Ralf, Sorry about misspelling your name. And I forgot to mention that the ways I prolong my lucid dreams are basically variations on spinning, running, rubbing hands, etc.

Hello Ralf, I'd say that I've become lucid most often through dream signs, but that the napping and intension setting techniques have been most effective. I've resisted it, but I was reminded a week and a half ago when I had to eat at a terrible diner. I woke around 2am with indigestion and once I felt better decided I might as well take advantage of it by doing the 61 point relaxation technique and then setting the intention of practicing making things larger and smaller. Not only did I have 4 lucid dreams after that (a new one night record for me) but I practiced changing object's sizes in two of them. Never thought I'd be so grateful for greasy food . I'll post on the dreams sometime soon, I'm still typing them up.

"Ralph, What is EWLD? Is there anywhere I could read about it? It's probably on this sight and I'm looking stupid for asking. "

I can answer this one for him. Even though I usually abbreviate Stephen's book as ETWOLD, it stands for Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming.

Jay, I think the first time I heard of food affecting dreams was when my sister told me of a dream with a large green salami which would float around and put people into a zombie-like state. She called it the "Sleeeepiiing Saaalaaameee" (that's my attempt at showing you how she pronounced it). I just thought I'd share that because I found it so amusing.

I actually received "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming" in the mail a few days ago but have not had the time to read it yet. Now I'm really curious about this white dot technique.

Dear Jason and Jay,

I'm running out of time. Thank you very much for your postings.

I'll go into detail, later.

So long

Sweet LDs

Yours Ralf

"Making Friends with a Scary Black Dog" [LUCID] 7:10 a.m., Sun, June 24th, 2001

I wake up, write down a non-lucid dream or prepare to do so. I feel a little bit eerie so I decide to state test by turning my light on. The end of the bed is much further away than normal; I reach up and turn on the lamp. "There," I think, "the lamp went on so I'm not dreaming." Then I realize that although it made a convincing click and the light bulb lit up at least momentarily, the room is not thereby illuminated - so I realize I am dreaming! At this point - or perhaps this happened just before I tested the lamp - I'm trying to move my dreambody without moving my physical body. It seems quite difficult as I feel close to waking. Finally I'm up and by my bedroom door; I open it and rub my hands together as I'm walking into the kitchen to stabilize the dream and prevent waking up. My vision is extremely blurry and at times it feels as if my eyes are closed [possibly feeling my physical eyes] so I think "increase visual clarity now!" several times and my vision becomes much clearer, as I can see by looking at text on a street sign in my kitchen - an anomaly I take no note of, other than noting the cool way the text keeps changing. It says "OSLO" when I first look at it, then incoherent things. My vision starts to blur annoyingly again, but this time I decide to ignore it and get on with the dream; it ceases to be a problem and my vision is fine. Without transition as far as I recall, I'm now outside walking along a street. I start loudly and happily singing "It's going to be a bright sunshiny day." There are some people nearby and I feel momentarily embarassed; but then I don't care because it's a dream, so I ignore them. For a moment I notice that I'm only wearing my underwear, but that doesn't matter either. I start to run fast, deciding to see how fast I can run. As I cross the street I see a truck driving on the sidewalk; it's strange looking, sort of like a flat platform with only a big bush visible on the top, as if the bush is driving or is part of the truck; I find this a bit amusing. Then as I run up a steep embankment a medium sized black dog comes along the sidewalk from some bushes, coming from the opposite direction as the bushtruck. I stop to interact with the dog, who is growling aggressively. I start petting it, trying to calm him and fearing he will attack me; as my fear increases this seems more likely. It seems important to be friendly with the dog, as it's part of me - I don't know if I articulate that in the dream, but that's the sense I have [in retrospect, I think this was a feeling based on my interactions with frightening animals in dreams of yore, and my Consensus Reality ruminations on same]. Gradually his growling stops and he's happy as I continue to pet him. Suddenly there is a puppy - his puppy - interacting joyfully with the dog. I wake - as confirmed by sucessfully turning on the lamp. [This dream occured during a 10-minute "snooze cycle" after my alarm initially went off.]

Thanks for the ref, Joe. I'll listen to it later.

Meanwhile I announce that the LD drought broke last night with a very brief shower. I was looking at this strange computer and wondering what brand it was. I reached out to touch it, but my hand went through it. "Now what the hell is that?" I think, "Aha! It must be a lucid dream!" But then I tried to spin, rub hands, and look around at the same time, and wigged myself out. Overdid it, I guess. sigh.........next time.

Great , Alan!

Let the dike come down, baby....

Josie and the Pussycats <<<often overly excited myself....

BTW.... Check out terry gross the following day, or was it Friday...thay all run together anymore...well, the new poet laureat here in the land of the free (under the watchful eye of one "non-intellectually curious" gentler machine gun hand) read an amazing poem all about sleep, then made subtle references to astral projection!

Modern poets are heard best with 100 Watts of screaming stratocaster behind them, and according are ignored by those who are not ready....

This morning I passed a lucid dream milestone - for the first time I had a lucid dream two days in a row! Wheeeeeee! Here is my dream report:

"Increasingly Realistic Videogame" 7 a.m., Mon, June 24, 2001

I'm playing a videogame, which becomes increasingly realistic. It starts as a sort of abstract strategy game, then I'm controlling a character on a screen that is shooting at various enemies; then it becomes a first-person shooting game; and then I'm walking around with a gun, heading toward a building entrance. I pass some people - non-combatants in the game - and think of shooting them. Then I think, "I wish I had a real gun so I could blow these civilians away." [I think that was the first glimmering of lucidity.] I don't like that thought and start to feel less aggression and more...compassion? towards them. I see the humanity in them. I see a woman at work I dislike and have a warm feeling toward her. It occurs to me that in here it is easy to see people in an idealistic way. I walk into the building, which turns out to be some sort of store. Amazed by how vivid and bright everything is, I think to myself, "Holy ****, this is a dream!" The sudden intensity almost blows the dream away - instantly I lose vision and most sense of my dreambody. I think I try rubbing my hands together first, then start touching whatever I can reach, to try to stay in the dream - I feel the floor, steel pole, other things. I hear the sounds of other people in the store, who are alarmed by my strange behavior and must think I'm insane or stoned. In my feeling around I grab a beautiful female staff member - a particularly fine choice for tactile exploration of the dreamworld as it turns out. She tells everybody she knows what's wrong with me and how to help me; really she plans to take me into a back room and have sex with me.

Alas, the lucid dream ends around this point, followed by a confused false awakening in which I sit at a desk planning to write the dream down, and think of telling Jim and Lucy that I had for the first time I had a lucid dream two days in a row. There is also a fascinating part where I practice doing chi gung with my dreambody, while supposedly being simultaneously aware of my "real" body - except that the "real" body I feel is sitting at the desk in the frame dream. In any case, I have a powerful feeling of moving my energy body, feeling the chi flowing. I think of telling my chi gung instructor about this.

