SanMan's Workbook

[sskohli]

Hi, I have been on this site for long. But have started doing RC and other techniques for over a month now. I have improved my dream recall and can remember about 2 dreams every night. I keep a dream journal religiously. I do a bit of meditation and have hourly phone reminders to remind me to do RC. I haven't had much success in LD, but I have had 3-4 instance where I woke up in Sleep Paralysis. In 1 instance I thought about dreaming of an idol and when I saw that idol in the dream, I realized I was dreaming. But awoke in to SP again. I waited for about 20-30 mins, saw some hypnogogic imagery, some vibrations, did some mantra chanting, but nothing happened. Waiting for the next chance to clutch it San

[FryingMan]

Hi SanMan, and welcome to the DILD class! Improved dream recall is a foundation for lucid dreaming, so congratulations on your progress! Keep it up and see if you can challenge yourself to remember more and more dreams and more detail over time. Lucidity comes to all who work for it diligently and really want it, in my experience. One month is not all that long, I'm sure you'll get more lucid dreams fairly soon! And besides, you already have succeeded! You realized that you were dreaming in a dream, that is a lucid dream! So while it may have been short, you have already proved to yourself that you can do it! Now it's just a matter of continuing daytime awareness efforts, and building more and more dream recall. If you haven't yet, take a look at this thread where there are a lot of links to different threads that are of great value in understanding and working towards lucid dreaming. Do you have any particular dream goals? Having some concrete thing you'd really like to do (fly, meet a celebrity, visit a favorite real/fictitious place, etc.) in a lucid dream can help it happen sooner. Having an alarm to help you remember to RC is a fine way to get started, but I would recommend trying to remember to RC on your own, without the alarms. Maybe over time, reduce the alarm frequency and try to remember to do the RC in between the schedule alarms. Have you read any classic lucid dreaming books? "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreams" is a great place to start if you haven't read it yet. fogelbise and I (and all the participants!) are here to help you: let us know if you have any questions. Feel free to use your workbook to write your progress, thoughts, or anything that helps you to stick to your goals. Have great dreams!

[sskohli]

Thanks a lot FryingMan! you guys are awesome. I never thought of a goal. I thought that first I would try to get Lucid and then I would think of Goals. I will surely try it. Yes I started reading EWOLD, but it's kind of too technical. I got bored after some time. Reading articles and forum replies here are more fun and practical. Thanks so much for welcoming me, I will enter my Dream journals diligently every day. Thanks Sandeep

[fogelbise]

Welcome to the DILD workbooks Sandeep! You are doing a number of good things that, with continued practice, will help you lucid dream more and more over time. Just stick to it - even if you slow down at times - never stopping completely. Let us know if you want our help in holding you accountable for keeping it up or not. ...have hourly phone reminders to remind me to do RC. I agree with what FryingMan said on this. If you do need reminders for a while, try finding an app for truly random reminders. On Android I know of the "Awoken" lucid dreaming app with reminders which is excellent and is still free, I think. To keep the reminders fresh, and thus truly getting your attention, I recommend changing the alert sound it makes once a week (set a reminder on your calendar app to do this). In 1 instance I thought about dreaming of an idol and when I saw that idol in the dream, I realized I was dreaming. But awoke in to SP again. I waited for about 20-30 mins, saw some hypnogogic imagery, some vibrations, did some mantra chanting, but nothing happened. I never thought of a goal. I thought that first I would try to get Lucid and then I would think of Goals. I will surely try it. Awesome! Congratulations! Perhaps you can make one of your goals something related to the idol. Like ask the idol a question and see if it starts talking or perhaps a voice comes down from above or the answer just pops into your head. Either way, goals that get you excited can be very motivating and effective. I saw that you were posting in Sageous' WILD thread. He is a very valuable source of advice on DV and definitely a great place to ask all of your WILD questions and more. We would love to see you continue your workbook here on a regular basis as well!

[FryingMan]

Personally speaking, I find "getting lucid" as a goal not sufficiently motivating. On the other hand, I find that very particular goals like the DV "task of the month" that I get excited about almost always results in some good lucids in those months, so I think dream goals are really valuable in getting lucid! I would encourage you to try ETWOLD again. There are so many important bits of wisdom in there. Most of the important stuff I think is in just chapters one through three. Try taking it in smaller bits and putting it away if you find it boring.

