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

## Pickman

Hi, this is my workbook in which I will attempt to log my efforts on a daily basis.  I like this method as it holds me to account and keeps me working on this regularly.  

*Reality Checks:*
-Checking clocks (the time is always wrong)
- Finger through the palm of the hand

*Dream Signs:*
-The Moon (if visible in the sky, the phase of the moon seems to change each time I look at it in my dreams.  Often the phase is completely different to waking reality.)
-Seeing pets that have been deceased for years

*Short-Term Goals:*
-At least one lucid dream a week
-Find the right technique for me


*Long-Term Goals:*
-The ability to lucid dream on a regular basis
-Master WILD


*Lucid/Dream Recall History:*
-I have had sporadic lucid dreams over the years, but they have started to become a little more frequent as I take an interest in the subject.  I had one success with MILD which I haven't been able to replicate since I didn't persist with it.

*Current Technique:*
-DILD

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## Chimpertainment

Welcome Pickman! 

glad to have you here  :smiley:

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## Pickman

14th August Update

I turned in at around 12:40, although it is difficult to place when I woke up, because I kept on waking up at around 7am.  This would have been a perfect time to practice the technique where you go back into the dream from waking up (forgotten the acronym).  Unfortunately I was concerned about my neck muscles which I have recently strained.  I woke up to find myself lying on my side instead of my back, which does not help.  I felt the pain in my neck, which also didn't help.  So I had to move myself to put my body in a better position, and disrupted what could have been a transition into a lucid dream.  Better luck tonight I suppose.

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## Pickman

15th August Update

I turned at 1am, which isn't ideal.  While lying in bed, I think I nearly accomplished a WILD.  I started seeing dream images in my mind while lying still on my back.  But then I dropped off.  

At first my dreams were non-lucid.  I was in a passive state for the first dream, where I was sending e-mails and text messages to an old flatmate from my University days.  Then I started taking a more active role in my dreams, when I dreamed that I met another ex-flatmate from Uni and we were setting up a catering business.  As soon as business came into the picture, it's like my mind just switched on and I started coming up with ideas to discuss with him.  

I woke up at around 7am, but then I had what might have been a success, I'm really not sure.  I think I dropped off, and I found myself walking along a path that runs alongside a building in my city.  It was night and there were no street lights on.  It felt more like a daydream, because I was still aware of my body lying on the bed.  I knew this wasn't waking reality, but when I tried to turn the streetlights on with the power of my mind, I couldn't do it, which suggests that it was more than a daydream.

Then I found myself further up the path at the local bus station.  In the distance I could see 3-4 tornadoes.  One of them came across the car park in my direction.  I didn't feel any strong winds that would have suggested the close proximity of a tornado, but instead of asking myself "Is this a dream?", I just thought "RUN".  I think my survival instinct got there before my desire to check my surroundings.  

So what was this?  A success, or a near-miss?  I think it was at least a near-miss, but I would appreciate any input on this.

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## Pickman

16th August Update

Not much to report.  I turned in at around 1:10am, which again, is not ideal.  All I remember about my non-lucid dream is a crumbling old house (possibly a reflection of my state of mind due to poor sleep) and a short set from Bill Hicks.  There was no lucidity, although I wish I could remember what Bill Hicks was saying.

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## Pickman

17th August Update

Another non-lucid dream, too boring to mention.  There was the possibility of going into another WILD state when I woke up early this morning, but I seem to have this automatic reaction on waking to turn on my side, breaking the dreaming state.  I think it is because I always want to check the time on my alarm clock, or reach down and write my dream down on my notepad.  This is something to work on.

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## Pickman

18th August Update

This morning I had the same problem as the previous morning - my instinct to move out of position as soon as I wake up.  This is something I will have to work on.  I think that if I can lie still I should have some chance of achieving a WILD after a dream.  

Other than that, just another non-lucid dream that I can barely remember.  I have noticed that my dream recall seems to get worse as my diet turns to crap.  I wake up feeling drained of energy as well.  I have spent the past week overindulging, but since I am back at work tomorrow I can start to clean up my diet and my routine.

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## Pickman

19th August Update.

I am still experiencing the same problem with poor dream recall, and moving upon waking.  The best I can do right now is work on my night-time routine, as I have been turning in at 1am a lot recently.  I am sure that my dream recall should improve once I stop browsing the internet at night and eating food that bloats me.

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## Pickman

20th August Update.

There was some progress last night.  I turned in at 12:50 instead of past 1am, which is a small change in the right direction.  I did some stretches in the dark before bed and that seemed to help. 

Dream recall is getting better since my diet cleared up.  I still think there is a link, even if I don't have the science to back it up - just a pet theory of mine.  

Not only was dream recall better, but the colours in this dream were vivid and amazing.  I saw a beautiful sunset that seemed to shine right into my house.  One of those sunsets that has a pinkish-orange glow to it.  My bedroom had a huge canvas painting behind my bed that looked stunning, and gave me ideas for redecorating my room.  There were some other weird moments involving other dream characters - a flirtation with someone from work, my brother trying to kill a group of people with a bomb and failing, seeing my nan's dog who died about ten years ago (this should have made me lucid), and getting some great advice from an African-American guy that I wish I could remember.  

The dream ended with three huge blimps from the old Command & Conquer: Red Alert games that were coming to bomb my city.  I looked out my window at the sea to see five black helicopters emerge from the water and fly overhead.  No bombs fell, everything was fine, and I woke up.  There were so many things that should have made me lucid but didn't.   

I'm not sure if we are supposed to use these workbooks as dream journals - is that okay?

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## Pickman

21st August Update.

Dream recall is still going well, even if I did turn in at 1:20am.  I still need to get this bedtime routine thing in order.  I had to get up early this morning, so I couldn't just lie in bed and attempt a DEILD,because I knew that would make me oversleep. I did, however, note down the strange symbolism of my dream and spend the rest of the day trying to unpick it.

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## Pickman

22nd August Update.

Turned in 1:20am again, which is not ideal.  I'm going to have to spend this weekend settling down to a better schedule.  Dream recall was minimal - I remembered a few parts here and there, but it was fragmented.  I woke up early at 7:30am.  I attempted a DEILD, but it just wasn't happening.

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## Pickman

23rd August Update - My first successful lucid dream!

I turned in at 1am (again, not ideal, but I have this weekend to sort this out).  After having a non-lucid dream that I recall much of, I woke up at 5:40am.  I got up, went to the toilet, and went back to bed again with the intention of inducing a WBTB.  

It really worked.  I found myself sat on the edge of the bed, as if it was early in the morning, but I was about 80% sure that I was dreaming.  I completely forgot to do any reality checks, but I was mostly sure that this was a dream.  I walked out into the hallway to visit the bathroom like I normally do and saw my mother in the doorway of a bedroom.  I spoke to her, and she seemed uncharacteristically docile, just answered my questions with yes/no answers.  After returning from the bathroom, she was just stood there looking at nothing.  I was certain that this was a dream.  

But by the time I got back to my bedroom and started thinking about what I was going to do with my lucidity, I woke up.  But this still counts, right?

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## Pickman

24h August Update.

Not much to report.  I turned in much too late (2am).  I didn't sleep very well and woke up at around 7:30am.  All I remember of my dreams is seeing tunnels filled with water, and being told by someone that the dead have to travel through water to reach the "other side".

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## Pickman

25th August Update.

Once again, I turn in on Saturday night at 1am, and wake up the next morning at 8am.  I only remember a dream about seeing old school friends, and not much else besides.  

I need to get my sleep routine in order, so here is what I am planning to do:  

First, I should start to record my dreams from my bedside notes into my DJ.   

Second, I need to have some kind of stretching routine to improve my flexibility.  When I used to do yoga, I would have a routine that I would for for 15 minutes before bed, and my sleep was really deep and restful.  I'm going to start off with something a little less time consuming.  I intend to do a workout from MobilityWOD | All human beings should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves. , which is a little less time consuming, but I could ramp it up for a bit longer as the time goes on.  

Third, I need to get back into meditation.  Ideally I would like to do 30 minutes before bed, but I think 10-15 minutes would be more realistic, since I need to get back into it.  I have a few meditation podcasts to listen to, so I could start there.    

The stretching and meditation could be interchangeable, but the DJ work should be out of the way first, since it is more cerebral and I will need a break before getting to sleep.  

Assuming that anyone is actually reading my workbook, what do you people think?  Any suggestions?  Is it good/bad?

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## Pickman

26th August Update.  

Turned in at around midnight, woke up at 8am.  I can barely remember any of my dreams.  

I finally got around to making a list of reasons why I would like to lucid dream.  After getting all the fun stuff out of the way (flying, basejumping from skyscrapers, etc), I would like to do the following:
- See if I could practice and learn a new skill during a lucid dream session.  
- Try and meditate, and see how this is different from meditation in waking life. 
- Experience transformation into something non-human.
- Face a fear.  

It has also occured to me that I have not been recording RC's in this workbook like I am supposed to.  I suppose I had better start doing that in the future.

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## Pickman

27th August Update.  

I turned in at around 12:30 - an improvement on what I have been doing lately.  I woke up at 8am.  

I had a dream about still being at University and trying to figure out where myself and my flatmate (ex-flatmate in real life) were going to live next year.  This was going to involve discussions with a Japanese businessman who was a landlord.  

I performed RC's throughout the day, mostly at work.  Mainly the finger through the palm thing, although I did try reading signs, looking away, then reading them again to see if they still read the same.

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## Pickman

28th August Update.  

I turned in at around 12:50 (starting to slip again).  I had a dream, but I can't remember it.  I woke up for the first time at 7am.  

Between 7am and 8am when I finally got up, I had a series of dreams where I would doze off and wake up briefly.  There could have been some great opportunities for DEILD's here, but I was so tired I that I never quite managed to take advantage of them.  

I practiced the RC's throughout the day, as usual.

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## Pickman

29th August Update. 

Nothing much to report - I turned in at around 12:50, I had a dream that I could recall about half of, then woke up at 8am.  Spending too long looking at a PC screen before turning in probably didn't help.

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## Pickman

30th August Update.  

Turned in at 1am, and I can't remember any dreams.  

After waking at 7:30am, I had a near-DEILD experience.  I was in one of those daydream like states while lying in bed, when one of the dream characters started acting independently, moving behind me.  I took this as a sign that this could be the start of a lucid dream, but it never happened.  I just woke up, and managed to get out of bed at 8am.

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## Pickman

31st August Update.

Turned in at 1am again.  I woke up at 7am, but I didn't have the time to record my dreams because there was some emergency with a burst water main to deal with and I didn't have the time to go back over my dreams.  

That's all I have to report I'm afraid.

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## Pickman

1st September Update.

Another crazy night - turned in at 1am, spent too long looking at a monitor screen, regretted it the next morning.  I have a vague memory of attending a lecture in my dream, but that's it.  I'm pretty knackered today after a few days where I haven't had any proper sleep, so hopefully I can get back on track.

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## Pickman

2nd September Update.

Turned in 12:50am (getting better), and I recall some of my dreams.  I was probably too tired to have the presence of mind to dream lucidly.  I remember dreaming about a former colleague opening a comic book shop in my local city centre, and hiding from something in a cramped cabin in the woods.  I woke up at 7:30am, and I could have gone down the DEILD route, but I had to get up early this morning.

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## Pickman

3rd September update.  

Turned in at 1:10am - not my fault this time.  I had to deal with an annoying customer on ebay.  Not what I needed before turning in.  

Having said that, my dream recall seems to be back on the up.  I woke up twice in the night after a dream cycle, which seemed to revolve about going back to University.  

I woke up at 5:40am, and decided to attempt a WBTB.  It didn't work.  

Woke up again at 7am and attempted a DEILD.  Again, failed.  

I finally got up at 8:30am.

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## Pickman

4th September Update. 

