# Lucid Dreaming > DV Academy > Current Courses > Intro Class >  >  plmnko098's Workbook

## plmnko098

*Reality Checks:*
- Fingers through palm.
- Pinch nose shut and try to breath through it.
- I look at the nearest text and see if it changes when i look away and then back at it. 

*Dream Signs:*
- Items/ rooms being at least twice, sometimes even more, there normal size.
- Not having my watch on (In reality I have wore my watch nearly everyday for the last 6 years).
- Being on a sunny island.

*Short-Term Goals:*
- Being able to recall at least one dream every day.
- Increase the vividness of my dreams.
- Having a successful WILD.

*Long-Term Goals:*
- To be able to fully control my dreams.
- I want to be able to communicate with my subconscious mind. 
- 

*Lucid/Dream Recall History:*
- My dream recall is very random. I started writing down my dreams in November last year, even before i knew anything about lucid dreaming. Some nights i can remember 4-5 dreams while most nights I can barely remember one. I had my first lucid dream last week which brought me to this website after a little research. It was only about a minute long and I didn't do anything other than be amazed that i'm dreaming. 

*Current Technique:*
- WILD combined with WBTB

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## plmnko098

Time I go to sleep - Between 10:00pm and 11:00pm every day.
Time I wake up - 6:30am on week days and 9:00am on weekends. 
Time I have naturally woken up in the past few days - 3:23am, 4:46am and 5:02am. I normally don't wake up in the night be ever since I learned about lucid dreaming I have done nearly every other day so far. This is mainly the reason why I decided to go with the WILD technique. 

*Why I want to Lucid Dream*

I want to be free to be able to do anything that I think of in my dreams. I also want to be able to control my dreams so that when I have a nightmare (every couple of weeks I always seem to have a nightmare of me being chased by something or that I am trapped somewhere and need to escape quickly) I can take control and stop the nightmare or confront it. 

In my first lucid dream it didn't last very long. So in my second one I want to do something that i can't normally do in waking life. For example I want to make an object appear or fly. 


*Night Routine*

My night routine at the moment is that I will go get a cup of water and go sit on my bed. I get my dream journal and put it on my bed side table along side a pen. I will drink some of the water while thinking to myself that I will dream tonight and that I will recall that dream in the morning. I then get into my normal sleeping position and go to sleep while repeating to myself that I will dream tonight and that I will recall when i wake up.

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## OpheliaBlue

Welcome to the Intro Class plmnko! Your workbook looks good. It's cool that you can sleep until 9am on the weekends. That way you can have a longer WBTB if you want, which can make LDing more frequent.

So how did you get lucid in your first lucid dream (WILD/DILD etc)? Just curious.

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## plmnko098

For my first Lucid dream it was a DILD. I can remember walking down a futuristic corridor when I came across a really angry guy. He saw me and for some reason get even angrier so he turned to the wall and punched it. But instead of his hand just stopping on the wall it when right through it like it wasn't there. But there was no hole in the wall afterwards. He then ran off and I went to where he punched the wall. I tried just putting my hand through the wall but I couldn't. I concluded that this was a dream. 

This was before I had even heard of lucid dreaming. Because of this dream I ended up finding DV when searching for on Google for when you realise that your dreaming.

*Last night*

I had a pretty bad night last night. I started going to sleep about 10:20pm last night. It took me ages to finally drift into sleep. I also woke up 3 times during the night. First time at 1:36am, another at 4:41am and another at 6:03am. I then woke up at 6:30am like i normally would. I did't try the WILD technique last night because I just needed the sleep as I have an exam this morning. 

The only thing I remember dreaming last night was that i walked into the kitchen and my sister was cooking pizza. That was it. I try to not move as much as possible when ever i wake up to try and maximize how much of my dreams I recall  but it's didn't help at all today. Do you have any tips on how I can improve my recall?

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## Xanous

::welcome:: 

That's really cool you had a lucid before you knew about lucid dreaming. I can't imagine how bizarre that must have been.

It sounds like you are doing things right for recall. One thing that helps me is keeping a waking journal. I don't know if you have heard of it but basically you just write the highlights (or you can add more detail) of the days events some time before bed. If that gets too time consuming; Another thing CanisLucidus came up with is pausing every 2 hours or so during the day and just briefly spend a few seconds reviewing. This seems to help prep your mind for remembering.

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## paigeyemps

Welcome to the class!  ::D:

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## plmnko098

Thank you for all the welcomes. 





> That's really cool you had a lucid before you knew about lucid dreaming. I can't imagine how bizarre that must have been.
> 
> It sounds like you are doing things right for recall. One thing that helps me is keeping a waking journal. I don't know if you have heard of it but basically you just write the highlights (or you can add more detail) of the days events some time before bed. If that gets too time consuming; Another thing CanisLucidus came up with is pausing every 2 hours or so during the day and just briefly spend a few seconds reviewing. This seems to help prep your mind for remembering.



Yeah it was really bizarre because I didn't really know what was happening or where I was. I will try out the waking journal and see if it helps. 

*Last Night*

Sleep  11:00pm 
Wake up  1:56am
Finial Wake up  9:00am 
WBTB - 5:00am-5:35am

I decided I was going to try and do a WILD last night now that my exams are out of the way. I set my alarm for 5:00am which was 6 hours into my sleep. I stayed up till 5:35am. I then attempted a WILD and it was going well. I couldn't feel most my body and I started seeing a dream being made. At fist it was just white shapes moving around but then they took the shapes of birds. I could see the birds flying around but it was quite blurry. then some ones car alarm went off out side and it shook me awake. I tried again but I got distracted in my thoughts and just fell asleep normally. 

I remembered the most of 2 dreams and a few dream fragments which you can read in my dream journal. One was another nightmare that woke me at 1:56am.

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## CanisLucidus

> I decided I was going to try and do a WILD last night now that my exams are out of the way. I set my alarm for 5:00am which was 6 hours into my sleep. I stayed up till 5:35am. I then attempted a WILD and it was going well. I couldn't feel most my body and I started seeing a dream being made. At fist it was just white shapes moving around but then they took the shapes of birds. I could see the birds flying around but it was quite blurry. then some ones car alarm went off out side and it shook me awake. I tried again but I got distracted in my thoughts and just fell asleep normally.



Wow, it sounds like you were _so close!_  If you could have just held on to that feeling and kept doing just what you were doing, I really think you'd have succeeded with your WILD.

Annoying as it is that your attempt was wrecked, there are just sometimes external factors that we can't control.  I hope you're encouraged by how close you came!  It sounds like you were doing everything right.