A couple of nice LD successes for me last night:

In my dream, I was visiting my uncles' farmland homes with my mother. In the dream, nothing was as it is in real life (none of my uncles, aunts, or cousins were from life... the houses were wrong... only the terrain felt somewhat real). There were so many clues that this was a dream, it doesn't surprise me that I became lucid. When I did become lucid, I did a quick check of a nearby digital clock... and sure enough, got two different readings. I got very excited... and started walking out of the room where I was visiting with my (non)family, and down a hall. I thought to myself, "relax, take a breath..." and stopped momentarily to do so. Standing in the hallway, I rubbed my hands up and down my arms... they felt a little numb, so I used Adastra's "Increase lucidity now". The whole scene came better into focus, and I could feel my hands on my arms much better. I paused awhile longer to marvel at how real everything looked & felt. I walked out the door, and found myself outside my childhood home. It was a gorgeous, sunny day out. I decided I wanted to try flying... but was a bit nervous, never having done so before... so I walked down the street a bit, first. I took one leap... floated in a nice arc for a few seconds, then descended earth. I noticed a (guessing at age) 12 year old child chasing a ball down the street, and I thought to myself that I'd rather wait until he was gone to try flying again. He caught up to the ball, grabbed it, and looked at me... then fell backwards, and was absorbed by the asphalt street. At first I felt startled about the what had happened... but reminded myself "It's just a dream". I saw my chance, and willed myself to lift slowly off the ground. Up into the air... looking down over my neighborhood... faster and faster up into the clouds! I looked down again, and was surprised to see that the ground was covered with snow. Some of my neighbors were building some sort of snow structure... I wanted to fly down close to see it, but ended up crashing to the ground, and awoke with a start (false awakening). As the dream continued, I found myself at a weird cafe with my father... where all dishes were served on top of whatever they were cooked in. (They would disassemble stoves to give you a grilled cheese sandwich, or scrambled eggs right on top of the stove) There was a loud, aggressive and beligerent man annoying everyone at the cafe. I suddenly realized "I think I might still be dreaming", and did another clock check.... Bingo! (My first double lucid dream!) First things first.... I grabbed the annoying man by his hair, and swung him hard head first into a wall, knocking him out. I thought to myself "I wonder what the people on the LD message board will think about that!" and laughed. I walked out the door of the cafe, and found myself back in my old neighborhood. The day wasn't as nice as it was before... very cloudy. So, I decide to try to change that. I close my eyes, and try to "will" the weather change. When I open my eyes back up, I can see that I had a mild success.... nothing to be extremely pleased about, but better than it was before. (an odd "first" for me happens here.... I start feeling VERY sleepy in my dream. I start yawning, and can barely keep my eyes open. I think to myself... "this is a dream, I shouldn't be sleepy... I AM sleeping!") I start flying again over my neighborhood, but start thinking to myself how the neighborhood isn't "right". Houses aren't where they're supposed to be, and the terrain isn't correct.

I wake up (and do a quick clock check to make sure I'm not still dreaming ;-)) pleased with the fact that I had been able to keep myself calm, increase my lucidity without losing control, and recognize a false awakening. All in all, a good night for me :-)

-j

Johnny wrote: --First things first.... I grabbed the annoying man by his hair, and swung him hard head first into a wall, knocking him out. I thought to myself "I wonder what the people on the LD message board will think about that!" and laughed. --

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I remember dreaming about chasing down a madman in a dream mall. I was just about ready to beat the man to a pulp when I realized the madman was also me (my reaction was a reflection of his behavior). My alarm clock went off and the dream was fading and I held on to it long enough to get the man to security and tell them that the man was not well and that he should not be beaten, but should get help instead. I made the officers promise.

Although that did feel good, most of the time it feels really good to become like Bruce Lee and pulverize the bad guys. I have many times wished I could do this in real life. In dreams you don't have to stand by helplessly watching or become a victim yourself. You CAN do something and it feels great.

I just had my first long lucid dream and thought I would share my experience. I've been doing the course about a month and half, and I've had 4 lucid experiences. The first 3 consisted of my becoming lucid and waking up right away. The dream scene would start fading the minute I became aware that I was dreaming... However, the most recent one was actually prolonged and I LOVED IT! Here's how it went:

I was setting the alarm clock next to my bed (in my dream), but the numbers kept changing to weird combinations (like 22:64). This tipped me off to the fact that I might be dreaming. Once I noticed this I did a "text-based" reality check (I have a silver ID bracelet I wear that is engraved with the phrase "Am I Dreaming?"). I looked at my bracelet to do my reality check... at first it said "Am I Dreaming?" like it's supposed to... I looked away, looked back, and it had changed... This time it said "Is the Earth in Orbit?". I realized at once I MUST BE DREAMING! It felt SO real, but I knew I was dreaming. I was in my room, so I immediately got up and jumped in the air to see if I would hover. I jumped and floated back down! Once I was sure I was dreaming I headed to the window. My room was very windy for some reason even though the window was closed. I reached out my hand to touch the closed window, but my hand went right through the glass. I then jumped out the window and headed for the street. I did my Superman impression: took 3 steps, jumped, and flew! I flew around the neighborhood for a while, however, I wasn't able to go very high, and every once in a while I would run out of momentum. When this happened I would just run, jump, and take off again. (I always assumed I'd have total control in my lucid dreams, but I guess one needs practice for these things...) Sadly, after a few minutes of this fun, the phone rang and WOKE ME UP!!! I guess it's true... all good things come to an end.

Anyway, to all those out there having no success KEEP TRYING! It REALLY works.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings, Rick

Congratulations, Alan! May that brief shower be just the beginning of a monsoon season that leaves you singing in the lucid rain soon.

;-> Eleni K.

Dear Mikolas and Daniel, et al,

When the subject of lucid dreaming comes up among strangers, rather than starting off with trying to convince anyone that it's even possible, let alone natural, I sometimes simply ask: If you were dreaming right now, what would you choose? Then, while the person's head is tilting and they're beginning to back away, I gently remind them that in a dream, one is only limited by one's own imagination. Most people I encounter don't like to think they are of limited imagination. Some will change their facial expressions to reflect deep concentration. Others may look confused or even distrustful, as if having options is a new idea or somehow ultimately unacceptable. If they look completely stumped, I'll offer an example from my own lucid dream adventures and add something about how lucid dreaming helps increase flexibility in thinking and response in new situations in my waking life. Sometimes I can see their eyes light up as if they've just glimpsed a whole new world of possibilities. Other times, it goes a little differently and I wander off wondering:

How odd am I? Keelin

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your post about fading perceptions.

Here's another exercise, tailored for oneironauts, that makes use of residual imagery. Try this one just prior to sleep:

With eyes held still, stare for a long while at the word

DREAMING?

then close your eyes and observe the residual imagery as it fades.

This works best if the word is in bold type and solid in color with plain background, the image and background occupying all of your visual field. If you use black stars to form the word, the residual imagery takes on the appearance of the night sky with a provocatively prompting constellation.

I once saw the stars spell out the word DREAM, and my immediate, singular thought was, of course, that is just how it should be! Missed the cue entirely. Didn't seem odd in the least.

