Okay, I've posted my photo. Unfortunately since I own neither a digital camera nor a scanner I'm limited to what people have sent me. This is the only halfway decent one, I'm the person standing with the champagne glass (from a New Years party a little over a year ago).

Look forward to seeing everyone in person, Jay

Dear Naomi and Andrea,

Just saw your post. Oddly enough you two have already been assigned to share the same room at the retreat! Now how did that happen? Ah, must be that other I (the one that stands for Intuitive)?

;) Keelin

Dear Michel and other email fans on retreat,

Your question: "... will those without laptops be able to access our email there?"

Internet access must be arranged directly with Kalani Retreat Center, so best to call them at 1.800.800.6886 and ask for Rachel.

Who juggles? I would bring 6 soft juggling cubes if I thought I could get anyone to help me practice passing.

I juggle! I'm not very good but I can keep going for close to a minute. I don't practice too frequently but I do have juggling bags at home. I guess I should do a little practice before I get on the plane. :-)

Ooo... Keelin... Naomi... this is so weird! I went back through the posts and, Naomi, we have so much in common! Yoga, Buddhism, being "I". What kind of yoga do you practice? I do Hatha.

Only six sleeps to go! I'm getting so excited!

Will there be opportunities for snorkelling or diving, Keelin?

Andrea

Andrea,

I checked Kalani's website (www.kalani.com) and they seem to have full and half day events that feature snorkelling. While the full day ones would obviously conflict (and possibly the half day ones also depending on timing) it definitely implies that it is available in the area.

Jay

Andrea, Your "only six sleeps to go" made me smile...we used to say that in our family ALL the time when we were little...I'd also love to go snorkeling. Will there be stuff to rent? Or should we bring our own mask/snorkel/fins, etc. (maybe I should just take time to read the Kalani site)

June

Hello dreamers, Glad to hear you're my roommate, Andrea. Maybe when we feel the need to be alone, we can pretend the other is a dream character;-) I do hatha yoga too. I used to teach it at the YMCA. A couple of months ago I rented this videotape from a Tibetan shop that has a video library. It shows what it calls "Five Tibetan Rites", which look similar to yoga asanas with movement, and the first one involves spinning! I don't know how authentically Tibetan these are, but I like them and have been doing them and can show them if anyone's interested.

Hi June, of course beginners are welcome. I learned to do Tai Chi years ago but forgot most of it, but I sometimes do Tai Chi Chih, and wonder if the standing meditations and silk reeling are similar to that.

Hi Joy, how are you liking Choosing Reality? All the bookstores I checked are out, so it must be popular. I'm presently reading and enjoying Patricia Garfield's Pathway to Ecstasy. I'll probably bring it to camp.

I haven't remembered any dreams in 2 nights. This is extremely unusual for me, since I average ~3/night. Could it be a case of pre-camp performance anxiety?

Relaxing dreams to all, Naomi

Snorkeling information: I just got some information on snorkeling in the area from an on-line friend on a wine discussion group:

" If you get a chance check out that cool snorkel reef just S-W of where you're going. "

" Jay, I thought I previously gave you my whole diatribe about the Big Isle. Hope you can retrieve this in time. There's a place called Kapoho a short distance from where you're going (around Puna right?). Otherwise one has to head to the west side for good snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay, or even easier at Honaunau (next to place of refuge). Farther almost to Kona is the easiest and excellent spot call Kahaluu. There's some nice water falls and tropical gardens north of hilo, not too far from you. have fun "

Glad to say I had dreams galore last night, though nonlucids. I was't really trying to ld cause I'm saving up my lucidity for camp ;-)

I called Kalani and they said you can rent snorkelling equipment there. They said there are some nice tidepools to snorkel in about 11 miles away. You can also check out beach towels at Kalani.

They also said that you can't access email there if you don't have a laptop. There's a cafe in town some distance away where you can do that.

Naomi

Kealakekua Bay looks like a 2 1/2 or 3 hour drive from where we'll be but I snorkeled there once and it was incredible - a truly dreamlike experience of wading into water, ducking under and being suddenly immersed in another world: coral reefs teeming with every imaginable color of fish. The bottom quickly drops off so that it's deep enough to fly among them with unlimited mobility.

Naomi, I've been having plenty of lucid dreams but one last night started with a theme of "performance anxiety" - it was the first night at dream camp and, having wakened in the night, I felt sure I'd been lucid earlier and was struggling to recall it - thinking, "They'll probably ask in the morning if anyone was lucid last night - I'd like to be able to tell what I dreamed!"

Some of you who've followed this forum for a while know that I'm both aided and plagued by a calico cat who jumps on me at random intervals throughout the night; well, it seemed Kalani had a gray tabby with a similar predilection, and wouldn't you know it: she chose me to jump on. So I lay there being awakened repeatedly by the Kalani cat, getting up and going to the bathroom, hearing voices from adjoining rooms - all very realistic - and then the cat would jump on me again and I'd realize it had been a false awakening and start over again. After about three rounds of this I realized it was my own calico in my own bedroom, got up to go to my own bathroom - "Wait a minute - where did the toilet go? Aha!" - and took off from there!

Okay, serious question here. This is a question that I'd like to ask Stephen when we get there: What's the relationship between "Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing" therapy and lucid dreaming? A psychologist friend just got back from a training for this and her description of the process and its effects got me thinking. She says controlled studies (actually she said double-blind studies but I think she must have misspoken) have shown significantly greater improvement in post-traumatic stress disorder when processes of visualization, etc. were accompanied by rapid eye movements - apparently similar to those that accompany dreaming.

Long drive to airport - I'm leaving tomorrow at noon - see you all soon (with juggling bags)

Joy

Alas, this message may be too late. My name is Robert Northrup, I'm a student at Kenyon College in Ohio. Before I came here, I attended Cistercian Preparatory School (of the Cistercian Catholic order, founded 11th century) outside of Dallas, Texas. But enough bland stuff..