[sskohli]

Thanks Fogelbise! Asking idol a question, Hmm..sounds interesting, I will try that!! Yes actually I had started with WILD so i posted there first . Then while browsing, I saw DILD and in the sticky you guys asked to create a WorkBook so I did it Don't know Weekdays are really tiring for me. I commute 1.5 hours one way and then my daughter doesn't let me sleep till late And then wake up early for work. So when I sleep I sleep like a log. I do remember, waking up in the middle of the night. But then I went back to sleep immediately. This will be changing soon, I am taking a place near my office, so the commuting hours can be used for dreaming Thanks, Sandeep

[fogelbise]

Hi Sandeep, You mention the weekdays being tiring. I have to admit that when I first read that, I was thinking that you were already backing away from practicing lucid dreaming by mentioning your challenges but then I thought about it more. When I first started my adult LD practice 3 years ago, I reserved most all of my induction attempts to the weekends when I knew I could sleep in and it worked for me. You can see more about how I started here: View Profile: fogelbise - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views Mainly I wanted to respond and point you to something else. A best selling lucid dreaming author is doing a Q&A thread here on DV and he recently remarked on the importance of experimenting and record keeping. Your workbook here is a great place to do just what he recommends. When I read his answer I realized this may have been one of the keys to my success, but I could have kept even better, more detailed and frequent records. Excerpt from his answer: What do you think is the single most powerful lucid dreaming practice (for you and for the general populace, if you feel it is different)? I'd say it's the development of the skills of critical thinking combined with experimentation and detailed record keeping. *http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...-dreaming.html

[sskohli]

Thanks For your comments Fogelbise (what does it mean?) I donot ( or more recently donot) back away from practicing LD on the weekdays. It's just that I have seen that when I spend about 14-16 hours awake, my consciousness is very powerless and as hard I force myself to wake up and record my dreams, i mostly fail. Like yesterday 8th June 2016, I could remember 3 small dream snippets. 1. Some robbery or a mishap has taken place and they want it to investigate. (Don't know who they are) The scene is pretty dark, maybe it's an English Village. I remember a dark house from an English Village). They ask me to investigate. They call me with a weird name (ozzy bri) or something, i am not too sure. Then I start investigating. 2. Jiana, my daughter is playing football in her school. She's standing in the ground. There are 3-4 balls placed in a line. She tries to kick one of the ball. (Weird thing, she's scared if going to this school and we are in the process of shifting her to a new school) 3. I am doing space exploration. That's all I remember I am in a space craft looking out in the space. If this were on a weekend and I had some sleep. I would've woken up once in the night and remembered more about them. Thanks again for your inputs. The writer's comment is really worth implementing. San

[fogelbise]

Thanks For your comments Fogelbise (what does it mean?) That's just a little self-deprecating humor. It means the white stuff that birds drop from the above, haha. I donot ( or more recently donot) back away from practicing LD on the weekdays. It's just that I have seen that when I spend about 14-16 hours awake, my consciousness is very powerless and as hard I force myself to wake up and record my dreams, i mostly fail. Like yesterday 8th June 2016, I could remember 3 small dream snippets. Those are fairly good recall snippets. That is not a bad result at all and certainly a level from which you can work towards lucid dreaming. If this were on a weekend and I had some sleep. I would've woken up once in the night and remembered more about them. Do you set any intentions before bed? I recommend starting with just one intention, typically either to lay still and recall or setting an intention to realize you are dreaming "tonight or very soon" for example. Then on the weekends you can use a good "wake back to bed" where you really wake up some more of your mental functions than normal before going back to sleep which can do wonders for having lucid dreams. Thanks again for your inputs. The writer's comment is really worth implementing. I strongly agree! I wish I had kept even better records of what I was doing, what was working and not working so well. It is all part of finding your own path to frequent lucid dreams and/or strong dream recall (ideally both...but one step at a time). This is only a suggestion: it is common practice on Dreamviews to use the like button (below every post) to show that you like or appreciate or agree with the response. Some people here also use it to give others a notification that they have read their post and have responded, sometimes requesting continued discussion of the subject.