Reminds me of these slightly altered song lyrics:

Stars fading above you, night breezes seem to whisper I love you, birds singing in the sycamore tree, dream a lucid dream of me....

Keelin

Keelin, Funny thing about those missed cues. A couple weeks ago I was dreaming about sitting in front of a computer and a message popped up with a statement reading: "It is my will to become aware that I am dreaming while I am still dreaming." Although it was difficult to read, it was still readable. I thought that was a fine statement of intent and I clicked the OK button and went on without giving it a second thought. I should have tried to read it again. In real life I have schedule plus remind me to do a reality check every 45 minutes (In fact I just got one).

And when conversation comes to dreams in real life I generally do not mention lucidity. I just mention my choices and observations without mentioning lucidity. Sometimes I do mention becoming aware I am dreaming, but I do it in a casual way and never use the specialized word "lucid" because it makes things seem more foreign to many people. A little over a year ago I was discussing dreams with someone and they said "You're a lucid dreamer too?". There was something about the way I described observing and examining a dream object (a holographic advertisement in a mall) which just suggested lucidity to him. The other person listening did seem to think there was something odd about my description, but couldn't quite place it. When the discussion turned to lucidity the non-lucid dreamer was completely dumfounded and fascinated. Soon after the conversation the non-lucid dreamer started reporting thier own lucid adventures. It's almost like they were shocked into the state.

Thanks for the good wishes, Keelin and Joe - they seem to have worked.

Last night I enjoyed the best LD since Maui. It was preceded by a dreary non-L in which I was, for reasons unknown, pushing a large, heavy, empty packing case-without wheels - across some particularly bumpy countryside to a destination which turned out to be a section of disused, rusty railroad track - where I was met by a guy who seemed to have performed the same feat, only with an elephant. Really! Who on earth can possibly interpret that? Hmm....well....

Anyway, the following LD made up for it. My girlfriend Dawn and were taking part in a 4 wheel drive safari in the Australian bush when we came upon a ghost town. We got out to explore, and noticed that the place was not abandoned as we had thought. A number of inhabitants were peering at us from the tumbledown buildings. They were all dressed in old fashioned clothes, and seemed so shocked to see us that they froze in position like statues. We made our way into the biggest building, and upstairs to where the residential quarters were. I became semi-lucid as we entered an entrance hall at the top, and started to walk across the boarded floor to a doorway. The floorboards slowly separated, leaving dangerous gaps which I stepped over carefully. I commented, "Now, this is all very dreamlike,isn't it?" The boards reached a stage of separation when I had to get down on my hands and knees, face close to the floor, to keep balance. I closed my eyes and said, "Oh no, this is probably going to wake me up!". Dawn says she can walk okay. Then I remembered to say (or think), "INCREASE LUCIDITY NOW!" I opened my eyes and saw what seemed to be my pillow from close range. "Dang, I lost it.," I think. But as I raised my head for a better look I realised I was looking at the floor - which had reassembled itself perfectly - and whoa! Everything was really real. I did a little waltz around the hall, singing, "Amazing lucid! I'm awake! I'm awake!" Dawn smiled tolerantly, so I go over and gently slap her face to see if she'll wake up, too (der!). Then we go through the doorway , down another narrow hallway to another door. I open this and see a pack of large dogs staring at me suspiciously. I quickly shut the door, then see that one of the dogs has somehow got through. It looks like he's getting ready to attack, but then I realise he's a Dobermann (I used to have one), so I open the door again and he dives through to play with the other dogs. Advancing, we find ourselves at the entrance to the living quarters, and catch glimpses of the inhabitants. They seem to be hiding. "Hello!" I call out cheerfully - then I wake up.

Most enjoyable.

Congratulations, Alan

I wonder how physical Dawn reacted on your "dream - slap"

Yours Ralf

Ralf - it was more of a pat. And Dawn has the mother and father of all headcolds at the moment, so I don't think she'd feel it even if I did it for real. I'm still trying to work out what the ghost town and its shy citizens symbolised, though.

Maybe symbolising the way you see LD - land these days? If it is so, it seems you are getting closer to the living part of this land, after you encountered the ghosts, the fear, the abyss, the death (these dobermanns seem to be a kind of Cerberus). Maybe the symbolise something, you had to get over to get rid of your "dry spell".

Yours Ralf

Ralph, my woo-woo meter just twitched. Much as I would like to think of LD in an 'onward-and-upward' linear developmental way, something tells me it's muchwhat simplistic. It seems to me that, in line with Stephen's schema, the hiding population were generated by the initial image of a ghost town. Like, here's an empty town - where is everyone? - They must be hiding.

And what precisely do you mean by 'the living part of LD land'? :-)

First congratulations to everyone who's been having ld breakthroughs recently. It's encouraging to see quite a few of them.

Jason, I got a good chuckle out of your having clicked the OK button without giving it a second thought. If I had a lucid dream for every time it's been pointed out to me that I'm dreaming and I just continue on my way without realizing what happened...

Anyway, an interesting dream experience last week. I'll preface this by saying that since I started doing lucid dreaming work I've had very few dreams that could be considered nightmares. But this dream had definite emotional overtones of fear, I was continually beset by enemies and attacked everywhere I went. I tried flying but couldn't get away. I teleported to another location and was attacked again. I tried projecting welcoming thoughts with no affect. A cute cocker spaniel walked up to me. I smiled at it and it bit me savagely. I was growing frustrated that I knew it was a dream but still felt fear and kept being assaulted. I considered trying to wake up, but decided to wait. Instead I said that everything here was part of my mind. This had no effect. I then considered the nature of my surroundings envisioning everything, including my body as being all emanations of my mind and cried out, 'What happens before this?' (don't know why I used that phrasing). The scene vanished and I found myself standing in a room of the house I grew up in. I flew out the door and into a beautiful snowy landscape. I admired it for a time, doing some spinning and hand rubbing, but after what I had just been through beautiful scenery didn't satisfy me and I called out, 'What lies beyond this?'. The scene vanished and there was nothing around me (don't recall a body, but I was able to speak so I might have had one). I cried out, 'Please answer me!'. There was no response. Then I recited two Hebrew prayers, the 2nd was the Sh'ma, the first might have been the V'ahavta. Not being a religous Jew, it's not something I do while awake so I'm not sure what to make of that. Some time after that I woke up. [Hmm, after reading this in Preview mode I'm wondering if I answered myself as best I could. 'What lies beyond this?' 'The lord our god, the lord is one.' The oneness of all things. Not a bad answer really. ] As unpleasant as the beginning was, I'm pleased that I kept trying and didn't just wake up. I give complete credit to the Dream Workshop last summer for allowing me to cultivate that attitude. It reminded me a bit of the section in The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep that discusses the usefulness of frightening dreams and how one should cultivate them in order to transform them and develop fearlessness. Perhaps having read that section recently inspired this dream?

I'd welcome suggestions as to other productive actions I could have taken in those circumstances. I'm especially curious if there are any forum participants who do the dream yoga practice where you seek to induce frightening dreams in the fourth part of the night. After this experience I have a better understanding of how it could be productive.

