I haven't been too successful in my effort to create lucid dreams. Quite possibly, the problem may be in the effort itself; Dr. LaBerge warns about this in his book "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming" when he says that a stumbling block in learning any new skill is trying too hard.
On the two occasions when I made use of the Novadreamer, I failed completely to have any lucid dreams. Certainly the first time was due to lack of patience and overzealousness in doing it; I then called it quits and sent all the materials back.
Four months later, following a dream I recalled quite clearly, I thought that if I approached it more "rationally" I might have some success with it. Moreover having the dreamspeaker as an accompanying aid would in my estimation enhance the likelihood of attaining the lucid state. But again it didn't work out; owing to chronic facial muscle spasms. The novadreamer soon became too uncomfortable for me to wear so I had no choice but once again send everything back (actually, it's unfortunate that the dreamspeaker does not function on its own because that just might have worked out--although my effort to induce lucidity with a combined timer and casette player on several prior occasions NEVER seemed to work for one reason or another).
In between those two ill-fated technologically oriented attempts, there was one occasion of a lucid dream. In this particular dream, I was attacked by a threatening guy, when I said to myself, "It's just a dream," which resulted in my knocking him out. (Coincidentally enough, in a book I have by a Tibetan lama, "White Sail", there is a brief section on Dream Yoga where he states that we are more likely to recognize that we're dreaming if the dream stirs us deeply as through experiencing torment and terror).
In spite of the aforementioned lack of real success at lucidity, I do have pretty good dream recall; I would attribute this to my nearly five years of meditation practice. Often the dreams are more vivid on the occasions where I meditate in the late afternoon or early evening. But your book {“Stop Sleeping Through Your Dreams”} is good in pointing to the virtual necessity of awareness in this endeavor. This is why I don't think that the use of the Novadreamer alone (or in combination with the dreamspeaker device) is adequate to the task. One must make oneself sufficiently aware of the dreamscape "ambience" to be able to recognize how it differs from the waking state. Dr. LaBerge pretty much states this when he says that one function of keeping a dream journal is to be able to recognize dream signs (the basis for the Novadreamer is recognition of the flashing lights but here again, I don't believe it's sufficient unless one has adequately prepped oneself and can see that those lights appear in an incongrous enough way to bring the realization that one is then in a dream). I would welcome any feedback you or other readers might have to offer.
--Lucas, Age 24, Toronto, CANADA
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