Long time no blogging. In all this time we have been regrouping and restructuring Lucidipedia's goals and are starting to bring Lucidipedia up to the next level. The site has grown so much in the last few months that we felt we needed to calibrate our aims for the project. Keep a close watch on the news to know what we are up to.
One of my new projects is going to be to upgrade the learning section with an elaborate training program for WILD (Wake Induced Lucid Dreams). I have come to understand that many users and lucid dreamers elsewhere on the internet are searching for the techniques to pull off WILDs. To my surprise, there is still a lot of misunderstanding surrounding these kinds of lucid dreams, even on lucid dreaming itself. That is why it felt to me that we need to expand the learning section with a dedicated program on WILD.
Of course, we currently cover MILD with the Lucidipedia Matrix. So how are we going to integrate WILD into this? Well, the learning section is going to be divided into a beginners route, which concerns the current program on MILD, and into a expert route, which will be concerning WILD. Naturally with a brand new YouTube series, lessons, techniques and information to get the most out of your dreams. This time, I would also like to include dream control as part of this expert program: discussing how to learn how to fly, performing the spinning technique and exploring the dream world.
In short, something to look forward to! I don't know when I am able to finish this project, but I am sure to let you know when that time comes.
Interestingly, I had a lot of trouble sustaining lucidity when I just started to learn lucid dreaming. I often experienced that I woke up, or dreamt I woke up, after just simply orientating in the dream world. Somehow it felt like I could not use many cognitive resources/thinking to prevent myself from waking up. Every time I tried to reflect on my attained lucidity, reflect on what I wanted to do in the lucid dream, or even thought about my lucid dream plan, I felt like loosing "touch" with dream reality ... which led to waking up. Very frustrating, because reflection is an integral part of lucid dreaming! Recognize these symptoms? Well, here's the solution.
After some experimentation in my own lucid dreams, I discovered the golden principle of the dream world. Anything you pay attention to, will grow. This means that your focus of attention is a crucial factor in establishing an enjoybale stable dream world. If you pay more attention to yourself ("reflecting on MY attained lucidity, reflecting on what I wanted to do in the lucid dream, or even thought about MY lucid dream plan"), you as yourself will grow ... resulting in the dissolvement of the dream world ... because you don't pay any attention to it anymore. Hence, the trick for longer lucid dreams, is to pay more attention to your experience of the DREAM WORLD, instead of paying attention to what YOU are experiencing. Doesn't that sound natural? Keep your interaction with the dream world alive as much as possible.
This is why many novice lucid dreamers who are experiencing their first lucid dreams, have trouble sustaining lucidity. They are (obviously) more concerned with THEIR (first) experience of lucid dreaming ... than the experience of the DREAM WORLD itself. This lack of attention leads naturally to the dissolvement of the dream. They are more interested in themselves than they are to the dream world.
For advanced lucid dreamers, notice how The Spinning Technique would not solve this inherent problem. Although the Spinning Technique stimulates the generation of REM-sleep, it does not guarantee stability. It's a tool for prolonging dream sleep, not inducing dream stability. At least that is what I'm experiencing.
The big challenge is therefore to maintain a balance between your involvement in the dream world (doing things, interacting, etc) to keep the dream "alive", and reflecting on your experience of the lucid dream state. I would recommend, to seriously PLAN your lucid dream prior to inducing the lucid dream itself (revisit my learning program on the site!), so you don't have to reflect on your lucid dream intentions WHILE dreaming lucid. Seriously rehearse your lucid dream plan before you go to bed! Then, while you are having your lucid dream, don't pay too much attention to your lucid dream plan anymore, but most of all stick to the flow of the dreamplot. Integrate your lucid dream plan with the dreamplot that you are experiencing... don't interrupt it and induce your own lucid dream from the start. This will most likely lead to waking up. Keep paying attention to the dream (by walking, interacting and doing stuff; keep yourself busy) and naturally implement your lucid dream plan step by step when possible.
If you don't pay any attention to your dreams, your dreams won't pay any attention to you!
Have fun!