And on a lighter note I managed my third WILD night before last . Not much happened but it was fun lifting my dream arm as the sense of my waking arm in bed faded. I tried to dream a full OTB but it never got that far.

Hi, Alan!

I hope your woo woo meter didn't break, because we need it. What I wanted to express is, that dream - content may be influenced by your dry period: dry - desert - deserted. In this picture "the living part of LD land" is simply that part of your dream, that is lucid. Like, in the end, you get to the entrance of the living quarters. The question remains: What is initial for the construction "hiding"? Your daytime expectations about your dry period, about hiding LDs or the picture of this deserted town in the dream? And what I still haven't found: A LD - world like the physical one. I only think, that (lucid) dreaming is part of the physical world, the One World, that it is another way to perceive reality. The question remains: What do we perceive and how do we do it?

Let me twitch that meter

Yours Ralf

Ralf,

Like I said, it would be nice if the LD inner world related to the outer material world in the useful, linear, cause-and-effect way you describe, but I don't think it does.

Your interpretation rests upon the idea that the desert was a symbol for "dry spell'. Lots of people like to make these word game interpretations, but I've never encountered one that was useful - except as entertainment. Even Freud once said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar'.

Your interpretation also seems to presuppose the existence of an inner interpreter who/which is separate from the 'I' awareness: something which independently constructs symbolic messages for the edification of the consciousness.

This idea is the very ancient one that has generated over the ages many different pantheons of gods and hierarchies of angels. And this idea is also the one which generates the delusions and hallucinations of psychotic mental disorders.

Now, why not assume that this 'interpreter' or 'something' is simply a mechanism which, while being an integral part of our mental tool box, remains uninvestigated and unidentified? After all, isn't that essentially what we are all trying to do here - investigate and learn to control it?

Currently, I favour the toolbox paradigm. We have all discovered a strange tool in our boxes, and we are all trying to find out what it's for and how to use it. It seems to be more like a Swiss Army Knife than anything else - unfolding into many different instruments - and like any other tool, it can malfunction or be used for inappropriate purposes.

I just checked the above, and my woo-woo meter didn't twitch once. But that's probably only because I didn't dare to define what I meant by inappropriate purposes :-)

Dream on!

Alan T

Dear Alan

Thank you. I just had to perform an RC, because I may be mistaken. That is one target dreamsign for today.

Our discussion seems to go into the subject dream interpretation per se. Didn't we have this subject earlier? OK. What is the question, you raise? " Like I said, it would be nice if the LD inner world related to the outer material world in the useful, linear, cause-and-effect way you describe, but I don't think it does." I'm not sure, if the process of symbolising is a linear way. Although it is useful, if you are able to interpret the symbols. In a dream you might meet an ogre who beats you up. Wouldn't you say, that this maybe symbolises a conflict of your own? And once lucid, you are able to consciously integrate the ogre. Again a symbolic action, which may have an effect in the "outer" world, because you tend less to project your shadow. Another symbolic action: Projection. But may have a "real" effect, because you tend less to get into a brawl, don't get hurt that often and your doctor's income decreases. That is only one example of a cause - and - effect way. Now, if you are not able to interpret the symbols in a (lucid) dream, the ogre beats you or you beat him, which leads in the effect to a rising income of your doctor. So, you see, the doctor is caught in a bad trap: If we interpret correctly, we get healthy and our doctor poor, if we don't do it, we get poor and our doctor healthy. So, if the doctor shows us, how to interpret correctly, he gets poor and ill. Wouldn't he? I never thought, that dream interpretation would be easy, and I always knew, that the consequences of interpreting anything can lead to world wars.

The ways of being are abysmal

(abysmal, nice word, isn't it?)

Peace, lucid dreams and woo woo meters for all

Yours Ralf

Happy Dreamers.

I am glad to say I had a Lucid Dream last night. I look very foward to be able to post in this discussion thread ;-)

It was a strange one : very sexual dream. I dreamed I had an affair. Without going into too much detail Sorry boys ;-) after the incident I had a deep feeling of guilt. I was thinking to myself "What have I done ?!" Then it dawned on me : "Hold on a second, I have nothing to fear cause I'm dreaming !!"

A nice sense of relaxation came over me. All that previous worry of the affair just disappeared in an instant. What was strange about this one - is the fact that I was not able to try any of my normal Lucid activity. There was no exitement - just relaxation after the fact that I knew that I was going to awake happy.

I think this was probebly due to the fact that I had been so worried in the dream about what I had done, that when I realised it was a dream - all I wanted to do was to feel relieved. phew

Well, that breaks the dry spell for me. Speak to you all REAL soon ...... happy hunting !

Daniel

Hi, Daniel

Nice success. I know these kind of dreams, I mean similar recurrent dreams, where I'm in different ways betraying my beloved one. Sometimes I awake from this dreams because they (me) get too emotional. This is why I think, they are close to lucidity. This is why feeling guilty or any high emotion is a waking life dreamsign for me. Always an occasion to do an RC. But also to think about the meaning of my feeling. Did the dream continue, after you had been lucid? If so, what did you do?

May your hunts be lucid

Yours Ralf

Ralf,

It so happens that I had an interesting example of dream interpretation last night - that is, the way dreams interpret in waking life.

Over the past two days, I have been considering producing a series of illustrated stories - like a comic strip only with realistic characters - as a way to make some extra income. I found some reference, and studied the way these strips were done, concentrating on the technique. Then I did a few trial drawings.

When I went to bed I had a pleasant non-lucid about being at a dinner party. Someone said that something had fallen out of my jacket pocket, and handed me some old bills and receipts. I looked at them and saw that each had a rather good comic strip style illustration drawn over the printed text.

Now, if we interpret this dream as a 'message', we might believe it meant that I should indeed do the drawings because they would indeed pay some bills. This is where we would cross the border into woo-woo land. Naturally, this interpretation applies to more important matters.

In contrast, I think these synthesizing dream images are merely reiterations of waking thought - the 'day residue' Stephen mentions. The symbolism is based upon combining two ideas or concerns (comic strip production + paying bills) into one visual symbol (the comic strip on the bill).

I suppose the point I'm trying to make is...Just because something is experienced in the dream state does not make it more significant or essentially different in value than something experienced in the waking state. in dreams, we 'talk' to ourselves in a different language. Please note the 'just because': I do acknowledge that inexplicably significant experiences sometimes happen in dreams, and that lucid dreaming itself is always an experience of above average significance :-)

I should know this stuff already, but does any forum member have a reference to left/right hemisphere function related to dreaming? The visual symbolism etc. seems to be right hemisphere.

Cheers

Alan T,

Dear Alan

Hope your comic strips will pay your bills. While you have a lot of fun doing them! I can't use my neuro books now, because I'm not at home, but I'll keep my eyes open regarding left / right affairs. But what I remember is, that the right hemisphere is loosely related to visual, non - linear thinking. And I reckon right hemisphere might be dominant in non lucids.

