Day 9: Out of Body

"Astral projection (or astral travel) is an out-of-body experience achieved either awake or via lucid dreaming or deep meditation."

After a very frustrating night of difficult to recall dreams I had an astral projection through a lucid dream. In the dream I was having I was living in a two story farm house. Everything was so cluttered and dirty and trash kept piling up. I was waking up in and out of a dream and dove back into the dream with full awareness. I almost immediately woke myself up out of the dream to perform an exit technique. I tried separating from my body but there felt like a physical block, when everything went black and I was in a void. I shoved that perceived wall and ended up in the location of my previous dream. Same location, whole different experience.

I must have learned fast from my last lucid experience I wrote about, in which I did not have any intent so the experience slipped away, though I haven't grasped the concept quite yet. Immediately after projecting I thought "Intent" then thought of finding some sort of guide to assist me. A little boy climbed up a ladder through the window. I couldn't understand anything he was saying. I left the room and found a rooster who I also could not understand. I was getting frustrated and hollering at the rooster to tell me anything. I then realized I had never asked either of them a solid question.

Sleep Cycle: 
-Bedtime at 10 pm
-Woke up from 2 - 2:30 am, took 3 mg of melatonin
-Slept from 2:30 am-7:30 am
-Woke up for thirty minutes then back to sleep from 7:30 - 10 am when I had the experience

Method: WILD (Wake Induced Lucid Dream)

Location: Random two story house

Appearance- Dream vs. Projection: In the dream everything was a shade of dull gray, when I projected I could see much clearer and everything had a dark orange glow.

Characters: Rooster (a guide), A little boy (a guide), various people I was not paying attention to

Intent: To meet a guide to answer my questions.

Downfalls:
-still an incomplete intent
-My vision kept blacking out as awareness slipped away. I surpassed this for a little while by exclaiming "Awareness now" then everything would be come much clearer.
-Prolonged experience and I lost awareness all together

7 Influental Movies on Dreaming

I found myself very drawn to movies based on lucid dreaming or alternate states of reality. I still have a few on my bucket list. One movie that did not mention in the list below (because it isn't really a movie) was Anamnesis, a new fictional mini series you can find on youtube based on lucid dreaming. I highly recommenced checking it out. The story line is simple and open for interpretation and it was shot beautifully. Here are a list of some of my favorite movies relating to the dream world:


1. Inception (2010)

Directed by Christoper Nolan: Lionardo DiCaprio plays a thief who steals secrets from powerful corporations by dream sharing technology. In exchange for redemption, he gathers a team of dream manipulators to embark on a mission. They must implant another's idea into someone else's subconscious.

2. Waking Life (2001)

 An animated film where the main character shuffles through dreams encountering various people discussing the meanings of the universe. Topic explored include the purpose of dreams, reality, and consciousness.
3. The Matrix

Perceived reality for most is actually a simulated reality called "The Matrix" created by machines to control the human population. Neo, a computer hacker, is set free from The Matrix and joins others seeking a revolution from the machines' control.

4. What Dreams May Come

In arguably Robin William's most outstanding film, William plays a man who suffered the tragedy of his children dying in a car accident. He in turn is confronted by death and is guided to his personal afterlife influenced by the paintings of his wife. He must go on a quest to find his wife in the afterlife.

5. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The first movie of the franchise series: a slasher horror written by by Wes Craven. A group of teenagers in Springwood, Ohio are hunted and killed in their dreams by Freddy Krueger which in turn kills them in reality. Tell me you never had nightmares of Krueger as a child...

6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

The film uses element of science fiction, romance, comedy, and drama with a couple who have each other erased from their memories on impulse. Joel, played by Jim Carey, attempts to hold onto the memory of his girlfriend by hiding her in remote parts of his subconscious. 

7. Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Originating from a novel by Lewis Caroll: A curious girl, Alice, dreams of a world of her own. After falling asleep she begins her adventure by chasing a white rabbit "down the rabbit hole". Ultimately, she is asked to identify herself by several odd characters along her journey but never knows how to respond. 

Lucid Project: Days 3-6 Lucidity!

It wasn't my intention to group so many nights of dreams like this, but now I think it makes more sense to report progress this way. On night 3 I came down with a cold that got progressively worse and today I am starting to feel better. I remember pieces of dreams on night 3 but my sleep kept being interrupted and I had a horrible nights sleep.

Night 4 I become lucid! This is exciting with only four days into the project and it has been awhile since I can recall any lucid dreams. I know I am not starting this project from scratch. I feel as if I am picking up from somewhere: a natural ability mixed with self training maybe?