I turned in at 1am, again, thanks to ebay.  I woke up at 6:55am, well-rested, but I didn't have the time to record my dreams as I had a doctor appointment to get up for.  I know I did have a lengthy dream but I couldn't remember any of it.  Sorry for yet another boring report.

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## Pickman

5th September Update. 

Turned in at 1am.  Slept okay through to 7am, good dream recall, but I attempted to DEILD and failed.  I needed the toilet so I thought I would try WBTB.  This also failed.

It was getting close to 8am and I was about to give up, when I started to have this light dream, almost like a daydream, but I was in my local pharmacy which I don't generally daydream about.  Then I saw a new character just emerge from a back room, and I realized that this could be more than daydream.  But I had to get up soon, and so I couldn't do anything with it.

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## Pickman

6th & 7th September Update.

I thought I should update now before I establish a pattern of not updating this workbook and slacking off completely.  

I had a couple days of turning in late, which I'm determined to put an end to, starting tonight.  Last night I slept well, and had good dream recall despite turning in at around 1am.  The night before last I woke up at 3:50am after a nightmare.  I attempted the WBTB technique, but I didn't have much luck.  

I'm still doing my reality testing throughout the day.

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## Pickman

8th September Update. 

I turned in at 12:30.  At 3:40am I woke up.  I decided to get up and attempt WBTB, but failed.  I think I was just too tired.  I woke up again at 8:30am.  

I was a little slack on the reality testing today.  Will have to get back into it tomorrow.

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## Pickman

9th September Update - Second Lucid Dream Sucess!

This time I had some success with the DILD technique, so the reality checking is paying off.  I turned in at around 12:30 (getting better at turning in at a reasonable time).  Before I turned in I told myself repeatedly "I will become lucid in my dreams tonight", so this could have been a success with the MILD technique, although my attempts at using this in the past have rarely been successful.  

The dream started off as non-lucid, and I recall a lot of it.  It became lucid when I found myself running through my city to get to an appointment I was missing.  I found myself noticing landmarks from other cities I've been to, and the place seemed to be a combination of various cities rather than just my home city.  I was so stressed about being late for this appointment that it took me a while to figure out that this was a dream.  Then the thought came to me "Why am I stressing about this appointment - this is just a dream!"  It was as if I had just been going along with this dream narrative, and when I decided to break the narrative because I didn't like it anymore, that's when I became lucid.  

So I found myself on a street, wondering what to do now that I was lucid.  The weather was really nice and sunny, and there were only a few people wandering around the street.  The only DC who was close to me was this young man who spoke to me in an American accent, saying "Dude!..." (forgotten the rest).  Then he handed me a box full of green beans, asking me to try them.  I took a bite out of them, but they tasted dry, like cardboard.  Possibly the weirdest DC interaction I've ever had.  

Around this time I started having difficulties maintaining the visuals of the dream.  I could vaguely feel my head on the pillow.  I wish I could have prolonged this dream further.  I think all the running I did previously had raised my heart rate to the point where I was too excitable to remain in the state.

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## Pickman

10th & 11th September Update.  

Writing about two days at once, since my internet cut out recently.  

Nothing too interesting to report.  I turned in at 12:45 on both nights, I slept well until around the 7:30-8am time when I woke up.  Dream recall was reasonably good, but no lucid dreams.

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## Pickman

12th & 13th September Update. 

Another belated update.  The 12th of September was pretty much the same as the previous two nights.  Last night I turned in t 12:30, and woke up at 4:30am.  I attempted a WBTB, but it failed - I guess I was too tired.  I woke up at 8am, and I couldn't recall any dreams.

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## Pickman

14th September Update.

I managed to turn in at a reasonable time, around 12:30.  I woke up at 4am with the feeling of something in my eye.  It was quite painful, and it has been there all day.  I will be seeing a doctor tomorrow morning.  

After turning in, I managed to sleep despite the irritation.  I managed to recall a lot of my dreams.  I had a really long dream about being in a martial arts academy, and flirting with a DC who works in a local nightclub that exists in real life.  I took two and a half pages in my notebook.  

I wonder if sleeping in that much pain affected my dream recall, or just made my dreams crazy.

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## Pickman

15th September Update.

I turned in early at around 12:30 and got up at 6:55am.  I had to get straight up to go to the doctors, so no time to record my dreams.  I barely recall much of it anyway - something about meeting a comedian.  That's it.

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## Pickman

16th September Update. 

I turned in at 12:30 again, but it I had another early morning appointment to get up for.  I only had the time to get up and get ready, so no time to record my dreams.  And none of my dreams were lucid either.

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## Pickman

17th & 18th September Update.

I've been pretty good with turning in consistently at 12:30, although last night I turned in at 1am again.  Last night I attempted the SSILD technique described by CosmicIron in the Induction Techniques forum.  I tried it when waking up at 5am.  It didn't work for me - it just sent me to sleep when running through each of the senses.  I was too tired to concentrate.  It might have worked if I was not so tired though.

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## Pickman

19th & 20th September Update. 

Nothing much to report other than my dream recall is consistently good and I have been sticking to a reasonable sleep routine.  I think it's about time to start on lesson 2, since I've got the sleeping pattern thing down.  Will hopefully have more to post on this tomorrow.

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## CanisLucidus

> I need to get my sleep routine in order, so here is what I am planning to do:  
> 
> First, I should start to record my dreams from my bedside notes into my DJ.   
> 
> Second, I need to have some kind of stretching routine to improve my flexibility.  When I used to do yoga, I would have a routine that I would for for 15 minutes before bed, and my sleep was really deep and restful.  I'm going to start off with something a little less time consuming.  I intend to do a workout from MobilityWOD | All human beings should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves. , which is a little less time consuming, but I could ramp it up for a bit longer as the time goes on.  
> 
> Third, I need to get back into meditation.  Ideally I would like to do 30 minutes before bed, but I think 10-15 minutes would be more realistic, since I need to get back into it.  I have a few meditation podcasts to listen to, so I could start there.    
> 
> The stretching and meditation could be interchangeable, but the DJ work should be out of the way first, since it is more cerebral and I will need a break before getting to sleep.  
> ...



First off, Pickman, great job with your record keeping!  

Sorry for the slow response to your question.  If we overlook a question that you need answered, don't hesitate to put it in the "Raise Your Hand" thread and we will make sure that it gets attention!

I think that every element of your routine sounds helpful, particularly recording your dreams in your DJ and doing some meditiation.  The flexibility work sounds really promising, too, since it improves your sleep so much.  The main guiding principle is to make sure that the routine will be realistic _for you_ to perform while still getting plenty of sleep.

The #1 best feature of any nighttime routine is assuring yourself enough sleep.  Whatever amount of sleep it is that you need, try to make sure that you get it as many nights as possible.  This gives you by far the best dream recall, the best odds of lucidity, and the fastest progress with lucid dreaming skills.





> 5th September Update. 
> 
> Turned in at 1am.  Slept okay through to 7am, good dream recall, but I attempted to DEILD and failed.  I needed the toilet so I thought I would try WBTB.  This also failed.
> 
> It was getting close to 8am and I was about to give up, when I started to have this light dream, almost like a daydream, but I was in my local pharmacy which I don't generally daydream about.  Then I saw a new character just emerge from a back room, and I realized that this could be more than daydream.  But I had to get up soon, and so I couldn't do anything with it.



Nice job, congratulations on the close call!  I bet that without the intrusion of waking life concerns (the fact that you needed to get up), you'd have very likely converted this one into an LD.  These are the kinds of situations where going to bed a little earlier gives you an edge.  You have more dream time still ahead of you and no waking life concerns to foul up your concentration.

Keep up the good work!

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## Pickman

> Keep up the good work!



Thanks for the reply CanisLucidus, that's very helpful.  You've probably noticed that I have already posted a few questions to the Raise Your Hand thread already, so that hasn't been a problem.  

As for my routine, the stretching and DJ work hasn't always been manageable, but I have at least turned in at a regular hour.  

As for last night, I had trouble sleeping.  I turned in at around 12:30, but sleep was intermittent.  I probably got around 3-4 hours sleep.  My dreams went crazy and I recalled alot of them, since I probably woke up so close to the REM cycle.  

Looking over Lesson 2, I'm going to have choose between practicing DILD or MILD.  I always attempt DEILD if I wake up in the earlier hours of the morning anyway.  I'll go over my options tomorrow.

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## Pickman

So I haven't really had the the time to go over the induction techniques properly yet.  Still turning in at a reasonable time though.  My dream recall is reasonably good.  

Whichever method I choose to go with, I will probably be studying WBTB and DEILD anyway, since I have a habit of waking up in the night or an hour or so before I intend to get up.  This gives me a bit more opportunity for lucid dreams.

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## Pickman

Last night I turned in at a good time, and woke up at around 5am after a long dream which I could recall in great detail.  I decided that this would be a good time to try WBTB, and it nearly worked.  I sat up and wrote my long dream down on a notebook for a little while before turning back in.  

What followed was a long series of dreams in which I have just woken up and in the process of going about my morning.  In some of these dreams, it all seemed so realistic, but I felt like doing a reality check anyway.  But the reality checks didn't work.  I tried pressing my finger through my hand, and I couldn't.  So I still wasn't sure if I was dreaming, it seemed so realistic.  It's a shame, because it would have made for an awesome lucid dream.  One thing I forgot to do was trace my steps and ask myself how I got there.  I should do that more often as a reality check.  


Still deciding whether to experiment with MILD or DILD.  I don't see why I couldn't do both, since DILD is reliant on daytime awareness and MILD is about some pre-bed ritual or mantra (it's been a while since I've read up on MILD so I could be wrong).

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## CanisLucidus

> Still deciding whether to experiment with MILD or DILD.  I don't see why I couldn't do both, since DILD is reliant on daytime awareness and MILD is about some pre-bed ritual or mantra (it's been a while since I've read up on MILD so I could be wrong).



You absolutely can do both!  You can think of "DILD" as being a broad category of experiences.  Essentially, this is any lucid where you become lucid _after_ passing into a non-lucid dream state.  There are many ways to get there, including basic awareness and prospective memory work during the daytime, as well as MILD during WBTB or even pre-bed.

They are all designed to lead to DILDs.  Think of MILD as a way to increase the likelihood of experiencing DILDs and I believe you'll see that you are on the right track!

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## Pickman

Last night was not very eventful.  Turned in slightly later at around 12:50, and woke up at 8am.  I was well-rested, but I can barely remember any of my dreams.  





> You absolutely can do both!  You can think of "DILD" as being a broad category of experiences.  Essentially, this is any lucid where you become lucid _after_ passing into a non-lucid dream state.  There are many ways to get there, including basic awareness and prospective memory work during the daytime, as well as MILD during WBTB or even pre-bed.
> 
> They are all designed to lead to DILDs.  Think of MILD as a way to increase the likelihood of experiencing DILDs and I believe you'll see that you are on the right track!



Thanks for the input.  So I can experiment with both MILD and DILD at the same time - that's great.  I get to experiment with both techniques.  I should also read more in-depth about WBTB and DEILD since I tend to wake up in the middle of the night or earlier in the morning.  I've already had two successes with DEILD, so I might as well carry on.  

There's too much material for me to go through tonight, so I might leave it until the weekend before coming up with a cohesive plan for my two week experiment.

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## Pickman

The past couple of nights have been uneventful.  Thursday night was fine - turned in at a reasonable time, recalled much of my dream and woke up at 8am.  

Last night wasn't too good.  I got home from work to find some relatives had come over to visit, so I turned in a bit later.  I was also stressed out from the week, so getting to sleep was difficult.  

I have decided for my new two week experiment to try out the DILD and MILD techniques that were linked in the lesson thread.  For DILD, I intend to practice SAT (Spontaneous Awareness Technique) at least five times a day.  For MILD, I thought I would try the Day Dream Awareness (DDA) technique, since I've already had some success with that during my DEILD's.

