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    NyxCC

    Facelift

    by , 01-12-2014 at 02:28 AM (854 Views)
    Date: 10 Jan

    Pre bed: turmeric

    Sleep was rather bad, like I was lacking some sleep chemicals, recall from non-lds pre bed - close to zero.

    Wbtb: felt sleepy, had 1/3 latte

    DILD+DEILDs: In a room and there's this kid from my childhood and he is somewhat grown up now. I am thinking about that. He's naked from the torso up and is sweating while vacuum cleaning. I am sitting behind a desk, contemplating and the thought that I was supposed to be lding comes to mind.

    I begin to examine the surroundings and wonder if this could be a dream. Yet my thoughts are so orderly and organized at this moment and everything feels more like real life than dream (no usual dreamy feeling).

    I keep thinking in what feels like a daylife manner, reflecting on lack of dream feeling. I know that in such a case I have to perform a RC, but I don't see any sense (like it's possibly going to fail). Something in me tries to convince me and kind of distantly makes me feel that right now my body is in horizontal position and asleep. I conclude that it is a dream and remember my goals. There is a black girl with ponytail and I reverse the inital plan (make an old man younger for the opposites task) and decide that I will make a potion to make her age instead. I feel conscientious about doing this to a little girl and how evil it looks, but really want to see the results.

    There are a number of small items like two small cups, nail-size gemstones and something else I can't recall. While the dream is generally very stable, it begins to thin out at this point and I am left feeling concentration wise powerless and slowly find myself back in my body. Not ready to let go I remain still and short afterwards the I am back in the same dream.

    It comes slightly as a surprise that I succeeded to resume from the same place, but welcome it and continue mixing my potion that looks like a shot of cough syrup. If I am not mistaken by the time I'm done mixing the dream thins out again and I am shortly back in my body.

    The dream resumes again. This time I wait a bit before undertaking any task related action, thinking it may be proper to stabilize at this point so I unconvincingly rub my hands and run my fingers through a nearby towel, feeling it's texture. At this point the little girl and my childhood friend are nowhere in sight. I move away from where I was standing and look around, the entire room looks extremely realistic and detailed, filled to the brim with objects. It's like I am really in someone's room or a life memory. There are way too many objects for me to memorize so I don't try to, just remember a number of toy boxes with something written on the them in red, and a very prominent display of video games. There are two black gaming machines like from the late 80s.

    The DC of my bf comes from somewhere as I am examining the room. Suddenly, I feel coldness on my feet and look below to see that I am barefoot and feel the cold coming from the green tiles on the floor. This is simply amazing and this whole dream feels incredibly life like detailed and stable (not so much vivid as detailed). I analyze this and share it with my bf who agrees with me. At this point I briefly wonder whether I might have run accross a smart DC and should ask some questions, but then remember my other tasks.

    This time it feels appropriate to summon a DC and work from there. I decide I want to call Mrs. and think about her. The part of the apartment where I am looking, mentally calling for her is a bit dark and I briefly worry a scary DC might appear instead, but in a second, a DC that closely resembles her comes in. She has some sort of hat/bandage on the head. I get closer and begin to examine her face, she has lots of wrinkles on her forehead, around the mouth and saggy cheeks. I place my palms above her face to cover the places I want to change and then move my hands away. Initially, her face remains the same, but after a few more procedures the wrinkles visibly diminish. She doesn't look as young as I wanted but at least her skin is in much better condition, as if she just had a facelift.

    Somewhere around this moment, the dream fades again. I know the drill and continue as usual, in the meantime become worried about my memories after each blackout/deild. I mentally count the number of blackouts to be sure, 3.

    Back in the same room. I feel that I have spent too much time with this task, while there were other main tasks I had in mind. Time to go out and look for a palace. I head for the window and look down. Nooo! The whole dream continues to be worryingly detailed and realistic and it doesn't feel like a good idea to jump out of the window. I gather courage and hang on to nearby windows and water pipes to go down.

