WILD & Light Sleep

[ezzolucid]

So last night I decided to WILD, ive done many before and been succesfull so after a 6 hour snooze with a few mins wbtb I was all ready to go. As I lay there I brought my attention to my breathing and said a few mantras, endulged in some hypnogogic imagery etc. About 40 mins later the usual vibrations arrived along with loud noises and I found I was looking at my room - i got up and was lucid - standard stuff My question is this. From beginning the wild to the transition was 40 mins which meant that as my rem was 40 mins away there was a lengthy period on Nrem2 ( light sleep ) The whole time I was wild'ing I felt fully awake and aware of my surroundings, in fact it was frustrating thinking I couldnt get to sleep but I must have been meditating in light sleep Is this correct? Does meditating through light sleep (Nrem1) feel the same as being awake - whats your experiences in the 'gap' between going back to bed and hitting REM? Thanks guys

[TravisE]

To tell the truth, I have no idea (at this point, at least) how to distinguish for sure between sleep stages without special equipment. Conscious NREM to me usually takes on one of the following forms: - A sort of underwater/“rumbling” sound in my ears (which seems to be the lightest stage) - A more quiet/muted state (apparently a bit deeper), but one that's still noticeably different from merely lying awake in bed - Deep/delta NREM, which is a different experience altogether Any of these can be accompanied with HH or random thoughts/dreamlets (or even NREM dreams). For me personally, it's usually pretty clear whether I'm in conscious/lucid sleep vs. lying awake, but I've heard others give different experiences including those in which lying awake vs. being asleep is hard to tell apart. I therefore get the impression that this is something that's likely to be totally different for everybody. The advice I usually hear, though, regarding WILD attempts is that it's best to try not to worry about whether you're asleep or what stage you're in but just try to be patient and stay focused on the upcoming dream, which should (eventually) arrive.

[ezzolucid]

To tell the truth, I have no idea (at this point, at least) how to distinguish for sure between sleep stages without special equipment. Conscious NREM to me usually takes on one of the following forms: - A sort of underwater/“rumbling” sound in my ears (which seems to be the lightest stage) - A more quiet/muted state (apparently a bit deeper), but one that's still noticeably different from merely lying awake in bed - Deep/delta NREM, which is a different experience altogether Any of these can be accompanied with HH or random thoughts/dreamlets (or even NREM dreams). For me personally, it's usually pretty clear whether I'm in conscious/lucid sleep vs. lying awake, but I've heard others give different experiences including those in which lying awake vs. being asleep is hard to tell apart. I therefore get the impression that this is something that's likely to be totally different for everybody. The advice I usually hear, though, regarding WILD attempts is that it's best to try not to worry about whether you're asleep or what stage you're in but just try to be patient and stay focused on the upcoming dream, which should (eventually) arrive. Thanks Travis - I guess the point I was trying to make is that when performing a WILD, most of the time there will be some Nrem to navigate through before REM is available. This means that whilst we are lying there trying to attain awareness we will in most cases actually be asleep (light sleep) but actuall think we are still awake unable to sleep. Your advice is spot on - dont worry if youre awake or in light sleep, simply keep the awareness going as if you are in light sleep then the REM will eventually chug along and when it does your will 'dive' into the madness that is transitioning. Ezzo