SSILD question

[madmagus]

I'm very new to using SSILD, but the technique seems effective. The visuals quite quickly become very 3D. With the current form, you have visual, auditory, and tactile input. If we were to add olfactory and gustatory so as to include all the main senses, would it be even more so? Or are those additions, do you think, overkill and just muddy the waters? thanks for responses

[ezzolucid]

Its overkill to add more senses in (including taste and smell) and heres why. As you have discovered when doing SSILD it is very quick to take hold and produces lapses in consciousness sometimes from the very first cycle. To add other senses in then you may not get through the 'required' 4 cycles before falling asleep. I find that seeing, hearing & touch are powerful enough to bring into the dream state Although SSILD is unknown why it works, i believe it is due to becoming aware of those senses and so when dreaming you are more aware of the dreamstate hence increasing the chance of spotting oddities and becoming lucid However, there is room for manipulation during SSILD as you can add in other techniques. During the 'hearing' step I like to say a MILD affirmation 'I become aware in my dreams' or during the 'seeing' step you could visualize a dream scene for a few seconds. Remeber though that SSILD should be done really dumblike - the trick is to fall asleep during the cycles or soon after it - and watch out for those false awakenings! Ezzo

[madmagus]

By adding MILD and a self-induced dream scene, are you not injecting too much active thought into the SSILD. As you stated, SSILD should be done from a dumb-like state? And I appreciate your point on adding other senses. I believe that SSILD works because you are putting yourself into a meditative awareness state, where you are taking particular notice of your personal input, and thus you are going to be more aware of yourself in a dream state as well. So, a very similar point to what you made. Thanks for the response.