Monday 30 January 2012

Dream Interpretation 29

DREAM 29

29 January 2012

Lucid dreaming experiments/techniques 
  • Mental/training – MILD technique (with 20 minutes of alpha binaural beats); WBTB (Wake-Back-to-Bed) technique (woke after approximately 6 hours of delta sleep; remained awake for several minutes, then returned to MILD technique/sleep)
  • Binaural beats – 20 minutes of alpha during (MILD technique before sleep); 90 minutes of delta (to induce delta sleep); 20 minutes of alpha (following WBTB/MILD techniques upon waking); 1 hour of theta/gamma mix (to induce lucid dream state)
  • LDS – high strength cod liver oil enriched with omega 3, 6 & 9 (3,600 mg); multivitamins A – Z with evening meal; sea kelp (90 mg); CoEnzyme Q-10 (150 mg); Gingko Biloba (120 mg); and Vitamin B Complex with additional vitamin B6 (10 mg). No 5-HTP (experimenting without to test improvement in dream recall) 

Potential triggers/’day residue’   
  • I mentioned France during a conversation the day before this dream
  • The Costa Concordia disaster (13th January 2012) has been featured extensively in the news recently
  • Before bed, I was looking at some ‘red carpet’ photos from the Golden Globes Awards 2012 on the internet and saw a picture of an unknown male celebrity wearing a striking grey pinstriped suit
  • I watched Eastenders the day before this dream
  • I was looking at ‘friends of friends’ profile pictures on Facebook and one girl (who was posing provocatively in one image) looked completely different in her other pictures, where her appearance was more boyish and less glamorous (more obviously airbrushed/poorly digitally-enhanced)

Main dream environment(s) 
  • (Scene 1):
A cross-channel ferry sailing on very rough sea
  • (Scene 2):
A composite environment comprising of the hallway/foot of the stairs at my grandmother, PC’s house in Sheringham and the stairs as featured in the fictional Queen Victoria pub in TV soap, Eastenders
  • (Scene 3):
My bedroom in London


Characters
(Present in all scenes):
  • Myself (I did not see myself)
(Scene 1):
  • An elderly white couple – a man and a woman
(Scene 2):
  • JGH (PS’ younger sister)
(Scene 3):
  • PS
  • A short white girl, with a very masculine appearance and blonde hair in a ‘bowl cut’, wearing blue jeans and a navy jumper

Dream narrative
  • (Scene 1):
I was aboard a ferry. It took me a while to get my bearings and figure this out. I was sitting beside an elderly couple, who were wearing summer hats and looking after numerous suitcases and items of luggage. I said: “where are we going?” They said; “obviously France” to which I replied: “it could have been Holland”. I looked towards the window and saw an expanse of choppy, rough ocean. I felt the ferry rocking violently. I hoped we would be safe.
  • (Scene 2):
I was at the bottom of the stairs, about to climb them. JGH approached me from a doorway to the side (which does not exist in real-life in either of the ‘composite’ hallway locations). She showed me a bag she had bought, which was refashioned from a pinstripe suit jacket. I said it was nice.
  • (Scene 3):
I entered my bedroom in London. PS was sitting in the office chair at the desk closest to the bed. The room appeared exactly as it does in real-life. The boyish female was standing as close to him as she possibly could. I walked over to them and sat on the bed, adjacent. I heard the girl say: “I didn’t know where to meet you”. They seemed to be carrying out some form of transaction involving paper. I was angry. I thought: ‘if she doesn’t leave immediately, I will kill her’. I looked over at the chair I usually sit on when using the computer (positioned on the second desk, along the wall opposite the bed). I saw the pinstripe suit jacket bag lying on the chair. I went over and picked it up. I woke up.

Stormy seas
Interpretation/analysis
I will interpret some of the dream symbolism at a later stage, but you will find some of the symbolism analysed elsewhere.

Lucid Dream Report 2

"The Explanation of an Orgasm Dream"
28 January 2012
This wasn’t a full lucid dream, but I have recorded it as if it were one due to the fact that, during this particular dream, I experienced the most successful application of the MILD technique yet. I feel as if this dream was some form of ‘breakthrough’ in my lucid dream training.