• I've spent this Saturday eve reading the Bhagavad Gita, Krsna's talk with Arjuna on the battlefield of Kuruksandra. Wow! Hmm.. I meditate often - I am going to a Tibetan center at 5:30 am the morrow, to chant and meditate. I once was Catholic, and very conservative, angsty and hateful of life and people. Before that, I was an imaginative and introverted, dreamy kid. What I am now remains to be seen :0) I'll be camping out somewhere just on the outskirts of the main resort area. I've posted a picture here, from a video I'm doing, (sorry, it's a bit blury) of me with a backwoods map of the Hawaii Volcanoes Nat'l park that I want to explore, a bottle of peanuts and my harmonica in mouth. Telltale... I'd love to do some yoga with ya'll, I know a good bit. As far as dreams, I have a lot, have kept a consistant journal for 2+ years, but have struggled with lucid dreams for two years and had mixed results. I suppose that's why I'm going on the retreat, to really devote the time and focus necessary to the practice. See ya'll soon, and don't be anxious, all's well -Robert

Last night's dreams were not lucid but symbolic: I spent a good part of the early morning attempting to rewire lighting, first indoors and then in a vehicle, using experimental power sources. I'm no electrician, so what does that mean? I see it as a response to the questions we were invited to answer here: our interest in lucid dreaming, and specific areas we'd like to see addressed during the presentations. I'm content with my frequency of lucid dreams and my interest is in how they may be used for, as the Buddhists say, "the benefit of all sentient beings" - exploring the frontiers of science, spirituality, psychology, parapsychology.... Gotta go - see you all on Tuesday -

Joy

For those of you still here and not in the throes of packing, I just got the book that the tape of the five Tibetan rites (including the spinning one) is based on. It says a British army officer learned them while living in a Tibetan monastery in the early 1900's. I'll bring it to camp.

Happy flying, Naomi

Naomi - could you cite the title, author, publisher & date of Pub for the Tibetian rites noted above? Thx Dominick

Well, it's nice to be back here, though it sure was nice to be there with you all. Guess what, I found my lucidity at home. Seems I'd forgotten to pack it. It was the quirky lucidity, the one where I could feel 2 realities, one a dream and the other my body in bed. I could feel, though not quite control, my leg moving in bed, and felt the coolness of the sheet in the new position. I decided to wake up in order to find out if that body was real or a dream body. With much effort I managed to get my eyes to open and did a reality check using my digital watch, and found I was truly awake. I got up and did another check to be sure. Then I went back to sleep and had a dream in which my brother (who's been dead for 30 years but is a recurring dream image, one whom I had intended to use as a dreamsign and dialogue with) was a waiter in a restaurant. I didn't get lucid, but I embraced him and told him "I love you" and that it was childish to continue the competitiveness between us. (There had been a lot of sibling rivalry between us.) Later I had another non-ld, in which I dreamt that I found out my personality type was TGIF. The G stood for Grasping.

About the book; it's called The Five Tibetans: Five Dynamic Exercises for Health, Energy, and Personal Power, by Christopher Kilham, 1994, Inner Traditions India. The 5 exercises are also on a video: Ancient Secrets of the Fountain of Youth, which I found easier to learn from, though the book contains more background info. You can get both from Snow Lion Publications: www.snowlionpub.com

Love and fur to all

Aloha, and welcome home, dear Big Island Oneironauts!

Post-DreamCamp blues are flowing through me. I close my eyes and see you all vividly, floating against backdrops of rainbowed skies, turquoise pools, brilliant, tropical foliage -- and the occasional green screen. ;)

I am missing you, each and every one. Not willing to wait for a night's reunion, I am drawn into moments of stillness throughout the day, into quiet reflections of our rich and cherished dreamtime together.

What a sweet, compassionate, funny, creative, wild band of characters you turned out to be. I do feel like I've brought a bit of each of you home with me and celebrate that sense of "oneness" of which Stephen spoke. A slight variation of a song (inspired by a lucid dream many years ago) unfolds in new meaning and echoes within.

"So take my hand and fly with me to a place where we both knew that you were me, my dreaming friend, and I was surely you."

Thank you all for bringing and sharing so openly your unique, tender, and dreamy selves. I look forward to remaining in touch with you all.

Oceans of aloha, Keelin

PS: The update from our favorite "Beach Monkey" is that all went exceptionally well with his mainland presentation. ;)

Warmest greetings to all!

I finally made it home (Sunday night, 9:30 pm) and find myself feeling like a noticeably different being than the one that left - a sense of having unfolded like a flower, opened my petals and found myself blessed by the gentle rain.

The beauty and climate and raw energy of the big island was well-matched by the spirit of our group. I am delighted to be, as Keelin puts it, part of "a sweet, compassionate, funny, creative, wild band of characters."

I've dreamed lucidly about the Kalani Dreamers two out of three nights since leaving - let me know if you would like me to post these and future dreams of our wild band.

Love,

Joy

Aloha, Joy!

Oh, yes, please do share. Your dreams brought us such delight there, as does now the memory of your uninhibited laughter released to the wind in Kalani's lush meadow.

Mahalo nui loa, Keelin

Okay - I'll write on Friday - I won't have time before then. I had a couple more good dreams of all the Kalani dreamers last night, replete with symbols of communal progress.

"Cohn's Law": The more time you spend in reporting on what you are doing, the less time you have to do anything. Stability is achieved when you spend all of your time reporting on the nothing you are doing.

How are you all?

Joy

Welcome home, Big Island lucids!

I'm eager to hear of your dreaming adventures. Joy's hint re the mutual dreams sounds promising. I hope some more of you will join in our "prolonging" exploration.

Sweet (but not too calorie - containing) LDs

Ralf

P.S. re Cohn: You see, I try to be short, there is so much to experience these days...

Okay, for Ralf, because the Maui dreamers have experimented with mutual dreaming, I'll post here a very brief report on our accidental results and the other Kalani dreamers can add to or correct it as needed.

The definition of mutual dreams I'm using is just that some telepathy seems to occur between dreamers on the same night, such that dream elements match by a degree greater than what you'd expect by coincidence. The dreamers don't necessarily have to be included in each other's dreams.

Ours were not way beyond the possibility of coincidence, but intriguing, anyway: On one night Michel and I both dreamed of exploring an old house, and of foregoing a dream orgasm for the potential of a higher experience - the latter being a first for me; I'd always gone for the orgasm!