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## plmnko098

Sleep - 11:05pm
Wake Ups - 1:15am
Finial Wake Up - 9:00am
WBTB - N/A

I tried out the waking journal last night. About 20 minutes before I went to bed I just wrote down all the main things I did that day. I think it helped but I was lazy last night. I woke up at 1:15am and I remember remembering a dream but I just rolled over and went back to sleep without writing it down.I accidentally left my bedroom window open last night so my room was freezing so all I wanted to do was stay where I was.Then when my alarm went off at 5am. I turned it off and I lay still to see of I could remember any dreams, especially the one I should have written down earlier. While doing this I drifted off to sleep by accident and didn't wake up again until 9am. I only remembered a small fragment of a dream.





> I hope you're encouraged by how close you came!  It sounds like you were doing everything right.



Yeah, now that I know how close I came to doing it I am even more determined to succeed at it. I am really annoyed at myself that I let my self fall asleep again last night before I could have a go at WILD again.

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## plmnko098

Sleep  10:40pm
Wake ups  3:27am
Finial Wake up  6:30am
WBTB  3:27am-4:02am

I think Im making progress with my dream recall. For the past few days I have started to remember quite a few different dream fragments every day. Before I would struggle to even remember one dream fragment a day. The waking journal really seems to help as well. I attempted a WILD again last night but it didn't go much further than the last one. I got to about the same stage where I could see shapes starting to appear but I got excited and I lost this feeling. I tried it again but nothing happened for a half hour so I just went to sleep as it was about 5 and I had to be up soon. 

Unfortunately I was wearing some new shoes today and I have been on my feet for most of it. Now I have some massive blisters on the back of my feet and they really hurt when I try to lie down so I don't think I will sleep every well tonight.

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## iPaula

I think it's funny that you don't have your watch on in your dreams. I have a tattoo on my wrist which is also gone in my dreams.
I hope you'll get another lucid dream soon.

And good luck with the blisters!

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## plmnko098

> I think it's funny that you don't have your watch on in your dreams. I have a tattoo on my wrist which is also gone in my dreams.
> I hope you'll get another lucid dream soon.
> 
> And good luck with the blisters!



Yeah it's really weird how it doesn't show up in my dreams. It would be a really good dream sign if I increase my awareness in my dreams and pay attention to whether or not i'm wearing my watch. Fortunately my blisters didn't cause too much trouble last night. 

Last Night

Sleep  I think between 11:00pm-12:00am
Wake ups  N/A
Finial Wake up  6:30am
WBTB  N/A

Well because of my blisters it took me awhile to drift off to sleep because I couldn't find a comfortable position to lie in. I completely forgot to do the waking journal last night and I remembered part of a dream. I didn't try to do a WILD because my blisters hurt if they touched anything slightly so I couldn't really stay in one position comfortably.

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## OpheliaBlue

Awww, sorry about the blisters man. I know it's hard to sleep when I'm in pain, or if it's too hot/cold. Hope you recover from them soon.





> I think it's funny that you don't have your watch on in your dreams. I have a tattoo on my wrist which is also gone in my dreams.
> I hope you'll get another lucid dream soon.



Sweet! I have a tattoo on my wrist too!! I never thought to look and see if it was there in my LDs. I'm so gonna check now though.

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## plmnko098

> Awww, sorry about the blisters man. I know it's hard to sleep when I'm in pain, or if it's too hot/cold. Hope you recover from them soon.



They don't hurt too much now so hopefully I will get some proper sleep tonight.

I have noticed my dream recall getting a lot better. Before i would probably remember a dream fragment about every other day. However, now i have at least remembered a couple dream fragments and normally most of a dream for the past 6 days. 

I have been trying to figure out when my sleep cycles are during the night so I can time my WBTB right. In the past ten days I have woken up naturally during the night at 1:15am, 1:36am, 1:56am, 3:23am, 3:27am, 4:41am, 5:02am, 6:03am and 7:00am.  They all happened when going to sleep at around the same time.  I'm not really sure about some of them. I guess one ends at 3:35am and one around 4:50am probably. But the other times aren't really near enough to each other to estimate. 

*Last night
*
Sleep  10:30pm
Wake ups  N/A
Finial Wake up  6:30am
WBTB  N/A

Last night i had one of my most strange and abstract dreams. It involved fighting a monster who then dragged me into a portal that took me to another dimension which i could scan space from using a massive picture on the floor of space. I'm really glad that i remembered this one because it was awesome and quite vivid.

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## iPaula

> Awww, sorry about the blisters man. I know it's hard to sleep when I'm in pain, or if it's too hot/cold. Hope you recover from them soon.
> 
> 
> Sweet! I have a tattoo on my wrist too!! I never thought to look and see if it was there in my LDs. I'm so gonna check now though.



I'm very curious if you are able to see your tattoo. Hope you'll find out soon!

@ plmnko098

Sounds like a very cool dream!

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## plmnko098

Sleep  10:45pm
Wake ups  N/A
Finial Wake up  6:30am
WBTB  N/A

I really need to get back into the habit of WBTB and trying a WILD. 

I have been remembering slightly more each night though so I can definitely tell that my dream recall is improving.

My Blisters don't hurt a lot any more so I can sleep comfortably now which should help when WILDing.

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## plmnko098

Sleep  9:53pm
Wake up  2:20am
Finial wake up  6:30am
WBTB  3:25am-4:00am

*WILD attempt 
*
I failed. I got to the stage where I couldn't feel my body and shapes started to appear but I cant hold that feeling for long and it soon disappears.  I really tried last night to stay calm when WILDing. However it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I can't seem to get past that point in WILDing. 

My blisters dont bother me when sleeping so there not a problem anymore. I think now when I wake up writing in my dream journal has become a habit so it just start doing it without thinking which helps on the mornings I really don't feel like doing anything. The waking journal has definitely helped me improve my dream recall. Thanks Xanous for suggesting it to me. 

I didn't think I would stick with this when I first started out. I always tend to start trying something new but end up dropping it after about a week. But this class has helped me stay motivated.

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## CanisLucidus

> I failed. I got to the stage where I couldn't feel my body and shapes started to appear but I can’t hold that feeling for long and it soon disappears.  I really tried last night to stay calm when WILDing. However it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I can't seem to get past that point in WILDing.



That's okay, WILD can be an intricate technique to get the feel for.  You'll definitely get there if you keep at it.

It takes a while to cultivate the will and ability to let everything go, maintain that self-awareness, and just let yourself relax while your body takes you under.  It sounds like you're doing this already, but try to give your physical body no real thought at all.  Your awareness is all that matters.  If you can keep your grip on it _but not so tightly that you keep yourself awake_, you're doing it right.

This took me quite a while to learn but it did come eventually.  It will require patience, though, so I'd suggest continuing strong awareness practices during the day and leave the door open for a DILD _while_ you master the feel of WILD.  The only thing that can stop you from getting there is running out of patience, so giving yourself the opportunity to have occasional DILDs may give you some pleasant surprises that can help sustain your interest.





> I didn't think I would stick with this when I first started out. I always tend to start trying something new but end up dropping it after about a week. But this class has helped me stay motivated.



I'm really glad to hear that.  This class does the same thing for me and I'm really grateful for it.  Your motivation will be key for you.

