Unorthodox Method (Am I the only one who does this)

[MidnightLight]

Hi, infrequent lurker here. I am able to get lucid dreams frequently if I am trying through DILD, but I also have sort of an unorthodox method for getting DEILD/WILD dreams. Basically, when I was a kid I would get nightmares a lot, to the point where I was afraid of falling asleep, and through that I learned to recognize the moment just as I was falling asleep. Generally I would accept that I cant wake up and allow myself to fall into a dream, but after learning about WILD and lucid dreaming techniques I realize when I am in that stage, if I maintain lucidity, I will enter Sleep Paralysis and potentially a lucid dream. So, with some practice I was able to enter a lucid dream from being awake just by starting to doze off, recognizing when my body goes limp, and riding out the sleep paralysis into a dream. This has worked just as I fall asleep, during "WBTB" , and what I would call DEILD, which is when I exit a non lucid dream, another time when I can recognize the onset of the sleep paralysis state, and gain lucidity. This seems to be quite different from the normal WILD because I have never actually experience, or tried to experience a hypnogogia stage, rather I fall asleep normally and stop myself right at the onset of the sleep paralysis stage. Does anyone else do it like this, is what I am doing even considered a WILD? For the record I am still working on dream control and I have had some succeses and failures. My main problem, which I know is the major problem with this method, is I dont know when I will have the dream, and so I am often unprepared and can lose focus. Perhaps I can learn how to control it better though or apply my skills to the usual WILD method.

[dolphin]

This is considered a WILD technique. You are not the only one who does this. This technique is in Stephen LaBerge's book "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming". He calls it the "The One Body technique". You don't need to experience rem atonia or the hypnagogic stage to have a WILD. You just need to maintain your self awareness during through the transition from waking to dreaming.

[Valis1]

This method is reasonable and as dolphin said pretty common. "My main problem, which I know is the major problem with this method, is I dont know when I will have the dream, and so I am often unprepared and can lose focus. Perhaps I can learn how to control it better though or apply my skills to the usual WILD method." I do not in theory have a problem with the more passive forms of the WILD method, for some they tend to work well. I have in my personal experience had more luck with more active methods using both the tactile and visual imagination. Examples of this are the rope, latter, steam, floating, etc methods. What they all have in common is they all use the imagination to create a point of reference outside and apart from the physical body. These methods if done with enough concentration, for a sufficient amount of time initiate what has been called the "projection reflex" by those of the AP persuasion. What I have noticed in relation to your problem is that these active methods tend to keep the self-aware mind more alert and speeds up the rate at which the dream starts, which is helpful in two ways. A note on your eventual lapse in awareness. I would suggest that you look into some form of meditation, like Zazen, Zhine, mindfulness, etc. These practices actually renovate, strengthen, and complexify the neurological foundations of awareness, concentration, and memory, all of which are very important for Lucid dreaming. Interesting enough I have been doing a new method which I have since named 'the Dolphin'. This is as it sounds. One vividly imagines oneself streaming quickly through the water, jumping into the air, and then coming down into the water, one does this over and over. I have noticed that this method has many beneficial qualities, such as water is very easy to visualise, and gives a strong texture in relation to the tactile modality. This changing of texture, the organic swaying of the body, the movements up and down, and the sense of a changing thickness of atmosphere between the air and the water make it one of the best techniques I have used.