Thread: Dream Control Training Course

Hey guys. I wrote this guide a while ago, and I thought I'd share it here. You can find the original version in the Knowledge base there.
Before I begin, I would have to point out that there are links to various guides/useful topics in the other forum (this guide is meant to be used in conjunction with that material), and that's one of the reasons why I stalled a bit before posting it here. Anyway, since it's LD material, it should be permitted to do so, if quite awkward. So, one solution could be posting the important content of those in this topic aswell, or if there's any equivalent here to those guides, I'll be happy to replace the link under your suggestions. Just tell me your opinions on the matter, and enjoy the read.

With many thanks to Spider, Wyvern, moogle, Sliph for their help, suggestions and proofread.
With very special thanks to pasQuale for her help, suggestions, and for the dedication she put in providing us with such a wonderful and active site.

I'm proud to give you a warm welcome to the

Dream Control Training Course

This guide gathers most known techniques on how to keep a dream, how to keep it stable and lucid, and how to manage to get all the powers/achievements you may wish to accomplish in a dream ^^ It is quite a long read, so take it in more than one session if required; the guide is split into chapters, so you might internalize a few key concepts at a time; be sure to take the needed time to read through

Table of Contents

Dream Practice : This part is designed to guide through your first LD's and onwards, starting with the basics of keeping a dream stable, and proceeding on to growing/gaining powers, and up to modifying a dreamscape, examining it on the confidence angle.
Daily practice : This section offers exercises of various length and requirements to train the different aspects of dreaming, from lucidity to recall to confidence and beyond that.
FAQ : Your Frequently Asked Questions answered, plus some final tips.
Final Note : Just a parting advice to all you readers that made it through the guide.


Now off with the introductions, and let's begin!

DREAM PRACTICE

Here are grouped all things to do while you are effectively inside the dream, and you are already lucid. The specifics are covered in focused chapters:

• Modulate emotions
• Increase awareness and stabilize the dream: Short-term and Long-term solutions
• Power up your Conscious
• Grow your confidence
• Establish and carry out your intent, prevent your dream from fading
• Nightmares

With my best wishes for you to enjoy the read. (:

Modulate emotions

The first moments of a LD might be all a novice LD'er gets to see - might it be for the excitement, the panic of losing the LD somehow, or not managing to overcome the fear in a nightmare. As you see, it's mostly about emotions, and you will learn to control both them and yourself in these passages.

Don't panic - Of course, one can probably learn it by the first LD or so, but emotions play a very powerful role in dreams right form the beginning - and big emotions majorly so. When you realize you are dreaming, remember to stay calm - as it will allow the dream to continue.

Relax - During the first moments of lucidity, even if you didn't burst in excitement, and managed to stay put, you can still find you're pretty much hype inside, or shaken if you got lucid from a nightmare. What you need to know is, you most likely got lucid somewhere in the middle of the dream, and thus it can still go on for a long time, but you will need the right frame of mind to avoid losing lucidity or waking up altogether. So, after the first moment, take a second to notice your emotions. The dream will wait for you, the story always waits for the protagonist. Knowing what you feel, it will be much easier to you to get a stable hold of yourself.

Take deep breaths - Now to get a peaceful state of mind, stable foundations from which your dream can become pretty much anything. (If you allow feelings to pass unnoticed, they could later modify the dream and divert your attention - troubling your lucidity.) Take deep breaths, accompanied by mantras of your choice, like "I'm calm" or "I control my emotions", or a yogic mantra if you are practiced with those. If you know any on-the-spot relaxation technique, they all work pretty well.

Be aware of your dream body - Your dream body is one of the most stable elements in your dreams, as is the most powerful representation of ourselves we possess IWL, so getting to be aware of it can keep one pretty stable into a dream. Get to feel your positions, your senses (explained in another point), your movements, and if you can't manage, then move around a little, bump into things, force experiences to happen! Streams of information from the dream is what keeps you inside, so get it flowing.