Techniques/triggers
Mental/training
  • MILD technique (20 minutes, accompanied by alpha binaural beats – see below)
I devised a new mnemonic technique over the last few days to see if it would be more effective. I began practicing the MILD technique at random, but regular times throughout the day (usually during a study break, when I was able to lie in a quiet room). I formulated a new mnemonic over a period of 2 – 3 days, starting with the phrase ‘Awareness, control, recall’ (i.e. ‘next time I dream I want to be aware I am dreaming; in control of my dream; and able to recall my dream on waking’). This was gradually condensed in meditation to a simple mental repetition of ‘ACR’. When I focus on this mnemonic, I picture the infinity symbol (a horizontal figure 8), as it seems to come naturally to mind when I meditate on my mnemonic. I also mark the back of my hand with the letters ‘ACR’ as a form of lucid dream trigger during waking hours.
Infinity symbol - horizontal figure 8

  • WBTB (Wake-Back-to-Bed) technique (woke after 7 hours of delta sleep; remained awake for 20 minutes, then returned to above MILD technique/sleep)

Binaural beats 
  • 20 minutes of alpha beats during MILD (before delta sleep)
  • 90 minutes of delta beats (to properly induce delta sleep)
  • 20 minutes of alpha beats (following WBTB/MILD technique)
  •   1 hour of theta/gamma mix beats following alpha meditation (to induce REM sleep/lucidity)

Lucid dream supplements
  • High strength cod liver oil enriched with omega 3, 6 & 9 (3,600 mg)
  • Multivitamins A – Z with evening meal
  • Sea kelp (iodine) (90 mg)
  • CoEnzyme Q-10 (150 mg)
  • Gingko Biloba (120 mg)
  • Vitamin B Complex & added vitamin B6 (10 mg)
  • No 5-HTP (experimenting without to test improvement in dream recall)

Time of dream
During 1st hour of morning sleep following WBTB technique (after 7 hours of delta sleep)