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## Pickman

Nothing too interesting about last night.  I turned in slightly later than usual, and I woke up at 8am with a few fragmented memories of my dream.  

I spent the day practicing spontaneous awareness - I didn't keep count, but I'm sure I did it at least five times.  I just have to keep it up for another two weeks.  

Tonight I will have a go at the DDA technique.

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## Pickman

I turned in slightly later than usual at around 1am, and had some difficulty getting off to sleep.  I attempted the DDA technique, but it didn't seem to work.  This is only day 1 though, so I'll see how it goes.  I think that maybe being as tired as I was might have made me less likely to be lucid - my body/mind just wanted to sleep, never mind being lucid.  Hopefully I will be more successful tonight if I turn in earlier.

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## Pickman

Turned in at close to 1am last night, and woke up at 8am.  I recall a long and intense dream, but nothing lucid.  Still practicing spontaneous awareness and DDA, but no results as of yet.

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## Pickman

Here's my update for the past couple of nights.  

I would say both nights have been the same - I turned in maybe a little later than I intended, at aroud 12:50am.  The night before last I had to get up early at 7:30am, so I couldn't lie back and attempt DEILD.  But on both nights my dream recall has been really good.  In fact, ever since starting this experiment, my dreams have gone crazy.  The content of my dreams have certainly become a lot weirder since attempting ADD and SAT.  

I might change things up a little tonight and attempt LogicInLife's RWI technique (as described here:  http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...technique.html )

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## Pickman

So I didn't attempt RWI last night - I didn't have the time after getting home from work.  My dream recall is still pretty good, and the content of my dreams are still incredibly weird and intense.  The colours seem to be more vivid.  I turned in close to 1am and woke up at 8am - starting to fall behind on the sleep routine, but it doesn't seem to be causing any problems for my dreams.

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## Pickman

Turned in later last night at 1:20am and woke up at 7:30am - too late for WBTB, but early enough for DEILD.  It didn't work though.  I still recall much of my dreams.

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## Pickman

I turned in at 12:50am, after doing the RWI writing technique a few hours earlier.  I couldn't remember any of my dreams and woke up at 6:50am after something fell from my bookshelf and woke me up.  I thought it might be a good opportunity to do WBTB, but I could not sleep.  Not a great night.  I'll still carry on with the RWI technique though.

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## Pickman

Here's my update for the previous two nights.  I have been turning in at around 12:45, but my dream recall is getting a bit hazier.  Not sure why this is.  I'm waking up at around 7:30am, which is good time to practice DEILD, but that's not working either.  

I'm still doing the RWI technique, but I haven't had any lucid dreams from this just yet.

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## Pickman

I turned in a bit later last night, close to 1am.  My dream recall was still hazy and disjointed compared to how it has been.  The RWI technique didn't work, but I'm going to stick with it.  My theory is that it will sink in and work after a while.  I just need to train myself to get it to work.  

I woke up at around 4am and attempted WBTB, but that didn't seem to work.  When I woke at around 7:30am my attempts at DEILD didn't seem to work either.

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## Pickman

I turned in at 12:50am last night, but it took me a while to get off to sleep.  I had too much stress in my system.  I woke up at 7am and failed at attempting DEILD.

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## Pickman

A late update for the past two nights.  Dream recall is coming back, but still no lucidity.  I think I need a change a plan for this project.  I might prolong it for another two weeks, but with a change of strategy.

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## Pickman

I turned in at a reasonable hour - about 12:30.  I decided to take a slightly different approach.  This time I would lie in bed and daydream as if I was already in a lucid dream.  It seemed to work for my DEILD successes, so why not for MILD?  

It didn't work - I dropped off and woke up at around 5am.  However, my dreams became incredible vivid.  The colours were more intense and my recall had increased.  I thought this would be a good time to attempt WBTB.  

I still didn't become lucid, but my dreams for the rest of the night became even more intense.  I recalled even more of them.  I might have even been briefly lucid, although I cannot remember.  

So no lucids, but this is still a good sign.  I have decided that the best way to induce a lucid dream in my daily life is to immerse myself in lucid dreaming as a topic.  Maybe set an alarm on my watch to go off every hour and remind me to do a RC.  I watched Inception today, so maybe that might help.

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## Pickman

Turned in a little later, closer to 1am.  I attempted the same thing as the previous night.  Not much dream recall, but I woke up at 5:50am, and attempted a WBTB since I needed the toilet.  Actually what I did was more like a WILD.  It didn't work, but again I recalled more of my dreams.  

I did manage to get into that daydream-like state where I see dream images but I'm conscious.  This happened to me in my earlier successes with DEILD.  However, I had to get up early that morning so I couldn't take advantage of it.  

I think I might experiment with WILD over the next few weeks.

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## Pickman

So I turned in at a reasonable hour last night, about 12:45.  I decided to try a technique I found on someone else's workbook.  Just lying back and focusing on the darkness behind my eyelids, while repeating a mantra.  

There were no lucids from this.  But I woke up at 8am, about half an hour before I need to get up, and I decided to give it another go.  In that time, something interesting happened.  A dream character started to emerge from the darkness - no visible background or anything.  I could have kept this going, but I started thinking that I was oversleeping.  So I snapped out of it and looked at my clock.  It had only been 5 minutes!  I thought it was about half an hour.  I wish I hadn't bothered, I think I was on the brink of a lucid dream.  Another near-miss.  Better luck tonight I suppose.

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## Pickman

I had a near-success this morning - I didn't quite reach lucidity, but I was so close.  

I turned in a little later than usual at around 1am.  I attempted the same thing I did yesterday.  It didn't work, but I woke up at some point in the early hours of the morning and attempted a WBTB.  Again, this didn't work.  

However, when I woke close to 7am, I attempted a DEILD.  I had a couple of dreams, but in the final one I should have become lucid.  I say I should have, because the signs were around me in the environment.  I was walking up a stretch of road near where I live, but there were some differences to the environment which I didn't pick up on.  Such as an entire patch of overgrown land where there are buildings in my waking reality.  Also, the weather was producing some spectacular effects, so I had to capture the scene on camera.  I got my smartphone out and took a picture, and another sign should have been the way my smartphone switched into camera mode without me having to do anything.   

I did do a reality check, but it was such a long walk that I could easily trace how I got to where I was.  Also, I even had a reason to be there, although I cannot remember what that reason was.  So I assumed that I wasn't dreaming.  And then I woke up, and spent the next 45 minutes trying too hard to DEILD again, only to give up at around 8:20am. 

I need some better reality checks.

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## Pickman

I didn't sleep too well last night.  That was my fault as I spent too long online last night and I didn't turn in until 1:20am.  So I could not remember any dreams when I woke up at 8am this morning.  I did attempt the same technique that I have been doing for the past two night, but I had no luck.  Better luck tonight I suppose.

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## Pickman

Again, turned in a bit too late last night, just past 1am.  I did the same technique that I've been doing for the past few days.  I did see some hypnagogic imagery, and I tried to focus on it in a relaxed manner.  I still fell asleep without any lucid dreams, although I could recall more of my dreams than I did last night, so that's something.  I woke up at 7:50am.

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## Pickman

I've been a bit lazy with the updates over the past couple of nights, although there has not been much to report.  I turned in at a reasonable time on both nights, but I had to get up at 7am on Saturday morning so no time for DEILD's.  I think last night my bpdy just wanted to recover from the previous day, so I slept soundly - probably too soundly to attempt lucid dreaming.  I did manage to recall significant details of my dreams though.

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## Pickman

Success - two lucid dreams in one night!

After doing my usual technique when I turned in at around 1am last night, I woke up some time in the morning - probably 5am.  I attempted to DEILD, but this time I did it in a slightly different way.  I remembered something I read about dream yoga a while back.  It was a technique that involved lying on your left side instead of your right.  Apparently this blocks off your left channel which is lunar (or something, I can't remember).

I usually sleep on my back and then turn onto my right side during the night.  When I woke up last night I decided to try sleeping on my left side.  I tried to hold a picture in my mind of the dream I had just finished, but that didn't work, I just fell asleep and had a non-lucid dream.  Then, this dream became lucid when I found myself in my bedroom.  There were two people from work sitting on my bed having a chat.  At one point I saw my cat who has been dead for about five years, so that was a pretty solid dream sign.  

I decided to attempt a dream stabilization technique that I heard from a Dream Views podcast a while ago, where someone from this forum decided to make out with the ground.  Apparently it worked, so I gave it a try with my disgusting carpet.  It didn't seem to make any difference, but I noticed something interesting - I had no physical sensation of my tongue.  I was moving it, but it wasn't there, which was weird.  

I got up and decided to have some fun with this stable lucid dream.  As soon as I decided to do this, I got too excited and woke up.  So then I DEILDed straight back into it and had a second lucid dream.  This time I was still in my bedroom, but just my cat was there.  I tried to manifest something into visible appearance, but I had no idea how.  I decided to get out a pad of paper and a pencil and try to draw it into existence, like I'm Penny Crayon or something.  The pencil made hardly any impression on the paper.  It was like trying to write on paper with a biro that has no ink.  Not long after this I woke up.  

I might look more into this whole dream yoga thing after this course.  It could have just been that I'm not used to sleeping on my left side and that kept part of my mind awake.  Either way, dream yoga is sounding more interesting to me now.

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## Pickman

No such luck last night.  I turned in at around 1am, which probably wasn't a good idea, and tried to do the same thing again with sleeping on my side.  It didn't work - I think I was too tired.  I think my body just wanted to recover from the workout I had done earlier in the day and couldn't spare the energy for lucid dreaming.  That's my pet theory anyway.  I woke up at 8am.

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## NyxCC

Congrats on the lds! lmao when I read about you using the popular Xanous dream stabilization technique. Every once in a while I get bananas and do it as well. It's pretty funny although licking trash off the ground or dusty carpets isn't very appealing.  ::lol::  

Next time you could try just rubbing your hands or finding something more appealing to lick. Now, jokes aside you really did a good job, especially not giving up on the dream and DEILDing back there.  ::goodjob2:: 

As far as dream yoga positions are concerned, I have a favorite position to DEILD or WILD as well. In my case it facilitates me falling asleep easier since I generally tend to have a restless mind. I think if you tend to fall asleep really fast then the right side for men may be better, while if you are more sleepy, the left. However, these are just dream yoga theories and it's better to experiment to see if they fit your sleep patterns. Good luck!  :smiley:

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## CanisLucidus

> I decided to attempt a dream stabilization technique that I heard from a Dream Views podcast a while ago, where someone from this forum decided to make out with the ground.  Apparently it worked, so I gave it a try with my disgusting carpet.  It didn't seem to make any difference, but I noticed something interesting - I had no physical sensation of my tongue.  I was moving it, but it wasn't there, which was weird.



The Full Xanous!   ::lol:: 

I tried this one as well and it didn't quite work for me.  I think that it was maybe a bit too much.  I'm with Nyx -- hand rubbing is a good, reliable way to get yourself in the scene for starters, then you can move on to really taking in other details of the scene, basking in the vividness, etc.  All of that's a good idea, but you can let it happen in due time.

Congratulations on all of that stable lucid as well as a DEILD!  Obviously this was a great night for you.

Hey, if you have any interest in Dream Yoga, obviously Sivason's course is a great idea for something to try.  In addition to that, you may want to pick up a copy of "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep".  The Dream Yoga portion of the book is actually quite accessible and has lots of little great tidbits on the lucid dreaming mindset.

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## Pickman

Last night wasn't too successful.  I turned in late 1:20am after having a pretty heavy meal a few hours earlier.  My dreams were crazy, so recall was pretty good.  I woke at 6am to use the toilet, then attempted WBTB, but lying on my left side.  It wasn't successful as it just kept me awake.  My body was working overtime trying to digest all the food I ate.  I turned over and went to sleep.  Dreams were still crazy though.  I woke up at 8:20am. 