Interpretation: Maybe this is a hint to let your idea slip into a more or less official discussion (dinner party). If I try, I can make sense of any night - or daytime experience. The question is, if there is in either realm any "institution" or "mechanism" besides myself creating meaningful events, creating significance. I can't 100 percent sure give a yes or no to this question. Do you know about Jung and Pauli's thoughts about synchronicity as a principle of not causal connection? I don't know, whether it has ever been experimentally approved. It seems to say that events of similar meaning attract one another or they are somehow connected. I remember the (woo woo) sentence: Once is chance, twice is coincidence, thrice is conspiracy.

"Now I see the fnords" ( from woo woo "Illuminatus" trilogy)

Yours Ralf

Finally after months of trying, my second lucid came. Heres how it went:

Wow Again I have accomplished. This morning I woke up to find my mother giving my brother a good telling off for not putting his dishes in the sink etc, I think to myself, right I am going to sleep again. While heading off to sleep, I remember to tell myself that "The next thing I see, will be a dream" I repeat this for about 20 seconds and I feel my self get lifted out of bed, like I was floating above my bed, I have had this feeling before so panic was not an option, but rather to see it through. I eventually stop floating above my bed while still repeating, "The next thing I see, will be a dream" Then all I know is that I am now in my kitchen. It's a beautiful day and the first thing I do is check the kitchen clock which must be reaction after all the waking reality checks that I have done. I check the clock, which says 5:30 to my amazement, and success the clock then, right in front of my eyes, without even looking away it changes to 5:06 and then back to 5:10. I smile and grin with utter enjoyment and say to myself "I am dreaming I am dreaming YEAH BABY!' hehe I then think of what to do and look around, I want to fly. So I head over to our ranch slider and pull it open, allowing me to head off to the wonderful outdoors. I pause for a minute, crouch down, like a swimmer ready to jump of the starting board. And then leap as far as I can into the sky with my arms reached out ahead of me. I come crashing down to my feet after only managing a measly 1/5-meter jump. I can't believe that I can't fly. I try a few more times but cannot do it. I wonder back inside and walk down to my mother and fathers room. While at their room, I see a mirror with a bed next to it and sit down on the floor in front of this skinny yet tall mirror. I see myself wearing what I wore last night. I have my legs crossed and I am in like a yoga position. I then without even trying start to hover a few inches above the ground. I think this is pretty cool! ;) I look to my right and Dads standing there putting clothes into a cabinet I tell him that we are dreaming, he says, "I know son.' I look at his feet and they too are hovering just like I am, I am ecstatic! I then run into the kitchen and we have like a big table to eat breakfast on and run into the room and basically do a rail slide along the table's edge with my hands, allowing my feet to almost touch the roof. I feel great and then after going right around the table I then stop and pause for a moment. I then take a look outside and see some lady is washing a car on our drive way and she has 2 children running around playing in the foam from the soap used to wash the car. I wonder why my mind is creating them, as I have never seen them before. I think nothing of it and go back to the kitchen and explain to mum that this is a dream and that were all dreaming. She basically smiles and says something along the lines of "Sure, dear.' While talking to mum I then start blabbering about motor sports and I think to myself, why on earth would I change topic like that, only to see Dad sitting next to the T.V. with motor sport racing on. Next thing I remember I am outside in a car. I am in the back of the car with 2 others. I don't know who they are, but the girl on my right is looking pretty lonely. I ask if she is ok, but there is no reply. I look outside the window to see we are at one of my favourite spots. Up high looking over Auckland city I want to stop but they do not, at this time I am not lucid and just go with the flow. Eventually we get to this house where one of the people live and then I wake up. Once awake I quickly do a reality check on the clocks to find that I am actually awake.

Wow, what blast that was like I had been through a whole journey, yet I am just waking Once awake I estimate that I had been in the dream for about 20-30mins, but still unsure I do take a note that the time was 11:00 upon waking. I then hop up and Mum is first to greet me. She explains that she would like me to clean my room as she had just blown my brother up. I quickly ask Mum, how long ago was it since she told my brother off, Mum said about 30 minutes ago. I smile and say thank you giving me pretty good proof that a judgement in time of a dream is quite realistic to that of waking life.

Yay!!!!! I must not give up on this...need more ;)

Hi all. Here to share a dream with you. Must say first that my dreams don't really involve me saying out loud "Hey this is a dream." I more or less know it, when I am able to have good recall and plenty of rest...and I automaticaly control, or direct the dream. One dream I had several years ago is one I'd like to share: I am suddenly in a bank-like building. It is very clean, has that marble-like surface everywhere. The wall to my right is very tall. It goes up several stories. There are elevator doors all along it. At the end of the room infront of me is a reseption desk. I don't recall if there was anyone there or not. The wall to my left is also several stories tall and is all glass and framing. It is daylight and bright light streams in. I don't recall what happens right in the middle, I'd have to look up the dream for exact data, however, the best part I do recall. I had been a fan of this tv show Forever Knight and I decided I wanted the star of the show, or rather the character, to drive by and get me. Suddenly, I knew he was outside. And I knew since he was a vampire that it would have to be night time and I thought as soon as I walk outside it will be night and it was! And he was there with his classic Caddilac. I stepped back inside and it was still daylight from inside the building! Really weird! I recall getting in the car, but I think I woke up right after that because I don't recall anything else. I've been trying to get back to that building for I don't know how long now :-)

@Mathew

Congratulations. Could you go into detail about

1. How many RC you did per day.
2. How you do them.
3. How long have you been awake, before your morning nap? I rarely do morning naps. I should do them more often, LDs are most frequent in morning naps.

When I had my last longer LD, I was quite lucid, but didn't have much dream control, just like you. One has to be clear, that lucidity and dream control are different things.

@Barbara

"Must say first that my dreams don't really involve me saying out loud "Hey this is a dream." I more or less know it, when I am able to have good recall and plenty of rest...and I automaticaly control, or direct the dream. " Like I wrote above, lucidity and dream control are different subjects. But as I browse through your dream, the thought comes to mind, that high control may lead to lucidity. Just like I would think, that it is very strange that life is always going just the way I want... The subject of this Forum is lucidity. This is why we are most interested in everything, that increases the frequency and length of LD. In this context you are absolutely right: Plenty of rest (and intention) leads to good dream recall. And to more LD. All lucid dreamers now the phenomenon of "tacit" lucidity. But if we want to evolve our lucidity, we have to be able to stabilise and increase it. A very successful way is to use speech (for example "I am lucid", "I am dreaming" or "increase lucidity *1000"). Use inner speech to guide your thinking. That is one of Stephens tips to increase and prolong lucidity. It would be interesting to know, how you manage to get lucid and to stay lucid, once in a LD. What drives you to lucid dreaming?

A lucid lullaby

Ralf

I'm curious just how long a person can stay in lucidity, if it is possible to merge the two together, and if a person would eventually get into trouble with reality if he/she did so? Why does the lucidity end? Hey Ralph, how about solving that one. ha! I'm a little stuck at your distinction between dream control and lucid dreaming though (if there is one).