Content
No lucidity at the start. I was standing watching a race/athletics running track. Running towards me was a white female nurse in full uniform, wearing sweatbands on her wrists and holding a notebook in front of her in both hands. She seemed to be massively tall – perhaps 7 foot tall. I didn’t try to communicate with her, but I realised that the race track was exactly the same as a local one in real-life which PS had used for shooting a music video (although the rapper in the video was a black male of normal height). I think this may have been a clue that I was dreaming – I was able to recognise what I was seeing in my dream as being ‘inspired’ by something I saw in real-life. The dream scene transitioned and suddenly I was sitting backwards on a dining room chair. I realised I was naked, but for a white thong. I was sticking my butt out and I turned round to check whether I really was naked, seeing my bare flesh. Suddenly I felt a male’s hands on my lower body, squeezing the flesh. I heard a voice say; “I still think you are the sexiest woman alive”. I didn’t recognise the voice exactly – it wasn’t one known to me in real-life. I then found myself walking down a corridor of a building and through double-doors – I wondered if it was a hospital – the decor was all brown and drab and the double-doors were made of rough wood, with circular windows cut out (I was reminded of the series of Doors paintings by British contemporary artist, Gary Hume). I stepped out onto a train platform – I noticed straightaway that it was York (where I attended university for my first undergraduate degree, although I have not visited in many years). I remembered (a real-life memory, recalled whilst in the dream) that I had once read an article in a magazine about Mariah Carey’s mental breakdown (several years ago) whilst standing outside by the glass-walled waiting rooms. I went into the WH Smiths store and looked at the magazine rack – sure enough, a magazine featuring a story of Mariah’s breakdown was prominently placed on the shelf – my eyes were instantly drawn to it. I wondered if I had gone back in time. I walked onto another platform (the one I used to depart from when visiting Manchester – i.e. westbound). There was a male character there, in addition to many other bystanders, all going about their business. The male was white with medium brown hair – unknown to me in real-life, and fairly non-descript. I would age him at approximately 20 – 25 years. I didn’t really care about getting to know him or finding out why he seemed to be waiting for me on the platform, but I knew I was supposed to speak to him (it was as if it were a ‘necessary chore’). The male asked me what an orgasm was and I found myself explaining, although I was finding it very difficult as I’m not an anatomical expert, nor a doctor. I was using crude, non-medical terminology and no matter how many times I tried to explain, the male couldn’t comprehend the concept of an orgasm whatsoever. I was becoming frustrated. I asked him what his name was. He answered; “ACR” and instantly I became lucid. I felt absolutely elated and recognised the fact this was my lucid dream trigger in operation. I then had the following realisation: ‘I bet I’m in York because earlier I told a friend and mutual fan of writer/actress Julia Davis (my favourite woman on British TV and idol) that she had attended York to read English & Drama and this has influenced my dream location’. I didn’t know what to do with my lucidity as I felt so excited. I said to the male character: “I’m in control of this dream, I can do what I like”. He said: “go on then”. I didn’t have a clue what I should do. I remembered that two days before when I was on a train to London, we had been trapped onboard due to a fatality (someone getting severed by the train) which had become a potential crime scene. I thought: ‘should I push him into the side of a train?’ I heard a train approaching the platform at speed. I changed my mind. Instead, I took my index finger and poked him in the forehead. I felt my finger push through his skull into his brain. He fell down dead on the platform. I said (in reference to a conversation I had being having earlier in my waking-life, about the footballer Diego Maradona): “hand of God!” I thought that I had better leave the scene and almost immediately I found myself standing in a glistening skyscraper, looking out to a glittering metropolis (it seemed to be in America to me, or at least that is the association my mind made). The sun was so bright and hot, it was bouncing off the millions of glass windows and the cars below. I could see wide sandy-coloured roads and luscious palm trees and thought: ‘California’. I then knew it was not the present time, but sometime in the golden age of the 1980s economic boom – I could see people at street level with 1980s fashion and primitive mobile telephones – yuppies. I felt very happy and positive – everything seemed to be buzzing with life, business and success in this city. I couldn’t get myself down to ground level – I was stuck in the skyscraper looking out. If I wanted to see what was below me in closer detail, I could - but it was more like a mental projection – I was always standing in the office space above, by the floor-to-ceiling window, feeling the sun radiate onto my face and obscure my vision. I was content, but as I found myself only able to watch the actions of others, I decided to try to move to another location. I thought about going to Cromer (as in real-life I am planning to view some flats for rent there). I was standing on a residential road which runs parallel to the beach/sea. There is a hotel situated on this road, which is the main coastal route into Cromer. I was standing outside the hotel, with various members of my family across on the other side (closer to the promenade/sea). I had a drink in my hand and I realised that it was carnival time (it seemed to be early evening and although I could not see any carnival floats/persons in fancy dress, there seemed to be a celebratory atmosphere with throngs of people, of all ages, milling about and standing in gatherings, drinking and laughing). I wanted to cross the road to get to my family. I pushed my way through the crowds of party-goers to get to the road-side, but before I could cross, the scene transitioned (beyond my control). Suddenly, I found myself in the Jarrold’s Department Store in Norwich. It was just before Christmas and the store was buzzing with customers, everything brightly lit and decorated with gold, red and green. It was quite dark outside. I was aware my Mum and Nan were somewhere in the store and that we were all taking part in a shopping trip. I saw a make-up counter and decided I wanted to get some free luxury brand make-up, but felt the instant need to pee. Over the tannoy system, a female voice said (in an overjoyed tone): “it’s the ‘90s!’ I was incredibly happy, as I have always vowed to use lucid dreaming to re-live the 1990s, my favourite period of recent cultural history, as the adult ‘me’. However the need to pee was so distracting and I thought to myself: ‘I can’t go to the toilet in the dream in case I wet the bed in real-life’. I concentrated on waking up, disappointed to have to cut my lucid dream short. I woke up, still desperately needing to pee, but in a very dry bed (fortunately)!!!

Associated dream imagery
Running race track
Traditional white nurses uniform
Sitting backwards on a chair, naked - as I was in the dream
Gary Hume, from his series of Doors paintings (above & below)
York railway station
Various summer urban skyline vignettes, similar to the city environment seen in my dream
Cromer seafront, North Norfolk
Jarrolds Department Store, Norwich, Norfolk
I love 1990s

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Dream Interpretation 28

DREAM 28

23 January 2012

Following the WBTB technique, I felt very awake and found it quite difficult to fall back asleep. This was compounded by the fact that once the dog realised I was awake, he wanted to get into bed with me for a cuddle and kept laying on my MP3 player and disturbing my attempts to meditate. When I eventually did drift off to sleep, I had one short, very vivid dream.


