Thread: FryingMan's DILD course workbook

LD #292 last night. Also a brief (FA I think) lucid moment. Did a nose pinch "in bed" and I could breathe, got lucid, then I felt my body "phase" into being awake there I was awake in bed.

LD #293 last night. I've just not been dreaming much recently. REM deprived for some reason....but I had a huge night of dreaming last night, including short lucid moment in the middle of a serious of long/vivid/epic non-lucids that culminated at the 4-hour waking....a very early time for me to be having that level of dreaming.

A short moment, but it was a critical thinking LD, where I noticed that an exit to the room I had just entered through had vanished. I affirmed out loud that I knew I was dreaming because the exit (in the floor) had disappeared. Exits appearing/disappearing is a pretty big dreamsign. Location/path awareness.

LD #294 about a week ago: walking down a street (outside my cousin's house in city A on the hill) I noticed that the sword/stick I was swinging around was always growing back after a piece broke off of it. Walked in to cousin's house, through the living room, into the kitchen, (there was a woman sitting there?), don't remember the rest...

LD #295 last night: a short, waking-up LD, I'm lying down on the ground looking up at the (very blue [DS]) sky, recognize this as a dream sign, especially the sort of artificial distortion I see in the visual field, do a nose pinch, air can move, realize I'm dreaming, try to move to get up, try to think how I can stand up, but when I turn my head, I'm awake in bed, and nose pinch confirms I'm awake.

Looks like I may reach my goal of 300LDs by end of the year! Dream recall is on the up-tick. Winter is much better for dreaming: lower room temperature, darker in the morning.

Well didn't make 300 in 2023. Hopefully in 2024! New Year's is always a challenging time to maintain practice!

LD #296 last night A pure TYoDaS practice LD, I became present in the location and just felt/knew that I was dreaming.

LD #297 a couple weeks after #296, also a brief waking moment.

I continue to practice the Four Foundational Practices of The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep daily, (March 8th, 2024 was my first day of this effort), and 3 nights ago I had two full-on lucid dreams, and two nights ago another lucid dream, bringing my total now to 300 .

It is my sincere intention to keep this up for life with no more interruptions. I feel it integrates very well and fits my "Unified Theory" of being the same way -- lucid -- day and night, perfectly.

LD #298 and #299 came on the same night at the end of April, 2024. LD #300 occurred the next night. (I guess I'm repeating myself here) LD #301 was one week after that.

All of them were similar in pattern: wake up after about 7 hours, then for about an hour, relax, recite Holecek lucid countdown, feel I'm drifting (even though not feeling sleep pressure), switch to a softer/quieter mantra, cultivate gratitude, drift off to sleep, and get lucid in the dreams that followed.

#301 was interesting in that just before getting lucid my hand passed through a wall when I imagined that there was a button there that I wanted to push. It didn't see it, so I decided to expect/pretend that it was there and push it anyway, just like lucid dream control. I don't remember doing "non-lucid dream recall" before. As soon as my hand passed through the wall I got lucid. It's like my mind was helping me to get lucid!

I did the "look at 5 things" stabilization. Didn't do touch, though or my full-body pat-down, both of which I want to do. HAd time to appreciate the surroundings (vivid and clear, I looked at a chair that was there in the hallway), look into some rooms and see piles of small colorful boxes with writing on them like in a pharmacy, and interact with some DCs.

LD #302 07:00 2024-05-14 "Mural" [CH, see mom, grandpa, living room, dining room, kitchen, BIL, drink]
bedtime ~23:00
recall on 3rd waking at 04:30, 4 dreams
MILD on scenes from the dreams, set intent (light, gentle, like a soft wish at the back of your mind), see lots of hypnogogia but falling directly into sleep takes a long time, or I'm asleep w/out dreams and just don't know it. But I turn over side to side probably 3-4 times.

Last LD #301 was 2024-05-03

Update:

LD #303 08:33 2024-05-16 [started on street at CH, hanging around group of young people, lose lucidity, gain again, jump to kitchen, "where'd they go?" then the interaction with the b woman]

LD #304 2024-05-26: dark threatening clouds, hole in the clouds on the right, a bright city, check again, this time with a bridge, try flying, can fly, get lucid, fly to super bright vivid place night-time city lights with lots of shining people.