On another night Michel and I both dreamed of bursting into spontaneous laughter; this was a first for him. Also, I'd gone to bed with the intent to see if I could take any other dreamers flying with me - but it wasn't a firm intent, because (in classic introvert style) I was tired from spending all day with people and thought I might rather fly alone. In the dream - right after the laughter episode - I remembered and looked for someone to fly with me, but all I saw was the shadowy silhouette of a man just ducking behind a green glass panel such as might be used as a privacy screen. After waking and reviewing I thought, "So what's with the green screen?" and then remembered the previous evening's conversation with Michel about wanting to film some of us in front of a "green screen" so that he could insert us into any scene. I guessed maybe he was the shadow I saw. Later in the morning Michel told me he'd gone to bed with the intent, "fly with Joy"!

To me this is made all the more interesting by the fact that I wasn't aware of any strong connection between Michel and me in waking life (most of my mutual dreams in the past have been with people very close to me) - and he said he doesn't believe in mutual dreams, but maybe he had some other definition in mind; maybe he'll show up here and explain?

Two more bits of possible telepathy, from Thea: one morning she reported that all she remembered dreaming was hearing someone reciting "I have a purple pussy, a lovely purple pussy." She said she had no idea where this silly saying came from; and Jay said one of his recurring and most reliable dream signs is a purple cat. And, wide awake in class, while Stephen was playing the tape (you remember?) with words heard as "words," swords," it's where," I swear," etc., Thea heard "primates." Stephen said no one's heard "primates" before, but while the tape was playing he was planning his lecture on primates.

Enough report? We had many other wonderful dreams of various kinds but hey, you had to be there....

Joy

Almost omitted a favorite waking example of use of the subtler senses, which Ralf will appreciate: In class, I had a flare-up of a recurrent and highly localized neck pain. June, who is a master of Reiki healing, immediately reached over and put her hand on the exact spot. Later I asked how she knew and she said that when her hands get warm she knows someone near her is hurting, and she looked around and figured out it was me. Isn't that an excellent talent?

Joy to all

Aloha, Dear Ralf!

Although you may not have been with us (on the Big Island) in the physical sense, I certainly felt your impish presence among us -- and I could have sworn it was your unrestrained laughter riding in on the breezes, waves, rays of sunshine and moonlight we all dreamed in. I have a feeling some of us are having a hard time getting our feet back on the ground, but hope that soon there will be many dreams and reflections for you and our other Forum friends to enjoy and become inspired by.

And, once again, a personal acknowledgement and heartfelt thank you, Ralf, for your consistent and excellent contributions to our ever blossoming discussion site.

See you soon in one realm or another! Keelin

I got Lucid!

This morning I had a terrible nightmare and woke up around 3:30am. I couldn't go back to sleep for quite a while. When I finally did, around 6:00am I started dreaming about going under water and was momentarily concerned about breathing under water - and that did it. I remembered that I didn't need to breath at all and became lucid.

Unfortunately the dream is pretty vague now because I only remembered it once I had been awake for a few minutes. I do remember rubbing my hands together every few minutes to keep the dream stable though and being aware of when it was ending and trying to spin to stay in it. I guess when I realized I was losing that battle I should have decided to wake up instead so I could have recorded it right away.

Oh well.

Made for a happy day anyway.

Andrea

Dear fellow lucids!

Joy

Thank you so much for your fascinating stories from the Kalani retreat. They are helpful in motivating for future experiments in mutual LDs. Thanks especially for the healing story, too.

Keelin

Thanks for feedback and laurel leaves again. I can't really keep from posting and discussing and try my very best to dedicate time to other things, too. I'm very satisfied with the development of the forum and of course with the advances that so many forum dreamers make by sharing experiences and thoughts here.

Of course I would like to attain another retreat, but am not sure, how and when to do it. It is certainly rewarding and delightful to be with lucid dreamers, with lucid beings.

Hope to CU

Go Andrea!

Funny how a lucid dream lights up the whole day.

I've been telling those who ask that the best part of dream camp was being among - as Ralf puts it - lucid beings. Wow. Unforgettable.

Joy

For me, lucid camp was an inspiration. Stephen's presentations were wise and insightful yet so funny and entertaining that I was mesmerized, Keelin took such loving care of us, and Hawaii did the rest. I enjoyed the other campers, especially Thea, who gave me so much of her unique inner presence that I felt greatly enriched, and Joy, whom I had greatly admired on the forum and who was even better live, and Leslie, and .... the list goes on and on. I felt I was in the midst of very sharp, very creative people, and I appreciated the wonderful lucid dream reports. However, being an introvert's introvert, I felt somewhat overawed there by the open attitudes and lucid talents and therefore aimed to take what I learned back home with me and develop it in a more private setting. My haiku was:

Reality test! Where is my lucidity? Not here; try at home.

I came home and promptly had a lucid dream (see my post of 3/09/02 above). To my surprise, it left me in a place where I couldn't develop my lucidity on my own after all, for it seems not to be in REM sleep (because, by opening my eyes and doing a reality test, I had confirmed that it was not a false awakening but really my legs moving while I had the lucid dream). This is something beyond my control or understanding, and now I wish I was back at camp so that I could get help with this problem. But wait, this is the forum, maybe it's not too late. Anybody?

Towards a lucified dream theory, Naomi (TGIF)

Naomi:

I once had a lucid dream where I was flying about a wonderful city, exploring its sights and enjoying my additions to its landscape, when suddenly I was confronted by my body, asleep on my bed a few feet below me, though the bed was in the middle of a street. Strangely, I could feel myself lying in bed, even while I floated above me! I then felt a serious, instinctual need to wake up, but found that I couldn't do it regardless of what I tried (i.e., painful pinching, spinning, shaking my head, thinking of the bathroom). Finally I swooped down to my sleeping dream body, lined myself up with it, and concentrated for what felt like hours (though probably just a few seconds) on "falling" back into my body. In time I did, and woke up right away.

The reason I share this with you is because, in retrospect, I think what may have happened is that something disturbed my "real world" body during the LD, and mechanisms in my brain may have been attempting to wake me up. I instinctively recognized this, but was too caught up in the dream to react properly, so I had a fairly chaotic moment of being completely immersed in a dream while also waking up. It was weird, but it can happen (as far as I know!).

So, don't fret that you sensed your body during your LD - it doesn't negate the dream, but might just mean that some part of you was a little too close to consciousness. Instead, if it should happen again, play with the feeling, use it as part of your dream, and maybe your body will back off and let you go back to the LD.

