Anchor help

So, I'v been trying to use a couple of WILDing methods (kingyoshi's, Billybob's breathing and third eye) They all don't work for me because I can't clear my mind and wait/focus on breathing, and i'm pretty bad at passive awareness but I can probably work on that. So I recently read about these so called external/pain anchors. It seems these would work well on me because I can just go to sleep. But I have some questions (obviously) The first is what I should use? I don't really know how noticeable/painful it should be. The next is what I should do when I'm using the anchor. Should I just have it or should I be thinking about it directly?
thanks.

some1?

From what I know about anchors you do not want to be thinking about them too directly, just use them to pull you into consciousness before you pass out. As for how painful, just remember you're going to have to go through a dream with that pain so don't make it too bad (sometimes things don't hurt as bad when unconscious, but I'm not sure about this as I haven't really used this anchor). I don't know what you should use for the anchor, but a dull pain is preferable to a sharp one, maybe try a weird position with your legs or something? If you do that don't cut off circulation.

Anchors are kind of unintuitive. The idea behind them is that you focus on something and eventually you'll wind up in a dream.
The reality though is that its a little bit more complex and subtle.

When you're using an anchor what you're really doing is creating a task that you will repeatedly come back to over and over during your journey into sleep. See, falling asleep is really a type of descent into madness. You're slowly letting go of the real world and giving in to the irrational and silly ideas of your brain. As you're falling asleep you'll experience this as a type of runaway daydream that comes alive and takes control of itself (you don't normally remember this because as its happening you've also shut down the part of your brain that creates new memories).

When you have an anchor what you're doing is repeatedly coming back to your intentional task every so often - which wakes up the part of your brain that is normally turned off during this period. At the same time though you are continuously falling down into the normal delusional disconnected state that you go through nightly.
Eventually - if you've slept prior so your normal dream cycle will kick in - during one of these periods of unconsciousness a dream will start; then as you 'wake back up' to focus on your task, you'll have come to in a dream.


So you see the anchor you use is irrelevant as long as you can fall asleep normally while exposed to it.
If you're having trouble focusing don't worry - that's what everyone goes through and is why WILD is so hard. If you really want to make progress then think about practicing your anchor is a relaxed setting during the day. Experiment and see how you can improve it so that it'll be easier for you to focus on (ex. for the counting anchor, focus simultaneously on your counting and your breathing and seeing each number in your mind's eye). Generally the more you're using your brainpower the easier it'll be to stay focused for a beginner like yourself.


Hope it helped.

so lets say i have a like closepin on my nose (just a example), would I consciously be like "closepin on my nose, closepin on my nose, closepin on my nose) or would I just got to sleep and let my subconscious do the 'thinking"
thanks for the posts btw =)

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Originally Posted by Idionym

so lets say i have a like closepin on my nose (just a example), would I consciously be like "closepin on my nose, closepin on my nose, closepin on my nose) or would I just got to sleep and let my subconscious do the 'thinking"
thanks for the posts btw =)

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You wouldn't say words in your head, you'd just notice it.

For example, take a moment and notice whatever you're sitting/laying on. Its like you do that for the clothespin, but continuously/over and over while you're falling asleep.

Probably don't want to use something like a clothespin that would cause extreme pain.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BillyBob

Probably don't want to use something like a clothespin that would cause extreme pain.

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Lol you can say that again.
So basically every once in awhile I just say "oh, theres the _____"?
sorry for so many questions, I just really want to get an LD XD

Well, you want to try to notice it 100% of the time. While you're doing it though you'll occasionally find that you accidentally quit noticing it. When that happens, just go back to noticing it like you were before (if you were counting instead of doing the pain anchor you'll find you've stopped counting).
Don't beat yourself up about failing to continuously notice it, but realize that that's what you're shooting for and keep going back to it. You don't have to do it perfectly, you just have to keep doing it.