# Lucid Dreaming > DV Academy > Current Courses > Intro Class >  >  Pennyroyal's workbook

## PennyRoyal

*Reality Checks:*
-Trying to breath through plugged nose
-Checking my watch/counting fingers
-pushing a finger through my palm

*Dream Signs:*
-When I dream of fighting, before I hit someone my fist slows down and I am only able to barely tap them (if I can even make contact).
(This is the only one I can recognize so far)


*Short-Term Goals:*
-Stabilize the dream the next time I become Lucid.
-Figure out more precisely when I wake up in the night to better target my REM cycle
-Increase my dream recall from a few a week to 2 or more per night

*Long-Term Goals:*
-Lucid dream on a consistant basis
-Be able to have good control over LDs
-Fly
-I have many more goals to attain while in a LD, but I figure I'll start with one thing before I overload myself with ideas.
[Attend class at Hogwarts, Play on stage with Hendrix/The Beatles/Pink Floyd, Fly on the back of a Dragon like Valheru in the Riftwar Saga, Get in an epic battle as a Shinigami like Bleach, have a swordplay lesson with Syrio from A Song of Ice and Fire]

*Lucid/Dream Recall History:*
-Before getting involved with DV (a week or 2 ago) I would maybe remember one dream every few months. After making an effort to keep a DJ I was able to recall one Monday-Thursday, and I recalled 2 on this last Friday.

-I have become Lucid in my dreams in the past as a child, I was never able to have any control, nor did I attempt it. I just found it curious that I knew that I was dreaming, but it was comforting to know that I could not be hurt.

My first week I was able to become Lucid very shortly and the same happened to me just this morning. Both LDs are in my DJ if anyone is curious. Nothing too exciting I woke up when I realized I was Lucid both times. 

*Current Technique:*
-Currently attempting WBTB, I have tried WILD a few times with no success.

----------


## Astaire

Interesting dream sign. I actually don't start fights unless I'm aware that I'm dreaming or if someone gets me in rage mode.

----------


## PennyRoyal

I don't remember ever antagonizing a fight, but whenever I find myself in one I can never seem to connect a satisfying hit. I have never been in a physical altercation other than fighting with my brothers growing up, I wonder if this is my brain just not knowing what sensations to use in that particular situation.

----------


## OpheliaBlue

Hi Warren, happy you joined the class  ::happy:: 

I know what you mean about that punching dream sign. I have a similar issue when I try to yell at DCs in dreams, both lucid and non lucid. It feel like I put all my energy into the scream, but then I just can't push it out. So weird.

Anyway, I read your most recent DJ entry, and I'm happy you were able to find a way to go from awake to lucid without a seam. I can't wait to see what happens when you repeat the process. I'm also impressed at how quickly you went from really low dream recall to having recall every night, just by keeping a dream journal for a couple weeks. Glad that worked so well for you, I preach DJs to members all the time.

So what is your WBTB routine, just curious? The times you go to sleep and wake up, etc.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Hi Warren, happy you joined the class



Thank you so much, everyone has been really great so far. I feel very welcome. 





> Anyway, I read your most recent DJ entry, and I'm happy you were able to find a way to go from awake to lucid without a seam. I can't wait to see what happens when you repeat the process. I'm also impressed at how quickly you went from really low dream recall to having recall every night, just by keeping a dream journal for a couple weeks. Glad that worked so well for you, I preach DJs to members all the time.



I'm not sure if you would be interested, but I made a thread regarding my taking a break from using THC to observe the impact that it has on my dream recall and vividness. I plan to update that daily when my break begins(tomorrow, Monday). I'm hoping it will increase my progress even more.





> So what is your WBTB routine, just curious? The times you go to sleep and wake up, etc.



Honestly half the reason I joined the class was because I have done so much reading on LDing over the past month that I have kind of had an information overload and I can't decide what to stick with. Currently I'm just using whatever mantra I choose that night to use as I go to sleep and sometimes try to visualize a dream scene I would like to have. When I wake up I'll use the bathroom and drink some water, if I woke up from a dream I'll write down a short version so I can fill in the details in the morning. I'm up maybe 10-15 minutes. Then I lay down and focus on going back into a dream/use mantra. 

I was trying to set alarms to wake myself up, but I had no luck and decided it was kind of futile until I had a good idea of when I naturally wake up. 

Do you have any advice/guidance on a good routine to stick to for my WBTB? 

As far as my sleep/wake up times. I wake up at 6:30am Mon-Fri, and whenever i feel like getting my lazy ass out of bed on the weekends :p
Along with taking a break from using THC I am going to force myself to try and sleep at the same time every night. So over the next few weeks I will be sleeping from 10pm - 6:30am. This will be the hardest thing to stick to for me, because I love to stay up late  ::D: 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and reply.

----------


## paigeyemps

Hey warren! Welcome to the class  ::D:

----------


## OpheliaBlue

> I'm not sure if you would be interested, but I made a thread regarding my taking a break from using THC to observe the impact that it has on my dream recall and vividness. I plan to update that daily when my break begins(tomorrow, Monday). I'm hoping it will increase my progress even more.



Sure! Checking it right now..





> Do you have any advice/guidance on a good routine to stick to for my WBTB?
> 
> As far as my sleep/wake up times. I wake up at 6:30am Mon-Fri, and whenever i feel like getting my lazy ass out of bed on the weekends :p
> Along with taking a break from using THC I am going to force myself to try and sleep at the same time every night. So over the next few weeks I will be sleeping from 10pm - 6:30am. This will be the hardest thing to stick to for me, because I love to stay up late 
> 
> Thank you so much for taking the time to read and reply.



Np. Sounds like you have about the same work schedule as I do. The only difference is that my 2 off days are during the week, and I have to get my son up for school at 6:45am. So this becomes my WBTB. I go to bed at night by midnight, then I get up at 6:45 then don't go back to bed until 7:30. During this time I do like you, get water, go to the bathroom, morning stuff. It wakes me up just enough to help me achieve a lucid dream when I go back to sleep. I may wake up naturally a few more times, but I usually end up with DILD or WILD.

So if you wanted to try it, on the weekend you could get up early, monkey around for a bit, then go back to sleep and see what happens. I read an article at the *Lucidity Institute* that people who increased their WBTB time from 30 minutes to 45 minutes or even an hour, had more success. Just something you can experiment with until you find what works for you. Hope that helps  :smiley:

----------


## PennyRoyal

> . I read an article at the that people who increased their WBTB time from 30 minutes to 45 minutes or even an hour, had more success. Just something you can experiment with until you find what works for you. Hope that helps



I will have to try and increase the time I'm awake this weekend and see the results.

I am a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep after being up that long, but I guess I won't know until I try.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Hey warren! Welcome to the class



Thank you Paigeyemps! I noticed you are a waterbender,  I loved The Last Airbender  ::D: .

----------


## PennyRoyal

*Lesson 1 "Homework"*

Sleep Schedule: 10pm - 6:30am M-F

*Times woken up*
12:50, 2:30, 3:45, 5:04

*Things that caused me to Reality check*
Driving home, the sun glared off of a windshield giving it a purple sheen. RCd
Woke up from a nap on the couch, the wall in front of me suddenly lit up. RCd (It was just the TV haha)

*Why I want to Lucid Dream*
I have always had a pretty active imagination. I can daydream very deeply.. especially when I read - I would almost describe it as being in a trance. I am able to almost completely tune out the world around me. Reading and Daydreams are all good and fun but I've always yearned for a way to have a "Lucid Daydream" so to speak. I always assumed I would have to wait until they came out with some Ultra Fancy Virtual Reality. 

Then.. I discover Lucid Dreaming and it seems to be the means to achieve a desire I have always secretly had. 

*Make a plan for your next Lucid Dream*
The next time I become lucid I will find a flower and hand it to a Dream Character. (Per Feb. TOTM)

----------


## PennyRoyal

*Lesson 2 "Homework"*

The following will be the induction techniques I will be practicing in conjunction with my personal sobriety experiment over the next 4-6 weeks.

*Practice All-Day-Awareness during the day*

This method of improving awareness appealed the most to me after the reading all of the techniques in Lesson 2

*Mild before sleep*

I find that visualizing a dream while I'm sleeping comes fairly easily to me because I have always been able to have fairly detailed daydreams. I also find that repeating mantras can be comforting while I drift off to sleep. I need to practice KNOWING that my suggestions will happen instead of just hoping. 

* WBTB/DEILD*

I wake up pretty frequently throughout the night, last night was the first night that I had recorded the times that I wake up. I plan to continue this over the next few weeks until I'm satisfied with the data that I have collected.

Since I naturally wake up often I figure it would be good to do a WBTB in my later hours of sleep at night. Sometimes I dont feel I have the energy to get up and out of bed, in those cases I will attempt to DEILD. I'm not really fond of waking myself up in the night with an alarm, especially considering there's no guarantee that I'll hit the right time to enter REM.

My problem right now is that I have been unable to stay still when I wake up. Before I even notice that I am fully awake, I'm already rolling around in my bed. Perhaps I could try to solve this with auto suggestion before I go to sleep

This is my plan for the following weeks. Please, if you have any suggestions/additions that could help.. absolutely do not hesitate to drop a comment. 

As always thank you for taking the time to read and comment, I do appreciate it.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Sleep Schedule 9:30pm -6:30am

*Times woken up*

1:00am, 1:57am, 2:22am, 4:45am,  6:00am

I thought I heard someone whisper my name this morning as I was getting up, freaked me out and I looked around. Reality checked, but I was awake.

I woke often last night, and after waking up at 2:22am I couldnt go to sleep for over an hour. Terribly frustrating. I havn't had trouble falling back to sleep after quickly recording times/dreams since I started. Hopefully this will not be something regular.

----------


## OpheliaBlue

> My problem right now is that I have been unable to stay still when I wake up. Before I even notice that I am fully awake, I'm already rolling around in my bed. Perhaps I could try to solve this with auto suggestion before I go to sleep



Concerning this, I'll say that I've read over and over about how "You absolutely cannot move or open your eyes for DEILD," but that's not an absolute truth. I usually DILD or WILD or some combo, but in the few times I managed a DEILD, I opened my eyes, and rolled over one or twice into a more comfortable position. If I was still tired enough, I found that I could enter an LD even though I wasn't completely still beforehand. The only times it doesn't work for me is if I'm TOO tired and I pass out into a dreamless sleep, or I'm too awake, and it's time to get up anyway. But tossing and turning a bit won't kill it.

If for you, a little rolling over for a few moments turns into straight up insomnia, then yeah, auto suggestion might be helpful. Or we can just look at your sleep schedule and see if something there is causing it. Though you're still in the beginning stages of your experiment, so you're still gradually settling into things I'd bet.

----------


## PennyRoyal

I usually don't have a problem falling asleep once I wake up. I was able to wake up every night last week and record a dream and fall asleep again in under 5 minutes. 

I would probably chalk it up to my body being off it's normal balance since I have started my experiment. Typing this now though..I just remembered I was experiencing a lot of hypnagogic images as I was falling asleep before the bout of insomnia, so I could have just got myself overexcited. The images were very similar to what I experienced last time I followed an image out of my line of vision and experienced the sinking into the couch sensation followed by the FA.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Sleep 10pm-6:30am

Woke up: 4am, ?, 5:40

I woke up sometime between 4am and 5:40 and had not moved or opened my eyes, instead of writing down what time it was, I tried to DEILD. 

I was surprised when I realized that I woke up my first time at 4am.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Hey warren! Welcome to the class



Thank you Paigey!

----------


## PennyRoyal

Sleep: 9:30pm-6:30am
Woke up: 2:50
Recall: Very small fragment all I can remember is a face with no discernable features and a phrase in my head as I woke up "I will kill each and every person here" Now the emotion behind the voice wasn't malicious, it was almost.. protective.. but I can't remember the rest of the dream at all, which was frustrating because I remember everything and before I could think to make myself hold still and get it all in my mind.. I subconciously rolled over and lost it all -.-.

I've gotten better at spontaneously questioning if I'm dreaming throughout the day. I'm trying to do it twice per hour, not using any kind of alarm or alert system. I don't want to become reliant on it.

I REALLY ponder for a moment if i'm in a dream or IWL, I look around and see if I can see/smell/feel anything out of the ordinary, I ask myself where I was 5 minutes ago, where/What will i be doing 5 minutes from now? when was the last time I asked myself this questions? Was I dreaming when I asked? Then I reality check. I usually inspect my hands for anything peculiar, count my fingers and repeat a few times "When I dream, I look at my hands and realize I am dreaming" I count my fingers and repeat maybe 2-3 times. I pinch my nose/finger palm for good measure just incase my brain is being tricksy.



I have not been able to become Lucid this week, but I am determined to finish the last lesson's homework.

TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT


[]When inside of a lucid dream, practice the dream control techniques. Post your results in your workbook.

[]If you you have a lucid dream and find yourself losing it, practice the stabilisation techniques listed here. Post your results in your workbook.

----------


## OpheliaBlue

So how did last night go then Warren?

----------


## PennyRoyal

> So how did last night go then Warren?



Well I found out that I'm getting laid off next week, so my stress level was pretty high. I kind of lost my train of thought last night and didn't even have any recall. 

The upside is I will probably have a few weeks while I look for new work to focus on improving my LD. I think I was REALLLLLY close to a WILD yesterday when I napped.. but right as I had a lot of images in my vision like last time I drooled on my arm and scared myself awake lol -.-

It's been a little discouraging that I became Lucid twice last week, but havn't had any luck this week. Not enough to lose my motivation though and the week isnt over yet! 

I picked up Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by S. LaBerge on recommendation by a few DVers. Just going to try to keep LDing in my mind as much as possible and practice until I can do it regularly  :tongue2: 

There's still tonight!

----------


## PennyRoyal

Meh.. No luck and no recall  ::|: 

I think I may have got myself a little overexcited last weekend when I unintentionally had that WILD. I've been trying to do it again all week. Waking up at different times, playing with how long i'm up etc. But I always just end up laying perfectly still for an hour or so. Ive never felt any kind of body sensations or the like. HI never evolves past seeing a flash here or there.

I think maybe I jumped the gun and expected too much of myself. I might just want to scale back to my original goal of remembering 1 dream every night before I go on trying to induce. Did so well last week I remembered one almost every night, then had that wild and got unfocused on my original goal  :tongue2: 

thoughts?

----------


## Alucinor XIII

> I think I was REALLLLLY close to a WILD yesterday when I napped.. but right as I had a lot of images in my vision like last time I drooled on my arm and scared myself awake lol -.-



Lol, thats hilarious! No harm intended. I'm sorry for your job-loss though. I commend your positive outlook, you'll definitely get enough sleep to practice LDing! 

And dont worry, we all have bouts of bad-recall. I think being over-zealous can sometimes negatively affect dreams. The suboncious is really finicky. ~~

But focusing on getting really good recall is a must! And its never a bad goal. Lucids are great, but focusing on recall can bring an entirely new appreciation for your non-lucid dreams as well. =]

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Lol, thats hilarious! No harm intended.



None taken it's pretty funny :p

Thanks for the encouragement. I think I need to just relax and focus on falling asleep instead of focusing so intently on being aware.

----------


## OpheliaBlue

> Well I found out that I'm getting laid off next week, so my stress level was pretty high. I kind of lost my train of thought last night and didn't even have any recall.



Damn man, I'm really sorry  ::blue::  Stress certainly can be a dream/recall/lucid/sleep killer all around.. a variable that I'm sorry has now been included in your experiment. 





> The upside is I will probably have a few weeks while I look for new work to focus on improving my LD. I think I was REALLLLLY close to a WILD yesterday when I napped.. but right as I had a lot of images in my vision like last time I drooled on my arm and scared myself awake lol -.-



Yeah that was funny  :tongue2:  Glad you have the extra time to devote to LDing, in spite of the job thing. Hope you find another soon!





> It's been a little discouraging that I became Lucid twice last week, but havn't had any luck this week. Not enough to lose my motivation though and the week isnt over yet! 
> 
> I picked up Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by S. LaBerge on recommendation by a few DVers. Just going to try to keep LDing in my mind as much as possible and practice until I can do it regularly 
> 
> There's still tonight!



That's the spirit! No sense in giving up. If anything, you'll teach yourself how to have LDs under ANY type of circumstance. And LaBerge is a wonderful source of LD info. He has youtube videos too, really great for lucidspiration.





> I think maybe I jumped the gun and expected too much of myself. I might just want to scale back to my original goal of remembering 1 dream every night before I go on trying to induce. Did so well last week I remembered one almost every night, then had that wild and got unfocused on my original goal
> 
> thoughts?



There's nothing wrong with expecting alot from yourself. That's actually good, so the next time you get lucid you won't get caught with your ass in the air. You'll be prepared to knock out those goals. You just have to promise yourself not to be hard on yourself when you don't get lucid. Dreaming is a natural process, and everything natural has cycles. I have dry spells, lucid "plateaus" and all kinds of annoying issues that come and go. I just ignore disappointments and keep moving forward. Your subC will eventually reward you, so be ready when it does!

That said, just having the goal of recalling dreams is nice. If it takes pressure off yourself for the time being, while you're going through alot, nothing wrong with that either. Good luck and keep us updated, we're rooting for you!

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Well I found out that I'm getting laid off next week, so my stress level was pretty high. I kind of lost my train of thought last night and didn't even have any recall.



Hey, man, I'm really sorry to hear that.  Just do the best that you can to manage the inevitable stress we all feel in situations like these.  If you can, let your sleep time be your sanctuary from the cares and concerns of waking life.  Keep your practice as fun and relaxed as possible so that you can recharge to deal with these temporarily higher levels of waking life stress.