I hope something there made sense...

Hi everyone!

I'm not hidding! ;) If you can believe it I'm still on my way home from Hawaii. I just stepped off a 10 hour flight and will be jumping the last 2 hour leg of my trip shortly.

I just quickly scanned the board... Glad to hear that Naomi had just forgotten to pack her lucidity! Way to go Andrea (accent egu promis en arrivant). I've been trying hard lately to do the underwater breathing thing as well... something about all that Kalani water that lifted my soul to a place it's not been since I was a little boy spending 5 hours a day in the ocean.

Joy, when I spoke about the shared dream thing... I have to admit, I felt (perhaps wrongly) that Dr. Laberge was not one to really push discussions in that "direction". Funny how I sometimes feel funny when in front of my Guru's. Just before leaving I actually posted about non dualistic dreams (as spoken of in the Tibetan Dream Yoga book we both recently enjoyed). These dreams are supposed to be the ones where being free from our ego's we are open to meeting or receiving teachings from past or present masters... In short, even if I don't understand how sharing dreams is possible, I know that we seemed to have burst out laughing during the same mornings dreams. Coincidence? Why even ask, it just felt soooo right for me to laugh that I'm not surprised that if any energy got out of me at that moment it was the strongest possible positive flow. And if the laughing dreams turn out to be "contagious" then all of you fellow Kalani'ers watch out... I'm coming after you in your dreams with a feather!

Wow... my meter is up to $10. Will savor each word of the board when I get home.

Oh, I got a chance to film Kalani from the air!!! Will start posting video next week ;)

Mahalo friends!

Ps. Keelin, tell them why I'm only slightly prone to going lucid on those air pills!

Strangest thing happening: Every time I try to type up my post-Kalani dreams, my computer dies. Without having saved anything but the title "Post-Kalani Dreams." I'm quite certain I'm awake. Hmmm.... Well, I'll take it as an omen that I should keep them to myself for now - maybe by the time I get the bug fixed, I'll have a better sense of which parts are for everyone and which are too personal to share here. But if I encounter Michel and his feather I'll let you all know!

Joy

I give up. It's cold, gray, windy and snowing outside and I can't think of anything I'd rather do than write to the Kalani dreamers and touch the spirit of those people in that time and place. My wisdom is not likely to improve much with a few days' age so here is my best attempt at editing my post-Kalani dreams.

8 March O2, a dream in which lucidity began with finding my mailbox painted red and continued in a tacit way through a scene about an illustrated poem that changed between depicting predator and prey, by an artist who changed between preadolescent girl and mature man. My boss warned me in a fatherly way against interacting with this strange person but I told him, "It's all right; see, it's really a dream."

Then an earthquake began. People around me were afraid and I (old hand at earthquakes) calmly reminded them to get down on the floor, under a strong desk or table - "or structural component," I concluded as I noticed that the scene had changed to a bridge, and the people were the dream-camp people, all clinging single-file to the swaying bridge that arced across rough water through thick fog. Thea was to my right; I asked if she was okay. She said in her calm steady voice, "Yes, except that this end of the bridge is swaying into the water and I'm getting wet." I reached out and helped her climb up to a higher part, and thought about finding her some dry clothes.

Then we were all indoors in some old unfurnished building but high and dry. A fat man stepped out of his long wet skirt - a big, full Spanish dancer skirt with a ruffle - and I thought how nice it was that dream men could wear skirts if they wanted to - like Kalani, I thought.

Joe was there and we had a conversation in the kitchen, the details of which I'll omit. Like Thea's, his dream image was entirely realistic as to voice and form and I was glad to see him.

Then the scene shifted slightly: I was alone; there was a creaking-door sound, and a small but frightening creature emerged from another room and stood face-to-face with me in a little hall, only it had no face: it was like a fleshy tripod of human-like arms and legs culminating in a sort of elbow/knee. "Nightmare image! Good!" I thought, because when Stephen had lectured about confronting nightmares I'd thought maybe I should seek them, since they so rarely find me. After allowing myself to fully experience a shiver of fear I almost started to laugh at it, but remembered what to do: I opened my arms and said, "Come to me, strange creature. What can I give you? What do you need?" As it moved forward into my arms the dream dissolved.

The sun is out. I'm going for a run. More dreams later,

Joy

Greetings & Felicitations Oneironauts!

(I just put that intro in for Thea; hey Theethers, does that remind you of Trulane? He was a BAD little boy, wasn't he?)

The time spent in Hawaii with you wonderful people has changed both my dreaming and awakening life in profound ways. I have made some lifelong friends. I have learned things I can make good use of. As Jeff would say, the paradigm has shifted. My sincere thanks to Stephen and Keelin for organizing and presenting this fantastic retreat.

A curious event happened to me during DreamCamp. I spent one evening at a nearby B&B with my friend Adrienne. She is a very talented shamanic journeyer, and as we sat together in a steam bath built of lava rocks, heated by steam vents coming up from out of the earth, she began to chant and then drum, and we both took a little journey. It reminded me of the shamanic workshop I'd taken from Michael Harner years ago. I'm not much of a shaman, sadly. I suppose that I just expect everything to be so CLEAR like it is in my lucid dreams, and it just isn't for me. So anyhow, I had a bit of a journey where images were coming to me; she had a really wonderful trip, being a lot more experienced at that sort of thing than I. At any rate, afterward when we were comparing notes, I told her I had ridden on the back of a boar or a pig of some kind, through the tunnel to the underworld. She told me of a green tree frog she had communicated with. The strange thing is that the next evening, two new toys showed up at DreamCamp; the flying pig and the creaking frog. It was too much!

