Thread: Having Trouble and Have a Few Questions

I have tried a lot of times to WILD. I have read every guide, know most of the common mistakes, and techniques. But every time I try, I just sit there and nothing happens. I count my breaths and don't move my eyes or any muscles but I still haven't yet experienced any hypnagogic imagery, heard noises, or felt sleep paralysis. I also have trouble going back to sleep once I do a WBTB.

I have a few questions that I would like some people to answer who have successfully WILDed before because I don't see some of these questions mentioned in the tutorials.

1. Does swallowing your saliva actually hurt your chances of WILDing and how do you deal with this?
2. If my muscles involuntarily twitch, does this count as moving?
3. How long should you stay up during a WBTB and what do you recommend doing so you don't wake up too much and can't go back to sleep?
4. How long does it usually take for you on average to start sleep paralysis or see hypnagogic imagery?
5. What relaxation techniques do you recommend?
6. How do you prevent wanting to give up?

These are all the questions that I have right now. As I think of more, I will just post them in this thread. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Hopefully someone will be able to help since I have been lucid dreaming for a while now but never actually succeeded with WILD.

1. Swallowing is only a problem if it's distracting you. But if it bothers you, try using two pillows or a really big fluffy pillow, that way your saliva will drain without the need to swallow.
2. Hard to say, usually you can tell by the way it breaks your mental relaxation. Hypnic jerks do tend to wake you up and there's not much you can do about them.
3. This not only depends on the person, but depends on each attempt. You'll have to experiment. Start with a ten or twenty minute WBTB. If you fall asleep too fast, next time make it a little longer and do some task that requires a little brainpower, i.e. a crossword. If you have trouble falling asleep, next time make the WBTB shorter, just get up and pee etc., and go right back to be and work on relaxing.
4. It depends, it's different each time, but normally less than twenty minutes. If I relax really well and count to 200, I'm normally in SP or close to it.
5. I like to do anything that helps me forget about my physical body, so I put on some white noise, relax, and put my focus on whatever hallucinations come up.
6. I try to look at it as a journey; the WILD is of course the best part, but I enjoy the whole ride. All the hallucinations and weird sensations and SP are an interesting experience imo and it's worth the attempt just to get to those.

1. I like to sleep on my side to keep from having to swallow. Is this a problem when you normally sleep? There is no magic position for a successful WILD. Use whatever position is most comfortable or natural.
2. You can move around during your WILD, as long as it does not break your relaxation too much. Obviously, don't do jumping jacks half way through. For example, I normally start on my back, do some relaxation exercises, then roll onto my side to transition. Moving won't set you back too much. Feel free to stretch, scratch, or twitch. As long as it is helping you become more relaxed, you are making progress.
3. I think the most important thing during a WBTB is to keep the lights low. Incandescent bulbs, warm light, and no television. Just stay up long enough to be able to think straight.
4. If it takes me more than 15 or 20 minutes, my timing is wrong. It should take you about the same amount of time it takes to fall asleep on a normal night.
5. I like to imagine my body pushing into the bed. I alternate between my feet and my head. I just imagine them sinking. If my thoughts are racing, I will do some reverse blinking.
6. To keep motivated, I read through my favorite old dreams. You can do it during your WBTB so stay excited.