    On the street I look around for a suitable building but become overwhelmed. In every direction I look are closely packed residential buildings. Finally, one of the streets seems somewhat less cluttered with a larger building at the distance that leads me to believe there's enough room for a palace round the corner. As I head in that direction, I have to wait for a large industrial truck part that's slowly coming out of a garage to make a turn and continue in, of course, the same direction as me. I manage to squeeze between the building wall and the large truck part and reach the end of the street.

    Unfortunately, this turns to end of town cars-only road with lots of concrete and weirdly shaped boulders, cars passing by in close proximity. I think that I don't want to change the dream too aggressively as not to compromise the coherence. But maybe not everything is lost, I just have to find a way to cross over and go to what seems like a more appealing part of town. The dream fades.

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    Comments

    1. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      I'm amazed by the detail and immersiveness in this one! Particularly with all of the poor sleep leading up to it. (Or perhaps because of it?) I actually love dreams like this in spite of the fact that dream control can be so much more challenging. You actually did a good job with this because when the dream gets that realistic it takes more work for me to get it into my head that I'm the master of all of this. There's just this recurring sense of "How could I be in control of all this??"

      Do you have any idea what made the difference and got such incredibly high dream immersiveness? As usual, you are the undisputed Queen of Caffeine! I need to grab a latte from wherever it is you get yours! Your results are awesome!

      Also, good to see that you're all over Task of the Year! I need to come up with a game plan!
      fogelbise and NyxCC like this.
    2. Xanous's Avatar
      I'm jealous of this one. I have moments where the dream is supper vivid and detailed but its so rare for me. Especially visually. That sounds like a fun task to try? Do you follow a thread other than TOTM ?

      Congrats on rockin the caffeine! Its so awesome it works so well.!
      NyxCC likes this.
    3. Highlander's Avatar
      Congratulations on the vivid LD. They are great ones to have - so memorable.

      I get closer and begin to examine her face, she has lots of wrinkles on her forehead, around the mouth and saggy cheeks. I place my palms above her face to cover the places I want to change and then move my hands away. Initially, her face remains the same, but after a few more procedures the wrinkles visibly diminish. She doesn't look as young as I wanted but at least her skin is in much better condition, as if she just had a facelift.
      People pay good money for this IWL.

      I head for the window and look down. Nooo! The whole dream continues to be worryingly detailed and realistic and it doesn't feel like a good idea to jump out of the window.
      I've had this 'safety check' in a couple or so lucids of mine too.
      NyxCC likes this.
    4. fogelbise's Avatar
      You are really good at going back into the same scene! And chaining to keep the lucidity going and going!! Great stuff NyxCC!!
      NyxCC likes this.
    5. NyxCC's Avatar
      @ CL Thanks!

      Quote Originally Posted by CanisLucidus
      I'm amazed by the detail and immersiveness in this one! Particularly with all of the poor sleep leading up to it. (Or perhaps because of it?) I actually love dreams like this in spite of the fact that dream control can be so much more challenging. You actually did a good job with this because when the dream gets that realistic it takes more work for me to get it into my head that I'm the master of all of this. There's just this recurring sense of "How could I be in control of all this??"

      Do you have any idea what made the difference and got such incredibly high dream immersiveness?
      Yeah, such a level of detail is something we generally aim for, but if nothing seems dream-like off, it does feel a bit creepy. I'm not sure what caused this effect, it's quite possible that it had to do with the levels of brain chemicals in that particular day. I also get the feeling that visualization practices might be coming to my help during dreams. Unfortunately, I had to start all over with the practices after the holidays but managed to do them for a few days on a row. Still have to reorganize things a bit make it a daily habit, hopefully this skill will develop further. Right now, it's just simple visualization with the focus on holding on to images for as long as possible, very meditation-wise. I hope to increase my focus this way.

      As usual, you are the undisputed Queen of Caffeine! I need to grab a latte from wherever it is you get yours! Your results are awesome
      Thanks! Still waiting to sign the endorsement contract with that company, but you already know which latte it is (the ones you told me your wife likes)

      @ Xanous

      Thanks!

