Thread: DIELD without a previous dream?

Ezzo,
Have you read my reply? That's exactly what I said! Anyway, I agree with what you wrote...

cooleymd,
So essentially you agree that it's not necessary to have a dream prior to waking up?
It's called "dream exit" but maybe a more appropriate name should be "sleep exit" - because as long as you are in the process of waking up or just woke up, you can do a DEILD. Recalling the previous dream has nothing to do with it apart from making the visualization part easier...

EddieDean,
No - what you're describing is a DEILD of course, but this is only one of the possible situations in which it can be done. DEILD works in other situations too, as long as the following is true:
1. you are in the process of waking up or just woke up
2. you had enough sleep to likely fall into REM or a similar stage (anywhere from 4-8 hours can work, but the lower portion is better for DEILD because of increased sleepiness)
3. instead of doing a WBTB, you just relax and fall back asleep while imagining a scene (whatever comes into mind... if you had a dream before, it's likely to be on your mind)
That's it.

If by "fully waking up" you mean doing a WBTB / looking at screen / taking a bathroom break - then yes, a DEILD won't work, do some other sort of WILD (FILD, regular, visualization...).
But if by "fully waking up" you mean just simply waking up, there in no problem to do a DEILD... It is easier the less woken up you are, and very easy if you haven't even woken up (like from the void). But as long as you don't start to do other stuff (sitting up, looking at screens, etc.) you should still be able to DEILD.

(As Ezzo said, if the DEILD failed - wait for a bit and try another sort of WILD. Another note about DEILD - don't try to time yourself, you should feel when it takes too long.)

Edit: I just realized that Ezzo pointed out that you don't have to visualize a new scene either. That is true of course, like with any sort of WILD, but the whole point of visualizing is to get the dream that you desire. If you just want a random dream, you can essentially simply wait while maintaining awareness (e.g. using a mantra)...