# Lucid Dreaming > DV Academy > Current Courses > Dream Yoga >  >  The Adventures of Yogi Lemon Drops

## lemonDrops

Hi there!

Let me just start in a structured way:


*Dream Yoga Basic Skills: Lesson #1

Version 2: Feel an Intense World.*

*Level 1)*




> _24th September_
> Setting: outside, cold, evening, silence
> Calm down. Let thoughts go. Feel the weight of myself on the chair, the cold air, the pressure on my back, the jacket, my dry eyes, the heavy blanket, the itching everywhere, the tingling in all limbs, my heartbeat, my closed hands, my cold feet, my stomach working ...
> 
> Yeah. I chose to start with this version, because I tried something similar with sounds already. So it felt a bit unfamiliar, there pops up one thing you dismissed until now after another, some are annoying. I still feel the occasional itching. But I guess it's ok, will have to get accustomed to it and just let it be. It shall lead to me more grounded in everyday actions. And eventually in dreams.







> _25th September_
> Setting: outside, cold, rainy, morning, chicken-shelter
> This time I started with my usual meditation. Then I got on with the exercise. It didn't feel so annoying this time, just very complex. Even afterwards, when I got up, how the muscles work together just to get up.

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## lemonDrops

*Level 2)*




> 26th September
> Setting: morning, my room, open window, fresh air, bird singing
> I was doing again a short meditation to get into a calm and thoughtless yet attentive state.
> Got throught every sensation perceived, tried to accumulate them and be aware of all of them at the same time. I kept loosing focus of it, did several new attempts.

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## lemonDrops

> 28th September
> Setting: afternoon sun, stressed, nature
> This exercise was mainly done to release some stress. It was hard for me to maintain focus on the subject; to be aware of all touch sensations.







> 30th september
> Setting: my room, quiet
> The first attempt to be aware of all touch sensations by adding one sensation at a time failed - i lost track of the older ones all the time. So I cancelled and began with a different exercise: Relaxation by calm breathing.
> 
> With fresh power i started to discover inner sensations - everything you feel inside you. Like breathing and heartbeat but also the general "mood" inside you. It got stronger, felt more intense now.
> Next, I noticed how my skin interacts with my surroundings - like the very subtle sweating/drying or respiration of it. Sounds funny but it's hard to describe. Further i took notice of my weight, body positioning and so on.
> I remember that I called it 'super-attentive' state right afterwards when I still felt everything. It made me feel more grounded today.



This whole thing seems to be related with stabilizing a lucid dream - exactly what I was struggling with for so long. Vision is one thing in a dream, but those sensations one is feeling are much more profound. One can loose vision and see black but still feel the world around.
Next time I'm gonna try this.

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## lemonDrops

*Level 3)*





> 1st october
> Setting: my room, Quiet, tired, traffic noise
> Failed. Mind kept wandering off all the time. Eyes kept falling shut. Quit and took a nap.
> 
> After the short nap I first wanted to do something else, but when I noticed that my focus is improved a lot, I decided to give it another try.
> 
> My intention was to feel gravity, as pointed out by sivason to be essential. It didn't come naturally. I started to think about it. What if air wasn't here? Well, gravity would still be, but no air pressure. And I would suffocate. So I lay there.
> 
> I reached the point where I stopped yesterday, to feel my whole respiration system working. I looked through my body for any sensations not yet noticed, and took care of some smaller ones.
> ...

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## lemonDrops

I was somewhat lazy with updates recently. But I was not lazy with the exercises and here's my progress in short:





> 4th october
> Setting: park, people jogging, after sunset
> It's getting more habit now. Still wondering about new things, but carrying over the state to everyday life a bit.
> Insight: just let it be perceived, never force something.



*Level 4*




> 5th October
> Setting: in bed
> Couldn't finish because my mind drifted off every time. Didn't fall asleep during the exercise.



From now on I switched to a not so protocol-like style.
To extend the excercises a bit, I started doing them while travelling by tram. It's perfect. Can be done every day. Since I have always the same way I don't need to navigate. So I'm keeping it up consistently. More or less  :smiley: 

*Version 1: Listening to a Noisy World.*
I also started with variant #1, that is being aware of the sounds.