Tim
Sunday, March 23. 2008
Howdy partners,
had a busy week at the univ so didn't have many opportunities to stimulate my evolution towards lucidity. However yesterday I could have had a lucid dream, I don't really know (again). I knew I was dreaming, I was aware of lucidity, I was constantly trying to use surreal powers and stuff...
also very weird is that in the dream one of the dream characters made me aware of my dreaming state, they were telling me we were dreaming. And next moments we were teaching eachother how to stay focussed and to stay in the dreaming state.
but everything just didn't feel all right: like areas were all blurred out and vague... also I remember the area suddenly getting black and sometimes green light would flow through the dream..., I guess I was still stuck in my dreaming state without the absolute awareness.
I remember this experience being at the end of the night. So maybe I was already waking up in some way and maybe that's why I couldn't get control over this dream... I don't know bro...
I'll try harder next time, I have to admit I didn't take enough time working towards my lucidity
Hopefully next week I can post a more spectacular experience!
(read this dream in the dream journal : 'Blurred Lucidity')
Stay with us, dreamers.
Stiggy PoP.
Wednesday, March 12. 2008
I must say guys, I keep on getting weird experiences in my dreams.
The dream-background of last night was all positioned inside the concept of my backpack- travellings to cuba in a couple of months, to read all of it open the dream journal and search for "cuba travellings" by Stiggy PoP.
At a certain moment when I had arrived in a little town I went into a room where I saw the Poedel (translate as Poodle), a friend of mine, dressed like a monk writing with an inkpen in a blank book.
He said ironically he wanted to warn me from dying on the road... The whole situation seemed very absurd and because of that I instantly knew I was dreaming. First I didn't know what to do and ignored the Poedel because he was starting to talk bullshit, but then I started rubbing my hands and at the closest monastary I jumped through the glass... unfortunately unable to fly.. and I fell with my head on the hard cobblestone .. Next moment I woke up (false awakening) on the street of a noisy city and I decided to go on with my travellings.
To me this was a very awkward experience, because even though I was lucid I wasn't able to fly in any way. Maybe I didn't believe enough that I could in fact do whatever I wanted or maybe I wasn't lucid anymore the moment I jumped through the glass. Either way I remember thinking to myself "man what the hell, I'm lucid dude why am I falling down?" I remember lucid dream experiences from over a year ago where I did have difficulty flying however lifting up in the air was no problem at all.
Maybe some of you more experienced guys could answer my question here: Those it take more practice to go beyond a certain line or something? Because I really think this was again a waisted LD.
Yours truly,
Stiggy PoP.
Sunday, March 9. 2008
Well hello there again guys,
When I woke up this morning it seemed like a long time ago since I remembered so many dream experiences with the same vividness. Actually I think rockconcert-beer-marihuana works as a very fine dream-stimulating-combination for me since this night and last sunday I had the best dream recall in a long while.
Anyway i'm happy to tell you I've had a lucid experience again, although I was (again) not able to hang in there and I woke up a few seconds later. I recognized being in my dreaming state because I was walkin through an area I remembered walking across a few nights before. To be absolutely sure I started jumping around which felt like I was jumping on the moon (loss of gravity and such).
Anyway when everything started to get blurry and I felt like waking up I didn't start rubbing my hands or spinning around because I simply forgot those tricks.
Instead I was rolling my eyes around, which offcourse didn't work, but back in the dream I remembered it stimulating your REM (rapid eye movement). But damn it, it didn't work.
Having a dream recall of 5 dreams is quite nice I think, read all of them in the dream journal when you're interested,.. just look for an author called Stiggy PoP.
I also wanted to tell you lucidipedians about one of the curious dream experiences I had that night: I was actually surfing on the lucidipediasite in my dream looking at published dreams, adding dreams myself and even writing this very entry
... it's crazy the whole absurdness didn't occur to me: studying dreams while you're not aware that you've been dreaming all along.. almost feels like a metaphor for philosophical riddles.
As always if you feel the urge to comment, please do.
Stiggy PoP.
