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    Thread: PseudoWILDs

    1. #1
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      PseudoWILDs

      I can’t do the traditional WILD with keeping the awareness during the whole process. I either can’t fall asleep or can’t do the transition. The way how I am able to “WILD” is by setting an intent to notice that I am dreaming later, when the dream starts (or to notice the end of the transition). Although it sounds a little bit MILDish, I still do it as WILD, but the anchor keeping me connected with the real world is as subtle as it can be.

      Today, I was unable to sleep, tired after several hours of low quality sleep (including a string of FAs, with one very low quality lucid), I decide to get up but I feel groggy, so I just put a big cushion under my head and close my eyes again, thinking that I could try to WILD or just closed my eyes and watch HI/dreamlets for a while.
      My mind wanders, I daydream a bit and watch HIs and dreamlets and minidreams and my daydreaming mixes with it. It’s all unstable, going from thought to thought, from image to image. I interact with it through my daydreaming. I am keeping my consciousness but I would say I lost “situational awareness”.
      At some point, there was some music and I said to myself, that this music is in my head and not outside, so I can try “listening in” (I read something Raduga-related the day before but only briefly). I was able to make the music louder and I started to see outlines of a room through my eyes (a different room than my real room). It worked! I also tried some phantom movements. But it receded slightly and I felt myself in a bed again (a different bed than my real bed, this was a dream bed). I focused on the music again and it again worked but my vision was still bad and I had an idea to open my dream eyes, I did it and it worked. Then I slowly tried to get up, worried about moving in reality, but at that point, I realized it is more stable than I thought and simply got up, I was lucid and standing in the room. Then I had a short LD.
      After waking up from this at first, I thought I WILDed but then I realized, that I actually did the whole "transition" while I was already dreaming. And that what I thought was a HI/dreamlet was actually a dream. Maybe an unstable and just formed dream, but a dream. The whole experience took between 20 and 25 minutes.

      We have these definitions:
      WILD - going directly to the dream, staying conscious for the whole time
      DILD - realizing “I am dreaming” after a period of unconscious sleep or in the middle of the dream

      I see the possibility of something in-between (getting to the dream after a period of semiconscious, confused, HI-drunk state). It’s like setting for yourself a path of breadcrumbs and then following the path. Never losing the path but somewhat forgetting what I am doing and what the breadcrumbs mean, just knowing that there is something good at the end of the path.

      A similar in-between technique for me is VILD. It can have these outcomes for me:
      a) I slip into a semi-lucid dream, I think I am still daydreaming but I am in fact dreaming.
      b) At some point, I realize “I am not visualizing this” or “this is not a daydream anymore” and get lucid.
      c) I slip into unconscious NREM sleep but then the moment I start to dream, I notice that I am dreaming (“wait, I am not visualizing this”).
      d) I have a DILD later, although it usually isn’t “I am dreaming, this is not real” realization but more like “I am doing something conscious and that what I am doing is dreaming”. Like noticing that something is happening, not questioning reality.

      I see c) and d) as clear DILDs. a) is basically a failure but can be good fun and is only a small step from turning into b). b) is the in-between situation or following breadcrumbs. I daydream with the intention to notice when the daydream changes into a real dream and this eventually happens (although it can take me a while to notice).

      What do you think? Are these all DILDs? Can a clear-cut line be drawn to separate WILDs and DILDs (MILD-like, achieved through autosuggestion)? Where do you draw the line? Or is there a grey spectrum between these?

    2. #2
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      Your issues seem remarkably similar to mine in some respect. I too rarely seem to pull off a 'classic' or 'textbook' WILD. I also recognise the nuances in the transition stages you mention, including the visualisation, the dreamlets and the mini-dreams.

