Santoryu's workbook

[Santoryu]

Hey, I stumbled across the concept of lucid dreaming around 5 months ago and I've been trying to have one since then, without any success so far. I had found being able to control what you dream about really interesting and tried all sorts of techniques at first, during my first couple of weeks of trying to LD I realised that I had been remembering my dreams more and my dreams were more vivid than before. However, none of the techniques I tried had resulted in a LD for me. I tried MILD, WILD, WBTB, DILD, various awareness improving techinuqes but none had yielded results. After about 3 months I decided to have a one week break from LD'ing to try get a fresh start. It hadn't seemed to help much. I was losing motivation and getting frustrated with myself. I had even thought that I would never have a LD but quickly decided not to think negatively. A few days ago, after quite a lengthy spell of remembering no dreams or little fragments I decided that I wanted to enjoy my sleep time more and wanted to have and experience my first lucid dream. I thought my best bet to achieving my first lucid dream would be to have a DILD. So, I hope that by taking part in this course I can have my first LD and really start delving into the lucid dreaming world.

[gab]

Hi Santoriu, welcome to DILD class. 1. Ok, so first thing we need to work on is get you a decent dream recall. You can achieve that by writing in your dream journal. In this article Collection of techniques for DILD, you will find out about importance of a dream journal and other helpful tips. 2. Reality check, mantras and daytime awareness things that will help you achieve lucidity in your dreams. Just mechanical, absentminded RCing is of no good (not saying that's what you were doing). The emotions that you will use are what will give you a hint of lucidity in your regular dream. More about this in the above linked article. Also, more about awareness: self-awareness (sageous) ADA dream yoga (sivason) You don't have to practice all three awareness techniques, but it helps to read them. A short awarenss question +RC+mantra is in the Collection... article. That's the one I'm using and it proves to be quite helpfull. So please read up and then report back with you schedule. Happy dreams

[Santoryu]

I've been trying to get my recall back up, and I'm starting to remember more dreams now. Remembered 3 the day before yesterday, but none yesterday. I've been attempting the self-awareness stuff throughout the day. However, I'm not too sure when to do a RC as I'm not even sure what my dream signs are. What exactly would classify as a dream sign?

[gab]

I've been trying to get my recall back up, and I'm starting to remember more dreams now. Remembered 3 the day before yesterday, but none yesterday. I've been attempting the self-awareness stuff throughout the day. However, I'm not too sure when to do a RC as I'm not even sure what my dream signs are. What exactly would classify as a dream sign? Dream sign is something, that happens often in your dreams AND in your waking life. If you read through your dream journal, you can find things, places, colors, people, that you see often. Then, in waking life, you RC each time you see your dream sign. Then, when you having a dream and your dream sign shows up, it may trigger some awareness and you will do RC automatically and it will get you lucid. But if you don't have any dream signs, that's not a problem at all. There is so many different occasions and reasons when to RC. You don't have to limit yourself when and how and why you do RC. Best is to use all possible reasons to better your chance that some of them will work. 1. Use an activity reminder - something you do often - walking through doors - using restroom - noticing specific color - get a phone call - get a drink - and anything else you can think of 2. Use a physical reminder - audio or visual - set your watch to beep every hour - set your timer - put some sticky notes all over your place, school books, laptop, door frame, wall above you bed, first thing you see in the morning - put a rubber band or bracelet on your wrist - and whatever else you can All these are just to help you get into habit of RCing. Pretty soon you will find, that you will start RCing even without them. And that's the best way to do it. Spontaneously. Whenever the feeling "OMG, what if this is a dream" strikes you. 3. Dream signs - anything, that occurs often in your dreams AND in your waking life. You RC on these in WL every time you see it. Then, when they show up in your dream, you are likely to RC there as well. 4. When you notice something strange. It can be strange for real or you just pretend it is. Let's face it, our lives are not that strange, so we have to make up some stuff. - a classmate shows up when you know he is at home sick - you thought you still had some beer in your fridge but it's all gone - it's lunch time, you should be hungry, but you not - boy/girl that has been ignoring you is suddenly talking to you - you see or hear anything and you think to yourself "that's strange" 5. At random -every time you get the sinking/exciting/freeky/exhilarating feeling n your stomach, that what if this was a dream and you didn't notice Just remember, RC by itself doesn't get you lucid, it only confirms. Awareness does. The awareness question "what if this is a dream". And being aware of your surroundings, noticing details, changes, patterns, constantly questioning and knowing where you are, how you got there and what you were doing before. Walking through your life as if you were in some video game, where anything can jump out at you at any moment and if you don't notice where you walk, you will miss some cool pickups. About recall - it's normal to remember dreams one night, and then nothing the next night. If you keeping a dream journal and you write in it every detail, even when you don't remember a dream (you write "my memory is good and recall is getting better every day"), you will start remembering more and more.

[Santoryu]

Thanks for clearing up when to do a RC. About the awareness techniques, I've tried many of them out before over periods of time but it always feels like I'm not progressing and that it's not helping me, so I always end up changing to another awareness technique and then I end up doubting whether or not I'll actually ever lucid dream. What awareness technique would you recommend that I try stick with?

