Forgetting to try to re-enter lucid dreaming after it is over, although doing so greatly helps to increase the number of experiences.

Staying focused on techniques for “maintaining” instead of performing them as background tasks.

Getting distracted by events and dropping lucid dreaming maintenance techniques instead of continually performing what’s needed to maintain lucid dreaming.

Succumbing to the idea that maintaining is not necessary when lucid dreaming appears very deep and stable, even though these could be false sensations.

Using the necessary techniques too late.

Stopping due to uncertainty about further actions, while there must always be a plan.

Forgetting that it is possible to fall asleep in lucid dreaming without realizing it. Recognizing the risk of falling asleep must be a primary focus.

Getting pulled into events occurring in lucid dreaming instead of observing and controlling them from the outside.

Forgetting that techniques for “maintaining” must always be used to remain in as deep a lucid dream as possible, and not just for maintaining any odd state.

Stopping the use of techniques for “maintaining” during contact with living objects, when the techniques must be used constantly.

Counting without the desire to count as high as possible.

Performing imagined rotation instead of real rotation.

Passiveness and calmness instead of constant activity.

Excessive thinking and internal dialogue when these should be kept to an absolute minimum.

Many wonder about the nature of lucid dreaming state in relation to the brain, i.e. whether or not lucid dreaming is all in one’s head. But in the context of applying lucid dreaming, this is not a valid concern. Perception of the entire physical environment is performed through sensory organs. In lucid dreaming, perception is the same, sometimes even more realistic. Whether everything described in this chapter occurs in reality or is merely simulated makes no difference in terms of the encountered sensations.

The Rocky Mountains, USA

I think I may have had three very long OBEs last night. I woke up around 3:45am and began the brain squeeze and then phantom wiggling and suddenly it was as if I had projected into lucid dreaming. I spent a long time with my brothers enjoying a nice visit. Then, I landed back in my body. I was thinking about getting up to write it down but I wanted to project again and I did. It only takes a few seconds once I have managed the first exit. I immediately landed back in the exact same place with my brothers as though nothing had changed (M.R.: no deepening). We were doing a project together but I told them I had other things to do and that I was going to take off alone (M.R.: wrong action). They nodded to me and I turned to run and then began flying.

I went to a large building and interacted with some attractive women (M.R.: no plan of action) for a while but local security came to stop me and I flew up to an upstairs room (M.R.: wrong action) and I wanted to fly through a window but it felt very real — so real I wondered if I would be able to go through it. I affirmed to myself that I was OBE but slowed down as I approached it and then flew through with no trouble.

Then I went to a room with a large table where men were gathered and talking. It felt like an exclusive club of sorts. There was a banquet laid out with delicious food prepared in ways I had never seen before and I dove in and was having a great time. I was conversing with a couple guys and I mentioned that I was OBE and that I had a body far away in another state. They just looked at me with blank stares and one quickly looked down and walked away. Then I began speaking with the man across the table from me and he mentioned something that reminded me of one of my "Action Plan" items. I told him what I wanted to do and he motioned to a woman standing behind me and I could hear her talking to someone. He said, "Well then, she is the one you should talk to". I turned around and tried to introduce myself but landed back in my body (M.R.: no maintaining). I made the decision to leave the journal aside and project again, hoping that I would remember all this in the morning.

I projected again and arrived immediately at a busy street corner. I asked someone if he knew how I could find this woman I had been directed to in the prior OBE and he pointed her out in the crowd. I went over to her and we sat down on the curb and began speaking and she gave me a nickname that I could call her and it wasn’t until after I had gotten up and was having coffee that I laughed and made the connection to something I had journaled on a few days ago.

My alarm went off and I got up… otherwise I think I could have gone on for another hour or more.

cabeludo@hotmail.co.uk

Last night I had what seemed like a very long lucid dreaming experience. I went to bed at 1:00 am and as I was falling asleep I started to notice some visuals, and eventually found myself in a room that was dark and dull. It seems my experiences from falling straight asleep always seem to be this way. In addition, it felt very unstable and I felt some invisible force pulling me around like it was trying to get hold of me.

Since I haven’t had luck using sensory amplification to enhance my visuals in previous direct experiences, I decided to try something slightly different. I sat in my normal meditation position and took some deep breaths. As I first sat down, the “force” was strong and I kept moving around, like on a ship in a storm, but after a few deep breaths the force weakened and my visuals enhanced. I flew out the window and shortly thereafter awoke again in darkness.

I realized it was a false awakening, and remember feeling uncomfortable again and so I started to sing my favorite Bob Marley song. I remember a man in a suit who was “coming after me” as if I didn’t belong there and was trying to take me away. I tried to make him disappear, but it didn’t work, and so I went for him. He then deflated like a balloon and fell to the floor.

