Thread: What happened? Post Your WILD Attempts, Good or Bad, Here

So I had an interesting experience this morning, coming closest to a WILD thus far I think. I used one of the techniques in ETWoLD and was seeing a dream form around me, but I think I was attempting a bit too late in my sleep period because I just couldn't get that extra push to actually fall asleep and enter. Going to try again tomorrow and do it earlier.

That good though. Keep it up hope you get a WILD soon! I need to give that a try myself. I just keep falling asleep and having FAs. It's so annoying lol.

so sageous why do you recommend attempting WILD's on your back?

Originally Posted by xpin2winx

so sageous why do you recommend attempting WILD's on your back?

Primarily from experience -- the vast majority of my successful WILD's occurred while on my back, with on my right side coming in a distant second. Aside from that anecdotal evidence (which ought to be enough, I think, given the overall subjective nature of my course), I believe the sleep yoga folks recommend sleeping on your back if possible, and I've also noticed most reports I've gotten from other accomplished LD'ers over the years included sleeping on their back.

So my suggestion may be based on anecdotal evidence, but who knows? There may be some consciousness-related brain chemistry that occurs only when you sleep on your back. Whatever it might be, going to sleep on your back seems to work best.

That's strange but I have had to open my eyes in a LD before. At the time I wasn't sure if I was opening my real eyes or dreams eyes. When I saw a pickup truck in front of me I knew.

I did the usual, woke up after 3-4 hours of sleep, went back to sleep without worrying too much on the attempt. Then I woke up around 7 AM, tried to maintain awareness, but it seems I had 4 hours of extra sleep and no recall.

I'm doing something wrong, and I usually remember my dreams with no problem at all. Whenever I wake up, I block out all aspects of waking life to quickly type my dreams.

Maybe I should just sleep earlier and do WILD attempts when it's still dark at night. I usually try two WBTBs during vacation, and one when I'm in college for obvious reasons.

As for big challenge with sleeping on the back, I don't know if I posted this, or if anyone has posted this before (I have a gut feeling I did), but anyway, the swallow reflex really was a problem for me.

Spoiler for How to prevent it:

But yeah, after watching the video in the spoiler, the next challenge for me is keeping up with my anchor.

I usually try to stay up for 45 minutes to 1 hour on my WBTBs, which does make me more awake, but I still yawn a lot, so I try to sleep back after that amount of time. There was one time where I spent 90 minutes on a WILD, but that was during a 3-5 AM interval, and I WILD instantly!

I've eradicated the swallow reflex issue from my WILD attempts, the dream recall is something I'm okay in, but can still work on, but it seems I forget any dreaming I have when I sleep again through the morning and wake up near the afternoon.

Is it a bad idea to go through that ritual of sleeping?

Like,

(sleep)11PM-3AM----->WBTB (45 minutes - 1 hour (or even 90 minutes))--->Wake up 6-7 AM,--->WBTB for maybe 15-45 minutes--->Wake up around 11AM-1PM?

You know...I do relax a lot, I do flex freezing, reverse eye blinking, and I do it slowly without trying to tense up.

I countdown from 100-1, usually get sidetracked when I get to the 30-40 range, bring myself back together in awareness (because each inhale and exhale I do takes 5 seconds) and if I go through all the way, and countdown again, it keeps me aware for at least 20+ minutes.

And I only focus on counting down, and not my body. Maybe I just need to find when to hit REM again.

Anyway, sorry for the long post there, but just wanted to explain what I usually do (most of the time I do it in a half-hearted manner)

I know youre asking Sageous but I just want to add my experience because I dying to learn too. Anyway I watch the HI while holding awareness. I guess you could say I'm half-hearted as well. I just find that too much effort or technique keeps me awake. I've come close but I've yet to have an actual WILD so maybe I'm wrong. Also I never have swallowing issues. Maybe because I sleep on a recliner when I WILD? Maybe try that? The pillows look like too much to me. What's that roll over signal he talks about? Ah soo much exrtra info... confusing. LOL.

Originally Posted by Xanous

What's that roll over signal he talks about? Ah soo much exrtra info... confusing. LOL.

Yeah, the roll over signal is something that you don't have to worry about (it's just like you said, extra information that isn't necessary), but yeah, I just use two pillows to slant my neck a little, but I usually end up just sleeping by my side and just let it drool.

