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

## Tap

I've dabbled with lucid dreaming off and on for probably about 10 yrs now. In that time I've only managed to have a handful of lucid dreams. There have been times where I've been very focused on the subject. Dream journaling and doing reality checks regularly but then I end up slacking off and forgetting about it entirely before making significant progress. A lot of my previous attempts in the past have been towards wild and I now believe that to have been a mistake spending so much time and focus on it. The reason I say this is I have trouble falling asleep. I've found the easiest way for me to fall asleep is to let go. When I attempted wild either my focus was too hard and I couldn't sleep or not enough and I pass out. Because of my trouble falling asleep while focused I'm thinking dild is a better approach for me. Don't get me wrong, perhaps at some point in the future once I'm able to regularly have LD's I might be interested in trying wild again. I just don't think it's the best approach for me right now. During the day I've been working on becoming more present in my moment to moment experiences because I've begun to notice I've been on autopilot for a very long time. This also seems to carry over in my dreams. On days where my focus is greater I feel like my dreams become more vivid and detailed. Also I feel more present in my dreams on those days. I've started adding meditation into my daily practice as well. I struggle with what technique to use in the night. See I wake several times through the night. Usually about three times on average that I notice. Sometimes with a dream recalled and sometimes not. If I remember a dream I'll usually try to go into a mild. Visualizing the previous dream and imagine becoming lucid. If not or if I feel like visualizing is keeping me awake then I'll switch over to SSILD. Which seems to help knock me out. In fact a lot of times while doing it I find I've lost focus and began day dreaming within the first cycle or two. But if I notice that after making attempts my recall has started going down then I'll switch to solely focusing on that. So for example if I was trying mild/ssild and by the morning I haven't remembered any dreams then I'll stop all techniques until I feel I have decent dream recall again. Which seems to come and go at times. Another issue I have with being able to fall asleep is I have this very annoying throat irritation when trying to sleep at night. Through the night I'm constantly having to sip some water or throat spray to keep it in check. I've quite smoking about 7 to 8 months ago and the problem seems to be ever so slowly getting better but just to be on the safe side I'm going to have my doctor take a look next week. During meditation I've found I can completely relax my body and basically pretend like it doesn't exist. My throat will start becoming irritated and I'll focus more and more on my breath. The throat irritation gets to a point where I feel like I can't stand it anymore, my eyes will even begin to water. But if I continue to focus on the breath finally the throat problem subsides somehow at least temporarily. I've begun trying to overcome it at night while going to sleep and it seems to help. Anyways, I'm really excited to start working with the awesome people here on dreamviews. It really seems like an awesome community here, which can be hard to find online.

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## Tap

Frustrating morning, no dreams recalled. I attempted MILD during a couple of wakings. Using my flying dream from the other night for the visuals. Thinking back though I realize I completely forgot about a mantra. Also I had intended to do a little breathing meditation before getting started but skipped that as well. All lessons learned. Today is a new day!

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## Tap

Before going to bed last night I wrote out a plan of action for my night work.
@ bedtime
	 Affirmations for dream recall 
	 Breathing meditation for relaxing

  @ waking's
	1. Focus on recall 
	 Take notes of thoughts upon waking no matter what they are. Track back into dream. 
	 Track thoughts forward from previous waking's.
	 Use tags to quickly note your dreams
	2. Breathing meditation for focus
	3. Use mantra "I'm dreaming"
	4. Once getting close to sleep visualize a previous dream and imagine becoming lucid. Try to get the in dream feeling. Immerse yourself. 
Tonight I will have a lucid dream!

I think I'm going to continue writing out a plan of action before bed at night. For both setting my intention and also to help remind myself in the middle of the night of what I want to do. As well as keeping a record of attempts.

During my first waking I couldn't remember any dreams. I got up and meditated in the living room. Then I went back to bed and tried MILD for a little bit. Eventually fell asleep and the next time I woke I took some notes on my dream mainly only using tags. https://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/tap...animals-86960/
Later on today I want to post on here about my day work so you know what I'm up to and perhaps can give me any pointers.

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## Tap

As far as night work goes I feel like I was out of it. I think I might have lightly tried to mild last night but I don't think it lasted very long. I recalled one non lucid dream and a couple fragments. https://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/tap...ing-car-86966/
I mentioned talking about day practice's on here yesterday but looking back it looks like I mostly covered it in my original post here. Mainly I do reality checks whenever I think about it (Several times an hour). I start with examining my surroundings and trying to really question if I'm dreaming. I try to feel as if I've just been dropped into my body and I don't know where I am when I look around. I want the moment to stand out to my subconscious. I'll ask myself how I got here and what have I been doing that led to this point. Then I'll remind myself that I need to do this in my dreams. Also recently I've started adding in a daily meditation. Which I missed yesterday - Very busy day.

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## fogelbise

Welcome Tap! I like the idea of pretending like you just dropped into your body. I have recommended something similar in another thread based on a netflix series where people transport to other bodies and they always look around a little disoriented like "wow where am I?"

Do you do anything specifically on self-awareness?

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## Tap

> Do you do anything specifically on self-awareness?



Meditation when I can squeeze it in and reality checks/state checking. Do you have any recommendations?

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## fogelbise

I believe I developed a different sense of self awareness through a journey using multiple practices built around Sageous' RRC or reverse reality check.

This may only do something for me or someone who followed a very similar path, I'm not sure...but try this:

Look around asking if you are dreamingDo it again, this time with one of your index fingers touching the tip of your nose
Do you feel a shift internally doing step 2?

More on the RRC which may be a pre-requisite:

https://www.dreamviews.com/wild/1318...prep-part.html

The finger on nose seems to help me put more of myself into a standard RC and make it more like the RRC idea of considering your effect on everything around you (and your surroundings effect on you.) This finger on nose idea is definitely not to imply that the self is your physical self only.

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## Tap

This sounds interesting. Thank you, I'll give this a try for sure. Gonna go read up on the RRC

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## FryingMan

> Meditation when I can squeeze it in and reality checks/state checking. Do you have any recommendations?



Hi Tap,
  I really like LaBerge's "reflection/intention" moments.   This is where you stop, bring your awareness into the present moment fully, and really examine your state -- is it dreamlike?  Where are you?  What are you doing?  What are you thinking?  Realize you could be dreaming, right now!  Do an RC.  Even if the RC indicates you're awake, imagine that you are dreaming, recite a mantra like "the next time I am dreaming, I will remember to recognize that I'm dreaming" or what works for you (l like the simple, "I'm dreaming!").  Visualize what you would do if your RC indicates you were dreaming (like, taking off flying[*]).  Developing this "stop and reflect" habit in waking life is really important for getting lucid in dreams.   Really ponder and fully believe the idea that *any conscious moment* could be taking place in the dream state (i.e., you're dreaming!).
[*] definitely double check your RC before jumping off any high places  :smiley: .  It's better to fly out windows or levitate first, than to jump and start flying, for instance  :smiley: .

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