> The upside is I will probably have a few weeks while I look for new work to focus on improving my LD. I think I was REALLLLLY close to a WILD yesterday when I napped.. but right as I had a lot of images in my vision like last time I drooled on my arm and scared myself awake lol -.-



 ::chuckle::   That's awesome.





> I think maybe I jumped the gun and expected too much of myself. I might just want to scale back to my original goal of remembering 1 dream every night before I go on trying to induce. Did so well last week I remembered one almost every night, then had that wild and got unfocused on my original goal 
> 
> thoughts?



I completely understand.  Having the kind of success you did is intoxicating.  Focusing on recall for a while sounds like a perfectly valid way to go.  WBTB is incredibly powerful and important for generating LDs, but it can be a demanding thing to put into practice.

My advice would be to do whatever feels natural, fun, and relaxing to you.  Anything that feels like a burden should probably be scaled back for the time being.  For example, I actually really _enjoy_ the quiet study, peace and mindfulness of my WBTB time, so it doesn't feel like a burden to me.  But I know that for a lot of people WBTB feels like much more of a chore.  WILD, too, can be a pretty demanding tech.





> You just have to promise yourself not to be hard on yourself when you don't get lucid. Dreaming is a natural process, and everything natural has cycles. I have dry spells, lucid "plateaus" and all kinds of annoying issues that come and go. I just ignore disappointments and keep moving forward. Your subC will eventually reward you, so be ready when it does!



This is such great advice.  Dreams, lucid and otherwise, have a natural ebb and flow.  They're from the wildest parts of our mind and they don't obey timetables, timelines, coercion, or threats.  Always keep that confidence in yourself, and understand that _you_ got yourself lucid twice last week and _you will_ make it happen again.  Be ready when the LDs return, because so long as you put in the work, they will.

----------


## OpheliaBlue

Well said, CL





> They're from the wildest parts of our mind and they don't obey timetables, timelines, coercion, or threats.



Ooooo yeah, we don't threaten our subC's.... bad bad bad things happen when we do O_O

----------


## PennyRoyal

> That said, just having the goal of recalling dreams is nice. If it takes pressure off yourself for the time being, while you're going through alot, nothing wrong with that either. Good luck and keep us updated, we're rooting for you!



That's what I was thinking. I'll have plenty of time next week to put some WBTB and more WILD attempts in. I'm just going to take it easy this week.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> My advice would be to do whatever feels natural, fun, and relaxing to you.  Anything that feels like a burden should probably be scaled back for the time being.  For example, I actually really _enjoy_ the quiet study, peace and mindfulness of my WBTB time, so it doesn't feel like a burden to me.  But I know that for a lot of people WBTB feels like much more of a chore.  WILD, too, can be a pretty demanding tech.



I think once some of my excitement lowers because this is all new to me I'll be better equipped for WILD and WBTB. I am focusing too much on waiting for something to happen rather than relaxing and going to sleep.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Thank you so much for the encouragement Opelia/Canis I really appreciate it. 

I got up naturally last night and tried a WBTB. I was able to get a ton of HI and for the first time i had a sensation like I was spinning in place. Once i took note of it and paid attention it went away and I ended up falling asleep shortly after.

----------


## PennyRoyal

I believe that I had a Lucid I forgot most of 2 nights ago. I remember the end right when I woke up being pretty angry with some guy and ordering him to explode. I got more angry every time I tried and on my third and final attempt I shouted very loud and poked him in the chest which woke me up. 

I remember after I failed the first time telling myself that I was in a dream, and that I could do this if I believed I could.  ::?: 

If it was a lucid and I dont remember the beginning.. DAMNIT! lol

I want to experience the moment I realize I'm dreaming and remember  :tongue2:

----------


## Xanous

I've had those were I forgot how I became lucid. Interesting isn't it? I guess that's why recall is so important. It's something I've been dealing with quite a bit myself. But anyway, congrats on the lucid!

BTW that spinning sensation was really close. That's how a lot of mine start. It can jolt you awake if you are prepared for it. I think you will eventually get used to it.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> I've had those were I forgot how I became lucid. Interesting isn't it? I guess that's why recall is so important. It's something I've been dealing with quite a bit myself. But anyway, congrats on the lucid!
> 
> BTW that spinning sensation was really close. That's how a lot of mine start. It can jolt you awake if you are prepared for it. I think you will eventually get used to it.



Thanks I just chalked it up as a victory and setting my intention to remember my dreams better, I don't want to miss it again! 

I know! I havn't tried another attempt yet, but I'm going to have a lot of extra free time on my hands the next few weeks so I'm definitely planning on continuing.

I certainly wasn't prepared for the feeling, to be honest I was a little skeptical because before that moment I had only read about it, or had testimonials from random strangers. I'm skeptical by nature.  :tongue2:

----------


## Xanous

A healthy dose if skepticism is a good thing. Good luck on the WILD attempts. Ahh I miss being able to sleep in  :Cheeky:  I got so many that way.

----------


## paigeyemps

> Thanks I just chalked it up as a victory and setting my intention to remember my dreams better, I don't want to miss it again! 
> 
> I know! I havn't tried another attempt yet, but I'm going to have a lot of extra free time on my hands the next few weeks so I'm definitely planning on continuing.
> 
> I certainly wasn't prepared for the feeling, to be honest I was a little skeptical because before that moment I had only read about it, or had testimonials from random strangers. I'm skeptical by nature.



Nice! And I agree, a little skepticism keeps us grounded.  :smiley:  Also, remember that you can read up and learn as much as you want about something, but without actually experiencing it for yourself, you can never truly grasp its true meaning.

Cheers!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Nice! And I agree, a little skepticism keeps us grounded.  Also, remember that you can read up and learn as much as you want about something, but without actually experiencing it for yourself, you can never truly grasp its true meaning.
> 
> Cheers!



That was my outlook when I started trying this. It sounded promising, but I was skeptical - I decided that the worst I can do is give it a try and decide it's not for me.

Thanks Paigey

----------


## PennyRoyal

*Update for March*

*Techniques:* 
_MILD_ Mantra before going to sleep at night. Practicing awareness during the day. I remember to be aware almost everytime I'm outside, but I can't seem to remember to check awareness/RC when I'm at home (except for when I wake up to check for FA). 

_DEILD_ if I can manage to keep still/eyes closed when I wake up in the night. 
_SILD_ Decided to give this a try when I wake up and WBTB this month. 
_WILD_ in the later hours of my sleep. 

*Goals:*
1 dream remembered every night, or 31 dreams at the end of the month. 

I was able to DEILD/WILD once, and DILD once in Feb. So 2 for Feb.
I'm shooting for 3 LDs in March.

31 Dreams, 3 Lucids, Stabilize a Lucid Dream, If stabilized break something! (TotM)

----------


## PennyRoyal

I managed to DEILD this morning and remember 3 other dreams. 

27 Dreams, 2 Lucid Dreams, Stabilize, Break something.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Some ideas I want to remember when Im capable of influencing my dreams or maybe inspire some fun non LDs. 

Have a conversation with a sentient alien DC, Skydive from the International Space Station, Make breakfast for the memory of my grandmother, Observe a galaxy in space from 'up close', Go Big Wave Surfing at Mavericks / Jaws / or Cortes Bank, Be an officer aboard Galactica's CIC and/or Fly in a Raptor alongside Starbuck.

OH!!!!! Writing this made me realize that the kitchen in my DEILD this morning was my grandmothers.. but with really tacky cabinetry  :tongue2:  I have been thinking about this one for a few days.

----------


## paigeyemps

Congrats on the lucids! Just wondering, do you write your goals in your DJ as well? I find it helps a bit more when I note down my goals at the beginning of every month or so. That way, when I'm on my way to bed and read some entries, I can remember my goals more concretely as well.

Keep em coming!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Congrats on the lucids! Just wondering, do you write your goals in your DJ as well? I find it helps a bit more when I note down my goals at the beginning of every month or so. That way, when I'm on my way to bed and read some entries, I can remember my goals more concretely as well.
> 
> Keep em coming!



Yes, I've been writing my goals for each month in my DJ, but I think Im going to make myself short term goals by the week as well. With the exception of yesterday I've had no recall for almost a week. 

I need to read my DJ when I unwind before sleep so I can fix the idea of dreams in my dome. Hopefully my recall will return to normal soon, it's a bit frustrating. Im not to worried though, I recalled nothing for 4 days straight then Bam, 1 lucid and a few non LDs.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Some other fun dream ideas to remember. 

Simply rest in a hammock on a deserted island, be first man to dance to 'Dancing in the Moonlight' on the moon, I REALLY want to have a sword lesson with Syrio from Game of Thrones, celebrate my birthday IN Times Square for the New Years celebration instead of watching it on TV and/or ride the ball down as it drops at midnight, Be a wolf on a hunt, attend front row at the Unplugged Nirvana performance, play a Quidditch match!, hike part of the Appalachian Trail, Relive my recurring childhood nightmare and tell the giant yellow hand to Frack Off.. also kick it. 

Hmm I'm tapped, time for a nap  :ClouDing around:

----------


## CanisLucidus

Awesome dream goals!  I hope that you are keeping a master list somewhere because these are great.  I find it to be seriously motivating to have this huge pile of cool, cool stuff just waiting to be done.  Mine has gotten really long over time.

In fact, I shall steal a couple of these.   ::D: 





> ride the ball down as it drops at midnight



Holy crap!  I proposed that as a December/January (can't remember which) Task of the Month!   ::goodjob2::   Doesn't that sound like fun?

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Holy crap!  I proposed that as a December/January (can't remember which) Task of the Month!    Doesn't that sound like fun?



It does! This has been a personal unattainable 'dream' of mine since I was a kid. My birthday is Jan 1st, I always wanted to ride the ball down on New Years Eve and when it reaches the bottom I'm another year older at that exact moment (in theory) haha.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> It does! This has been a personal unattainable 'dream' of mine since I was a kid. My birthday is Jan 1st, I always wanted to ride the ball down on New Years Eve and when it reaches the bottom I'm another year older at that exact moment (in theory) haha.



Oh wow, your birthday is January 1st?  That makes this whole thing like 10x cooler.  Love it.

It's cool that this is something you've thought of since you were a kid.  That younger version of yourself would be very happy to know that you haven't forgotten about all the cool stuff he always wished he could do.  I must admit... I think there would be a *lot* of overlap between my dream goals of today and my dream goals from when I was a ten year old.   ::chuckle::

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Oh wow, your birthday is January 1st?  That makes this whole thing like 10x cooler.  Love it.
> 
> It's cool that this is something you've thought of since you were a kid.  That younger version of yourself would be very happy to know that you haven't forgotten about all the cool stuff he always wished he could do.  I must admit... I think there would be a *lot* of overlap between my dream goals of today and my dream goals from when I was a ten year old.



Yessir, New Years Baby as I've always been called. 

I'm sure if I had dream goals back when I was a kid, they would be nowhere near the same. They would probably be comprised of mostly me kicking ass as a ninja turtle and teasing my brothers in awesome ways  :tongue2:  Hmm.. That reminded me of a time I had convinced my youngest brother that he was a figment of my dream, and when I woke up he wouldn't exist. How mean! hahahaha

----------


## CanisLucidus

> They would probably be comprised of mostly me kicking ass as a ninja turtle



I confess that I have a number of lucid goals that aren't far off from this.  LOL.





> That reminded me of a time I had convinced my youngest brother that he was a figment of my dream, and when I woke up he wouldn't exist. How mean! hahahaha



That's awesome!  Wow, you did some really sophisticated existential teasing there.  That sounds like something straight from The Twilight Zone.  I like it!!  Yeah, here's the episode it reminds me of: "Shadow Play".  It was about a guy who's about to be executed and he's trying to explain to everyone involved that they're just a part of his nightmare and that they'll all disappear if they go through with the execution.  Shadow Play (1961 The Twilight Zone episode) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You had an impressive imagination as a kid!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> I confess that I have a number of lucid goals that aren't far off from this.



Lol one of mine currently is to fight a Hollow like a Soul Reaper from Bleach, no hate here  :tongue2:  





> You had an impressive imagination as a kid!



It still persists to this day. I have the most VIVID daydreams when I read. It's nearly IMPOSSIBLE for someone to get my attention if I'm reading. But when I'm reading I don't even realize that I'm looking at a book after a few minutes. I'm just an observer of the scene I'm reading.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> It still persists to this day. I have the most VIVID daydreams when I read. It's nearly IMPOSSIBLE for someone to get my attention if I'm reading. But when I'm reading I don't even realize that I'm looking at a book after a few minutes. I'm just an observer of the scene I'm reading.



Oh that's good.  Very, _very_ good, in fact.  Strong visualization skills will come in handy for you over and over in lucid dreaming, both for MILD and for WILD.

With MILD, envisioning yourself becoming lucid in some very specific scene and imagining what it would all feel like is a critical part of the technique.  If that comes naturally to you, you'll have a big leg up there.

And with WILD, a lot of times what we're doing is massaging some bit of hypnagogic imagery into a real dream scene that we can enter and become fully part of.  Tactile sensations seem to be particularly important in helping you get crossed over and locked into this new world.  I theorize because it helps you forget about your sleeping body and refocuses the mind on the dream body.

It helps with dream control too!  I find that those with high-def imaginations have a big head start on dream control.  NewArtemis, for example, performed really advanced feats in a very early lucid of hers, manipulating and rotating text, and doing a bunch of other lucid stuff that is pretty high level.  A strong imagination makes all that possible.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Hmm, that is interesting. I have not really played too much with the visualization part of things. Although now that I think about it, when I use my mantra for recall I envision myself getting up and writing something in my DJ in the morning.

----------


## PennyRoyal

I was finally able to complete the last lesson's homework! 

I became Lucid and stabilized by rubbing my hands and feeling the texture of the floor. I wasn't able to accomplish the optional tasks, but those would have just been icing on the cake. This was my first time becoming lucid in a DILD since actually attempting to LD, which was exciting for me. I was feeling a bit discouraged on the DILD front because I've only had success with DEILDs. This was exactly what I needed.

----------


## CanisLucidus

Congratulations again!  Nice job on the stabilizing.

Having command of both a DILD and some of WILD gives you a nice, broad reach and multiple tools in the tool belt for achieving a lucid dream.  DEILD especially is a great complement to the DILD-based techniques, so you're well-positioned now.  When DEILD opportunities don't seem to be coming, you can always spontaneously achieve a DILD.  And if a DILD destabilizes too soon for some reason, you can slide right back in with a DEILD.

Playing these two techniques off of one another will yield great results.  I had to work my butt off to get DEILD down, so it's great that you are already feeling comfortable with it.

You receive an A+ on this homework assignment.   ::goodjob2::

----------


## PennyRoyal

I've had some good luck with DEILD, I wouldn't say that I feel comfortable with them. 

What exactly is the difference between a DEILD and WILD? I've attempted maybe 10-15 WILDs following a WBTB or afternoon nap. They havn't resulted in a LD but I have certainly experienced some strange sensations.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> I've had some good luck with DEILD, I wouldn't say that I feel comfortable with them. 
> 
> What exactly is the difference between a DEILD and WILD? I've attempted maybe 10-15 WILDs following a WBTB or afternoon nap. They havn't resulted in a LD but I have certainly experienced some strange sensations.



I'd say that a DEILD is really just a special type of WILD.  Think of it as performing a WILD at _the_ most opportune possible time.

A WILD means that you carry your waking conscious along far enough so that it's still active when a dream begins.  During a well-timed DEILD, you are primed to slip _straight_ back into REM since you have just briefly awoken from an existing dream.  You only have to carry your waking consciousness for a very short period of time before the dream begins with you still lucid.

The timing of DEILD essentially makes it a WILD on easy mode.  This means that many of the same tricks and techniques of a successful WILD apply to DEILD.

Hope that helps!

----------


## PennyRoyal

Yes sir, it sure does. 

I guess that would explain why I was able to DEILD without much effort but havn't had any luck with WILD yet.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Other things I'd like to accomplish in my dreams. 

Speak with the the recurring girl from my childhood dreams. 

Create a place that I can go back to repeatedly - similar to the Hallway of Worlds in the Riftwar Saga. Essentially It's a never ending hallway with doors that lead to other worlds or different locations on each world. I figured maybe this could be an easy way to enter whatever Dreamscape I'm thinking of.

Meditate with a Tibetan monk, Play guitar with Muddy Waters, Fly in the form of a peregrine falcon , Use Sonido/Shunpo, See The Beatles/Nirvana/Led Zeppelin/Sublime/Pink Floyd live since it's no longer a possibility.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Ok, I think it's time to refocus now that I'm feeling a bit more confident in my ability to LD. I changed my mind and decided to count the 4 dreams that I remembered from my past and count them for my recall this month. After all, my memory could have been triggered on a dream that I've had recently instead. 

Status of March Goals: 14 more Dreams in my DJ, 2 More Lucid dreams, Break something in my next Lucid. (31 Journaled Dreams, 4 Lucids, Stabilize a Dream) 

Daytime Practices: 
Sporadically do Critical state testing (Am I dreaming? Are my surroundings normal? Does my body feel normal? What was I doing 5-10 minutes ago? What was I doing 5-10 minutes before that? Reality Check)

Nighttime Practices: 
MILD before bed; 
When going to sleep set intention to wake up after and remember every dream 
after waking up set intention to become aware in Dream state "When I dream, I realize it's a dream" while simultaneously envisioning myself becoming aware that I'm dreaming.

----------


## PennyRoyal

I didn't have any NLD recall, but during a WBTB of 20mins after ~7 Hours of sleep I took a catnap and had a short DILD.

Last night I got REALLY close to breaking something in my dream. The object that presented itself has some meaning to me so intending to break it made me double check that I was dreaming and I woke up  :Pfft: . I was so intent on completing the totm that I didn't even think to stabilize the dream lol.