If you stick with your practices, you _will_ have results.  Time and diligence are the most important ingredients for a successful lucid dreaming practice.  Never, ever underestimate the importance of showing up and putting in the effort -- it's the most crucial piece of all.

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## plmnko098

The dream recall completely went last night. I didn't remember a single thing from any dream I had. 

I tried a WILD again last night but still didn't get any further then before. 





> That's okay, WILD can be an intricate technique to get the feel for.  You'll definitely get there if you keep at it.
> 
> It takes a while to cultivate the will and ability to let everything go, maintain that self-awareness, and just let yourself relax while your body takes you under.  It sounds like you're doing this already, but try to give your physical body no real thought at all.  Your awareness is all that matters.  If you can keep your grip on it _but not so tightly that you keep yourself awake_, you're doing it right.



I am just about to go to sleep right now so when I wake to do a WILD I will keep this in mind.  Hopefully I will have more success then I have had. 

I have been letting my awareness practice through out the day slip for the past couple of days. I have been quite busy and it has just slipped my mind. I really need to get back into doing it again.

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## plmnko098

I had a really busy day on Saturday and I was extremely tired by the time I went to bed. I slept for nearly 12 hours and slept right through my alarm from my WBTB. I only remembered a small dream fragment. 

Today I am going to try and get back into doing my awareness practice.

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## Xanous

> I had a really busy day on Saturday and I was extremely tired by the time I went to bed. I slept for nearly 12 hours and slept right through my alarm from my WBTB. I only remembered a small dream fragment. 
> 
> Today I am going to try and get back into doing my awareness practice.



You probably just needed the rest. Your overall well being comes first.  :smiley:

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## plmnko098

> You probably just needed the rest. Your overall well being comes first.



I guess so yeah. I'm just surprised I managed to sleep through an alarm that was right next to me.

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## plmnko098

I restarted my awareness practice yesterday. I also started reading Stephen LaBerge's book 'Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming'. I know I can find most of the information in the book on this website but it's something that read when doing my WBTB about lucid dreaming without hurting my eyes using a computer. I also used his advice on dream recall about asking questions about my dream to myself to help remember more of it. It seems like an obvious thing to do now but I never thought of doing it before. 

My dream recall was the best it had ever been last night. I remembered quite a lot of small details that I don't normally notice in my dreams. It may have just been a coincidence that this happened when I did the things I mentioned earlier. I will have to see over the next couple of days whether it is or not. I hope not. 

I tried WILDing twice last night. One after a half an hour WBTB at about 3:55am. This didn't go very well and I ended up falling asleep normally after about 20 minutes. The other one was at 7:10am. I woke up at my normal time of 6:30am to get ready for school. When I went downstairs I found out my school was cancelled today because of the snow. This WILD was my most successful one yet. I started to see objects quite clearly but that didn't last for long and the feeling soon went.

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## plmnko098

I really struggled to get to sleep last night. I didn't remember a single thing about my dreams when I woke up this morning.

I managed to keep up with my awareness practice. I have been doing this awareness practice which I find helps with my recall when I do recall dreams.http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...kingyoshi.html

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## Xanous

ADA or really any awareness pracitice is probably the one best things you can do for lucid dreaming. The more lucid you become in the daytime, the more lucid you will be at night. Keep it. It will all pay off soon!

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## paigeyemps

> ADA or really any awareness pracitice is probably the one best things you can do for lucid dreaming. The more lucid you become in the daytime, the more lucid you will be at night. Keep it. It will all pay off soon!



 I totally agree! And even betterwith awareness, you can be lucid while you're awake, and simply _stay_ lucid once you start dreaming.  ::D:

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## plmnko098

> Originally Posted by Xanous
> 
> 
> ADA or really any awareness pracitice is probably the one best things you can do for lucid dreaming. The more lucid you become in the daytime, the more lucid you will be at night. Keep it. It will all pay off soon!
> 
> 
> 
> I totally agree! And even betterwith awareness, you can be lucid while you're awake, and simply _stay_ lucid once you start dreaming.



I have noticed that my dreams seem a lot more detailed now that I have started to do ADA again. I really wish I could have a lucid dream soon so I have something to compare to what I feel now. Hopefully that would make it easier to lucid dream in the future.

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## plmnko098

WOOO! I had my 2nd lucid dream last night. To quote part of it from my DJ.





> She started talking about someone called Jane. I had no idea who she was talking about so I kind of stopped listening to her. We started walking back towards the school. From what I heard her say, I apparently really like this person called Jane. I don’t even know anyone called Jane so I had no idea what she was talking about.  Then she said “You could be with her right now. This could all be a dream” 
> 
> This got me all confused and I stopped walking. She walked on for about 5 steps further and then stopped when she noticed I wasn’t following anymore.  I looked at her confused and then said “Hang on let me check”. I tried to push me fingers through my palm but that failed. I then pinched my nose shut and tried to breathe. To my amazement I could. I instantly knew I was dreaming. I got really excited by this and woke up.



This was the first time in my dream that I was dreaming about dreams and actually thought to see if I was or not. After I become lucid the dream didn’t last very long. I'm guessing because I got really excited and didn't stabilise. I also saw the dream just get pulled away from me. Sounds strange but the dream just seemed to stop and move away like it was a picture moving away from me.  

The all-day awareness is starting to pay off because I have started to notice when something seems off but my mind always finds a way to make it seem normal.

The dream was about me walking home from school when this happened. When I walked to school this morning I actually walked that way and I even saw the person I was talking to on the way there. It was so strange because it was so similar to my dream that I had to make sure it wasn't a dream.

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## Xanous

See? It really works! Congrats! Good ol nose pinch... I love it!

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## plmnko098

> See? It really works! Congrats! Good ol nose pinch... I love it!



Thanks. Now that I know I can do it I am even more motivated to carry on practicing it. 

Lately I have been slacking off when it comes to WILD. I really want to succeed with this technique but I end up waking up to do a WBTB but I end up semi-consciously to just go back to sleep with out thinking most the time.

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## Xanous

Yeah it can be tough finding that right balance between sleep and awareness. I am still toying with this but it seems like most of my WILD successes are really late in the morning after a natural but brief awakening. Maybe try it that way if your WBTB fails?

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## plmnko098

I will try and get back into doing WILD. If it fails I will definitely try your method.

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## plmnko098

Well I managed to fudge up my sleep pattern over the weekend. Friday night was my brother birthday so I was out quite late. Sunday night I forgot about a history essay I had to write for today until about 10:30pm last night. Both of those meant that I was tired for most of the week end. As a result I was too tired to keep up my ADA that I have been practicing.  My dream recall suffered as well but hopefully it didn't dint it too much overall.  :Oh noes:

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## plmnko098

Well my dream recall completely went last night. When i woke up i couldn't remember a single thing, not even a slight feeling about a dream. 