[sskohli]

Hi FB, Thanks for your comments. Do you set any intentions before bed? I recommend starting with just one intention, typically either to lay still and recall or setting an intention to realize you are dreaming "tonight or very soon" for example. Then on the weekends you can use a good "wake back to bed" where you really wake up some more of your mental functions than normal before going back to sleep which can do wonders for having lucid dreams. I do. I have read so many articles and seen soo many videos. I never get around one . One i am doing one, I will think. Oh I think the other one is better. But yes, you are right, I need to set one intention and try to work with it for atleast 1-2 weeks. Should I post my dreams here or in a DJ section somewhere? Yesterday again, I was tired so couldn't remember my initial dreams. I woke up at 6 and then did some relaxation exercises then I went to sleep. (Note to Self: I should've tried to remain conscious while I was slipping into the dream, but didn't remember probably) 9th June 2016 Night After that I had 3 very vivid dreams: 1. We have shifted to our new flat. I have gone with my daughter to play in the park where there are swings. She plays for a while, another small girl comes there, with a very small peculiar looking puppy. Almost like some worm, white in color, had a big fat body like a baloon and very little or no hands, feet or face. It was moving like a worm too. She wud've come with her maid, i guess. Then my wife comes and i go away. Cut 2. We are in our new apartment and it's all furnished (we haven't even shifted and we need to buy everything) and the girl's mommy and that girl is there. Jiana my daughter, is playing with her. I greet them. After a while I go to check what Jiana was doing. She was playing with water, in a bathroom. i tell her not to do so. Then i see that the girl's maId is there to, so i go back in. I see that her husband is going to get some dinner for us from McDonalds. He goes via the back door, boards a scooter and leaves.(Our apartment is on the 11th floor and there is no back door). He tells me, "ask everyone what they want to eat, i wil call from McDonalds. I went inside and see that all my relatives are there. Even my mom and dad are there. I tell my wife there are so many people, burgers wont cut it. She'll have to cook. Even our maid was there. My another cousin was there and he was looking for me. My mom's sister was also there. She was saying something like we don't eat burgers n all. Then i noticed the sofa which we were supposed to buy and my wife said the girl's mommy had given it to us, as so many people are coming. I am pleasantly surprised. Then I was thinking how did such a big sofa was sent so fast. 2. I was standing outside a gurudwara(Sikh Temple). I met my friend Akhil there. Just bang outside the gurudwara. There was a black man standjng. My friend went to him and they shook hands. He gave my friend some coke. We were standing there for a while talking and joking. There was a school around and it ended. So the children came out. And i was surprised to see that small kids are coming to the black guy. One kid asked for coke and he slid to him. Then seeing that other kids thought it was some toffee and asked him for it. He started giving them each small sachets of coke. I was shocked. I saw some men and complained to them. They took all the kids to the principal. I told them there's the dealer as well. When they went for the dealer he ran away in a blue van. They said we were plain clothes policemen and we were after him for so long. If you would've told us earlier we would've caught him. After this i was very sad as i thought this could happen to anyone. Even my daughter who is just 3. 3. I was going through the market and i remembered that i had given something to repair At a shop. I don't know what and which shop. I was just walking and searching for the shop. I entered a few shops then came out. I got a call on my real phone which woke me up. This is only a suggestion: it is common practice on Dreamviews to use the like button (below every post) to show that you like or appreciate or agree with the response. Some people here also use it to give others a notification that they have read their post and have responded, sometimes requesting continued discussion of the subject. Sorry, I didn't know it. I will keep this in mind for sure. Thanks for letting me know

[fogelbise]

Hi San, Posting your dreams here is good if you want feedback from us. Some workbook users have posted them here and in their DJ section of Dreamviews, or one but not the other. Definitely use whichever option feels best for you. The DJ section is great for keeping them all in one place and tracking dream signs through the use of it's tag system, but may involve more time than jotting them down here. Nice recall! I only had one lengthy dream recall last night (short night and about to do a nap now). That last item, no worries at all! When I said that I meant to hit the like button on your post, so even I forget haha (doing it now).