Hi, new to the forum, but wanted to register so i could jump in on this thread. Sageous, your technique has given me all the answers i will ever need for achieving a wild. I have a question though.
I lay down after a wbtb and relaxed focusing on my mantra of choice, "self awareness, focus". This seems to keep my awareness very well focused. However, it seems like Hi does what it can to suck me in to sleep. I can be laying there focusing hard on my expectation of the dream to come while repeating my mantra, and then, a random hypnogogic thought will seem to override my mantra. Is there a reason for this? I should mention, that i am a blind guy so, my hypnogogic thoughts i am refering to are all auditory. Like i said, i feel the mantra is strong enough but i can't seem to hole awareness when powerfull hypnogogic crap starts asulting my waking awareness. Should i just ignore it as strongly as possible, or should i use a different mantra? I did achieve a Dild after lapsing breefly in to sleep once the hypnogogic stuff started so, i don't feel like i screwed up completely.

Hi Arqmeister; sorry for the delay in responding -- I managed to let your note slip past me!

So:

Originally Posted by arqmeister

Hi, new to the forum, but wanted to register so i could jump in on this thread. Sageous, your technique has given me all the answers i will ever need for achieving a wild. I have a question though.
I lay down after a wbtb and relaxed focusing on my mantra of choice, "self awareness, focus". This seems to keep my awareness very well focused. However, it seems like Hi does what it can to suck me in to sleep. I can be laying there focusing hard on my expectation of the dream to come while repeating my mantra, and then, a random hypnogogic thought will seem to override my mantra. Is there a reason for this? I should mention, that i am a blind guy so, my hypnogogic thoughts i am refering to are all auditory. Like i said, i feel the mantra is strong enough but i can't seem to hole awareness when powerfull hypnogogic crap starts asulting my waking awareness. Should i just ignore it as strongly as possible, or should i use a different mantra? I did achieve a Dild after lapsing breefly in to sleep once the hypnogogic stuff started so, i don't feel like i screwed up completely.

You probably ought to continue on the course you're on, without changing your mantra, and with more effort allowing the hypnagogia to come and go naturally. Since hypnagogia can be the doorway to your LD, and it clearly wants to make itself heard, you might also consider working with it to form your dreams. Instead of being bothered by the thoughts, try forming them into the things you'd like your dream to be about (per WILD session 4, I think).

All in all it seems like you are on the right path, arqmeister; a little time and patience could be all you need!

Originally Posted by Linkzelda

Is it a bad idea to go through that ritual of sleeping?

Anyway, sorry for the long post there, but just wanted to explain what I usually do (most of the time I do it in a half-hearted manner)

Linkzelda:

I can't see anything wrong with the ritual you outlined, and I see that you've already seen room for adjustment, time-wise. Ritual, and planning for ritual, is a good thing, because it sets your mind and body into a synchronous "mood" for dreaming, and that is always a good thing.

But no matter how many times you repeat your ritual, it always must matter as much as the very first time you did it! Half-hearted efforts are almost always wasted efforts, I think, especially with WILD. I may have mentioned this once or twice before but mental prep is the key to WILD and LD'ing, and entering your routine half-hearted will only yield half-hearted results. Try to stay focused, don't expect the techniques to do your work for you and, above all, only attempt WILD when you're fully ready for it!

I guess all I'm saying here is that WILD is not a half-hearted pursuit ... try to remember that.

I have the same problem everytime I WILD. I'm intimately familiar with relaxing and using a focus now (been practicing meditation) and from previous WIDL attempts I'm very familiar with the SP feelings, but I always hit a wall.

Last night I woke up about 4 hours in, (usually I wake up later, so i thought I'd give it a try at an early time.) I laid down and in about 5-10 minutes I was completely relaxed, and I remember distinctly feeling SP hit, and my whole body was very tingly-- my arms felt like I had been laying on them, they were tingling and buzzing so much.

I know that at this point you are supposed to let yourself fall to sleep, maintaining a minute level of awareness through a focus...for about 7 minutes each, I'd wager, I tried visualizing myself into a dream...then I tried simply focusing on my breathing...then I tried simply letting myself fall into sleep...

Nothing happened at all, I finally got out of bed and did a RC (just to make sure I had gone into a dream unnotice) and finally just stayed up, WBTB, and fell asleep some 15 minutes later. (I did have a DILD later in the night, so it wasn't a total waste).

This is usually the case for me-- I can deftly maneuver through the relaxation and Seep paralysis Stages, but then nothing ever happens. Any suggestions?

