lumiina's Workbook

This workbook has been retired since all of the required homework assignments have been completed. Happy Dreaming!

Reality Checks:
- Thumb/palm
- Gravity
- Waving hand in front of vision
- Reading/Checking Clocks

Dream Signs:
- Experiencing paralysis
- Sleeping, trying to wake up, yet being able to see things around me
- Extreme fear
- Intruder
- Husband comes home early
- Television characters/celebrities
- High school/University/Japanese Camp
- Driving
- Parking lot
- Late for something/Missed something I was supposed to go to
- 3rd person perspective
- 1st person perspective of someone that's not me
- I'm not in the dream
- Being inside a video game
- Public restroom
- Aquatic animals
- Grandfather (deceased)

Short-Term Goals:
- Levitate/fly in a dream
- Talk to a dream character/Befriend a reoccurring dream character
- Record a song that I hear in my dreams
- Confront the intruder in my reoccurring false awakening dream

Long-Term Goals:
- Cultivate my dream control
- Figure out the connection between the immersion method for acquiring a language and non-lucid/lucid dreaming
- Overcome my fear of not being able to wake up in a scary dream

Lucid/Dream Recall History:
- I vividly remember having a lucid dream, perhaps my first one, when I was younger. I was being chased around my parents' house by someone who wanted to kill me. I realized I was dreaming and closed my eyes and told myself to wake up. I was probably in junior high at the time.
- Years ago I heard of lucid dreaming and wanted to try it myself. The first time I was able to induce a lucid dream was through DILD. But I remember being so scared because of having very little control, I never tried it again.
- My most common lucid dreams are either triggered by sleep paralysis or false awakenings.
- Saturday is my best day for recall. I usually wake up early because of my weekday routine, and then go back to bed and remember my dreams when I wake up naturally.
- Started a dream journal, couldn't remember any of my dreams since I started it, until Saturday came around. I woke up and remembered music from a dream, wrote it down in my journal, then went back to bed and woke up remembering three dreams.
- 02/23/2014 First MILD
- 03/10/2014 Second MILD, achieved dream plan of flying, talked to a dream character, attempted task of the month
- 03/28/2014 Third MILD, achieved dream plan of talking to a DC in Japanese
- 05/20/2014 Fourth MILD, achieved dream plan of telekinesis, accomplished task of the month
- 07/05/2014 Second WILD, first time a WILD has been exciting and pleasant for me as opposed to scary from lack of control
- 07/18/2014 DILD, achieved dream plan of going to my mother-in-law's in Japan, lost lucidity at my mother-in-law's

Current Techniques:
- MILD after WBTB
- WILD

Lesson One

Homework Checklist
[x] Start your own workbook thread in this subforum.
[x] Start a Dream Journal and record each dream.
[x] Establish a night-time routine (Include reading your dream journal, making sure to leave your DJ open to a blank page for quicker dictations).
[x] Write a list for why you want to lucid dream (for motivation), and plan out what you want to do in your next lucid dream.
[x] Do reality checks whenever you experience something weird throughout the day, and list it in your workbook.
[x] Record the times that you naturally go to bed and wake-up, and list it in your workbook.

OPTIONAL
[x] DreamViews Dream Journal
[x] Dream Snippets Thread
[x] Lesson III awareness
[x] Listing reoccurring elements in my dream journal

Night Time Routine
- Take memos on the things I want to do/don't want to forget and put the thoughts aside for tomorrow
- Dream journal opened to blank page every night
- Repeat my mantra for the night, visualize my target dream, then clear my mind and fall asleep, repeat if WBTB
- If I wake up in the night, write down any details I remember from any dreams into my dream journal

Natural Sleep/Wake-up Times
- Fall Asleep: 11:30pm to 12:30pm
- Natural WBTB: 12:30am to 1:30am; 3:30am to 4:30am
- Awake: 6:30am to 7am
- Sleeping In: weekdays until 8am to 9am; weekends until 10am to 11am

Motivation List
- Overcome my fear of not being able to wake up in a scary dream
- Have an outlet to express my creativity
- Learn more about how the brain works
- Learn how amazing God's creations are through exploring how creative the brain is through the dreams it creates and the capability of lucid dreaming
- No longer dread falling asleep
- Deal with the obsessions caused by my OCD through exploring my dreams
- Be on a consistent and healthy sleep routine

Lucid Dream Plans
[x] Fly in a grassy field
[x] Talk to a DC in Japanese
[x] Telekinesis
[x] Visit my mother-in-law's house in Japan

First Lucid Dream Plan Attempt 2/23/14

Dream occurred between 4:40am and 6:02am.