Oh, by the way, I asked myself during on of my electrical storm seizure last night "what is this spinning?" I was way out in the dark but glimmering star universe and got the reply, "It's what you get to do anything to be back in time." I felt sad and scared when I woke up to write this down. The feeling was like I flung myself so far out and I can't find a way back to this time.

Jay, I'm just back from vacation and getting a chance to catch up on things here. The earliest lucid dreams I can remember are the nightmares I had as a child. I eventually learned to love nightmares the way some people love roller coasters or scary movies. I would stay up late reading H.P. Lovecraft and anything I thought might disturb my dreams. I heard that sleeping on your back was suppose to increase your chances of having nightmares so I started sleeping on my back. Eventually I thought it was a blast when the stories started affecting my dreams.

Now I don't really have nightmares, but I have dreams that scare me. Just this morning I had a dream about a young girl who had somehow entered my apartment and was walking toward my bedroom saying scary stuff about someone just in from China. I figured she was talking about someone I use to know and realized it was a dream. The reason I was scared was because I have been having a lot of dreams about people breaking into my apartment lately and I did not know this shadowy figure making its way toward my room was a little girl.

Anyway, I've heard that all the stories and pictures of blood-drinking deities and wrathful deities in Tibetan religion cause people to realize dreams through fear. Reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead I see that may be the intent in the Bardos too. I do not know what the initiations into the practices might be like, but I'll bet it would influence one's dreams.

On an aside... A few months ago I flipped through a book on Indian Tantra. I stopped on a page with a Yantra. Yantras are colored geometric patterns designed to influence your brain. I stared at it until my eyes hurt and then closed my eyes and stared at the afterimage and thought about how many thoughts impressed in the day upon our minds remain as afterimages of sorts as we sleep. I reasoned that the chemical process which creates afterimages in the eyes is probably similar to the process which carries thoughts over into the night. That night I dreamed of a gory scene with goddesses severed heads, blood drinking, milk pouring form breasts.... One of the most bizarre, unexpected dreams of my life. A couple days after the dream I was able to look through the book again and came across a line drawing with a similar scene. The drawing was of a goddess. Out of curiosity I looked again at the page with the Yantra. It was the Yantra for the very same goddess. The questions arise. Had I momentarily seen this other page before my dream? If not, where would I have gotten the material for the dream? Perhaps by just flipping through the book I gathered enough information to create a relevant dream. Any way you look at it, there was not enough information available to my conscious mind to have created such a dream or even to have related that sort of imagery to the goddess that the Yantra was for. Anyway, other than this experience, I only know how to cultivate disturbing dreams by reading books and watching movies. I am, however, pretty certain that meditation on the deities described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead might give just about anyone nightmares.

Later, Jason

Hi, Justin

"I'm curious just how long a person can stay in lucidity" As long as a REM phase takes, maybe 50 or 60 minutes. It is told, that some yogis are lucid all night and day. Why create boundaries?

"if it is possible to merge the two together," Which two?

"Why does the lucidity end?" A good question. It is the same for daytime. Why are we not clear and conscious all the time? Because it takes an effort, we don't always want to make. And not only, that we don't want it. Consciousness seems to be a muscle, that has to be trained to work well. Being lucid is being aware of your state of mind. We are certainly not used to refer to our state of mind, or do you every second think: "I'm awake, I'm awake, ..."? Our awareness of being awake at daytime is "tacit". The brain functions 99,9 % automatically. (That's what I estimate). Awareness is a state of mind with a minimal probability. But we can work on it and increase the probability of being aware. That is what the DSA training is about.

If you want to know more about lucidity as a state of mind, refer to

http://www.lucidity.com/VOLDE.html

If you want to know more about spinning and other prolonging techniques:

http://www.lucidity.com/EWLD6.txt

There have been discussions about dream control and lucidity. I'd like to quote Keelin, a very proficient LDer:

By keelin (Keelin) (user-2ivfiml.dialup.mindspring.com - 165.247.202.213) on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 09:16 pm:

Quote:

In other words, lucidity is simply awareness that one is dreaming. Granted, that awareness can fall anywhere along a wide spectrum -- from tacit acknowledgement of the dream state to a crystal clear understanding that what one is engaged in is a mental model of the waking world.

Dream control, on the other hand, is the magical manipulation of the dream's elements and does not necessarily require awareness of the dream state. In fact, it is just as possible to have control within a dream that is non-lucid as it is to be aware that one is dreaming and yet have little or no control over the dream's construction.

End Quote

"I asked myself during on of my electrical storm seizure last night "what is this spinning?" "

With "spinning" I mean the technique, that prolongs lucidity. But is also a kind of reality test, similar to flying, because ultimate fast and free spinning isn't possible in the physical world. At least it feels very different in the dreamstate. I'm not sure, if I understand you. Why are you sad? Is it because you feel like you can't find back to our consensus time or state of mind?

Keep travelling deLightful

Yours Ralf

Jason

Nice to meet another HPL fan! I myself used to spend nights reading His macabrosities (a word I learned from the Master) and praying for a dream in which I would descend the steps from (or to? - I's been so long!) the sanctuary where the two bearded sages (forgot their names) guard the sacred fire down to the Land of Dreams. Unlike you I haven't succeeded but visiting His Land of Odd is one of my goals in my future LDs. Did you know that HPL derived much stuff of his stories from his dreams? Personally, I think he was an occasional lucid dreamer (though he never wrote about pure lucid dreams, there's something about Randolph Carter and other characthers refered to as "experienced dreamers" that makes me feel HPL was one of them himself). Unfortunately I had not the chance to read his "Collected Letters" which might prove me right or wrong... However, just wanted to express my joy from discovering a double weirdo - someone who's both into LD and HPL! PS: I've posted about HPL in the "LD related books" thread long long ago.

Cthulhu R'lyeh f'thagn! Hehe!

See you at the gates of Kadath Mikolas

Mikolas,

I became a real fan when I discovered that HPL suffered from nightmares about every other day of his adult life. I always searched for the reference to lucid dreams in his works, but still have not found anything definite. It's hard for me to believe that someone so affected by horrific dreams would never become lucid. Sometimes Lovecraft's writing suggests lucidity, but it never seems to be stated outright. Then again, I recently went through my own dream diary and noticed that many times I fail to mention when I became lucid. I have a word for these dreams and I still sometimes forget to use it and anyone reading an account of the dreams could easily mistake a lucid dream for a regular dream entry. In a few of his stories there is what seems to be veiled reference to the practice of sleeping with a key and of Tawil (on the surface appears to be common dream interpretation, but there's more to it). These are things passed from Arabs into the west and picked up by mystics, fortune tellers, and even Cappuccin monks. I have been told that HPL got these ideas from another author who co-wrote a story with him. Any way you look at it, he was probably exposed to the idea of lucid dreams. I know that HPL's idol, Poe, gave a great description of lucidity and of reality tests. The frequent nighmares, style of writing, and at least casual knowledge of obscure terms and techniques make me think he probably did have the occasional lucid dream.

The best instructions on the slumber with a key that I have seen is in Salvador Dali's "50 Secrets of Magic Art". Dali mentions this practice along with hypnogogia, automatism, dream incubation (for NINE MONTHS!) and lucid dream induction all to produce a work of art.

