# Lucid Dreaming > Attaining Lucidity > Wake Initiated Lucid Dreams (WILD) >  >  2 Challenges: Itches and Salivation

## Hilary

So, lately I've been doing WILDs successfully in the middle of the night (WBTB). It seems like, I just have to focus on slowing my breathing, and then I start feeling these surges (don't know how else to describe). Then, once those take over enough, come the vibrations, followed by a lucid dream.

Two challenges I've discovered are mouth salivation (and the need to swallow), and itching. These occur before the surges. It seems like with the itching, the closer I am to the vibrations, I will always get an intense itch sensation! If I scratch, I have to start all over, it's as if my body knows now that I am awake. If I don't scratch it, and use willpower, I sink further, until the itch disappears. I honestly think the itch is a "testing mechanism" of sorts to tell whether or not I am really asleep.

Thoughts?

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## lifeinsteps

I've been having some trouble with this during my WILD attempts lately. I find the itching easy to ignore, but once I realize I need to swallow, try as I might, I can't avoid it for very long. It eventually happens completely on its own! I haven't been able to figure out a good way to deal with it yet. It seems to disturb the WILD less than moving to scratch an itch though, which pretty much wakes me up completely.

Just last night though I did give into an itch after I had already felt the WILD was a bit of a mess up. I'm confident I'll succeed tonight though (like every night when I don't  ::tongue:: ) so when I do, I'll report back whether the 'testing mechanism' occurred!

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## Hilary

> I've been having some trouble with this during my WILD attempts lately. I find the itching easy to ignore, but once I realize I need to swallow, try as I might, I can't avoid it for very long. It eventually happens completely on its own! I haven't been able to figure out a good way to deal with it yet. It seems to disturb the WILD less than moving to scratch an itch though, which pretty much wakes me up completely.
> 
> Just last night though I did give into an itch after I had already felt the WILD was a bit of a mess up. I'm confident I'll succeed tonight though (like every night when I don't ) so when I do, I'll report back whether the 'testing mechanism' occurred!



I hear you. The swallowing urge is the worst! The only thing I've found so far that helps is to keep attention away from my mouth at all costs. You know, I am so happy, but a touch frustrated, I was going into a WILD last night but wasn't expecting it (since it was the beginning of sleep and not WBTB), and got scared when the vibrations suddenly came on! LOL, but it's all good, because that means I'm setting a pattern for WILDs. Woo, can't wait for tonight!

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## lifeinsteps

> I hear you. The swallowing urge is the worst! The only thing I've found so far that helps is to keep attention away from my mouth at all costs. You know, I am so happy, but a touch frustrated, I was going into a WILD last night but wasn't expecting it (since it was the beginning of sleep and not WBTB), and got scared when the vibrations suddenly came on! LOL, but it's all good, because that means I'm setting a pattern for WILDs. Woo, can't wait for tonight!



Still no luck for me yet! I'll keep trying though. Thinking about sticking with what I'm currently doing for awhile before making anymore changes so I can try to set the pattern like you mention.

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## Appamada

You have to swallow, just try to let it happen naturally. If you aren't focusing too much on your body it will happen naturally. If you need to force it, force it. As for the itches you can't focus on them and ignore them at the same time. Shift your focus to your breathe or the mind.

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## michael79

> So, lately I've been doing WILDs successfully in the middle of the night (WBTB). It seems like, I just have to focus on slowing my breathing, and then I start feeling these surges (don't know how else to describe). Then, once those take over enough, come the vibrations, followed by a lucid dream.



In my first experiences with WILD method, I also had those surges and crazy vibration, but after some time they stopped, maybe my mind get used to them.





> These occur before the surges. It seems like with the itching, the closer I am to the vibrations, I will always get an intense itch sensation! If I scratch, I have to start all over, it's as if my body knows now that I am awake. If I don't scratch it, and use willpower, I sink further, until the itch disappears. I honestly think the itch is a "*testing mechanism*" of sorts to tell whether or not I am really asleep.



I came to the same conclusion as you do, despite the many who not believe in this.

I still don't have surefire way for reaching wild, sometimes happens, sometimes not, I found the Visualization to be the best entry for wild with some very extraordinary results. I also found that not only the visual approach work, but also the audio one, "Audiolization" or recreating the outside sound with your mind, so if you say a mantra or count to wild, you can imagine how someone else is counting or saying the mantra for, while you still focus on them. It is a little tricky so it need to be trained, during the day. If you ever heard voices before falling asleep this is the same concept.

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## Princessflare

hello there. ive a problem with the swallowing reflex too, but i think i can control it for atmost 30 minutes. these surges and vibrations that you described, after how many minutes do they occur? i can handle itches very well but swallowing is a little tough. also ive read countless number of times that a swallow(if not paid much attention to)
doesnt render your attempts useless. thoughts?

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## Hilary

> hello there. ive a problem with the swallowing reflex too, but i think i can control it for atmost 30 minutes. these surges and vibrations that you described, after how many minutes do they occur? i can handle itches very well but swallowing is a little tough. also ive read countless number of times that a swallow(if not paid much attention to)
> doesnt render your attempts useless. thoughts?



Try swallowing very lightly. I have been practicing this, and I find that if I just do a quick little swallow (without thinking much about it), I can slip right back in trance (half-sleep) easily. You know you've messed up if you swallow and you feel your body waking / coming out of paralysis.

The vibrations vary. Sometimes you won't have them at all. It just depends on how quickly your body is falling asleep. If you get them, you know you are very close to a lucid dream. They can even happen as soon as you lie down. However, for me, most of the time, it's about 15-20 minutes into trance, if I am lucky enough to still be conscious. Everyone is different.

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