# Lucid Dreaming > DV Academy > Current Courses > DILD >  >  Pickman's DILD course workbook

## Pickman

Hi, I'm Pickman and I have decided to have another go at one of these courses.  My dream recall and lucidity seems to have slipped over the past month or so since I completed the March TOTM, so I decided that having a go at one of these courses would help me get back into the swing of things.  

I liked StephL's Random Daytime Awareness Technique, so I think I will use that as my main go-to technique, since my usual reality checks turned out to be problematic last time.  

As far as goals are concerned, I think I will try and go for the TOTM each month to keep things interesting and to motivate me.  

When I did the Beginners course, I found that posting a daily update helped to keep my mind on track, so I intend to do the same thing here.

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## Pickman

So on my first night, there wasn't any success with lucidity, but dream recall was pretty good.  I'm thinking about starting a dream journal here on dreamviews just to get me into the discipline of writing up my dreams.  I didn't bother in the past because I didn't think anyone could care less about my dream snippets, but I think there might be some personal benefit in doing so.

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## fogelbise

> When I did the Beginners course, I found that posting a daily update helped to keep my mind on track, so I intend to do the same thing here.



Sounds good! If you ever have any questions, just put them at the top of your post to make sure I see them but it sounds like you have taken some good initial steps and made helpful plans like aiming for the TOTMs.

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## Pickman

Thanks fogelbise, I'll bear that in mind.  I got last month's TOTM, hopefully I can get a second one in a row. 

Last night there wasn't much luck - I got hooked on some stupid videogame last night and I ended up turning in at 1:20am, which is never a good idea.  Dream recall was still reasonably good though, but there was no chance of any lucidity.

I might leave starting the online dream diary until next week, a bit pressed for time at the moment.

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## Pickman

Not much luck last night either, but it's early days.  Dream recall is still reasonably good - could be better.  I don't seem to be waking up at 4am like I used to, so I only remember the parts of dreams close to when I wake up at 8am.

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## Pickman

I realize that I haven't made any updates over the past couple of days, so this update should cover it.  

Again, nothing much to report.  My sleep routine has been rubbish, not turning before 1am, and recalling fragments in my dreams.  However, I have the next two weeks off work, meaning that I should be able to get into a decent sleep routine.  I work late, and there is always the temptation to mess around online or watch TV to wind down.  Now that I'm on leave, I can do that before I go to bed.

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## Pickman

Another late update to cover the past two days.  Still mot much to report, although I am gradually getting back into a decent sleep routine.  Dream recall is getting better.  Once I'm done with this post, I'm going to check out the DJ threads just to see how dream journalling is done on this forum.

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## Pickman

Last night I slept pretty heavily, and I barely remember any of my dreams to record.  All I remember is seeing my cat who died over five years ago, which normally prompts lucidity in my dreams, but didn't this time for some reason.

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## Pickman

I had a near-success last night, and I don't know how I couldn't have become fully lucid.  I almost WILDed into a dream while falling to sleep, and what I think kept me on the brink of waking consciousness while I fell asleep was the muscle tension that I felt.  I had a sports massage earlier in the day, and lying on my side caused me to wake up in a state of panic when I couldn't feel any sensation in a couple of my fingers.  My neck was strained on one side, and I guess that's because of the position I lay in.  I lay back down again on my back.  

I found myself dreaming about being in a multi-storey carpark at night dealing with a couple of guys.  I can't remember what else happened, but it seemed like a lucid dream - the only reason I think I wasn't fully lucid is that I was still a bit passive in my approach to the dream, when usually I try to make things more interesting.

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## Pickman

Last night I tried downloading one of those Eric Brown Hypnosis recordings with binaural beats to help with lucid dreaming.  It didn't, possibly because I was too tired and my body just wanted sleep to recover from the time I've put in to the gym recently.  

I just tried it again today for my afternoon nap, and although it didn't quite work, it did seem to put me into a state where I saw a lot of intense hypnagogic imagery.  Perhaps if I wanted to go to sleep properly and not just for 20 minutes, I think I might have WILDed into a lucid dream.  This might be good for WBTB or DEILDing.

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## Pickman

So I've been a bit lazy with updating this thread over the past few days, but there wasn't much to report until last night's  unexpected success.

I woke up at 5:45am after a long dream which seemed to be a confused mish-mash of various elements in my life, past and present.  I wake up and write my dream down, which is the first time I have been able to remember an entire dream in a while.  I go to the toilet and come back to attempt a WBTB while listening to one of the abovementioned hypnosis tracks.  

To my surprise, it actually worked.  I thought I had woken up and gone downstairs.  The sunlight seemed really hazy through the living room curtains.  I noticed that half of the furniture in the living room was missing, but I still wasn't sure if I was dreaming.  I left the room and came in again, to find that the light was on and it was night outside.  This confirmed it for me, but I failed to stabilize the dream and I woke up shortly afterwards.  

So not much fun, but I do at least know that combining WBTB with that hypnosis track seems to work, even though I haven't had any success with it while dropping off to sleep.

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## Pickman

Last night I tried repeating the previous night's success after waking up at 5am with a dream to write down.  I plugged in my headphones after a ten-minute WBTB session and listened to the hypnosis track before sleeping, but no success - only another non-lucid dream.  Better luck tonight I suppose.

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## Pickman

Another late update - nothing much to report.  I had to be up early yesterday morning, so getting enough sleep was higher priority than lucid dreaming.  Last night I think I was just recovering from the previous day, and I can barely even remember any of my dreams, although I wish I could because the fragments I did remember seemed interesting.  Better luck tonight hopefully.

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## Pickman

Another night of heavy sleep.  I only remember really vague fragments of my dreams.  I did wake up at 5am and I took advantage of this by attempting a WBTB, but no luck - I was too tired to remain in that state between wakefulness and REM sleep, and I just drifted off.  Perhaps I should have used the binaural beats then, instead of just climbing into bed and hoping for the best.

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## Pickman

No lucidity, but I did remember enough of my dream to post my first DJ entry: Burning Building; Justin Bieber's funeral - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I think my recall is starting to come back.

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## Pickman

Again, no lucidity, but my recall was pretty good.  I remembered my dream in reasonably good detail.  Lucidity seems to be difficult right now, but at least my recall is steadily improving.

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## fogelbise

Definitely some good signs. Your next lucid is probably not far off, especially if you are doing some daytime practices.

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## Pickman

Thanks fogelbise, I'm still doing some light ADA practice - maybe I should shift it up a gear.  

Last night wasn't much of a success either.  I couldn't even remember my dreams.  Maybe my body was recovering from the intense gym session I had that morning.

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## fogelbise

> Thanks fogelbise, I'm still doing some light ADA practice - maybe I should shift it up a gear.  
> 
> Last night wasn't much of a success either.  I couldn't even remember my dreams.  Maybe my body was recovering from the intense gym session I had that morning.



Intense workouts do tend to put me in a deeper sleep with less recall or chances to LD...not impossible to recall or LD, but I did stop being disappointed when results are down a little after such workouts. If you want a new spark for ADA practice, I very much like the "Open Beta" exercises put up on the forum recently.

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## Pickman

Thanks for pointing out the Open Beta threads - it looks like I'm too late to sign up to the experiments, but I will read through the threads properly when I have the time.  

Last night my dream recall was pretty good, but stupidly I didn't record my dreams.  I was too preoccupied with getting up and getting on with my plan for the day.  It's a shame because I remember waking up and thinking that the contents of my dream that night was actually quite interesting.

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## Pickman

Last night, I slept heavily and remember nothing of my dreams.  This could be because I'm feeling a little run down at the moment and maybe my body is recovering.  In the meantime, I'm going to read those open beta threads, see if they inspire me.