Originally Posted by Alucinor XIII

This is usually the case for me-- I can deftly maneuver through the relaxation and Seep paralysis Stages, but then nothing ever happens. Any suggestions?

Just one suggestion: Stop concerning yourself with deft maneuvering and start working on keeping your self-awareness at full steam throughout the dive. I have no idea where you learned of this "minute" awareness concept, but whoever told you that is dead wrong. You must be fully aware at all times. After all, it's not called SWILD, for "Sorta-Wake-initiated Lucid Dream, is it?

And for about the nineteenth time, SP is not a stage. It's just noise; try to ignore it.

Sorry if I came off a bit short here ... Sometimes I really hate the crap they feed you guys on these sites!

Originally Posted by Sageous

Just one suggestion: Stop concerning yourself with deft maneuvering and start working on keeping your self-awareness at full steam throughout the dive. I have no idea where you learned of this "minute" awareness concept, but whoever told you that is dead wrong. You must be fully aware at all times. After all, it's not called SWILD, for "Sorta-Wake-initiated Lucid Dream, is it?

And for about the nineteenth time, SP is not a stage. It's just noise; try to ignore it.

Sorry if I came off a bit short here ... Sometimes I really hate the crap they feed you guys on these sites!

Well, I always have the problem of just being caught for a half hour or longer being aware-- and I seem to go nowhere and am just wide awake, (as opposed to people falling asleep mid-WILD), so It made sense that I needed to do something less active, which is what I meant by minute-awareness.

And correct if I'm wrong, the whole point is to eventually fall asleep? (howelse do you begin dreaming?) Maintaining awareness all the while of course...

In short: I have no problem being aware. And my second point was that I AM comfortable with the whole SP thing (that is to say that it doesn't bother me anymore), as it regularly occurs for me. But nothing ever happens afterwards.

PS: I also understand you're reason for being short, I can't imagine how many times you've gone through explaining this stuff

So I had somewhat of an epiphany today. I think I've finally come to understand what you really mean by self in these techniques, although it's somewhat hard to describe. My main problem was that I was getting mixed up between what I can only describe as "body" self-awareness and "spiritual/mind/being" self-awareness, as I wasn't even really sure what this "spiritual/mind/being" self-awareness was until I took the time today and studied my previous successful DEILDs and how things felt during that process.

I could be completely off-base with this, but I'm going to give it a shot while trying to incite the feelings that I've experienced when I've DEILDed and see how I get on.

^^ That was a major step, RareCola -- nice work!!

Be sure to let us know how it goes!

I took a nap that was probably two hours ago, it was really just for practice with maintaining awareness. I set the alarm timer at 5-10 minute intervals, and the alarm duration itself would be 4 seconds or so when it triggers, so it wouldn't scare me too much.

It failed because someone woke me up to go to the gym, but either way, I'm getting A L O T better at lying in the supine position, and getting less of the swallow reflex. Most likely because after a few gulps, I'm free from it. It used to be such a big concern that I'd have to turn to my side.....hmmm, wonder what changed that. (And I don't even have to prop my pillow or anything)

I can't wait to try this out tonight! Good luck to everyone! I think I might shorten my WBTBs to 5-10 minutes, and type my dreams in notes, and just have faith I can remember them in good detail.

I think that might be a factor that prevents me from maintaining awareness mentally, because it takes too long to type a dj entry, which makes me too awake.

Not too sure what happened last night. I was attempting a WILD when all of a sudden a dream scene formed around me, although I wasn't sure if I had entered this lucidity or had just dozed off to sleep. The scene lasted maybe 5 seconds total so I didn't have time to get my bearings. I was in a classroom when a gust of wind blew into my face, knocking me backwards out of the chair I was sitting in and falling back into my waking life body.

Originally Posted by RareCola

Not too sure what happened last night. I was attempting a WILD when all of a sudden a dream scene formed around me, although I wasn't sure if I had entered this lucidity or had just dozed off to sleep. The scene lasted maybe 5 seconds total so I didn't have time to get my bearings. I was in a classroom when a gust of wind blew into my face, knocking me backwards out of the chair I was sitting in and falling back into my waking life body.

To tack onto this experience, I just recalled another experience last night. I remembered earlier that during my DEILD transitions I never really had any sign that I had transitioned into a dream, I would have to open my eyes and reality check to actually pick up that I was in a dream, as it faded through so seamlessly. I think this could be an issue I'm having with WILD, not noticing the transitions, as last night I opened my eyes very briefly at one point and saw some kind of figure next to my bed which looked like my Dad (which I guess could have been HH, but probably not as I never seem to experience hallucinations). I immediately closed my eyes and paid no attention to it though because for some reason I had something telling me that I had to keep my eyes closed to transition into a WILD.