----------


## OpheliaBlue

> Last night I got REALLY close to breaking something in my dream. The object that presented itself has some meaning to me so intending to break it made me double check that I was dreaming and I woke up . I was so intent on completing the totm that I didn't even think to stabilize the dream lol.



Well double dog DOO-DOO  ::blue::  I know that's really frustrating. In your next LD you should just grab the nearest thing that you don't give a shit about and chuck it at the wall. It's actually quite cathartic.

So my question for you is once you realized you were dreaming, did you set out for your goal right then, or what happened? I'm just curious as to the chain of events that occurred from the onset of lucidity to the moment you found the object that held special meaning to you.

At any rate, congrats on your catnap DILD!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Well double dog DOO-DOO  I know that's really frustrating. In your next LD you should just grab the nearest thing that you don't give a shit about and chuck it at the wall. It's actually quite cathartic.
> 
> So my question for you is once you realized you were dreaming, did you set out for your goal right then, or what happened? I'm just curious as to the chain of events that occurred from the onset of lucidity to the moment you found the object that held special meaning to you.
> 
> At any rate, congrats on your catnap DILD!



I realized I'm dreaming then I believe my exact inner monologue was "F--- yea! I'm going outside" as I was opening the door I thought.. Oh MAN! I have to break something! Ta-da! My little ceramic friend was there  :tongue2: 

So close! I'll get it next time lol.

----------


## PennyRoyal

I'm having trouble staying consistent with a technique. Some nights I use MILD, some nights I try to WILD, some nights SSILD, etc. I've just been doing whatever feels right.

I feel like I'm not making much progress or that my success is waning, then I check my DJ and realize that I've stayed fairly consistent. I think my motivation might be slipping. I still REALLY want to master this skill but I'm starting to feel myself taking the exercises less seriously. Obviously nobody can motivate myself but me, however I feel like I need a little something to get it kick started. 

I found a book titled "Lucid Dreams in 30 days: The Creative Sleep Program". While I'm know the whole 30 day bit shouldn't be taken literally, I'm hoping that it will give some structure to my Daily/Nightly routines which will help me with staying consistent and hopefully amp up my motivation a bit. 

I had a short Lucid in the later hours of my sleep today (I MAY have slept in until noon for a total of 12 hrs sleep  ::roll:: ). Anyway, in short I was watching a movie on my laptop and a character gave me a wave and a wink which caused me to realize the Dream State. The short moment of Lucidity was followed by my trying to "enter the dream" by phasing into my laptop screen...  :Picard face palm: 

Any suggestions on how I can recharge my motivation would be greatly appreciated.

----------


## CanisLucidus

There are several things that I do to keep my motivation going.  Some may be right for you and others may not be.  Pick and choose from the ideas that appeal to you!

My primary motivator is the cool stuff I want to do in an LD!  I have 2, perhaps 3 things max that I am _super amped_ about making happen in an LD.  Stuff that I know I am just going to fight like crazy to get done once a dream starts!  Right now, I want to complete the Angel Falls Task of the Year so bad that I can taste it.  Next, I want to find the note that I left for myself for Advanced Task of the Month.  And finally, I want to do the gladiator fight Task of the Year.  I imagine doing this stuff for MILD, get excited about it during the day, and motivate the crap out of myself thinking about it.

I'm getting all pumped right now!  Damn!!

Okay, taking my meds now.   :Cheeky:   Anyway, pick 2 or 3 things you are seriously excited about.  Anything.  It's your dream!  Make yourself happy!

More concretely, I find participating in the Task of the Month really motivating.  I like that feeling of working toward something that a bunch of other lucid dreamers are all thinking about, borrowing ideas, and sharing thoughts on how to get a certain task done.  For me, this is hugely motivating.  (And I did these when I was quite new... if you are ever super bored and looking for a laugh, watching how I flailed and failed at September Task of the Month 2012 might be mildly amusing.)

I know that you have occasionally done B6, apple juice, and some tryptophan-rich foods as lucid aids.  I like to have my "lucid aids" scheduled throughout the week so I can get all excited about, "Oooh!  B6 night tonight!  Should have some badass dreams ahead."  I find that much more motivating than having it be haphazard.

And I don't know whether this helps or not, but keep in mind that your success motivates me and your other peers as well.  When you journal up alucid dream, I read that and think, "Hey!  I want me one of those too!"  Experiencing a victory is awesome.  Sharing a victory is that little bit sweeter.

----------


## PennyRoyal

I was laying in bed several nights ago, I was just visualizing what I would do if I were to become lucid that night. I ended up getting very engrossed in the visualization before drifting off to sleep. It would be awesome to do this in a lucid so I decided to write out and expand on it as a Dream idea. Each night before i go to bed I'll write out the next part of the 'Dream Story' so to speak to give myself something to incubate before i go to sleep.

I'm walking alone in the middle of nowhere at a leisurely pace. Admiring the landscape - kind of a desert area, very flat not many trees or shrubs. I stop and gaze up at the sky for a while to appreciate how many stars you can see in sky when there aren't so many city lights around. I wish that I could survive the vacuum of space and just fly to the closest galaxy and observe the beauty from up close. Below me the ground starts to rumble slightly, I kneel down and place a hand on the earth. The earth beneath me heaves upward at alarming speed. The distance between myself and the blackness of space closes quickly as I ascend on a massive mountain being formed beneath me in a matter of moments. I stand up and whoop in excitement my arms out to my sides.

 The mountain abruptly stops and I shoot off into space with the momentum, I place my arms at my sides and rocket head first out of our solar system with increasing speed. My hair whips around madly and stars are stretched into long beams of light that blaze past me. I close my eyes and enjoy the feeling of acceleration. Suddenly everything is still and calm. I open my eyes and sit cross legged in the air. I'm floating above the Andromeda galaxy. I stare and appreciate the behemoth cluster of stars and gas that swirl slowly and gracefully. I decide to search for sentient life in the galaxy and glide slowly downward. But that is another dream for another time.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> My primary motivator is the cool stuff I want to do in an LD! I have 2, perhaps 3 things max that I am super amped about making happen in an LD. Stuff that I know I am just going to fight like crazy to get done once a dream starts! Right now, I want to complete the Angel Falls Task of the Year so bad that I can taste it. Next, I want to find the note that I left for myself for Advanced Task of the Month. And finally, I want to do the gladiator fight Task of the Year. I imagine doing this stuff for MILD, get excited about it during the day, and motivate the crap out of myself thinking about it.



Thanks, I'll definitely put this into better practice. I definitely have a handful of things I really want to do, I'll have to focus on a few and just get myself super excited about completing them. 





> I'm getting all pumped right now! Damn!!



Hahaha! You had me pumped by the end of that too! 





> More concretely, I find participating in the Task of the Month really motivating. I like that feeling of working toward something that a bunch of other lucid dreamers are all thinking about, borrowing ideas, and sharing thoughts on how to get a certain task done. For me, this is hugely motivating. (And I did these when I was quite new... if you are ever super bored and looking for a laugh, watching how I flailed and failed at September Task of the Month 2012 might be mildly amusing.)



I have definitely been intending to complete a totm, I'll have to start participating in the threads to keep myself excited  :tongue2: 





> I like to have my "lucid aids" scheduled throughout the week so I can get all excited



Oh I really like this, I'll have to do that. 





> And I don't know whether this helps or not, but keep in mind that your success motivates me and your other peers as well. When you journal up alucid dream, I read that and think, "Hey! I want me one of those too!" Experiencing a victory is awesome. Sharing a victory is that little bit sweeter.



It actually does help CL, thanks a lot.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> I was laying in bed several nights ago, I was just visualizing what I would do if I were to become lucid that night. I ended up getting very engrossed in the visualization before drifting off to sleep. It would be awesome to do this in a lucid so I decided to write out and expand on it as a Dream idea. Each night before i go to bed I'll write out the next part of the 'Dream Story' so to speak to give myself something to incubate before i go to sleep.



Oh man, great idea!  Combined dream incubation and motivational practice.  This is especially perfect for the creatively inclined.  I like it!   ::goodjob2:: 

Your story's perfect, too.  It really captures the essence of what excites _me_ about lucid dreaming -- being able to _experience_ things that we can otherwise only imagine.

It really is a privilege having these doors open to us and, crucially, knowing that they're there to walk through.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> being able to _experience_ things that we can otherwise only imagine.



This is the main reason that that initially attracted me to Lucid Dreaming. There are just some things in life that I will not be able to experience, which really frustrates me lol. 

Now I found a loophole of sorts  :tongue2:

----------


## PennyRoyal

March Goals Update:

1 Dream Every night or 31 Dreams total *(26/31)* _5 more dreams with 2 weeks left in March, plenty of time_!
4 Lucid Dreams total for the month of march *(4/4)* _This mornings short Lucid was my fourth this month, anything else is just icing on the cake!_

*Day 1 and 2 "The Creative Sleep Program"*: _They recommend Day 1 and 2 setting up your Dream journal and focusing your intent gently before bed of intending to remember your dreams._ 

I'm going to cheat and just count tomorrow as Day 3 since I have been practicing their recommendations for Day 1&2 for the past few weeks. (Setting intention for recalling dreams, and Keeping a Dream journal)

----------


## PennyRoyal

> I was laying in bed several nights ago, I was just visualizing what I would do if I were to become lucid that night. I ended up getting very engrossed in the visualization before drifting off to sleep. It would be awesome to do this in a lucid so I decided to write out and expand on it as a Dream idea. Each night before i go to bed I'll write out the next part of the 'Dream Story' so to speak to give myself something to incubate before i go to sleep.
> 
> I'm walking alone in the middle of nowhere at a leisurely pace. Admiring the landscape - kind of a desert area, very flat not many trees or shrubs. I stop and gaze up at the sky for a while to appreciate how many stars you can see in sky when there aren't so many city lights around. I wish that I could survive the vacuum of space and just fly to the closest galaxy and observe the beauty from up close. Below me the ground starts to rumble slightly, I kneel down and place a hand on the earth. The earth beneath me heaves upward at alarming speed. The distance between myself and the blackness of space closes quickly as I ascend on a massive mountain being formed beneath me in a matter of moments. I stand up and whoop in excitement my arms out to my sides.
> 
> The mountain abruptly stops and I shoot off into space with the momentum, I place my arms at my sides and rocket head first out of our solar system with increasing speed. My hair whips around madly and stars are stretched into long beams of light that blaze past me. I close my eyes and enjoy the feeling of acceleration. Suddenly everything is still and calm. I open my eyes and sit cross legged in the air. I'm floating above the Andromeda galaxy. I stare and appreciate the behemoth cluster of stars and gas that swirl slowly and gracefully.



I descend into the galaxy. I fly through cosmic dust, past small satellites and asteroids coming closer to the first solar system I encounter. The first planet I see is a massive gas giant much like Jupiter, it glows an eerie swamp-like green. I glide past the giant and continue inwards towards this system's star. I start to squint as I look directly at it, then realize this is my world and the star is nothing more than brilliantly beautiful. I close my eyes and bask in it's light. I look to my left and see a small quaint looking planet. I see what I believe are city lights and excitement wells up inside of me - sentient life!

I soar into the atmosphere of the planet and touch down on a city street much like New York. I look around and ponder the odds of an alien race possessing cities that look like ours. I glance around and notice that there isn't any sign of life. No cars driving, no people walking. But everywhere there are brilliant billboards and advertisements. On the ground in front of me I notice a manhole lid is not completely secure. I walk over and slide it aside and peer down into the sewer. With nothing better to do I shrug and descend into the sewer. I walk through the labyrinth of tunnels and drains, eventually I notice a peculiar door on the left down the tunnel in front of me - light spilling from underneath. I cautiously approach the door and open it just enough so that I can see inside. It appears that nobody is there so I peek my head in and have a look around. I walk inside and it appears to be a small "hide-out" area. I notice an old couch and sit down while I take in my surroundings. Suddenly right in front of me is a man sized rat in a kimono. 

I break into an ear to ear grin so enthusiastically my physical body does as well which brings me back from the cusp of sleep. 

*I kind of just let my "dream body" wander through the visualization and made things up on the fly, by the time I made it to Master Splinter my thoughts were hazy and I was about to fall asleep. I'm really hoping that continuing this tonight might turn into a badass Ninja Turtle Dream lol*

----------


## PennyRoyal

*Day 3: The Creative Sleep Program* Dream Incubation
Daytime-
_Day 3 suggests that you consider the possible influences of your surroundings while you sleep. Are your surroundings rich and stimulating or sterile and piled with paperwork brought home from the office? Is it generally quiet? Is the temperature typically comfortable? Most importantly, what emotional message do you receive from your sleep environment? _  I sleep in my room obviously, I don't find it particularly uncomfortable in any fashion. It could certainly use a cleaning right about now, I'll take care of that tonight before bed for peace of mind tonight.  

Night -
Choose a meaningful situation in which you have direct influence over. Choose some 'objects' to place in your sleeping environment, pictures or anything relevant to the chosen topic. As you choose them calmly focus your intent to dream about the chosen situation or matter of concern. Before sleep take a few moments to focus on a phrase to set your intent on the dream. Write the phrase in your dream journal and turn in for bed. As you fall asleep picture the relevant objects you have placed around your room  and quietly remind yourself to dream about the subject at hand. Remind yourself to remember the related dream. 

*I don't really like bringing my waking life problems to sleep with me, but for the sake of following their plan I will do so. I can see why using something that you are emotionally vested in might make it easier to set your intent to dream. We'll see*

----------


## CanisLucidus

> *I kind of just let my "dream body" wander through the visualization and made things up on the fly, by the time I made it to Master Splinter my thoughts were hazy and I was about to fall asleep. I'm really hoping that continuing this tonight might turn into a badass Ninja Turtle Dream lol*



I love this continuous story you've got going on!  And now that Splinter and the Ninja Turtles will perhaps be making an appearance, it's has gotten _even more awesome!_ *Cowabunga dude!!*





> *I don't really like bringing my waking life problems to sleep with me, but for the sake of following their plan I will do so. I can see why using something that you are emotionally vested in might make it easier to set your intent to dream. We'll see*



That's interesting.  Do they insist that it be something that contains any negative emotion?  I wonder if it would be acceptable to choose something infused with positive emotion.  Maybe a hobby?  Playing out a zerg rush?   :Cheeky:

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Do they insist that it be something that contains any negative emotion?



No, not negative just meaningful. When I first read this I was about an hour from a job interview so I guess my stress was just influencing the way I was thinking. Their examples are 'behavior towards your mother in law, how you react to a pressing matter in your personal or professional life' Just kind of sounded like a bummer to me  :p





> I wonder if it would be acceptable to choose something infused with positive emotion. Maybe a hobby? Playing out a zerg rush?



That's a pretty fantastic idea. I've already had a few starcraft dreams, maybe i can steer it away from PLAYING Starcraft. I've been doing that enough during the day ::wtf:: . I never have a physical body though in the starcraft dreams. Always first person with my own body in varying ages - except for these. I just noticed that.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> *Day 3: The Creative Sleep Program: Dream Incubation
> *



I ended up staying up way late the night I was supposed to do this. Spent no time setting intention in the way they wanted, had no recall, etc. 

Thanks to CL's suggestion I decided to use Starcraft as the thing that was 'meaningful' to incubate. Specifically, I've been really close to getting the 1000 wins achievment for the SC2 Ladder. I don't really take much stock in getting the achievements usually but it's the last one, and took me about 2.5-3 years to get to that benchmark. Anyhow last night instead of getting my last 10 wins before going to bed, I purposely left them for later so that when I went to sleep I could imagine how it would feel when I won the last game, etc, etc. They suggest leaving pictures or items around related to the incubation. My girlfriend made a few origami zerg units. I just put them out on my desk and left my computer screen on some fan art of Kerrigan. I thought about these as I imagined getting the 1000th win. 

I thought this was kind of cheesy as I was trying to go to bed, but I just didn't pay the negative thoughts any mind and focused on the exercise as I went to sleep.

*Results*

I did indeed have the same Starcraft dream several times last night. I'm sure that playing for a while before bed helped the incubation considering I've had them all week. But that can be a lesson learned for incubating dreams in the future as well.

----------


## PennyRoyal

*Day 4: Dream Incubation cont.*

*Pick a creative need that is of some pressing concern*
 I really want to complete the March Task of the Month!  :Pissed: 

*Daytime - spend some time thinking about your creative dilemma. calmly tell yourself that you will express a solution in your dreams. Gather some objects that remind you of the issue at hand and place them in your sleeping environment.*  
I'll put El Burro in my room tonight, I love you buddy.. but I'm going to break you into a million pieces next time.  

*Bed time - create a phrase or a simple illustration that best expresses your problem and enter it on a fresh page of your Dream Journal. Continue to focus on the phrase or illustration as you drift off to sleep. Tell yourself that you will have a relevant dream and remember it immediately upon awakening* I'll make a phrase and do a little drawing of the ToTM wings in my DJ.

----------


## PennyRoyal

*Day 4: Creative sleep program Results*

I wasn't able to become Lucid last night and complete the ToTM. However, I DID have a nonlucid of myself breaking a giant trenching machine lol.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Thanks to CL's suggestion I decided to use Starcraft as the thing that was 'meaningful' to incubate. Specifically, I've been really close to getting the 1000 wins achievment for the SC2 Ladder. I don't really take much stock in getting the achievements usually but it's the last one, and took me about 2.5-3 years to get to that benchmark. Anyhow last night instead of getting my last 10 wins before going to bed, I purposely left them for later so that when I went to sleep I could imagine how it would feel when I won the last game, etc, etc. They suggest leaving pictures or items around related to the incubation. My girlfriend made a few origami zerg units. I just put them out on my desk and left my computer screen on some fan art of Kerrigan. I thought about these as I imagined getting the 1000th win.