I'm just rambling now. Back to the mythos dreams. I actually saw the Great Cthulhu once in a dream. I became lucid when I actually saw Cthulhu sitting on his throne and I woke up right away (bummer, huh?). When I awoke I started sketching him and his throne. I think my wife has thrown the sketches away. Very cool stuff though. I know of one other lucid dreamer who has incubated dreams of the mythos and become lucid. I wonder how many Lovecraft fans have nighmares and become lucid. Good luck if you ever try to incubate a Mythos related dream.

Cthulhu f'thagn! Ech Pi-EL f'thagn!

Later, Jason

Ralph, Sounds interesting! The spinning I'm reffering to is personal and isn't related to the technique described of spinning while lucid. Physically felt as real-as in vertigo- only more intense (that's why I'm calling it seizure activity). I was in a personal universe while this electrical swirling was happening, also having lucid awarenesss, I asked "what is this spinning?" Sorry for the confusion, does it make sense now?

Also, suggesting that a chemical substance (LSD) "places" a person in a lucid awareness while walking around in reality, isn't the magical manipulation of one's perception a given? I'm not sure if I lost you there. Bye- Justin

To Ralphy,

Answers to your questions

1. Unfortunately I do not have a watch, so I cannot have it go off every half hour or so to remind me. So what I do is this. I thought about all the things I am around most. That is the house, my car, my computer. Everytime I am near one of these e.g. The kitchen in my house I do a reality check or in my car driving along.

2. I first of all look at the clock or words, lookaway look back, if nothings changed, I look away look back again. Still if nothing changed then I do it one more time for certainty (as in previous dreams I have had it actually stay the same time on the second glance). After the third glance I look at the time and actually think to my self "Hey does this time actually make sense in the current situation I am in" (does the time 30:05 make any sense?) I then try and change the time or words with will. E.g. try and make 10:05 on the clock say HELLO or something. If non of this changes and everything appears to be normal (always wishing at this point that it had changed ) I then relax and imagine that everything I am seeing is a dream looking at the detail of the lighting on the walls or the texture of a wall etc. Basically enjoying what my mind is creating, because we all know that the detail in a dream is something really special.

Once I am done with the visuals I then goto sound...hear my breathing, voices, music, tv, cars whatever it is that is around you at the time. Then onto the smell of things, then feel of things. Once I have finished I then imagine right now if I was dreaming, what would I do. And it usually results in me going outside and then jumping/leaping into the air.(My mind is soo happy right now )

3. I actually was asleep and woke up due to the loudness of my mums voice telling my brother off, so I never actually got up, and so just really quickly wondered back off into sleep. I think I might have been right on one of the REM sleep cycles or something

That night I went to bed at 1am and heard my mother yelling at around 10:30, so not to sure if that is on the REM cycle or not.

Sometime soon, I am may be going to the dentist for some surgery. The dentist explained to me that they would most prob put me to sleep.

Now this is the fun part, if I get put to sleep by say gas or an injection of some sort. Usually I they ask you to count backwards. But I will not. I am gonna say "The next thing I see is gonna be a dream" or something similar. Hmmm wonder if this will work. Anyone else tried this at all? What you girls/guys think of this? Good idea?

Cheers Splat

Hi, Justin

"Sorry for the confusion, does it make sense now?" Yes. But the dreams answer still doesn't.

"isn't the magical manipulation of one's perception a given?" I think there is a difference between controlling my perception and controlling my environment in a dream as there is in waking life. Magical manipulation is the way of ego (of saying this may exist, this not) in my eyes, awareness the way to integration, the way of love. We are to choose.

Ralf

Hi, Splat

Your reality - testing sounds very vivid. Where did you learn it? Very inspiring, to go through all modes of senses. And flying ... always great.

Thanks for your detailed response. I sometimes wonder, what makes the detailed difference between weak or strong RC /RI exercise, that is more or less successful for inducing lucidity.

I suspect, that narcosis blocks dreaming ability. But I'm not sure. My girlfriend (an experienced nurse), says some people do remember dreams, or even the whole operation.

Take off!

Ralf

Hey Ralph,

Where did you learn it? Well really it has been me just browsing through the net, picking up ideas as I go along. But alot of the thoroughness in my testing is from personal experience, in which I have had dreams and yet so carefully missed such simple clues. So my R/C is extended to try and make sure that this example of carelessness is less in my next dream. It's like my R/C are evolving as I realise the things I am missing.

Heres an example: I first started out with just a simple look at the clock then look away then look back. This idea is great until one day in a dream I did this R/C on a clock and suprisingly enough the clock did not change. However the clock did not say a time that was valid e.g. 96 and so I missed on the cue, because a clock would never display a time of 96 :P So to comeback this I envolved my R/C to ask a question about the time on the clock. "Does the time on the clock make sense to the situation I am in?"

And so the process goes on. It is actually getting quiet difficult to be honest because my R/C take about 2 mins. So what I am thinking of doing is having 3 main reality checks (My envolving R/C). And then also have a few other simple checks throughout the day. E.g. when driving doing a 2 or so min reality check could be quite dangerous rather than just a simple few glances at the clock.

Yeah, so hopfully that helps you in some way

Splat

Hi, Splat

Thanks for going into the evolution of your RC. As you might conclude reading my posting in the "F.. support", reality checking in dreams is not my problem, because I rarely do it in dreams. That is my problem. I just looked up reality testing in "EWLD" by Stephen LaBerge. He, too, does recommend going through most sensual modes. Just as I'm thinking it over now, it might be a way to prevent avoiding immediately awakening , because it means to engage in the dream AND to increase lucidity, because I explicitly refer to the state. I'm somewhat used to distract from the situation, while testing. I always thought, it would be helpful. But from the point of dream - stability it seems counterproductive to stand and stare.

Thanks for your advice and wishes

Test the Best (not the West)

Ralf

I am new to this site and to the discussion of lucid dreaming in any other form than casual with close friends. I am not sure to what end I wish to use my dreaming. It already serves me well. (i.e allowing my bad dreams to become good at my behest) I don't play an immpassive role in my dreams. I usually manipulate thier outcomes and thier direction at times. I do let them take thier course into painful and lurid areas at other times, but I watch it with a curious mind and seperate myself from the emotion to do so. To the point. The most common dream that has thrown me into the lucid state involves taking flight. whether jumping a bush, jumping to get something, or just both feet leaving the ground I often find my rise from the earth to increase...sometimes into the clouds. The fear of the impending fall frightens me and I must take control and either land with an amazing shoulder to toe roll( which I somehow allow to succeed) or I glide until I can convince my dream to create a body of water suitable to dive into. Can anyone explain to me what is occuring to me at the moment my mind becomes lucid? And if anyone has any ideas on why this dream occurs I would also be interested. Thank You

Satavao

Hi, Satavao

You're welcome. You are an experienced lucid dreamer. I enjoyed reading your bio. "exploring freely the dreamworld, righting wrongs, changing death and upset in dreams into joys and peace." That sounds warm and good. I'm curious about reports on your ongoing explorations. Maybe you'll post some, soon.