[sskohli]

12th June 2016 Night I can recall 2 dreams 1. I am in some kind of a dock where there are lots of boats. There are narrow wooden passages between the boats. I have to get to one of my uncle's boats. I am going through this narrow wooden passage. Once I reach there, the boat is actually a house. It's a lovely 2 store house, light brown/beige in color and has a garden outside. We play football outside and the aunty is looking from her kitchen window. Then I go and meet her, she asks me to stay, but I leave, through the same passage. I think she calls me from behind, but I don't look back or stay. 2. Me and my daughter are somewhere (I think the park, I remember seeing the swings?), there comes a little girl, who first looks like a robot, but then I see she she has a clept lip. She was dressed in a white frock and had brown hair. All the other kids don't want to play with her. I tell my daughter to play with her. She does and both of them are happy and so was I.

[fogelbise]

The passages between the boats sounds like something that must have been done on occasion historically, though I am not sure if I have ever read about it or seen it depicted. Interesting. That second dream is touching. I'm not sure exactly where the shift occurred for me, but in my practices with lucid dreaming I have become more compassionate to all types of people, even many of those who I would have never thought deserved it.

[sskohli]

Hi FB, I don't know if I have become compassionate so far . I don't really think so. 15th June 2016 evening nap I had come home from office and was tired and just dozed off. I saw that the Dalai Lama has come to visit us. (My wife is a practicing buddhist, so her leader had arranged the visit for the Dalai Lama). He comes and visits us. The scene looks like that of my classroom. I don't remember what happens initially, but then there's a break and I go to the washroom. When I am there for some time, my wife comes calling me that they're all waiting for me so that they could finish the session. I tell her disinterestedly, "Yeah, I am coming". But I don't go back, I stay there. After some time she again comes calling that they're still waiting for me to return so that they can end the session. I am shocked, as I see that I had stayed there for about 45 minutes. I said to myself, "Wow! the Dalai Lama is really compassionate." I rush back, some other monks had joined them. They were not angry at all. They were playing with my daughter and were having a good time. I apologised and then they ended the session. My wife's leader told me "Sandeep, come here and meet the Dalai Lama" I go to him and shake his hands. Then I see an image of a sign board, with the number 79 in it. I tell the Dalai Lama, that I had a previous dream where I saw that my Wife was Dalai lama's daughter and I had seen the same number in my dream. They said like "Hmm..we know this". Then the Dalai Lama told us that we should feed our daughter properly. But I was amused as my daughter is not skinny, she looks healthy . 15th June 2016 Night I repeated my intentions to realise in the dream that I am dreaming and to wake up after a dream so that I could record my dream. I did wake up twice, but I wasn't able to record the dreams, I went back to sleep. In one of the dreams, I was sitting in the canteen with my office colleagues and one of the colleague said "Let's do a pot luck on Monday. I will bring this. Kavita you bring this". I said I will bring something else. THis is funny, as the same thing had happened in the lunch that day. So I was re-dreaming exactly what I had seen in the afternoon. Thanks, Sandeep

[fogelbise]

I was noticing the compassion in your dream: "All the other kids don't want to play with her. I tell my daughter to play with her. She does and both of them are happy and so was I." Interesting also that you mentioned the Dalai Lama's compassion in that latest dream post (and dreamed about a compassionate figure)…but even more interesting was that you discussed your dreams in that dream which is often a great sign of lucidity to come in the near future! Keep it up

[sskohli]

Hi FB Yayyy!! Finally had my First lucid dream today. It was quite long. ( though i did multiple reality checks, i still can't fathom whether it was a fully lucid dream or another dream) Dream: My cousin, Sona from jaipur had come to visit us. We were driving her around delhi in a tempo traveller(15 seater vehicle). There was some conversation going about a rapist and how he had killed the girl. Sona had also brought her baby. But sona has no baby. Was driving back from somewhere. I need top put on break, but cudn't find the brakes. I tried harder n harder but cudn't. I thought was i dreaming. Did reality check i had 6 fingers. Bam i was lucid. I had a long recall of the dream. I was at a terrace of a building. It was dark. I saw a girl. She started from my building then went to the other building. There she went to a guy. I slid and went to their balcony. She was crying. He was using her and didn't want to mArry her or give her money. He said he was going out or something. They saw me but then looked away back in their conversation. Did reality check i had 6 fingers. I went back to the terrace i was first through narrow walls and pipes and wires. I even saw a black cat. Now there was a boy on the terrace. I said change it to a girl, so that i could kiss her. He kissed me. I said gross, change into a girl. But he kept on kissing me. I pushed him away. He went Away. Did reality check i had 6 fingers. Then some other kids came. They said it's their place and i should leave them alone. Then the dream faded and ended.