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## Pickman

Still feeling run down so no lucidity, as my body was more interested in resting than playing around in a lucid dream.  My dream recall was pretty good when I woke up at 5am.  I attempted a WBTB for about ten or so minutes, but it didn't work, I just fell back to sleep and I don't remember any of my dreams afterwards.

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## fogelbise

> Thanks for pointing out the Open Beta threads - it looks like I'm too late to sign up to the experiments, but I will read through the threads properly when I have the time.



Actually, you can just jump right in and post your experiences. Not enough experiences are being posted so I hope that you get the chance.





> Still feeling run down so no lucidity, as my body was more interested in resting than playing around in a lucid dream.



Do you think you are feeling run down due to anything to do with lucid dreaming or WBTB or are you sick? I think anyone experiencing the former can find a way to do both...get a good night's sleep and practice lucid dreaming in one form or another, sometimes only needing slight adjustments.

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## Pickman

> Actually, you can just jump right in and post your experiences. Not enough experiences are being posted so I hope that you get the chance.



Oh okay, I didn't know that.  I'm only on Day 0 at the moment so let's see how it goes. 





> Do you think you are feeling run down due to anything to do with lucid dreaming or WBTB or are you sick? I think anyone experiencing the former can find a way to do both...get a good night's sleep and practice lucid dreaming in one form or another, sometimes only needing slight adjustments.



I doubt my illness has anything to do with lucid dreaming - I think it's just a virus I picked up from somewhere last week.  That's interesting what you say about getting a good night's sleep and experiencing lucidity in dreams.  Maybe it's just my beliefs about lucid dreaming that get in the way.  

I have noticed that whenever I do experience lucidity, it feels like my body is paying for it the next day.  It's like it's not proper rest - that I have already woken up at the point of DEILDing or whatever I did and I'm being physically active.  I often wake up feeling the same way I would if I only got a couple of hours sleep, but not feeling too bad about it because I had an awesome experience.  Even with non-lucid dreams, if I am dreaming about doing something physically stressful like chasing something or running away or fighting for long periods of time, I wake up feeling tired out.  I've heard other people say the same thing.  

So maybe I just need to challenge my underlying beliefs about lucid dreaming.

As for last night, my dream recall was okay if a bit fragmented when I woke up at 5am.  I practiced WBTB but drifted off to sleep again, so no luck last night.

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## Pickman

Last night I had a near-DEILD experience.  I remembered much of my dreams, but I woke up at around 8am when I was halfway through a conversation with a DC.  So I tried to remain in my position and continue the conversation with the DC in my imagination at least, in the hope that I would slip back into the dream.  It didn't work - I just ended up falling asleep again.

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## Pickman

No luck on the lucidity front last night, but I did at least manage to recall much of my dreams.  Nothing interesting to report tonight unfortunately. Will get on to reading those Open Beta threads now.

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## Pickman

I didn't have much time to update for the past three nights, so here is an update to cover them:

Last night, not much to report - I partially remember a dream I had and that was it.  

The previous two nights were a bit better.  My dreams were vivid, and I recalled them easily.  I woke up on both nights at around 5am to attempt WBTB but there was no luck.  

I read Day 0 of the Open Beta threads, but I still haven't got around to doing the first exercise - I'd better do that tonight.

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## Pickman

For the past couple of nights, I have had pretty good dream recall, especially after waking up at around 6am and going back to bed.  No lucidity yet though.  And I still haven't done that exercise.  Putting it on my to-do list for this weekend.

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## Pickman

There were no updates over the weekend because there was nothing interesting to report.  I turned in at around 1am every night (which probably wasn't such a good idea) and slept through, with pretty good dream recall but no lucidity.

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## Pickman

Last night I attempted the Day 0 exercise of the Open Beta threads, where I have to spend at least 15 minutes staring at something like I've never seen it before.  I did it at midnight, and I performed it for 20 minutes.  

It didn't work.  I had reasonably good dream recall that night, and I nearly DEILDed into a dream at around 6am, but it never turned lucid. I'll have to see what the Chapter 1 exercises have in store.

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## fogelbise

Glad to hear that you tried the first one! Each one builds towards the next one for the most part and I encourage you to continue on.

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## Pickman

Thanks fogelbise - I'm about to read the next part now.  

Last night was nothing special - I turned in at 1am, but only because I spent some time in meditation before, which I hoped would improve my sleep.  While I did sleep well, I barely recalled my dreams and there was no lucidity.

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## Pickman

I had a lucid dream success last night, so I'm writing this down now before the details get too hazy.  The details are hazy enough already, as I think I lapsed into a non-lucid dream afterwards, but I do remember being lucid. 

Last night I turned in at around midnight.  I was going to perform the 'super-reality checks' from the Open Beta threads, but I was too tired to carry them out for the full 20-30 minutes.  I didn't expect to get a lucid dream going so I just hoped to get a good night's sleep. 

I woke up at 6am, needing the toilet.  When I came back I went back to bed and I was slightly restless - I thought this was going to be one of times when I wasn't going to get back to sleep and end up feeling rubbish the next day.  

Then I found myself unintentionally DEILDing into a dream image.  I was crossing a road near my house, and there was an old man walking nearby.  As I crossed the road, he just stopped and stood in front of oncoming traffic.  I felt my body go numb in certain places - in my extremities and part of my head.  I thought it was the onset of sleep paralysis, which I still don't like.  Also, I did not want to DEILD into a dream about an old man trying to kill himself.  

I shook myself out of it, fell back to sleep, going into a non-lucid dream.  I know I was in a strange house, with a few people from my job.  I know I was lucid, because near the end I tried to stabilize the dream by rubbing my hands together.  I was walking up a spiral staircase, exploring this building, when my dream vision went hazy and I knew I was going to wake up.  I do also have vague recollections of interacting with DC's in the conscious way I do when I am lucid.  

After this, I went back to sleep and lapsed back into a non-lucid dream before waking up at 8am.  

I only regret that I forgot to accomplish the TOTM.  Hopefully if I can carry out the Open Beta exercises and keep this going, I might just be able to do it before the end of the month.

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## fogelbise

> I only regret that I forgot to accomplish the TOTM. Hopefully if I can carry out the Open Beta exercises and keep this going, I might just be able to do it before the end of the month.



You got this! Nice results last night...keep up the good work!  :smiley:  There is one exercise that sounds backwards but just go with it and there are some very nice experiences to be had doing all of the exercises, I found.

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## Pickman

Thanks fogelbise - I have been sort of doing the super-reality checks over the past couple of nights, but not for the recommended 20-30 minutes.  That could change tonight though.  

Apologies for the lack of updates over the past few nights.  There was nothing much to report - fairly fragmented dream recall but good sleep.  That's it.  Hopefully, I can engage more with the exercises over the following week.

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## Pickman

Again, not much to report on over the last couple of days, but then I haven't been sleeping too well.  Once that changes, I'm sure I can get back into the swing of things.  I did perform the super-reality checks, but that didn't work - probably because of the quality of my sleep. 

I'll try again tonight and see how well it goes.

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## fogelbise

Oh, by the way, you can do that exercise once for the recommended 20-30 minutes and then you should have a good feel for it and be able to do it for much shorter amounts of time or move on to the next exercise and can just keep it in mind as one of the things you do during day practices. Each exercise build upon the previous one so it doesn't hurt to move on...and I think it actually helps.

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## Pickman

Last night I had another short-lived success:  my dream recall was pretty good up until I woke up at around 5am.  I went back to bed after going to the toilet and in the following dream there was a bit where I walked downstairs in my house to see a young pony curled up asleep at the foot of the stairs below.  It was black with white markings on its face.  As soon as I saw this, I thought "this has to be a dream".  The dream I was having before was weird enough, but this was weird enough to make me wonder if I was dreaming.  