      Quote Originally Posted by Xanous
      I'm jealous of this one. I have moments where the dream is supper vivid and detailed but its so rare for me. Especially visually. That sounds like a fun task to try? Do you follow a thread other than TOTM ?
      Oh, no, please don't be! Your lds are equally awesome and they do seem to be very vivid! And as I said to CL above, too much detail and no dreamy feeling can get a little creepy as it leave one wondering.

      The facelift and age a little girl thing was a possible interpretation of the basic ii totm, opposite day task.
      CanisLucidus and Xanous like this.
      Updated 01-14-2014 at 01:15 AM by NyxCC
    6. NyxCC's Avatar
      @ Highlander

      Thanks!

      People pay good money for this IWL.
      I know! It would have been so cool (and extremely) profitable if we could do procedures this way!

      @ fogelbise

      Thank you fogelbise! You have been doing awesomely yourself, keep it up!
      Highlander likes this.
    7. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      Right now, it's just simple visualization with the focus on holding on to images for as long as possible, very meditation-wise. I hope to increase my focus this way.
      About how long do you do this practice for right now? Is there any particular time of day, such as WBTB?

      Thanks! Still waiting to sign the endorsement contract with that company, but you already know which latte it is (the ones you told me your wife likes)
      Sweet, the same brand! Now I can buy a case of those things without arousing any suspicion.
      NyxCC likes this.
    8. NyxCC's Avatar
      About how long do you do this practice for right now? Is there any particular time of day, such as WBTB?
      I do them as a separate training session in the early evening and aim for 15-20 min. My expectations are that this is using whatever brain area is responsible for visualization, plus I try to direct my thoughts and keep them fixed on a particular object (I do change objects though). I really hope that by doing this on purpose I am developing useful for ld parts of the brain.

      Interestingly, during wbtb I'm rarely in the mood to do this, although I've had some semi-random scenes appear at will when I have spontaneously tried. Should definitely try it more often, especially when I get stuck in one of those insomniac wbtbs.
      CanisLucidus likes this.
      Updated 01-15-2014 at 11:07 PM by NyxCC
    9. Highlander's Avatar
      My expectations are that this is using whatever brain area is responsible for visualization, plus I try to direct my thoughts and keep them fixed on a particular object (I do change objects though). I really hope that by doing this on purpose I am developing useful for ld parts of the brain.
      Visualization is done at the back/occipital region.

      (According to Wikipedia.)

      Neurobiological model:

      Neuroscientist J. Allan Hobson has hypothesized what might be occurring in the brain while lucid. The first step to lucid dreaming is recognizing one is dreaming. This recognition might occur in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is one of the few areas deactivated during REM sleep and where working memory occurs. Once this area is activated and the recognition of dreaming occurs, the dreamer must be cautious to let the dream continue but be conscious enough to remember that it is a dream. While maintaining this balance, the amygdala and parahippocampal cortex might be less intensely activated.[27] To continue the intensity of the dream hallucinations, it is expected the pons and the parieto-occipital junction stay active.[28]

      Good stuff!
      Xanous, NyxCC and CanisLucidus like this.
    10. NyxCC's Avatar
      Thanks for bringing in some supportive scientific evidence into the picture, Highlander! I have a very selective memory when it comes to field terminology.

      Also, to clarify, I'm aiming for enhancing image quality, better summoning skills and being able to hold the dream for longer as a result of my training sessions. Hope that makes sense.
      Highlander and CanisLucidus like this.
    11. Highlander's Avatar
      Thanks, although that info is still technically a hypothisis. It's an oxymoron that when we are asleep that our brain is just as active compared with being awake.

      Good luck with the training. I hope it works with your dreams and I'm sure it will. I look forward to reading your future DJ accounts.
      NyxCC and CanisLucidus like this.
    12. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      Cool, thanks for the info, Nyx! That does sound like a great exercise. The ability to visualize/imagine is IMO very trainable. I think that I was lucky enough to get some natural training on this when I was younger and I feel like it's helped with LD (MILD especially.)
      NyxCC likes this.