So here's a recent Lucid Dream I call "The Hawk". Before going to sleep, I asked for a lucid dream to show me a spirit guide, a power animal or a guardian of some kind. I am looking at myself talking to some people. I look different. My hair is cut very short. I say, That can't be me; this must be a dream. I go lucid. I am aware that I am in bed having a dream. I look at the bedsheets which are over my head. They have a repeating pattern of a buffalo chasing a man on a horse. I see the figures moving. I think, When did I get new sheets? I remember I want to find a power animal. I say, I want to go outside. Instead, I am now in a large room full of a lot of people I do not know. They are having a very good conversation. I am getting too caught up in the dream, however, and I have to remind myself to get back to business. Floating upward, I rise above everyone's head and slowly float out of the room. I say in my mind, "Outside," and I am. Flying high but slowly, I see a bird way out in the distance. I land and wait for it. It is huge and reddish and very beautiful. I see it swoop by me and land on the branch of a tree. It is a hawk. I can see each facet of the hawk's feathers, beak and feet with SUCH incredible clarity! I think, boy this lucidity stuff is great for detail. I look the bird straight in the eyes. He flies down to my shoulder and stands still while I stroke his chest feathers. He is so soft! We are communicating without words, and I feel so happy!

Sweet dreams to all of you,

June

9 March 02

A place something like Kalani but more open, and seemed to be somebody's farm. Very happy feel, green grassy place, bright sunlight, sparkling dew, colorful flowers, and dream campers were there. Naomi was identifying wildflowers she'd collected; I admired that. She said, her voice wonderfully vivid and familiar, "I am a beautiful person" - and I thought that she was, and saw that she had a special beauty at this moment, backlit by golden sunlight. And I found a big jar full of water and little colorful tropical fishes that she'd collected from a pond. All these ideas delighted me. I saw that the jar was big enough for the fish to live for a while, and went to get my Hawaiian fish ID card. Joe had it; he was sitting in a car; I whispered to him that this was also an excuse to touch him.

Back at the farmhouse I found that everyone had gone indoors. I came in the back door and found everyone sitting in the front room, believing they were locked in. They were unsure who had done this to them and very concerned about whether they could get out. They'd already tried the doors and now they were just sitting and wondering what to do.

I went back to the door I'd come in through, unhooked a little latch and went out - no problem - and went around the outside of the house to see if I could open the front door for them. It was a big wooden door. I turned the knob. No problem. I opened it and there, directly behind it, was another identical big smooth wooden door but with no knob.

"How strange," I thought. "Now when something strange happens we're supposed to reflect on whether it's a dream. Oh, hey, I think there's a good chance this IS a dream!" Surprised and pleased, I took off flying.

I flew upward for a while and then realized I wasn't seeing anything but white cloudiness and I had better get some sensory input in order to stay in the dream. I came back down, walked and ran through a grassy field, then remembered having done something similar twice in dreams at Kalani - "This could get to be a regular thing with me!" I thought. What else could I do? I remembered that before going to sleep I'd hoped for a dream orgasm so I flew up again, looking for a tree-top place with some privacy, some stimulating element, whatever; but although from this intent alone I felt an orgasmic feeling, there was a not-quiteness about it and then I remembered I'd meant to be with - someone - I didn't remember whom.

I returned to the house, and remembered my task of letting everyone out. I pushed on that knobless innner front door; it opened without difficulty; I left it open and went through to the back to make sure it was still open too, and now found layer after layer of knobless doors. Amused, after about the fifth door I thought, okay, it has to open out! - and two doors later it did. I left it open, went outside and resumed my search.

Now whom could I find? I flew low and east along the fenceline of a field. A few people sat near the fence, and farther on were some engaged in a rambunctious football-like game - all in a pile and thumping on each other. The first man along the fence had long blond curly hair, a bearded chin and sort of a dumb look. I flew on by. The second man had long brown curly hair, a bearded chin and an intelligent look. I didn't recognize him but he seemed satisfactory. I flew down, smiled invitingly and reached out my hand. "Hey, you got me!" he said with evident delight and took my hand.

"What do I do?" he asked. I said, "Just hold on," and I flew swimming-style, looking for a good place, somewhere beyond the rowdy tumbling pile of people. It was slow going. I began to feel fatigued. My shoulders ached a little and I wondered if the dream-effort was actually causing my physical muscles to contract enough to produce that effect. I told the man, "Maybe we should try flying by just jetting around. It's done with a simple act of will." We did that, and I also realized that I needed to let there be a place. I looked to the other side of the fence and there was a luxuriant clump of tropical vegetation sheltered by broad-leafed palms. We turned and came in for a landing, but I felt the dream dissolving (oh why must dreams dissolve?).

I thought maybe I could return to the dream with some spinning or hand-rubbing - and get my partner (whom by now I recognized) to do the same and come with me! - but after going through recall I never quite got back to sleep, except for these dreamlets: a fat bald-headed shirtless man, perhaps the one with the skirt from my last-reported dream, stood behind the counter of an open-air tropical pharmacy full of native cures and my partner asked him, "Sweetie, do you have any potions that are really terrible?" On realizing I was dreaming I drifted toward wakefulness but held an image of sharing a globular vial of purple fluid, and next I knew, I was hearing a recorded woman's voice instructing "From the dream menu, select 'SUPPLEMENT'" while I saw before me a keypad with a purple key labeled thus on the lower left. I hesitated, remembered it was all dream and all good, selected "supplement" but by then I was awake....

More joy

June, good to see you here! You must have been writing at the same time as I - your post magically appeared along with mine.

Way cool about the frog and pig. And the hawk - awesome. Your dreams inspire me tremendously to guide mine toward the greatest good. I wonder, is it because I spend much of my waking life looking for wild animals that instead I look for power people in my dreams?

more - later - joy

later - more joy:

12 March 02

1230 [These abstract early-night dreams fascinate me.... raw knowledge translated into only the most basic of symbols]

Strong joyful dream quickly fading on waking. Sense: all Kalani dreamers. Place: tropical rain forest. Colors: living greens. Shape: square, large, flat, like a Mayan pyramid. Motion: sense of walking around on the narrow top of a square wall. Feeling: great happiness; knowledge: that I was dreaming and that what I was doing was only possible in dream. Slipping back into sleep as I tried to recall, I saw a strong image of Joe and became aware that I had been exchanging/sharing identity with him: that I was him and he was me, alternately and simultaneously. Then suddenly all Kalani dreamers were in an abstract space and I heard myself asking quickly, "Someone describe what we're doing," and Bryan's unmistakable voice immediately answering: "All facing inward like the spokes of a wheel." I saw then as if by moonlight, all of us frozen in a moment of motion, each in a different position relative to an invisible circle, each having progressed a different number of steps in moving toward a common center.