      For example post-WBTB I tried to drop off to sleep normally. At first, I remember consiously visualising on purpose (initially in my minds eye) a route (aka "breadcrumbs") to take ouside my house and onto my street. The visualisation (without me being 'aware' after) formed a dreamlet/dream of myself walking out into the street from my house. However I then noticed an incongruous object appear (like the shape of a car) on the footpath. I noticed it (as not part of my visualisation) and this jolted me out of the dream and back to 'reality' in bed. If I have correctly understood, this sound similar to your VWILD attempts?

      Ironically though I had a DILD this same morning, post-WBTB.

      Back to your classification.
      In my dream journal I sometimes add a question mark after entering it as a WILD. This is due to the odd (long) transition state itself at the start. Sometimes I feel that the transition is a 'dream', akin to an FA perhaps? (E.g. Where does it end/start?) I feel there is an element of subjectivity (regarding WILD) where everybody's experience differs to some degree. (My opinion/hypothesis).

      As a side note, I often find on morning reflection I notice a dream event is often a series of dream scenarios rather than seperate dreams as such. (WBTB/awakenings aside).

      I think if your visualisation gives you DILDs after then that is good. That's how I look at it with my practice. I guess we should not get bogged down with what happens during transition as long as we get some result and we learn from it.

      To paraphrase, () I don't think the "noise" (HI, hallucinations, et al) is that important in regard to WILD - they are merely "signposts" to the eventual desired goal. Ironically in order to WILD a person needs to technically fall asleep.

      In answer to your question I would say (from experience) that (c) and (d) are probably DILD.
      With (a) and (b) I'm not sure? In fact they sound like what I get (see above). I have to judge mine case by case. I will sit on the fence with the former two, although if I'm pushed (a) to me does sound like (V)WILD as such.

      No doubt there will be people who WILD on a more regular basis could chime in and answer better than me.
      Last edited by Highlander; 04-08-2021 at 05:15 PM.
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    3. #3
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      My problem with the traditional WILD is falling asleep. It is my problem for any technique after a WBTB. Often even for something as small as setting an intention. Insomnia (the fake one usually - the sleep state misperception) is my worst enemy. I am learning to know it and to manage it but I think it is a part of me and finding my ways around it may be better than trying to push through.
      The other problem is the transition. Hypnagogia is easy. But going in and out of hypnagogia for an hour and a half with nothing more happening is frustrating (that's my record). When I feel that I am close, the anticipation begins to be too much, waking me up. The big downside is that it trains my brain to look for the signposts (and really, I am from the no signposts/ignoring the noise school, I just can't do it) and I can't sleep for the rest of the night, sometimes the night after that too, because I notice when I get very close to sleep. It really messes up with my sleep.
      Because of this, I sometimes "wake up" into the vibrations, without even trying/wanting to WILD. I often have a dream body afterwards, sometimes I can move it a bit, but it is too unstable and I never manage to enter a dream. It always collapses very quickly. The best I was able to do was this - I was standing in our garden door and I sat down on a step there because I knew I had to transition slowly. And then I was thinking "What am I doing, I am already out of my bedroom" and then it collapsed and I was back in my bed.
      I don't try it on purpose anymore, not after a WBTB, because I don't want to pay a day or two of insomnia for being able to move my dream body legs. I think with another 10 or 20 attempts, I would find my way through it but at the moment, I don't want to.

      V-WILD is a way for me how to bypass all this. But I still feel like I have to trade off some self-awareness for being able to fall asleep and to get the visualization going. So I start with a completely conscious and controlled visualization (location in detail, senses) and then I let go off a bit and move to more daydreaming mode, letting my subconscious do the most of the work while being a sort of manager, steering it where I want. I like to interact with the imagined plot and talk to DCs - this really gets it going but the risk of losing all self-awareness is high. It is important not to analyze it or question it too early - when the subconscious does something but not everything, like the object on your footpath - it is not yet stable at that point. Better to question it 5 minutes into the dream than too soon. Or lost the self-awareness completely and regain it later. This makes it different from a fully conscious transition - it is not only almost impossible to tell where the daydream ends and the real dream starts, it is better not to even try to tell.

