Hello Dreamviews!
I used to be a huge poster on this site, but just for the purpose of this thread I'd like to post in my new account (Don't know why, just feels like a fresh start). I've been a lucid dreamer for about six years now, posting on this site every now and then, stopping when my hobbbies changed. I guess I can say I've gained a lot of experience through trial and error and can pretty much have an LD whenever I want to (although it's always hard at first when I come back from one of my "breaks"). The purpose of this post is to tell you guys about what I've learned in my six years. If anybody new to lucid dreaming is reading this, don't let the "six year" thing discourage you. It doesn't take that long to have LD's on a frequent basis. I started having random DILDS around a month after I found out about MILD and reality checks. For a short time after that I had them weekly, but they were mostly random and short and blurry. My main problem back then (and now), is that I never made much of an effort to maintain or deepen the dream. Make sure that's one thing you new guys don't ignore. I stopped going for lucids because I thought that even though I was lucid, the dreams weren't any different from regular dreams. They still felt like distant memories instead of something that felt palpable and real.
This morning was different though. I woke up a little early and for the first time in a long time I decided to WILD. So fast forward a little bit, and there I am laying down with virbrations coursing through my body. Usually after the vibrations are done I can never tell if I'm awake or dreaming, and I'm too afraid to move because I don't want to ruin anything. I could feel my eyelids are shut, and I think to myself, "I wish I could see."Next thing I know the roof materializes out of the darkness, even though I KNOW my eyes are shut (I can feel them). I get out of the bed, out the window, and into the courtyard where the sun is very bright and everything is clear. I stare at my hands and I can SEE them... every single line and curve and scar. I can feel the heat on my body, the ground under my feet. But most of all... I feel ME. I'm here. This is real. How could I ever doubt this? How could I ever say these were just regular, uninteresting dreams?
I woke up and smiled. And this is why I'm here today, writing this. Lucid dreams are beautiful and with practice, can be (one of) the most rewarding experiences a person can have. I'm not going to go in depth about DILDS, because you all know about them and have them occasionally. But at the same time this isn't a WILD guide. I wouldn't even presume to tell you guys what to do to have a WILD because they're so different for every single person and we all handle it differently. What I will do though, is give you guys advice and explain to you how WILDS work for me. Back when I first started I thought WILDs were IMPOSSIBLE. And I know some of you out there are just waking up and reading this and thinking the same thing. It wasn't until I unlearned every thing I THOUGHT I knew, and approached it from a different perspective that I started having success.
To put it simply (and if you've read Billy's thread and Mzzkc's thread, you already know this), you HAVE to fall asleep. There's no getting around this. I see a lot of threads where people are saying they need to swallow, or that they've been still for so long and they felt "tingling" and "numb". I think this is wrong. If you've stood still for 45 minutes and got a WILD out of it, then I assume that's what works for you, but if you're one of those guys who have been failing at WILD for the longest because you're trying to keep still and trying to hold back a swallow, then just stop right there. I've tried that. It doesn't work. You have to do what you always do to fall asleep, with a slight TWIST. Meaning you have to be sleepy enough to fall asleep, but also have something going on that keeps you attentive on a very TINY scale. Like Billy and Mzz, I call this an ANCHOR. The problem is that an anchor can be different for every person so I can't sit here and tell you to do this or to do that. The truth is that you need to experiment with this on your own and see what works.
Here's another thing I learned, I don't think in a WILD a person LITERALLY goes into the dream fully aware at first. There are going to be times when you dip into a dream and come back out. This is good. What happens for me is I go in and out until I come back OUT for the last time and feel vibrations, then hop back in fully aware. The ANCHOR is what helps me come back out. At this point you're probably wondering what my anchor is.
Sleeping on my back.
For me, it's that simple. On a normal night I'll sleep on my side, but when I want to WILD I'll just hop onto my back because it's uncomfortable for me, and just go to sleep from there. Since I'm on my back and not very comfortable, I go into a light sleep in which I come out of every now and then, which helps me notice the vibrations. Then when they pass I'm dreaming. That's it guys. That's what I've been doing for a while now. Those days of laying down and counting, of keeping a image in my head till it turns real, of listening for sounds are gone. Just find your anchor. Maybe for you it can be sleeping with a heavy sweater on, or sleeping naked, or sleeping with the radio on or the light on or with sneakers on. You have to experiment. You also have to remember that it takes time. It's hard but keep at it. You'll get there. If I was 16 and my future self visited me from 2013 and told me I'll learn how to WILD, I wouldn't believe him.
Also, if any of you haven't read Michael Raduga's "Ultimate Yoga", I urge you to do so. It's an E-book and I forgot where I got it from, but it was free. So that's it I suppose. When I first started writing I though it would be much cooler, and sound way better lol, but hey I'm trying to help! Bottom line is, don't stress yourself over this, work smarter not harder, and enjoy your lucids. Take care!!
\