Keep anchored to the dream world - During the whole process, it's important to keep contact with the dream world, as it keeps us informed of his changes (so you might prevent loss of lucidity) and prevents us from losing the dream state and waking up. This can be easily done by keeping your eyes open, keeping contact with your surroundings by any means you can think of (touch is often used). More explanation on this will come later in the guide. This is also a great way to stay in the dream if you find your eyes closing: just keep listening, grab something (even your clothes) and feel textures, until your sight comes again (remember that it's not necessary at all for the dream eyes to open, you can just visualize something, even a entirely new scene ^^)

Take it easy - Always remember, if you fear the LD will somehow end (because of either reason, lucidity loss or awakening), it will be that fear to end your LD, and not at all the thing you're fearing. Experienced LD'ers learn to take it easy, because being confident in their abilities is often all it takes for one to make it going the way they desire. If anything, it's a dream we're talking about This can be brought to the point of continuing what you were doing upon the realization, to let the transition into lucidity be completely painless for the dream scene, and more gradual, so to avoid bursts of emotions.

Slow down - While doing all this, if you often find yourself losing lucidity instead, you might want to stop what you were doing before you gained lucidity, as you will probably need some concentration the first times to maintain the lucid state. If you are in a nightmare, you could not have the material time to perform all this; however, nightmares often produce spontaneously a higher kind of lucidity, so you might not need most of the modulating practice for those. Nightmares are problems waiting to be solved, and will surely keep you in - since now you can actually be of some help in resolving the issue.

Tips

- If you possess any technique IRL which you use to focus, relax and/or concentrate, you can use that one instead, as it will surely have the same effect in dreams, if not more.

- I know, you are saying right now "But this is enormous! Must I waste minutes of my precious dream every single time i get lucid?" Well, luckily for you, the answer is no: you can indeed learn to modulate your emotions, as well as get any part of the preliminary moments to a LD done, much, much faster, with outside-the-dream practice, that is, while awake. But there is an appropriate chapter for the details.

Increase awareness and stabilize the dream

Congratulations! The first part was easy, but now it's only downhill from here ^^
Now that you're in control of yourself, you might or might not experience different kinds of problems, from inability to focus your eyesight, lack of sensory input of different kinds, to still having doubts about the dreamstate. This are related one to the another, as faces of the same problem: lack of awareness of the dreamstate - and as such, they can all be fixed with the same techniques.

SHORT-TERM solutions: These are quick, short-term solutions to increase your dream awareness: most of them are collected into Sandra's "Prolonging Lucid Dreams", but there are some less known that might work for you:

Falling backwards - it works on the same principle as the spinning tech: it alerts your (dream) body, activates the equilibrium centers, gets you more alert and aware of yourself by auto; only, if you're afraid you might hurt your head, remember that you can't be hurt in dreams if you don't want, and even if you do, it's all harmless really ;p

Looking at your hands - many find this a efficient method to refocus your awareness and intent. Coupled with autosuggestion induction "I will look at my hands in dreams", looking at your hands can become pretty much all you need to do to both get AND keep a LD.

Eye movement - Moving your eyes in any pattern, will it be circular, left-right, or random, while having a look at what you're seeing, makes you more aware of the surroundings, and alerts equilibrium centers; it is even a form of psychotherapy (EMDR, used to recall forgotten past events, mostly), so its power is already widely demonstrated.

Jumping jacks - This aerobic exercise has been found by some as a great method to become more focused on the whole dream body, bringing more lucidity forth. It also brings up renewed excitement.

Adjusting dream properties - Some visualize knobs that influence some dream properties, like focus or color, or even lucidity itself, and play with them. Just imagining of having one in front of you and moving your hand accordingly can do the trick Plus it can really work with everything, so feel free to experiment.

Putting on your glasses - For you glass users, there is an obvious solution to clear the blurriness out of the dream - putting on your glasses ^^ or cleaning them, if you find them already on yourself. Just imagine them in your pocket, or clean them with your t-shirt, and see the difference for yourself |)

Engage more senses - A general idea consists in focusing more on the dream world by taking in multiple kinds of experiences at one, and this can be easily done by using more than one sense. Try to also hear your surroundings, touch or smell anything nearby, or even lick it! Try to feel the details of what you're experiencing, the subtle textures, be engaged in the act, try with different objects, keep trying to get the most out of any encounter throughout the dream: it also allows for enhanced DR and a more full experience all-around.