> Congrats on the lds! lmao when I read about you using the popular Xanous dream stabilization technique. Every once in a while I get bananas and do it as well. It's pretty funny although licking trash off the ground or dusty carpets isn't very appealing.



That's the thing with lucid dreams - once you're in one, all sense of dignity and respectability goes out of the window, because there is no one around to shame you (unless you post about it on a public internet forum  ::embarrassed::  )  The weirdest thing about it was that my mind still thought I had a tongue when I didn't, and I was going on some kind of residual body image.  

I'll check out the dream yoga course when I'm finished with this one.  And thanks CanisLucidus for the book recommendation.

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## Pickman

Last night I hardly slept at all.  I made the mistake of eating too much sugar and trying to turn in at around 1am in the middle of a sugar rush.  I think I got around 1-2 hours sleep last night, and I barely remember any dreams.

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## Pickman

I turned in at 1am last night, and to be honest, lucid dreaming wasn't high on my agenda after two nights of hardly any sleep.  I just wanted to recover, and I slept soundly until I woke up at 8am.  Dream was reasonably good. 

I won't be posting an update tomorrow because I won't be sleeping tonight - or at least not for an hour or two.  I will be participating in a paranormal investigation that will go on until 5am.  This means I will not get home until 6am.  Depending on how I'm going to feel when I get back, I'm probably only going to get one or two hours sleep at most, so there's just no point.

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## Pickman

Turned in at a reasonable time of around 12:45am, and I slept soundly until around 8am.  Dream recall was good although no lucidity.  Lucid dreaming was not on the agenda for tonight - I just wanted to recover from the weekend.  I should look to get back into it this week.

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## Pickman

Last night got back into my old routine of trying to induce a lucid dream, although I turned in a bit late at 1:20am.  My dream recall was good is a bit patchy during last night and I woke up at 8:20am.  No lucidity.

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## Pickman

I turned in a bit late at 1am, made an attempt at my usual technique, and then woke up at 7:30am with no lucid dreams.  My recall was half-decent, although still a bit patchy.  

My activities last weekend seem to have stalled my momentum with this, so I have come up with some new ideas about how to approach lucid dream induction.  One thing I have noticed is that I always have the most success when I immerse myself in the subject - doing reality checks all the time, listening to podcasts about it, reading the forum everyday.  I have a list of things I want to do while in a lucid dream state.  

So here's my plan:  I'm going to give myself from now until New Years Day to immerse myself in lucid dreaming daily before I give it a rest, doing the activities I already mentioned.  My technique will be the same as the one I have been using over the past couple of weeks, although I will allow myself to experiment with other techniques I read about on the forum and in Lesson 3.  

I aim to get everything on my list done and out of my system by the end of the year.  Hopefully at that point I could have completed the Intro course.

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## Pickman

I turned in a bit too late last night at 1:15am and I barely remembered any of my dreams when I woke up at just before 3am.  I attempted WBTB with no luck, and woke up again at around 7:30am.  Fell asleep again and woke up at 8:30am.  

I think part of my problem is eating too much sugar in the evenings and staying up on my PC until late.  I need to stop doing that.

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## Pickman

I turned in reasonably early at 12:45, and woke up again at 6:45am.  I got up for about 10 minutes then attempted WBTB.  No luck, although my dream recall is getting better.  I woke up again at around 8:20am.

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## Pickman

I've been pretty busy for these last couple of days, hence the lack of updates, so I'm posting something now. 

Friday night was nothing special - I turned in at a reasonable hour, at around 12:30 am, woke up at 8am with no lucid dreams and patchy dream recall. 

Last night was more interesting - I had my latest lucid dream.  

To give some background, that day I had my first experience of Crossfit - a high intensity form of fitness (google it if you want to know more).  I had the most intense workout in my life and I thought I would pass out.  It really pushed me to my limits, and just beyond.  The result was that afterwards I was operating on a sort of high, like an adrenaline rush that people might get after a parachute jump or something.  FOr the rest of the evening I could still feel the after-effects of the adrenaline.  

This had an impact on my sleep and my dreams.  I experienced intense hypnagogic imagery as I drifted off to sleep, while using my usual lucidity-inducing technique.  I won;t go into the details of my dream, but they went crazy.  They were so crazy that on two occasions I knew that I had to be dreaming.  One of those occasions is when I was in a supermarket with a woman I know and I bumped into a family member.  I then bumped into a clone of this family member, then a third clone, until I was surrounded by identical copies of this character.  So then it clocked.  I went lucid, but the lucidity was short-lived as I was trying to get away.    

The second time happened when I met some "bad guy" character who told me that he was going to set his bodyguard on me, who was Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan the Barbarian.  From listening to dreamviews podcasts, I knew how to deal with adversarial DC's, so I tried to make friends with the evil Arnie, but I woke up shortly afterwards.  

So that's it - my latest success.  I only wish it could have lasted longer.

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## Pickman

Yesterday was also spent at the Crossfit gym, and I had the same experience but not with the lucidity this time.  

I turned in at around 1am.  Not as much hypnagogic imagery this time.  My dreams were long, vivid, bizarre and I can recall much of them.  Despite how weird they were, it did not trigger lucidity.  I woke up at 7am and I couldn't get back to sleep.

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## Pickman

Last night I turned in at 12:45 and I slept through until around 6am when I woke up and attempted a DEILD.  I did not manage any lucidity this time, but my dreams are still going crazy and my recall is still high.  This is the third night after my crossfit experience, so I wonder how long this will go on for?

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## Pickman

I turned in at a reasonable time - around 12:40.  Fell asleep easily, and my dreams are still just as crazy as they have been since the weekend.  My recall is still pretty good, although no lucidity.  I woke up at 6:45am and I attempted a DEILD, but with no luck.  I woke up again at 8:35 after some more odd dreams.

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## Pickman

Turned in a little later at 1:05am.  Went to sleep without waking up in the night like I usually do.  Still had good dream recall, although my dreams are not as bizarre as they have been all week.  Perhaps this is a sign that I'm almost recovered from the workout I did last weekend.  So no lucidity tonight.

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## Pickman

I turned in at around 12:50am, and I slept okay, waking up at 8:35am.  Dream recall was not as good - I recalled parts of my dreams in good detail, but it was patchy.  No lucids either.  

I haven't done any exercise since the weekend (still waiting for my strained shoulder to recover) and my diet hasn't been that great either.  Perhaps intense bouts of exercise and a clean diet should be part of the routine for anyone looking to lucid dream.

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## Pickman

I've been a bit lazy with the updates this weekend.  I have been busy over the past couple of days, so I must have just let it slide.  

To be honest, there is nothing much to report from the weekend.  I turned in at a reasonable on each night, around 12:30.  Dream recall was reasonably good.  Woke up at around the same time, which was 8am.  I did not have a single lucid dream in that time.  I think I need to get up to speed with the ADA and reality checking.

I did order some John's Wort tea last night, so when that comes through, I'll see what effect that has on my dreams.

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## Pickman

Nothing much to report - I turned in at the usual time, around 12:45.  I slept through until around 8am.  My dreams were vivid, but not lucid, and I recall much of them. 

One thing I have noticed about my dreams over the past week is that they have tended to provide the opportunities for doing the things in my own list of things I want to do in my lucid dreams.  It's as if part of my subconscious (or whatever) recognizes that I want to become lucid, and is providing the signs and cues to snap me into lucidity, but I'm too dumb to pick up on them.  I think I just need to really make reality checking into a habit.

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## Infinityjester

Yea motivation and confidence seems to be key.  This hobby was easier when I first learned about it and was really excited.  I was getting all kinds of really cool things to happen at first.  Things have slowed down for me but I will continue on!  I think I will start reality checking again too.

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## Pickman

I turned in at a reasonable time last night, around 12:45.  I slept well until 7am when I was woken up by someone else in the house being really loud.  I couldn't get back to sleep.  But my dream recall was good, even though there was no lucidity.  

I'm thinking about experimenting with affirmations.  Maybe write something on to my hand like "LD" to prompt frequent reality checks.  





> Yea motivation and confidence seems to be key.  This hobby was easier when I first learned about it and was really excited.  I was getting all kinds of really cool things to happen at first.  Things have slowed down for me but I will continue on!  I think I will start reality checking again too.



True, it does seem to be so much easier when you are new to this and really enthusiastic.  Not that I've lost my enthusiasm for this, it's more like life finds a way of changing your priorities.  I'm still focusing on this though - I've given myself until the end of the year to completely focus on reality checking daily to see how effective my techniques are.

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## Pickman

Yesterday I really got into the reality checking.  Writing "LD" on my palm in biro meant that I saw it each time I went on break at work, and it prompted me to do a reality check, about every half an hour.  This got me into the habit of doing it outside work more often.  

Unfortunately I did not get any lucid dreams last night.  I turned in at around 1am, later than usual, but I made the mistake of possibly overindulging in sugary foods before turning in.  My dream recall was reasonably good, but there was no lucidity.  I got up at around 8:20am.

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## Pickman

I've been a bit slack with the updates this weekend, so I thought I should log in and update with a general overview of how (un)successful this weekend has been.  

I have been turning in at a reasonable time, around 12:30, but I haven't been sleeping too well.  Usually I wake up with a coughing fit, or I get interrupted all night.  I've come down with a bit of a cold recently, so I think my body seems to be more concerned with recovery than being lucid in my dreams.  

So yeah, not brilliant.

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## NyxCC

Hope you feel better soon, Pickman.

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## Pickman

> Hope you feel better soon, Pickman.



Thanks - it seemed to just be one of those colds that last about a day or so, so I'm fine now. 

Last night I turned in way too late at 1:30am, and my dream recall was patchy. I woke up slightly earlier at around 7:30am.  Need to get my sleeping pattern back under control.

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## Pickman

I realize I haven't updated for a couple of days, so here is my update for the past two days. 

I have had two near Lucid experiences over the past couple of nights.  First, a couple of nights ago I had a false awakening after attempting to DEILD when waking up during the night.  I turned in at a good time, around 12:30, and I managed to recall a decent amount of my dreams when I woke up.  The false awakening was so weird, it should have led to lucidity, but it didn't.  I felt like crap (as I did when I actually woke up) and staggered out of my room to the bathroom to take a shower, only to find that someone had cluttered up the landing with stuff from the living room - sofa cushions, bags of other stuff, etc.  After kicking them out of the way and clambering over what was left, I made it to the bathroom and looked in the mirror.  

What I saw in the mirror horrified me.  Normally, I'm a white guy with short dark-blonde hair.  I looked in the mirror to see that I had dyed my hair jet black.  The roots were starting to show.  And even worse than that, I had grown this horrible thin line of facial hair down from my sideburns, that culminated in a small goatee on my chin.  That was dyed black as well. 

Instead of thinking "wait, when did I do this?  I would never do this.  I wasn't even drunk last night", my thoughts went straight to "what the hell do I do about this?" and "I hope to hell this dye isn't permanent."  Then I woke up.  So close to becoming lucid. I guess looking in the mirror is going to become another dream sign. 

Then last night. after waking in the middle of the night, I attempted to DEILD.  I went for the daydream tactic, and it almost worked.  I didn't transition into my dream.  Instead I found myself walking along a road near where I live.  It was unusually quiet, and I had that "Is this a dream?" thought.  I stopped and looked around me.  The road was unusually quiet, no traffic or people.  Usually I look around to find something to read, or check a clock, but there was nothing like that nearby.  I tried the finger through palm technique, but that never works, and I was not quite convinced that I was dreaming.  Then the dream became less lucid and turned into a non-lucid before I woke up.

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## NyxCC

Wow, you were so close both times! I think that means lucidity is on its way!  ::D: 

I am nowadays more inclined to take this feeling of uncertainty about the dreamstate "Is this a dream or not" as another dream sign.

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## Pickman

No such luck last night.  I turned in a little bit late at around 1am, had good dream recall, but nothing else.  I woke up at 8am after an unsuccessful attempt at DEILD at 7:30am.  