The experience was still very vague. I don't remember what, if anything specific, made me lucid. I realized I did not know what to do next. I was tired of walking around town eating at restaurants with money not being an option (what I have done many times in the past). Instead I called up all these famous chefs (identities unknown) and invited them over. I then began walking down this road under construction and fell back into the story line of the dream.

I was walking down a hill with torn up asphalt under my feet 

The bottoms of my feet ached greatly from the ruff terrain

I kept waking up with my feet still pulsing with pain and falling back into the dream

No lucidity nights 5 and 6. The recall of night five was very successful though last night, the 6th night, I had trouble recalling much. Just one dream.

One thing that is puzzling me that I have not experienced before is the amount of dreams I have had in the past week where deja vu, or the feeling I have had this dream before occurs. This experience alone I am familiar with, but not in almost every dream I have felt since starting this project.

Days 1 & 2: Lucid Project

Day 1: I went to bed at 10 at night, woke up at about 1 in the morning and took 2 mg of melatonin and went back to bed. Dreams were plentiful. A couple of nights before I had a dreamful night but in the larger picture I have not remembered this much in a long time. I feel just the intention of dreaming and creating this project has sparked something. I woke up at about 4 am for work and wrote everything down immediately before getting ready.

The family piled into the car, getting ready for a journey on the road.

I was loading everything in and organizing it, but as I went along

all this trash kept accumulating and I kept filling plastic bags with random crap.

I was getting frustrated because the more I tried to organize inside the car the

more trash kept piling up. 

Day 2:  I came home, made a quick dinner, then laid down. Unintentionally I fell asleep hard, from about 7-9. I woke up for a few hours before going back to bed. I think the was very significant. REM occurs after about four hours of sleep. When I went back to bed at almost midnight I felt I dreamed all night. I kept waking up through out the night which I'm sure occurred to my recall of it. I kept thinking I needed to get up and jot it down. Eventually my memory felt bombarded and I only remember glimpses, mostly of the last dream before getting out of bed. I ended up sleeping till about 10. No lucidity. No supplements. 

  

Reality Checks and Affirmations

Reality Checks: A simple daily technique to increase awareness in hope of penetrating our dreams

Ask it like you mean it!

To be able to become lucid in dreams, we must train our minds to constantly ask "Am I dreaming?" without hesitation. This seems silly and pointless to some people in the argument that we always know when we are really awake. One of the ways that reality checks will prove successful is to take them seriously. We must always think there is a possibility we can be dreaming at any given moment. Making it a habit in waking life will carry onto dream life where we will also ask if we are dreaming.

How do we know if we are dreaming?

For those of us who lucid dream, or at least have experienced multiple lucid dreams, have probably experienced it because the actions occurring in the dream were just too unrealistic and "we must be dreaming". Increasing self awareness in waking and dream life can prove very beneficial to having more of these moments where we stop and ponder the reality we are in. A very common occurrence in my dreams is the mash up of time. My son was still born and is the age he is now in real life so why am I living with my mother still in high school? 

However, these occurrences don't always seem to be enough. I become "semi-lucid" as I call it. Where something doesn't seem quite right and I'm on the brink of lucidity but it doesn't quite happen, maybe because I am too involved with the story line.

Reality checks are something I am making an effort to make a habit. I believe it's best to select a couple of different techniques and stick with them for at least a week or two to see if they have an effect, doing them periodically through out the day every day. Find what is more effective for you. Here are some common reality checks to make a habit of doing in waking life:

+Looking at the palms of your hands, they often look distorted or abnormal while dreaming
+Try reading time or look at a clock, you will find it extremely difficult in the dream world
+Fly: A favorite one of many dreamers. Jumping off a cliff is a little extreme, but try floating with just a thought.
+Breathing: Try plugging your nose and closing your mouth at the same time while breathing out. If you can still breathe your are dreaming.
+Reading A Book: This has proven to be effective in the past when I was on the ball with reality checks. It's impossible for me to read the same sentence twice while dreaming. Red flag!

The list is endless, there are so many different techniques people come up with I couldn't list them all.

An important thing to remember is that while such techniques can assist us in becoming lucid, another thing to consider is affirmations. Every night before bed, as you are about to drift off in your sleep, visualize yourself becoming aware in your dreams. Also visualize yourself waking up and remembering the experience and writing it down. Don't just think you will do it, know you will do it.