The cure-all: asking - In a way, it's you who is creating the dream around you, so your requests for some change in the dream properties will be very probably answered: you can either think a request, ask in a normal voice, or shout it with full voice: the choice is up to you and how you feel at the moment (if you feel groggy, for example, you might want to get some energy circling by shouting; if you are peaceful, you might only talk instead, as there is no need to force anything). The request can be pretty much anything, form "Increase lucidity" to "Increase focus" to "I want to stay in the dream", to the point the possibilities of this tech go beyond the simple stabilization: you can really ask for anything, ranging from "Show me something amazing!" to "I want to meet X" to "I want to go to Y" to "Show me how Z is done", it's completely up to you. Just be confident in the results, and they will come.


LONG-TERM solutions: If you think you have some more time, which you probably have , you can experiment with longer, more effective solutions, that work better in the long run, and can even pile up permanently if you wish so.

The most famous: the lucid pill - Put your hands into your pocket: do you feel something? Pull it out: it's a small pill, of the color you prefer, and it's got some neat properties: it can skyrocket your lucidity for the entire duration of the dream, or if you prefer, it can even extend its properties to other dreams, permanently, making you more lucid every time you realize it's a dream!

This is a quite common scenario, using a pill for enhancing your lucidity, but it is very flexible in all its properties: the "pill" can become any kind of aliment, or medication, or even a fluid in a syringe in extreme scenarios; the effects can range from any kind of lucidity increase, with durations variations, to any kind of dream property, to any power development, both IRL and in dreams (IE. it can power up your flying abilities, or your skill with a skateboard). Whichever it works or not, like any other thing in a dream, it's completely up to you, and your confidence in the process. To boost it, you can pretend it's made from some respectable source (IE. the lucidity institute, or some professional LD'er), and even contact this source beforehand to reinforce the whole belief construct.

Looking for dreamsigns - Start looking around, and find all incongruities that you can find; learn how do you feel exactly, and treasure that feeling (could be of pure joy and relaxation, to feeling weird, to being a little confused or feeling a little distorted); learn how a dream looks and feels like, so it will be much more easier to recognize it by these signs later in the same dream, or even in other dreams, opening up to faster and better lucidity in later sessions.

Undressing - Getting your jacket, your sweater, or your shoes off forces you to get a more complete idea of your dream body, and its awareness can thus become much easier to maintain. A more extreme option is getting naked, or undressing in any high percentage, and while it might sound extreme, it has its advantages: you are now completely self-aware, and that sensation will surely be a whole lot harder to shake off; it allows for more sense interaction with the dreamworld (like feeling the cold wind in your chest), always a good thing, plus it opens up interesting conversation options with dream characters :p And not only that, another reason why it's so effective is that it distances WL from your dream, as you wouldn't go parading around in public naked (typically). You're also claiming the dream. "This is my dream, I can do what I want." Reinforcing the dream = better control and lucidity.
The original idea was laid down by Wyvern, in his "Get naked" topic.

Calling for help - Ask and you will be given, a good man once said, and dreams is one of the places where it is intuitively more so. You invoke the aid of a certain character - be it your SC, your DG, your SG, any advanced dreamer, any celebrity (Jackie Chan, Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin, Rock Lee from Naruto, you name it) - to accompany you in that dream. Be sure to call someone you believe in, of which the friendliness you have never doubted, and that you think it possesses the power to effectively help you. It will make a nice acquaintance nonetheless. Have a nice chat |)

Power up your Conscious

This is an optional step; you are free to skip this part if you aim for the basic enjoyment of a LD. However, you may wish for some higher form of lucidity, like the power to manipulate the dreamscape, or developing any particular ability, and for this, you might need more presence of mind.

You might recall there you felt strangely in dreams, feeling completely separated form reality, being unable to remember details of real life, or to rationalize properly, like your mind was cushioned in cotton wool. This is because the conscious, rationalizing, left-hemisphere part of the brain is toned down during the night, leaving room to the creative, subconscious, right-hemisphere part. In order to get your conscious back to full power, and gaining thus more power over the dream, you might need some exercises.