      At the moment, I like to try 7 hours into my sleep to get the insomnia anxiety out of the way. I can be much relaxed when I am already rested and not too anxious to fall asleep.

      No matter what it was, I am happy about that “WILD” I described in the first half of my first post. That one was without visualization but with strong intention to notice when the dream starts and the self-awareness checking in and letting go again every minute or two. I think it is more WILD than DILD when done this way, although it doesn’t fit the textbook definition.
      It happened in a bonus sleep time, in the “snooze time”. I wake up, perfectly rested, but it’s still easy to go back to sleep almost instantly. I will certainly try to experiment with this timing more, it is risk free and I think it could work for me.
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    4. #4
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      I know what you mean with the traditonal WILD and the sleep issue. I normally always deviate from my anchor and I cannot rest on my back, or the itching starts, etc. I've tried on my sides but I lose awareness and sleep too well normally.

      It may be a case of you having to go through your dream journal/recordings and noting down what seemed to work and what didn't on that particular attempt/night. We often overlook certain things. I know I do. Reflecting on your past experiences may help in this regard. E.g. You may come across a particular pattern or routine; even a counterproductive one perhaps. With me I seemed to notice that I had more of a chance if I was really tired. I also noted that I was poor at initiating WILDS, but I started to have spontaneously more DEILD opportunites instead, yet I did not plan this beforehand.

      There may be things you can do to help your progress in waking life too. (I'm aware you may have already tried all these, but I will mention them anyhow.) You could try a pre-meditation exercise or some form of relaxation routine? Try a shorter WBTB if you cannot sleep after? Maybe try your WILD experiments when you know you don't have a big day ahead like a weekend. Then you might have nothing to lose in trying.

      Like you, I must admit I would be frustrated at spending nearly 90 minutes just drifing in and out, seemingly going nowhere. I've probably been worse where I just lie there, seemingly wasting precious sleep time. Often I gave up rather than force it. The insomnia - anxiety cycle can be hard to break. However you have to remember though sometimes during your attempt that you may find yourself nearly there with little or no noise, especially if you 'see' a bedroom/bed scene, etc. E.g. when you had the vibrations, etc. Often I've just rolled to the right in the hope it is my dreambody, rather than my sleeping one. (Yes I did get that worry am I 'asleep'/dreaming, including the thought I might be falling out of bed or sleepwalking instead.)

      If you have found that V-WILD is a better option for you than conventional WILD then that is great. (One thing I tried was going through my daytime route around my house or outside. (I even looked at Google street maps to improve my mental route making, etc. Apart from visualisation though you will find trying to invoke the other senses helps enourmously too.) I think through experience you will find a path that works for you without sacrificing too much sleep.

      Good luck.
      Last edited by Highlander; 04-13-2021 at 07:59 PM.
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    5. #5
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      Thank you for your advice.
      Yes, I am making notes and getting to know myself and my sleep better. Sometimes it's like every day surprises me. Yesterday I tried VILD again and failed, today I was too lazy, kept self-awareness for 10 minutes to see if I am in the mood for WILD, was too lazy for that too, so I simply told myself "if I see something, it's a dream" as a catch-all for both WILD transition and DILDs and got two DILDs out of it, which almost shocked me because I gave some time to textbook MILD (mantras, imagining getting lucid) before and it did nothing for me.
      I think for both WILDs and DILDs, the answer for me is simply being relaxed about it, not trying too hard. And the same for DEILD, it's like I can't do it when I really want to and then I do it almost by accident when I don't care.
      Which means it all should get much better and easier the more I get used to it. I like that idea.
      I already do tiny WBTBs (natural awakenings only, sometimes bathroom break) and I work from home and can sleep as much as I want. So it's really all in my head and I also need to get more relaxed about it.

    6. #6
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      A weird thing happened to me today.