I tried a WILD again last night. I got up at 3:40am which was about 4.5 hours after i went to sleep. I probably should have slept a bit longer but oh well. I stayed awake until 4:00am and the attempted a WILD. For some reason i couldn't keep my mind focused and it kept wondering off and thinking about other things. I ended up drifting off to sleep after about 10 minutes without meaning to.

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## plmnko098

I almost had a successful WILD last night without intentionally meaning to. I went to bed earlier than normal at about 9:20pm because I felt really tired. Just as I was at the edge of falling asleep I remembered that I need to tell a friend something tomorrow. I was remembering exactly what I need to tell him when my whole body instantly felt numb. I knew this was my body going to sleep from past experiences.  I knew that WILD's before sleep are usually quite poor but I figured I would have a go now since it had already started.

 I started doing my usually routine of counting my breaths but it wasn't really working. So I tried something new that I remembered reading on one of the WILD guides. I started to do basic maths problems like 36 x 78. Something that would make me thing about it but not too hard that I can't do in my head. After a few minutes of doing this I started to see some shapes appear and then disappear. I managed to keep myself calm during this which is a huge improvement. 

Then a huge screen like that in a cinema faded into my vision. It was quite blurry. Then I started seeing peoples head appear before the screen all looking at the screen. The peoples head gradually got more detailed but it was dark because the only light was from the projector above me. A man stood up and turned around. He had long hair that I think was brown. He was wearing sunglasses but I could tell that he was looking at me. Then everyone started to stand up, turn around and look at me. 

I could just tell that I wasn't actually part of this dream because I couldn't move or look around. I was observing the dream from the outside. I tried to enter the dream but I couldn't. I tried for what must have been 10 minutes without any luck. It was at this point where I knew I wasn't getting anywhere and gave up. I woke myself up and wrote this down before going to sleep normally.

I attempted another WILD when I woke up naturally at 4:40. I did a 10 minute WBTB. This WILD was completely usefulness. I just lay there for about 30 minutes without anything happening. I gave up and tried to just go to sleep normally as I had to be up in an hour anyway. I had a hard time falling to sleep normally so I guess this WILD failed because I just wasn't tired enough. 

Luckily my dream recall came back last night and I remembered 2 dreams.

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## plmnko098

I had another DILD last night. I attempted a WILD at 3:40am but I must have fallen asleep by accident without realising. In my dream I was feeling light headed and dizzy so I was lying on the floor with my eyes closed. I then realised that I couldn't remember anything before about 10 minutes ago. I figured that I might be dreaming and pinched my nose. I could breath and I knew I was dreaming. This time I tried to stay calm and I just lay there. I remembered that I should probably stabilise and I tried rubbing my hand across the floor. It turns out that the way I was lying in my dream was the same as the way I was lying in bed and I didn't realise I wasn't dreaming anymore because I still had my eyes closed.

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## plmnko098

Well for February I have decided to set myself to goals to finished before the end of the month. 

*Goals*

- Have at least 5 lucid dreams
- Have a successful WILD
- Stop waking up straight after I realise i'm dreaming. 
- Attempt the Task of The Month tasks


I have a question. When I have realised that I am dreaming in my past two Lucid dreams I have woken up straight away with out doing anything. How can I stop this from happening? It's not like as soon as i become lucid i try and fly. It seems as soon as I realise i'm dreaming my mind just goes nope and wakes me up.

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## Xanous

> I have a question. When I have realised that I am dreaming in my past two Lucid dreams I have woken up straight away with out doing anything. How can I stop this from happening? It's not like as soon as i become lucid i try and fly. It seems as soon as I realise i'm dreaming my mind just goes nope and wakes me up.



Are you getting really excited or is it just such a shock that it startles you? Excitement is the fastest way to wake from a lucid dream. I still deal with this issue from time to time.  I think all in all staying calm and relaxed during the whole lucid experience will help. And don't worry too much. Those instant awakenings are really common in the beginning. It should get better with more experience. 

Other than that may be something beyond your control. Maybe you are just at the end of your REM cycle. Or there may be other unknown factors. Do you try to DEILD when you wake from the lucid? I have salvaged many lucids that way.

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## plmnko098

My best guess is that it's the shock of realising i'm dreaming that is doing it. I don't really know because for the past couple lucids I have had, as soon as I have realised that i'm dreaming I wake up.  I usually don't because it's not really an area that i have looked into much. I will go have a look at a couple of guides on it and see if it will help the next time time it happens.

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## plmnko098

Had a busy weekend and not had much time to post. 

I have started to improve my night routine by including the Dream Incubation from Rarecola'shttp://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...-lucidity.html I have found that by doing this my dreams have been slowly becoming more vivid. It wasn't very noticeable for a couple of days but i can defiantly tell the difference now.

I have started to notice that i have been dreaming about going to or being in a big shop like a supermarkets recently. I suppose it could be a dream sign but i normally go into a supermarket everyday so it wouldn't really work.

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## plmnko098

I got really close to having a successful WILD last night. I woke up at 3:40am which was about 5 hours into my sleep. I did a 5 minute WBTB and then attempted a WILD. I find that shortening my WBTB time to about 5 minutes is perfect for me. 

Anyway, I lay there while counting my breaths. All of my other attempts seemed to be paying off now because I have learned to lie there, relax and clear my mind. I started seeing some pretty vivid shapes. One thing that really shocked me was at one point I saw 3 flashes of light within about a second along with 3 very loud clicks. This almost made me wake up because it surprised me. I managed to keep calm and carry on with it. Then my left arm started to ache for some reason. I tried to ignore it but it wouldn't go away. I tried very slowly moving my arm to a different position but it didn't help. It started putting me off a lot and I gave up on that attempt. I sat up in bed and my arm carried on aching for a while so I just went to sleep normally. 

I truly believe I would have succeeded last night if my arm hadn't decided to start aching.

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## Xanous

> I suppose it could be a dream sign but i normally go into a supermarket everyday so it wouldn't really work.



I think it would be helpful to RC every time you go to the supermarket. It can't hurt and I think it _would_ work as long as it doesn't become merely habitual and meaningless.

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## plmnko098

I've had an extremely busy week this week because of school work etc. Therefore I started to lose sleep so my dream recall was basically non existence. All that has now finished for a while so hopefully i can be back into lucid dreaming again and get my dream recall back up to what it was.

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## plmnko098

Well for the past about week and a half i lost most of my motivation for lucid dreaming. I slowly stop writing down my dreams when i woke up, i stopped doing my ADA practice and gave up on doing a WILD. I thought about just completely giving up because i was getting kinda frustrated that it wasn't working. However, earlier today i decided to give it another go and try my hardest to succeed this time and to not give up. So, heres hoping it all goes well this time.

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## Xanous

Hey that's great you are going to give it another shot! 

Maybe you should back off the Ada and try to be a little more sporadic. Ada can be killer. It wears me out. That's why I started being more spontaneous with it. 

