Thel's workbook

Hello there! Im so glad to have found this class! I have been studying dream yoga for a few years, and i really wanted to explore the boundaries of lucid dreaming, as i personally think every answer can be found there! Sadly, most, if not all of the dream yoga schools, and mine to, tend to see the void as the final goal, so they dont really focus on anything beyond that point (even tho it feels a bit lonely and cold when you are there, if you ask me :blue:) Thats why im so happy to see a teacher like you, Sivason! Im sure that this class will be very helpful, thank you so much!

Well, I apologize for the emotional introduction:content:Im new to the forum, and have created my account just a few hours ago! I even thought about PMing you instantly with questions before realizing what i was doing btw. I already had a progress journal for two years now, so it wouldnt be a problem to post here too! As i said im pretty experienced now, but ill start with the first lessons, obviously. There is always room for improvement ( i would be lying if i say im not excited to practice the harder ones, too)
I probably forgot something important to say or do, like posting somewhere before creating the workbook please tell me if i did:chuckle:

1 day here! Thats what i did yesterday. I added the two first meditation to my normal routine, i normally do two meditations each day, in which i try to daydream and get as deep as possible without losing awareness of a mantra or something in the "waking world" (im sorry if this term isnt correct here)
So after it i did the meditations of the lessons. As usual i can be aware of 6 sounds at first, and i need to find the correct order of adding the sounds and do it veery slowly for about an hour to be able to add the seventh one for a few seconds (i was expecting two years of a bit more difficult meditations may have improved the results a little, but it didnt happen:blue:) I also tried to maintain the awareness while walking, but the results dont qualify because (as i realized later) the student isnt supposed to give up awareness on everything else, as diffuse vision and energy management are taught after, so ill try again without doing these today. For the lesson 2, i can say im pretty good as my preparation for sleep and during WBTB is doing this exact exercise. I can maintain awareness or everything i can perceive, but ill try to find more things to feel as theres probably a lot im still missing. I will do these two lessons till I find at least a litte improvement in each. Apologies in advance, im probably moving on the next lessons without being able to maintain 8 sounds, as im sure it would take me many years to get to that level:roll: As for the class, i found it amazing and really enjoyable! Cant wait to see more of it!

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Originally Posted by thel

Apologies in advance, im probably moving on the next lessons without being able to maintain 8 sounds, as im sure it would take me many years to get to that level:roll: As for the class, i found it amazing and really enjoyable! Cant wait to see more of it!

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LOL! 35 years and I can not maintain 8 sounds. If you get there in two years that is more than awesome.

Day two! Im posting everyday because im used to it as i already kept a personal progress journal for almost a year now. Please tell me if this isnt correct! I repeated the sound practice as yesterday, with the same results. Yeah, it took me 6 years to be able to get 7 sounds for 3 seconds or so, and i think probably at least half a life is necessary for getting to 8! I always tried to figure out some sort of different approach te get it, but it seems theres no way around after all ;(. As for walking, im able to maintain 2 sounds with a normal vision and body awareness, with a little bit left to barely notice other sounds without losing awareness of vision/body. I think im doing this till i can be a little more aware of the rest of the sounds. On the touch meditation, i really wasnt able to find any other sensation to add, so i focused on maintainig awareness of everything, which i did pretty well! I would like to know your thoughts on something, tho. Its a sort of technique my yoga teacher used to do to maintain awareness of many things: he would give each thing a name and visualize them as a group of individual "balls" Then, the idea was to let the balls order without influencing, and make two groups, be aware of one, then, the other for a while, and then try to fold them into one. His idea was that the mind would be trucked into thinking theres only two or one sound to be aware of, for example, and then it would be easy to do it. This given, on practice he was only able to do it with 4 to 6 things, so it wouldnt be useful for the sound practice, but it may be for being aware of other things. (Obviously, i have never even tried as i know its impossible for me, at the time being at least)

It sounds like logic they use in developing memory. If I want to remember 12 digits,say: 537973223745 this is overwhelming for easy memory. I think the limit is around 7 digits. What they do is break the numbers like this: 537, 973, 223, 745. You view 537 as one number five hundred and thirty seven not as 3 digits. Your mind can accept 537 as actually only one digit or number. You repeat each set of three as a single number, then commit the 4 numbers to memory. Your brain can easily remember 4 numbers and it is no longer a challenge.
In our case you are looking to strain the brain as if it were a muscle. It should involve discomfort and be a struggle in order to cause new neural pathways to develop. Sotricks to increase how many noises and such are not useful as the number is not relevant. It is the pushing and straining that we are looking for.

Thank you for the explanation!
Yesterday and today i repeated the sound meditation, and tried to maintain a clear view while being aware of the sounds, focusing specially on the footsteps and the traffic. It was still diffuse but it can be improved in a while i think. I tried to figure out any new feeling or sensation for the touch meditation and decided to add a mantra to repeat, i chose a simple one, "wish", which has a clear lucid dreaming goal for me and is the one i use most of the time. I think it would be a pretty good improvement on the meditation if i can get to the point of not forgetting the mantra while being full aware of the body. Also, in a few days ill also try to get better at diffuse vision, the exercise of wathing a movie is a very interesting one!