Awesome!  That's great stuff, man.  I love this notion of really going all out with incubation.  My incubation is a real work in progress and I've got quite a long way to go, so these ideas really get my interest.  Could be very useful for those of us who need a little extra boost in our dream incubation abilities.

And I of course love the origami zerg units!   ::D:   I need my Wife to make an origami Angel Falls or something.

And wow, 1000 SC2 wins?   ::holyshit::   You are hardcore.





> I'll put El Burro in my room tonight, I love you buddy.. but I'm going to break you into a million pieces next time.



El Burro's DC will forgive you.  He wants Task of the Month just as badly as you do!

Thanks for the update.  I am learning a lot and getting a great deal of inspiration from these recent entries!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Awesome! That's great stuff, man. I love this notion of really going all out with incubation. My incubation is a real work in progress and I've got quite a long way to go, so these ideas really get my interest. Could be very useful for those of us who need a little extra boost in our dream incubation abilities.



It's interesting. I was really hesitant about going all out like the book recommended because it was kind of cheesy. But hey.. I had a dream about starcraft the first night, and last night i did dream about breaking schtuff even if it wasnt the outcome I wanted exactly  :tongue2: 





> I need my Wife to make an origami Angel Falls or something.



Lol Id like to see that, quite the undertaking.





> And wow, 1000 SC2 wins?   You are hardcore.



It's a lot of games played, they didn't count how many losses I had to get to make it to 1000  :tongue2:  It did take me a good 2 years to finally get it though. 

I'm glad you're getting something out of this too. I was recording it here so I don't have to clog my Dreamjournal with a bunch of notes, so good that someone else is gaining from it as well.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Having a basis of Dream Incubation to work with - now we take the Program One step further! lol 

First is a detailed exploration of your waking reality. 

*- Choose a location reminiscent of your dream scenes you have in your dreams.* 

_I'm dedicated to doing this right, but not enough to get in my car and drive to another location after I worked 8 hours. I went out on my balcony and observed from there_ 




*- Notice exactly where you are in relation to everything else. Take it all in and give yourself time to absorb the aesthetic and emotional impact of your surroundings.* 

_It was PERFECT outside. The temperature was such that I could barely place whether I was feeling warm or cool, and there was a nice refreshing breeze. The trees swayed so surreally, and the fresh mown grass as well as the tree leaves were all vibrant in the setting sunlight that I actually had to RC haha. I felt very content and relaxed._  

*-Then consider that the place you chose is a reflection of your own personality and imagination. Out of all the places you could have gone, you came here. Ask yourself the following questions; What is it about this place that reminds me of my Dreams? Observe people around you, think about how everybody you see also has dreams*

_This made me laugh out loud. Even if I was tired from my day, I would probably choose my balcony anyway. I'm a simple man with simple pleasures and I often just dream about being at home, or another house I've lived in._ 

*-Consider the possibility that those around you have also dreamed of this spot. How many things around you (buildings, products, artifacts) were inspired by unconscious images while somsone was dreaming? Could everything from the street you live on, to your personal tastes, at least on some level be a conscious expression of images from your own and other's Dreams?*

_I found this VERY interesting, I had never considered these thoughts before - what around me may have been inspired by the creators dreams?_ 

*- Get up and walk around, notice possible dream images around you*

----------


## PennyRoyal

*Day 6: Preparation*:

Create and act out a "dream" while I am awake. By creating a 'dream script' and then consciously altering it as you go you will actually be simulating a Lucid Dream. The simulation should help you become more comfortable about the notion of waking up in your dreams. 

Begin this exercise the moment you wake up. Before you move or even open your eyes. Tell yourself, I am going to sleep - then wake up and go about your day but continue to tell yourself that the waking world is actually a dream. 

Tomorrow I will wake up and take a shower.I'll grab breakfast somewhere then drive east for an hour until I reach the Mountain. I will climb to the top of the mountain and observe the entire valley. I'll come back down the Mountain and go to the park to swing on the swings for a while. 

I'm not going to go as in depth as they advise. Dressing appropriately(or inappropriately) for a special occasion like. Their examples "getting lost in a city with no family or friends, or acting out a Ghostbusters fantasy". I'll plan for some things that I don't normally do and do the mental exercises.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Today I completed all of my goals for march.

I remembered my 31st Dream last night and have had 4 Lucids this month and managed to stabilize one. I still need to complete the Task of the Month by breaking something and 
stabilize a dream by spinning.

----------


## OpheliaBlue

Great stuff man:





> Choose a location reminiscent of your dream scenes you have in your dreams.



I find this so interesting, since most of my dream scenes are in my room anyway. Well, the lucid ones and the FAs. I'm interested in how this idea works out for you.





> Create and act out a "dream" while I am awake. By creating a 'dream script' and then consciously altering it as you go you will actually be simulating a Lucid Dream. The simulation should help you become more comfortable about the notion of waking up in your dreams.



This is realllly cool. I know I and other members have done this, but just in incubation form. Basically just imagining ourselves in a dream, going from nonlucid to lucid. But actually acting it out is bad ass. Especially if you do it in one of those environments that you dream about regularly anyway. Would that balcony scene work for you, ya think? I know I'm gonna act some out in my house. Such an interesting idea.

Finally CONGRATULATIONS on achieving all your goals for march. And with more than a week to go! I'm telling ya, all you have to do is get lucid for the basic TOTM. Then grab the nearest object and destroy it! I promise you, if you're worried in the dream that it's real life and you're about to destroy something nice, Auntie Ophelia will buy you a new one. Just have no fear of the consequences. Chuck it against the wall. I'll send you some duct tape and gorilla glue if necessary  ::happy::

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Finally CONGRATULATIONS on achieving all your goals for march. And with more than a week to go! I'm telling ya, all you have to do is get lucid for the basic TOTM. Then grab the nearest object and destroy it! I promise you, if you're worried in the dream that it's real life and you're about to destroy something nice, Auntie Ophelia will buy you a new one. Just have no fear of the consequences. Chuck it against the wall. I'll send you some duct tape and gorilla glue if necessary



Oh, next time it's ON! I'm just having a hard time becoming Lucid again  ::madtongue::  lol.

----------


## CanisLucidus

This is really sounding like a great program (or at the very least, a whole lot of fun.)

You're doing an outstanding job with your workbook and I'm enjoying keeping up with it.  I'm also becoming very conscious of how long it's been since I properly updated mine!

And congratulations on completing all of your March goals already!  Got a long way to go on mine!

----------


## PennyRoyal

Alright. Having completed my NLD/LD goals for March, and there are 8 days left in march (I think) I need to put my focus on something.

I have a DEILD competition with MyCooky - whichever one of us managed to DEILD from a Lucid first wins. 

I've been using the same mantra for a month or so, setting intention for recall. Now I'm going to change it up and try to see if I cant get myself to actually hold still with my eyes closed when I wake up to make DEILDing a bit easier, also seems to help remember dreams if I just stay relaxed. 

*8 Day Goals:

Have a Lucid Dream 
Stabilize by spinning 
before the dream ends remember to hold still and DEILD into another dream.* 

I have a LD coming on I can feel it. Just gotta wait it out. I'm feelin' pumped!

----------


## paigeyemps

Hey great work!! And it's a great idea to have friendl lucid competitions, it really kickstarts your subconscious to actually get things done. Good luck  :smiley:

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Hey great work!! And it's a great idea to have friendl lucid competitions, it really kickstarts your subconscious to actually get things done. Good luck



Yea, the last time we had a friendly competition I had my first DILD after a bit of a dry spell. Hoping to accomplish the same now!

----------


## PennyRoyal

My own awareness technique -

I've been thinking about this the last few days, for a while I felt like awareness was really just clicking with me. Then my habits got pretty bad and I'm not feeling as confident now. Longer lapses in being aware, etc etc. I was thinking of a way to help my awareness gradually increase without relying completely on random acts of strangeness to make me say.. 'Now hold on just a minute, am I dreaming?"

*"Gradual Awareness Technique"* -_ I may not have been the first to invent this, but I have not heard of it before._

The basic idea - You choose one thing that causes you to do critical state testing (Am I dreaming?). Once you have become proficient at questioning your awareness on that one task almost every time, you choose a new one. The concept is to slowly build an arsenal of things that cause you to always question what state of reality you are in. Constant vigilance in being aware always seemed like such a daunting task to me - build it one block at a time!

e.g. - Every time I see anything green, I stop and ask myself if I am awake or dreaming. Green shirt, Grass, green cup, green car, etc etc. 

I started off with something that would be common, once I am always questioning whether or not I'm dreaming when i see something green I can move on to something else, possibly more specific. Use dream signs, etc.

I'll be using this in conjunction with other awareness-checking habits I've already developed.

----------


## PennyRoyal

*Creative Sleep Program Day 7:*

Day time:
- Tell yourself you will consciously examine negative[dream] images next time you dream. 

Night time: 
- Choose an appropriate symbol to place in your room and write your intention in your dream journal. _(I'll leave a yellow hand picture on my desktop)_
- In your dreams, ask unpleasant images and entities what they mean to you. _(Yellow hand from childhood nightmare, Necromancer lady from several weeks ago)_
- Focus on your goal as you go to sleep.

Yellow Hand
Necromancer Lady Like that but without the face thing.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> *"Gradual Awareness Technique"* -_ I may not have been the first to invent this, but I have not heard of it before._
> 
> The basic idea - You choose one thing that causes you to do critical state testing (Am I dreaming?). Once you have become proficient at questioning your awareness on that one task almost every time, you choose a new one. The concept is to slowly build an arsenal of things that cause you to always question what state of reality you are in. Constant vigilance in being aware always seemed like such a daunting task to me - build it one block at a time!



Cool technique, and seems perfectly suited for self-pacing.  LaBerge had an interesting section on rotating different dream signs for training prospective memory, but it had a totally different purpose and approach.  With your tech, the idea is to add stuff _permanently_ until one day the world looks very different to you -- now everywhere you look, _something_ is reminding you that you might be dreaming.

This is a really cool idea.  I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes for you, especially in terms of how quickly you add new elements as well as what the best approach turns out to be for "preserving" old triggers.  Gently coaxing progress out of the body and mind usually seems to be the most effective approach from my experience.

Plus, it's pretty sweet that your acronym works out to be "gat".   ::chuckle::

----------


## PennyRoyal

> *Creative Sleep Program Day 7:*
> 
> Day time:
> - Tell yourself you will consciously examine negative[dream] images next time you dream. 
> 
> Night time: 
> - Choose an appropriate symbol to place in your room and write your intention in your dream journal. _(I'll leave a yellow hand picture on my desktop)_
> - In your dreams, ask unpleasant images and entities what they mean to you. _(Yellow hand from childhood nightmare, Necromancer lady from several weeks ago)_
> - Focus on your goal as you go to sleep..



*Results:* 
I didn't have a dream about any of the negative or nightmarish dreamsigns mentions above, but I did experience another negative dreamsign that I havn't had in a while (Teeth/Tooth falling out)

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Cool technique, and seems perfectly suited for self-pacing.  LaBerge had an interesting section on rotating different dream signs for training prospective memory, but it had a totally different purpose and approach.  With your tech, the idea is to add stuff _permanently_ until one day the world looks very different to you -- now everywhere you look, _something_ is reminding you that you might be dreaming.



Yes, I believe I saw it in Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by LaBerge. I've been meaning to do this for a week as advised, but havn't got around to it. Maybe I'll make it my first week goal for April. 

[/quote]This is a really cool idea.  I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes for you, especially in terms of how quickly you add new elements as well as what the best approach turns out to be for "preserving" old triggers.  Gently coaxing progress out of the body and mind usually seems to be the most effective approach from my experience.

Plus, it's pretty sweet that your acronym works out to be "gat".[/QUOTE]

Haha, I hadn't considered the acronym  ::chuckle::

----------


## PennyRoyal

*Day 8 Reality check:* 

This was nothing out of the ordinary, I try to practice awareness/RC as often as I think about it. 
While drifting off to sleep vow to recognize a dream while you in in the midst of one. 

Terrible Recall. I remember delivering something. I remember having a false awakening that it was raining. 

*Day 9: 
*
Same as Day 8, including -
If I wake from a NLD in the early morning hours, review the details and vow to recognize a dream when you are in it.

Only a few more days to try for the march Totm. I feel like I'm REALLY close to a Lucid this week. 

-Tonight I will recognize a dream sign in a dream. 
-I will break something when I become Lucid.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Only a few more days to try for the march Totm. I feel like I'm REALLY close to a Lucid this week. 
> 
> -Tonight I will recognize a dream sign in a dream. 
> -I will break something when I become Lucid.



When you feel this close, you really are.  I went through this sort of feeling last week and it was followed by a great LD.  I know you've got the same thing on the way for you!

Take this intent with you to bed and during any WBTB.  Intent matters so much.  Drill this in as you get close to sleep to remind yourself of what's coming.  Because seriously... it _is_ coming.  All you're doing is reminding yourself to make it happen.

Looking forward to reading it!   ::goodjob2::

----------


## PennyRoyal

Not much luck in the past few days. 

Not even much NLD recall to speak of. I'm just going to give myself the weekend off and start fresh on Monday/April.

I've been using MILD since mid february. I've had a few DILDs since then and a pair of DEILDs. I want to try out a new technique for the next 4-6 weeks. Any suggestions?

----------


## OpheliaBlue

I know the feeling man. My work schedule is so borked right now that I can't even remember my nonlucids for the past week. I'm going to try for some nap lucids instead, until my sleep goes back to normal.

Anyway, if you're starting to have some luck with DEILDs, you could focus on that. If you're getting familiarized with the amount of time you need to accomplish them, and the transitions that take place, maybe you should give DEILD some more attention and see if you can increase their frequency. And MILDs/DILDs can always happen whether or not you focus on them.

Here's to April!  ::cheers::  I'll post some new tasks on the first, maybe they'll bring us some luck.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> I know the feeling man. My work schedule is so borked right now that I can't even remember my nonlucids for the past week. I'm going to try for some nap lucids instead, until my sleep goes back to normal.



Damn work, always getting in the way!  :tongue2: 





> Anyway, if you're starting to have some luck with DEILDs, you could focus on that. If you're getting familiarized with the amount of time you need to accomplish them, and the transitions that take place, maybe you should give DEILD some more attention and see if you can increase their frequency. And MILDs/DILDs can always happen whether or not you focus on them.



I had two DEILDs in the first 3 weeks of practicing induction, but the first was a total accident. The second one I was just trying to go back to sleep after an awakening in the morning and noticed some very strange HI that I could interact with. I feel like they were a bit of beginners luck. Both of them happened in the early morning hours but I'm not sure how many hours of sleep I had before I managed them. 





> Here's to April!  I'll post some new tasks on the first, maybe they'll bring us some luck.



I sure hope so  :smiley:

----------


## PennyRoyal

Today is the final day of march. Time to summarize this month. 

*March:*

Technique: 
Primarily MILD. Goal setting, mantras at night.

Goals: 
Remember 1 Dream per night, or 31 dreams in March X
Become Lucid once a week or 4 times in March X
Stabilize the dream by rubbing your hands together/against the enviornment. X
Stabilize by spinning.
Become Lucid and break something (TotM)

Comments:

Overall I had good success this month, I was able to reach my recall and lucid goals. 

I was unable to try the second method of stabilization or complete the March Task of the Month. The last week or so of march was extremely disappointing. I felt like I was right on the brink of a Lucid, but instead my recall dropped to zero for most of the week.

Trying to decide what Tech to focus on for April. Considering DEILDs or SSILD.

----------


## PennyRoyal

*April:*

*Technique:*
SSILD if I move when I wake.
attempt DEILD if I remain still when I wake. 

*Bedtime Mantra:* 
I stay still with my eyes closed when I wake up.  

*Goals for the month:* 
Have 45 Dream Journal entries for April. 
Have 6 Lucid Dreams in April.
Become Lucid and stabilize the dream by spinning.

*Week 1 Goals:* 
Log 10 dreams in my Dream Journal. 
Become Lucid in a dream.

----------


## CanisLucidus

Great update.  SSILD is the technique that I used to get my start.  Even though I primarily practice MILD these days, SSILD is probably still where I've gotten more than half of my LDs.  It is an impressive technique.  Too bad nobody really knows why it works!   ::chuckle:: 

Be sure to check out CosmicIron's new, official steps.  They've been refined a bit from the originals and I found that they worked better for me, particular the introduction of fast and slow cycles.

What's great about your excellent recordkeeping is that you'll be able to, at the end of the trial of SSILD/DEILD, be able to tell how well each tech performed for you and proceed accordingly.  I have learned so much from being able to go back over my own records!  Good luck and keep us up to date.  And congratulations on an excellent March!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Great update.  SSILD is the technique that I used to get my start.  Even though I primarily practice MILD these days, SSILD is probably still where I've gotten more than half of my LDs.  It is an impressive technique.  Too bad nobody really knows why it works!  
> 
> Be sure to check out CosmicIron's new, official steps.  They've been refined a bit from the originals and I found that they worked better for me, particular the introduction of fast and slow cycles.



I'll have to find that, thanks. 





> What's great about your excellent recordkeeping is that you'll be able to, at the end of the trial of SSILD/DEILD, be able to tell how well each tech performed for you and proceed accordingly.  I have learned so much from being able to go back over my own records!  Good luck and keep us up to date.  And congratulations on an excellent March!



Thanks CL. Here's to a good April as well!  ::cheers::

----------


## PennyRoyal

I'm going to add a goal to my first week. I'll try a new one each week during this month. 

