How can I make my WILDs more vivid?

Hello all, I am here to ask for a bit of advice from you expert lucid dreamers! I've read tons of tutorials on how to do a WILD, but they seem to all contradict each other. I've more or less worked out my own technique which is indeed getting me into a unique state of mind, but I am unsure of whether it actually is a WILD or not. Let me explain:

I usually attempt a WILD during the early afternoon. I've tried to do it right after waking up from 5-6 hours of sleep, but whenever I've done it at this time I am never concious enough to stay aware and quickly fall asleep. So instead I'll usually attempt after being up for around an hour, or even after getting home from school.

I lie down, close my eyes and begin to meditate. I'll pay close attention to my breaths, and count down from 99 to 1 to keep track of how alert I am. If I lose track of the numbers, I'll think of something confusing to get my alertness back up (recite the alphabet backwards, do simple math, etc). Once I have done this for a while, my body starts to feel like a brick and I enter the hypnagogic imagery stage. No problem. Now, here's where I am lost...

I will often have visual hallucinations (eyes often feel like they're open even though they're closed). However, these hallucinations are extremely faint and nowhere near as vivid as some of the DILDs I've had. As well, I have never been able to get a single auditory hallucination in this state of mind.

I will usually improvise from here, and try to visualize a few things; for example, one of my favorite things is going snowboarding. However, on top of the issues mentioned above, I am still aware of my body lying in bed. So even though I am in my head picturing myself on slopes, I don't truly FEEL like I am there like one would in an ordinary dream. I don't experience the feeling of my arms moving around, the wind flowing by me, etc.

What am I doing wrong? How can I increase the vividness of my WILD attempts and make them FEEL real? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

thank you!

Your problem is...you're not WILDing. You're not getting all the way through SP. And you won't like this, but I think it may be because you're not tired enough. You should try it in the early morning. I know, you said that you fall asleep too quickly. Well, that's an easier problem to overcome than not being able to enter REM.

I definately am tired enough. I'd always have no problem taking regular afternoon naps before I began to attempt WILDing.

I will still give the early morning another few tries though. Thanks for the advice.

I have had this same problem. I would lie down in the afternoon, start relaxing every part of my body with each breath, and quickly reach SP. However once I was in SP, my expectations of what I wanted to achieve were actually what were holding me back from achieving them. So I began to just enter SP with no thought on my mind. No desire. Nothing. And after a few attempts, I was able to enter a vivid dream, become very aware I was dreaming, and still keep the same mental attitude I possessed before hand: Almost completely desire-less. So try that out. Hit SP and keep your mind blank. Eventually your subconscious will take over and surround you with whatever its beholds.

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Originally Posted by thisisntgreg

Hello all, I am here to ask for a bit of advice from you expert lucid dreamers! I've read tons of tutorials on how to do a WILD, but they seem to all contradict each other. I've more or less worked out my own technique which is indeed getting me into a unique state of mind, but I am unsure of whether it actually is a WILD or not. Let me explain:

I usually attempt a WILD during the early afternoon. I've tried to do it right after waking up from 5-6 hours of sleep, but whenever I've done it at this time I am never concious enough to stay aware and quickly fall asleep. So instead I'll usually attempt after being up for around an hour, or even after getting home from school.

I lie down, close my eyes and begin to meditate. I'll pay close attention to my breaths, and count down from 99 to 1 to keep track of how alert I am. If I lose track of the numbers, I'll think of something confusing to get my alertness back up (recite the alphabet backwards, do simple math, etc). Once I have done this for a while, my body starts to feel like a brick and I enter the hypnagogic imagery stage. No problem. Now, here's where I am lost...

I will often have visual hallucinations (eyes often feel like they're open even though they're closed). However, these hallucinations are extremely faint and nowhere near as vivid as some of the DILDs I've had. As well, I have never been able to get a single auditory hallucination in this state of mind.

I will usually improvise from here, and try to visualize a few things; for example, one of my favorite things is going snowboarding. However, on top of the issues mentioned above, I am still aware of my body lying in bed. So even though I am in my head picturing myself on slopes, I don't truly FEEL like I am there like one would in an ordinary dream. I don't experience the feeling of my arms moving around, the wind flowing by me, etc.

What am I doing wrong? How can I increase the vividness of my WILD attempts and make them FEEL real? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

thank you!

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The user below you is correct. You're not WILD'ing. You're just getting damn good at entering HI. ;) I think your problem could be a few reasons.

1) You're not giving your body enough time to re-enter REM before quitting/falling asleep unconsciously.

2) You're focus is too active and not passive.

The 1st one may be a possibility but based off your post, I'd feel more comfortable putting my money on door number 2. The kind of mental gymnastics you're describing seems very active enough to keep you from doing what's most important -> going to sleep. The most it sounds like you're doing is just entering a very deep state of relaxation and meditation. HI can be achieved from those points as well. But to WILD, actual sleep is needed and getting there with active focus is pretty damn hard.

Good news people, I had a breakthrough and had my first official WILD yesterday morning. My body felt gradually heavier and heavier, and then there's a blank in my memory. The next thing I'm able to recall is being lucid in the dream. Is it normal to not recall the transition?

Also, this morning I tried again with interesting results. I lied down and stayed still for what felt like 30 minutes and then gave up, but when I looked up at my clock an hour and a half had gone by! I then rolled over into a different position and fell asleep normally. It was then that I entered a lucid dream, without even trying. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does the fact I had no results the first hour and a half simply mean that I was staying concious through the nonREM parts of my sleep cycle? And then when I gave up and rolled over, I was conviently enough right at the beginning of my REM?

thanks again folks for the help, it's probably half the reason I've been having more success.