> 6th October
> Setting: My room, morning
> At first I thought the only 'real' noise i would here in this quiet setting would be the street outside. I was wrong. I counted up to 8 different sounds, 3 originated from myself like breathing, the pillow under me or just the slight sizzling in my ears.



I got on to level 2 by keeping alert of all sounds at the same time. but did not practice so consistently.


*The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep*
These exercises are good for building up awareness of myself, but I felt the need for LDing preparation. According to the book I started doing the first of the four foundational practices. That is, simply put, reminding myself throughout the day that everything perceived is just (like) a dream. I kept it up some days with consistent practice. And had some good results, yeah!

The first is a quite strange dream. Not actually lucid, but felt much like what the author described as 'dreams of clarity'. I must admit, it resulted from great lack of sleep and a nap in the late afternoon. The dream itself felt more like the pre-vivid dreams one may have were everything lacks colours, but still can be perceived. But the most important property of it was, that it felt like it was an infinite miles away from my waking life. No connection or memory of it at all.




> The minute of death.
> I can see sb standing on the edge of the bridge. From above. He'll jump. He's surrendered life. I feel there's no way in helping or interfering, so I wonder whats happening next, from his perspective. How does it feel, hitting the ground? Actually he wouldn't feel anything. Would time slow down? Would it slow down right to infinity?
> Now I'm with the poor soul floating over water. I can feel what it feels. It's strong feelings are overwhelming. I cannot describe nor remember in rational thoughts such a sense of lost. It would try to search something familiar, but it had nothing. it's so sad.



The weirdesd part upon waking up and remembering this was that the feeling at the end felt so familiar. But i couldn't remember a single occasion I would have encountered that.


Furthermore there was a lucid dream, a really low-level one were I was fighting DCs all the time. Just for fun. Until I saw the senselessness in this. It nearly happened automatically that I now made friends with them. but was still fun  :smiley: 


So, that was very much for now. I will do the exercises more formally again. Bcz I lost track of my progress. And it keeps up consistency and motivation.

cheers.

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## lemonDrops

*Version 1: Listening to a Noisy World.*





> 16th October
> Setting: standing in tram
> First 5-10min were hard to stay aware. just one at the time. got calmer with time. then it came naturally to me that i noticed other sounds like aircon, outside traffic, people talking, shuffling around. Has a lasting effect after the exercise.



*Version 2: Feel an Intense World.*
*Level 4*




> 19th October
> Setting: in bed
> I think this exercise is not for me. When I lay down at night, my mind immediately starts wandering till I fall asleep. But I may catch it again a few times, just that I drift off again.
> Could be that this exercise works during WBTB



*Version 3: Mixing it up.*
*Level 1*




> 19th October 2015: Setting: my room, night
> I started with one small peppermint candy. It took some while till the taste got everywhere.
> At first, it was obvious that the overwhelming cool menthol is easily recognized, whereas I had trouble with the sweet component.
> Until I could recognize the sweetness on a stable level, I noticed I completely lost the menthol. Nothing there^^
> I found it in a single point, where it stretched throughout the whole mounth. This needed some repetitions..
> The hard part was defenitely the menthol. I kept loosing it, no matter how I focused on it. but it still was everywhere, i don't had to shuffle it around to recognize it again. It was kind of a mutlitasking process: those two tastes are profoundly different and it'S hard to keep focus on both on the same time.

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## Sivason

> This whole thing seems to be related with stabilizing a lucid dream - exactly what I was struggling with for so long. Vision is one thing in a dream, but those sensations one is feeling are much more profound. One can loose vision and see black but still feel the world around.
> Next time I'm gonna try this.



Bingo! You may be the first to find that connection. You can maintain LDs through failing visuals by intense awareness of another sense. Good.

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## lemonDrops

Wow, cool to find something out first in this class  :smiley:  Can't await my next lucid dream.

I'm currently focusing more on 'recognizing everything as dream-like' throughout the day. That means I try to maintain that in mind throughout the day. Many things seem less important with a heightened clarity. Or just reveal themselves as mental blockades I myself created.

Furthermore did I repeat the 'being aware of all senses' exercise.