I went downstairs and patted the pony on the head.  Then I knew, "yes, this is definitely a dream".  I went to walk into the kitchen to figure out what to do next, when I started to wake up.  I tried to stabilize the dream by rubbing my hands together but it didn't work.  Then I tried to DEILD back into the dream after waking, but that didn't work either.  

I guess this counts as a success, even if it was short-lived.

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## fogelbise

Definitely counts! Congrats!  :smiley:  I like the image of a pony curled up asleep at the foot of the stairs! It sounds like you were doing the right things to try to save the dream or re-enter another one and you may have just been at the end of your REM cycle.

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## Pickman

Thanks fogelbise - I learned a lot from the lucid dreaming intro course.  

It seems I have fallen off the wagon since my last post.  I was a bit stressed out and I couldn't sleep for a few nights.  On Saturday night I couldn't sleep at all.  It was only just last night that I was able to get a proper night's sleep.  

I will have to get back into the super-reality checks from the Open Beta threads.

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## fogelbise

> Thanks fogelbise - I learned a lot from the lucid dreaming intro course.  
> 
> It seems I have fallen off the wagon since my last post.  I was a bit stressed out and I couldn't sleep for a few nights.  On Saturday night I couldn't sleep at all.  It was only just last night that I was able to get a proper night's sleep.  
> 
> I will have to get back into the super-reality checks from the Open Beta threads.



I am sorry to hear about the sleeplessness! Glad to hear that you were back to proper sleep last night. Yeah, the super reality checks were the one exercise that I had the hardest time accepting the premise of but it seems to have some good effects. There are some great exercises ahead.

Have we talked about self-awareness yet...do you have a day time practice that works on self-awareness?

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## Pickman

My day time self-awareness practice is pretty sporadic - sometimes as I'm going about my business during the day I might stop and do the super-reality checks I mentioned above, but for a few minutes.  Perhaps I need to do something a little more in depth and regular.

Last night was not particularly successful.  I think I'm still recovering from last week.  I slept pretty deeply, but my dream recall was fragmented.  

Yesterday at work I overheard a strange conversation between two coworkers about lucid dreaming - not something I would expect to hear talked about.  Someone was telling someone else that a good way to induce lucidity is to create an image in your mind of an object that is totally unique to your imagination and probably doesn't exist in the waking world, and try to visualize it in as much detail as possible while drifting off to sleep.  That way, if you see it, you know that you are dreaming.  

That sounds like dream incubation to me.  I might try it.

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## fogelbise

> Yesterday at work I overheard a strange conversation between two coworkers about lucid dreaming - not something I would expect to hear talked about.  Someone was telling someone else that a good way to induce lucidity is to create an image in your mind of an object that is totally unique to your imagination and probably doesn't exist in the waking world, and try to visualize it in as much detail as possible while drifting off to sleep.  That way, if you see it, you know that you are dreaming.  
> 
> That sounds like dream incubation to me.  I might try it.



That sounds very interesting! Hearing that might have prompted me to do an RC as I would never expect to hear two different people (not counting me) talking about lucid dreaming at my work. Thank you for sharing that! I think I will do a search on DV for similar threads.  :smiley:

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## Pickman

It's been a few days since I updated.  As usual, there's been nothing much to update, but my dream recall has gone from patchy to being able to recall whole dreams.  It might have something to do with feeling less stressed.  My sleep routine is undergoing changes - I have decided to take up a morning meditation regime, which involves getting up earlier, which will involve having to turn in earlier.  Maybe this could help things along in the lucidity department too.

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## fogelbise

Improvement in dream recall is always great.  :smiley:  The morning meditation should help start your day off right and is also beneficial to lucid dreaming, I feel.

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## Pickman

So far, I have only managed to do the morning meditation once this week.  I haven't given up on it though.  There have been a few days where my sleep routine has lapsed, where I haven't been able to turn in as early as I hoped, and as a result I wake up later.  I think this just needs a little discipline.  

Dream recall over the past few days has ranged from good to patchy.  Hopefully once this morning routine gets going I can rectify this.

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## fogelbise

I think you are right on target with the sleep routine. Often we know the best answers for ourselves though it may take some time to think them through. Sometimes I answer my own questions just by starting to write them out.

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## Pickman

Dream recall has still been pretty good over the past days, but no lucidity.  The morning routine was continually sidetracked by having early morning appointments, so hopefully next week will be better.  I'm still doing the Open Beta super-reality checks, but no luck.  I should head over and read the next chapter's exercises.

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## fogelbise

Yes, I would definitely suggest moving on to the next ones. I am becoming more and more convinced that they are terrific for sleeping and waking lucidity. Recent reviewing of the exercises and a nice LD led me to some awesome waking life sensations that kept going for quite a while. It felt like I could recreate the joy of a good lucid dream in waking life (more info in my latest online DJ entry).

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## Pickman

No lucidity, but I did have a near-WILD experience last night.  As I drifted off to sleep, I experienced some hypnagogic imagery where I was reliving a bus trip I took earlier that day.  It started at a stop where woman gets on and stands in front of me.  Then the bus pulled away and I could feel the forward movement of the bus as it travelled down a hill.  I was still a little distant from this image, but I knew that if I tried to hard to interact and "enter" the dream it would just dissipate.  Unfortunately, my relaxed state was broken by noise outside my bedroom and I couldn't re-enter that state.  Better luck next time.

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## fogelbise

Sounds like progress.  :smiley:  I am not the WILD expert but I believe that if you try to consider such distracting noises as part of the dream world it could help...I have seen similar advice before from Sivason who also recently defined the difference between HI and dreamlets in one of his posts. Yours above sounds like a dreamlet which it sounds like is closer to REM dreaming per his definition. I can probably dig it up if you are interested. Either way, like Sageous says, try to not get excited or pay any attention to "the noise" as he calls it. I think it is progress though.  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Yes, it does sound like a dreamlet.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to replicate that success, although I have been remembering and writing down my dreams more often recently.  And not just writing them down either, but really thinking about the symbolism during the day.  My dreams have been getting more interesting recently - although very personal too, hence the lack of DJ updates.  

I have been inspired to experiment with some more unorthodox methods of working with my dreams.  I had the idea recently of mapping out the locations in my dreams - I think this is called dreamscaping?  There does seem to be reoccuring places in my dreams, and it seems to be like a alternate version of the region I live in.  I wonder if getting it down on paper might bring my dream life and waking life slightly closer, making lucidity during dream states more possible.  Just an idea.

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## fogelbise

I like that idea. I have never tried that. It sounds like it would also help you to notice when you are in a dream location easier and thus be more likely to become lucid. The dream location can be the dream sign. Either way, congrats on the interesting dreams. They can be a ton of fun to recall as well!

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## Pickman

Yes, it sounds like a slow, gradual way to induce lucidity over time.  I have yet to try it, it soulds like something to get on with this weekend when I'll have time.  

I still have good dream recall.  I'm waking up consistently just before 8am, and consistency is often key to a good sleep routine.  No lucidity, but we'll see how it goes.

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## Pickman

Brilliant - so I wake up this morning at around 7:45am after having a vivid dream, and the one part of the dream that I really wanted to remember (where I receive a piece of wisdom relevant to my life from a DC) I can't remember.  Something about "trusting my instincts", but more in-depth than that.  I really should write these things down immediately on waking.

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## fogelbise

Oh yes...I have had something similar except I was attempting to remember directly from waking and just could not on that occasion. I was convinced that it was something important to remember. It makes me wonder if I was trying "too hard."

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## Pickman

So last night, despite having no routine in place and feeling down with illness, I managed to have a lucid dream out of the blue.  This must have been right in the middle of an REM cycle because I went into non-lucid dream straight afterwards.  It took me a little while to remember this on waking, but I knew I did because of the ways in which I was interacting with the DC's.  

