Thread: HanZartaC's Workbook

Originally Posted by HanZartaC

1. Am I supposed to WBTB when I hit my next REM period, or WBTB a little bit before so I give myself time to fall asleep into the REM period?

2. How can I prevent myself from staying awake during WILD, or getting too sleepy and forgetting to do the anchor thing?

1. Towards the latter part of your sleep, REM cycles are closer together as you probably have learned. If you are going for DILDs then the timing is less important and you will find your sleep less disrupted if you wake at the end of one of your REM cycles. When you are in the latter part of your sleep, you will reach the next REM cycle quicker which is ideal for WILDing. 2. I would definitely lean towards the sleepy side since you can't lucid dream if you don't get back to sleep. Relaxation techniques are good for returning to sleepiness. Making sure to not let waking life worries enter your mind is important as well. If they do come up, then writing them down and committing to taking care of it the next day or on some schedule should set your mind at ease. You might also want to pose your questions to our resident WILD experts: Sageous or Sivason. Sageous runs the WILD section of the academy and Sivason the Dream Yoga section.

It even inspired me to write a list over things I want to do in the LD that I WILL HAVE!

I like that confidence!

Originally Posted by fogelbise

2. I would definitely lean towards the sleepy side since you can't lucid dream if you don't get back to sleep. Relaxation techniques are good for returning to sleepiness. You might also want to pose your questions to our resident WILD experts: Sageous or Sivason. Sageous runs the WILD section of the academy and Sivason the Dream Yoga section.

Yes that makes sense, though my question was really about how I can avoid falling asleep, and make the anchor keep my mind aware whilst falling asleep. I think what I should do is to extend my WBTB instead of just staying WBTB-ing for just two minutes or so. I also think I should replace the "walking" with an actual mantra. I think that would work better for me. The mantra I have chosen is "find me there". I read it somewhere and I really liked it. I think it will work quite well for me. I would love to credit the creator of the mantra but I don't remember who wrote it or where. Anyway, I think that should help me WILDing, but I will ask Sageous Sivason. Thank you for pointing me to them.

Anayway, here is how it went last night. I went to bed early (trying to keep the same sleep schedule), but I couldn't fall asleep. I think I should try some relaxation techniques for that. I had also set two alarms, one at 6 hours and 30 minutes later and one at 7 hours and 30 minutes later, however I fell asleep an hour later, so I guess it would've been 5 hours and 30 minutes and 6 hours and 30 minutes. The first alarm didn't wake me, and I suspect it was because I was in the REM period and I was dreaming. The second alarm woke me up. Then I did a short WBTB and tried to WILD. I was too sleepy and fell asleep as the "walking" didn't help me stay awake, though I went over this in the first paragraph. Then I woke up later. So, I didn't remember any dreams, although I remembered a dream fragment! This made me happy, because any progress is good progress, right? I remembered checking the time on my phone, it was 7:24AM. That's all I remembered. I spent time thinking about that "dream" throughout today, and I started remembering more and more. I woke up fully clothed, checked the time, and got nervous because school started in six minutes, so I had to hurry, and I went to school. That's it.

So all of this lead me to two questions:

1. Do you have any tips or techniques for relaxing and falling asleep quickly even if you're not very tired?

2. My dream recall is improving ever so slightly, do you have any tips or techniques on making more progress on my dream recall?

EDIT:

I just wanted to add that I believe that the dream fragment was a false awakening, wasn't it? I don't remember very well, but I think I remember waking up, isn't that the definition of FA?

Yes that makes sense, though my question was really about how I can avoid falling asleep, and make the anchor keep my mind aware whilst falling asleep.

It is a tricky balancing act. The simplest solution is that you would just need to wake up more before laying back down. But my advice still stands, unless you have plenty of sleep to spare. Falling asleep during a WILD can often turn into DILDs and you also end up getting more sleep typically.

Originally Posted by HanZartaC

So, I didn't remember any dreams, although I remembered a dream fragment! This made me happy, because any progress is good progress, right?

Absolutely! Celebrate the small successes while reaching for more. It provides helpful momentum I feel.

So all of this lead me to two questions:

1. Do you have any tips or techniques for relaxing and falling asleep quickly even if you're not very tired?

I would start with the simple stuff I mentioned above but if you still have trouble falling asleep you can use this: The 61 Point relaxation Technique - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views and there are other tips I can point you too if these don't do the trick.

2. My dream recall is improving ever so slightly, do you have any tips or techniques on making more progress on my dream recall?

http://www.dreamviews.com/dream-sign...reams-try.html If you find it too time consuming let me know. I have some tweaks but they can reduce the effect.

EDIT:

I just wanted to add that I believe that the dream fragment was a false awakening, wasn't it? I don't remember very well, but I think I remember waking up, isn't that the definition of FA?

It could have been. If you had the sensation of waking up but you were in fact still dreaming, then absolutely. Sometimes you don't remember that waking moment but maybe you remember rolling over to write in your dream journal the dream you just had only to wake up later and find that you haven't written anything yet and were just dreaming about writing in your dream journal.