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## lemonDrops

Just a small update doing the exercises again:

*Version 1: Listening to a Noisy World & Version 2: Feel an Intense World.*




> 22nd October
> Setting: autumn, night, park, bench
> It makes one very calm, listening to the wind and the rustle of the fallen leaves. I was fairly good at paying attention simultaneously to all the background noises. Just until some people rushed by, that's when I lost composure.
> 
> When I felt it is enough with this, I switched over to feel an intense world. The cold air makes this exercise easier, but you need to get comfortable with it.
> 
> After the exercises I did a walk through the rest of the park. It's amazing how super-powered ones senses are afterwards. Plus my inner dialogue seems to be calmer than usual.



*Version 3: Mixing it up.*




> 23rd October
> Setting: Train, noisy
> I brought some peppermints for this ride. This second time I do this exercise it felt slightly easier to keep up the taste. But the many people added some difficulty. I had to redraw my attention to the taste a few times.

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## lemonDrops

Version 3: Mixing it up.
Tried the peppermint candy exercise while keeping attention to rubbing my finger nail. It worked out quite well, it seems it got easier with the latest practice.


Latest focus lies on the four foundational practices of the book. This may be not exactly related to your exercises, but I'll post them here to keep track of it  :smiley: 

The first exercise "Changing the karmic traces" works out well.
I'm reminding me throughout the day that everything perceived is actually very dream like. Many things only have power over us because we gave them - Unless we recognize that there's nothing for real.
I seem slightly less attached in daily distractions. That makes one living more comfortable in the moment.

Actually I'm working on the second one "Removing grasping and aversion".
This exercise handles the very next moment - our reaction. I can dissolve slight emotions by just reminding myself they're not substantial at all.
Strong emotions cause strong reactions (especially inside my head). I find it very difficult to handle these correctly. But I'll keep working on it.

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## lemonDrops

*Version 1: Listening to a Noisy World*
*Level 2*




> 3. November
> Setting: my room, night
> Started with street noises. Failed adding friend phoning. Not good 'being' at source of sound. But experiencing them all inside head. Still far away. But felt inside. Could add 3. Friend flipping pages of book. Failed for another one. Like ear hissing. Or tv of friend. Too tired.



*Version 2: Feel an Intense World.*
*Level 4*




> 5th November
> Setting: in bed, WBTB
> I awoke after 3 hours. There was loud noise from the workers outside. I was really confused. And I had intended to WBTB after 5 hours.
> There was no way I could focus on the exercise at all. I always drifted off to completely different thoughts I never really wanted to think.
> Today I awoke with a good lack of sleep.







> 13th November 2015
> Setting: in bed, evening
> Finally I managed to successfully do this exercise. The point is, I do not have to try to feel this or that point, instead just be aware of that part.
> E.g. previously I visualized a dot there. Then the next dot. But everytime this led to my mind drifting off, circling random thoughts.
> All I had to do was just be casually aware of it. then the next part. Until I was aware of my whole body.
> 
> One effect was that I did not just drift off to random thoughts and eventually deep sleep like I normally do. This time it felt like going deeper, at some point I lost the awareness and nearly fell asleep. But came back shortly after.
> There are some similarities with what I experienced in WILD. Just for the difference that there's no good WILDing on falling asleep in the evening^^

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## Sivason

> Version 3: Mixing it up.
> Tried the peppermint candy exercise while keeping attention to rubbing my finger nail. It worked out quite well, it seems it got easier with the latest practice.
> 
> 
> Latest focus lies on the four foundational practices of the book. This may be not exactly related to your exercises, but I'll post them here to keep track of it 
> 
> The first exercise "Changing the karmic traces" works out well.
> I'm reminding me throughout the day that everything perceived is actually very dream like. Many things only have power over us because we gave them - Unless we recognize that there's nothing for real.
> I seem slightly less attached in daily distractions. That makes one living more comfortable in the moment.
> ...



That is good stuff to work on. Inside the dream the cause and effect aspect is amplified a thousand fold. You should learn to dissolve even strong emotion eventually (though this is never 100%, we are human and should not strive to change that). Any emotion you  have in the dream will cause your dream to derail in the direction dictated by that emotion.

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