12 March 02

0300

In a huge, high-ceilinged, white-interior house with many rooms and a big common room, with what was supposed to be dream camp people but a different mix of people than the Kalani dreamers. Everyone seemed very interested in who was going to pair off with whom - in me especially. After a long scene involving my sister's angst, and after seeing from above a woman with a baby and thinking that my son is not so small except in dreams, I broke away from all that and began attempting, and demonstrating, some wildly fun new flying experiments - starting with figure 8's in the form of paired vertical loops - which definitely shifted people's attention from their personal dramas.

I like this dream now! I thought, and shouted out, "Yes, I am lucid and what I want to remember is that I'm flying and flying, it's wonderful fun, and I will be happy when every Kalani dreamer can do aerobatics!" A few others began trying it out as I continued flying in all manner of wild, swift patterns - a very realistic and exhilarating feeling - and dancing in the air. I spoke aloud again: "I want everyone to be a sky dancer if they want to be!"

I began to waken and to go through recall, but soon found myself looking out over the edge of an outdoor balcony, assumed I was back to dreaming and boldly dove off the edge and resumed my aerobatics. So exhilarating! I went back indoors just because I wanted people to see me and be inspired. I remembered that someone on the forum had recommended dancing while flying in dreams as a prolonging technique and for interesting and ecstatic effects - it seemed to have great potential - I considered going back outdoors and dancing up into the sky. I tried a few bellydancing moves, felt very erotic, again rose toward wakefulness and this time stayed.

A little commentary: June's hawk dream reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in a while. I haven't sought an animal-spirit-guide in a dream but I guess I've been one, sort of. In a lucid dream late last summer I told a gate keeper repairing his gate that I was a worker too and he said, "No you're not; you're Raven Boy." I thought, Raven Boy, how odd; well, I'd like to be a raven, because they fly so playfully. They do - they're a very intelligent bird and clearly indulge in aerobatics for the sheer joy of it. So in that and subsequent dreams I began practicing transforming into a raven, with some success.

But because it had such a mythical sound to it, I also did a web search on "Raven Boy." I pulled up three native myths from Alaska and the Northwest Coast, and one contemporary mythic-style children's series, in which Raven Boy is the bringer of light.

"Light - lucidity," I thought. "Any chance I could inspire lucidity in others?" It struck me as an absolutely wonderful objective but I had no idea how I might fulfill it.

In the exercise Jeff initiated on our last night at dream camp, several of you wrote that I had inspired you. Thank you all, Kalani dreamers, for allowing me to play Raven Boy!

No further lucid group-dreams to report at this time. Non-lucidly, I saw Naomi and June at what was supposed to be the next dream camp, in a place with cartoon-character theme rooms - giant pink rabbits and whatnot. I spent the whole dream trying to knead an oversized pile of raisin bread dough - carrying it around with me - wish I'd become lucid! And this morning, I had a dreamlet of Katya saying, "A 'nothing' toast is not so bad!" and everyone joining in happy laughter. It reminded me of a line from a Joni Mitchell song: "And we'll laugh and toast to nothing, and smash our empty glasses down...."

Give us this night our holy moments,

Love,

Joy

Hello Raven Boy, I enjoyed being in your lovely dreams. Of course, being your dream character, it was actually you who is "a beautiful person", but here are a few facts to ponder: 1) A few years ago I took wildflower classes for a couple of years, and loved going on hikes to identify different ones. 2) for several months before dreamcamp I'd had recurring dreams about fish in pools or ponds, and in one I had started with a bowl of colorful tropical fish that I transferred to a pond. 3) I got a little souvenir glass with a hula dancer on it (very kitchy, but he'd asked for a hula dancer when I asked what he wanted from Hawaii) in Kalani for a coworker friend, and when I gave it to him he laughed and asked if it's for drinking a toast and smashing down. 4) I love cartoons. Coincidence? I think not, though #3 might be related to Cohn's law. Thanks Peter. The part that bothers me is that this has been happening in all of my lucid dreams lately, only this is the first time I actually woke myself up to do a reality check. I think my sleep is not deep enough lately when I get lucid. So, if any of you get lucid and notice me hitchiking when you're off on your flying adventures, give me a lift. Thumbing a ride to Lucidland, Naomi

Hello to all, I had a fantastic time at the Kalani dream camp. It helped very much to renew my confidence in my own ability to have lucid dreams by being surrounded by so many people who are as enthusiastic about lucid dreaming as myself. The beautiful environment (starry nights like I do not see in Atlanta and a lovely rocky shoreline) helped to induce wonderful images that I am still seeing in my dreams. I was briefly lucid the night before last when I dreamed that a friend of mine was rummaging around through my house while I was still lying in bed. Unfortunately I did not continue with the lucidity through the rest of the dream but with time and practice I"ll get there. Thanks to all (Stephen, Keelin, June, Joy, Jeff, Joe, Myles, Peter, Andrea, Shelley, Leslie, Thea, Jay, Robert, Katya, Julia, Michel, Patricia, William, Naomi and all others I met at Kalani) for making Kalani a uniquely rewarding experience for me, Bryan

Naomi, awesome! Doesn't sound like coincidence to me either. I don't buy the idea that all dream characters are ourselves any more than I believe that all dream elements come from within ourselves. If you show up in my dream showing me aspects of yourself that I didn't know - your interest in identifying wildflowers and your dream-collection of colorful fishes - and also announce, "I am a beautiful person," then YOU are a beautiful person!

I very much favor the concept that ultimately we all share one consciousness and it's WE - or the big {I} - that is beautiful. We are all, as Bryan pointed out in my/our dream reported above, advancing toward that common center.

Bryan, good to see you here and also to have you as a decisively insightful voice in my dream!

Joy

P.S. I was lucid last night but it was mostly personal stuff, although I don't mind telling you all that I wound up essentially making love with a tree again....