NyxxCC:  I am coming to the same conclusion about the feeling of uncertainty being a good dream sign.  I think my habit of checking my surroundings frequently like a routine might be reducing my likelihood of going lucid.

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## NyxCC

It's still good because it transfers to dreams. Maybe do the check with more feeling or awareness?

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## Pickman

No update for two days, so I think I should probably update today.  I have been turning in at reasonable times, but still no luck, despite pretty good dream recall.  I attempted to DEILD after waking in the night, but found it difficult to get back to sleep while sleeping on my left side, so I turned back over to my right.  SOmetimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. 





> It's still good because it transfers to dreams. Maybe do the check with more feeling or awareness?



Yes, that was probably my problem from last time.  I bear this in mind now whenever I do reality checks.

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## Pickman

Apologies for the slackness.  I think it's been three days since I've updated this workbook.  I have the past week off work, and that seems to have thrown me off my usual working week sleep schedule, hence the lack of results.  But I'm back to work tomorrow, so that should mean that I start updating this thing more regularly.  

Other than that, my results have been pretty mediocre.  I have turned in at a reasonable time, except for one night where I turned in at 1:20am.  My dream recall has been brief and patchy, possibly due to some bad habits I've developed during my holiday.  I always seem to wake up at 7:30-8am feeling like crap because of said bad habits.  

Hopefully things will pick up once I go back to work and have less opportunity to overindulge.

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## Pickman

Last night I turned in at my usual time, around 12:40am, but this time I spent the past hour or so with no TV or computer, just to improve the quality of my sleep.  I spent about 15 minutes doing yoga stretches before I turned in.  I woke up at 8:30am, well-rested, feeling okay, but no lucid dreams.  Dream recall wasn't that great either.  But at least I'm getting back into the rhythm of sleeping well.  Hopefully that might yield better results as I get more into reality checking.

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## Pickman

Turned in slightly later than usual at 1am, but I slept pretty well and my dream recall was a lot better.  I had one of those dreams that was so weird that I should have turned lucid.  I woke up at 7am and attempted a DEILD, but it didn't work.  I couldn't get to sleep after that so I ended up getting up at 8am.

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## Pickman

So I haven't updated over the weekend due to being too busy, but each night was pretty much the same.  I turned in at a reasonable time, around 12:30, and usually I slept until 7am when I would attempt to DEILD, and fail, only to get up again at 8am.  

My dream recall has been pretty good over that time.  Last night I nearly had some success with a hypnagogic image that almost turned into a dream as I dozed off.  I was following someone through a town centre, and I started to notice other people doing weird things.  When I realized that I was entering a dream state, this jolted me awake.  I tried to get back into it, but I just drifted off into sleep and a non-lucid dream.

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## Pickman

No luck last night.  I turned in far too late after spending too long in front of the PC.  After turning in at 1am I woke up at 8:30am, with reasonably good dream recall but no lucidity.

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## Pickman

Last night I had some trouble getting to sleep.  I made the mistake of eating a slice of cake after my evening meal (which was at 11pm because of my job), and I think the sugar made my heart rate go crazy while I was trying to get to sleep.  After a while, my focus went from attempting to WILD into a lucid dream, to just getting some sleep.  I did eventually, but I can't remember any of my dreams.

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## Pickman

A bit better last night.  I turned in at around 1am, but without spending quite so long on my PC beforehand.  My dream recall was a lot better, and I could have DEILD'd when I woke up in the night lying on my left (which I don't usually do).  Instead I automatically turned over onto my right to catch up on sleep which I regret, because I think I could have DEILD'd if I had the chance.  I woke up at 8:20am, feeling okay unlike yesterday.

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## Pickman

Same as last night - I turned in at around 1am, dream recall was pretty good, but I didn't have any lucid dreams.  I woke up at 8:20am, too late to attempt a DEILD.

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## NyxCC

How are your daytime practices going?

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## JoannaB

Hi, Pickman. Would you like to join out dream competion? http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...read-16-a.html One gets a point even for nonlucid dream recalled, but of course the goal is to have lucids, and personally I find those dream competition at the very least improve my dream recall and motivation, and at best they actually cause a lucid. Something to consider. You'd be welcome if you want to join. Generally people are very encouraging if oneanother, and one is really mostly competing with oneself I think.  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Thanks Joanna B, that sounds like a good idea.  I know my workbook makes me look like I'm slacking, but things have been slow recently, mainly due to other parts of my life getting in the way.  Also, I'm learning the hard way about things that ruin my sleep pattern.  But I'll sign up to that competition asap, it looks like the sort of thing I should be doing to keep dreaming on my mind. 





> How are your daytime practices going?



I'm still doing them, although not as intensely as I had been, mainly because they backfired on me.  I would do a reality check in a dream, and go straight to "no, not dreaming".  While I might not be reality checking as often as I used to, I try to do them more thoroughly now. 

I nearly had some luck this morning with the DEILD.  I turned in at around 1am last night, and I slept okay.  My dreams were pretty vivid and I recalled much of them.  When I woke up this morning at around 7am, I felt ill.  My stomach was churning, and it felt like I was coming down with the flu.  This actually had some interesting effects on my state of consciousness while dreaming.  

While lying in bed, I very nearly experienced a WILD at least twice.  It started off with some kind of hypnagogic hallucination.  When my eyes were closed, I thought I was looking down on a pavement at a pound coin on the ground.  At this point I knew I was dreaming.  I tried to focus in on the coin, see which side was lying up, maybe make out some detail.  My vision was blurry though.  I tried to reach out with an imaginary arm to pick up the coin, but my perspective became even more blurred.  That was the point where the dream image faded out.  

This happened to me at least a couple of times before I got up at 8:30am.  Strangely I don't feel too bad now - no illness.  

I won't be posting an update tomorrow because I won't be sleeping tonight - not much at least.  I will be out on a paranormal investigation until at least 3am, so I expect to only get a couple hours of sleep, so I might not have an update until Monday.

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## NyxCC

Hey, I think you should give yourself more credit. You have been consistently updating, got a number of lds, and you often attempt a DEILD. I wonder how many times you approximately wake up and do you try it after each one? At any rate, doing this daily or as often as you do has benefits too, you are keeping your mind thinking about lding, at the time that it should happen. This may even lead to incubation of the situation, where you might try to DEILD in the dream and then have an in-dream lucid.  ::D: 

I think you can have more lds and more often, so you need to have a positive attitude. When you try deilding, even if you don't get a deild straight away, put your focus on having an ld, and really *expect* to have one. It's like setting your intention forward, knowing it will happen. Make your con & subcon *eagerly wait for this realization* that you are now in a dream, to occur whenever you are waking up and then falling asleep in the morning.

About RCs, indeed quality really matters. Again, when you RC you might want not to answer the question "Am I dreaming now?" because you might be incubating the negative answer. Even pretending (within reasonable limits, and in your head obviously) and imagining scenarious can help. Maybe this is a dream, let's do another type of RC. If it was a dream, what would you do? Remind yourself the task you want to do. Always have a task or two that you want to do, so that you are ready because you might have the ld tonight. Be sure you are fully equipped. 

Cool progress on the wild! Wish you fantastic dreams and lots of lds. Also, good luck in the competition!  ::goodjob2::

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## JoannaB

If your workbook made you look like you are slacking, I would not have asked you whether you want to join the competition. Your workbook makes you look like someone who wants to have lucid dreams.  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Thanks for the advice and words of encouragement NyxCC and JoannaB, especially the advice about attitude and reality checking, that sounds like something I need to do.  





> You have been consistently updating, got a number of lds, and you often attempt a DEILD. I wonder how many times you approximately wake up and do you try it after each one?



I attempt a DEILD nearly every night, as for some reason I always wake up at 7am, about an hour or so before I need to get up.  I've never considered myself to be a light sleeper, so this is pretty convenient.  

The past few night have been uneventful.  I was up until 4am on Saturday night thanks to the paranormal investigation so on Sunday night I was just tired.  Last night I had to get up early for a doctors appointment so there was no time for my usual DEILD practice - I just wanted to get some proper sleep in before my day at work.  The rest of the week is free though, so hopefully I can get something going this week.

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## NyxCC

> I attempt a DEILD nearly every night, as for some reason I always wake up at 7am, about an hour or so before I need to get up. I've never considered myself to be a light sleeper, so this is pretty convenient.



That is indeed very convenient! Also, as I said, the frequent practice may carry over to a dream too. Best of luck during your days off and lots of ld power to you!  :smiley:

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## Pickman

So I get nothing for ages, then all of a sudden I get (at least) three lucid dreams in one night!  

I turned in earlier last night at 12:30am.  I woke up at around 5:40am and attempted a WBTB, which I don't do very often.  I got up, switched the lights on, and wrote out the dream I had just had in as much detail as possible.  I then went to the toilet and went back to bed.  As I fell asleep I started doing the whole daydream thing, where I think about the dream I just had, but allow my mind to fantasize about how I wish it had went.  This daydream started to bring up elements that my conscious mind hadn't considered as I started to drift off.  

I did not drift straight into a lucid dream from here.  I blacked out before having another dream where I just knew I was dreaming.  All I remember is being in a restaurant with someone from my office who I have never spoken with.  She was dressed up as if for a sophisticated evening at a concert later or something.  I sat her down and tried to have a chat with her.  It didn't go very far, but she did seem strangely compliant with me, like a Stepford Wife.  

I woke up from this, straight into another dream where I went lucid without the daydream interlude.  I was having a bath in the morning (I always shower, so this should have been a trigger).  I got out of the bath to see that the wash basin towered above me, as if I was only one foot tall.  This triggered lucidity, the dimensions of the room started to correct itself.  This one did not last very long.  

Then I woke up from that, straight into another lucid dream in which I am in my bedroom, but the furniture is positioned completely differently, and there is a small black puppy (I think it was a labradoodle).  I wasted that entire lucid dream playing with a puppy.  

I think there were other lucid dreams but I cannot remember them all.  I think the reason for my success last night is that I had lucid dreaming on my mind more often during the day.  I listened to the DV podcast at work, I talked myself into the positive attitude about lucid dreaming as NyxCC mentioned in the above posts during the day, and I did a better job with my reality checks.  Hopefully I can keep this going.  If only that competition had started - this would a made a pretty good start for me.

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## NyxCC

That's fantastic, Pickman! Congrats on the lds!  ::banana:: 

Very nice sequence of events, that spontaneous wbtb, the daydreaming part with extra details, then catching things that were odd. And I totally would have wasted the lucid playing with the puppy too.  :smiley: 

Great start ahead of the competition, keep up the good mood!

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## Pickman

Thanks NyxCC!  I think I just wish the puppy had not distracted me from what I wanted to do in a lucid dream.  

I tried to replicate the previous night's success last night but I didn't quite manage it.  I turned in at a good time, at 12:30, and I woke up at around 3:30am after another vivid dream which I could remember.  So I got up, switched the lights on, went to the toilet and then sat down to write out my dream in as much detail as I could remember.  I could not remember as much about this dream than the last one, so this was a shorter session.  I then had to to think about how to spend the remainder of the ten minutes of wakefulness I had set aside for myself.  I think I just lounged around on my bed for that time before turning in (I think you're supposed to do something mentally stimulating in WBTB - something to look into).  

The dreams I had afterwards were pretty vivid, but no lucidity.  I woke up at around 7:30am and wrote the thing down.  

While the WBTB did not create a lucid dream this time, it does seem to make my dreams more vivid and memorable.

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## Pickman

Last night I turned in a bit late at 1am, and attempted WBTB after waking up at 5am.  I think it nearly succeeded - I got the weird daydream state thing again, but it did not lead to a lucid dream.  Instead I just got a lot of crazy, very vivid dreams before waking at 8:30am.  

I think WBTB is definitely something to pursue.