Reboot '24: No-LD #days between LDs [9 total LDs]: 13, 18, 16 [2], 0, 5, 9, 1, 9

LD #305 2024-05-28

Scrambled eggs spill in car, turn off, people in red sports uniforms walk by, guy moons, get out of garage, minimum time, barriers, get out, meet people, ask "Hey are you going to the game?" they answer "Want to come, we have free seats!", decide "Yeah, I'll come!" think it's a football game, enter building, arena is indoors, "ah, must be basketball," no free seats (the guys decided to use all their tickets), arena packed, go to opposite corner to see the floor, it's not basketball, just a small gymnastics floor (pummel horse?) tucked into an odd corner of the building (not in the center), try to find the exit, one is closed by yellow rope, there is a construction area beyond the doors, turn back around, see exit (glass doors) to the outside across on the other side of the arena, start walking there, think people will wonder what's this guy doing wandering around the area, pass a gift shop bursting with colorful items, (sharp / long / skinny like arrows), turn and look at it, can see the crowd in the bleachers though the back window of the gift shop, I think "I shouldn't leave here, there are lots of people and objects here with which to engage the practice: [so according to the practice, I form the thought and feeling that ...] ... this is a dream....hey, in fact it is!" I engage with a girl there, I guess I closed my eyes or I lost visuals, but I opened my eyes in the middle of a deep kiss with a girl, and a beautiful Asian young woman's face is right there in front of mine, I gaze adoringly at her face, I don't know who she is, her eyes are looking into mine and I'm overwhelmed with emotion and say "You're so beautiful!" and she answers with a word that is a word used only between my wife and me. We continue the kiss and I wake up.

Reboot '24: No-LD #nights between LDs [10 total LDs]: 13, 18, 16 [2], 0, 5, 9, 1, 9, 1

LD #306 2024-06-03

(After "white berries" dream) ... walk towards the intersection (super steep street in CH city and E ave (grandpa's street)?) up the steep right-side sidewalk, turn right on to the level street. I enter a vehicle tunnel, very dark, at first I see some light poking through the right-hand wall (or a structure there) which may be a way out but I continue walking forwards. The tunnel is very dark and only about 2 car widths wide, I'm concerned that if a car enters, I may be hit, I want to get out of here. I see a door to the left, I open it and look inside, I can't see much but it is very dark and uninviting so I close it and go on. I catch a glimpse of light to my right, so I go there, I hope over a counter, and my dog hops over the counter along with me. I go forwards into a narrow dark corridor with light bleeding through exits to the left, I push one open and emerge into a BRIGHT, VIVID, scene around a swimming pool, so super "pool blue" in color, immediately the scene gets VERY clear and bright, and I get lucid instantly and feel the shift into super vividness, I nose pinch to confirm and yes I can breathe. There are a lot of people milling around, I detect cousin GL, and say hello to her. There are some young people, a boy and a tween girl, I walk over towards them, then wake up.

I check the time: 01:31! Only about 2 - 2.5 hours have passed since bedtime! Probably my earliest LD ever!

Reboot '24: No-LD #nights between LDs [10 total LDs]: 13, 18, 16 [2], 0, 5, 9, 1, 9, 1, 5

The average # of no-LD nights in between LD nights after the first 6 LDs is converging very convincingly to 5 nights.

LD #307 2024-06-12 ducks/geese, "don't stomp scare the ducks", duck comes, lie down on back eyes closed, duck nibbles eyeglasses, pet duck's head, open eyes, it's a girl sitting on top of me, look at her, think about her past, she is mouthing lightly/singing the words to a rap song, I get lucid, have erotic thoughts, remember my "goals, not girls", and start talking, "OK, here's what we're going to do, you start by..." and I'm also doing a nose pinch, my nose feels odd, and I have a fade to awake

Reboot '24: No-LD #nights between LDs [10 total LDs]: 13, 18, 16 [2], 0, 5, 9, 1, 9, 1, 5, 8

Lessons learned:

• relax, relax, relax. Set intent once, no long repetitions, then forget it, let go, and sleep.
• TWR from TYoDaS: "If the practice didn't go well, don't feel discouraged or disappointed; this is part of the path. Instead, begin the day with the strong intention to maintain the practice of the foundations during the day, reinforce the intention to become lucid the next time you sleep if you were not, and to further develop lucidity if you were. Then begin the daytime foundational practices."
• the outlined synopsis of the practice from TYoDaS in chapter 20 [2022 ed.] is extremely helpful.
• forget past results. keeping both failures AND successes in mind produces pressure and mental tension.
• after setting intent ONCE, forget it, and let go completely, into relaxation and mind-wandering.
• LD and OBEs (and the process of falling asleep) happen outside of our conscious control. The mind knows what to do, get out of its way and the results will flow.

From Mark Gurrarian's books:

But how can the apparently “positive” act of basing one’s trust in previous successful OBEs lead to a potential failure the next time? It’s very simple: it easily puts you in a state of great expectancy[author's emphasis], and therefore anxiety. The best way to explain this is through my personal experience: If I think about all my previous successes before an OBE attempt, I automatically pressure myself to keep the bar high. This need for reassurance makes me feel doubtful, as if all my previous successes were just a lucky streak that will end sooner or later. The fear of not maintaining the standard of success [emphasis mine] is a clear indicator that I am identifying too much with an experience that is beyond my control to begin with.
...
Just in the same way you let go of the goal of having an OBE as soon as you lie down on your bed or couch, you should also let go of your previous results. Past performance is the pressure from that which no longer exists! The concern about keeping the bar high (in the case of previous successes) or not failing again (in the case of previous failures) is failing to let go of the OBE process. It’s not yours, you are not in control—just let it go.