"Can anyone explain to me what is occurring to me at the moment my mind becomes lucid?" You come to the point... A simple "explanation": We are used to sleep, that is function automatically day and night. But as in daytime, in our dreams we might remark something strange. So we "wake up" and find, we have just been "sleeping", may it be day or dream. And it may occur, that we "wake up", that is we gain awareness of the state we are in (dreaming) and stay in the dream. That is lucid dreaming. It is a long and complex story about dreaming, waking and awareness. And many questions regarding consciousness in general are unanswered. It may be interesting for you to browse through the following documents, regarding your nightmares, too.

Yours Ralf

LaBerge and DeGracia about the "Varieties of Lucid Dreaming Experience", including models of explanation: http://www.lucidity.com/VOLDE.html

LaBerge about physiology of dreams and lucid dreams: http://www.lucidity.com/SleepAndCognition.html

An excerpt from the book "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming" by Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold concerning nightmares: http://www.lucidity.com/EWLD10.txt

Ralf Thank you. I shall look into the sites you requested. I will be tied up at work for a week but will be certain to return to this discussion when I return. My girlfriend believes that I may be trying to gain control, or rather to remain in control, of my emotions. I can see her point. I am in life a student of reason. Or rather, I try to be. This is my latest lucid/control dream.

I was driving in my car. My girlfriend was the front seat passenger. I asked her to trade seats with me so I could change my clothes. We literally crossed over eachother while still moving. The idiocy of this occurred to me in my mind. Thus I began to explore the various possibilities of the result. (i.e. once we just crossed over, and she was unable to keep the car going straight.) Seeing the result was to be an accident. I rewound to the crossing and tried it different. Each time it became evident it would end up in an accident. i would repeat the rewind. Until I found a suitable method that convinced my dream-mind of success. I then moved forward with the dream unscathed.

I do not recall now what came before or after. I have never kept a dream journal. I would like to I suppose. However, my memory of my dreams seems to be enhanced by my personal involvment in them. Though it does seem at times my involvement is at the sacrifice of good rest.

Ralf,

I just read the LaBerge and DeGracia about the "Varieties of Lucid Dreaming Experience", including models of explanation: http://www.lucidity.com/VOLDE.html as you suggested. I see some semblence of my own experiences amongst what they speak of. I do believe that mine vary between the inexperienced as well as the experienced state. Often I am wakened into the lucid state by dream upset, or by incongruencies with reason in my dreams.

Though the aformentioned tends to be the greater model of my lucidity; I do at times say to myself "I will go to sleep and find a solution to my dilemna(s) since I can explore them there without taking the unnecessary chance of thier failure" In effect, I use the lucid state to explore the different variables in life and poke and prod them to see the better way in reality to approach them. (i.e. I am about to go to work. I know there is a fellow who intends to initiate a fight with me. I want a way to avoid it. So the night before I initiate the lucid state to explore the many ways I might handle the situation. When I find a few suitable options, I register them and use them upon waking).

These two are obvious differences in the induction of my lucid state. One, I am being thrown in , and the other intentionally initiated.

Another varience occurs when upon being wakened from a lucid state, if i have reason, I do not find it too difficult to begin where I left off so as to 'finish' it. The difficulty does depend upon the amount of disruption between the waking and the dreaming. As well the amount of perceptual memory I can recreate.

Dear dreamers,

Still no success in my attempts to use the NovaDreamer. As has happened a number of times before, last night I woke at around 4am, pottered around for 30 minutes, went back to bed, donned the mask, and then lay there trying not to think of when the flashes would start. The trepidation increases in proportion to the onset of drowsiness, until I am teetering on the verge of sleep, but still conscious of the mask. In this condition I feel that my head is like a vulnerable melon about to be shot by the flaming bullets of the REM detector. So I take off the mask and go to sleep.

However, when I do go to sleep I dream of walking in a magnificent parkland, and become lucid spontaneously. Immediately, I rise slowly into the air, rejoicing. As I ascend, helicopter-like, more and more of the park comes into view: the rolling lawns, the flowerbeds, the majestic trees, the Palladian-style manor. With admirable discipline I wrench my attention from the fascinating spectacle below, and set about lucidity maintenance. I decide to use the 'increase lucidity now' technique, but can't quite remember the words. So what comes out is, " I want lots of lucidity, Now!" My voice sounds weak, so I have another go, shouting as loudly as I can. "Lots and lots of lucidity - yeah!" Then I decide to rub hands, and observe my arms appear before my eyes, and the hands on the ends of them dutifully rub together. I try to compare the tactile feeling to the waking experience, but then am distracted by the sheer wonder of having this other body. I notice that the arms are unclothed, and realise that I am hanging about 50 ft up in the air, naked. Then I notice a woman walking a pack of jolly dogs below. I want to attract her attention, and find that I am holding some bottle corks. So I throw them down at her one by one. She looks up, but again I'm distracted by the fact the the corks have appeared. I wonder if I can make something else appear, and immediately find myself holding a fat yellow phone directory. Can I make it disappear? I try. It falls from my hands, and I try to make it disappear as I watch it fall to the grass below , ignoring my stern commands to vanish. Then I open my eyes in bed, and just for a moment am airborn in the dream and simultaneously looking at the window in my bedroom. I realise what a fine line divides these two worlds.

Alan T

Dear Alan,

Glad to hear you've been lucid again! Sounds like things are looking up.

I'm curious... When you used the phrase "I want lots of lucidity,Now!" and "Lots and lots of lucidity - yeah!" was there any noticeable increase in your awareness before you decided to rub your hands? Other reports I've read about the use of this phrase sometimes refer to an increase in vividness of imagery, but as far as I recall, not one has mentioned an increase in awareness. This doesn't really surprise me, as it seems that for awareness to increase, one would need to do something more interactive. Some type of engagement with the dream's elements that would underscore the realization that what one was perceiving/dealing with was in fact a mental model as opposed to waking world.

I'm amused to read that you felt the need to toss corks at your dream companion below in hope of getting her attention. Personally speaking, I would find it difficult not to notice a naked man hovering in the air. But then again, dream characters tend to be an odd lot! (And had I been the dream character, I may have found it perfectly non-odd to find you there -- with or without wings.)

Wishing sweet dreams to all...

;-> Keelin

PS: I'm looking forward to responding to many of the recent, interesting posts in the coming weeks -- as soon as the upcoming DreamCamp is underway!

Hi, Satavao

" The idiocy of this occurred to me in my mind." Was this the moment, when you became lucid?

"Until I found a suitable method that convinced my dream-mind of success." Your dreaming mind tends to correct oddities. Is that what you want to say? And if it is, do you do it fully aware, lucid?

Learning and practising LD seems sometimes to cost sleep. But it is so rewarding... Thanks for the report.

Your way to use LD for problem - solving sounds rather advanced. Nevertheless you might profit by reading "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming", because it supplies advanced techniques to increase lucidity and facilitate arbitrary actions in LD.

CU in LD

Ralf