      I had a plan to do WILD at a specific time but no alarm set for it. I woke up some time before, tried to sleep again, had some troubles falling asleep and can't say how much I slept or when I fall asleep.
      At one moment, I was dreaming and I felt some back pain and decided it is a good time to change position, take another pillow and try to WILD.
      Yes, I was dreaming! It was a light dream (not too vivid or immersive) but it was a dream, not HH or HI or a dreamlet, it was going for at least two minutes and had a plot and everything. It was like a part of my consciousness was watching the dream and another small part of my consciousness was compartmentalized aside and thinking about the WILD, without noticing the dream.
      The moment I moved and reached for the pillow, it all connected and I was like WTF I've just done.

      It was like when you can count or meditate but still think about something else on the side. Or like (mental) multitasking. I don't know if this is normal, sort of normal (related to my sleep state misperception or ADHD), a superskill or a beginning of a mental illness.
      I think it's related to how I got lucid in some of my LDs - not being prelucid in the dream and questioning it from the "inside" but realizing "i am dreaming" from the "outside".
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    7. #7
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      I managed to fail a WILD in a completely new way today.
      It went well, I was falling asleep quickly in a very natural way, changing position when I wanted to, listening to rain outside. I got through the transition semi-lucidly, there was a sort of dream but a very light dream, it felt like being there a little bit while still being in reality, I still could feel my body ad hear the rain, it felt more like visual thinking than a dream. So I waited a little bit longer and gradually lost the bits of lucidity I had. It evolved in a dream of me trying to WILD in my childhood home, without me noticing the change.
      I remember the whole experience relatively well, there was no blackout, I was conscious the whole time. But the parts of the brain needed for being lucid and for analytical thinking simply gave up.
      The transition from the light imagery to the dream was completely seamless. The transition of the story from WILDing in my bed to WILDing in my childhood house was also completely smooth. Like the "boiling a frog" metaphor.
      This is frustrating but much better than failing by not being able to fall asleep. I just need to get the balance right. The only problem with my WILD attempts is that no matter how many times I try, every time it's different.
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    8. #8
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      Quote Originally Posted by IndigoRose View Post
      The transition from the light imagery to the dream was completely seamless. The transition of the story from WILDing in my bed to WILDing in my childhood house was also completely smooth. Like the "boiling a frog" metaphor.
      This is frustrating but much better than failing by not being able to fall asleep. I just need to get the balance right. The only problem with my WILD attempts is that no matter how many times I try, every time it's different.
      I think the "boiling a frog" metaphor is exactly right. Often when I visualise (post-wbtb) I can 'seed' a dreamscape or scene in my head fairly easily (via guided visualisation). However the dream sort of takes over by placing something unexpected in my scenery. I then get startled into consciousness. Its just like dropping the frog in the hot water, rather than gradually warming up.

      In your case I would say try not to force it. It sounds like you are on the right path. And as you rightly point out every WILD scenario is different.
      Last edited by Highlander; 06-14-2021 at 08:25 PM.
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    9. #9
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      I haven't done many WILD attempts recently because I've had problems with back pain (now getting better). So only some random experiences.

      A month ago, after waking up, I cuddled with my husband and closed my eyes again. I was able to pinpoint the moment just before falling asleep and I "grabbed" a random thought and turned it into a daydream, which very quickly turned into a dream. Unfortunately, I woke up very quickly, it was like 20 seconds daydream and 20 seconds dream but after waking up, I was able to tell exactly when it changed - entering a room/changing location did the trick.