I want to try and single out one of my personal goals. At night I'm going to incubate the hunting as a wolf in a pack dream in hopes for an awesome lucid, or at least a cool NLD.

*week 1*
-log 10 dreams in dream journal for week 1
-Have a lucid dream in week 1
-Have a dream about wolves.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> I'll have to find that, thanks.



Good grief, sorry about that!  I meant to paste the link... I even found it before posting!   :tongue2: 

Here are the official SSILD steps: å®å®ã®é: Senses Initiated Lucid Dream (SSILD) Official Tutorial





> -Have a dream about wolves.



Just added "ride a giant wolf" to my list of dream goals recently.   ::goodjob2:: 

And yes -- to your continued success in April and many moons thereafter!   ::cheers::

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Good grief, sorry about that!  I meant to paste the link... I even found it before posting!  
> 
> Here are the official SSILD steps: å®‡å®™ã®é“: Senses Initiated Lucid Dream (SSILD) Official Tutorial



hahaha thank you. I couldn't find it xD







> Just added "ride a giant wolf" to my list of dream goals recently.



That's awesome, I had a few dreams in my childhood with a reappearing Dire Wolf. I never rode her though. 

Ideally I'd like to BE a wolf hunting in a pack. I've been fascinated with wolves ever since I read White Fang as a kid.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> hahaha thank you. I couldn't find it xD



Yeah, dude, that's why I felt like a jerk for forgetting to paste it in!  What, you didn't try googling for " å®‡å®™ã®é“"??  _Gosh!_  ::lol:: 





> That's awesome, I had a few dreams in my childhood with a reappearing Dire Wolf. I never rode her though. 
> 
> Ideally I'd like to BE a wolf hunting in a pack. I've been fascinated with wolves ever since I read White Fang as a kid.



That sounds amazing.  One look at my avatar ought to tell you how cool I find that idea.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Yeah, dude, that's why I felt like a jerk for forgetting to paste it in!  What, you didn't try googling for " å®‡å®™ã®é“"??  _Gosh!_ 
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds amazing.  One look at my avatar ought to tell you how cool I find that idea.



Haha no need to feel like a jerk. I'm more forgetful than the average human being  :tongue2:  

Do you like to read Sci-Fi/Fantasy? I read a series of books called the Belgariad/Mallorean by David Eddings. The main character is an ancient sorcerer and his family also have talent. They spend a lot of their time shapeshifted as wolves. It's very interesting the way he describes the way wolves interact with each other and whatnot, it's hilarious when they run into wild wolves as well  :tongue2:

----------


## CanisLucidus

I hadn't read this series, but I've just added it to my Goodreads.  Thanks for the tip!  Sounds like a fun read.

Too bad that there's no Kindle edition so I can dive in at will!

----------


## PennyRoyal

Changing gears a bit due to the Competition thread that started today. I need to score some points so MysticalDipshit and I can win! I wish we could choose our own name.. I really like RoyalDipshit  ::roll:: 

-Remember to stabilize every Lucid. 
-Reality check (even though I tend to just already know I'm in a dream when it starts)
-Meet MD
-Explore with MD

HiYA!  ::ninja::  Team Desert!

----------


## PennyRoyal

So close to meeting up with MD last night! SSILD seems to be working great for me. 

3 Lucids in 2 days. Really proud of myself, I'm feeling awesome.

I need to make a new rule for myself when I become lucid. I've lost lucidity twice now because I keep double checking that I'm dreaming. I would have been alright this time, but I tried for the finger through the palm and it didn't work  ::shakehead2::  Once I determine that I'm dreaming, that's it. Just continue on.

----------


## CanisLucidus

Congratulations on all of this success, man!  3 lucids in 2 days is just great!  You've caught fire just in time for that competition.  Sounds like a lot of fun -- good luck!

Sorry about losing lucidity via bad reality check!  I agree that basically assuming you are dreaming as soon as you have any doubt is a good habit to form.  By this point, your basic intuition as to whether you are dreaming is getting better and better.  Mind you it's not going to be perfect.  Not this early.  But it's getting really good!

If you do want to still incorporate RCs, maybe pick a higher-grade RC like nose pinch?  Even though, truthfully, that can fail as well... it's rare, but it happens.  A surprisingly effective and general-purpose one is the question of: "How did I get here and do I, the world around me, and my situation make sense?"

Good luck and keep bringing the heat!

----------


## Xanous

Good luck in the comp RoyalDipshit.  ::lol::  Im off to a horrible start.  :Sad:

----------


## PennyRoyal

> If you do want to still incorporate RCs, maybe pick a higher-grade RC like nose pinch?  Even though, truthfully, that can fail as well... it's rare, but it happens.  A surprisingly effective and general-purpose one is the question of: "How did I get here and do I, the world around me, and my situation make sense?"
> 
> Good luck and keep bringing the heat!



Before I failed with the finger RC, I used the nose pinch and it worked just fine. I've never used the finger through palm before so I just wanted to try it out, paid for that lol.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Good luck in the comp RoyalDipshit.  Im off to a horrible start.



Hahah thanks Xanous!

It's still early on, plenty of time to get an awesome streak in. I'm sure I'll be reading an awesome update from you soon that will make me totally jealous  :tongue2:

----------


## PennyRoyal

No recall last night. 

I got home from work today drank a cup of coffee and laid down to attempt to WILD for maybe my 2nd or third time. I had some pretty wild HI and even experienced some strange noises before just falling asleep. I think I had two dreams during the nap, or at least remember two separate parts from the same dream. At the end before I woke up I was laughing and telling myself to remember what it was I was laughing about when i woke up. Hoping I didn't forget a lucid  :tongue2:  I woke up from this one completely still and I tried to remember the earlier details of my dream. I noticed some imagery that was almost exactly the same as the last time I DEILDed. I tried to use the same method to enter the images as last time but they disappeared and then I could hear my fan and the birds outside my window. 

As hard as it is for me, I'm going to go to bed early tonight (friday night) but I can sleep in as long as I want. I still need to try and DEILD from a Lucid before MyCooky. I'm going to take a small dose of b6 and eat some complimenting foods and try to score some big points for the competition. Try to meet up with MD and get into some kind of shenanigans. RoyalDipshit!

----------


## PennyRoyal

April goal Update:

*Week 1: 10 Dreams in DJ, 1 Lucid* (13 Dreams 5 Lucid)

Month:
Complete Basic TotM [X]
13/*45* Dreams for April [ ]
Have 5/*6* Lucid Dreams [ ]
Stabilize a dream by spinning

*Week 2:* 10 Dreams, 1 Lucid, Meet up with MD, Stabilize a lucid by spinning

----------


## OpheliaBlue

Good luck on your goals!

I'm doing a challenge too: gotta beat those guys and do a FILD (never done one ever)

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Before I failed with the finger RC, I used the nose pinch and it worked just fine. I've never used the finger through palm before so I just wanted to try it out, paid for that lol.



Oh man, what a bummer about the finger through palm actually _stealing_ your lucidity.  That sucks pretty badly!  I'm assuming you were pretty much fully lucid after the nose pinch, right?

One thing that I like to do is kind of talk myself through it.  I'll keep muttering about how "I'm having a lucid dream" and "I am in total control of this lucid dream", etc.  All kinds of rah-rah, self-congratulatory stuff that I completely convince myself of.   ::chuckle::   Once you've got that lucidity, hang on madly.  That way, when an RC bombs out, you can just say, "Ah, look, that RC failed *in this lucid dream*" rather than lapsing back into non-lucidity.





> April goal Update:
> Month:
> Complete Basic TotM [X]
> 13/*45* Dreams for April [ ]
> Have 5/*6* Lucid Dreams [ ]



Huge month for you so far.  5 lucid dreams already!  Sensational!

----------


## PennyRoyal

Goal Update for April:

Complete Basic TotM [X]
Complete Advanced TotM [ ]
19/45 Dreams for April [ ]
Have 6 Lucid Dreams [X]

Another goal checked off early, April has been my month so far. 

Have been continuing SSILD with success. Looking good in the recall department if I stay consistent, I'd like to get a few extra dreams if I can though. Keeping up with my score in the competition which has been really great for my motivation. I'm still hoping to get lucid before it ends and complete one of the team tasks though.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Oh man, what a bummer about the finger through palm actually _stealing_ your lucidity.  That sucks pretty badly!  I'm assuming you were pretty much fully lucid after the nose pinch, right?



Yea I was good to go! I don't think I'll be going back to the palm again, or at least not for a while  :tongue2: 





> One thing that I like to do is kind of talk myself through it.  I'll keep muttering about how "I'm having a lucid dream" and "I am in total control of this lucid dream", etc.  All kinds of rah-rah, self-congratulatory stuff that I completely convince myself of.    Once you've got that lucidity, hang on madly.  That way, when an RC bombs out, you can just say, "Ah, look, that RC failed *in this lucid dream*" rather than lapsing back into non-lucidity.



I used this last night  :tongue2:

----------


## CanisLucidus

Great job pulling off your LD goals less than halfway through the month!





> I used this last night



Yeah, when I saw that I was so proud of you for shouting like a crazy person during your lucid dream.   ::chuckle::   Just like me!  I really do mutter encouraging, cheerleader-y stuff like that to myself in a lot of my lucid dreams.  Just that little extra constant reminder to keep the idea alive in your mind that you're lucid, that things are stable, that you are awesome, etc.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Great job pulling off your LD goals less than halfway through the month!



So stoked! Thanks for the encouragement as always CL, you are a great motivator. 







> Yeah, when I saw that I was so proud of you for shouting like a crazy person during your lucid dream.    Just like me!  I really do mutter encouraging, cheerleader-y stuff like that to myself in a lot of my lucid dreams.  Just that little extra constant reminder to keep the idea alive in your mind that you're lucid, that things are stable, that you are awesome, etc.



Worked like a charm. You're the man.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> So stoked! Thanks for the encouragement as always CL, you are a great motivator.



Thanks, buddy, that's really nice of you to say!  Your success, in turn, is motivating _me_ to end this silly dry spell I've somehow gotten tangled up in!  So thank _you!_

Keep up the great work!   ::goodjob2::

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Thanks, buddy, that's really nice of you to say!  Your success, in turn, is motivating _me_ to end this silly dry spell I've somehow gotten tangled up in!  So thank _you!_



Aw man, I'm sending good vibes to you tonight through the interwebs  ::dreaming:: . I have some friends coming from California to stay the weekend, I doubt I'll be getting much sleep - You can borrow my lucidity pool until monday and get a nice bonus  ::chuckle:: . 

Have you read this article about howVideo game players and dream control? 

I'm not sure how reputable the source is, but I found it an interesting thing to consider.

----------


## Xanous

> Have you read this article about howVideo game players and dream control?



Dude that is a really interesting article. I only skim read but I think I get the idea. It really makes sense to me especially for the nightmare factor. And any reason to play more is always a good thing. Of course telling my wife that I'm playing so long only to improve my dreaming skills might not set well.  ::lol:: 


CanisLucidus, hang in there! It'll be over real soon.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Dude that is a really interesting article. I only skim read but I think I get the idea. It really makes sense to me especially for the nightmare factor. And any reason to play more is always a good thing. Of course telling my wife that I'm playing so long only to improve my dreaming skills might not set well.



I thought it was pretty cool. What games do you play Xanous?

----------


## Xanous

I play a wide range of games but I have been favoring the RPG shooter types like Fallout, Borderlands, and Skyrim.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Aw man, I'm sending good vibes to you tonight through the interwebs . I have some friends coming from California to stay the weekend, I doubt I'll be getting much sleep - You can borrow my lucidity pool until monday and get a nice bonus .



Ha ha, thanks dude!  Fortunately I _did_ manage to finally break out of it last night.  It struck me that I have really let awareness practices slip for the past week or so due to a variety of waking life issues.  I'm going to really focus on keeping those dialed in and hopefully I'll be off to the races!  There's still time to have a good month!   ::happy:: 





> Have you read this article about howVideo game players and dream control?



That's a cool article!  I especially like that it flatters my sensibilities and makes me think that playing all of these video games over the years has been a wonderful time investment!   ::goodjob2:: 

The bit about going into a 3rd person perspective is really interesting, too, because I've certainly had that happen and always thought it was pretty common.  I wonder if it's only common for gamers....

I wonder what dreams feel like for a high-APM Starcraft kinda gamer like yourself.   ::D: 





> CanisLucidus, hang in there! It'll be over real soon.



Thanks, man, you were right!  I even had a little help from our mutual friend *caffeine*!   ::chuckle::

----------


## PennyRoyal

> I play a wide range of games but I have been favoring the RPG shooter types like Fallout, Borderlands, and Skyrim.



Ah I have the first Borderlands, I thought it was pretty cool. I played Skyrim a ton when it first came out, played a Sneak/Bow guy it was really fun. I've been meaning to go back and do a caster play through but I just havn't. Did you by chance ever play the old games on AOL? There was an online Deathmatch RPG-FPS called Magestorm that was really awesome, I recently discovered someone remade it - pretty cool.. even if the graphics are dated xD.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Ha ha, thanks dude!  Fortunately I _did_ manage to finally break out of it last night.  It struck me that I have really let awareness practices slip for the past week or so due to a variety of waking life issues.  I'm going to really focus on keeping those dialed in and hopefully I'll be off to the races!  There's still time to have a good month!



Right on! :bravo: 





> The bit about going into a 3rd person perspective is really interesting, too, because I've certainly had that happen and always thought it was pretty common.  I wonder if it's only common for gamers....



My dreams are almost exclusively in first person - except for those SC2 dreams I was having when the expansion came out  :tongue2:  Other than that I don't have a single memory of a 3rd person dream. Have you had a Lucid in 3rd person? That sounds pretty interesting  :Thinking:

----------


## Xanous

Speaking of gamers and such... I wonder if anime helps with dream control. Just a thought.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Speaking of gamers and such... I wonder if anime helps with dream control. Just a thought.



Hmm, I'm not sure.. I know anime has definitely inspired some interesting dreams for me though.

----------


## OpheliaBlue

> Speaking of gamers and such... I wonder if anime helps with dream control. Just a thought.



I heard the same about playing video games. I don't really play video games or watch anime much, but it seems to me like it would contribute to dream control.

----------


## PennyRoyal

April Goal Update:

Lucids: 8/6                           
Recall: 31/45                        
Control: Stabilize by spinning, Head outside and fly  

I'm up 2 on my Lucids goal, and about right on track for my recall. April hasn't been too shabby. 

Still using SSILD with success I'm finding that I have to extend my WBTBs as i become more comfortable with the technique because I'm falling asleep part way through the first cycle a lot of the time.

I'm really considering adopting WILD as my tech in May, although I'm a little nervous about having a tough time with it. I've tried on a few afternoon naps with no luck but not during a WBTB at night yet. Plus, I've had such good results with SSILD I'm not sure if I want to switch it up yet.

----------


## Xanous

It seems that anime would give visuals but I dont know though I don't watch anime that often.

Anyway, thats awesome you're killing your goals man. Way to go! I think I'd be inclined to stick with what's working for but it's also nice to experience different techniques. WILD is really an experience all on its own they everyone needs have at least once.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> It seems that anime would give visuals but I dont know though I don't watch anime that often.
> 
> Anyway, thats awesome you're killing your goals man. Way to go! I think I'd be inclined to stick with what's working for but it's also nice to experience different techniques. WILD is really an experience all on its own they everyone needs have at least once.



I don't really watch it too often either. I have some anime related dream goals, when I get to those I'll probably make it a habit to watch some everynight before bed. If I notice anything interesting I'll be sure to report. 

WILD is definitely something I intend to pursue eventually, I just don't want to get ahead of myself. Originally it was the technique I wanted to start with, but after much reading it seems that many a newbie-dreamer gets discouraged and gives up. The idea of entering a dream "on demand" so-to-speak is just too enticing to ignore :p

I've read a ton of WILD related threads and tutorials, but is there anything in particular that helped you personally when you were starting off with WILD?

----------


## Xanous

> I've read a ton of WILD related threads and tutorials, but is there anything in particular that helped you personally when you were starting off with WILD?



That's a tough one to answer. I think each person has to find their own style and way to WILD. Sageous' class really gave me a great foundation to build on but I had to tweak it to own needs. Later I found LaBerge's Twin Body Technique really helpful but again I had to put my own spin on it. Really it's all about walking that fine line between body asleep mind awake. How you get there depends on you. My biggest obstacle is falling asleep unaware. Either I have to be very well rested and attempt only late morning or afternoon naps or get a little help from aids. Even then my success rate isn't were I would like. I really just have to wait for the right conditions to be successful. That probably isn't' much help but that's all I got. IMO, WILD is really a tough thing to explain and has to be learned through trial and error.  ::D:

----------


## PennyRoyal

Last few days have gone really poorly for me, no recall to mention. I tried to adjust my sleep schedule so that when my girlfriend's alarm goes off its about 5 hrs of sleep and use that for WBTB, but I just cant get back to bed when the light is coming through the window. It was a decent idea but hasnt worked out. 

I tried A WILD attempt yesterday about 4 hrs after I woke up, couldn't fall asleep. I tried one this morning 2 hours after waking up and had some brief hallucinations. At one point I was staring at a blue city dumpster and I thought about how I should be doing my anchoring technique then realized that I was looking at something with my eyes closed which jolted me awake. Another time I noticed that I was whittling something, my knife got caught on whatever I was carving and my waking body arm twitched, bringing me back to full conciousness.

Ill have to return my sleeping pattern to normal tonight, but I think I'm going to try to do a WILD attempt in the mornings while Im out of work.