[FryingMan]

Congrats, San! That was definitely a lucid dream! Lucidity is not a full on / full off thing: it is a continuous spectrum. Some LDs are higher awareness, some are lower. But lucid dreams are still dreams. While they can share some commonalities with waking experiences at times, they are still fundamentally dream experiences driven by the "rules" of the dream state. For one thing, expectation weighs very heavily in what happens in dreams. With practice and experience comes more stability and control. Great job with the multiple reality checks! That's one of the best ways to continually re-assert your lucidity. That's a great first LD, nice and long, multiple RCs, interactions with DCs, well done!

[sskohli]

Cool thanks so much. It really was interesting. I thought it would be more absorbing and mesmerising after hearing from other people. Even my hand and fingers were quite fat . How do I keep on having them ? San

[FryingMan]

Continue building dream recall, waking awareness. Pay attention to life experiences, notice the vivid details of the waking world, remember them later, and in time these qualities will move to dreams as well!

[sskohli]

Continue building dream recall, waking awareness. Pay attention to life experiences, notice the vivid details of the waking world, remember them later, and in time these qualities will move to dreams as well! Thanks Frying man, I have been doing this. But after my first experience, I will do it more attentively Thanks, Sandeep

[fogelbise]

Awesome San, congratulations!! Here's to the first of many! Did you do anything before bed or do a wake back to bed or anything (any night practices) this night? They can definitely feel more absorbing and mesmerizing.Try rubbing your hands together and saying "I'm dreaming" or some combination that comes to your mind now while awake (are you sure you're awake?!?!) and feels natural to you.

[sskohli]

Dream Journal 18 june 2016 - night Dream 1: I had gone to attend a class. When i go there some of my old school mates were there and i was like woah i have seen them after a long time (shocked but didn't become conscious) we waited for some time, the teacher didn't come so we go out. One of my friends said "u've come here after a long time, let us take you somewhere nice to eat".i nod but tell them I have become a vegetarian. They were amused, but didn't react. We went to a nice restaurant, we are discussing old times. A couple of old female classmates also come, we are chatting and are having a good time. Some waiter or someone comes, he says "Madhuri dixit (popular hindi film actress of yesteryears) is coming. We are not too excited as 1 she has become old. 2. We say something like when she had come to our school so many years ago, then we weren't excited, why should we be excited now. Then i go for a pee, while i was peeing some guy comes, carrying a bottle and trying to have a conversation with me. I try to ignore him. When i go out, i see that the bar had put expensive whiskeys on sale. I see my office mate Sudhir, taking 2 bottles and leaving in a haste. First i am tempted and try to look for black label or chivas, but cudn't find any then i say why am i buying when i have left drinking. That's it Dream 2: I have to go buy Jiana's school books. The shop is in a house. I take a detour and reach there faster. There's no light coming from the door so i assume it's closed. I looked at my watch it was just 8. I was amused, " why did they close so fast". Then the door opened and some customers were leaving. There was a lady i ask her if the shop is closed, she said "the shop is open all the time" this lady was my office admin. Then one of the customer who was leaving had a dog's nose. (Didn't wake me up ). I went inside I see my dad was there too. He was about to leave. I searched for the books on my phone? Then when i went to the other room, my dad and someone else was having trouble searching. They weren't able to choose the correct language. I teach them how. That's it.

[sskohli]

Awesome San, congratulations!! Here's to the first of many! Thanks soo much fb, Cheers! Did you do anything before bed or do a wake back to bed or anything (any night practices) this night? Haha on the contrary, I didn't do anything. I have not been drinking and had become vegetarian for about 5 months now. On this day, an ooold friend of mine had come. There was a robbery at his place and with LOTS of efforts he was finally able to catch hold of the guy and recovered the goods and money. So he was celebrating, I didn't want to play a spoil sport, so I had a couple of pegs and ate chicken. That night while sleeping, I didn't do any intentions I just slept. I woke up at about 6ish and just said, Ok I am awake now, let's have a lucid. That's all! They can definitely feel more absorbing and mesmerizing.Try rubbing your hands together and saying "I'm dreaming" or some combination that comes to your mind now while awake (are you sure you're awake?!?!) and feels natural to you. Great! looking forward for this. I will try what you have mentioned. Thanks a lot for your comments. Hope I get a few more. Really excited. Thanks, San

