my ticket to becoming lucid soon! I know most people don't agree with things like this, as they feel it will become a crutch, but I won't be using it for the sole purpose of this being permanent. I'm hoping if this thing gets me lucid for a few lucid dreams, I'll remember the feeling of a regular dream and become aware naturally.. It's a sort of MILD, I suppose. Wish me luck, guys!

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## Xanous

I haven't had much luck with apps and I am not familiar with this one, but if it works for you, I say go with it! I have my own set of cheats as well. Let us know how it goes.

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## taylord94

Thanks Xanous. It's suppose to give an auditory cue during the REM phase. It detects the REM phase based on if you are moving or not.

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## OpheliaBlue

> I'm hoping if this thing gets me lucid for a few lucid dreams, I'll remember the feeling of a regular dream and become aware naturally.. It's a sort of MILD, I suppose.



I totally understand, nothing wrong with that! Definitely keep us posted on your results!

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## taylord94

So, the past couple of nights, my earphones have fallen out and the app was giving me troubles.. I'm going to keep trying, though.

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## Chimpertainment

I got one of those apps for my phone...seems to take a while to adjust to my sleeping patterns...Do you still do MILD techniques before bed?

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## taylord94

Yeah. I still do a few minutes of suggestion. 
I think I'm going to have to take a chan of using the app with the speakers instead of head phones. I'm expecting some questions from my grandparents of why such a noise was going off.. Haha.

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## OpheliaBlue

So how did it go with using the speakers instead of headphones with the app?

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## taylord94

> So how did it go with using the speakers instead of headphones with the app?



I never hear it, actually, so I may have to take a chance with going back to headphones so it'll be louder.

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