I realized I was dreaming in a FA and did a thumb/palm RC. The setting is my apartment. I'm excited and attempt to fly in the building next to my bed, but each jump only leads to a little floating, no flying.

This leads me to the conclusion that if I become lucid indoors, I should look for a portal to go outdoors so that I can practice flying in a bigger space.

Lesson Two

Homework Checklist
[x] Study up on all of the induction techniques listed here and find one that suits you.
[x] Continue to post all of your experiences, even failed ones, into your workbook.
[x] Practice your chosen induction technique for at least 2 weeks (although longer is preferred) before changing it to something else or ruling out that it's not working.

OPTIONAL
[x] If possible, it is highly advised to include WBTB into your routine.
[x] Discuss your chosen technique with the teachers by posting in your workbook. There are lots of ways to go about each technique, we will be able help you find a method that suits you!
[x] Choose a second (and possibly third) induction technique that compliments your first. For example, if you chose DILD you will also be able to perform WILD.

MILD/WBTB history
2/22/14 6:15am
- Used mantras 夢を見ています (I am dreaming) すごい夢を見ています (I am dreaming an awesome dream) うれしい気持ち (happy feelings).
- Did not become lucid.
- However, did recall up to three dreams after WBTB and MILD
2/23/14 3:33am
- Recalled one non-lucid dream without using any techniques
- Used mantras 夢を見ることを分かってます (I will realize I'm dreaming) 野原に風で空を飛びたい (I will fly in a field using the wind).
- Became lucid.
- Recalled one lucid dream and one non-lucid dream after WBTB and MILD
2/25/14 2:30am
- Played soundtrack from おおかみこどもの雨と雪
- Used mantras あの草原に行きたい (I want to go to that field) 夢を見ることを分かってます (I will realize I'm dreaming)
- Imagined my dream plan, from going through a door to arriving at the field to stabilizing myself to taking flight
- Purposefully induced hynogognic images of mountains from the field and a woman growing wings and taking flight
- Really struggled to fall asleep, mind was too aware
- Turned off music around 4am
- Did not fall asleep until around 5am
3/10/14 8:05am
- Awake at 7:20am
- Brushed teeth, went to bathroom, hugged husband goodbye
- A little afraid to fall back to sleep
- Reminded myself I need to sleep for rest and to achieve my lucid dream plan
- Visualized my dream plan
- Prayed to God I have a lucid dream and fly
- Quickly fell asleep
- Became lucid
- Achieved dream plan of flying and talked to a dream character
3/28/14 7:32am
- Had FA at my mom's house, non-lucid
- Mantra: I fell asleep at my apartment. If I wake up somewhere else, like my mom's, I'm dreaming.
- Fell asleep and became lucid.
- Achieved dream plan of talking to a DC in Japanese
5/20/2014
- WBTB through autosuggestion, woke up at 5:30am
- Fell back to sleep, woke up at 7am to say goodbye to husband, went back to bed
- Woke up at 8:30am then kept pressing snooze
- Had a lucid dream and woke up at 10am
- Lucid dreaming had been on my mind throughout the morning
- Achieved dream plan of telekinesis, accomplished task of the month
7/8/2014 7:23am
- Woke up to say goodbye to my husband then went back to bed
- While trying to fall asleep, thought about my lucid dream plans
- Had two non-lucids (one FA), then two lucids (FAs)
- Attempted to go through window as a portal, but just entered another FA
- Attempted to go through door as a portal to reach Japan, but it ended up just my apartment hallway and I woke up

DeILD/WBTB history
2/25/14 5am
- Laid on my back, fell asleep and experienced SP, woke myself up
- Continued lying on my back
- Imagined a female dream character in my house in another room
- Triggered SP, starting slipping into a dream state
- Had an auditory hallucination of a man saying "I love you" and then "you" repeatedly
- Woke myself up