[fogelbise]

Thanks soo much fb, Cheers! Haha on the contrary, I didn't do anything. I have not been drinking and had become vegetarian for about 5 months now. On this day, an ooold friend of mine had come. There was a robbery at his place and with LOTS of efforts he was finally able to catch hold of the guy and recovered the goods and money. So he was celebrating, I didn't want to play a spoil sport, so I had a couple of pegs and ate chicken. That night while sleeping, I didn't do any intentions I just slept. I woke up at about 6ish and just said, Ok I am awake now, let's have a lucid. That's all! Awesome San! There are quite a few variables to achieving lucidity, but if I were to guess, your lucid dream came about because of your past day practices adding up and especially that brief awakening where you told yourself that you wanted to have a lucid. I normally have to get up and really wake my mind up more to have a high rate of success, but everyone is different and other people are able to use micro-awakenings along with the proper intent set during those awakenings to have success. Sensei calls them micro-WBTB's. You may just have that ability to use brief awakenings to LD, so it is worth experimenting with by reminding yourself to do just what you did anytime you wake up. If you stress at all about having a lucid, it could also be this releasing of the stress and not really trying that night that helped put you in a better frame of mind for lucid dreaming. For people in this scenario, we still recommend trying (doing your day and night practices) but just not stressing about it. Keep it more lighthearted, not rushed, and as fun as you can. Possibly another piece of the puzzle that helped push you into your lengthy lucid with awareness multiple times to do multiple RC's could be (this is much more of a guess) the chicken that you ate. Perhaps due to the tryptophan which is found in poultry, or some other factor of this supplement to your normal diet. I am definitely not suggesting that you go back to eating meat and I am sure that you can continue to have LD's without eating meat. Tryptophan does come in pill form but it is probably higher doses than you find in a serving of chicken and appears to be used to make you sleepy or relax. I have no experiencing taking tryptophan as a supplement but I see a few search results where people claim it is helpful to lucid dreaming. One mentioned taking 200mg but most of the supplements I saw online were in 500 or 1000mg doses which would likely knock me out for the night with perhaps less recall and maybe even could account for the LD being less mesmerizing and absorbing…perhaps the tryptophan made you relaxed enough to stay in the lucid, but too relaxed to become mesmerized by the lucid…this whole last paragraph is really just wild guesses though! The ideas in the first two paragraphs are more solid because they are factors that we see lead to success over and over again.

[sskohli]

Thanks FB! You're always detailed. I wish I can become this detailed about my responses. other people are able to use micro-awakenings along with the proper intent set during those awakenings to have success. Sensei calls them micro-WBTB's. You may just have that ability to use brief awakenings to LD, so it is worth experimenting with by reminding yourself to do just what you did anytime you wake up. I will have to check this out, never heard of it before. Should I search Dreamviews for this? If you stress at all about having a lucid, it could also be this releasing of the stress and not really trying that night that helped put you in a better frame of mind for lucid dreaming. For people in this scenario, we still recommend trying (doing your day and night practices) but just not stressing about it. Keep it more lighthearted, not rushed, and as fun as you can. I don't stress too much, it's just that before I had my first LD, I was like what's wrong with me or what am i not doing right, when everybody is having LDs . But yes, after the maiden one, I am more relaxed and now look forward to what the night/sleep would bring. could be (this is much more of a guess) the chicken that you ate I think rather than the chicken, maybe it was a change in the diet. Because before becoming a vegetarian, I was into high protein diet for quite some time. I used to eat a lot of chicken and eggs and never even had a decent dream recall (Though I never tried at that time too). I talked to another lucid dreamer, he said that if you do something out of routine, the chances of Lucidity increases. For example sleeping in a different bed or room, eating something different. Maybe it was the alcohol. He also added, if you keep on drinking or eating, again you'd fall in a routine and the lucidity can worsen. (Strange how things work I am shifting to a place near my office, so I will save on the commute time and thus could try WBTB more often . Thanks again for being so detailed and interested San