[gab]

Sivason just today suggested in one thread to start out with just noticing your breathing a few times a day. Pay attention to your food. Sometimes I finish my meal at a restaurant and i really like it and I think to myself "I wish I noticed what's in this meal, so I can make it at home". Because I never really looked at it, to see the details, to try to taste the different ingredinets and such. So just pay attention. When you leave for school/work, look at the street, which cars are parked there, is it same as yesterday? Smell the air, look at the clouds, street signs, people... As if you were trying to memorize it. I like how sageous put it. Get yourself in a prey mentality. As a mouse, that gets out of the hiding place to look for food. It has to smell the air constantly, be aware of any movements, any shadows, any changes from last time, keep an eye on wht's he doing and on everything else arround him. And every time you remember, stop what you doing and ask yourself 'wow, what if this is a dream"? And expect to see a horde of pirates come of the nearest door, or a castle to spring from sand behind the corner, or yourself to start to float. Or anything, you would like to see in your lucid. Then, when you in a regular dream, you will stop what you doing and ask yourself the same question and that will get you lucid. Hope this helps.

[Santoryu]

Just a quick question regarding these techniques, I usually forget things quickly so for the past few days I've already remembered to do these awareness techniques and haven't been reality checking much. How do you remember to reality check or do the awareness techniques?

[gab]

At first, until you get into habit of it, you can use a little note reminder. Put it in a place that you see often. A pen (if you at school and you write a lot, tie a little string to it, or rubber band, piece of tape...) Put a note next to you computer, by the bathroom sink, on a wall... Set your watch to beep at every hour. Just about anything will work. Sometimes you get used to these reminders and you won't notice them anymore, that's when you move them to different place. Hope this helps.

[Santoryu]

Thanks, I'll start doing them since I just got back from holiday. I've realised that I need to put much more time into being aware throughout the day as my recall is pretty good at the moment and my dreams seem to be vivid. I can see myself having a lucid dream before the month is over.

[gab]

I can see myself having a lucid dream before the month is over. I know you will

[Santoryu]

Just thought I'd give an update, my recall seems to have taken hit and I haven't remembered a single thing from a dream in days. You know any ways to keep dream recall high and consistent?

[gab]

Unfortunatelly, recall fluctuates. Sometimes, for seemingly no reason at all. Could be stress, waking up at wrong time, too long after dream has ended. As long as you have recall most of the days, it's ok. It will come back. Just keep writing in DJ. You can even write "tonight I remember my dreams". And also repeat this as you falling asleep. You can eat some food with vitamine B6, like bananas or cheese. They help to get more vivid dreams, and those are easier to remember. good luck

[Santoryu]

My recall has improved greatly and I've remembered many times consistently for quite a while now. Haven't had a lucid yet though. I was just wondering what's the most effective things to do during a WBTB?

[gab]

Best thing is not to wake up too much, just enough so you think clearly. Anything you do/see/hear/think of just before sleep and it leaves big impact on you is bound to happen in your dreams. Sometimes I watch some LDing video on youtube, or some nice beaches or anything that is beautifull to you and you wanna dream about it. Or I read some inspiring thread or a tutorial. That thread got me my first LD, and that tutorial got me my first DEILD, after my second DILD ended due to some noise. Write your goal in DJ, draw it, think about it. Then some mantra +RCs sitting on bed and mantra falling asleep. Talk to your higher self. Tell it how much you love your dreams and that you know that it can give you LD in your next dream. Go for it, guys

[Santoryu]

Hey, it's been a while but I had recently finished my exams and thought I'd focus on lucid dreaming again. My recall seems to be okay, but I realised I haven't been doing many reality checks throughout the day and I'm not sure that the ones I do are effective.

[gab]

Welcome back! We had a bunch of very good threads about RCs recently. I'm gonna link you to them so you can review. But the main thing is that you believe you are in a dream when asking yourself where are you, and that RCs will work, because you are in a dream. http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...ml#post1953139 http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...idnt-work.html http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...intervals.html http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...ml#post1998582 Good luck

[Santoryu]

Thanks for those links and the advice! I was doing RC's without even being aware of my surroundings and stuff before, so now that I know that awareness is how you realise you're in a dream and RC's just confirm it, I'll be sure to ask myself whenever anything strange happens or whenever I remember to randomly. I know this will work for me now!

[Santoryu]

I had started off doing the whole being aware whilst doing RC's for a few days but I just keep seeming to forget to RC, any tips on how to ensure that I'm RC'ing often?

[gab]

sure, You don't have to limit yourself when and how and why you do RC. Best is to use all possible reasons to better your chance that some of them will work. 1. Use an activity reminder - something you do often - walking through doors - using restroom - noticing specific color - get a phone call - get a drink - and anything else you can think of 2. Use a physical reminder - audio or visual - set your watch to beep every hour - set your timer - put some sticky notes all over your place, school books, laptop, door frame, wall above you bed, first thing you see in the morning - put a rubber band or bracelet on your wrist - and whatever else you can