Without the Within

Okay so I know I haven't done my weekly post in a while but I am back...and I am here to say that Jack Kornfield's books and audio on meditation are amazing! I have honestly never been so relaxed...it's called the inner art of meditation, it is a recording of a series of classes he gives on meditation.  So if you are stressed out I recommend popping this in...the library has it on cassete which is perfect for my car but I am sure a lot of you out there will need it on dvd and that I am affraid I don't know about. any way I loved it so much I am moving on to his book.

WAKE UP, YOU'RE DREAMING!

Alright so who wants to know about my week of Lucid dreaming...well I tried several things and found that the one that worked best for me is the one that I have done for years, which wasn't even on the several online lists I read.  So what did some of the experts suggest to "wake up your mind in your sleep":

Question reality: throughout your day when something memorable happens think about whether or not you are awake.  I enjoyed this one so much that even though it didn't seem to aid my lucid dreaming I still like to include it in my random thoughts of the day!

Remind yourself: Write an A on your palm and throughout the day study it to assure yourself you are awake, I have also been told that this is more affective if you do it at the same time like say every three hours or whatever works best for you.  Eventualy, it is said that you will begin to see the A in your sleep and as you question whether or not you are awake your conciousness will in fact wake up leading to a lucid dream.  While I attempted this technique I never did see it in my dream so this one may take several weeks or longer to work.

Step into Sleep: When you lay down your little head to fall alseep think of a staircase, as grand or as humble as you wish, and each step is a year of your life.  As you ascend each step look around and see your life in that year and as you aproach your youth you will drift off to sleep.  Before I even looked up lucid dreaming techniques I learned about this tip from the book The Staircase Letters, as I type out the name I see the irony in the title.  Personally I enjoy this technique of falling asleep in general and make each step of the staircase indicative of how I feel about each year of my life, some are hard, some are soft and carpeted...but I'm strange go figure.

Dream Journals: keep a dream journal by your bed at all times and as soon as you wake write down your entire dream as detailed as you can.  The idea behind this is that all of your dreams have a certain repetative element, that if recognized and put to memory, can make you realize you are dreaming when it occurs.  Mine is quite interesting in that I find it hard to move my limbs much like I am in water, as soon as my brain thinks "why can't I move" I realize that I am dreaming and thus begins a lucid dream.

Dress for Success:  Alright so this one is my personal technique that I discovered as a child, however, was not in any of the techniques I read online.  first of all, lucid dreaming is most easily achieved during naps rather than nightly sleeping routines, at least for me.  Dressing for success is all about wearing normal clothes to sleep in almost as if you are reminding your brain while you sleep of you unconcious body.  Jeans and a t-shirt work best as they are comfortable enough to sleep in but not so confortable as to be dismissed by my mind.  To attemp this today just don't change, lay down on top of the covers and take a nap...see what happens!

Well good luck to all you dreamers and for more tips here are a few links:
http://www.wikihow.com/Lucid-Dream
http://www.wattpad.com/87619-wild-lucid-dreaming-tutorial
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/the-stages-of-sleep.html

DIY the mighty mustache

so if you have kids...or just a strange affilation with facial hair...I have the solution, making your own mustache.  It takes about twenty minutes, most of this consisting of waiting for the gel to cool. So how is it done? the key ingrediant in this expadition is unflavored gelatin which you can pick up at pretty much any super market, then you will need some milk, wax paper, a cookie sheet, a microwave (or as I do it a pot of water heated over the stove) a microwavable container such as a coffee mug,food dye of your choice, and last but not least something to cut your concoction like a butter knife or even better a cookie cutter if you happen to have one in the shape of what you are going for.  So first you will mix half a teaspoon of milk for every one teaspoon of gelating, then add a little food dye for style, stir, microwave for about twenty seconds just enough to melt it into a nice consistant liquid, then place the wax paper on the cookie sheet just so it wont stick. Poor the warm liquid onto the paper making sure it is as thick as you want it, the way it is one the paper is exactly how it will be when it's cool it doesn't really expand or contract any.  then wait for it to cool, put it in the fridge if you would like to speed things up.  When all of this is said and done cut out the mustache you would like stuck to your face, remove it from the wax paper and put the side you will be placing on your face up against the side of a warm (almost hot) mug, perhaps the same one you mixed it in. you will only need to hold it to the side of the mug for a second for it to become slightly soft again on one side, not enough to stick to the mug or lose it's shape. then remove it from the mug and stick it to your face, allow it about twenty seconds or so to cool enough to adhere and viola you have your very own facial hair.  The best part about this is as long as you have used safe to ingest food dye the entire thing is edible so once you are done just eat the evidence and no one will ever know your secret.