Dowminator's Workbook

[dowminator]

Hi! I'm Dowminator. I'm currently 24 years old and have started my interest in lucid dreaming around 2013. After the first few months I had my first LD. after that I had a great period where I would get around 1 LD every week. This has changed in the last few months/year however. It has now been over a year since I had my last full blown LD experience, in May 2015. since then I've had random lucid snippets at random intervals but very rarely. The problem I think is that i have stopped putting effort into it. I do write in my dream journal as much as possible. and my dream recall is quite good. however I stopped doing Reality Checks, stopped using techniques and only sometimes 'try' to achieve a LD. I've started this workbook as I've never really lost the interest to LD. but it is high time I get myself back into the wonderful LD universe to really master it!

[fogelbise]

Welcome Dowminator! I think we all go through periods where we stop putting in the effort. The trick is to notice when you are stopping or slowing down significantly and find something to freshen up your approach, something to keep the "work" interesting and engaging. It will take some additional components besides recall, likely the same ones you were doing before, to get you back to regular LD's. What did you day and night work consist of? Do you have anything that you are dying to do in your next LD, something that you can make into a goal?

[dowminator]

During my golden time I did RC's during the day. I would also read a lot about lucid dreaming in general. in the evening I would read about it and do a sort of ritual: I lay down and start relaxing my body by first tensing my muscles and then relaxing them. after that I would say to my self "I am dreaming" and "this is a dream" until I fell asleep. if I were to awaken during the night I would also try to do a WILD, which always failed, but it often led to DILD's afterwards. also my sleep schedule was a bit more strict and I did go to sleep earlier then I do now. I found that most of my LD's happened if I slept more than 8 hours. The only problem I have with that now is that I work in shifts now. so one week I work early, the next late. so it's pretty much impossible to go to sleep at the same hour every day. also getting the same amount of sleep is not always possible since I have some hobbies in the evening that cause me to lose 2 hours of sleep at least when i work early. OK so now I have set my goals like this: - get 8 hours of sleep a day, or as much as possible - do RC's during the day - nose plug works best for me - where am I, how did I get here, How long have I been here. those 3 questions when I do a RC. - try to remember and note at least one decent dream per night. - work on a technique for 2-3 weeks before I switch to another. - get a LD, and in that LD feel the environment, use as much of my senses to feel the dream world again. - I'm dying to get into flying again in a LD. and not liek before where I would get black vision or wake up when I was just beginning. OK. so now a little update on my progress yesterday: I went to bed a bit late, as my girlfriend was over. I had around 7 hours of sleep. I also did my matra for a while when i went to bead, and read my previous dreams. during the night I woke up after 3:45 hours, I had planned a WBTB at 4:30 hrs of sleep. went for a drink and the bathroom. tried to say my mantra but fell asleep very quickly. - I had 4 dreams this night which were nice and not that short.

[dowminator]

ok, so last night I went for 8 hours of sleep and woke up a few times: - 22:15 - 22:54 - no dreams - 23:00 - 03:00 - one dream, a little foggy but rememberd some good chunks - 03:00 - 06:15 - 2 dreams, on ejust a fragment, the other some larger chunks and also linked to the first dream of the night. During the 2 times I woke up I did my mantra until I drifted off. - I'm dreaming - I dream Lucid - next time i'm dreaming I will become aware No lucid dreams yet. today I will continue to do my RC's and really focus when doing so, really believe I could be in a dream right now, with that 'gut feeling'

[fogelbise]

During my golden time I did RC's during the day. I would also read a lot about lucid dreaming in general. in the evening I would read about it and do a sort of ritual: I lay down and start relaxing my body by first tensing my muscles and then relaxing them. after that I would say to my self "I am dreaming" and "this is a dream" until I fell asleep. if I were to awaken during the night I would also try to do a WILD, which always failed, but it often led to DILD's afterwards. This sounds good. SSILD may be a good thing for you to try. It can produce WILDs, but like your experience it often leads to DILD's which are great! I primarily use it for DILD's unless I'm really motivated to attempt a WILD. OK so now I have set my goals like this: - get 8 hours of sleep a day, or as much as possible - do RC's during the day - nose plug works best for me - where am I, how did I get here, How long have I been here. those 3 questions when I do a RC. - try to remember and note at least one decent dream per night. - work on a technique for 2-3 weeks before I switch to another. - get a LD, and in that LD feel the environment, use as much of my senses to feel the dream world again. - I'm dying to get into flying again in a LD. and not liek before where I would get black vision or wake up when I was just beginning. These sound good! I would say for a proven technique like SSILD (many successful uses by myself and many different people), give it at least a month though, to see if it is right for you. Flying, yes! Please take a look at this: http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...-read-imo.html Once you've read the link above, perhaps you can get excited substantially, propelling you to stay diligent with your day and night practices. OK. so now a little update on my progress yesterday: I went to bed a bit late, as my girlfriend was over. I had around 7 hours of sleep. I also did my matra for a while when i went to bead, and read my previous dreams. during the night I woke up after 3:45 hours, I had planned a WBTB at 4:30 hrs of sleep. went for a drink and the bathroom. tried to say my mantra but fell asleep very quickly. I normally have to stay up a good 20 minutes or more to wake up enough for a successful WBTB, but experiment with what works for you. I'm guessing that you already know this, but that night you must not have woken up enough since you fell asleep very quickly. During the 2 times I woke up I did my mantra until I drifted off. - I'm dreaming - I dream Lucid - next time i'm dreaming I will become aware No lucid dreams yet. today I will continue to do my RC's and really focus when doing so, really believe I could be in a dream right now, with that 'gut feeling' Your mantra or affirmations may have a few too many words. You might consider simplifying it unless it really feels right for you. On your RC's: that sounds like a great way to do it. I also like to visualize realizing that it is a dream and what I will do next (your flying goals ++) and get excited about it. This is only a suggestion and something that even I forget: 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.

