Thread: LDs for the average lifestyle

Ok. I haven't been active in LDs for a while, mainly because of my classes, activities, and overall busy lifestyle. It just is not realistic to wake up in the middle of the night and expect the next day to be bearable. I also don't want to have to sleep on the floor or sleep upside down or any of the crap. I want to be able to go to sleep when I want to, sleep in MY bed, and have LDs. So, I've been working on LDing techniques that don't take up all my time or leave me exhausted, because I, like i am sure almost all of you, have a life.

SO, that leaves me with my first choice. DILD, or WILD? well, since DILDs almost never work with me, i chose WILD. I do it every day as I go to sleep, and I've made some serious progress. And it is fairly easy. Sure, you need to go to bed about 20 minutes earlier than usual, but that is totally doable. And WILDS, if done correctly, give you way more chances of LDing than DILD. So here is what I've been doing, and what has been working for me.

1)I Prepare for bed like I usually do, just 20 minutes earlier
2)I go to bed (i don't do stretches or yoga, I just lay down)
3) I Just lay in bed for a couple of minutes. I Don't worry about LDing, this is just me telling my body to prepare for sleep
4)I get in a sleep position, and I close my eyes. I focus on my breathing (which used to be hard for me, because when I thought too hard about my breathing, it would become irregular and I would hyper ventillate.)
5) Again, I would just lay there, waiting patiently, until I felt my mind drift as it would before falling asleep (this sometimes means hypnogogic imagery, or sometimes just a random train of thought). As soon as that happened, I would start the actual concentrating part of the WILD
....After many attempts, I started to notice some things. First, I noticed that, when I close my eyes and prepare for regular sleep, I can feel my eyes go up and into my head, and I can feel myself (my focus, consciousness, whatever you want to call it) in a part of my mind that feels like it is near the top front of my head. So, I figured, this is where my consciousness needs to be when I'm trying to WILD. This may be different for some people, but I believe the location is essential for any who are attempting to WILD......
6) Next, I try and stay as relaxed and calm as possible, with my thoughts occuring in the spot of my mind that I mentioned earlier. I try to keep my mind "loose" enough to let random thoughts and HI come in, but I do not let my mind wander off with them. To me, this means not concentrating too hard or letting myself be too conscious. A great way for me to do this is imagining a single point of light in that spot of my mind. If my consciousness starts to slip, then the point of light would dissapear, alerting me back to consciousness.
7) Lastly, I would just try and do step 6 for as long as possible. For me, the reason I failed my WILDs before this technique was that I was giving up too early. I kept thinking that my body was too tense, and that I was way too conscious for the WILD to ever work. It was hard for me to stay still that long, and I would give in to an itch or cramp. I still have those problems now, but I just push through it anyways. Whenever I start focusing on my body, I just pull my focus back to that one spot in my mind.
8) Next comes the transition from conscious awake to conscious asleep, which is hardest for me. My method for this is maintaining the point of light and hoping it transfers into the hypnagogic imagery and then the dream, but it doesn't always work out. This is the part of the WILD that I am working on improving and wouldn't mind some advice on.

And that is my technique. Feel free to comment or ask questions. I know it doesn't make that much sense, but it really is hard to explain to someone else what you yourself get but cannot really put into words. Feel free to ask for clarification on anything, or to give any advice.

My last point: don't freak out if you don't feel sleep paralysis, hear voices, or see bright lights. I never have, and it used to make me think WILDing just was not for me. But, as it turns out, you don't need those things to WILD