I was in an office, possibly the one I work in, and when I realize I was dreaming I start talking to my coworkers in the most innapropriate way possible.  That's how I knew I was lucid, because whenever I get lucid I feel the need to act in the most innapropriate way possible in the situation - just to let off steam I suppose.    

After this, I was rushing around, trying to remember what it was that I was supposed to do.  I had forgotten the TOTM, so I must have lapsed back into non-lucid sleep when the dream failed to stabilize.

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## fogelbise

Congratulations on the LD!!  ::D:  Sometimes they come to us when we least expect it. I think I missed counting some lucid dreams in a similar way as to how you think yours might have happened. They can be tricky when followed by non-lucids, losing lucidity or followed by false awakenings. I am trying to remember to at least reality check when I think that I am waking up from a lucid dream because there have been a number of times I find out later that they were false awakenings which I could have caught and continued into a new lucid scenario. Even better if I (or we all) can remember to reality check at every "awakening" since the false ones often feel like a real one. I was good at that at one point but changed my focus to other priorities. Motionless RC's are perfect for these situations. If you have ever remembered waking up and writing a dream in your dream journal only to later actually wake up and find nothing written down, then you will really know what I mean.

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## Pickman

Reality checking on waking sounds like a good idea, but my first instinct on waking up in the morning is to crane my head around to see the time on my alarm clock.  I can never remember to RC on waking.  I gave up on that after a while. 

No lucids, but I have been good about meditating before bed, and I think that this induces some interesting dreams.  It's like the meditation allows your mind to process all the trivial daily crap before actually falling to sleep, so that your actual REM-state dreams seem to deal with deeper stuff.  I've been into dream interpretation since my teens, so I get really into the non-lucids as well as the lucids - I actually take them quite seriously. 

My dreamscape map thing (haven't decided what to call it) seems to be taking off.  I now have a dense woodland with a huge crypt and monuments to the dead, and a crumbling abandoned city inhabited only by giant robot spiders - both places I seem to revisit in my dreams.

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## fogelbise

I like your dreamscape map work. It sounds interesting! I also have been trying to do more with dream interpretation as things do seem to come up that can give you insight into waking life challenges. The effect you are seeing from meditation before bed is intriguing and it makes sense to me.

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## Pickman

Nothing much to report - dream recall and vividness is still pretty good, and I credit meditation for that.  But no lucidity.  I haven't been sleeping too well, we've had some humid sweaty nights that prevented me from getting to sleep properly, so my focus became actually getting sleep rather than lucidity.  Let's hope that changes soon.

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## Pickman

I had another success last night, but it was short-lived because I failed to stabilize.  

How I realized that I was dreaming was interesting - I found myself in a part of my home town with a group of people on some sort of mission.  We walk past a bakery and I decide to break rank and go in, to the dismay of the people I am with.  I don't know why I did this, but I find myself looking at rows of cakes and doughnuts.  

I start off by looking for the healthiest option - don't ask me why, I'm in a bakery, but I guess that's the way I normally shop for food so it's habitual.  But then I think, 'wait, this is my dream, eating doughnuts in my dreams aren't going to make me fat, so what's the problem?'

I'm clearly lucid, but instead of having fun I decide to choose the most fattening doughnut I can find. It's at this point that I realize that I have a task of the month to fulfil.  And this month, my task was to get naked in public.  

So I chuck away the doughnut and rip my pants off in front of this chubby girl at the till.  She just seems confused, and asks me 'what's this?  Are you trying to score points?'

Before I can pull my top off and fulfil the brief, I wake up.  I only got half-way to getting TOTM - instead, I just ended up standing in a bakery with no pants on, confusing a till-girl.  Fail. 

I should have stabilized.  I must remember to do that next time. 

It's also weird how I ended up becoming lucid in stages.  Instead of going straight into the fun stuff, I decided to eat a chocolate-covered doughnut, which I could easily do in waking life if I really wanted to.

----------


## fogelbise

Congrats!!  :smiley:   I bet your subconscious was thinking of the dessert/junk food TOTM! Cool! Just don't stress about stabilizing. You can calmly practice how you will stabilize your next lucid when you RC or with any day practices.

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## Pickman

Damn it, I completely forgot that junk food was part of the TOTM.  I was so fixated on the nudity challenge because I thought it would be the easiest to pull off, so I forgot about everything else.  So close.  Never mind, I'll just have to practice stabilizing as part of my reality checks.

----------


## fogelbise

There is nothing wrong with striving to do better, but don't forget to celebrate and take pride that you got lucid.  :smiley:  Yes, practice stabilization helpers during your RC, but try not to think of "stabilization" while doing it...just practice taking the actions. If you think about it too much it could duplicate that feeling in the dream and in the dream worrying about stabilizing can lead to worrying about waking up and you want to avoid going down that path. Try to think in positive terms.

----------


## Pickman

I'll bear that in mind, thanks.  

I've just signed up to the latest competition, so that might focus my mind a little more.  

Oh, and no luck last night - I could barely remember my dreams.

----------


## fogelbise

Good that you joined the competition!..and thank you for reminding me, I need to sign up too. The competition can be good for focusing your efforts better and can lead to more lucids as long as you don't stress over the competition.

----------


## Pickman

I've come down ill with a cold (again), and I think this means that my body is going to be more interested in recuperating through sleep than lucid dreaming, but I'm going to crack on with this anyway.  My dream recall was still pretty good last night, so maybe there is hope.

----------


## fogelbise

I'm sorry to hear about the cold. I too will just focus on sleeping at times...nothing wrong with that. I have heard that some people feel like something to do with having a cold helped them to become lucid...so maybe there's a chance of a little silver lining. I am not sure when the competition starts but it doesn't seem like it will be starting in the next few days...we'll see I guess. Get better!

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## Pickman

Thanks fogelbise.  I'm not giving up on the lucidity thing because of illness though, so I'm still taking part in the competition.  Dream recall has been reasonably good over the past few days, and I'm still waking up at the usual sort of time.

----------


## Pickman

Dream recall still pretty good until last night, when I couldn't sleep at all.  Maybe my mind will compensate when I turn in tonight with long, vivid dreams - or I could just end up crashing out.  I'll see how it goes.

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## fogelbise

> Dream recall still pretty good until last night, when I couldn't sleep at all.  Maybe my mind will compensate when I turn in tonight with long, vivid dreams - or I could just end up crashing out.  I'll see how it goes.



Sorry to hear that. Here's to you getting some serious REM rebound though!

----------


## Pickman

Thanks  - didn't happen though.  I just went to sleep and woke up half an hour later than I normally do.  This is probably just me, but being tired out and ill (or in recovery) just makes LDing harder.

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## fogelbise

Not just you. Although I will hope for some REM rebound, it usually results in a deep sleep with less recall for me.

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## Pickman

Another night of rubbish sleep.  I had mild indigestion, and theair was humid, so I was too hot and sweaty to sleep.  I tried using this new lucid dreaming hypnosis track I downloaded, and I think I nearly had some success at WILDing - I could feel my body go off to sleep while my mind observed the sensations coming across my body.  But  I was too hot and sweaty to just carry on lying there - I had to throw my duvet off and pace around.  

I got to sleep eventually, but I barely remember my dreams.  But that hypnosis track might be worth continuing with.

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## fogelbise

I haven't made a good attempt at a WILD in a little while, so it sounds like you are making more progress than me on that front. It shouldn't hurt to try that track again. Good luck and sorry to hear about the rubbish sleep. I know that is no fun at all!  :Sad:

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## Pickman

Yes, getting no sleep certainly isn't fun when you're trying to function at work the day after.  

I tried the track again last night, but I think I passed right out.  I barely remember any of my dreams, and I certainly wasn't lucid.  I think it might work better if I'm awake enough to get through the hypnotic induction, and gradually pass into sleep, instead of crashing out like I did.  Better luck tonight.

