Thanks to all for your comments. I'm glad this was useful!

Mini: To answer your question, I never ever pay attention to my breathing when I WILD. Like you say, I replace the attention to breathing with attention to the white noise and the HI. When you feel like you're starting to experience the hallucinations, even in the slightest bit, you'll find that it's easy to steer and change them, and actively doing that means you're getting your mind in the state it needs to be in for dream control before the dream ever starts. Also, I find that doing something active like that helps keep the focus off our physical bodies and keeps us from falling unconscious during the WILD.