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## Pickman

Not my best night.  Got to bed late at 1:30am.  Slept through without waking up, but dream recall was patchy.  Woke up at 8:30am.  Better luck tonight.

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## Pickman

I had a brief success at lucidity last night.  I turned in a bit late at 1am and I had a very vivid dream which I could recall quite well.  I woke up at around 7am and attempted to DEILD, but I think I automatically rolled over onto my other side which ruined it.  But in the dream that followed there was a brief period of lucidity in which I ended up chatting to a DC on a balcony at night.  But then it went non-lucid again before waking up at 8:30am.  

A brief success, but a success nonetheless.  Hopefully I can keep it going.

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## Pickman

No success last night, but recall is still pretty good.  I turned in at around 12:45 and slept until 4:55am, when I attempted a WBTB.  I recalled the entire dream I had as I wrote it down, then went back to bed ten minutes later.  No lucidity, but my dream recall was still pretty good.  I woke up at 8:20am.

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## NyxCC

Well done, Pickman! Congrats!  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Thanks NyxCC!  Dream recall is still pretty good, although no lucidity last night, possibly because I turned in far too late at 1:20am.  I recalled parts of my dreams when I woke up at 5:40am and wrote them down before attempting WBTB, but no lucidity came about - maybe I was too tired.  I woke up again at 8:20am.  Better luck tonight I suppose.

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## Pickman

Turned in a little late at 1am and I slept through until 8am, no waking up in the night like I normally do.  Dream recall was patchy.  I think this might be because I was feeling slightly run down, so maybe my body just needed to recover.

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## Pickman

Turned in at around 12:50 and slept through until 7:20am - too late to attempt a WBTB, but not too late to attempt a DEILD.  The DEILD failed, and I woke up at 8:20am, but my recall was still pretty good.  SStill feeling slightly run down, so that could be the problem.

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## Pickman

Still feeling like crap, and I guess this is affecting my ability to lucid dream.  I turned in a bit late at 1am which didn't help, but I did recall much of my dream when I woke up at 5:40am.  After attempting to perform a WBTB, I recalled bits of my dream afterwards, but still no lucidity.  I woke up feeling even more rubbish at 8:30am.

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## Pickman

Just like last night, I turned in at around 1am, but this time I slept right through until 8:30am, no waking in the night.  My dream recall is still pretty good, but no lucidity.

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## Pickman

Turned in earlier at around 12:45 and slept until 3:45am when I woke up and decided to attempt WBTB.  I stayed up for ten minutes, writing my dream down, and went back to bed.  No lucidity, and I woke up at 7am.  I had to get up early so no time to attempt a DEILD.  

Although there is no lucidity, I am finding that in my dreams I am becoming more active rather than passively accepting of what is happening.  I think and react to things the way I would in my daily life, although I don't get that I am dreaming.  I think this must be a starting point for lucidity.

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## NyxCC

That sounds good. It may be that your awareness practices are leaking into the dream. Wish you lots of lucid energy and also great holidays!  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Thanks NyxCC, enjoy your holidays!  Another success tonight:

I turned in late at around 1am, and woke up at 6am.  I decided to attempt another WBTB, not expecting much to come of it, since I had to be up at 7:30am.  I got up, wrote my dreams down, and went back to bed about ten minutes later.

I remember much of my dreams, and I briefly went lucid towards the end.  I was walking through a hospital corridor when I realized that I was dreaming and I tried thinking about what to do.  Before I could do anything I woke up.  So a pretty brief lucid, but a lucid nonetheless.

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## NyxCC

Thanks!  :smiley:  Hey, that's nice! Congrats on the ld!  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Didn't sleep too well last night, even though I turned in at a reasonable hour (12:45).  I was feeling a bit stressed, so it took me a while to get to sleep.  Dream recall was patchy.  I woke up at around 8:30am, no lucids.

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## Pickman

I nearly succeeded with a WBTB this morning but I messed it up.  

I turned in at around 12:30 and slept until 7am, when I got up and performed a WBTB (it was still dark so I could get away with it).  I spent ten minutes writing down my dreams in as much detail as possible, and went back to sleep.  

Because it was closer to the time when I normally get up, I had a hard time dropping off.  As I lay there, I started to get the beginnings of a dream going in my hypnogogic imagery.  I found myself watching a dream before me, and I got overexcited.  I tried to interact with a DC, but once this happened, the dream-state faded.  Once my conscious mind got too involved it turned into a normal daydream.  

I did fall asleep and had further patchy dreams before I woke up again at 8:30am, but no lucidity.

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## Pickman

No luck last night, but dream recall is still pretty good.  I turned in slightly later at around 1am, and woke up at 8am.  I didn't wake up in the night like I tend to do, but I did remember a lot of my dreams in vivid detail.

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## Pickman

I turned in at 1am and my dream recall was a little patchy when I woke up at 6:30am.  I got up and attempted WBTB after ten minutes of writing my dreams down.  

As I lay in bed I did start having more of those hypnagogic images play out in front of me, but they seemed to fade pretty fast.  I relaxed and let them play out instead of trying to influence events too soon, which is what I did a few nights ago.  It didn't seem to make much difference.  I fell back to sleep again and my dreams were incredibly vivid, and I was very active and mentally switched on in them, but there was no lucidity.  I woke up again at 8:30am.  

I'm going to have to have another look at those WBTB tutorials, see if I can perfect my technique.

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## NyxCC

That sounds good. I think you are doing pretty well. Good luck with further refinement of the tech.  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Thanks NyxCC.  Last night was not so good.  I made the mistake of eating too much rich food and it gave me indigestion.  I think this may have hampered my efforts. 

I turned in at around 12:30 and woke up again a 1:30am.  Even though it was a bit early, I decided to attempt a WBTB.  This made no difference, and my dream recall was more patchy than usual.  I woke up at around 8am.  I guess I need to lay off the rich food.

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## Pickman

Another mediocre night.  I turned in slightly later at 1am, and woke up at around 5:30am.  I attempted a WBTB, but it didn't seem to help with dream recall.  My recall was still patchy.  I think the reason for this is the amount of crap food I've been eating since Christmas.  All the more reason to detox in the New Year.

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## NyxCC

Sounds familiar. Everytime there's a holiday and lots of food and celebrations, my recall suffers. This time I still managed some lds compared to before, but lucidity was lower than usual. My normal dreams have become more disorderly too. 

Hope we will be back on track soon. In the meantime, enjoy the NY celebrations and lots of lucidity in the weeks and months to come.  ::goodjob2::

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## Pickman

> Sounds familiar. Everytime there's a holiday and lots of food and celebrations, my recall suffers. This time I still managed some lds compared to before, but lucidity was lower than usual. My normal dreams have become more disorderly too. 
> 
> Hope we will be back on track soon. In the meantime, enjoy the NY celebrations and lots of lucidity in the weeks and months to come.



Yeah, I'm starting to develop my own theory on the link between diet and dream recall/lucidity.  Last night my dream recall was patchy as well, even though I did everything right - turned in early, no PC or TV use for an hour before bed, no junk food, I even meditated.  

I turned in at 12:30 after trying to get down the above good habits.  I woke up at 6:50am and struggled to get out of bed to do a WBTB.  My dream recall was fragmented.  I went back to bed, reaffirming my personal mantras, and I got the beginnings of some hypnogogic imagery going, but none of it led to anything besides more sleep with patchy dream recall.  I got up at 8am feeling like crap.  

I think my body is still processing the rich, sugary foods I've been indulging in for the past week.  One thing I've noticed in the past whenever my diet turns to junk is that my mind doesn't seem to function as well as it should - I'm not as sharp and my memory isn't that great.  Also, I feel rubbish when I wake up in the mornings.  I think that the mental/physical impact of a crap diet extends to our dreams too.  I don't think I'm going to be back on track until I clean up my diet in the new year.  I plan on doing a modified paleo diet over that period, which I did quite well on over the past year, and should help me to get over the excessive sugar in my diet.

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## NyxCC

It's good that you are getting to figure out the effect of different foods on dreams and overall energy levels, brain function, mind sharpness, etc. It will be great to share around more of these foods to avoid. Sugary foods are definitely on the list. I also find take aways rather exhausting. Lots of fried food with little fiber as a combination has been damaging to recall too, unfortunately sometimes it's hard to explain to relatives why you don't want to eat what they are serving you.  :tongue2: 

Good luck detoxing and a Happy New Year!

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## Pickman

Happy New Year to you too NyxCC.  For me, it's mainly sugar.  As someone who successfully cut out excess amounts refined sugars from my diet last year, I can really feel the difference when I go on a sugar binge now.  

I didn't post an update yesterday because I knew there would be no point.  I knew that the junk food and alcohol I ate on New Years Eve would mean crap sleep, so I didn't even try.  Funnily enough, despite this, my recall was pretty good and what I could recall was in vivid detail.  

Last night I turned in earlier at around 12:30 and slept right through until 7:40am when I was woken up by other people in the house.  I can barely remember anything I dreamed, so not much to report.

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## Pickman

Still no luck on the lucidity front.  I seem to sleeping right through until about 8am when I wake up, and my dream recall is still very patchy.  I guess my body needs to process all the junk I ate over the holidays.  Thankfully my going to bed routine is going well.  

I think it's about time I looked at the next lesson in the course.  I had been on part 3 since early November (I think).  I'll get onto that over the weekend.

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## Pickman

Some very unexpected success last night - two lucids, despite going to bed drunk in the early hours of the morning!

Last night I overindulged a little with alcohol, so as far as lucidity was concerned, I wasn't even trying.  I didn't think I would even bother updating my logbook today because that night would be a write-off.  I would be lucky to get any decent sleep with the booze in my system.

So I turned in at some point in the early hours of the morning - not sure when.  Not only was my dream recall pretty good when I woke up in the night, but I even managed to be lucid for a brief period.  I remember leading a group of people (and some robots) around a rubbish-strewn building.  

When I woke up, I allowed myself to enter a daydream-like state.  I wasn't trying to re-enter the dream like in a DEILD, I just lay there and allowed a dream to emerge in my mind's eye.  I ended up seeing the lobby of a building - possibly a train station.  It was busy with people, most of them security guards.  Knowing better than to get excited and enter the dream too soon, I lay back until I felt myself "within" the dream, if that makes sense.  I ended up interacting with a few of the DC's for longer than the last lucid. 

This turned out to be the most seamless transition from waking to dream state I have ever experienced.  Does this count as a WILD?  If so, that would be pretty amazing considering how drunk I was.

The dream turned into a non-lucid, and I woke up at around 8:30am.  

I need to look at Lesson IV. I won't have the time to do that today, so maybe tomorrow instead.

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## NyxCC

Hey, that's absolutely awesome! Congratulations!  ::banana:: 

Yes, that is a WILD, well done Pickman! Very nicely executed, like a pro!  ::goodjob2::

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## Pickman

Thanks Nyxx!  I would run my own little experiment on the effects of alcohol on dreaming, but I'm supposed to be detoxing in the new year and I don't think that would help.  

Last night, no such luck.  I turned in at 12:30, and slept through until 8:15am.  My dream recall was patchy, but what I could remember was pretty vivid.  

I took a look at Lesson IV.  So basically, all I have to do is wait until I have another lucid and practice the dream control and stabilization techniques.  I'll see how that goes.  Hopefully I can increase my lucidity once my diet improves.

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## NyxCC

I have read that alcohol initially surpresses REM sleep, which is later followed by a rebound. However, I wouldn't rely on it to get lucid for obvious reasons.  :tongue2: 

There are supplements that have similar effects - 5-htp, st. john's wort, melatonin. You can also try with blueberries which are high in all sorts of nutrients (and may also boost serotonin production). 

As far as dream control is concerned, I think it is really helpful to have a particular goal/task that you want to do in a dream, something to look forward to. That way you have extra motivation to ld and the expectation might help cross over to lucidity.