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## fogelbise

While I was learning what worked best for me, I often left night practices to the weekends, not  risking being tired the next day. It gets much easier (with further practice and experimenting) to get proper sleep and going for LDs, assuming no other factors causing loss of sleep. There's nothing wrong with knocking out as you probably got some needed sleep.

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## Pickman

> While I was learning what worked best for me, I often left night practices to the weekends, not  risking being tired the next day. It gets much easier (with further practice and experimenting) to get proper sleep and going for LDs, assuming no other factors causing loss of sleep. There's nothing wrong with knocking out as you probably got some needed sleep.



Good idea - might be worth experimenting with supplements or WBTB over the weekend too.  

Last night was the same as it has been for the past few nights, although I didn't listen to the lucid dream hypnosis track.  I remembered about three fragments, which I wrote about on Sensei's challenge thread.  I think I might start trying out WBTB as a way to increase recall at least.

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## Pickman

Finally, I had a lucid dream last night.  I turned in at my usual time, but I had two WBTB moments, and one of them produced a lucid dream.  More details on the dream content here:  Bullying the Teacher - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

While the WBTB certainly helped, the other thing that really helped was listening to lucid dreaming podcasts at work.  It kept the topic on my mind throughout the evening, and I guess it probably kept the thought to be aware of my dream state on my mind while I was dreaming.  There seems to be a lot more lucid dreaming podcasts out on iTunes, so that gives me plenty of material to keep me going through Sensei's current contest.

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## fogelbise

Congrats on the LD!! I love listening to audio on LDing as well. I think there is supposed to be a new DV podcast soon. I thought I read something about them recording it. Also, I highly recommend to check out Sensei's audio tips he just put up: DreamViews Audio He recorded them while "in the field" at work to make time to share his knowledge with us.

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## Pickman

Thanks, I'll check that out.  

My recall dropped off over the weekend, from remembering fragments, to nothing at all last night.  I think it's because I let go of the discipline I have during the working week in my sleep routine.  Hopefully, that will be corrected tonight.

----------


## Pickman

Recall has been fragmented but getting better since the weekend.  I'm still listening to those podcasts at work, so I think they are getting through to me.  

Last night I had a lucid dream, which was brief, but good enough for now:  Spanking the manager - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Hopefully next time I'll remember to stabilize so that I can get more done.

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## fogelbise

Congrats on the lucid Pickman!! Slap dat as*! Just not when you get back to work! 

Podcasts are a great way to keep lucid dreaming on your mind and learn new things. Try to remember that when you hear of anyone's troubles or talk of troubles with x, y or z...that you keep it firmly in your mind that those don't have to be troubles for you. For example: "Once again, when I did "x" the dream fell apart." Same holds true for things you read here in the forums, of course. Incorporate the positive and dismiss the negative!

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## Pickman

Yeah, podcasts are great for that - especially when you work a boring desk job in the evenings and can listen to them for an hour or so.  Taking part in LD competitions on this forum is another good way to keep your mind on this.  

The past weekend was pretty disappointing for dream recall.  I seem to let my hair down and not care about my sleep routine during the weekends, but at least I get my discpline back over the week.

----------


## fogelbise

I know what you mean. I let my hair down last night knowing the competition was over and let my recall slip away this morning, having released the proper focus on it.

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## Pickman

After a few days of fragmented dream recall, I had a good night's sleep last night with better recall.  I could remember whole dreams.  I woke up at 6:30am, performed a brief WBTB, and went back to sleep for an hour or so.  

Without going into too much detail, I had a dream in which I was trying to escape from a building.  I reach the basement, it is dark, but there are openings in the ceiling leading outside.  I can't get out because there are no ladders or anything.  

Then, a shimmering blue apparition of a man in a suit appears before me, and tells me that I should "just go to sleep" and then I'll escape from the building.  Looking at this apparition, and I did actually question if I was dreaming, but lapsed back into non-lucidity because I decided that the scene around me - including the apparition - was "too realistic"  ::doh:: 

I did actually end up leaving the building into the icy, snowy landscape outside, but I was kicking myself on waking for being so stupid.  How the hell could I have mistaken this for anything else but a dream?  My dream self confuses me sometimes.  

Still, at least my recall is on the up.  Better luck tonight I suppose.

----------


## fogelbise

Congrats on the improved recall! Definitely look at the bright side while striving to catch it next time.  :smiley:   If our awareness is not high enough, our dreaming minds can explain away practically anything. Even though I have had quite a few lucid dreams, my awareness is low at certain times, especially in the earlier part of the night or when I have slacked off on my daytime work. I saw the word lucid on my sons report card in a dream fairly recently and all I could think about was whether my wife would see that notation and start getting on to me about focusing so much on dreams! Needless to say, this was one of those moments where I couldn't believe I didn't become lucid.

I also want to reach out and let you know that I would be glad to help you more in depth. You have been consistent with your workbook and very few people are. It can be frustrating to put a lot of effort into helping a newbie who may need more help than someone like you and see them fade away, assumingly losing interest. You may know as much as I do but perhaps there is some way I can help you get to the next level if you want. It is important to not rush the process though and see it as a long term journey that you can sustain, so you may want to just continue on your current path and not try to change too much. Either way I am here for you.  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Thanks for the message, sorry I took so long to reply - I've had a lot going on recently, some stress, so my improved recall went downhill over the past couple of days.  I still have a good discipline going with my dream journalling and sleep routine, so it should come back once my body has slept off the stress. 

I appreciate the offer of help, but I have no idea how you could help me get to the next level besides just doing what you're already doing.  Those competitions we've had recently really helped, but I definitely think this is just a long-term journey.  Having said that, experimenting with different approaches, and keeping this topic on my mind with the various podcasts I've found on iTunes does seem to make things go a little faster.  There's also the tasks of the month to keep an eye on.  If you have any suggestions, I'd be interested in hearing them.  Otherwise, keep up the good work!

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## fogelbise

No worries! I was also away from DV for the entire weekend and just saw your note. I am glad to hear that you do see this a long-term journey. I will definitely continue to chime in if I do have any suggestions.  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Please do - suggestions are always welcome. 

Had another short-lived success last night.  I seemed to have upped my LD rate this month, but they are always short ones.  I must remember to stabilize.  

The dream entry is here:  Harassing people in gym - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Last night I went in hardcore with my pre-bedtime routine.  I started off with foam-rolling and then some stretching to ease muscle tension.  After doing this for a while, I did some chakra-based energy raising exercises (yes, I'm into that stuff) followed by meditation.  All this was done in the dark.  

I had a really deep sleep with a long dream that I recall a lot of.  I wasn't lucid for very long, but I think if I stabilized I might have got a bit further.  But still, I think that routine really did work.  I'll have to start making a habit of it, I think it improved the quality of my sleep as well as my recall.

----------


## fogelbise

> Please do - suggestions are always welcome. 
> 
> Had another short-lived success last night.  I seemed to have upped my LD rate this month, but they are always short ones.  I must remember to stabilize.



Congrats on the LD and rate increase!!

 I am not sure if I mentioned this in your workbook yet, but I recommend to not *worry* about stabilizing but just make your chosen stabilization method as just "something you do" all the time. You can practice during the day with RC's, imagining that you are in an LD right then, doing the routine that happens to stabilize your dream while taking care to not think of "stabilization" or "destabilization" while you are practicing, making it less likely that you worry about it in the dream. You could also just think of it as a boost to your dreams or a boost to vividness, keeping any association with the practice positive and keeping out any negative connections. Let me know if this isn't described well or if you want more details.

It also sounds like you found a good pre-bed routine for you. Nice!

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## Pickman

Hi, it looks like I neglected this workbook recently - things have been a bit busy.  Having said that, I have kept up with the night-time routine, and it does seem to improve my dream recall.  