Resources studied: "Astral Projection Without Tears", "The Illusion of Method".

2024-06-23 #308 DILD (LD #13 reboot '24) [13, 18, 16 [2], 0, 5, 9, 1, 9, 1, 5, 8, 10 ]
DEILD/dream chain, take a girl into a room, greet a guy, grasp hands, do my lucid ritual

2024-07-03 #309 DILD (LD #14 reboot '24) [13, 18, 16 [2], 0, 5, 9, 1, 9, 1, 5, 8, 10, 9]
unpacking chest on top of bureau, walk around room

2024-07-12 #310 DILD (LD #15 reboot '24) [13, 18, 16 [2], 0, 5, 9, 1, 9, 1, 5, 8, 10, 9, 8[2] ]
couches with identical woman, huge open white room, Carol at table, introduce myself, hand me light saber, echo hallway, troupe of all-white-clad people walk right to left, hand through holographic display, fly to 2nd level sit at hamburger stand talk with Andy from company 3, eat hot dog as tough as leather, call 10354 because nobody gave their lightsaber

2024-07-12 #311 DILD (LD #16 reboot '24) [13, 18, 16 [2], 0, 5, 9, 1, 9, 1, 5, 8, 10, 9, 8[2] ]
get lucid from tiny people in glove, enter room, Suzanne B makes spaghetti but I want pizza, she takes my coat to tiny closet

2024-07-17 #312 DILD (LD #17 reboot '24) [13, 18, 16 [2], 0, 5, 9, 1, 9, 1, 5, 8, 10, 9, 8[2], 4[2] ]
nose pinch weird watch, house, living room, wife E w/message from heaven, introduce wife L, old stove, L leaves, I fly after her

2024-07-17 #313 DILD (LD #18 reboot '24) [13, 18, 16 [2], 0, 5, 9, 1, 9, 1, 5, 8, 10, 9, 8[2], 4[2] ]
don't remember start, in living room house full of kids, mass transform to cats, mass TK to couch, "what does a cat say?", to kitchen, DC asks "is it worth it to sell your soul?", eat chocolate ice cream no flavor

Long dry period. No lucids since the last ones noted here, 2024-07-17. Almost a month! Ouch!

Dreaming's been pretty poor as well with little recall.

There have been some health things going on, stemming from what was probably an overly aggressive caloric restriction diet. I've stopped trying to lose weight and my weight has stabilized and I feel better now.

I've had good to great to epic recall for the last several nights in a row.

Here's the list of a number of things I've changed recently:
I've made multiple simultaneous changes:
+ taking a break from losing weight. Eating quite a bit more carbs
+ going VERY hard on lucid presence, emphasizing deep presence above all. Long walks where I hold it the whole time.
+ specifically marking daytime experiences/things I see for remembering later.
+ journaling the walks later, recalling those things and writing them down
+ asking for help from the bottom of my heart, to have vivid, beautiful dreams and remembering them (and for lucidity)
+ cultivating gratitude
+ started DJing again regularly
And through it all, relax, relax, relax, chill, take it easy, not worrying about any results. Accept/surrender to whatever experiences (day/night) I have.

Oh, also: started supplementing Omega 3's (fish oil), lion's mane, ginko biloba
And walking a lot every day
SO, not very much (haha!)

Your accounts remind me of my struggles with insomnia and how much it sucks for us to get some nice quality sleep time, until I made a pleasant discovery one night. As I was laying in bed and meditating as usual I thought about having a more free-form session this time around. Since I always end practice whenever I surrender to any urge for physical movement, I allowed myself to revel in for a while, to return after and keep meditating. My only condition was a rejection for any compulsion to change position. If I felt the need to shake my legs, move my hands, stretch in place while meditating it was permitted. And I discovered that as the minutes progressed my mental state unknowingly slipped into drowsiness. There is a critical moment during this stage, when the body tries its hardest to drive some movement that if passed over, on the other side is the first time I have felt I can guarantee sleep. My point here is, that I think I have found something certain I can work towards improving every night. Where before sleep stood as this inextricable, unpredictable puzzle, I have found consistency in the uncertain environment I used to find myself in every night. And I wanted to tell you that, because insomnia fucking sucks.

Wow it's been a long while since I updated! Almost 9 months! And 13 total LDs in that time.
Around the end of January 2025 I decided to focus on traditional, LaBergian, cognitive approaches. PM, MILD mostly.

And my own Unified Theory: pay attention, reflect, recall.

Lost of emphasis on critical reflection. "The key of SOL" -- Self, Objects, Location.

The MILD variant I'm working on is Sensei's:

1. go through a dream with the intent of finding the times that you almost got lucid.
2. As you find them, figure out what you could have thought to get lucid and what sort of interrupting thought you would have needed.
3. Focus on that feeling of changing the dream in that moment with the plan of changing it in the next dream.
4. End. Go to sleep or go to the next dream.

I had 3 LDs in March, and 1 right at the end of February, so that's 4 within a 30 day period.

Ratcheting up the goal for April, 2025 to 6 LDs.