What'd I tell ya? That as soon as I got home, I'd get lucid. Well, last night, I did. Joy and Keelan, I sent a message to you both about it, and I'll try to give the others the same feeling about what happened. After starting Patricia Garfield's book "Creative Dreaming", I rediscovered the act of intention. That is, telling yourself throughout the day and as you fall asleep your intention to dream of ... whatever you want to dream about. I had these two daydream characters I enjoyed fantasizing about, Kalani and Ke'aloha, two handsome identical twin Hawaiian young men. I liked imagining being ravished by them both in the back of their Maui cruiser; not raped exactly, but firmly and lovingly ravished. Well, for the last few naps and sleeps, I'd practice MILD, and often I'd dream of either Hawaii--in one dream I was on the Big Island with my fellow campers, thanking God for being able to live here in Hawaii--or I'd have dream sex. I was in the ballpark, either sex or Hawaii, but never hit the bull's eye till last night. Actually, what I had last night was better than sex. At first, I was with my mom, who's been deceased lo these many years. I at first accepted the action of the dream as real, till I remembered she was dead. Aha, said I to myself, I'm dreaming. There was a cat that kept trying to get my attention by scratching me. I ignored it, knowing it would disappear. I concentrated on my mom. She was telling Jamie to be good for me and his dad. She told me there were some things she wanted to tell me, but I was not ready to hear them. Instead, she embraced me. Her hug melted into me, I felt it throughout every cell of my body, even my female parts. I told her, "Mom, I'm dreaming. Now aI'm going to spin and spin, till I've met Kalani and Ke'aloha my two fantasy characters." I did so. Poof, Mom and Jamie were gone. I was on a Maui roadside. I heard the sound of a vehicle pulling up to the curb in front of me, and I got into a large and spacious van, commonly called a Maui Cruiser around here. The driver sat by himself on the wide seat up front, I sat beside a fellow named Stan, and behind us, in the back seat, were three girls. By the sound of Stan's voice and name, I knew him to be a haole like myself. I think the girls in the back were Hawaiian. I asked, "Who's driving?" One of the girls, I think, said "Kalani is." I'm a little fuzzy on the incidental conversation. It could have been Stan who answered the question. I said, "Where are we going?" One of the girls answered, "To the Benny Hin service." This was definitely not my game plan so I said, "Let's go to a bar or out dancing instead." But the girls remained firm. I said, "Where's Ke'aloha?" A stunned silence, as if everyone in the car were saying Who?! I almost lost lucidity as I wondered if I were crazy. Maybe this Ke'aloha person didn't exist, and I couldn't pull people out of thin air. But I was saved by my lucidity. I said, "I created all of you. Helll, I created myself. The body you see is a dream body. Just as I made you exist, so will Ke'aloha exist." I concentrated hard, speaking aloud as I did so. Some of you may remember a "Twilight Zone" episode, where a playwright brings his characters into existence just by speaking about them into a tape recorder. When he wants them to vamoose, he just cuts the tape. In that style, I began to speak. "His name is Ke'aloha. He is the identical twin brother of Kalani. He is gorgeous looking, full Hawaiian, tells wonderful jokes and sings beautifully. He knows how to treat a woman. He is equally comfortable in a fancy restaurant, as he is pulling barbecued ribs apart with his hands. He is at the airport, and so are we. He is on the road ahead. You will see ..." The van came to a screeching halt, as one of the girls in the back exclaimed "Holy ••••!" or something like that. My sighted dream characters were seeing the formerly non-existent Ke'aloha on the road in front of us. And he was gorgeous. Kalani rolled down the window, and called in a sexy Hawaiian pidgin, "Hey, brah, how's it?" The girls got out of the back seat, saying they were going to get someone else drive them to the faith healer's meeting. Stan, the fellow beside me, decided he had a plane to catch and got out of the car. The dreamy Ke'aloha got into the car beside me and closed the door. I said, "Now can we go to the bar for a couple of drinks?" Kalani said, "Absolutely," and we were off. Ke'aloha started joking with his bro, and I feared he would ignore me. I said, "Let's have some music. Do you have Alfred Apaka?" I was hoping to hear Ke'aloha sing. I said, "Hell, better yet, let's go to an Alfred Apaka concert. He died five years before I was born, but since this is a dream, we could go." Ke'aloha asked if I were quite all right. I said sure, I'm dreaming. Anything is possible, even going to see a dead performer. However, Kalani opted for the bar, so we headed there. I said, "Kalani, I'm glad I created you. You're great." I feared waking, having the feeling of urgency. Ke'aloha was holding my hand, and such an electric orgasm-like feeling went through me. I was scared it would wake me up. I said, "Ke'aloha, I need to rub our hands together, so I don't wake up. I don't want to wake up till we've reached the bar." He wondered again if I were quite all right, but with characteristic Hawaiian tolerance, submitted his hands for the purpose. I rubbed vigorously, till I no longer felt the waking up urgency. As we drove along the dream road, I told myself I would not wake up till we reached the bar. I turned to Ke'aloha, and he kissed me. We both moaned and sighed a little at the touch of the other's lips. I loved his soft, velvety mustache. I can still feel it. My female physique is still rushing from that very tactile and vivid kiss. Kalani spoke to his bro from time to time, seemingly unaware of what was going on behind him. When we reached the bar, I expressed my gladness at having created both of them and we walked into the establishment. Answering nature's call, I asked Ke'aloha to show me to the ladies' room. I remember walking back there. He left me at the door, and I entered. The cubicle was extremely small, I could vividly feel the front and back walls pressing up against me as I sat down on the loo. I said out loud, "I'm going to wake up now. I'm going to remember everything that happened, including the encounter with my mother." Just before the whole thing faded, I thought, I love you, Ke'aloha. My intention is to return to the bar tonight, and continue the action and the relationship. In that dream, Ke'aloha came so alive for me, there's a part of me that believes I really do have a Hawaiian boyfriend. I feel the excitement of new love, without the complicated emotions I would have if I really had a boyfriend in addition to my marriage. Rob enjoys hearing about my lucid dreams. He believes it to be a fascinating skill, but has no interest in dreams himself. Joy, I'd be interested to know who you think Ke'aloha, Kalani, and the others are, if you feel that not all dream characters and elements represent ourselves. I'd be interested in any feedback.

Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention two things about my lovely lucid. No. 1., and this should properly be noted in the discussion on applications, but I thought I'd append it here. I woke up feeling this wonderful new love, and promptly wrote a song called "Hawaiian Honey." I haven't written a song in years, and certainly not since I had the kids and the depression and panic disorder set in. Also, I'm going to strengthen my intention by "getting ready for my date" before bed. In addition to telling myself that I'm going to dream of Ke'aloha and Kalani at the bar tonight, I'm also going to have a long, leisurely bath with some essential, sensual oils tonight before bed, and maybe dab a bit of Maui Rain perfume behind my ears. Obviously, I won't be dressed, that would be too bizarre. But the fragrance of the oil and perfume, plus the taste of a freshly cleaned mouth will help strengthen that intention. And if I garner a wee bit of attention from my waking life spouse before sleep, all the better. Hehehehe. Have any of you done that, prepared your waking life body for a dream event? Has it helped? And one more thing: If any of you communicate offlist, you're welcome to remind me of my intention. And I'll remind you of any you may have. You can always add me to your MSN which is theethers@hawaii.rr.com That serves as both email address and MSN. Happy dreams.

Have had bouts of bluedom since coming back to Arizona. People keep asking me about my trip and I keep feeling as though I can't quite express how it was for me in words properly. (so expect movies will be coming your way very soon.) I saw a film the other night. In it, a group of people who had died were kind of officially processed through a system where they had to choose one memory from the whole of their life. They had three days to choose the memory, and then the processing staff recreated the memory in the form of a film so that these deceased spirits could live in it for eternity. So I began to think a lot about my own little pool..... There's definitely no way I could ever choose one (or two or three) but ... many from dream camp will be with me always. It's so easy to forget details so quickly, especially if you're me! Here's a few tiny moments from the brilliant whole: *having a lucid dream on my birthday (our first full day) and then reliving a scene from that dream in my waking life on the last night as I was walking down the road back to my tent. *watsu *Swimming and spinning and giggling and filming late into the night with William, Peter, and Michel *Seeing the end of a rainbow dissapear into the ocean right below me. *Running (and unable to tire!) down the roadside in a mist that reminded me of the quiet and stillness of snowflurries *the sound of rain falling on my tent on those last few nights *watching Keeling almost float across the field after her massage, smiling and flushed *standing with william in the dark, in the rain, above the ocean as the waves crashed below us. *the smell of the air *the taste of coconut pancakes *the sound of the conch (yum yum) *the feel of black sand and volcanic steam vents

I can't remember having laughed so much as I did over those 10 days. My life has been changing in many ways since Kalani. Thanks to you all Shelley

Bonjour Thea In regards to you saying "I'd be interested in any feedback. "

(think of me doing that cheesy peppe the pew from Bugs Bunny)

purrr purrrr mon minou

Great lucid dream! Great inspiring control of your perception. I truly hope to be capable of staying that calm in the face of such incredible emotions when I next encounter them in a lucid dream.

Those with super fast connections will be able to download a wayyyy too big 72meg Quicktime movie that is a 3 minute super raw cut of only a few digitize clips I slapped together on the flight over... (raw audio)

I will be uploading this file to

http://www.lucid.tv/cloud_hole2.mov

I will put up video in a format and size appropriate to everyone. Give me a few days to get some good 56k video files ready ;)

Michel

PS. Thea, Joe had mentionned that tandem handgliding was something offered in Maui. Whould such a trip interest you?

Aloha, Michel. I'm not sure what you mean about Peppe the Pew because I never watched cartoons. Although modern Disney animated masterpieces are chockfull of dialogue and music, the old Bugs cartoons always seemed to be one big sight gag. But I gather you enjoyed my LD. Not as much as I did, however. Hehehehe. Yes, I might try tandem hang gliding.

Thea... happy I found someone that is "up"... it's 05h43 here now but my laptop (and body) still reads 22h43 ( or 11 pm versus 5 am if you prefer)

I will try to get a sample of the pepe le pew audio. I would describe those sketches as featuring a very bad accent used by a skunk that thinks he's Gods gift to all Miss. Skunks of the world. Ma cherie. At one point he falls in love with a poor cat that has been painted to look exactly like a female skunk.

The play on words and sounds involve many funny chats about smells... the poor cat becomes all sickly when around the romantic frrrrrrrrrench love skunk... I have a friend who's a big bugs bunny fan... he must have some taped.

I'm uploading a file encoded in windows media file. It's a 30 minute upload for me at 24k... yes 24k. I figured that if I practiced with a slow connection we will be able to transmit to all participants that can read this board.

It will be found in:

http://www.lucid.tv/cloud_hole2b_med.wmv

Michel

Aloha, Michel. It's just after eleven here, and I'm reading Lucidity Institute stuff in preparation for lucid dreaming tonight. I wish to go back to the bar where I left Kalani and Ke'aloha last night. But I won't be doing that if I'm still on the computer. I gotta start REMming.

Hi, Naomi, and all my fellow dream campers. I dreamed about Dream Camp the night I got home, or the night after. Naomi was in my dream, figured quite prominently. We were having a conversation, but I don't remember what it was about. Everyone was lying on the floor in the meeting room, talking to each other. Naomi and I were talking. If you happened to have the same dream, Naomi, perhaps you could refresh my memory? ? What were we talking about? Smiles and dreams.

One giant step for Thea! Very high level of lucidity and what a sweet dream.

My comments about dream characters not necessarily representing oneself, applied to dream characters who are people known in waking life - I think they represent themselves at least as often as they represent some aspect of me. As for intentional creations of your own mind like Kalani and Ke'aloha, I don't know if they have an independent existence, but if they do can I borrow them when you're done with them?

Shelley I thank you for sharing your very dreamlike memories.

Joy

Perhaps people we know in waking life are not exactly themselves or ourselves in our dreams. Perhaps they play out our attitudes towards them in our dreams. If we think of them as good people in waking life, they will be angels in our dreams. If our attitude toward them is hostile, they will play the very devil in our dreams. Witness my dreams about Rob. In my dreams, he is always bringing more children into the house. He fillls the house with dozens of tots. In waking life, the only way in which Rob ever hurt me was to push me into parenthood when I was unready. So I see him in the same role in my dreams. As for Kalani and Ke'aloha, well, if I find they have independent existence ... I don't think I'll be done with them for a long time. But yes, Joy, you can borrow them. Thanks for the chuckle. I laughed heartily when I read that message.I didn't see them last night in my dreams. I had what my son wanted: a restful, seemingly dreamless sleep. Well, no matter. Neither the twins nor the bar is going anywhere. Both are in my head.