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I want to try to WILD real bad, but one thing holding me back is fear....not so much the being watched feeling...but I've heard stories of your chest hurting real bad, heart attack bad maybe worse. I am overweight, don't have high blood pressure, but for some reason have anxiety over having a heart attack lol, so I guess my question is...Can you control your SP experience much like a dream? Like if I train myself to not expect pain will it not happen? Can anyone cure my cowardess!!! lol
I find it very unlikely that any painful experience could come from WILDs, however it can be frightening but there is nothing to be frightened of. As far as I know you can select your dream scene but your Hypnagogic imagery isn't really subject to control. Anyone is free to correct me if I'm wrong, but until u enter your dream, you have no control of your SP. I don't think it's possible to feel pain either but you just gotta know nothing bad will happen (which is the truth) and just focus on your WILDing.
I've been through some crazy stuff in my WILDs, but I've never felt physical pain. Stuff that'll make your heart race, sure. And sometimes there's a bit of pressure, but that's typically located in the noggin. Still, I wouldn't worry about it; A successful WILD can be just as fun as the resulting LD.
Also notice: The things you do while WILDing are exactly the same as when you go to sleep normally, only you are aware of the transistion ans SP.
So in theory: if you don't get a heart attack from sleeping normally, you won't get one from WILDing ;)
The way I see it the only way you could possible get a heart attack from SP is from the fear associated with it. I have a suggestion that worked very well for me to stay calm during SP. During the day or before bed (especially during meditation) go through SP in your mind, and make sure you think about yourself being completely calm and relaxed. Picture SP as a wonderfully calming experience, and imagine the intense sensations common to SP. Once again the most important part is to think of it as a positive experience, because then when it actually happens, you can just feel great and just let the SP happen. It may help to keep in mind that SP is a result of extreem relaxation, and that most of the bad experiences that people have with it aren't due to inherant properties of the SP, but because the person realizes they can't move and freak out, letting their mind create all kinds of terrifying things.
To answer your control question, quite a few people including me can testify to controling certain aspects of SP. For instance, before I really knew much about SP or practaced being calm in it I freaked out and saw a ghoulish figure that started attacking my neck. Luckily I realized that it was just a hallucination and was able to force it away from me in the same way as normal dream control. From my experience though, control over SP is more limited than dream control.
Trust me, if you honestly expect SP to be a great experience it probably will be.
Good luck.
If you think something bad is going to happen, most likely it will happen. I recommend WILDing with your eyes closed though... Don't want random things popping up in your bedroom :D
When I try to WILD this is what happens: I hear something quiet, usually some soft string music or scratchy sounds. I see flashes and streaks or coloured light. Sometimes I feel as if something is pressing on my mind and a sinking/falling sensation.
Unluckily I've never had a successful WILD... yet ;)