----------


## CanisLucidus

Awesome job in April, man!  I'm jealous of your LD count.   :Cheeky:   It's great how well SSILD is delivering for you right now.  There's nothing wrong with taking another month of SSILD if you're so inclined and just enjoy refining and getting even better with the technique.  Honestly, there's nothing more helpful with getting better at lucid dreaming than just having lots of LDs.  SSILD seems to be a good way for you to do that.

Having said that, I have to admit that WILD _is_ pretty awesome.   :smiley: 





> WILD is definitely something I intend to pursue eventually, I just don't want to get ahead of myself. Originally it was the technique I wanted to start with, but after much reading it seems that many a newbie-dreamer gets discouraged and gives up. The idea of entering a dream "on demand" so-to-speak is just too enticing to ignore :p
> 
> I've read a ton of WILD related threads and tutorials, but is there anything in particular that helped you personally when you were starting off with WILD?



Xanous has offered lots of good advice, and in particular I would re-emphasize studying Sageous' materials.  I found that the mindset he asks you to cultivate was a huge help for making the transition into WILD as smooth as possible.

An additional piece of advice is that I found DEILD to be a great stepping stone to WILD.  DEILD really _is_ a type of WILD, but it just involves a much shorter hop back to the dream.  This makes DEILD a great place to practice the same skills that you'll need for WILDing.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Awesome job in April, man!  I'm jealous of your LD count.    It's great how well SSILD is delivering for you right now.  There's nothing wrong with taking another month of SSILD if you're so inclined and just enjoy refining and getting even better with the technique.  Honestly, there's nothing more helpful with getting better at lucid dreaming than just having lots of LDs.  SSILD seems to be a good way for you to do that.
> 
> Having said that, I have to admit that WILD _is_ pretty awesome.



After that DEILD this morning I'll have to agree, I wish I could do it regularly. I think I'm going to try and do another month with SSILD to hopefully get some more LDs under my belt before I really try for WILDs.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Ok, it's Wednesday night I have the rest of the week with change to make up for my recall goal which has fallen behind. I've actually been really lazy with my practices this week, I just cracked open my DJ and havn't even made an effort to write my nightly goals since the 20th, tsk tsk tsk. 

I browsed my DJ and noticed a pattern that I seem to be whining a lot about forgetting to stabilize my lucids, my problem has gone from BECOMING lucid to REMAINING lucid. 

Main goal:

Stabilize my next Lucid Dream, once stabilized go outside for a change and fly. 

Trying to set myself up nicely tonight. Going to go to bed a bit early and drink 2 cups of AJ with 100mg B6. Ate some additional foods containing B vitamins and trypt. Just got done doing an entry in my waking life journal and I'm going to write out my goals in my poor neglected DJ after I post this to set my intention.

For future quick reference below --

Prebed:

(Mantra) I wake up after every dream and remember. (Visualize writing dreams in my DJ)     

Awakenings: Brief WBTB each time followed with SSILD cycles.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Didn't get the results I was hoping for. 1 Dream, 1 Fragment. 

Again I experienced pretty bad insomnia on my awakning at 2:30am as usual with B6. I honestly don't think it's excitement, I rolled over and opened my eyes and felt like I had been awake for hours. Thankfully I fell asleep in fairly short order. 

I woke twice in the night and did SSILD cycles. 2:30 and 4:30ish. I'm really having a bad time with my recall, struggling hard to remember so little. I think I'm going to have to put a bit more focus on it for the next few days.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> I browsed my DJ and noticed a pattern that I seem to be whining a lot about forgetting to stabilize my lucids, my problem has gone from BECOMING lucid to REMAINING lucid. 
> 
> Main goal:
> 
> Stabilize my next Lucid Dream, once stabilized go outside for a change and fly.



Sounds good!  Do you have a specific idea in mind for how you'll stabilize?  One thing that I find helps is to not think of it just in terms of stabilization.  What you're really looking to do is find ways to get really hooked into the dream scene and your dream body.  Trying to get an extraordinary level of detail out of dream scenery, your hands, the way things feel, etc. is a pretty amazing experience all in itself and seems to automatically make the dream more stable.

Basically, with stabilization, you're trying to think only of the dream world and lose as much connection as possible to your waking body.  What you may want to do is come up with something really specific, whether it be rubbing your hands together, studying your hands close up in great detail, licking the floor, etc.





> Again I experienced pretty bad insomnia on my awakning at 2:30am as usual with B6. I honestly don't think it's excitement, I rolled over and opened my eyes and felt like I had been awake for hours. Thankfully I fell asleep in fairly short order.



Interesting, this isn't something that I experienced.  When you say that roll over and quickly fall asleep, how long does this insomnia last for?  Because if you are still getting back to sleep at will, a feeling of wakefulness at WBTB isn't by itself too problematic.  If you're actually losing a good chunk of sleep, though, that isn't so good.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Sounds good!  Do you have a specific idea in mind for how you'll stabilize?  One thing that I find helps is to not think of it just in terms of stabilization.  What you're really looking to do is find ways to get really hooked into the dream scene and your dream body.  Trying to get an extraordinary level of detail out of dream scenery, your hands, the way things feel, etc. is a pretty amazing experience all in itself and seems to automatically make the dream more stable.
> 
> Basically, with stabilization, you're trying to think only of the dream world and lose as much connection as possible to your waking body.  What you may want to do is come up with something really specific, whether it be rubbing your hands together, studying your hands close up in great detail, licking the floor, etc.



Whoops, I wasn't being very specific. My stabilization technique is usually rubbing my hands together and poking/feeling at my body. I had really good results when I was feeling up the dream scene one night, but I havn't been able to remember to do that since. I'll have to make an effort to use that method, I forgot how well it worked for me. 





> Interesting, this isn't something that I experienced.  When you say that roll over and quickly fall asleep, how long does this insomnia last for?  Because if you are still getting back to sleep at will, a feeling of wakefulness at WBTB isn't by itself too problematic.  If you're actually losing a good chunk of sleep, though, that isn't so good.



Well, it was quickly this time compared to my other experiences. I'd say it took me maybe 25-30 minutes to fall asleep, which is a long time for me (~5-10minutes after awakenings is typical). I havn't had a night taking B6 in a while because the last few times it took me upwards of an hour or more to crash out. 

I have a friend who had a fleeting interest in LDing last year, he said that he never had my problem with B6 but mentioned getting fairly bad insomnia from taking Galantamine/Choline. He offered the rest of it to me, but he turned me off to the idea with the whole insomnia bit. Shame, now I wouldn't mind taking a crack at it and he's moved away lol.

----------


## PennyRoyal

WILD attempt #2:

Woke up 6am, after 7 hrs of sleep. Stayed up two hours and laid down for WILD (8am). 

Notes: 

-I notice that I tend to twist my mantra when I'm on the brink of sleep. (Stabilize turned to "Stay Alive" for a bit before i realized hahah). I also notice that I tend to get some muscle twitches

-Twice I got glimpses of either some impressive images or the beginnings of a dream. Once I was looking up at a tall building and blue sky, another a brief glimpse of a cell phone

-I must have lost awareness a few times here and there. I figured I gave myself 30 minutes to lay down and try to fall asleep but it turned out to be a little over an hour.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Whoops, I wasn't being very specific. My stabilization technique is usually rubbing my hands together and poking/feeling at my body. I had really good results when I was feeling up the dream scene one night, but I havn't been able to remember to do that since. I'll have to make an effort to use that method, I forgot how well it worked for me.



Perfect!  Try it all.  The "get really into the dream scene" and "make out with the dream" style of stabilization is just hilarious and fun anyway.  Man, the crazy detail that your mind can generate when you look at stuff up close.  Mind-blowing.





> Well, it was quickly this time compared to my other experiences. I'd say it took me maybe 25-30 minutes to fall asleep, which is a long time for me (~5-10minutes after awakenings is typical). I havn't had a night taking B6 in a while because the last few times it took me upwards of an hour or more to crash out.



Man, interesting!  Maybe it just doesn't agree with you then.  Do you also get the benefits of more vivid dreams usually or is it just not the supp for you?





> I have a friend who had a fleeting interest in LDing last year, he said that he never had my problem with B6 but mentioned getting fairly bad insomnia from taking Galantamine/Choline. He offered the rest of it to me, but he turned me off to the idea with the whole insomnia bit. Shame, now I wouldn't mind taking a crack at it and he's moved away lol.



Oh man!!  Your buddy was going to give you free G?  You know, the rest of us have to pay for that!   ::lol:: 

The level of insomnia w/ galantamine varies greatly by dosage, how much supporting choline you use, and your excitement level.  I've found that a little L-theanine helps smooth things out.  Galantamine is only good to take at WBTB and is generally used to induce WILDs.  However, if the insomnia is really bad, an option is to take the G, then go straight to sleep and look for a DILD.

If you do wind up having any questions or interest in galantamine, Xanous or I can both help you.  It's a supplement that is much more effective if you learn the best way to employ it and there are some possible mistakes with it you'd really want to avoid.  (I take galantamine once per week or so.)

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Man, interesting!  Maybe it just doesn't agree with you then.  Do you also get the benefits of more vivid dreams usually or is it just not the supp for you?



Actually.. The night I remembered to "feel up the dream" was a B6 night, and it was the most vivid and realistic lucid I've had so far. I'm going to have to go back and check my DJ for the other times. 





> Oh man!!  Your buddy was going to give you free G?  You know, the rest of us have to pay for that!



Lol, I didn't really even know what he was offering me at the time. 





> The level of insomnia w/ galantamine varies greatly by dosage, how much supporting choline you use, and your excitement level.  I've found that a little L-theanine helps smooth things out.  Galantamine is only good to take at WBTB and is generally used to induce WILDs.  However, if the insomnia is really bad, an option is to take the G, then go straight to sleep and look for a DILD.
> 
> If you do wind up having any questions or interest in galantamine, Xanous or I can both help you.  It's a supplement that is much more effective if you learn the best way to employ it and there are some possible mistakes with it you'd really want to avoid.  (I take galantamine once per week or so.)



I'll end up picking your brains for info on G eventually. I havnt even looked into where to get it, i'm assuming I'll have to place an order online somewhere.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but so far my understanding is, G temporarily increases the concentration of acetylcholine in the brain, which brings you into REM a bit quicker? Which would make sense why it's a Supp used for WILD. 

I havnt done a lot of research on the topic yet.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Please correct me if I'm wrong, but so far my understanding is, G temporarily increases the concentration of acetylcholine in the brain, which brings you into REM a bit quicker? Which would make sense why it's a Supp used for WILD. 
> 
> I havnt done a lot of research on the topic yet.



Right, acetylcholine (ACh) is produced in the brain from choline and gradually removed by an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase (AChE).  Galantamine inhibits the actions of AChE, allowing levels of ACh to rise in the brain.  In addition, galantamine does some other nice things like making nicotinic ACh receptors more responsive (it's an "allosteric modulator" for these receptors.)

And yeah, high levels of acetylcholine are associated with REM sleep, _plus_ an increase in memory and awareness.  So it has some additional benefits for DILDs as well.  And like you said, by bringing on REM more readily, it makes WILDs a much shorter hop than usual.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Seems as though I burned off whatever fuel I was using at the beginning of the month. Either way, it's been a fantastic month for me so I won't allow myself to complain. 

I decided since I enjoyed the competition so much and I don't really want to wait for another thatI'd make my own. But then it occurred to me that I hate being responsible for keeping track of things like that, which spawned another fun idea  :idea2: . I could just use the point system from the competition as a way to track my progress and create personal bests that I can try to beat from week to week and month to month. Going to give myself the rest of April to relax and begin on this upcoming Wednesday the 1st of March.

Points

Recall:
Remember a fragment          (.5 pts)
Remember a dream              (1 pts)

Lucid:
Become Lucid                     (5 Pts)
DEILD/WILD                       (3 Pts)
WBTB                               (1 Pt, 2 if followed by a Lucid)
Interact with DC                 (2 pts)

Control:

Fly/Summon/Transform/etc.. (4 pts)

I'll figure out some kind of reward befitting a young oneironaut if I beat a PB.  :tongue2: 

Excited already.

----------


## Xanous

Great idea! Love it!

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Seems as though I burned off whatever fuel I was using at the beginning of the month. Either way, it's been a fantastic month for me so I won't allow myself to complain.



You really have had an amazing month!  I'm super impressed by how well things have gone for you and how much you accomplished.  It was a lot of fun to see that and it helped keep me inspired and in the groove when mid-April was kind of dry for me.





> I decided since I enjoyed the competition so much and I don't really want to wait for another thatI'd make my own. But then it occurred to me that I hate being responsible for keeping track of things like that, which spawned another fun idea . I could just use the point system from the competition as a way to track my progress and create personal bests that I can try to beat from week to week and month to month. Going to give myself the rest of April to relax and begin on this upcoming Wednesday the 1st of March.



Such a great idea, especially given how much you thrive off of competition!  Now if only you could figure out how to compete against yourself in Starcraft, the 13-year-old South Korean that you faced last time won't stand a chance.   ::goodjob2:: 

Good luck on kicking the ass of your own April performance in May!   ::D:

----------


## PennyRoyal

I havn't had any recall for a few days. I'm know it will be back but.. bummer. Aw well, what are ya gonna do?

April was a great month for me I ended up having 10 Lucids, I had a goal of 6.  :Shades wink:  Proud of myself for that, I wish I could have kept that momentum all month long. 

My recall goal came up short, 36/45 dreams recalled. It wasn't terribly off but I was hoping to reach it. I had success in other areas to make up for it.

*May Goals:*

Recall/Lucids: 

_7 Lucids_, _40 Dreams_. Going to continue with SSILD, but extend my _WBTB to 30 minutes_ and see if that has any effect. 

Control: I havn't had an opportunity to try to spinning technique for travel/stabilization. I want to at least try it once.

Spin to Stabilize and/or change the _Dream scene_, _Go outside_, _Fly_

----------


## PennyRoyal

April 2nd Score:

2 Dreams, 2 Fragment, Became Lucid, WBTB Success = 11 Pts.

I think I may have been close to an unintentional WILD last night, I was doing SSILD cycles and for a moment then I was looking at a cell phone in my hand. There was a 3 word text message displayed and I tried to memorize it. It lasted only a few seconds before I was looking at the back of my eyelids again. 

I almost came close to a DEILD twice this morning. I seem to get the same imagery when I'm coming up on a DILD, I can see what looks like the white/black/grey "snow" that you used to see when your TV was set to a channel you didn't have.

----------


## CanisLucidus

Awesome, man, what a great month.  You _should_ be proud after getting lucid that frequently.  I'm duly impressed!

I'll be interested to see how the 30-minute WBTB goes for you.  The trouble is, with 10 lucids in April, you've set the bar so darn high that it's going to be harder to improve.   :tongue2:   Also curious how spinning to change dream scene works for you.  It's something that for whatever reason I shied away from early in my practice but I'm now interested in trying again now that I'm a little more seasoned.

Here's to an excellent, lucid May!   ::cheers::

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Awesome, man, what a great month.  You _should_ be proud after getting lucid that frequently.  I'm duly impressed!



Thanks CL, I appreciate it. 





> I'll be interested to see how the 30-minute WBTB goes for you.  The trouble is, with 10 lucids in April, you've set the bar so darn high that it's going to be harder to improve.    Also curious how spinning to change dream scene works for you.  It's something that for whatever reason I shied away from early in my practice but I'm now interested in trying again now that I'm a little more seasoned.



I have to go to bed a bit earlier to get the 30 minutes in, but it's not really a big deal. I woke up a little later than usual last night so I only stayed up for 15 minutes - a little longer than usual. Got a brief moment of lucidity during an FA.





> Here's to an excellent, lucid May!



You too man! I'm counting on reading some awesome lucids from you for inspiration  :wink2:  Looks like you are getting close to that big *1 0 0*

----------


## CanisLucidus

> I have to go to bed a bit earlier to get the 30 minutes in, but it's not really a big deal. I woke up a little later than usual last night so I only stayed up for 15 minutes - a little longer than usual. Got a brief moment of lucidity during an FA.



Oh sweet!!  I somehow missed this DJ entry...  :Oops:   I will be sure to check it out!





> You too man! I'm counting on reading some awesome lucids from you for inspiration  Looks like you are getting close to that big *1 0 0*



Ha ha, thanks man!  I am excited about 100 and I am really, really going to try to hit it his month if I can.  I had probably the best lucid dream _of my life_ on Wednesday night and I'm _still_ on a high from that thing... just so amazing.  Can't remember the last time I felt so motivated.

Let's kill it in May!!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Oh sweet!!  I somehow missed this DJ entry...   I will be sure to check it out!
> 
> 
> 
> Ha ha, thanks man!  I am excited about 100 and I am really, really going to try to hit it his month if I can.  I had probably the best lucid dream _of my life_ on Wednesday night and I'm _still_ on a high from that thing... just so amazing.  Can't remember the last time I felt so motivated.
> 
> Let's kill it in May!!



Whaat? Ill have to check it out, I was away from my computer for a few days. Going to have to see what I missed  :tongue2:

----------


## PennyRoyal

Awesome recall for me last night, 4 dreams. More than I usually manage.

April 3rd. 4 Dreams, WBTB no Lucid - 5 Pts.

*16 Pts*

I had some really interesting imagery after I finished my SSILD cycles last night. Instead of random shapes or a flash of a vivid image like I've experienced before - this time, against the black of my eyelids there was like.. a 2D animation of a robed man like the hermit in my avatar walking for several seconds, then it would disappear and start again. There was no detail in him, the figure was just all black. I watched this with fascination before slipping into non lucid dreams.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Awesome recall for me last night, 4 dreams. More than I usually manage.
> 
> April 3rd. 4 Dreams, WBTB no Lucid - 5 Pts.
> 
> *16 Pts*
> 
> I had some really interesting imagery after I finished my SSILD cycles last night. Instead of random shapes or a flash of a vivid image like I've experienced before - this time, against the black of my eyelids there was like.. a 2D animation of a robed man like the hermit in my avatar walking for several seconds, then it would disappear and start again. There was no detail in him, the figure was just all black. I watched this with fascination before slipping into non lucid dreams.