WILD/WBTB history
3/11/14 8:30am
- Awake at 7:30am
- Brushed teeth, went to bathroom, hugged husband goodbye
- Very active stream of thought (regretted not waking up to have coffee with husband, visualized my dream plan)
- Took a while to fall asleep
- I tried swimming in my room out of bed towards the door and breathed through my nose as an RC (despite not being in water)
- I realized I was not just thinking but transitioning into a dream state and felt my body under paralysis, so jerked myself awake
- Following this short WILD I had three short dreams in which I also jerked myself awake from
7/5/14 11:30am
- Woke up at 8am, went to my mom's to dog sit, took a nap around 10:30am
- Took a while to fall asleep
- Induced a WILD by laying in a supine position
- Used hand in front of vision RC and realized I was dreaming
- Auditory hallucinations (a little scary, but I wasn't bothered) and feeling of my body lifting up (pleasant)
- First time a WILD has been exciting and pleasant for me as opposed to scary from lack of control, but I woke up shortly after, probably out of excitement

DILD/WBTB history
2/20/14
- Said goodbye to husband, went back to bed
- FA and lucid
- Scared and used all my effort to wake myself up
6/26/14 8am
- Pressed snooze repeatedly
- Awake at 8am
- Towards the end of the dream realized I was dreaming and felt paralysis
- Stayed calm despite paralysis and debated continuing the dream and attempting dream plan to visit mother-in-law's house in Japan or to wake up for work
- Chose to wake up for work since I had already pressed snooze repeatedly that morning and it was time to get up
6/28/14
- Woke up around 7am, went back to bed
- Non-vivid dream
- Realized I was dreaming, but nothing came out of the lucidity and I just witnessed the dream
6/29/14 8:47am
- Woke up around 8am, went back to bed
- Lots of non-lucid dreams, but at some point I became lucid
- Did some flips in the air
- Tried to make the pitch dark room lighter by shouting either vivid or brightness, but it didn't work
- Knew I had to get up so either woke up or lost lucidity, don't remember which
7/2/14 8:30am
- Husband woke me up to say good bye
- Pressed snooze a lot on my alarm clock
- False awakening, couldn't move from my bed
- Mostly stuck in bed, but at some point was standing up
- Used thumb/palm RC and realized I was dreaming
- Changed repetitive auditory sound to make it less scary
- Woke up
7/18/14 5:45am
- Napped 7am to 10pm, Bed 2am to to 5:45am
- Woke up with a DILD
- Achieved dream plan of going to my mother-in-law's in Japan, lost lucidity at my mother-in-law's

Lesson Four

Homework Checklist
[x] If you you have a lucid dream and find yourself losing it, practice the stabilization techniques listed here. Post your results in your workbook.
[X] When inside of a lucid dream, practice the dream control techniques. Post your results in your workbook.

OPTIONAL
[x] Recall your favourite quote inside a dream and say it out loud. What were your experiences?
Quote: 世界を変えることは、できますか？「わたしたちの教科書」
[ ] Visit somewhere you know from waking life, take note of all its surroundings, are there any subtle differences?
[ ] Swim underwater and attempt to breathe, were you able to?

Reflection 02/24/14

Last night I didn't make any attempts to lucid dream. I just wanted to rest and take a break. I also felt I went to bed later than I would've wanted. I want to create more of a consistent sleep schedule. Starting tomorrow I'll have more of a consistent schedule so I hope to observe this week the times I naturally fall asleep, wake up in the night and wake up in the morning, then record it in my workbook.

Tonight I really want to focus on my lucid dream plan. So today I'm going to focus on doors as portals and my dream grassy field which I want to summon. I think if I focus on little tasks that'll build up to my lucid dream plan in full, I'll eventually achieve it.

I also want to start doing all day awareness intensely and consistently. I'm slowly building up the habit to be aware and do RC throughout the day. I'm inspired by Joram's post about his three week ADA experiment.

A new long-term goal of mine is to figure out the connection between the immersion method for acquiring a language and non-lucid/lucid dreaming. As I become better at lucid dreaming, I think I will find out a lot. My hypothesis is that one can find out just how close he or she is to a language by observing his or her dream life and interactions with the language. For instance, even though in my waking life, I know how to say "don't come" is 来ないで (konaide), in my non-lucid dream, I clearly heard it as 来なくて (konakute), which is wrong. Why?