Also maybe you were simply trying too hard. I know that when I try too hard not only do I get stressed but I don't get lucid either. 

Just a thought. Good luck to ya!

----------


## plmnko098

> Hey that's great you are going to give it another shot! 
> 
> Maybe you should back off the Ada and try to be a little more sporadic. Ada can be killer. It wears me out. That's why I started being more spontaneous with it. 
> 
> Also maybe you were simply trying too hard. I know that when I try too hard not only do I get stressed but I don't get lucid either. 
> 
> Just a thought. Good luck to ya!



Thanks!

Maybe i was trying too hard so this time i'm going to take it slow and not rush into it like last time. So for starters i'm going to focus on getting back into my sleep routine and improve my dream recall so that i can reliably recall at least 1 dream per night. 

I'm debating on whether to carry on with WILD or to try a different technique. I had a few near successes with WILD but they were few and far between and most of my attempts didn't even get close.

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## Xanous

That sounds like a good plan to me. It's important to keep up with the basics more than anything. Maybe continue with WILD but dedicate only 1 or 2 nights to it? I know WILD sounds ideal because its the one technique that makes you feel more in control but it can get very time consuming and frustrating because it takes so much finesse. There's nothing wrong with backing off a technique and putting it on the back burner for a while. Maybe when you feel a little better about it you could go at if full force again. The last thing you want to do is push yourself too hard.

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## plmnko098

I was thinking that i may try WILD during the weeks ends as to not push myself to do it everyday. Well at least until i can get the hang of it and then maybe do it more times a week when i feel comfortable to do so. But like you said i don't want to push my self too hard and too quickly so i think i will take it slow and see how it works out.

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## plmnko098

I kinda managed to keep with the sleep routine i set myself. I woke up a little later then i really wanted to but i haven't got school this week and i haven't got to go any where today so it's not all bad. I managed to 2 dreams last night as well.

 I had another dream where i was being followed. I have noticed over the last couple of months where i have written down my dreams, i have had a lot of dreams where i am being followed/chased. Last night was the first time that i confronted the thing chasing me. It was a guy with a strange mask. As a result me and the guy with me both got killed when he pulled out a gun and shot us instead of speaking to us. You can read it here if you feel like it 19th February 2013 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I woke up naturally about 5 hours into my sleep. I wrote down the dream i remembered and decided i would give WILD a go since i was already awake. It started out pretty well but i think i stayed awake too long as after laying there for what felt like at least an hour or two with out much happening. I opened my eyes and saw that it had been about 40 minutes. I gave up and went back to sleep normally, which also took ages.

I woke up a couple of times during the night and for the first time i remembered to do a RC each time i woke up.  ::banana::

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## plmnko098

I remembered most of a dream i had last night. It was a weird dream about me getting arrested but no one would tell me why. Although near the dream one thing my DC mum said makes me laugh when ever i think about it. In the dream it was my birthday and I was in a room filled with my family. I was handcuffed and it was deadly serious in the room. Then suddenly my DC mum said "Well, it's been an interesting birthday hasn't it Max". It was just the way she said it that still make me laugh now. 

One thing i have carried on from before is that ever night, while falling asleep i always think of a room in my school. I don't know why i started doing it. I think it has something to do with that was the room that i was in when i became lucid for the 3rd and most recent time so i just thought about that when i went to sleep. Anyway, recently that room has appeared in quite a few of my dreams. I was thinking that now when i go back to school next week and i'm in that room i will hopefully remember to do reality checks etc. So that when ever i'm in that room in a dream, my brain will hopefully think about doing reality check. Just something i hope will work but i don;t know. Maybe it won't, but i'm still hopeful.

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## plmnko098

Well my sleep routine went out the window last night. I don't know how many of you are into gaming but i stayed up watching the Sony Press Conference that didn't finish until about 1:30am. Still got about 8 hours sleep so it wasn't too bad. Too bad that i barely remembered any dreams last night. When i woke up i couldn't remember a single thing from any of my dreams. Luckily, when i was eating breakfast i remembered a slight part of a dream that i managed to scribble down on the back of an envelope before i forgot it again.

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## OpheliaBlue

My recall tends to suck too if I go to bed later than midnight, even if I get 8 or more hours of sleep. I find that the prime time for me is 11pm and then a long WBTB. Better luck tonight!

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## plmnko098

Only after having read your post did i realise that i lost track of time for the past couple of hours. I thought it was only about 9pm. But nope, it's nearly 11pm. For some reason i have a good feeling about to night concerning lucid dreaming. I may try for a WILD to night. It will all depend of whether i can drag myself awake later.

 Anyway i'm off to bed, hopefully i have some luck tonight.  :bedtime:

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## plmnko098

So, yeah. It didn't really go to plan last night. I planned on going to bed right after i posted that last night at about 11pm. But i somehow ended up getting distracted and didn't go to bed until about 12:30am. I also forgot to set and alarm to do a WBTB that i planned to do. Luckily i ended waking up at about half five naturally so i did the WBTB then. I tried a WILD for the first time in a while. It was going well, but i need to practice and keeping my mind focused and not letting it wondering about thinking of what ever. that was what got me last night and i drifted off to sleep normally. Hopefully i have better luck next time.

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## OpheliaBlue

So how has your bedtime and WBTB alarm gone since your last attempt?

I'm having the opposite problem lately: I've been sick so I hit the sack waaay to early, like 9:30pm. Then I have a hard time getting a good solid chuck of sleep when I'm coughing my lungs out  :tongue2:  The good news is there's usually a nice rebound once I'm recovered.

I'm betting as soon as you get a sleep schedule going, it will boost your lucidity as well.

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## plmnko098

Well Friday night i went to bed about the same time again because i just wasn't tried at all until then. 

Saturday night was worse because i didn't get to bed until about 4am. I'm not even sure how or why i did. I just remember not feeling tired again until stupid o'clock in the morning and i got about 5 hours sleep. Surprisely during this 5 hour sleep i remembered quite a detailed dream. 

 Last night i got 4 hours sleep because i'm an idiot and i left all my homework i meant to have done over my week off until yesterday. That took me way too long and i didn't finish until about 2am. I had to be up at 6:30am so again i didn't get much sleep. I really noticed today what that sleep i lost has done. I was drawing a graph today and i kept messing up when counting along the scale. 

But hopefully now that i have to get up at 6:30 and not when ever i felt like it i can motivate myself to go to bed earlier.  I have noticed since i have started writing my dreams down again that if i go to bed at a reasonable time and i get enough sleep i will remember at least 1 dream. 

Hope you feel beter soon.  ::D:

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## OpheliaBlue

Thanks  :smiley:  It's no fun being sick on my 2 days off, but it would be worse if I was sick when I had to work. I have a couple days to recover.