For the last two days, i think i have improved a little bit with the vision while being aware of the two sounds while walking. Not a big gap but in a few more days i may start to see a bit clearer. Im doing the standard sound meditation daily anyway because it helps me focus for the walking one, even knowing that the progress on it will be reaaally slow:chuckle: For the touch exercise, im more aware of the mantra, but im still forgetting it or losing awareness om my body most of the time. I do think it will be easier than the sound practice tho. Im doing the diffuse vision exercise tomorrow, i need to choose a film to watch right away!

On these days i keot doing the sound awareness and the touch awareness exercises. I saw a bit of improvement on both, i was able to see clearer while walking maintaining the two sounds, and i maintained awarfeness of the mantra for longer periods of time. It really helped to synchronize the mantra with my breathing, as it made it easier to keep on focus. Im giving these two a week or so to get better at them. I was able to watch 10 mins of the movie without turning into tunnel vision, but i noticed some muscle movement of the eyes at times, so ill try to relax the eyes more.

I have sensed a little progress. Im close to seeing things a bit more like normal. I was able to complete the 10 mins of the movie with very little "eye protests", so i will try the next lesson tomorrow! On the touch meditation, im trying to change the mantra to a longer one so i can focus on it on inhalation and exhalation. Im still searching for one :( Do you have any tips to find a good mantra? It would help a lot:D

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Originally Posted by thel

im trying to change the mantra to a longer one so i can focus on it on inhalation and exhalation. Im still searching for one :( Do you have any tips to find a good mantra? It would help a lot:D

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I want you to feel the very subtle things that "intoning" certain sounds causes you to experience. This is because you want to become far more aware than most humans through practice and development of new neural pathways. the thing is any vibrating tone you can explore intonation (rising and falling of something like the voice at a certain key or a tuned guitar string). I find making up words or slowly vibrating syllables of existing words.
Example: I had a dream where I called out to some entity in a mantra/ vibration way "All- Lee-Rash-Aa" like a Arab name Allie Rasha, It sounded powerful and cool with 3 different vowel sounds I could play with.
I would suggest having fun with it and letting me know if you find any that you enjoy.

I got close to zero progress on these days :(. Im stressed for finishing a project and running out of time, i even had a nonLD where i was working on it and i had to repeat everything when i woke up, wanting to kill myself for a while:lol:. Im finishing it today (hopefully) so ill have more time. I only practiced the sound meditation when i went outside, and it didnt went very well sadly. I also spent some time trying to figure out a mantra, and found that some combinations of vocals, like a-o or o-u felt a bit more pleasant. Gemstones have a really deep meaning to me, so i tried to find some related words with these sounds. The final thing is translated more or less as "opals, gems, diamonds, shrapnel" (ኦፓሎስ የከበሩ ድንጋዮች አልማዞች ሽሮ) Ill try it tonight, saying the first part on the inhalation and the second in the exhalation, and see if it makes it easier to maintain while being aware of the body sensations. Ill also post it in the mantra thread if it seems to work with a bit of the story behind it. Im also going to go into the next lesson, the "mixing it up", cant wait to try it!

I have had some improvement:D I finished the project and started using the mantra for 5 days, and here are the results. First of all, i think i got to a good spot on the sound practice, as im able to see more or less like normal while practicing it. I completed lv 2 of the third lesson and ill begin lv 3 today. About the mantra, it appears to be really strong, maybe too much; It made me less aware of touch sensations at first and on the first night, when trying WILD, the mantra got me across the process when i stopped feeling my body. But when the dream began, i couldnt expel it from my mind, it kept repeating. i tried to ignore it but it was very overwhelming. The dream itself was a cave full of gems, btw. It was in my head even the day after, until i meditated after work. The next night i tried to repeat it adding some time between each repetition, but i ended up falling asleep. Im still triyng to get to an equilbrium, but its very hard:laughtillhurts: Ill try for a few more days and see what happens.

i managed to complete the lv 3 on the mixed practice. im actually doing the wandering mind recall and the be here now practices. I have incorporated the mantra to my night routine as it seems to have a more equilibrate influence. I wouldnt reccomend it as its meaning is very personal and it may work differently on other people. Ill stick to this meditation routine for a 2 weeks and then decide to change something based on the results. the lessons are getting even more interesting, thank you for the class!:D

Everything is going well here. I experienced some interesting progress in the wandering mind recall by imagining turning off an interruptor of "thoughts", which helped a bit on the exercise. i have also successfully incorporated the mantra to my wild attempts. It helps me get trough the "travel" more frequently, but it causes problems within the dream as i normally enter with less awareness/lucidity, i cant focus on stabilizing when the mantra is still there and erasing the mantra in that state is very hard. May I ask if keeping the mantra is a good option to take? The wild success has improved from 13% (207 attempts) to 25% (4 of 16 since I started), but it carries the problem I mentioned. :huh:

Wow! A 25% WILD rate is very good! S far as using a mantra it is definitely my go to method. It may not be the same for everyone. It is good that the mantra continued into your dream. The goal for that is to have the mantra repeat when you are asleep and then it causes you to become aware while asleep.

I have been doing the be here now and the wandering mind recall practices for about 15 mins each. Ill step into the visualization training tomorrow as im really looking forward to improve my visualization skills, as important as they are for lucid dreaming. I kept the mantra but im still unable to ignore it within the dream in the 2 successful wild attempts i had in the past two weeks. I hope this thing can be solved with practice anyway, so it should be a matter of time.