Thread: WILD, hypnagogic imagery help.

Hi, i havnt had a succesful wild yet, nor SP but i have a question about HI. do you have to be in SP to do the visualisation entry, and do you form your visualisation from your HI, how vivid does you HI have to be to control it or turn it into a scene, thanks.

Ok, I've never actually had HI myself, but I've read tons of guides and stuff to know this: as soon as you see HI, like small colors or lightnings, just lay there and observe the imagery. Don't try to controll the images and just wait until the imagery gets bigger and in to time you will be in a crisp, new dream scene

This is a contentious issue in WILDing. Many guides talk about 'flashes of colour' (for our purposes hypnagogic phosphenes Phosphene - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). I've only had a couple of successful WILDs, but in my attempts it's been a long time since I had just blobs of colour, often now I will experience flashes of an images, scenes, sometimes even a low-grade 'dreamlet' in my mind's eye; I've experienced music, voices, tactile sensations, all without ever entering SP.

The way I see it I've trained myself to be conscious of the hypnagogia I never used to notice. So as often as you can lay down and try to access your hypnagogic state, it's like coming out of a pitch dark room into sunlight, at first you can't see a thing, over time things become clearer and clearer.
After a while you'll find that you can interact with your mind's eye images somewhat and your own visualisations will become more lifelike. It takes a lot of time and a lot of practice to master visualisation/ hypnagogic imagery, and I still haven't cracked it, which is probably why the 'mind awake/body asleep' approach, in which the only aim is to 'reach SP', is generally favoured. But I think that by observing and coming to understand the dream formation process you make a stronger basis for WILDing because you really understand how it works if you know what I mean.

So attempt as often as you feel comfortable with and aim to get into deeper and deeper states of hypnagogia while still lucidly aware. These are some pretty nice guides on V-WILD http://www.dreamviews.com/f12/how-vi...ctively-40861/, http://www.dreamviews.com/f79/mancon...ml#post1849737.

Hmmm.

When I lay there to fall asleep, I imagine all sorts, and as I gradually get closer to falling asleep, these 'movies' become more involved....and I only realise I was in the movie when I snap back to a sort of waking consciousness. What I'm saying, is I've never been conscious within these movies, but realise I was in one when I return to consciousness. I've never once not lost consciousness if I attempt to entertain HI without being in SP first.

On the flipside, to enter SP, I just lay their immobile without any visualisations. Eventually, I feel it coming on without doubt. Once these streaks of flashing lights and buzzing sounds stop, I open my eyes and then roll over. What I find when successful is that my body is still on the bed, and I am on the floor. Now that I'm clearly in this 'dream world', I then visualise what I want to see, be or go to. So I only visualise once I've entered the dream state/world.

This is only my experience though.

Originally Posted by Wolfwood

Hmmm.

When I lay there to fall asleep, I imagine all sorts, and as I gradually get closer to falling asleep, these 'movies' become more involved....and I only realise I was in the movie when I snap back to a sort of waking consciousness. What I'm saying, is I've never been conscious within these movies, but realise I was in one when I return to consciousness. I've never once not lost consciousness if I attempt to entertain HI without being in SP first.

I used to only be aware of the 'movies' once I'd snapped back to awareness after they'd vanished, too. Recently though I've started being lucid during. I have no idea what it might mean but I hope it's a sign that I'm that much closer to hypnagogic/V-WILD.

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

I used to only be aware of the 'movies' once I'd snapped back to awareness after they'd vanished, too. Recently though I've started being lucid during. I have no idea what it might mean but I hope it's a sign that I'm that much closer to hypnagogic/V-WILD.

I'd think so, and it sounds like quite a feat. As it feels like an exceptionally fragile state: I'm conscious, but not quite involved, or involved, but not quite conscious. And no matter what I've tried so far, I can't help but be unwittingly seduced. Was this change spontaneous or did you practice?

After enough time and practice (years) you can go into HIs in less than a minute just by closing your eyes and allowing it to happen. No need for SP. Don't mistake SP for a state where you can not move. Moving would take concious effort or will, but you can force yourself to move. HIs should be like Ctharlhie talks about. All sorts of weird stuff, not just flashing lights. A feeling of motion is very common, and so is hearing things or vibrating.
Ctharlhie, I think it is a great sign that you are making good progress. You are developing parts of your brain that are used in LDing. It is slow to start but you are starting the neural remodeling so every aspect of visualization/HIs will get more intense quickly.

Here is a link to something I wrote on the subject. Maybe something in it will be helpful.http://www.dreamviews.com/f12/sivaso...pics-q-129943/

Thanks for the feedback Sivason, it's always nice to get advice from someone with a lot of experience

I have read your guide and I think it's a really excellent, in-depth guide for anyone who wants to develop their HI, I think in a way I've been doing the things you describe without knowing it for the last few years, even before I learnt about lucid dreaming I've always been fascinated by the hypnagogic state.
I have had a full gamut of HI, such as motion, voices, even music. It's cool to hear I'm making progress

I'd think so, and it sounds like quite a feat. As it feels like an exceptionally fragile state: I'm conscious, but not quite involved, or involved, but not quite conscious. And no matter what I've tried so far, I can't help but be unwittingly seduced. Was this change spontaneous or did you practice?

Over the past year all my improvements in lucid dreaming (memory, awareness, recall, intent, etc.) seem all to have been a gradual, and organic, process of personal growth. As newbies in lucid dreaming we seem to think that using a wonder technique will immediately yield results but really we have to hone our minds and develop ourselves to achieve our goals. I've tried probably over a hundred times to WILD over the last year and my awareness keeps getting better but the change seemed spontaneous.

no you don't have to be in SP...