Ah, sweet!  That kind of imagery is a very, very good sign, at least for my style of WILD.  Once I start getting these, I try to passively observe them and let them solidify, maintaining my awareness and identity so I'll stay lucid.  I kind of operate by feel on when to make my move, but once I imagine myself in the scene and start engaging other senses (particularly touch), that's how I make my way in.

Great stuff, man... very close there!  Your instincts will get sharper and sharper the more of this you do.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Awesome Lucid last night.

----------


## MusicDragon

You wanna attend a class at Hogwarts? I'm totally adding that to my lucid to-do list lol (if you don't mind xD). What I would give to play Quidditch, oh man.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> You wanna attend a class at Hogwarts? I'm totally adding that to my lucid to-do list lol (if you don't mind xD). What I would give to play Quidditch, oh man.



By all means, feel free to use any of my ideas. No worries. But if you beat me to one of my goals, I want to hear about it  ::D: 

Quidditch is at top of my list too lol.

----------


## PennyRoyal

I have not made the best of this month so far. Irregular sleep and stress has really taken a toll on my lucid dreaming and recall, but that will happen I suppose. I just got back from being out of town and I'm fired up to make the most of the remaining May month. 

Last night/This morning was the first opportunity to use any tech/set my intention before bed and was treated with a DILD and ALMOST a DEILD  :Sad: 

I'm only on about 5 hours of sleep right now, I'm going to take care of some things I need to do and take a nap after my extended WBTB, hopefully I'll be able to snag another DILD.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> I have not made the best of this month so far. Irregular sleep and stress has really taken a toll on my lucid dreaming and recall, but that will happen I suppose. I just got back from being out of time and I'm fired up to make the most of the remaining May month. 
> 
> Last night/This morning was the first opportunity to use any tech/set my intention before bed and was treated with a DILD and ALMOST a DEILD 
> 
> I'm only on about 5 hours of sleep right now, I'm going to take care of some things I need to do and take a nap after my extended WBTB, hopefully I'll be able to snag another DILD.



Don't worry, man, we've all been there!  Poor sleep and stress are always a big, annoying obstacle for a lucid dreaming practice.  But once you move past them, you can get it all back (as you so ably demonstrated this morning.)

Good luck with that nap!  Finish off that DEILD!   ::goodjob::

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Don't worry, man, we've all been there!  Poor sleep and stress are always a big, annoying obstacle for a lucid dreaming practice.  But once you move past them, you can get it all back (as you so ably demonstrated this morning.)
> 
> Good luck with that nap!  Finish off that DEILD!



Feeling confident, oops just realized I said back from being out of "time", I meant town. lol

Also, you made kind of made an appearance in the lucid I had while I was out of town. I just updated if you want to check it out lol

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Feeling confident, oops just realized I said back from being out of "time", I meant town. lol
> 
> Also, you made kind of made an appearance in the lucid I had while I was out of town. I just updated if you want to check it out lol



That DJ entry was awesome!   ::D:   Man, I love dream cameos... so cool...

See?  We DV folk are always there to help each other out during our lucids.   ::goodjob2::

----------


## PennyRoyal

That 4 hours of sleep and a 2 hour 'WBTB' seemed to work this time around. 

Had.. probably my favorite lucid yet. It wasn't as vivid as other's i've had, but the content was pretty 'adventure' like which seems to be a rarity for me.

----------


## Xanous

Oh wow. Is that the first time you did a 2 hour WBTB? I find 30min really hard these days.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Oh wow. Is that the first time you did a 2 hour WBTB? I find 30min really hard these days.



I'd say maybe the 2nd or 3rd time, the first two times didn't yield any lucidity. I don't do the long WBTBs on purpose, yesterday I had trouble sleeping and had to run some errands early in the morning which is why I ended up doing that. 

It was fairly difficult falling asleep when I got home, but it worked out.

----------


## PennyRoyal

I've been really awful this month with my record keeping. I'm just going to let it slide for the rest of May, but make a point to not to be lazy on it from now on. 

My recall has been better than average this week, I'm hoping thats a trend that will continue. 

I've been super lax in my awareness exercises throughout the day, to the point where they are almost non existent. Going to have to make an effort to correct that as well.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Very interesting night last night, I havn't been using SSILD this week because I've just felt really exhausted on my awakenings and pass out right after my WBTB. I used SSILD cycles last night after my WBTB and actually experience a handful of super vivid false awakenings. 

I've definitely heard a lot of people say they get a lot of FAs using the technique but I only ever got 1 or two in the month or so I've been using it. Definitely motivated me to make myself do the cycles again and try to catch those FAs -- I could have had like 5 Lucids last night ><.. But no room to complain I guess, got a DEILD and a DILD out of it.

----------


## paigeyemps

Congrats on the lucids! As for the FA's, must be pretty diverse with every person. Not to worry though, you can think of it as: less FA's, less chances to get fooled! Haha :3

----------


## CanisLucidus

Yeah, SSILD always gave me a ton of false awakenings.  I'm not sure what it is about that tech... it seems to just really boost up awareness, and perhaps that makes you really focus on the scene you're in when falling asleep (as in, your bedroom.)  They can be freaky realistic, though!  If you can get used to reality checking when you wake up, it's a nice boost for SSILD.

Congratulations on the lucids!  I don't know how I missed this dj entry yesterday.... I'll go check it out now!

----------


## PennyRoyal

The past week has just been absolutely awful for me lol. 

Saturday starts the new month, I need to get focused and hammer down some goals. I'm not really sure what I did in May, but i'll get back into the swing of things in June. At the very least I did accomplish some flying in May, so I can scratch that off of my list. 

I really want to try the spinning technique and have not remembered to try it in my lucids. I'll make that my main goal so I can beat it into my memory.

*June Goals*: 

Dreams/Fragments recalled: 30
Lucid Dreams: 5
*Remember more than one dream every night
*When lucid spin and attempt to change the dream scene.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Simplified point system for tracking 'personal bests' month to month:

Fragment Recalled: .5
Dream Recalled: 1
Lucid: 2
Complete a goal: 3


*Revising Goals for June:* 

_Reverse Reality check 5 times a day
Remember 40 Dreams in June
Have 4 Lucid Dreams
Use relaxation exercises before MILD
_
*Week 1:* 
_Remember 10 Dreams/Fragments
Have 1 Lucid Dream
Use spinning technique (stabilize/change scene)_

----------


## PennyRoyal

I've decided to take on WILD during my WBTBs instead of continuing on with SSILD. I feel as though I've got a decent amount of LDs under my belt and a handful of DEILDs to give me a nudge in the right direction.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Managed to catch a short DILD last night which is nice, but even nicer that I got it out of a recurring dream scene - so that's promising. 

I made myself use relaxation exercises pre-bed before falling asleep with mantra. I got out of the habit of doing this, it seemed to pay off last night.

Tried my first WILD on a Wbtb after 5 1/2 hours of sleep. I experienced some slight Imagery and at one point scared my self WIDE awake because I swore there was something crawling on my stomach lol. I had trouble falling asleep after this for maybe 15-20 minutes.

I woke up about an hour and a half later and was going to try again, but my girlfriend was restless and kept moving around a lot. I ended up just rolling over and using MILD to drift into unconscious sleep.

Not a bad start to the month, if it's anything like the last 2 months the following 2 weeks should be pretty good. I need to keep my motivation at full so it doesn't taper off at the end of the month.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Congrats on the lucids! As for the FA's, must be pretty diverse with every person. Not to worry though, you can think of it as: less FA's, less chances to get fooled! Haha :3



Haha, I missed your comment somehow Paigey  :tongue2: 

I guess it wouldn't be an awful thing to get lots of FAs, plenty of chances to turn them into some lucids. I had an FA loop a few weeks ago, I dreamt I got up like 3-4 times before I ACTUALLY woke up. Didn't manage to catch any of them lol.

----------


## LadyLoki

> Managed to catch a short DILD last night which is nice, but even nicer that I got it out of a recurring dream scene - so that's promising. 
> 
> Tried my first WILD on a Wbtb after 5 1/2 hours of sleep. I experienced some slight Imagery and at one point scared my self WIDE awake because I swore there was something crawling on my stomach lol. I had trouble falling asleep after this for maybe 15-20 minutes.
> 
> I woke up about an hour and a half later and was going to try again, but my girlfriend was restless and kept moving around a lot. I ended up just rolling over and using MILD to drift into unconscious sleep.
> 
> Not a bad start to the month, if it's anything like the last 2 months the following 2 weeks should be pretty good. I need to keep my motivation at full so it doesn't taper off at the end of the month.




Congrats on turning the nightmare into an LD. Teeth dreams suck!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Congrats on turning the nightmare into an LD. Teeth dreams suck!



Thank you!

Ugh, I know they are awful. I have them pretty often, and it's always so vivid. More than once I've woken up thinking I have no teeth anymore.

----------


## paigeyemps

Oooh i love nightmares. Well not while they're happening if im not lucid, no. But when i wake up from them i'm like wow did that really happen, that was cool. AGAIN AGAIN! haha but yes, it's empowering when you turn a nightmare into a lucid. Then you get to kick that fvcker in the face and be like OUTTA MY WAY  ::D:  (yes i do that often but dont tell anyone mmkay). Sometimes though, it's the other way around. It starts out as a lucid then turns into a nightmare. If you have some time, you can check out B*tchfight with Samara from The Ring (Lucid #89 and 90) - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views to know what i'm talking about.

Anywhoo congrats!

----------


## CanisLucidus

> I've decided to take on WILD during my WBTBs instead of continuing on with SSILD. I feel as though I've got a decent amount of LDs under my belt and a handful of DEILDs to give me a nudge in the right direction.



Awesome, I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes for you this month!

Going for WILDs is awesome at helping you get acquainted with what the falling asleep process is like for you.  You will learn a ton about your personal falling asleep process is like, what you experience on the way under, how much/what kind of hypnagogia you experience, what your transition into a dream scene is like... just tons of stuff.  It's a lot like how paying attention to dream signs, journaling, and going hard for DILDs gets you really familiar with what your dreams are like.

Here's to an excellent June!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Oooh i love nightmares. Well not while they're happening if im not lucid, no. But when i wake up from them i'm like wow did that really happen, that was cool. AGAIN AGAIN! haha but yes, it's empowering when you turn a nightmare into a lucid. Then you get to kick that fvcker in the face and be like OUTTA MY WAY  (yes i do that often but dont tell anyone mmkay). Sometimes though, it's the other way around. It starts out as a lucid then turns into a nightmare. If you have some time, you can check out B*tchfight with Samara from The Ring (Lucid #89 and 90) - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views to know what i'm talking about.
> 
> Anywhoo congrats!



Nightmares are pretty awesome - but like you said, AFTER you wake up  :tongue2:  I love the intensity of them, I havnt had a proper terrifying nightmare since I started trying to LD in February  :tongue2:  I havn't experienced that yet (lucid turning nightmarish), but oddly enough I'm looking forward to it. hahaha

That was a fantastic dream! Sliding down the waterfall was awesome enough as is, fighting that... terrifying girl was icing on the cake. The Ring scared the hell out of me when it came out lol.





> Awesome, I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes for you this month!
> 
> Going for WILDs is awesome at helping you get acquainted with what the falling asleep process is like for you. You will learn a ton about your personal falling asleep process is like, what you experience on the way under, how much/what kind of hypnagogia you experience, what your transition into a dream scene is like... just tons of stuff. It's a lot like how paying attention to dream signs, journaling, and going hard for DILDs gets you really familiar with what your dreams are like.
> 
> Here's to an excellent June!



I've only been able to take a crack at it once so far, having to get up at 3am for work is messing with my dream time  :tongue2:  Hopefully I'll be able to update with my first WILD soon when my schedule returns to normal  :tongue2: 

You too my friend, here's to an awesome June and your next 100 lucids!  ::cheers::

----------


## PennyRoyal

I've had pretty abysmal recall the past few days. I managed to get some NLDs remembered last night though, and I think I got close to a WILD.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Used B-6 last night for the first time in a month or two and had one of the more vivid and easily remembered dreams I've had in a while. I usually take 100mg, I decided to give 200mg a try in combination with some Tryptophan rich foods and a large glass of apple juice.

I got 8+ hours of sleep and only remembered the one dream, which was kind of disappointing. It was so vivid and easily remembered that I figured I was in store for at least a few more NLDs. 

I havn't had any success with WILD just yet, but I definitely have observed some oddities in my thinking, etc as I get closer to unconsciousness. I tend  to experience some light HI as I get close to falling asleep. Not so much 'images', but a rolling black/grey/dark blue fog that usually loops in the same pattern. I've tried to see if I can 'think' the fog into different shapes but it hasn't worked so far.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> I havn't had any success with WILD just yet, but I definitely have observed some oddities in my thinking, etc as I get closer to unconsciousness. I tend  to experience some light HI as I get close to falling asleep. Not so much 'images', but a rolling black/grey/dark blue fog that usually loops in the same pattern. I've tried to see if I can 'think' the fog into different shapes but it hasn't worked so far.



Cool, you're starting to see what that transition phase is like for you.  Took me months to figure out but that's only because I was always sort of... not afraid, but _hesitant_ to try WILD.  I'm not sure why, because there's no need to be afraid of it.

What you'll pick up on more and more as you go is getting a feel for your personal rhythms or when to passively observe HI, when to maybe give it a figurative, imaginary nudge, and when to make that final push into your dream scene.  I think you'll find that this journey is a lot of fun in and of itself.

Congrats again on the super-vivid dream.  I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't thinking about a little cheddar cheese, B6, and AJ or raisins tonight.   ::D:   What foods did you use by the way?

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Cool, you're starting to see what that transition phase is like for you.  Took me months to figure out but that's only because I was always sort of... not afraid, but _hesitant_ to try WILD.  I'm not sure why, because there's no need to be afraid of it.
> 
> What you'll pick up on more and more as you go is getting a feel for your personal rhythms or when to passively observe HI, when to maybe give it a figurative, imaginary nudge, and when to make that final push into your dream scene.  I think you'll find that this journey is a lot of fun in and of itself.
> 
> Congrats again on the super-vivid dream.  I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't thinking about a little cheddar cheese, B6, and AJ or raisins tonight.    What foods did you use by the way?



I'll usually cook up 2 eggs and slap them on a bagel with lots of sharp cheddar and turkey. I've been reading that seafoods, especially crustaceans are rich in Tryptophan. Not a huge seafood fan though other than the occasional tuna sandwich or shrimp lol. 


Hey, I have a question for you. I've been thinking about playing a bit with Menthol for dreaming purposes, I notice you contribute to the menthol thread. Is it important to use it in combination with something else? I notice a lot of the posts in the thread people are using it in combination with other supplements.

Edit: Fun fact, I guess Sea lions are SUPER rich in Tryptophan  :tongue2:

----------


## paigeyemps

> Hey, I have a question for you. I've been thinking about playing a bit with Menthol for dreaming purposes, I notice you contribute to the menthol thread. Is it important to use it in combination with something else? I notice a lot of the posts in the thread people are using it in combination with other supplements.



I know the question wasn't aimed at me, but I have tried taking menthol for like a week or so, though I never posted on the Menthol thread. From my own experience, I only bought those menthol lozenges at the groceries (the candy type like 'Halls'). I took about 3-5 lozenges about 30 mins before sleeping, and took them right before afternoon naps. For me, they ALWAYS gave me the bizarre kind of nightmares. They were exciting for me, sure, but that's just because I like those kinds of dreams. But in general, my menthol dreams were dark in theme and ominous in tonemurderous and evil, twisted plots with freaky situations. The dreams were very vivid too. 

I did the menthol thing with another friend from the chat and she reported experiencing the same things I was.

 ::D:  just wanted to share, not trying to scare you or anything. It might be completely different for you.

Cheers!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> I know the question wasn't aimed at me, but I have tried taking menthol for like a week or so, though I never posted on the Menthol thread. From my own experience, I only bought those menthol lozenges at the groceries (the candy type like 'Halls'). I took about 3-5 lozenges about 30 mins before sleeping, and took them right before afternoon naps. For me, they ALWAYS gave me the bizarre kind of nightmares. They were exciting for me, sure, but that's just because I like those kinds of dreams. But in general, my menthol dreams were dark in theme and ominous in tone—murderous and evil, twisted plots with freaky situations. The dreams were very vivid too. 
> 
> I did the menthol thing with another friend from the chat and she reported experiencing the same things I was.
> 
>  just wanted to share, not trying to scare you or anything. It might be completely different for you.
> 
> Cheers!



Thanks Paigey  ::D: 

No worries, not going to scare me. Nightmarish dreams are interesting, and fun after the fact  :tongue2:  Now i'm a bit more interested hahaa

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Hey, I have a question for you. I've been thinking about playing a bit with Menthol for dreaming purposes, I notice you contribute to the menthol thread. Is it important to use it in combination with something else? I notice a lot of the posts in the thread people are using it in combination with other supplements.
> 
> Edit: Fun fact, I guess Sea lions are SUPER rich in Tryptophan



Hey PennyRoyal!  I apologize for missing your question on menthol!

My experience with menthol has been that it increases dream quantity and vividness (and at certain doses, dreams tend to become more amorous.)  It hasn't really made me dramatically more likely to become lucid, which is why I've tended to combine it with other aids.  It makes for an excellent supporting supplement to aids that hit the cholinergic system and boost awareness/dream memory and make lucidity more likely.