I haven't had any lucid dreams since the last one, but I am convinced now that dream recall is the key to lucidity after my last lucid dream.  It seems like the longer you dream, the more opportunity you have to become lucid.  But the one thing that does seem to hamper the quality of my sleep and my recall is looking at a PC monitor screen or TV shortly before turning in.  The pre-bedtime routine does seem to counter this, but at the same time it does seem to make lucidity more difficult.

----------


## fogelbise

> But the one thing that does seem to hamper the quality of my sleep and my recall is looking at a PC monitor screen or TV shortly before turning in.



There are some apps that will change the light from your cell phone (and I'm sure for the PC/monitor as well) that are supposed to be better pre-bed. Not sure what can be done about the TV without reducing TV use in the last hours before bed or overall. 





> The pre-bedtime routine does seem to counter this, but at the same time it does seem to make lucidity more difficult.



Do you mean the pre-bedtime routine or the PC monitor/TV seems to make lucidity more difficult?

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## Pickman

Hi, sorry it took me a while to get back to you.  No difference on the lucidity, but recall is still pretty good and I'm keeping up the routine. 





> There are some apps that will change the light from your cell phone (and I'm sure for the PC/monitor as well) that are supposed to be better pre-bed. Not sure what can be done about the TV without reducing TV use in the last hours before bed or overall.



Yes, there is a good one for the PC called f.lux that syncs the light from your monitor with the changes to daylight to make it easier on your eyes.  But I don't think these apps will make any difference - only cutting out the TV before bed can help.  





> Do you mean the pre-bedtime routine or the PC monitor/TV seems to make lucidity more difficult?



The monitor/TV use makes lucidity difficult - that's what I think anyway.  Something to do with melatonin I guess, I've forgotten the science behind it.

----------


## fogelbise

> Yes, there is a good one for the PC called f.lux that syncs the light from your monitor with the changes to daylight to make it easier on your eyes.  But I don't think these apps will make any difference - only cutting out the TV before bed can help.



The tough decisions...I need to do this too. I also have made correlations (not scientific experiment based) to me eating certain unhealthy foods and having a tougher time getting lucid so I have told myself to assume it as fact so that I am motivated to stay away from those unhealthy foods. There's a potential for a double benefit...but at the very least I will be eating healthier! I do avoid negative correlations between harmless actions and lucidity, such as "If I do (something harmless) it negatively affects me getting lucid."





> The monitor/TV use makes lucidity difficult - that's what I think anyway.  Something to do with melatonin I guess, I've forgotten the science behind it.



I remember reading the same thing. Something about tv/monitor light interfering with natural production of melatonin which is important for healthy sleep.

----------


## Pickman

Last night I managed to get get a decent night's sleep after two nights of almost no sleep - just an hour or so a night.  My recall was okay, but not up to my previous standard. 





> The tough decisions...I need to do this too. I also have made correlations (not scientific experiment based) to me eating certain unhealthy foods and having a tougher time getting lucid so I have told myself to assume it as fact so that I am motivated to stay away from those unhealthy foods. There's a potential for a double benefit...but at the very least I will be eating healthier! I do avoid negative correlations between harmless actions and lucidity, such as "If I do (something harmless) it negatively affects me getting lucid."



I made the same correlation about food.  I know that excess refined sugar causes me to lose my concentration, which is one bad mental side-effect besides all the physical ones.  

It does seem like clean living seems to contribute to lucid dreaming success - no TV/monitor use before bed, healthy food, meditation, etc.  I wonder if people who are naturally good at lucid dreaming have these lifestyle factors in place already.

----------


## fogelbise

> Last night I managed to get get a decent night's sleep after two nights of almost no sleep - just an hour or so a night.  My recall was okay, but not up to my previous standard.



I think after 2 nights of 1 hour of sleep, I would struggle to have any recall. Sounds like a good recovery.  :smiley: 





> I made the same correlation about food.  I know that excess refined sugar causes me to lose my concentration, which is one bad mental side-effect besides all the physical ones.  
> 
> It does seem like clean living seems to contribute to lucid dreaming success - no TV/monitor use before bed, healthy food, meditation, etc.  I wonder if people who are naturally good at lucid dreaming have these lifestyle factors in place already.



I have a bit of a sweet tooth and need to incorporate that sugar one into my negative correlations, so thank you for that (already had it for chocolates, true or not - they seem to put me in a deeper sleep with less recall). And I have to agree with you and think that people that already have that clean living life-style must have a better chance at lucidity if all else is equal.

----------


## Pickman

Last night, I had another unexpected but short-lived success with lucid dreaming:  Escaping in the night - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Because it was so unexpected, I did not think to stabilize.  I turned in that night with the desire to sleep off the stress I was feeling, so lucidity was not my priority at the time.  I woke up at 6am, feeling like crap.  No more lucidity, although my recall was pretty good.

----------


## fogelbise

> Last night, I had another unexpected but short-lived success with lucid dreaming:  Escaping in the night - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
> 
> Because it was so unexpected, I did not think to stabilize.  I turned in that night with the desire to sleep off the stress I was feeling, so lucidity was not my priority at the time.  I woke up at 6am, feeling like crap.  No more lucidity, although my recall was pretty good.



Congratulations Pickman!! It is always impressive when someone gets lucid when they aren't really even trying! I posted a little comment in your DJ as well...interesting!

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## Pickman

Thanks fogelbise, I haven't been able to repeat that success my recall is still okay.  My sleep routine has slipped a little over the past few days, but these things happen, and I should be able to get back into the routine easily enough.

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## fogelbise

> Thanks fogelbise, I haven't been able to repeat that success...



Not yet, but I am confident that you will!  :smiley:

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## Pickman

I've been a bit lazy in updating this, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been active.  I had a close call last night, and I think I unintentionally WILDed.  

I did my usual bedtime routine - stretch, energy work, meditation.  This has been working out well for me.  My recall is still pretty good and I sleep better.  

This time something weird happened.  I lay in bed after 5-10 minutes of meditation.  I felt my body "buzzing" with sensations after the energy-raising practice I did.  As I lay in bed, I experienced something that felt like something more than the hypnagogic imagery I experience during a DEILD.  It felt like I was "lifted" out of my body and I was flying down the stairs.  I didn't have to relax into the dream image - it was like the dream was forcefully pulling me in.  In this image the lights were on downstairs, when in waking life the lights had all been turned off.

The suddenness and intensity of this experience shocked me, and I jolted awake before I could reach the bottom of the stairs.  

fogelbise - does this experience sound familiar to you?  I would be interested to hear your take on it.  

I'm going to have to try this again.  It happened after I experimented with a new energy-raising/chakra practice.  Hopefully I might have another chance to go through with it.

----------


## fogelbise

Congratulations on the WILD Pickman!! It definitely put a smile on my face as it brought forward the memory of an enjoyable WILD I had where I was shot up out of the bed at the beginning of a WILD. It is unusual, but not unheard of, to WILD so close to going to bed for the night, but it seems more likely if sleep was off on previous nights or if you have an atypical NREM/REM pattern of sleeping. Very cool!!  ::D:

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## Pickman

Thanks fogelbise - I have spent my nights since then trying to replicate my success with no luck until last night.  However, it wasn't a WILD, but an unanticipated success with WBTB.  I woke in the night, stayed up for a little bit with the lights on, and then fell back to sleep to experience this:  Abusing Richard Branson's hospitality - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

It was another odd one, where I kind of knew that I was dreaming, but didn't act on it until later.  It was a little bit short-lived, but fun from what I remember of it.  It probably came in the middle of an REM cycle because I didn't wake up from it.  It wasn't until I went over the dream in my mind on waking that I realized I had a lucid moment at some point.  

I'm still trying for another WILD success though.