Anyway, yes, keep journaling! I find that even when I struggle getting enough hours sleep, as long as I'm writing down any and everything, my recall doesn't suffer as much. Hopefully now that you have to get up earlier, you'll pass out sometime before 2am  :tongue2: 

Good luck and keep us posted!

----------


## plmnko098

So long story short. I only got about 6 hours sleep again last night. I really need to get more sleep. I plan on going to bed at about 10pm tonight and actually get some sleep. Hopefully i will actually stick to this tonight.

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## plmnko098

WOOO 4th Lucid!  ::muffin:: 

I also got to sleep before midnight  ::D: 

I ended up going to bed at about 11:15pm. Slightly later then I would prefer but at least it was before midnight. The dream in which I got lucid in was when I was in a car that had taken control over itself and was now spinning around on the spot quite quickly. I noticed that the gap I was just in wasn't big enough for the car to do this so I figured that this was a dream. I did the nose plug RC and confirmed that it was. I tried to stop the car but I woke up soon after I tried to do this. 

Unfortunately I woke up in to a FA and I didn't notice. I have just got in to the routine of doing a RC whenever I wake up. But when I woke up in the FA, the alarm clock said I had woken up late so I was rushing. I woke up not long after that. I remembered just waking up and didn't another RC. I confirmed I was not in a dream and that was a FA. I believe that was the first FA I have ever had that I have remembered.

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## plmnko098

2nd night in a row in which i went to sleep at a normal time. I ended up going to bed around 11:00pm and i did remember a dream when i woke up. Unfortunately i woke up about 45 minutes late so i didn't get chance to write down my dream. I forgot my dream before i managed to get a chance to write it down.  :Sad: . I do remember it being quite a weird and freaky dream though.

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## paigeyemps

Congrats on the lucid!  :Party: 

And dont worry about the missed dream journalling, we all have our days. It's the intent that counts, and the commitment to actually try to remember them that makes us remember them more. Cheers

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## plmnko098

Thanks  :smiley: 

I've had a really busy last couple of days, including today. I'm juts leaving a quick update here. I haven't had as much sleep as i would like over the weekend and as a result i had little to no dream recall. Luckily, this morning i recall a dream.  ::D:  When ever i get around to doing it i need to post my dreams on the DJ here.

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## OpheliaBlue

> When ever i get around to doing it i need to post my dreams on the DJ here.



Looking forward to it! The more you journal, the more it helps you recall dreams. And the more you recall, the more we can help you achieve your lucid goals  :smiley:

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## plmnko098

For the past couple of weeks I have slowly slipped out of all of my routines related to lucid dreaming. It mostly started when I got bugger all sleep for quite a few nights in a row and the after that my dream recall never really came back until a few nights ago. By that time I kinda gave up my routine in the morning of writing my dreams down, as I never recalled any. 

However, today when I woke up I recalled a really strange dream that has stuck with me all day and has now prompted me to get back into lucid dreaming. I have finally got around to writing that dream down at 11:30pm  ::D: . Surprisingly I still remember it. 

Unfortunately, I seemed to have misplaced the dreams I did recall at the start of this month. Hopefully I can still find them. At any rate, Im going to update my dream journal on here when I get up tomorrow as it's getting late where I am.

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## paigeyemps

Good to have you back  :smiley:  i hope you find your DJ of your previous dreams

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## CanisLucidus

> However, today when I woke up I recalled a really strange dream that has stuck with me all day and has now prompted me to get back into lucid dreaming. I have finally got around to writing that dream down at 11:30pm . Surprisingly I still remember it. 
> 
> Unfortunately, I seemed to have misplaced the dreams I did recall at the start of this month. Hopefully I can still find them. At any rate, I’m going to update my dream journal on here when I get up tomorrow as it's getting late where I am.



That's great, man.  It's sometimes a bit of a grind getting dream recall booted back up, but sometimes a bolt of lightning can come out of nowhere and get you going again.  Just ride that momentum in.

How do you typically record your dreams?  If you tend to write them down very soon after waking up (and I recommend that you do), it's best to have one consistent place to put them, at least temporarily.  It's easy to misplace them when they're on loose sheets of paper.  I was going through some old papers and found one of mine from the summer of last year (before I even joined DreamViews!)  Needless to say, this was before I started writing everything down in a single notebook.   :Cheeky:

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## plmnko098

I normally record my dreams in a single notepad. I have it on my bedside table and I write any dream I recall in it as soon as I can after waking up. Unfortunately at the start of this month I ran out of room in the notepad so I had to make do with loose pieces of paper. Whenever I went out I always forgot to buy another notepad so for a while I only used loose pages.  

I had them all in a pile in which I fold in half so they would stay together. I put them on the drawers in my room which also had a lot of my school work on as well. I pretty much forgot about them until the other day when I started looking for them. When I did find a pile of paper that looked like it, it just turned out to be a pile of old school work instead. 

I have now found a couple of pages but the majority are still missing. I have looked in the rest of the piles of school work in case I accidently mixed it in with them. Still nothing so I’m not holding out much hope that I will find them. It's a shame because I remember a couple of them being quite interesting.

I'm about to write what dreams I do have written down onto the dream journal here.

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## plmnko098

I've had no luck finding the rest of the dreams i have lost. I have now finally got round to finish copying the ones i do have on to the dream journal here. 

I have been think today about what method i'm going to focus on to get lucid. So far i have mostly only focused on WILD but that didn't really work for me it seems. I'm think of focusing on DILD as thats how i got my four lucid dreams so far. DO any of you have any good tips or can point me towards a good guide on DILD? Cheers.

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## paigeyemps

I personally like this guide: Puffin's DILD Guide - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Good luck, and im sorry about not finding your old dreams. Don't worry, you can make new ones. Good luck!

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## plmnko098

> I personally like this guide: Puffin's DILD Guide - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
> 
> Good luck, and im sorry about not finding your old dreams. Don't worry, you can make new ones. Good luck!



Thanks. I've checked it out and hopefully it will help me get lucid.  ::D:

----------


## CanisLucidus

> I've had no luck finding the rest of the dreams i have lost. I have now finally got round to finish copying the ones i do have on to the dream journal here. 
> 
> I have been think today about what method i'm going to focus on to get lucid. So far i have mostly only focused on WILD but that didn't really work for me it seems. I'm think of focusing on DILD as thats how i got my four lucid dreams so far. DO any of you have any good tips or can point me towards a good guide on DILD? Cheers.



It's a bummer about the old dreams, but lesson learned!  You'll have many, many more.   :smiley: 

As for techniques, I have a few favorites.  MILD is, in my opinion, a really solid, basic induction technique.  It reaches its greatest potential when paired with a WBTB, so my personal choice is to plan at least some WBTBs to help really boost your practice.  I like Naiya's guide to MILD and its focus on imagination and visualization: http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...technique.html

A great way to get trained for a full WILD is to spend some time mastering DEILD in order to learn the feel of it.  A DEILD is really just a WILD under extraordinarily ideal circumstances, so the skills should transfer.  There are a couple of great guides for this on the site:
http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...me-ld-god.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...cid-dream.html

If you're looking for something more exotic, SSILD was a very fruitful tech for me.  I do MILD now, but SSILD gave me a whole lot of LDs.  My warning is that it's very exotic and nobody is completely sure of the reasons why it works.   ::chuckle::   Still, it is surprisingly effective for many people.  Here's the post about it: http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...eam-ssild.html

Good luck with whatever you decide!