Remembering your real-life details - Try to remember what your name is, where do you live, try to guess what time it is, what is your parents' age, etc.; but keep an eye on the wandering mind, remember yourself it's a dream, and keep consciousness of the dreamscape! ;p

Math - It can range from simple additions and subtractions, to anything onward - powers, factorization, geometry, even theorems and proofs. As you probably guessed, more complicated operations bring clearer states of mind, and clearer states of mind allow for even more complicated operations.

Singing a song - Remember a song you like, or make one on the spot (it's easier than you may think); sing it in your mind, or out loud, or make someone play it for you (ranging from a friend, to a tape recorder, to your personal orchestra). It allows for more emotional participation than mere facts recollection or math, thus is more enjoyable, and enjoyable things are always more effective.

Recite some poetry - If you have a flair for it, a piece of poetry can work just like a song; always remember to pick a happy/powerful one, preferably, and one that is dear to you, most importantly. It also applies that you can make one on the spot: it can also make for great art once you remember and write it down IWL ^^

Claim the dream - This dream is yours, state it, believe it, feel it. It is entirely made from yourself, the clothes you're feeling on your skin, the faces you're meeting, the forest and mountains you see in the distance, the music you're hearing now. It's all made by you, take time to realize.
The human mind is a powerful thing, isn't it?
And if you're doing all this at once, it should be an easy enough tasks to add a few modifications to the whole thing, shouldn't it? Afterall, you can see in the eye of your mind a fireball springing from your hand and being thrown, so it is very possible to bring it into existence here, just like you can normally visualize a tree, and that tree is standing right in front of you, in the dream, during this very moment. What's the difference, really? You are seeing its leaves, touching its bark, hearing its rustling, and let me tell you this, it's actually amazing, how we can bring this sort of realism up in a fictional world, every night, for any and every object.
In the same way, you can you can feel the heat in your hands, hear the roaring of the flames, see the flash of light that draws a line in the air. If dreams are a sensory illusion, why would a particular sensory experience be more difficult to you than another? You are in charge of this dream aferall, so it's up to you to decide what to bring up.

Grow your confidence

Believing you can is really the panacea for anything you might want to do in a dream, thus it deserves its own section in this guide.
The basis of this section is, dreams are heavily influenced by your thought and emotion, because all is taking place in the same mind. So, by learning to control your emotion, stay and think positive, it will be much, much easier to keep the dream under control and make it steer in the desired direction.

Imagination is the real power in dreams: trying to lift a heavy object by brute force will rarely take you anywhere, as you are losing focus and imagining there will be some resistance, like the weight, that keeps the object down. Instead, imagining of having superpowers, or the object being weightless, will work much better. Seeing yourself succeeding before attempting will almost result in a even higher rate of success.

What I'm trying to say is, how can brute (and fictional) strength take you anywhere in a world completely made of fantasy? Dreams are the realm of the mind, and thus it must be the mind to accomplish feats, not the body (not even the dream body, as it is a representation to you of the real one). Next time you must do something, relax your body, and use your imagination instead: by visualizing how the process will be, you are already putting it into (dream) reality, as the mind is actively working towards the visualization. Get engaged with your senses, with your emotion, make it feel as real as possible for you, and it will actually become real, as you actually are in the realm of your imagination. (I really can't stress it enough)

Chances of success can be boosted up a tremendous amount by starting with something more familiar to you, or in which you already have put confidence. It can range from a jetpack to fly for the tech lovers, to a potion made from a friend you trust, to dancing side by side with the best dancer you know. Just invoke the aid for something or someone that you think it will make things easier, and it will. After that, you are free to continue using the aid or realizing it was you all along and acknowledging it as your own power.

Tips

- Always, always remember to take it easy. Getting mad at things will bring you absolutely nowhere. Take some deep breaths instead, think positive, and think of an alternate way of doing the task at hand: it won't be long before you think of another one

- If you still find difficulties, then get some help! It can come by any mean, from dream guides of any sort (already described in the long-term solutions), to instruments with magical properties, either single-use or not, to anything you feel it might help really. And go forward little by little: do something that feels easy for you first, then grow in boldness, and reach for the stars, and beyond them! As long as you think it is possible, it will be indeed.