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

## xArDDe

Hello. This is my first time posting on the DILD classes. I have been interested in Lucid Dreaming for years now and sadly I haven't experienced it once yet. Before starting to practice DILD, I practiced WILD and I got really close a lot of times, but I spent 6 months doing so and I feel sad that I didn't do it once. So I thought that starting from the beggining would be best for me, no matter how long it takes, I want to Lucid Dream at least once and then I can start thinking about more LD. 

Okay so about the things I use for DILD:

*Reality Checks:*
I do the thumb-palm RC, I do it whenever I think about LD and I kind of think that it's not enough.

*Dream Journal:*
Before going to bed I tell myself to remember my dream tomorrow. I write them on my phone because writing on hand is difficult on a bed.

*MILD:*
Before going to bed I repeat the mantra "I am dreaming". While doing so I start visualizing how I do a RC and how I react, leading up to a fake LD of how things will turn out.

*WBTB:*
I have an alarm set 5 hours after falling asleep. I wake up and try to do the same thing as stated above, but I have not actually succeeded in WBTB yet. I get up think about Lucid Dreaming for 1 min and then for some reason go back to bed and fall asleep.

*RRC*
I try to think about LD all day long.
*
Goals:*
Get my first LD!

Please tell me if I can improve on anything!

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## Saizaphod

> 1. Before starting to practice DILD, I practiced WILD and I got really close a lot of times, but I spent 6 months doing so and I feel sad that I didn't do it once.
> 
> 2. I do the thumb-palm RC, I do it whenever I think about LD and I kind of think that it's not enough.
> 
> 3. I write them on my phone because writing on hand is difficult on a bed.
> 
> 4. I have an alarm set 5 hours after falling asleep. I wake up and try to do the same thing as stated above, but I have not actually succeeded in WBTB yet. I get up think about Lucid Dreaming for 1 min and then for some reason go back to bed and fall asleep.
> 
> 5. *Goals:*
> Get my first LD!



Hi! I'm no teacher, but I felt like replying  :smiley: 

1. Don't get discouraged, some people try to get a lucid dream for much longer before reaching it. Take Hukif here on the site for an example, he tried to induce one for 8 years and now he has had thousands of lucids.  :smiley: 

2. Well if you try to thing about LDing all day long then it shouldn't be that hard. But I guess you could do it more often, like in the presence of people you see alot in your dreams or in places that you often are in dreams. 

3. Try a notebook. You can dimly light your writing session with your phone's screen light, that's what I always do. Also looking at the screen might make it harder for you to fall back asleep, because the light might trigger your body to be more awake. 

4. Try staying awake for a bit longer. 5 minutes first instead of one. I usually stay up for 30 minutes. Good time to set an intention, motivate myself and repeat mantras.

5. That is a good goal. Simple and powerful!

Good luck! Hope we get to read about your lucid adventures soon!  :smiley:

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## xArDDe

Thanks for the tips, I will try to update this workbook as much as I can.

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## FryingMan

Hello, xArDDe, and welcome to the DILD class!  And thanks to Saizaphod for jumping in!

WILD is tricky, many people (myself included) rarely have them.   Most experienced LDers seem (unscientific sampling) to get most of their LDs from DILDs, so DILD is a good way to go.  Really, though, don't limit yourself to one approach.   I'd recommend keep trying WILDs from time to time when you can really set aside a morning to dedicate yourself to doing it when you know you won't have distractions.  Sageous's WILD class is highly recommended, you should read through his class posts and his Q&A thread.

For journaling, you might try a voice recorder app during the night and then transcribe to DV online DJ (if you want, or just keep it on a private file on your computer) during the day.  The benfits of voice recording are that you can do it in the dark without any movement other than picking up your phone, you can speak generally much faster and more clearly than you can write (especially when sleepy).  Also, you'll get a timestamp on the entry automatically which helps in figuring our your dreaming/waking times.

WBTB can be challenging, especially when you're really drowsy and a warm/soft bed is waiting  :smiley: .   Try to limit the times you do WBTB, make it a special occasion, look forward to it for a few days, promise yourself you'll try a longer one, so that you can really give it a good shot.    There's nothing wrong with very short ("micro") WBTBs, but if they don't work for you, try different times until you do find a waking time and a stay-up time that works for you.  WBTB is magic, everybody agrees it increases chances for lucidity by a lot.

Thinking about LDing /dreaming is good to do throughout the day.   But also learn to pay attention to your present moment.   The more you pay attention to all your life experiences, both waking and dreaming, the more vivid your memories of your experiences will be, and the more vivid your dreams will become.   Vivid dreams, felling like you're really there, is an important precursor to lucid dreaming for most.

As for goals, it's very very powerful to have a specific action or thing you want to see or do once you get lucid.  Things like flying, visiting a dear relative or friend or pet, living out a favorite movie role, being super strong/fast, being invisible, etc.  Desiring to get lucid in order to do something specific helps you both get lucid, and stay lucid in the dream state.

How's your recall right now?

Let us know if you have any questions!

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## xArDDe

> How's your recall right now?




Actually my recall is pretty bad atm, ever since I've been doing WBTB dream recall has been pretty bad for me. 1 month ago or so, I had written every day at least 3-4 dreams. Any tips on improving recall? Keep a good sleep schedule?