[dowminator]

thanks for the input! I remember SSILD from the past. gonna give that a go again for some time. also I need to stay up longer I think as I pretty much black out as soon as I lay down during my WBTB. this weekend was a bit of cheat weekend as I was on a City trip. did not really write in my dream journal or did many RC'. I did get a good number of dreams though.

[fogelbise]

thanks for the input! I remember SSILD from the past. gonna give that a go again for some time. also I need to stay up longer I think as I pretty much black out as soon as I lay down during my WBTB. this weekend was a bit of cheat weekend as I was on a City trip. did not really write in my dream journal or did many RC'. I did get a good number of dreams though. -You're welcome - SSILD is very effective for me and I've seen a good number of people have regular success from it. Yes, you have the right idea there experimenting with how long to stay up. Everyone is different, but I need at least 20 minutes to get above ~50% success and seemingly 30-40 minutes to push that up to ~80%+. That may be way too long for some people though, so we all have to experiment. -I think we all have weekends like that. The important thing is to not stop completely and find ways to make it fun and get back to your practices after a trip. I need to freshen up my approach periodically to keep my day practices and night practices at a sufficient level to have regular LD's. The last time around (just a week or so ago) I went back to an previous state check/visualization I have always like and paired with some new goals that got me excited.

[dowminator]

last night I gave SSILD a try, woke up after 2,5hrs of sleep. stayed awake for around 10 minutes. went and tried it until I drifted off. SSILD it self felt weird, especially the part where you focus on hearing. the tinnitus became louder and louder. then afterwards my dreams were very weird. I don't remember a great bit of details. except for the weird feeling. like I was floating in between awake and dreaming. very weird. I'm gonna stick witch SSILD for a while to see where it leads.

[fogelbise]

last night I gave SSILD a try, woke up after 2,5hrs of sleep. stayed awake for around 10 minutes. went and tried it until I drifted off. SSILD It's good to hear that you tried it out. How many sets of cycles do you think that you got through? 2.5 hours is too early for most people. Generally, 4.5 to 6 hours is recommended, but everyone is different. Do you know if your sleep cycles are fairly normal (more dreams and they're more clear during the 2nd half of your sleep period, and approximately 90 minutes per sleep cycle)? it self felt weird, especially the part where you focus on hearing. the tinnitus became louder and louder. That is a great sign that you are falling asleep, but try not to think about that too much. Instead, passively notice that the sound is there (when you are on the auditory cycle). then afterwards my dreams were very weird. I don't remember a great bit of details. except for the weird feeling. like I was floating in between awake and dreaming. very weird. If I am understanding you correctly, this is helpful. This in between state can help you to feel the transition into the dream, but again you don't want to think this but you should instead just stay patient perhaps doing another set of cycles to keep your mind on something else and keep you from getting too excited about any transition. I only ocassionally experience the transition. I usually just fall asleep carrying extra awareness into my dreams and often get a DILD. I sometimes will think I am awake but already be asleep and just on the verge or REM and start to do a cycle and all of the sudden find myself inside a dream. It takes a while to figure out how to do it in a way that will work for you personally. I'm gonna stick witch SSILD for a while to see where it leads. I think this will work for you based on your result above. Again, just give it weeks of experimentation.

[dowminator]

update since last time: I've had 2 lucids again since I started practicing again. the most important factor for me seems to be the right amout of sleep. as both of them occured after more than 8 hours of sleep. They were not that special but it was a nice feeling to be back in to the dream realm. Gonna try to get at least a day or 2 a week of enough sleep.

[fogelbise]

Congratulations! Welcome back to the dream realm. Yes, a proper amount of sleep is very important indeed. WBTB, though not required, can be a tremendous boost to inducing lucid dreams as well as bringing a higher level of lucidity into them which can help to extend them and give you the opportunity to make them more special.