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## Pickman

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll experiment with them soon.  I have already tried St John's Wort as a tea, but only once, and it didn't work.  It probably needs more time.  

Last night however, I did have a weird experience using brainwave technology and hypnosis that resulted in a near-LD experience.  A while back I found a Lucid Dream Induction audiobook on iTunes, and I thought I would give it a try while drifting off to sleep.  It used a combination of binaural beats and hypnosis.  As I went to sleep, I actually felt a series of vibrations throughout my body, and I wondered if I was about to WILD.  

Before I went to sleep, I ate dinner at 11pm (because of the hours I work), and my meal was a high fat dish of mackerel fillets.  My body seemed to take a while to digest this, and I think it influenced my dreams.  

My dreams that night were almost lucid.  I wore the T-shirt and boxers that I normally wear to bed, but I felt tired and thirsty, and there was a constant buzzing in my head (the binaural beats?).  I could barely walk straight, I was so tired.  I was in my parent's house, downstairs while my parents were in bed upstairs.  I have two people over visiting - they are "protestors".  They use the household PC.  My Dad comes downstairs and shouts at me because the protestors came upstairs while he was in bed and made him connect an ethernet cable from upstairs to the PC downstairs so they could play games on it.  

This was followed by a series of false awakenings, where I woke up in the night, but I was so tired and incredibly thirsty that I spent the whole time slumped against my wall, chugging on water from a bottle near my bed.  

For once I actually bothered to report my dream in this thread because it is quite interesting.  "Upstairs" resented having to get up and connect to "downstairs" because of the "protestors" who may have been my difficult-to-digest food that my body was struggling with.  So perhaps "upstairs", possibly being my brain, did not want to be lucid that night because it had other stuff it needed to do, which is why I felt like crap throughout that dream.  

I think if it wasn't for the heavy food I had last night, I would definitely have had a powerful and long lucid dream experience using the binaural beats/hypnosis.  This is one to try out another time, perhaps after a lighter meal - maybe during the weekend when I don't have to have my evening meal so late.

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## NyxCC

It's great that you have gotten close to lucidity, maybe with a lighter meal things would click? By the way eating late may not be totally bad as long as it isn't something very heavy. I've read that food that takes a while to digest, like slow carbs may help release energy later on, giving you a boost just when you are trying to ld. I'm also excited about the binaural beats and the brainwave tech!

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## Pickman

Yeah, I'm also getting into the whole binaural beat thing - I might have another go over the weekend.  

Last night, no lucidity although my dream recall was pretty good.  My dreams themselves were vivid and interesting enough for me to remember them in detail.  I turned in slightly later at around 1am, and woke up at 6:40am having had a very vivid dream.  I got up and wrote it down before turning in again, and my dreams went crazy until I got up at around 8:20am.

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## Pickman

I tried the binaural beat/hypnosis thing again last night after a lighter meal, but there was no such luck this time.  I turned in at around 12:40, and kept waking up in the night.  I can't remember when, but I woke up at least twice, so my dream recall was pretty good.  I finally got up at 8:20am.

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## Pickman

No binaural beats last night, and I turned in slightly later at 1am.  Dream recall was pretty good when I woke up at 6:40am.  I got up and attempted a WBTB, but I had no luck.  I woke up again at 8:20am, and my dream recall was still good.

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## Pickman

Turned in later at around 1am, and I managed to get around 2 hours sleep before I woke up at 7am.  I had to get up early, so no real attempts at lucidity were made.  I kept waking up in the night, which might be why my dream recall was pretty good.

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## Pickman

Again, turned in a bit later at around 1am, and I tried listening to the binaural beat/hypnosis recording.  I ended up seeing a lot of hypnagogic imagery that I thought might turn into a proper dream, but that never happened.  It might work with repeated use, I hope.  According to the author of the recording, it should be use for 21 days straight, so I'll see how it goes.  I slept through until 8am, and dream recall wasn't that great either, probably because I was so tired.

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## NyxCC

Maybe you could try listening to those during a wbtb?

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## Pickman

Not much luck last night - I turned in at around 12:45 and slept right through until 8am.  My dream recall was good although patchy.  





> Maybe you could try listening to those during a wbtb?



So you mean after waking up and spending ten minutes or so doing what I do during a WBTB, I listen to them as I drift off to sleep?  Or straight after waking up I put the earphones in and listen to them?  I might go for the first option.

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## NyxCC

Yes, I think you could try that. The first option sounds a bit better to me. Good luck!

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## Pickman

No luck last night.  Dream recall seems to be getting patchier recently, and I'm not naturally waking up in the night like I used to.  I have no idea why that could be.  

I turned in at around 1am and slept through until 8:30am.  I remember some of my dreams but not much.  I have been a bit lazy with the dream journalling recently, as it was generally something I would do during WBTB moments.

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## Pickman

Again, still no luck last night.  I seem to be sleeping more heavily and not waking up as close to the REM phase as I used to.  I'm still recalling my dreams, but they seem duller and the recall seems patchier.  I wonder if it has something to do with listening to those binaural beats as I drift off to sleep, as I didn't have this problem before.  

I turned in close to 1am and I woke up again at 2:45am after the recording finished and my iPod had moved on to another audiobook which woke me up.  I attempted a WBTB.  I stayed up for about ten minutes, but I felt so tired and I couldn't remember any dreams to write down.  Then I switched the light off and fell right back to sleep, sleeping through until 8:30am.  I woke up feeling really tired.  

At first I thought it was just a winter thing, but I've only recently had this problem, so I think it has something to do with the binaural beat recording.  The only time it really worked is when I had eaten that heavy, high-fat meal about an hour or so before turning in, so I've developed a pet theory that I'd like to test:  perhaps eating something with high fat content might provide my brain with the fuel it needs to stimulate lucid awareness during dreams.  I've been reading a lot about the paleo diet recently, and about how fat is the preferred energy source for our brains rather than refined carbs.  I'll have to test this out.

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## Pickman

So I haven't updated over the weekend, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been active.  Instead of giving a night by night account of what I've been doing since Friday, I'll just summarize what I did.

I noticed a pattern with the binaural beat recordings and how my dreams respond to them.  Whenever I fell asleep while listening to them, I had the same problem as I had in the above post - sleeping heavily, not being able to remember my dreams, etc.  But if I managed to keep myself from falling asleep and listened to them for about half an hour before switching them off and going to sleep naturally, my sleep routine went back to it's usual pattern where I wake up closer to the REM phase and seem to have a greater chance of gaining lucidity.  

So since Friday, I tried listening to the binaural beat recordings in bed, but in a way that kept me at least semi-awake.  I would listen to it while lying on my back with the duvet pulled down, or something else like that, that would keep me awake.  After about half an hour, I would take out the earplugs and just go to sleep as normal.  

This seemed to have an interesting effect on my dreams.  I did not wake up in the night after a REM cycle like used to, but my dream recall increased.  On both Friday and Saturday night, in my dreams had the vivid quality of a lucid dream.  However, instead of realizing that I was in a dream, I always thought that I was in a futuristic videogame that allows all of your senses to be immersed in some kind of alternate body within a virtual reality simulation.  So I had the same sense of being able to do (almost) anything, like in a lucid dream, even though I didn't know that I was dreaming.  

This stopped happening last night, but my dream recall was better than it has been for a while.  I'll keep this going, and see where it takes me.

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## Pickman

I turned in at 12:45am and tried to listen to the binaural beats recording for half an hour before turning in.  I think I actually dropped off this time, despite my covers being pulled down - maybe I'm getting used to it?  I woke up at around 2am to the audiobook that followed after it.  

No lucidity, but my dream recall was still pretty good and my dreams were very vivid and strange.  Always a good sign.  Better luck tonight I hope.

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## NyxCC

That's a very interesting observation. The futuristic game dream must have been awesome too!  :smiley:

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## Pickman

> That's a very interesting observation. The futuristic game dream must have been awesome too!



Actually it was a bit rubbish, the graphics were blocky and dated - it was like being stuck in a game from the late nineties like Quake or something.  If I knew it was a dream I could have made things more interesting.

The night before last was more of the same - turning in after the binaural beat recordings had finished and having very vivid and strange dreams with good recall.  

Last night was the same, except I may have achieved something in the way of lucidity - I'm not sure.  I have a vague recollection of interacting with a DC (who looked blocky and pentagonal like a late nineties videogame character) like I would have done as if I were lucid.  But I don't remember being lucid, and my dreams certainly went non-lucid afterwards.  It was strange.  I woke up at 7am and attempted a DEILD, but I just fell asleep again until 8am.

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## Pickman

So last night I had another lucid dream success!

I turned in at around 12:45 and did the usual thing with the binaural beats.  I fell asleep and had some weird and vivid dreams, and then woke up at 6am to go to the toilet.  I thought I would try out a WBTB for 10-15 minutes, so I switched the light on and sat up, writing down my dreams.  Then I tried to get to sleep, but it seemed to be difficult.  I felt like I was still digesting a heavy meal from earlier in the evening.  It was one of those nights where I wondered if I would be lying in bed awake until I had to get up anyway.  But I lay still and just waited for any dreams to come.

I found myself getting out of bed in the middle of the night to see a supporting pillar made of steel had suddenly appeared in my room.  I touched it, and it was certainly there, and I knew that I was dreaming.  I walked around my bedroom and I tried to look at myself in the mirror (in the dark).  All I could see was a blurry mass, although usually I can see something because of the streetlights that come in through my curtains.  

I went downstairs in the dark and I switched on every light on the ground floor.  The fact that I succeeded in doing this freaked me out - I always thought that switching lights on in dreams was not possible, something to do with how the brain works.  At this point I started to question whether or not I was dreaming again.  I headed upstairs to take another look at that metal pillar, but as I walked I woke up.  I think I actually wanted to wake up just to end my confusion at that point.

So that was definitely a success, but I completely forgot to practice the dream control and stabilization techniques.

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## NyxCC

That's fantastic! Congrats! I can't remember if lights are always supposed to malfunction?, but I think it's a big success turning _all_ lights on. I recently had to struggle to bring some light in the room and it was frustrating. So, it seems you have good dream control actually!  ::D:

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## FryingMan

Handling dream darkness: I've rehearsed IWL a technique of turning up an imaginary light knob in the palm of my hand using my other hand.  Have yet to try it out in dreams that go dark.    Also, putting on night vision goggles.    Mostly I just stand there stupidly thinking of what I should do until I wake up.   Once I yelled "LET THERE BE LIGHT" in a dark (but not black) room, and I got a little bit more ambient light.     The other thing I want to try is patting down my dream body with my dream hands (my main stabilization tech) to see if I can bring my dream body back into the "light."

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## NyxCC

^^Those are some good ideas. I have tried candles with limited success, also a flashlight.  :tongue2:

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## Pickman

> That's fantastic! Congrats! I can't remember if lights are always supposed to malfunction?, but I think it's a big success turning _all_ lights on. I recently had to struggle to bring some light in the room and it was frustrating. So, it seems you have good dream control actually!



Oh, so I've nailed the dream control bit then?  Brilliant!  I guess I just have to work on stabilization before I graduate this course.  

Normally in dreams, if the lights are off, turning switches on makes no difference, which is why this lucid dream confused me so much.  I have had a fair amount of dreams that were just me running around a dark house trying to turn lights on and wondering if a fuse has blown.  

Not much to report from this weekend.  I think I was just recovering from the previous week when I wasn't sleeping very well.  Normally I would go to bed and sleep through until at least 8am, still with reasonably good dream recall.

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## Pickman

This my update for the past couple of nights, since they were both pretty much the same.  I turned in at a reasonable time of around 12:45, and I woke up in the early hours to attempt a WBTB, but with no luck - I fell asleep both times.  I think I need to wake myself up more during WBTB sessions, since they only ever succeed on those nights where I think I'm not going to be able to fall asleep again.

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## NyxCC

Indeed, extending the time out of bed or at least increasing alertness while in bed and maintaining it for a while, and of course having the expectation of lding in mind when falling asleep greatly boosts ld chances.

