Thread: bradder´s workbook

Hello fellow dreamers.

My name is bradder. I´ve been into LD for the past few years. And now it´s time to become a part of the dreamviews community. Therefore, i provide an insight into my LD journey. So here we go:

I´ve already experienced some LD´s. Mostly DILD´s and some WILD´s. The frequency changes from 1 per month up to a few per week.
But no need to rush. First of all, i want to increase my dream recall. Unfortunatley, i dislike writing down my dreams. In my opinion, it is an exhaustive and demotivating task which turns my mind set against my goal. Therefore, i will start to record them with my mobile. Moreover, i will improve my recall with mantras.

In the meantime i will take a look at these two threads:
http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/13212...ods-dilds.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/15603...ive-links.html

Welcome to the class! Sounds like a good plan you've got there.

Yes, welcome! Let us know if you have any questions or any way in which we can help.

And a third welcome to the DILD class!

With dream recall, the most important thing is that you spend time reviewing the dream memories. You can do this while still in bed (this is the best time to do so in oder to get the most detail, before you get up and begin your waking day), and also periodically throughout the day. It's important to associate positive emotions with dreaming, so if you really dislike dream journaling that much, you may want to avoid it.

Although, I would perhaps suggest just writing a single sentence or two about each dream. A good place for that is the DV's thread Share your dream from last night in one sentence, or of course your DJ.

You can also work on your dream recall during the day! Pay attention to your waking experiences. Periodically slow down or stop, and really notice the present moment. Over time you'll also start doing the same in dreams, and this will boost your recall a lot.

It's great to go through the important/informative message threads. You'll get some great ideas for how to build a practice. Once you see some ideas that seem good to you, just start! Try different things, some approaches work better for some than others. Feel free to write back with any progress or questions you have.

Thanks a lot

And a third welcome to the DILD class!

With dream recall, the most important thing is that you spend time reviewing the dream memories. You can do this while still in bed (this is the best time to do so in oder to get the most detail, before you get up and begin your waking day), and also periodically throughout the day.

I already do this and indeed it´s helpful.

It's important to associate positive emotions with dreaming, so if you really dislike dream journaling that much, you may want to avoid it.

I journaled my dreams the last few days and it seems fun for now. So i will give it a try.

You can also work on your dream recall during the day! Pay attention to your waking experiences. Periodically slow down or stop, and really notice the present moment. Over time you'll also start doing the same in dreams, and this will boost your recall a lot.

Seems interesting. I will start this next week.

Yesterday I began doing supplements (vitamin B3, B6, B12) and my mantra feels more and more natural everyday. Moreover, I reread ETWOLD and practice regulary RC´s and ADA. Overall, my mood towards LDing and dreaming in general is pretty good. It feels like looking into a bright future.

Glad you're enjoying journaling. When it feels like a chore I think it's time to just do 1-sentence summaries. For really great dreams, though, I usually want to have a detailed log of what happened, what I saw, etc.

It will be interesting to see if you notice a difference with the B vitamins. I sometimes take a mega-multi-vitamin ("Opti-Men") and I do not see a reliable correlation with improved recall. It may be that if you're already at the top of your game (well rested, regular sleep schedule, etc.), it can give you a bit of a boost. But things like being under-slept seem to overwhelm any potential benefit from supplements. My recall goes up and down very regularly, I think this is natural, most dreamers report this.

Hey guys. I´m glad to tell you that i had a short lucid dream tonight, although i wasn´t that sober last night. The dream wasn´t long or spectecular, but it is definitely a good sign.

Congrats, may it be the first of many more!

I decided to add some self-awareness training to my daily rountine. Any suggestions?

IMO mindfulness is best. There are not a lot of rules for mindfulness practice. Mindfulness at it's heart is just "paying attention, on purpose..." The buddhists add "...without judgement", but I think that for lucid dreaming practice, an element of critical reflection to determine "is this a dreaming or waking experience?" is a good thing. It's not really judging good or bad, just noticing an extra aspect of your experiences.

There are some great books which I recommend if you want to go into more depth. "Mindfulness in Plain English" and "Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation In Everyday Life" I think are the most approachable.

More and more, throughout your day, just stop, and really consider where you are, what you're doing, what you're feeling, thinking, etc.

Sometimes I like to verbalize: "*I*…am *HERE*…*NOW*…having this experience…". Really try to connect to the present moment and feel yourself there.

Ultimately you want to enable a sort of permanent observer in your mind that is paying attention to and seeing the truth of everything you experience. That takes time. Like LD practice itself, it's a life-long journey. Start in small chunks, and learn to recognize when you go from "tuned out/zombie/autopilot" back to paying attention again. Those times are also good times to do reality checks, BTW, because they are moments of lucidity.

One great effect of this practice is that after a while, you'll find that your dreams become much more vivid and present -- that feeling that "I am really here!" as opposed to dreams that feel like you're watching a movie.

That sounds like ADA but I had something like Sageous´s Reverse Reality Check (RRC) in mind (http://www.dreamviews.com/wild/13181...prep-part.html). I already practice some ADA daily but these RCC´s seem different but I am not sure if I do them correct. Is there a similar technique?

My take on ADA as usually described is that it misses the mark by focusing too much on a flood of minute sense input.

Sageous RRCs are a way to contemplate your relation to your local reality in order to raise self-awareness (also incorporating some memory activation). My "I am here now" is an adaptation of that that makes more sense to me.

The Sageous RRCs or (I am here now moment if you prefer) is just that, a moment. Mindfulness is meant to be more or less continuous.

You can look up the references I mentioned earlier or do some google searches if you want to know more. In a nutshell, those are the differences between the three.

You should try many different things and in the end choose what makes most sense to you. Doing just about anything will work as long as it's centered on the fundamentals (attention, reflection, recall).

Congrats on your recent LD! I just wanted to add that whether you are using mindfulness or the RRC, that it will start off gradual and become more natural over time. I am guessing you already know, but just clarifying in case, that you aren't expected to be at continuous mindfulness or continuous self-awareness without years of practice typically. Look at it as a journey of learning and exploring and find something or a mix of some things that work for you and that you find is not burdensome and preferably enjoyable. We see so many paths to LD's. In my experience, self awareness improves the level of lucidity. If I am slacking on my self awareness, I can still become lucid but it is more likely that I will lose lucidity or never even rise to the strong lucidity that I love.

So guys... right now I´m trying to find my REM hotspot. In order to achieve this I analyze my sleep schedule and nightly awakenings.
This boosts my dream recall and motivation a lot. It´s a great feeling to experience every night a new story. Moreover, I had 2 very short WILDs and a DILD in the past week.

The exploration of my dreams has just begun.

That is a great spot to be in (having that great recall that extends the fantastic experiences while dreaming into your waking life and increased motivation)! As you seemed to suggest, this makes your day and night practices more enjoyable. Congratulations on your WILDs and DILD!! Keep up whatever you are doing. I would suggest that you make specific notes in your dream journal or here (or somewhere) so that you can keep track of what works for you. I have played with so many different ideas or techniques that it is hard to remember some of them or I am surprised to realize that I have forgotten that i used to do something until I see it mentioned in my DJ or in notes for example.