----------


## Pickman

No success over the past few nights, but my dream recall is getting less fragmented.  My quality of sleep is getting better due to a disciplined commitment to my sleep routine so we'll see how it goes.  

Last night I did have a moment where I should have become lucid.  I had one of those dreams where I left a room, only to return to it a few seconds later to find the place different.  The lights had come on and the curtains closed all by themselves somehow.  Instead of going lucid I just felt freaked out, and tried to figure out how that happened.

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## fogelbise

Congrats on another LD a few days back!  :smiley: 

The dream you mentioned yesterday...that can definitely happen to me as well. I will occasionally question something and then an explanation presents itself during the dream and I sometimes accept it and continue on non-lucid. 

It seems like your frequency is improving! Keep up the good work!

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## Pickman

Last night, yet another brief lucid dream success:  Lights out on the seafront - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I forgot to stabilize because I was so taken by surprise by being plunged into darkness.  My focus was on seeing what is in front of me.  Unfortunately, I lapsed into non-lucid dreams. 

However, the dreams were very vivid, and my recall was pretty good.  The frequency of my lucid dreams is definitely improving, so hopefully I can have longer lucid dreams if I keep this up.

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## fogelbise

Congrats on another LD!!  :smiley:  You can definitely have longer ones. I don't know if I mentioned this to you yet, but one factor that also gave me longer LDs was realizing that even if it seems like the dream is ending, that doesn't have to mean that I am definitely going to wake up. I found more and more occasions in which I could patiently wait out the fading of the dream into the void and form a new dream environment through visualization, closed eye teleporting or simply waiting to see what forms while reminding myself that I am dreaming and rubbing my hands if there is nothing else to touch.

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## Pickman

I meant to get back to you on this sooner.  So do you think that the darkness that occured in the dream was the void?  Or the transition into another dream, or dreamless sleep?  It was just weird that I could see lights in the distance, just not in front of me.  Visualizing new dream scenes within a lucid dream never seems to work for me, so next time it happens I might just focus on stabilizing and waiting to see what else comes up. 

Since then, I haven't had much luck with lucidity.  My recall is still pretty good, and the sleep routine is going okay, but apart from that nothing more interesting as of yet.

----------


## fogelbise

Yes, I think it definitely could have been the void. I think that the void can occur in different situations like the end of a dream, the end of REM, or just through a loss of awareness...but these are just hypotheses. Do you generally consider yourself good at visualization? If not, the wait and see approach is fine as long as you are actively reminding yourself that you are dreaming and doing some hand rubbing or feeling around for anything you can find. If you lose patience, you can try a closed eye teleport by simply thinking 
(one word can sometimes work like "beach") where you would like to arrive after closing your eyes for a second.

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## Pickman

That's the thing - I consider myself pretty good at visualization, but when I apply it during a lucid dream it has as much effect as it does in the waking world.  It has no effect whatsoever.  That's why I generally opt out of tasks where I have to conjure things up in my dream environment, because I have never succeeded at it.  

As an update:  Not much success over the past couple of nights.  Reasonably good recall, and good sleep, but no lucidity.

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## Pickman

Another success a couple of nights ago, but it was so brief that it was hardly worth posting a DJ entry for.  Basically I was outside a train, and I briefly tried to interact with a DC.  I've been getting a lot of these mini-lucid experiences over the past couple of months.  I guess I really need to step up my game with the dream recall.

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## fogelbise

Congrats on another lucid! Have you noticed anything common between these "mini-lucid experiences" that might help you identify the best area to focus on? I had a short lucid experience last night but upon reviewing the details it seemed it was an important one. I feel like I learned something important that I had been meaning to ask my subconscious during an LD and feel like I may have gotten my answer last night.

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## Pickman

I had a look back at the last three lucids, and interestingly, two of them were train stations!  The only thing that seems to connect these dreams is that it just dawned on me that I was dreaming - except for the one by the sea where the realization was more sudden.  But they were all in the middle of a REM cycle.  

I'm not sure how important either of these dreams were.  I wasn't asking my subconscious anything. 

And a couple of nights ago, I had another mini-lucid that occured under similar circumstances:  Strange assortment of imagery - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

It's a bit of a weird one, and the lucidity seemed to dissipate quickly.  I wonder if I had stayed lucid, would I have gone into the void like with the previous seafront dream?

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## Pickman

So last night, I had another one, and it was longer this time:  Partying with Daniel Radcliffe; Dancing in the mirror - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

It's funny how long lucid dreams always seemed to leave me feeling knackered the morning after.  I overslept by half an hour, so it's a good thing it wasn't a work week. 

WBTB seems to be key to longer lucids.  I felt like I almost WILDed while I was getting off to sleep, but the sleep paralysis freaked me out, and I kept on resisting it until I dropped off.  But I realized I was dreaming fairly quickly.

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## fogelbise

Awesome!!  :smiley:  Congrats on another 2 LD's since we last spoke! It sounds like you are discovering your keys. Try to think about all of the things you might have been doing leading up to these successes so that you can keep them up. I definitely feel WBTB is very powerful.

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## Pickman

Thanks fogelbise.  Dream recall and a regular sleep routine that involves abstaining from any screen for at least an hour before bed seems to be key right now.  WBTB seems to produce longer lucid dreams, probably due to the place they take in my sleep cycle.  

My recall is still pretty good, although on Saturday night I should have gone lucid when I dreamed that I got up at 1:30am to find that the sun was out and most people were up and about.  I found myself asking people what the time really is, but I woke up before I could realize what was happening.

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## fogelbise

> ...Saturday night I should have gone lucid when I dreamed that I got up at 1:30am to find that the sun was out and most people were up and about.  I found myself asking people what the time really is, but I woke up before I could realize what was happening.



That is still a good sign that you were even asking those questions. Perhaps just one more element within the dream or outside of it could have nudged you into the lucid zone.

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## Pickman

> That is still a good sign that you were even asking those questions. Perhaps just one more element within the dream or outside of it could have nudged you into the lucid zone.



True, sometimes lucidity is triggered in me when the weirdness seems to keep stacking up until I have no choice to question if what is happening is real. 

Not much luck over the past couple of nights, but my recall is still pretty good.

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## fogelbise

I don't remember, do you normally do anything right before going to sleep? I do recommend at least lightly thinking about how you typically get lucid and lightly setting an intention to keep an eye out for catching that that night...and also doing this at any awakenings whether brief or longer like wbtb. I say lightly (lightly idea from FryingMan) mainly to make sure you are still able to go about your normal going to sleep routine.

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## Pickman

Yes, I have a routine that involves stretching and meditation before bed.  As for thinking lightly about lucidity, I actually did this before my last lucid dream when I woke up in the night.  For my WBTB session I decided to sit and look over this list I keep under my pillow that contains all the things I want to do in a lucid dream - like a "bucket list" for lucid dreams.  Since I'm not involved in any challenges or competitions on this board right now, I use it to remind me of what I want to do should I become lucid.  

I actually tried this last night when I woke up at 5am.  My dreams were still pretty intense with good recall, but no lucidity unfortunately.

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## Pickman

I woke up at 6am last night and attempted another WBTB, but only briefly.  This seemed to result in a dream that was "sort of" lucid - I thought I was in a lucid dream, but I wasn't sure, so I kept my behaviour in check  I woke up before I could make up my mind for sure whether or not I was dreaming.  

The dream itself was just set on the road outside my home.  Nothing worth writing a DJ for, I was just wandering about outside.

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## Pickman

I realize that I haven't updated this in a while.  I'm still trying to get lucid, although my pre-bed routine has slipped a little.  Despite this, my recall is still pretty good.  Interestingly, my dreams have been more intense and with better recall over the past week despite the lapses I've had in my discipline, and I think this has something to do with some changes at work and my usual routine that came into place on Monday.  It reminds me of how my dreams became more intense when I started doing Crossfit.  It seems as though any shake-up, whether to my body, my mind or my life in general seems to have a strong effect on my dreams.

