Indirect Method Attempts
Despite a few weeks of having learned about the indirect method, I have had relatively few opportunities to try it. I have been using an alarm clock to interrupt my sleep every night, but during the work week I often don't get any deferred awakenings. Some of the weekends haven't been significantly better for these. When I do get a chance I often move (I know Raduga says to try anyway) or I forget to follow all the steps. I'm undeterred; going to keep practicing.
5/18 3 attempts; didn't follow the steps properly
5/19 1 attempt; didn't follow the steps properly
5/20 0 attempts, but had a false awakening
5/21 1? real attempt; tried to wiggle an astral leg, had the ? sensation of a ghostly leg wiggling
5/22 0?
5/23 2? real? attempts
5/24 0 opportunities; stressed evening; no REM sleep at all this night?
5/25 2? partial attempts; didn't cycle separation attempts
5/26 0? natural awakenings
5/27 0?
5/28 0; no deferred awakenings
5/29 0; no deferred awakenings
5/30 1 deferred awakening; no attempt - forgot to try to separate
5/31 2? attempts
6/1 0?
6/2 0; no natural awakenings
Dream Recall - # of dreams remembered by night
Trying to write down the dreams whenever I can. This is said to increase the connection between the waking consciousness and the dream-lucid dream-OOB consciousness. The oddity of this as a practice - after having studied asceticism, philosophy, and mysticism for so long - does not escape me.
After a month of doing this it seems there are certain days when I wake up right from REM sleep and this is how I remember large numbers of dreams. If I don't interrupt during REM it looks like that results in a lot of forgetting.
Below I consider "one dream" to be the equivalent of a distinct scene or impression prior to a "scene change." On 6/2 (today) I had a lucid moment. For a moment I was aware that I was dreaming and made the decision to change something in the dream. However, it did not turn into full-on lucidity. Hopefully by continuing this practice and conducting "reality checks" I can increase the number of lucid moments. As of now I have not noticed myself do a reality check in a dream.
5/18 0 dreams remembered
5/19 0
5/20 3?
5/21 11?
5/22 1
5/23 1
5/24 0
5/25 1?
5/26 1
5/27 2?
5/28 2?
5/29 1?
5/30 1?
5/31 3?
6/1 7?
6/2 12
Direct Method
As of now I am not practicing with the direct method (the meditation induced OOBE). As I recounted earlier, a couple weeks ago I was getting moderate vibrations as a result of meditation practice. Here I must admit (though I do enjoy meditation) the idea of meditating for 4-6 hours a day like Jeff Brooks recommends does not appeal to me. If one of the other methods can induce the experience, and then also make the direct method more achievable, that would be a preferable path to follow. Having said that, I am aware of this other method and will return to it in time.