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## plmnko098

> It's a bummer about the old dreams, but lesson learned!  You'll have many, many more.  
> 
> As for techniques, I have a few favorites.  MILD is, in my opinion, a really solid, basic induction technique.  It reaches its greatest potential when paired with a WBTB, so my personal choice is to plan at least some WBTBs to help really boost your practice.  I like Naiya's guide to MILD and its focus on imagination and visualization: http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...technique.html
> 
> A great way to get trained for a full WILD is to spend some time mastering DEILD in order to learn the feel of it.  A DEILD is really just a WILD under extraordinarily ideal circumstances, so the skills should transfer.  There are a couple of great guides for this on the site:
> http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...me-ld-god.html
> http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...cid-dream.html
> 
> If you're looking for something more exotic, SSILD was a very fruitful tech for me.  I do MILD now, but SSILD gave me a whole lot of LDs.  My warning is that it's very exotic and nobody is completely sure of the reasons why it works.    Still, it is surprisingly effective for many people.  Here's the post about it: http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...eam-ssild.html
> ...



I've just finished checking out those guides you recommended. The technique i think best suits me at the moment is DEILD. I guess i'm just going to follow the guide and try it out for a while, see how it goes. Hopefully i have better luck with this.

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## plmnko098

So i was going to attempt a DEILD last night but i had a pretty crappy nights sleep. Fro about the first 4 hours i kept waking up every half an hour or so. This got annoying quickly.  :Bang head: 

After reading Dutchraptor's DEILD guide i decided i would learn to recognize when a dream ends. So just before i went to bed last night i repeated the mantra  "I will wake up after my dream". It must have sunk in because when i woke up naturally at 9:40am i remembered to stay still and keep my eyes closed, not knowing that it was now quite a bit into morning.

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## plmnko098

I had a better nights sleep last night. I woke up a couple of times last night but i remembered to keep my eyes close. However, i need to work on staying still as well.  I have high hopes though.  ::D:

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## CanisLucidus

> I had a better nights sleep last night. I woke up a couple of times last night but i remembered to keep my eyes close. However, i need to work on staying still as well.  I have high hopes though.



Great, I'm glad that this is getting easier for you.  This step's a toughie, but it helps tremendously with not coming too far out of sleep.  When you make the journey back into dreamland, it's very helpful to have kept still to make the transition easier.

One thing that has worked really well for me lately with DEILD is when I imagine myself back in the dream scene (or new dream scene, if this is is your preference), I imagine myself performing some sort of repetitive motion.  This is an idea that I got from Xanous, who pretends he's riding a bike or running.  I happened to be going for the Colosseum Task of the Year so I imagined myself swinging an ancient Roman sword.  It brings in that much extra focus on your dream body, and I found it very effective.

Good luck with the DEILDing!  DEILD took me a while to get, but it is _so valuable_ to me now.  Very important tool in my toolbelt, and a great way to understand WILD.  The effort was well worth it!

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## plmnko098

> Great, I'm glad that this is getting easier for you.  This step's a toughie, but it helps tremendously with not coming too far out of sleep.  When you make the journey back into dreamland, it's very helpful to have kept still to make the transition easier.
> 
> One thing that has worked really well for me lately with DEILD is when I imagine myself back in the dream scene (or new dream scene, if this is is your preference), I imagine myself performing some sort of repetitive motion.  This is an idea that I got from Xanous, who pretends he's riding a bike or running.  I happened to be going for the Colosseum Task of the Year so I imagined myself swinging an ancient Roman sword.  It brings in that much extra focus on your dream body, and I found it very effective.
> 
> Good luck with the DEILDing!  DEILD took me a while to get, but it is _so valuable_ to me now.  Very important tool in my toolbelt, and a great way to understand WILD.  The effort was well worth it!



Thanks for the tip. I will have to try that out soon. 

I think I have started to grasp DEILD. I have found that using a mantra has helped help me a whole lot. I have never used a mantra in the past but surprisingly it has worked for me. It could all just be some sort of placebo effect but I think its helping. 

I can pretty much get myself to wake up after a dream and when I do, I can remember to stay still and keep my eyes closed. However, my problem now is that when I do I forget why Im doing this. Then, out of habit, I go back to sleep because I know my alarm hasn't gone off yet.

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## CanisLucidus

> Thanks for the tip. I will have to try that out soon. 
> 
> I think I have started to grasp DEILD. I have found that using a mantra has helped help me a whole lot. I have never used a mantra in the past but surprisingly it has worked for me. It could all just be some sort of placebo effect but I think it’s helping. 
> 
> I can pretty much get myself to wake up after a dream and when I do, I can remember to stay still and keep my eyes closed. However, my problem now is that when I do I forget why I’m doing this. Then, out of habit, I go back to sleep because I know my alarm hasn't gone off yet.



Heh, that's great!  Don't worry about forgetting why you're doing all of this.  If you keep practicing this, that'll come to you.  One way that you can help address this is with a pre-bed mantra of some sort that drills into your head why you will be holding still after waking from a dream.

You're already using a pre-bed mantra, it sounds like, so maybe all it needs is a little tweak on the wording?  While you're saying it, you could imagine yourself effortlessly and calming sinking back into the dream with your awareness still intact.

Honestly, the holding still is usually the trickiest part for people and you've got that down, it seems!  Even though there's still a little hill left for you to climb, you are doing great!

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## plmnko098

I followed your advice and i got a lot closer last night. I tweaked the mantra i was using to include something about remembering why i was waking up. I only woke up once during the night but i did remember to stay, still keep my eyes close and remember what i am meant to do for a DEILD.

 I was lying in an uncomfortable position and it was distracting me. I remember reading that guide by Dutchraptor and it mentions that after a few seconds it would feel extremely uncomfortable and that i should just persist. So i lay there for about 5 minutes not focusing on my body and thinking about the dream i just left. 

Nothing much happened and i lost hope that this would work this time. I'm not quite sure what i was doing wrong but it's a step forward.

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## CanisLucidus

> I followed your advice and i got a lot closer last night. I tweaked the mantra i was using to include something about remembering why i was waking up. I only woke up once during the night but i did remember to stay, still keep my eyes close and remember what i am meant to do for a DEILD.
> 
>  I was lying in an uncomfortable position and it was distracting me. I remember reading that guide by Dutchraptor and it mentions that after a few seconds it would feel extremely uncomfortable and that i should just persist. So i lay there for about 5 minutes not focusing on my body and thinking about the dream i just left. 
> 
> Nothing much happened and i lost hope that this would work this time. I'm not quite sure what i was doing wrong but it's a step forward.