Hey lumiina, great results after only two days of practice! :)

Your goal of figuring the connection between language level and dreams sounds interesting. I have never wondered about this. It will be cool to see what you find out.

Good luck with your new lucid schedule!

Thank you NyxCC for commenting!

Update 02/24/14

Created a dream scrapbook for my target location: the grassy field.

Just a few snippets from my scrapbook:

Attachment 6624Attachment 6625Attachment 6626

First picture from Howl's Moving Castle, helping me associate doors as portals to fields.
Second picture is from Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki, a movie that really inspires me set in Tohoku.
Third picture is a picture I took while in Tohoku with my husband's family.

Update 02/25/14

Removed soundtrack from my grassy field lucid dream scrapbook.

Playing music as I tried MILD did not work out. I woke up around 2:30am and tried it. I finally turned it off around 4am. It kept my mind so aware, I couldn't fall asleep at all. I was up until around 5am and started dozing off around then. I slept on my back, which I rarely ever do. At one point, I thought I had moved to the couch and fallen asleep then, and wanted to go back to bed but was paralyzed, then realized I was in bed already and tried to wake myself up. I did, but then I accidentally almost slipped into DeILD. I was starting to feel paralyzed again. At first, it wasn't too scary. I thought maybe I could slip into a dream by imagining Jan from The Office in the kitchen. It worked, I was slipping into a dream state and heard a man, not my husband's voice, rather a very stereotypical computer like male's voice, but I imagined it being my husband's voice saying "I love you" and then "you" repeated again and again in my ear. I knew it was an audio hallucination so I wasn't scary. But the lack of control of my body was just too much and I woke myself up.

Overall, it wasn't a very good night. I have a hard time calming down my mind to fall asleep.

Current time: 6:50 am

I love the idea of dream scrapbook for your desired location. Do you use visualization pre bed, natural wakes, or during the day? It can be of great help to incubate the desired dreamscene.

Sorry to hear the night was so exhausting. Usually I recommend to people to make the wbtb a bit longer, but in your case I think it was too long. Depending on how easy it is for you to fall asleep, you may want to play with the lenght to find your perfect spot over the long run. Before more experiments, I think it is important to get a good night's sleep though. :)

I liked how you handled the sleep paralysis too - very professional. It helps to think of nice things during any episodes, like listening to music or trying to transition to a different scene.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice!

Oh, I visualize my dreamscene all day long! Whenever I can, daydream or pre bed/natural wakes. I'm just so excited to dream about it. I read the incubation tutorial. I was so inspired by it. I haven't drawn anything concerning my dreamscene, but I've done all the other incubation steps.

Another thing I want to do is engage my senses with similar senses that I would want to experience in my dreamscene, such as the feel of grass against my feet (though... it's winter right now). I try to imagine what it would feel like.

Yes, it's so easy for my mind to get consumed with thoughts and excited, unable to sleep. I think I have to keep my WBTB simple and short.

Now I wish I had been more calm and just went with the flow when I realized I was dreaming about sleeping on the couch! Perhaps I could've gotten more sleep and been able to extend lucid dreaming. It was a rough night because I had a hard time falling to sleep, but when I think about it, it was kind of a cool dream to have a false awakening somewhere where I'm not actually sleeping. I should autosuggest to myself to stay calm when paralyzed and just roll out of the body so I can go explore my dream. My automatic response is to struggle and try to wake up.

Quote:

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Yes, it's so easy for my mind to get consumed with thoughts and excited, unable to sleep. I think I have to keep my WBTB simple and short.

---

This is something I really had to practice dealing with as well. I still have to handle it right and not get too excited or fretful about something.

I like to clear my mind with some kind of ritual that gets it onto a slower pace. I like peaceful backward counting while draining my mind of all thought. Trying to just experience the moment and counting slowly backward from 100 while inserting "I'm dreaming" or something similar. When I lose count, no stress, just start over. Repeat until knocked out. This has pretty much always worked for me eventually.

Quote:

---

At first, it wasn't too scary. I thought maybe I could slip into a dream by imagining Jan from The Office in the kitchen.