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## fogelbise

> This seemed to result in a dream that was "sort of" lucid - I thought I was in a lucid dream, but I wasn't sure, so I kept my behaviour in check  I woke up before I could make up my mind for sure whether or not I was dreaming.



Still a good sign and with more time in the dream you probably would have become fully lucid  :smiley: 





> I realize that I haven't updated this in a while.  I'm still trying to get lucid, although my pre-bed routine has slipped a little.  Despite this, my recall is still pretty good.  Interestingly, my dreams have been more intense and with better recall over the past week despite the lapses I've had in my discipline, and I think this has something to do with some changes at work and my usual routine that came into place on Monday.  It reminds me of how my dreams became more intense when I started doing Crossfit.  It seems as though any shake-up, whether to my body, my mind or my life in general seems to have a strong effect on my dreams.



That is great that you found positive results despite dealing with changes at work...hopefully changes that are overly stressful. Lapses in discipline are okay, I would just recommend that you continue to maintain some semblance of your practice so that it is easier to ramp it all back up when you are ready to.

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## Pickman

So I had a busy night last night - three lucids in one night!  More detail can be read here:  Intimidating a pensioner - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I am noticing that Saturday night seems to be good for lucidity - most of my successes seem to be on the weekend.  Not sure why that could be.  





> That is great that you found positive results despite dealing with changes at work...hopefully changes that are overly stressful.



The changes at work and disruption to my routine actually seemed to help.  It seems as though disruption makes my dreams go crazy.

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## fogelbise

Awesome awesome! Congrats on 3 LD's in one night Pickman!! Sweet!!

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## ThreeCat

Very cool, Pickman!  Congrats on the three LDs!

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## Pickman

Thanks guys!  Three in one night is a rarity for me.

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## Pickman

I thought I should update, as it has been a while.  No lucidity since the last one, but I have been keeping up with sleep routine, and I have been more thorough with the dream journaling.  I have been analyzing the content of my non-lucid dreams, and figuring out the running themes that seem to be coming through.  Hopefully this emphasis on recall and deliberate pondering of my dreams in waking life might lead to lucidity at some point.

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## fogelbise

They will come indeed! I can't promise that you will have another 3 LD night right away, but the LD's will come! When I was focusing particularly on dream signs and frequently reviewing my dream journal it definitely helped. At one point I was getting a lot of "this is a dream scenario" DILDs along with some specific dream sign DILDs.

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## FryingMan

Hi Pickman, I'm really happy to see your progress.   Congrats on your recent triple play, those multiple LD nights are really fantastic when they happen!   Reviewing dreams is a great day-practice, as it keeps the notion of dreaming fresh in your mind.

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## Pickman

I realize I haven't active here for a while - life kind of got in the way, and my dream life has not been as active, but I did get one lucid dream in this week:

Zombies, goblins and teenagers. - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Hopefully I can pick things up a bit this week.  Thanks for the messages fogelbise and Frying Man, sorry I've only just noticed them!

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## fogelbise

No worries Pickman! It is good to see you around. Congrats on snagging another LD!!  :smiley:  Let me know if we can help and we can put three LD'ing minds to work for you (counting yours of course!).

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## Pickman

It's been a while, but I managed to get a lucid dream last night, just as I am starting to sort myself out in terms of my sleep routine:  A Walking Dead dream - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Life has kind of got in the way recently, and my sleep routine slipped.  But I got back into it last night, and it seems to have yielded results already.  Hopefully this is a good omen.

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## FryingMan

Good sleep comes and goes with the tides of life.   Just keep up your preferred form of day practice and your self-awareness will be waiting for you when you can get in some good solid REM mixed with WBTB perhaps.

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## fogelbise

> It's been a while, but I managed to get a lucid dream last night, just as I am starting to sort myself out in terms of my sleep routine:  A Walking Dead dream - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
> 
> Life has kind of got in the way recently, and my sleep routine slipped.  But I got back into it last night, and it seems to have yielded results already.  Hopefully this is a good omen.



Congrats on the LD Pickman! A Walking Dead LD makes it doubly awesome!! I think I have only had one Walking Dead dream. It was a good while back and my recollection is that it was only semi-lucid if any lucidity was involved.

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## Pickman

Thanks - I've had a few Walking Dead dreams, and that's probably because of a few coworkers who talk about that show every day.  

I had another one last night, but it was so brief that it doesn't really warrant its own DJ entry.  I woke up at 6am, went to the toilet, then struggled to get back to sleep.  I found myself walking around in my bedroom at night, and I knew I was dreaming - I sort of "eased" myself into the dream state, so I somehow knew what was going on.  All I did was walk over to the curtains and look outside.  it was still night, but a lot darker than it would have been in waking reality.  

I turned around and noticed that the light was on in the landing.  I walked towards it, butI could feel my eyelids opening, and that's when I woke up.  

A very brief LD, but a success nonetheless.

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## fogelbise

True, definitely a success!  :smiley:  Even the short ones can add to your experience and help you down the road. Congrats again!

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## Pickman

I realize I've neglected this thread for a while.  I have since had five brief, lucid dreams which I haven't really had the time to post about in this forum.  

I think I have basically figured out my own formula for success in lucid dreaming.  I'll post it here on the off-chance that it is of use to someone.

First, improving recall is essential.  In fact, I would consider it to be more important that reality checking or any of the other techniques (except for WBTB).  This is from my own experience, but when I'm regularly writing down my dreams on waking, my recall increases and my chances of gaining lucidity also goes up.  

Improved dream recall for me goes hand in hand with a good pre-bed routine.  This means regular hours and no staring at a screen for at least one hour before turning in.  Meditation straight before bed helps a lot, but other practices like yoga could improve the quality of sleep.  

WBTB is the only technique that has consistently provided results.  I don't set my alarm or anything, but sometimes I naturally wake up at around 4am.  I make a point to get up, put the light on and look at my personal list of things I want to do in a lucid dream.  I do this for ten minutes, then go to sleep.  I'd say nine times out of ten I gain lucidity.  

This is basically what I've learned since starting this thread.  I'm sure that none of the above is new to experienced members, but maybe a newbie might get something from it.

I think I'm finished with this thread for now.  I don't think it is going anywhere new or interesting.  I will probably post on other parts of the board, maybe start one of the other courses, like the WILD one, since I haven't properly experimented with that technique.  Thanks to fogelbise and the other DV members who posted encouragement on this thread.

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## FryingMan

Hi Pickman, you know I'll agree with you on the importance of dream recall: you can never have enough, and can always work on building it higher -- it is critical for LDing IMO.    WBTB is awesome and frequently works for me as well (I need to do more of it!).

Best of luck, and feel free to come back and ask questions or make observations any time!   I still write in my workbook from timer to time to make a note of important developments in my practice.

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## fogelbise

Very nice Pickman!  :smiley:  If I have one piece of parting advice, it would be to keep engaged in lucid dreaming and don't let it fade into the rearview mirror. If you keep engaged, then a few years from now, you may have developed your practice into a mastery. Cheers Pickman and I hope to see you around the forums! Don't be a stranger!  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Thanks - I will still come back to this thread occasionally to post DILD-related insights, but I will probably spend more time posting elsewhere on the forums.

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## FryingMan

Hello DILD class member,
  I'm making a one-time announcement to individual recently active workbooks to let you know about the new DILD class announcement thread.  Please subscribe to the announcement thread to see notifications of activities and other threads of particular interest/importance to DILD class members!

The first announcement is about the upcoming Sensei dreaming competition (starting on Thursday [in 2 days!], look for the official rules and scoring post on Wednesday).

http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/15591...uncements.html

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