Good work, plmnko098!  Yeah, it does sound like a very nice step forward then.

The discomfort thing may just be down to luck and the position that you happen to wake up in.  For what it's worth, I have not typically experienced a great deal of discomfort in any DEILD attempts.  The occasions where I've woken up in any kind of discomfort have definitely not led to successful DEILDs.   :tongue2: 

Anyhow, it sounds like you did exactly the right thing by just forgetting about your body and thinking only about the dream.  To make the transition, you are ultimately going to want only two things: your self-awareness and your dream.  Your physical body is only a distraction, so trying to achieve total focus on what matters is the way to go.

Keep trying and don't give up!  I got my first DEILD right away for some reason but it took me 2-3 months to have my next one.  Persistence and patience paid off, though, and DEILD has saved my bacon a bunch of times.  If you have trouble sinking back in, you can try the repetitive motion trick as well.  It helps to have something already in mind to try before you get there, preferably something exciting.  For me, it was swinging a sword.   ::lol::   You may be more mature than I am, so go with whatever suits you best.

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## plmnko098

I haven't replied for a couple of days because I haven't had much to report about. The past 3-4 I had really hard time falling asleep. Consequently I didn't get much sleep during those nights and I didn't get much chance to have ago at a DEILD. However, last night I got to sleep pretty easily so I hope that everything goes back to normal.  :smiley:

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## OpheliaBlue

Man I've been having a hard time sleeping lately too. But for me it's because it's getting hotter in Texas, and I can't sleep at night when I'm all sweaty. But I doubt that's your problem since you live in England.

Why were you having a hard time sleeping, something stressful happen? Anyway, I'm sure you'll have more success now that you finally got some sleep.

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## plmnko098

The past few days have been surprisingly warm here in England. Well at least compared to the rest of the year so far. Feels like it's the first time i have seen the sun this year.  ::cooler::  Either way temperature doesn't really affect me when trying to get to sleep. I guess i'm a little stress due to having exams in a couple of weeks.

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## CanisLucidus

> The past few days have been surprisingly warm here in England. Well at least compared to the rest of the year so far. Feels like it's the first time i have seen the sun this year.  Either way temperature doesn't really affect me when trying to get to sleep. I guess i'm a little stress due to having exams in a couple of weeks.



I'm totally with both of you guys on the heat thing.  When it's too hot I just feel way too engaged in the physical world to properly slip under.  I always get that ceiling fan cranked once it starts getting warm.  Do you have access to any other fans you might be able to add to your room to keep you cool?

Sorry to hear about exam stress!  Just do the best that you can to wind those thoughts down before bed and fill your brain with something else instead.  That'll help crowd them out from crawling back into your brain and bugging you.  Focusing on an LD goal that you're really excited about is a method that works for me.

I'm glad to hear that you got back to sleep okay this time, though.  I'm sure that next LD is on its way!

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## Xanous

You know... just a thought... you too CL... but I always find that I sleep lighter when its warm and I tend to have better luck. I think there is always a way to take advantage of a bad situation. Of course, I'm a really heavy sleeper so maybe that's just me.  ::whyme::  But you seem to be unaffected anyway.  ::D:

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## plmnko098

It doesn't really get warm enough in England for it to affect me. But I took your advice CanisLucidus and I decided to get back into the habit of reading a book before I go to bed to take my mind off the day. I used to read every night before bed ever since I was about 12. For some reason I stopped about a year ago. After about 30-40 minutes of reading at night I normally feel really tired and I can get to sleep pretty easily after that.

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## CanisLucidus

> It doesn't really get warm enough in England for it to affect me. But I took your advice CanisLucidus and I decided to get back into the habit of reading a book before I go to bed to take my mind off the day. I used to read every night before bed ever since I was about 12. For some reason I stopped about a year ago. After about 30-40 minutes of reading at night I normally feel really tired and I can get to sleep pretty easily after that.



That's a great idea!  Reading for pleasure is one of those activities that I'd like to make more time for as well, so I think that this is a great method.

Plus, I'd imagine that some fiction you're really into could lead to some great dream content as well!

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## plmnko098

> That's a great idea!  Reading for pleasure is one of those activities that I'd like to make more time for as well, so I think that this is a great method.
> 
> Plus, I'd imagine that some fiction you're really into could lead to some great dream content as well!



I've read quite a few books that would make awesome dreams, especially of i was lucid in them.  ::D: 

I've not had much luck with DEILD this past week but i think i'm getting there. I find it way to easy to accidentally lose focus and just fall back to sleep.    ::sad2::

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## CanisLucidus

> I've read quite a few books that would make awesome dreams, especially of i was lucid in them. 
> 
> I've not had much luck with DEILD this past week but i think i'm getting there. I find it way to easy to accidentally lose focus and just fall back to sleep.



Yeah, it can be tricky to get the hang of things!  My very first DEILD came really naturally.  After that, I spent a couple of months flailing around trying to do it again!  There's a whole section in my Intro Class workbook where I bemoaned these troubles for a while before it finally clicked.

Hitting just that right mix of interest and engagement without being _so_ interested that you fail to fall back asleep... it's a tough balancing act, and it's not a 100% play, even for the very skilled.  (And I do not count myself among the "very skilled" but among the "adequate".)

Give yourself time to master it and experiment with different approaches.  The idea is to hold on to your self-awareness and identity long enough for the dream to re-form.  If quiet observation doesn't quite get you there, consider trying a simple mantra, at least as an experiment.  I like "I'm dreaming" or Sageous' "Here and now".

Did you manage to see a new dream scene begin to form or get any hypnagogic imagery or half-dreams?  You don't want to get too excited or hung up on this stuff, but it's interesting to note its appearance.

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## plmnko098

Normally i get distracted by my thoughts. An example is when i am thinking back to the dream i just had and something reminds me of something and i start thinking about that and lose focus. 

A couple of times i have got to the point where i start to see a dream start to from but i did get quite excited which i need to work on.

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## CanisLucidus

> Normally i get distracted by my thoughts. An example is when i am thinking back to the dream i just had and something reminds me of something and i start thinking about that and lose focus. 
> 
> A couple of times i have got to the point where i start to see a dream start to from but i did get quite excited which i need to work on.



Yeah, I definitely understand getting caught up in random thoughts like this.  The best advice I can give is that when one of these "stray" thoughts arise, recognize it, set it gently aside, and go back to your DEILD attempt -- holding on to your awareness while drifting gently back to sleep as a new dream forms (or the old dream re-forms, whichever it is.)

This gets easier with practice.  It's a process of gently course-correcting yourself back onto the desired train of thought without stressing about any of it.  Definitely took me a while to get.   :tongue2:   Keep going for it, though, and you will nail it eventually!

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