---

Ha! I've been binging on The Office on Netflix the past few weeks during my workouts and I've also had a number of dreams with the characters in them. I became lucid during a couple of them as well, including one where I was playing a video game where Michael Scott fights zombies. :chuckle:

Anyway, cool dream experience!

Got a good night's sleep last night. My husband just leased a car so I'm going to be able to sleep in now since I don't have to drive him to work. Wonder if this will lead to more dreaming and LD opportunities. Now I can record what times I naturally go to bed and wake up.

CanidLucidus -

Thanks for the advice!

Yes! I was sick last week and watched all my Office DVDs to distract myself from not feeling well. We have them all. So I think The Office has been entering a lot of my dreams lately. Even my husband had a dream he was driving with Michael and Dwight when suddenly the road got narrow on both sides and they got stuck.

Update - Routine 2/27/14

New schedule has started, and I found myself having lack of discipline (as usual). My husband left at 7:10 am and I went back to sleep as planned. I was planning to wake up at 8:30am or 9am at the latest, but I kept pressing snooze and woke up at 9:53 am, despite having heard the alarm clock each time and having the opportunity to get up.

I also went to bed kind of late, at 11:45pm. I'd rather be in bed at 11pm at the latest.

Still trying to gain discipline and find the right schedule. Ideally, I think to bed at 11pm, up at 6:45 am when my husband gets up, dream journal and WBTB, then up at 8:30am is ideal. Considering that I probably wouldn't fall asleep until 11:30ish and would lose some sleep doing WBTB, that would give me a good 8 hours of sleep.

Good thing is I've been falling asleep generally easily lately. I found out with WBTB, if I stay in bed and don't get up, and just say good bye to my husband from bed, then I won't have a bad dream.

Update 3/1/14

I was set a little off track when I was discouraged about whether lucid dreaming would be a distraction from the other goals in my life. Ultimately, I realized I can do this, as it doesn't take up much time of the day, just an awareness and dedication, then my night essentially would feel less wasted because I'd be lucid dreaming and having fun. It gives me a motivator to regulate my sleep schedule and to sleep, which is good for me.

I was thinking about quitting for a day. I'm somewhat impulsive and feel the need to make clear-cut decisions, so I ripped the pages out of my dream journal (though realized it wasn't even necessary, because even if I do quit, I could still keep the entries). Thankfully, all my entries are also here on DreamViews! I've opened up my dream journal again and left it next to my bed. Going through doubts really interrupted the flow I was on and now I need to get it back.

I think remembering the dream I had of attempting to fly and using my lucid dream plan check list as a motivator will help me get on track. I'm adding "be on a consistent and healthy sleep routine" to my motivations list in the workbook.

I think a big factor in making me realize perhaps I want to lucid dream is having two nightmares the very night I thought about quitting lucid dreaming, reminding me of my goal to face my fears and enjoy my dreams.

Because I was set off track, I've been having a harder time with dream recall. I've slept many times, of course, since then and now. And I can feel myself having had a dream, but I'm not recalling my dreams like I did before. I think I'm in a slump from having been discouraged and am letting my dreams slip instead of keeping the intent to recall them and write them down.

Update - Routine 3/1/14 to 3/2/14

Exhausting day. Woke up at 6am to go to a daycare conference from 8am to 1pm. For some reason, these sort of events really tire me out. Slept from 5pm to 9:45pm. Perhaps my body forced me to fall asleep because of the stress in being in such a big conference. I'm not good with huge crowds. There were 700 people there, and during the breaks everyone talks so loudly and all at once. The clutter of noise really stresses me out. I think it's because I have SPD, in which one of the symptoms is feeling overwhelmed in crowds.

Considering I went to bed at 1:11am and woke up at 11:13am, I recognize I got way too much sleep, which is unhealthy. I slept almost 15 hours combining the nap and that night. So this week I'm aiming to sleep 7 to 8 hours each night, from 10:30pm to 6:10am, with no naps during the day. I also hope to have a WBTB in between. I think I can control my sleep habits better if I make a rule just to get up at the same time as my husband, that way I'm not tempted to sleep in too late.

Now, if I happen to not be able to fall asleep for some reason, then I can sleep in or take a nap later on. But the general aim is to not have too little sleep or too much sleep. So 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night.