Lucid dreaming experiments/techniques 
  • Mental/training – MILD technique (no binaural beats before sleep); WBTB (Wake-Back-to-Bed) technique (woke after 5 hours of delta sleep; remained awake for 1 hour, then returned to MILD technique/sleep)
  • Binaural beats through headphones following WBTB technique – 20 minutes of alpha (I felt very awake during the WBTB technique in the morning) and 1 hour of theta/gamma mix – specifically a looped track I prepared, using Conscious Release - Solfeggio & binaural beats (theta & gamma), performed by Jandy Rainbow aka Jezebel Decibel
  • LDS –high strength cod liver oil enriched with omega 3, 6 & 9 (3,600 mg); multivitamins A – Z with evening meal; sea kelp (90 mg); CoEnzyme Q-10 (150 mg); Gingko Biloba (120 mg); and Vitamin B Complex. No 5-HTP (experimenting without to test improvement in dream recall) 

Potential triggers/’day residue’   
  • The evening before this dream, my friends and I were discussing eating pork (I don’t eat it) and the boys began singing a song about ‘swine meat’
  • I drink a lot of coffee
  • I made contact with an old friend and arranged to meet when I visit my old hometown – he has asthma; additionally I used to use a peak flow meter when as a result of now-outgrown childhood asthma
  • I had been thinking recently that there could be a small, yet viable business opportunity in importing fresh seafood daily from my old hometown to London businesses during the summer months
  • The night before this dream I was explaining to someone how to avoid paying extortionate rates on loans you can no longer afford and how to protect income from bailiffs/seizure by creditors. I asked a friend (jokingly) if he was secretly working for a particular bank branch (as I was of course, informing him of how to avoid paying a substantial loan back at the agreed rate). When I was a child, I won a competition organised by this bank and won a china piggy bank as part of the prize. Downstairs in the house I currently live in, in London, there is a similar version of the piggy bank, although I do not recall actually ‘seeing’ it just before this dream as I rarely use the lounge
  • The night before this dream, I viewed the page on this Blog which is illustrated with two Salvador Dali images (the two linked ‘Persistence of Memory’ paintings) – and thought about Dali (I was trying to decide whether I would rather be responsible for the artistic output of Dali or Picasso – I chose Picasso)

Main dream environment(s) 
  • (Scene 1):
A very cluttered, dark room filled with strange ornaments and curiosities on shelves – like the shop Alice enters in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871) - in the chapter entitled Wool and Water.

    Illustration of Alice in the curisosity shop in Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871) by John Tenniel

    Characters 
    (Scene 1):
    • Myself (I did not see myself)
    • A disconnected voice – I did not see who it belonged to, but it was an adult female voice

    Dream narrative
    • (Scene 1):
    I was in an old curiosity shop (this is the best description I can come up with – see the description above). The first item I saw was a piece of medical equipment – white and pale yellow, consisting of two clear measuring cylinders inscribed with numerical measurement, mounted beside one another – vaguely reminiscent of ‘peak flow metres’ used to test the power of someone’s exhaled breath, for example in asthma sufferers. There were round smiley faces – like those associated with Acid House culture (i.e. similar to pills) falling down the two cylinders – rolling like marbles, but on the exterior - not actually inside -  of the cylinders. I walked to the left and saw a dark wooden table. On it were several objects, which seemed to be made from varnished china. There was a lobster telephone (see picture & caption below), but with an animated face, and a square-shaped pink piggy bank. I thought it odd that every item in the shop – all inanimate objects – had facial features. I then heard a voice say this exact phrase: “We have to go to the contact party soon, there’s a coffee orgy for the children”. I woke up, feeling confused. I had been asleep for less than an hour.
    Peak flow meter
    Smiley face pills
    Salvador Dali, Lobster Telephone or 'Aprodisiac Telephone' (1936)
    Square piggy bank
    Whilst Googling the phrase 'coffee orgy' I came across some images of vintage collectable coffee mugs, designed by Taylor & Ng (in the 1970s - 80s) which have an animal 'orgy' theme. I had never heard of this range, nor the company, prior to my post-dream research. Some of the images are produced below:
    Interpretation/analysis  
    This was such a strange dream – especially the phrase which I vividly recalled upon waking.