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## FryingMan

> Actually my recall is pretty bad atm, ever since I've been doing WBTB dream recall has been pretty bad for me. 1 month ago or so, I had written every day at least 3-4 dreams. *Any tips on improving recall?* Keep a good sleep schedule?



Why yes, have a few  :smiley:  - FryingMan's Dream Recall Tips

Also, have a read through these threads, they're very helpful:  List of informative posts

Recall is very important.  It is not just for remembering, it is an indicator of how close to your dreams you are, it shows you how much attention you're giving to your dreams, and also by extension, how much attention you pay to life experiences.  I discuss the importance of attention, reflection, and recall, in this thread

So, focus on recall and on paying attention to your life experiences would be a great place to start.   Keep up the RCs, and thinking about dreaming during the day.  Set some concrete goals for increasing your dream recall.  Let us know how it's going, feel free to use your workbook as a progress log.

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## fogelbise

Hi xArDDe! Welcome to the DILD class! I strongly believe that you will have your first lucid dream before long if you keep at it. I encourage you to continue to interact through this workbook to maintain focus, get tips, and to keep track of your progress and experiments.





> Actually my recall is pretty bad atm, ever since I've been doing WBTB dream recall has been pretty bad for me. 1 month ago or so, I had written every day at least 3-4 dreams.



I believe this is mostly like due to the alarm you mentioned using in your first post - for WBTB. Alarms tend to be too abrupt. Having a more natural WBTB is great for recall and hugely increases your chances for having a lucid dream. One easy method is the water method where you drink enough water before bed to ensure you wake up naturally to go to the bathroom. You will need to experiment with the amount of water to wake up in the 4.5 to 6 hour range that works best for most people. You will also likely need well more than a minute of time up from bed, but like Saizaphod suggested, experiment next with 5 minutes and keep adding 5 minutes or so to your subsequent WBTB's until it produces an LD. Do keep records of the timing so you can duplicate the good results.

You got this!  :smiley:

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## xArDDe

Finally! I got my first DILD LD. I think.

I was on a vacation for 5 days and I almost didn't sleep one night. During the afternoon I took a nap. Before the nap I just did a reality check and nothing was wrong. After that I was dreaming. Some weird stuff happened in my dream and after that I thought "Is this a dream?" and the dream disappeared. I was dreaming about being in bed. My eyes were closed. I did a nose RC and I could breathe through my nose. I was surprisingly calm and thought about what I should do in my LD. And then someone walked into my room and woke me up.. That sucked, but at least it was something.

Let me get this straight, this was a LD right? Although I didn't open my eyes in the dream and it didn't feel that real ( well it did, but it was just blackness ).

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## FryingMan

It sounds like a waking-up lucid moment, catching the tail-end of the dream, yes, especially because your nose pinch indicated dream.   Congrats, and keep going and they'll get better and better!

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## fogelbise

Yes, I also think you had a lucid moment at the end of a dream scene and then confirmed it in a false awakening where you dreamed of being back in bed and did a nose pinch where you could breathe through. Congratulations, you will notice more and more DILDs caught earlier in the dream allowing you time to do more. Having at least one or two goals or fun activities that you want to do in your next lucid dream also helps to prolong lucid dreams many times.

Is there any chance that the person waking you was part of a second false awakening? Noises and people coming in the room are fairly common themes in false awakenings. Even if you are sure that case was an actual awakening, try to remember to do an RC in these situations.

*Don't forget to update your LD count assuming you want to.  :smiley:

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## FryingMan

> Is there any chance that the person waking you was part of a second false awakening? Noises and people coming in the room are fairly common themes in false awakenings. Even if you are sure that case was an actual awakening, try to remember to do an RC in these situations.



Also amusing is the reverse: being firmly in an LD hearing the sounds of "your family" and you think it's leaking in to your dream from the waking world!

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## xArDDe

I have come from the future to say that I got a 10 second Lucid dream with actual visual for the first time. And then 2 days later I had a DILD that lasted a minute. It went something along the lines of: I was dreaming normally then I looked at my hands and suddenly my field of view widened and it became real I realized I was dreaming. I was transported to the centre of my city then I tried stabilizing my dream. And naive little me tried to summon something in front of me but it didn't work. 

And here I start falling off my lucidity. But then suddenly I realize I'm dreaming again after 10 sec and I start flying(close to the ground) across the main boulevard of my city and I was thinking "do I feel pain in my dream" and I started flying towards a trashbin that's made out of stone and I was about to crash and I tried going right of it, but I couldn't sway to the right and was going straight to it, just centimeters from the trash bin my subconscious apparently protected me and I suddenly stopped like a spring and sprung back and forwards just hair length away from the hard stone. Scene turned to grey and eventually I started noticing my body in my bed, I tried to go back into the dream but to no avail. 

Anyways I'm pretty happy I finally did it. At times I wonder "was it really a lucid dream".

Only took 3 years

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## FryingMan

Congrats, to either you or your future self or both!  "Never give up!   Never surrender!"   Sometimes it's challenging to maintain elevated awareness, remember to perform RCs, keep questioning your state throughout the day, pay attention to your thoughts and your surroundings.   But doing those things consistently, together with really focusing on your dream recall and maintaining strong intent to be lucid in dreams, will absolutely eventually result in lucid dreams  :smiley: .

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