I was in what seemed like a club, and I asked one woman “what is the truth about this reality?” She replied, “It’s all statistics.” I found this confusing, and so walked around a little trying to decide what to do (M.R.: no plan of action). I remembered a website someone posted on a while ago with some “tests”, one of which was to draw the infinity sign on a door then walk through it. I found a door and scratched the “omega” sign on it and walked through. It was just another room in the club, with a bar, and two men. One of them seemed very busy (I assumed he was the manager) and the other was sitting and drinking. The manager walked past me and I asked him to tell me something wise. He said, “bad socks”!

I spoke to the other man briefly but can’t really remember the conversation. I went out of the room and sat with some people. I picked up a tissue and transformed it into a cheesecake, it tasted so delicious, so good in fact in made me want to have sex, and so jumped on a nearby lady, as we began we started to fly through the air, I remember flying through trees and could feel the leaves caressing my skin as we flew. At the point of climax I awoke again, in darkness.

I was still in lucid dreaming, this time in some sort of factory, with a huge green machine, I’m not sure what its purpose was. lucid dreaming characters told me that it required a special cog to work; I think they called it a trigadore (?)cog. After this, I remember a friend of mine coming into the room, upset, and I gave him some advice. I told him that sometimes you have to forgive yourself and not be too hard on yourself. This seemed to cheer him up.

Again I was shifted into darkness, almost hoping I was awake this time – but no, I was still in lucid dreaming. I decided to attempt to wake myself up (I thought it might not work, but I tried anyway), and just ended up feeling a sensation of movement and re-appearing in darkness. I found myself back in the club where I was previously, at this point I was starting to get concerned as it had felt like I had been in lucid dreaming for too long. I walked around the bar and asked a woman, “If I was lucid for the whole night, how long would it feel like?” I then realized it was a foolish question, as time in lucid dreaming cannot really be established. I re-phrased the question, asking when I might wake up, and she said “sometime today”. Shortly after this, I awoke for real.

This lucid dreaming felt like it went on for ages, and more happened that I haven’t written here or have forgotten. When I eventually woke for real, I looked at the time: 1:43 am. I had only slept for about 40 minutes but it felt like much longer. I tried my hardest to remember as much as I could, I wanted to write it down then, but I didn’t want to wake my girlfriend, and so I decided against it.

Some mistakenly believe that indirect techniques will produce quick, easy results, like a pill. Despite the fact that the techniques described in this guidebook are the best means to entering lucid dreaming, strong effort still needs to be exerted. This is not important for some, as everything comes quite easily to them, but for others this is of great importance.

Indirect techniques will definitely work if practiced consistently and as described. It has already been noted that in the majority of cases, making several concentrated attempts upon awakening without movement is sufficient enough to produce results. It may take a lot of time and effort to achieve lucid dreaming entrance, so practitioners who set goals and work diligently will be presented with a crown of success.

Attempts are important in large measure not only for the final result, but also for the process itself. During practice, the practitioner independently learns and solves issues that may not have been understood in the guidebook. Other times, the practitioner will encounter situations that have never been described at all. It’s impossible to prepare a student for every possible scenario, so as a practitioner moves deeper into practice, a unique, individual perspective and portfolio of experiences develops, which will certainly prove useful in the future. Until then, diligent practice of the information presented in this book will ready a practitioner for that personal frontier.

Actions in practice require strict attention. Study the techniques and select those that work best. Set the goal of consistent, conscious waking without movement. Set an objective of performing cycles of indirect techniques while waking up, day in and day out. With such a clear course of action, the practitioner should never defocus his attention or dissipate his energy on other related actions, like, for example, on direct techniques for entering lucid dreaming. If the indirect techniques do not work in the course of several days, continue trying. At latest, results occur in a matter of weeks – not months or years, like some sources maintain. Goals are to be stubbornly pursued – step-by-step, firmly, and diligently.

If no results occur after 10 to 20 attempts, it is better to cease practice for a week and take a rest, and then return with a fresh resolve to master the practice. Interestingly enough, it is exactly during such a break that spontaneous entrances into lucid dreaming through the most diverse methods occur.

If success is still elusive even after 2 weeks of trying, then a thorough analysis of the regimen should be conducted to root out any obvious mistakes or deficiencies. If overcoming them proves difficult or impossible, switching over to direct techniques is not recommended since they prove much more difficult than indirect techniques. Instead, techniques for entering lucid dreaming through conscious dreaming should be practiced.

It is also not worth skipping over problematic areas and trying to make up for mistakes by expending even more effort. For example, ignoring the precondition of awakening without moving will prove fruitless. Bypassing this requirement works for very few people. Facing every problem head-on and working hard to break through will be richly rewarded with unforgettable, treasured experiences. Keep trying!