Sleep Routine Goal: 10:30pm to 6:10am, WBTB in between, no naps during the day.

Update - Dream Journal 3/2/14

So far, I've been using an old school notebook with other notes from a class in it as my dream journal. After having gotten rid of a lot of entries when I was having doubts about lucid dreaming, it just doesn't feel like a dream journal anymore. So my plan is to get another blank journal in which I can use just for dream journaling. Or even a binder in which I can categorize things. A fresh start would also allow me to organize it as I wish, including adding a section for dream signs and my dream goals. I may also start using BrandonBoss's dream journaling technique once I get this new journal.

I'll continue using my old school notebook as a dream journal for the time being until I can get a new one.

Update - Dream Recall/Routine/Dream Sign 3/3/14

My dream recall is improving as I get back into lucid dreaming. Right now, I feel so tired when I wake up, I'm practically scribbling on the page! Sometimes with my eyes closed! I just want to fall back to sleep when I wake up.

I got back onto a good sleep schedule. To bed at 11pm and up at 6:50pm. Woke up briefly at 12pm but fell back to sleep. Could've tried MILD, but was too tired. I got lost in thought and then remembered I should try my mantras, but before I really got any chance to focus on visualizing, I just fell back to sleep. I think as I get into more of a consistent routine, then WBTB will go better.

I feel very rested this morning. As soon as I got out of bed and got moving, I was no longer tired. Also enjoyed coffee with my husband before he left.

I remembered another common dream sign of mine, public restrooms. I dreamed briefly of a public restroom in a scene last night, but I don't remember what happened in that scene. Added it to my workbook's dream sign list.

Nice to hear you are getting back on track, lumiina. Wish you restful sleep and ld motivation. :)

Last night, something like that finally happened. We had to drop off my car at a tire place after hours late at night. The darkness of the parking lot and overall feel felt like similar scenarios in my dream in which I get lost in the parking lot. So I did the RCs palm/thumb and holding nose.

I do RCs all the time, but rarely do I get the chance to RC in a scene in waking life that's out of the ordinary. It was a good opportunity.

Update - Achieved Dream Plan!!! 3/10/14

I'm so excited! I achieved my dream plan and it was so fun! Not only did I fly by dog paddling and swimming, I also talked to a dream character! I asked him what my middle name is and he said "Windy" then took my hands and we flew together.

At first flying was hard. The gravity is so different in dreams, but that's why flying is possible. I grabbed onto the things around me and propelled myself off of the ground, then doggy paddled and swam through the air.

I stabilized my dream by rubbing my hands together. Stabilization wasn't an issue, waking up was! After I was ready to wake up, I had trouble doing so. I finally woke up when I rubbed hand lotion on my tongue to wake myself up. I realized I had only been asleep for 30 minutes so it wasn't that big of a deal. In my dream my clock read 1pm so I was worried!

Awesome! Congrats on the ld and the close call with TOTM. What a creative way to wake yourself up! I usually try to will my body to move a finger or just kind of will myself to wake up if I really don't want to continue dreaming. A habit from past nightmares. :P

That's what I usually do too! I usually try to move my body until I wake up. But I couldn't feel my paralysis, so I took other creative measures, ha!

My brain was way too active when I attempted MILD this morning. Could not keep my excitement down and instead ended up dream chaining, waking myself up from each dream when I realized I was falling asleep and experiencing paralysis. I had one WILD, very short, that I was swimming out of bed and did an RC through breathing through my nose (despite not being in water). I was just too excited! Ha.

I really, really wanted to have the MILD I had from the day before and do the TOMT right by asking the guy what his middle name is, not mine, and then fly with him again. Oh well! Maybe another morning when I'm more calm.

Update - Dream Plan 3/11/14

I have a new dream plan to focus on. Since I tend to trigger lucid dreams through false awakenings, and once had a FA on the couch when I was in bed, I think I might be able to trigger one in Japan from my memories of sleeping there.

Time to start scrap-booking and triggering memories from when I was in Japan. Sometimes I dream that I go back to Japan (just like in Japan sometimes I dream that I'm back in America), so I think this is totally possible. I just have to focus my intentions.

I think I had trouble with MILD this morning because my attention was too divided and I didn't know exactly what I wanted to lucid dream of.