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## Pickman

I tried the same thing last night, I went to bed at the same time and woke up at 4am.  I increased the time spent awake to 15 minutes, but I didn't hold on to that expectation of lucidity while falling back to sleep, which maybe why I didn't have a lucid dream.  Better luck tonight I suppose.

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## Pickman

I seem to be sleeping more heavily recently - maybe my body is working overtime to process the junk I've eaten over the past couple of days, or maybe it's a winter thing, I don't know.  I turned in at around 1am and slept right through until 8am.  Dream recall was patchy, and I didn't wake up in the night to attempt a WBTB.

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## Pickman

Nothing to report for this weekend - my sleep was rubbish and dream recall has been patchy, possibly due to stress.  I guess I was also recovering from a week at work.  Better luck this week I suppose.

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## NyxCC

I don't know if you can relate to this, but I have recently noticed that my sleep and my recall suffer greatly whenever I over-indulge surfing the net/watching movies from the tablet before bed. It's no big secret that this decreases melatonin levels, but it took me a while to figure out this was indeed responsible to a great extent for the disturbances.

Anyways, lots of energy and awareness to you!  :smiley:

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## Pickman

I certainly can relate to that - usually I'm good with my sleep routine, but lately I ended up letting blogs and the odd videogame encroach on my time before bed.  It doesn't seem to completely prevent me from having lucid dreams, but it cannot do my sleep any good. 

Last night however, I did have a lucid dream success.  I decided that I needed to be more disciplined about my sleep routine, so I made sure that my PC was off by 11:30.  I turned in at around 12:30 and fell asleep, no binaural beat recordings or anything like that.  

I woke up at 3:30am and attempted a WBTB, staying up for 15 minutes to write down my dreams.  My dream recall was really vague, I could just about remember dreaming about people I knew and that was it.  I think I only woke up because I needed the toilet, and the REM cycle was long gone.  So I spent the rest of the time just reading a magazine.  

I went back to sleep and I did end up having a few lucid dreams - they were quite long too.  I remember interacting with various DC's, but I completely forgot to practice the stabilization techniques or the February TOTM.  Hopefully if I keep up the discipline with my sleep routine then I can achieve lucidity more frequently, giving me more opportunities to do what I set out to do.

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## NyxCC

Oh, that's a really good progress, congrats on the lds. :bravo:Sounds like they were pretty stable even without extra stabilization. And yay for the discipline! Must keep it up like that myself!

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## Pickman

Thanks NyxCC - unfortunately I wasn't able to repeat my success from last night, even though I went through the same routine as the previous night.  

I turned in at around 12:45, after an hour of non-PC or other screen-based activity.  I woke up at 4am and attempted WBTB, but I had no dream recall whatsoever.  After fifteen minutes I went back to sleep and woke up at 7:45am with very patchy dream recall.  

It's only been two nights into my routine, but I'm wondering if my lack of dream recall is because I waking up further away from my usual REM cycle.  Perhaps when I was up on the PC right up until I turned in caused me to somehow wake up closer to the end of my dreams.  Perhaps my sleep cycles may adjust to my new routine after a while, I'll see how it goes.

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## Pickman

I didn't have the time to update yesterday, but last night and the previous night were pretty much the same.  I turn in at around 12:45, still keeping up the 'no PC/TV for an hour before bed' routine, and then waking up the early hours of the morning.  I performed a WBTB for 15 minutes and then turned in again. 

No lucidity, but my dream recall is definitely getting better.  The notes I'm making during my 15 minute WBTB sessions are practically essays.  Perhaps the issue I had in the last post was just a blip, maybe my body was just settling into a new routine.

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## FryingMan

> No lucidity, but my dream recall is definitely getting better.  The notes I'm making during my 15 minute WBTB sessions are practically essays.  Perhaps the issue I had in the last post was just a blip, maybe my body was just settling into a new routine.



Having detailed recall like that is great, I look forward to getting back to my previous highs.   It takes waking up directly from the dreams I believe.    I had one long (probably my second longest, continuous scene to scene (about 8 transitions)) one just a few nights ago, it was really great to remember all that.

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## Pickman

> Having detailed recall like that is great, I look forward to getting back to my previous highs.   It takes waking up directly from the dreams I believe.    I had one long (probably my second longest, continuous scene to scene (about 8 transitions)) one just a few nights ago, it was really great to remember all that.



Definitely agree on the need to wake up directly from dreams in increasing recall.  It is always during my phases of increased recall that I get lucidity.  

Last night I had good recall, although that was probably because my sleep was constantly interrupted.  I couldn't get a decent night's sleep last night, so I attempted a WBTB at 4am.  No lucidity, but my recall was pretty good.

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## Pickman

On Saturday night I had another short-lived lucid dream success.  I turned in at around 12:45 and I woke up in the early hours of the morning after a dream.  Instead of doing a WBTB like I normally do, I ended up DEILDing straight back into it, and I was lucid for a brief period of time before waking back up.  Perhaps if I'd remembered to practice the dream stabilization technique I might have lasted longer.  

Last night was not so eventful.  I turned in a bit later at around 1am, and I woke up at 4am.  I attempted a WBTB, staying up for fifteen minutes.  I couldn't remember any of my dreams.  When I went back to sleep my recall was pretty good until I woke up at 8am.

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## NyxCC

That's great! You seem to be having lds pretty consistently recently! Congrats on the DEILD!  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Yes, dream recall certainly seems to be picking up.  No success last night though - I woke up at around 5am and attempted a WBTB.  No luck this time, I just fell back to sleep, but my recall was pretty good.

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## Pickman

Same as last night.  I think there might be a pattern here - if I wake up earlier in the night, before 5am, I seem to have more success with a WBTB.  If I wake up later than 5am, than DEILD seems to be the way to go.

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## Pickman

I've been busy over the past couple of days, so I didn't get to update.  Last night, I turned in fairly late at 1am and I managed to wake up twice in the night.  The first time at 3:30am where I performed a WBTB, and again at 6:30am.  No lucidity but dream recall was pretty good.

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## Pickman

No luck over the weekend.  I've kept with the discipline of not using my PC before bed for at least an hour, and it may be helping my sleep.  My dream recall is still pretty good, but I'm sleeping right through until morning - no chance to attempt a WBTB or DEILD.

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## Pickman

No luck last night either.  I turned in at a slightly later time, close to 1am, and slept right through until 7:30am.  Dream recall was pretty good though, but no lucidity.

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## Pickman

Same again.  I don't want this journal to turn into a long string of "good dream recall but no lucidity", so I'm going to have to step up the ADA.  Listening to old DV podcasts at work seems to be a good way of doing this, I'll have to redownload some of them.

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## NyxCC

Good idea! It always helps to alternate or add other practices to the mix from time to time. Good luck!  :smiley:

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## Pickman

Well I didn't practice much in the way of ADA, except for checking out DV forum posts in the evening, but that didn't matter because I just had another success last night.  

I found myself hitchhiking on a road that passed through a Cornish village.  There's another guy hitchhiking beside me - a man in a leather jacket and possibly a guitar case.  For some stupid reason, I'm actually waiting for a taxi out here in the middle of nowhere.  After what felt like ages standing by an empty road, the musician gave up and walked off somewhere.  I decided to walk around the village, and that's where I realized that I was dreaming.  

It was also around this point that night seemed to come on suddenly and I couldn't see very much.  I walked through what looked like a small villa with a number of identical-looking apartments that had the light on inside.  I decided that this place is probably a retirement village, although I couldn't see that clearly.  I walked out of there to see the rest of the village, but I had trouble seeing what was in front of me  and keeping the dream going.  That's when I thought, "Oh yeah - I'm meant to stabilize!"  So I started rubbing my hands together.  This took a surprising amount of effort.  My hands and arms felt numb - enough sensation to move them, but lacking in sensation.  

The stabilization seemed to work, but only briefly.  I found myself back in my own house.  It was dark, except for the landing light, so I walked up the stairs and headed towards my bedroom.  I could feel my physical eyes as they kept trying to open, but I managed to resist this.  

I decided to look at my hands, see what my dream hands looked like.  It was like looking at my hands in a circus hall of mirrors.  My fingers were distorted and wavy.  One of my fingers seemed to vanish half-way along.  I stopped looking at my hands, I thought it might freak me out if I looked for too long.  

Not long after that, as I moved through my bedroom door, I woke up at 7:30am.  

So, since I did the dream control and the stabilization tasks of Lesson IV, I guess that means I've finished this course, right?  Unless someone tells me that I have more work to do on this, then I think I will move on to another course, maybe the General Lucid course or the Dream Yoga one.

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## NyxCC

Well done! It seems your very intention to stir up things a bit and have an ld was successful in bringing you one! Congrats! :bravo:

Seems like a longish dream too, and you stabilized successfully. You've applied the lessons well, Pickman. You have done great, very persistent, updating, following the practices, taking notice of what works for you, etc.

What you do from here is up to you - you can sign up for other classes, write here if there's something you feel like sharing and want feedback, or ask your questions in the Q&A thread or other parts of the forum. 

But most importantly - keep dreaming!  :smiley:

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## CanisLucidus

> I decided to look at my hands, see what my dream hands looked like.  It was like looking at my hands in a circus hall of mirrors.  My fingers were distorted and wavy.  One of my fingers seemed to vanish half-way along.  I stopped looking at my hands, I thought it might freak me out if I looked for too long.  
> 
> Not long after that, as I moved through my bedroom door, I woke up at 7:30am.



Nice job, Pickman, congratulations on the lucid!   ::goodjob2::   As I was reading your entry, it took me a second to realize that you were _not_ in fact hitching your way along a road that passed through a Cornish village.  Glad you caught your dreamsign because it looks like I missed it.   ::lol:: 

I'm glad that you took the chance to really study your hands in this one!  I highly recommend using your hands to draw yourself into the dream either by studying the incredible detail that your mind can produce or simply rubbing them together.  Even should you find yourself in the void, rubbing your hands together will very often keep the dream going until you can find your way into a new scene.

Another cool thing is that your hands may look different from dream to dream.  In some dreams you may even find that they are almost completely lifelike apart from a small detail or two.  There's a lot of variance here.

Anyhow, great job!  Keep up the great work!

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## Pickman

Thanks NyxCC - your comments and encouragement during the course was much appreciated, as well as everyone else who posted on this thread.  Not really sue where to go from here - I might sign up to either the DILD, WILD or Dream Yoga courses.  I'll see how it goes. 





> Nice job, Pickman, congratulations on the lucid!    As I was reading your entry, it took me a second to realize that you were _not_ in fact hitching your way along a road that passed through a Cornish village.  Glad you caught your dreamsign because it looks like I missed it.



Yeah, I don't think I got my memories of the dream across all that well in my post.  I think I started off hitchhiking, then I ended up thinking I could get a taxi along this empty country road.  I didn't realize I was dreaming until I wandered off and started questioning what I was doing and where I was supposed to be going.  





> I'm glad that you took the chance to really study your hands in this one!  I highly recommend using your hands to draw yourself into the dream either by studying the incredible detail that your mind can produce or simply rubbing them together.  Even should you find yourself in the void, rubbing your hands together will very often keep the dream going until you can find your way into a new scene.
> 
> Another cool thing is that your hands may look different from dream to dream.  In some dreams you may even find that they are almost completely lifelike apart from a small detail or two.  There's a lot of variance here.



I think the reason my hands looked so distorted and strange is because of how tenuous the dream state was.  I was having this dream so close to waking up that maybe my perceptions within the dream were weak as I prepared to return to waking consciousness (if that makes sense).  It was like I was seeing my hands from beneath a rippling pool of water that was distorting my perception of them.  Perhaps if I was lucid when I was deep within the REM state, it would have been more stable. 

Anyway, thanks for the comments, I'll see about signing up to another course hone my abilities further.

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