Is it possible that I would not notice the transition at all with a WILD, like with my DEILD experiences? Would it be wise simply to open my eyes at certain points and perform a reality check just incase, or would that set me back too much if I wasn't inside of a dream?

Originally Posted by RareCola

To tack onto this experience, I just recalled another experience last night. I remembered earlier that during my DEILD transitions I never really had any sign that I had transitioned into a dream, I would have to open my eyes and reality check to actually pick up that I was in a dream, as it faded through so seamlessly. I think this could be an issue I'm having with WILD, not noticing the transitions, as last night I opened my eyes very briefly at one point and saw some kind of figure next to my bed which looked like my Dad (which I guess could have been HH, but probably not as I never seem to experience hallucinations). I immediately closed my eyes and paid no attention to it though because for some reason I had something telling me that I had to keep my eyes closed to transition into a WILD.

Good choice, and good instincts, I think! Oh, and did you, um, make sure later that no one was standing by your bed?

Is it possible that I would not notice the transition at all with a WILD, like with my DEILD experiences?

Certainly ... to me it's not only possible, but favorable.

Would it be wise simply to open my eyes at certain points and perform a reality check just in case, or would that set me back too much if I wasn't inside of a dream?

I wouldn't bother opening your eyes, for the reason you cite -- it could definitely set you back. And if you think about it, you do not open your eyes normally when doing RC's, so would it make sense to do so here? I don't think so; it seems like it would screw up the RC as well as the WILD...

Originally Posted by Sageous

Good choice, and good instincts, I think! Oh, and did you, um, make sure later that no one was standing by your bed?

Nobody was home at that time, so not possible that anyone could have been standing by my bed.

I wouldn't bother opening your eyes, for the reason you cite -- it could definitely set you back. And if you think about it, you do not open your eyes normally when doing RC's, so would it make sense to do so here? I don't think so; it seems like it would screw up the RC as well as the WILD...

So how would you go about realising that I've made the transition into a dream without opening your eyes? I've never been able to pick up on the fact that I'm dreaming after a DEILD unless I've opened my eyes, although I realise that WILDs are slightly more delicate.

Originally Posted by RareCola

Nobody was home at that time, so not possible that anyone could have been standing by my bed.

... Well there it is then!

So how would you go about realising that I've made the transition into a dream without opening your eyes? I've never been able to pick up on the fact that I'm dreaming after a DEILD unless I've opened my eyes, although I realise that WILDs are slightly more delicate.

I'm not sure I understand you, RareCola. Since in a dream you have no actual eyes to open, what are you opening?

For me, a dream will form, images and all, with no regard to whether my eyes are open or closed. With (successful) WILDs, including DEILDs, you are fully aware that the world into which you are emerging is a dream. What else could it be? The exception to this of course is a false awakening, especially with DEILD, but doesn't a FA imply that consciousness was lost and you're switching from WILD to DILD?

I think I'm saying too much, because I have a feeling I missed something obvious. Bottom line, I guess, is this: you should have no trouble knowing you made the transition to the dream without even considering your eyes. If you have eyes to open, and they do so, then I think you're either still awake, or in a FA .

Let me know what I missed!

I tried WILD this morning. Everytime I felt the noise coming on strong my heart would start racing. I knew that once I got over the hump it would all fall into place. But my excitement took away my momentum and I was back to square one. After what seemed like forever I decided to give up. I RCd just in case and looked at the clock it was only 30min. I did happen to have a couple DILDs and a Brief DEILD after that so not all was lost. My question is how do I over come the excitement? I know its just noise and not a stage or mile marker and I should ignore it but my DEILDs are always straight in SP. Which brings another question. Why are DEILDs so much easier for me? It's almost second nature. When I time it right of course.

I had a WILD this morning, set my alarm to 7am, stayed up for about 40 minutes and went back to bed
as i laid there i felt my body being sortof dragged off the bed, whenever i feel this sensation i usually "wake up" in my dream fully lucid.
and surely enough i did, it was crazy, hadnt felt something that vivid in a while and i god to meet my dream guide finally

Hey sageous, thanks for the reply. I have tryed to use skimas to change hypnogogia in the past with no success. I assume that this takes patients and practice which i can do easily enough. I will reread the particular session for more details again. Thanks for this great course!