But I still recommend trying any lucid aid by itself at least once before combining it with anything else.  That's good for helping you sort out how that particular aid affects you without any interference from another aid, which can make it harder to separate out what might be doing what.  My approach can be a bit boring -- start with a low dose, start with the substance by itself, put lots of space in between uses, etc. but it's what sets me up with the data I need for more interesting combinations down the road.

And LOL @ sea lions being rich in tryptophan.  Dig in!

----------


## PennyRoyal

My recall has been very poor this week, I've been doing everything I can to try and give it a boost.. but no luck so far. I'll just have to keep trying and ride it out. 

Some success with WILD, I didn't yield what I would consider a 'proper lucid'. I transitioned into a really blurry, low quality dream. The moment I tried to interact with the dream it collapsed and I was looking at the back of my eyelids again. 

Few other tries yielded some FAs. I've been doing SSILD cycles instead of relaxation techniques before I try and WILD, It relaxes me anyway and seems to be working. Plus.. I figure If I fall asleep, I'll be setting myself up for some DILDs.





> My experience with menthol has been that it increases dream quantity and vividness (and at certain doses, dreams tend to become more amorous.) It hasn't really made me dramatically more likely to become lucid, which is why I've tended to combine it with other aids. It makes for an excellent supporting supplement to aids that hit the cholinergic system and boost awareness/dream memory and make lucidity more likely.



 Alright, thanks. I was interested in the possibility in improving vividness, so that works out. I have some menthol lozenges at the house already, any recommendation on how many mg as a minimum?

----------


## CanisLucidus

My SSILD cycles have been relaxing me _too much_ lately and I don't even make it to the slow part.  It does its job well there, so I can see why you use it!  I've found I have to be careful or I fall asleep too quick and it doesn't work anywhere near as well.

For menthol, I experienced some effects as low as ~25mg of menthol.  I typically got quite obvious effects in the 30-35mg+ range.  You'd probably expect dreams to get a little sexier in that range.  You may want to just start on the lowish end, see how things go, then work up from there.  Whatever suits your style.  These days I use peppermint tea rather than cough drops (got so sick of them!)  Tea's downside is I'm never sure exactly how much menthol I'm getting.  I measure it in "bags" which feels very inexact to me.  I'll probably be switching to peppermint oil soon.  (Heavily diluted before consumption.)

----------


## PennyRoyal

> My SSILD cycles have been relaxing me _too much_ lately and I don't even make it to the slow part.  It does its job well there, so I can see why you use it!  I've found I have to be careful or I fall asleep too quick and it doesn't work anywhere near as well.
> 
> For menthol, I experienced some effects as low as ~25mg of menthol.  I typically got quite obvious effects in the 30-35mg+ range.  You'd probably expect dreams to get a little sexier in that range.  You may want to just start on the lowish end, see how things go, then work up from there.  Whatever suits your style.  These days I use peppermint tea rather than cough drops (got so sick of them!)  Tea's downside is I'm never sure exactly how much menthol I'm getting.  I measure it in "bags" which feels very inexact to me.  I'll probably be switching to peppermint oil soon.  (Heavily diluted before consumption.)



Right on. I'm not SUPER stoked on eating a bunch of lozenges. I'm not a big fan of the taste, but I'm willing to take one for the team in the spirit of experimentation. I figure I'll just start with it since I have them handy. How many mgs do you figure you're getting per 'bag'?

----------


## Sibyline

Shamelessly lurking here. I was wondering if the menthol has to be absorbed through the mucous membrane of your mouth to be effective, or if it would work to swallow smallish (!) lozenges, because I'm interested but really don't like the taste of menthol.

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Shamelessly lurking here. I was wondering if the menthol has to be absorbed through the mucous membrane of your mouth to be effective, or if it would work to swallow smallish (!) lozenges, because I'm interested but really don't like the taste of menthol.



Hey Sibyline, lurk away  :smiley: 

This would be a question better answered by CL if he sees it. There's an entire thread in the research section for experimenting with menthol though. I'm sure someone could answer you there as well. This morning I chewed up 4 lozenges during a WBTB, and I had one of the most vivid dreams I can remember. 

--

Finally broke my spell of zero recall last night and snagged a Lucid as a result of my first 'proper' WILD. 

I woke up after 5 hours of sleep and did a 10-15 minutes wbtb. Took about 32mg of menthol in the form of some lozenges. Extremely promising results from my first night of experimentation. Looking forward to see how it goes next time around. Surprisingly, I did get an 'amorous' quality in the beginning. Which I didn't really expect to effect me lol.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Shamelessly lurking here. I was wondering if the menthol has to be absorbed through the mucous membrane of your mouth to be effective, or if it would work to swallow smallish (!) lozenges, because I'm interested but really don't like the taste of menthol.



I've never seen a lozenge small enough that I wouldn't be frightened to swallow it.   ::chuckle::   I imagine that the cough drop would be dissolved just fine in the stomach and then the menthol absorbed via the gut.  I'm not sure how much difference that would make in getting the menthol to the brain, but it's not the kind of thing I'd worry too much about.

You might like peppermint tea a bit better.  I get good results from 3 bags (increased dream vividness/quantity) to 6 bags (increased dream vividness/craziness/friskiness.)  I've found that it stains whatever glass it's in so my approach now is to drink it through a straw now that I'm paranoid about staining my teeth.   ::bigteeth:: 





> Finally broke my spell of zero recall last night and snagged a Lucid as a result of my first 'proper' WILD. 
> 
> I woke up after 5 hours of sleep and did a 10-15 minutes wbtb. Took about 32mg of menthol in the form of some lozenges. Extremely promising results from my first night of experimentation. Looking forward to see how it goes next time around. Surprisingly, I did get an 'amorous' quality in the beginning. Which I didn't really expect to effect me lol.



Congratulations again on the excellent WILD!  I'm definitely going to be employing some low-dose menthol tonight for a little extra kick of dream vividness.  I'm glad that everything worked so well for you last night!

Edit: Oh yeah, and on the question of menthol content per bag... the studies I looked up for this basically showed huge variance in how much menthol different brands contain.   ::whyme::   So I'm forced to just go with how many bags my brand uses.  This is something that I dislike about using tea and why I'll probably go to using diluted essential oil.  (Something that should be done with care, btw.)

----------


## Sibyline

> I've never seen a lozenge small enough that I wouldn't be frightened to swallow it.    I imagine that the cough drop would be dissolved just fine in the stomach and then the menthol absorbed via the gut.  I'm not sure how much difference that would make in getting the menthol to the brain, but it's not the kind of thing I'd worry too much about.



Hm. I see your point. I'm not quite ready to die for my art.





> You might like peppermint tea a bit better.  I get good results from 3 bags (increased dream vividness/quantity) to 6 bags (increased dream vividness/craziness/friskiness.)



3 to 6 bags?!? During a WBTB or before bed?





> I've found that it stains whatever glass it's in so my approach now is to drink it through a straw now that I'm paranoid about staining my teeth.



Thank you. I like to keep these little neurotic tidbits in my insanity file for subsequent mocking/blackmail purposes. _"Big bad wolf folds clothes daintily, drinks through straw to avoid staining fangs."_ Gotcha!  ::D:

----------


## CanisLucidus

> 3 to 6 bags?!? During a WBTB or before bed?



I prefer to drink this at WBTB.  It's about 2 cups of water, room temperature by the time I get to it.  Very strong!  I wish I could tell you that the same amounts will work for you but there's no consistency in menthol content between brands of peppermint tea.  This is the thing that bothers me the most with the tea and is pushing me toward the peppermint oil option.

Some people use peppermint oil capsules and do very well with that.  I didn't find a brand in the United States that seemed suitable, but Highlander uses the Hollander & Barett brand.  (Surely I've misspelled that.)





> Thank you. I like to keep these little neurotic tidbits in my insanity file for subsequent mocking/blackmail purposes. _"Big bad wolf folds clothes daintily, drinks through straw to avoid staining fangs."_ Gotcha!



LOL.  Enjoy the leverage.  You know, in spite of my slow, dainty clothes folding, I get the clothes-folding outcomes of a careless 3rd grade boy.   ::roll::

----------


## Sibyline

Backpedal all you like.  :wink2: 

I do on occasion make hard candy. That might be a solution for making industrial strength menthol pills.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Backpedal all you like. 
> 
> I do on occasion make hard candy. That might be a solution for making industrial strength menthol pills.



Oh wow!  What a cool idea!

I feel obligated to mention that it actually _is_ possible to overdose on menthol, so measure carefully.   :smiley:   That out of the way, you'll have to let us know how the project goes if you decide to try that out!

----------


## Sibyline

Yeah... that's where the obsessive/perfectionist trait comes in handy. I did look that up. I promise to be careful, mother.  :tongue2:

----------


## PennyRoyal

I really felt like I had a lucid coming last night during the 2 WBTBs I performed, but no luck. 

However, I did have the best night of recall so far since I've started recording my dreams. Managed to remember 5 entire dreams, I usually can only manage one or two, and even then the memories are very fragmented. Really hoping I can keep the momentum going with the recall. 

No luck yet on grabbing another WILD, I've been falling asleep very easily the past few nights. 

I've got about two weeks left to complete my June goals. My recall goal should be just find as long as I continue on as normal, even better if it stays consistent with last night. I'm a bit nervous on completing the number of lucids, I usually fire off a few in the beginning of the month. I still have time though. I tried the spinning technique to change the scene but the dream ended in the middle of the attempt, so I still need to try and change the scene.

----------


## paigeyemps

Ooh nice recall! Have you checked out Mancon's guide to changing dream scenes? I remember it helping me quite a bit.  ::D:

----------


## CanisLucidus

Yeah, seriously awesome recall there, man.  10 hours of sleep + 2 WBTBs?  _Money._

And as I mentioned in your DJ entry, I agree that you were close to lucidity in at least one of those dreams.  Of course your dream logic was there to "save you" from lucidity, but you were right on the edge.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Managed to reach my goals for the month, but for some reason I'm having trouble staying motivated. I'm getting lazy with awareness practices, pre-bed stuff, wbtbs.. My recall is suffering as a result. 

I'll have to figure something out, maybe when the competition starts it will give me a kickstart.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Managed to reach my goals for the month, but for some reason I'm having trouble staying motivated. I'm getting lazy with awareness practices, pre-bed stuff, wbtbs.. My recall is suffering as a result. 
> 
> I'll have to figure something out, maybe when the competition starts it will give me a kickstart.



The best advice that I can give for motivation is to refocus on a couple of really amazing experiences that you want to have in a dream and just get really excited about those.  Sometimes Task of the Month can fit the bill but in other cases, some specific personal goal does the trick best.

With LD, we've got a ticket to do literally anything we can imagine.  That's such an overwhelming concept that I find it helpful to just get really focused and excited about a couple of things that you can think about throughout the day, imagining how awesome they're going to be.

Congratulations on reaching your goals!  This reminds me that I need to sum up June, which was an odd little month for me!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> The best advice that I can give for motivation is to refocus on a couple of really amazing experiences that you want to have in a dream and just get really excited about those. Sometimes Task of the Month can fit the bill but in other cases, some specific personal goal does the trick best.
> 
> With LD, we've got a ticket to do literally anything we can imagine. That's such an overwhelming concept that I find it helpful to just get really focused and excited about a couple of things that you can think about throughout the day, imagining how awesome they're going to be.
> 
> Congratulations on reaching your goals! This reminds me that I need to sum up June, which was an odd little month for me!



Thanks CL, the competition started and I think having that in mind has helped a bit with intention. My recall has improved, but I'm still in a bit of a dry spell in the lucid department. I have to wake up at like 3am for work, which is really hurting my wbtb motivation  :tongue2: 

--

Recall has been improving, but I'd really like to grab a few nice lucids in the next few weeks to score some pts for the competition. Even though I really don't want to I'm going to try to make an effort to do a brief wbtb, enough to get my wits about me at least a few hours into the night. 

I'm going to force myself to do the reverse reality check throughout the day. I've reallly been slacking with my daytime awareness stuff. 

Hopefully I'll be reporting some success soon!  ::D:

----------


## CanisLucidus

> Recall has been improving, but I'd really like to grab a few nice lucids in the next few weeks to score some pts for the competition. Even though I really don't want to I'm going to try to make an effort to do a brief wbtb, enough to get my wits about me at least a few hours into the night.



Speaking of the intersection of motivation and WBTB, I always like to have something fun-ish planned out for WBTB time.  Nothing that'll have me bouncing off the walls, but I want it to be something that I can look forward to.  A good choice is reading a book on lucid dreaming, maybe reviewing a favorite DJ entry, that kind of thing.  I've been toying with the idea of playing low-key, reflex-free video games that engage critical thinking, such as adventure games.

I just find it a lot easier to wake naturally for WBTB if it's something at least pleasant to anticipate.

Good luck with the competition!!

----------


## PennyRoyal

> Speaking of the intersection of motivation and WBTB, I always like to have something fun-ish planned out for WBTB time.  Nothing that'll have me bouncing off the walls, but I want it to be something that I can look forward to.  A good choice is reading a book on lucid dreaming, maybe reviewing a favorite DJ entry, that kind of thing.  I've been toying with the idea of playing low-key, reflex-free video games that engage critical thinking, such as adventure games.
> 
> I just find it a lot easier to wake naturally for WBTB if it's something at least pleasant to anticipate.
> 
> Good luck with the competition!!



Hmm, that's good Canis. Give yourself something to look forward to on the wbtb, I'll definitely have to do this. I havn't yet finished all of ETWOLD I'll have to do that. 

Thanks again, I'm going to put this into practice.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Ahh it's been a crazy month! There's no way I'm going to make my goals this month, but things should be calming down just in time for me to have an awesome August. I got my old job back which has relieved a lot of stress and I'm looking forward to making it happen next month. 

I've been really terrible about journaling and everything else the past few weeks, but I'm going to turn that around. 

*July- 30/50 Dreams, 1/5 Lucids. I didn't have a lucid and go to the Island, but I did incubate a John Locke Non lucid.* 

August -

-Update DJ every day. 
-Relaxation Technique/MILD before bed. 
-10min. minimum wbtb on natural awakening after 4-6 hours of sleep/SSILD.
-Aug ToTm

- Recall a minimum of 31 Dreams/Fragments (1 Dream/Frag per night)
- Have 4 Lucid Dreams (1 each week)

----------


## CanisLucidus

Congratulations on getting your old job back, PennyRoyal!   ::goodjob::   No worries -- life gets crazy sometimes!  It's just the way of things.

It's good to see you back.  Here's to a great August!   ::D:

----------


## PennyRoyal

Ok! This time I'm back for real! 

September goals: 

Sitting at 9 dreams for the month.. Ill shoot for 15 more just to get back into the swing of things. 

I havn't had a lucid in a few weeks so I'll try to get lucid at least once before October shoots around, I'm feeling confident I can do more but we'll see. 

Back to wbtb after 4 hours of sleep.

When I get that lucid I'm going to shoot for walking on the walls or the bonus Quidditch task because it sounds fun  :smiley:

----------


## NyxCC

Sounds cool, good luck Penny!  :smiley:

----------


## CanisLucidus

> When I get that lucid I'm going to shoot for walking on the walls or the bonus Quidditch task because it sounds fun



Ha ha, at first I read that as a combined Quidditch/walking on walls task!  I definitely think a few off the wall jumps onto your broom will spice things up if you decide to go that way.   ::D: 

Anyway, man, I'm with you on stumbling back into the swing of things!  I was out of town on a long vacation followed by back to school and working late nights, weekends, etc. for a while.  Time for me to make sure that I give my LD skills the TLC that they need.

Great to see you back!   :smiley:

----------


## PennyRoyal

Ok, im really making a serious effort to get back into the game. I spent the last week trying to rebuild my recall, and I'm happy with where Im at for now. I decided to take a crack at the 30 day SSILD test again to see if I can improve from the last go around. It's looking promising so far, I havn't had a lucid since Labor Day Weekend in September. Last night was the first night I went back to using SSILD cycles and had not one - but TWO lucids. 

Not a bad start! Got me nice and excited to get back into the swing of things.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Agh! Every time I try getting back into dreaming, something comes up. 

I think about Lucid dreaming, still, almost daily.. But for some reason just have not mustered up the motivation to continue. My dreamjournal accidently got destroyed, it was pretty disheartening to lose all of that time and research/dreamsigns. but It's about time I get over it. 

Going to start recording my dreams again tonight, and start slipping in a short WBTB on natural awakenings.

----------


## PennyRoyal

This week's goals:
-Remember at least one dream each night.
-WBTB, SSILD cycle once if I wake naturally 5-6 hours after bed. 
-I will report back to my workbook/DV dream journal each morning before work.

----------


## PennyRoyal

Ah Hah! 1st night down.

-Wbtb ~5-10 minutes 6 hours after sleep. 
-I kept falling asleep during SSILD cycles, should probably extend my wbtb a little. 
-Managed to only remember a small fragment last night

----------


## PennyRoyal

Stickin' with it.

2nd night:
-2 Fragments, each included in my Dreamjournal.
-Didn't wbtb, woke up naturally only an hour before i had to get up for work. Still did some brief SSILD cycles. 
-Coming up on a 4 day weekend, plenty of time to sleep in. Going to try and get my first lucid in a while. *crosses fingers*

----------


## PennyRoyal

2 Fragments
2 Dreams
15 Minutes wbtb + SSILD cycle.

----------


## PennyRoyal

2 Dreams
10 minute wbtb + SSILD after 5 hours of sleep. 

Not bad so far, started off with 2 fragments the first night now I'm starting to get bigger pieces of my dreams each night.

----------

