Thread: WILD According to Sageous Q & A

Originally Posted by hermine_hesse

I just read Lesson 2 and have a few questions, Sageous:

1. I have had a few WILDs in my life and all have occurred by accident at the onset of sleep. Do you think it is harmful to attempt a WILD at the onset of sleep in addition to the WBTB WILD?

Not at all. If you have the unusual ability (usually a result of narcolepsy) to go straight to REM upon sleeping at night, then sure, do WILD's then as well. And sure, I can't see any harm or confusion resulting from doing both. In fact, I tend to do just that myself: though my bedtime WILD attempts are more related to sleep yoga than LD'ing, the activity is similar, and I'm still reasonably sane.

2. For the WBTB, for a while I was doing a WBTB after every sleep cycle (about every two hours), by waking, writing down my dreams, then attempting an LD. This would usually mean 2-3 of waking every night. Are multiple WBTBs ok, or is it better to stick with just one?

For mental prep reasons (about which we'll talk later), it is probably better to have just one WBTB session a night, preferably at the time your dreams and/or lucidity are usually most profound. That way you can focus your conscious efforts on one, hopefully most likely, target. But again, if you can apply all the mental prep you did the day(s) before into every WBTB, with equal focus for each then sure, go for it. I do recommend concentrating on one cycle, though.

3. You mentioned selecting a specific day to WILD, would it be ok to attempt a WILD every night?

Of course..practice makes perfect! Maybe though, if you find that some days are better than others, you can ramp your efforts up a bit for that day, maybe with special goals or more time allotted.

4. Right now I am in the middle of a big life change involving moving to another state. Days where I can sleep in and have nothing to do are almost nonexistent right now, plus my sleep schedule is all over the place. Not surprisingly, my LD count has gone from 1-2 a week to nothing. Is it even possible for me to work new routines into my chaotic sleep schedule, or will WILDing success have to wait until I am sufficiently settled into a new routine?

It sounds like you're definitely going to have trouble finding the right WBTB "quality" time for successful WILD's right now. Simply because your schedule right now seems to imply that there is no place for routines, you might have to put off WBTB, as I described it, for a while. That doesn't mean you can't do the rest of the stuff, though, because things like RRC and upcoming sessions on physical effects and more mental prep will hopefully still be with you after you settle down and learn your new schedules. Assuming of course you have time to read the sessions...

Oh, and since you have had bedtime WILD's, Hermine, there's no reason why you can't just try the WILD technique (that I promise I will one day get to ) at night when you go to bed...you might find it a nice break from your hectic days.

Thanks, Sageous! The instruction I'm getting both from your and Sivason's classes is really invaluable. Up until now, I feel like I've been stumbling forward in the dark...

Originally Posted by Sageous

Not at all. If you have the unusual ability (usually a result of narcolepsy) to go straight to REM upon sleeping at night, then sure, do WILD's then as well. And sure, I can't see any harm or confusion resulting from doing both. In fact, I tend to do just that myself: though my bedtime WILD attempts are more related to sleep yoga than LD'ing, the activity is similar, and I'm still reasonably sane.

Well, I definitely don't have narcolepsy. I am a natural LDer (though only a few times a year without any effort) and had extreme cases of Isolated Sleep Paralysis (the disorder, not regular sleep paralysis) in the past, so maybe that makes me a bit unusual with REM cycles.

Originally Posted by Sageous

It sounds like you're definitely going to have trouble finding the right WBTB "quality" time for successful WILD's right now. Simply because your schedule right now seems to imply that there is no place for routines, you might have to put off WBTB, as I described it, for a while. That doesn't mean you can't do the rest of the stuff, though, because things like RRC and upcoming sessions on physical effects and more mental prep will hopefully still be with you after you settle down and learn your new schedules. Assuming of course you have time to read the sessions...

Oh, and since you have had bedtime WILD's, Hermine, there's no reason why you can't just try the WILD technique (that I promise I will one day get to ) at night when you go to bed...you might find it a nice break from your hectic days.

I do have time for DV, since I use this as my relaxation/downtime. So, I will keep following the sessions and continuing with the practices as best I can, but will just keep in mind not to feel discouraged if I don't have results until after I'm settled. I have been continuing with the RRC's. It has definitely been interesting practicing RRCs during things like an nine hour drive! I actually think this practice is helping to keep me grounded in calm rather than feeling unsettled.