      Three days ago, I was half-awake, half-asleep, or semi-conscious in light NREM sleep. I saw a dream forming, just like that, a patchy low-quality scene, filling only part of my field of vision, but it was dreamy in character, not HI or anything else. Acknowledging it as a dream collapsed it but it appeared again and I tried to touch something in the scene or grab some item and it almost worked stabilizing it but then it collapsed again. I tried just being patient and the scene appeared again, this time filling most of my vision (except the corners) but I could still feel my real body and wasn't able to stabilize it.
      I was thinking that I could be dreaming it and considered doing a RC but I was feeling that I could do it IRL with my real body or in the dream with my dream body, with two different results. I just knew I was partially in both worlds. But it all got me too mentally awake and I was quickly losing it. So I gave up and rolled to the other side and slept for a while without any dreams.
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    10. #10
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      From your report it sounds like you have a good working knowledge on what you are trying to acheive. The trouble is quite often (especially in my case) it is though each attempt is different. Generally what works for me one day often won't work the next time. Also our bodies work on cycles which can throw another spanner in the works. E.g. take WBTB for instance. We get up to partially wake ourselves up by taking a quick trip to the bathroom before retiring to bed again. We then 'expect' to drop off (sleep) again as quickly as possible. Except this often does not happen because we are now out of sync. It is though we expect REM periods to be like London buses.

      The NREM is another case in point though. Also there is a very fine line in certain visualisation schemata and hypnagogic/hypnopompic sensations. However it seems to me that you have a good to high level of awareness on noticing your cross-over points from such abstract sensations into more concrete dreams. This is quite an enviable skill.

      Yesterday morning I had a 'slight' hangover, inc. headache, et al. I rested on my back in bed, although I did not feel nauseous as such. I did notice how easy it was to drift in and out of strong (N)REM from consciousness/wakefulness. It is well known that alcohol delays REM onset which would probably explain this. However I do not advocate this method due to the often unwanted side effects, etc.

      In summing up, I think the key is regular practice coupled with some form of relaxation exercise. It is important though (as I said previously) not to force things, nor over expect.

      Also one thing I would like to try personally is some form of role-reversal exercise relating to sleeping and daily life whilst awake. E.g. Often I visualise myself walking around my house, or outside after WBTB (in bed). I would like to try this in real life where I imagine myself lying asleep in bed (visualising or dreaming) when I am actually physically in my house or outside.
      Last edited by Highlander; 06-19-2021 at 11:16 AM. Reason: Grammar and spelling
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    11. #11
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      I think there’s a fine line between a WILD and a DILD and in the end I suppose it doesn’t matter which you class it as as long as you’re becoming lucid after a short period of time after the dream begins.

      From my own experience WILDs seem to occur in two different ways. The kind where “dreamlets” appear and disappear which you describe I usually find these lead to the dream starting without my knowledge. I quickly realise I have entered the dream afterwards but I don’t notice the transition. These are the hardest to classify as you cross that fine line and it could have been a WILD or a quick DILD but it’s hard to tell for sure which category it truly lands in. I tend to lean towards calling these DILDs only because I can never be sure if I kept full awareness the whole time.

      The second type of WILD I have experienced is where you go straight from laying in bed through some strong auditory and vibrating hypnagogia (The Noise) and feel as if you’re been sucked directly into the dream through a portal of some kind. The dream then forms around you and I usually have reduced visibility at first. This is what I believe is the more “traditional” definition of a WILD experience but both are valid.

      That’s just my own experience though. As mentioned every WILD is different and I’m sure it varies greatly from person to person.

      We went into great depth in this thread about achieving WILDs if you’re interested. Got some great advice from fellow members and it lead to my first two successful WILDs (the second kind I described).

      https://www.dreamviews.com/attaining...wild-help.html
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      Thanks for your valued input Tiktaalik.

      From your descriptors I can recognise exactly what you mean; even if I take account of the individual subjective nature for these events. I can totally relate to the former experiences that you describe which are quite common with my practice. However I find the latter events to be more rarer in my case.

      Even so, I totally concur with what you say.

      BTW I have made a note of the link so I can read (and hopefully learn more from) at my leisure. So thanks again for that.
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      Quote Originally Posted by Highlander View Post
      However I find the latter events to be more rarer in my case.
      Even so, I totally concur with what you say.
      BTW I have made a note of the link so I can read (and hopefully learn more from) at my leisure. So thanks again for that.
      Yeah the latter experiences are rare for me too. It wasn’t until I started that thread and got some helpful tips that I achieved my first. There’s so many routes to achieving a WILD and I think everyone has to experiment to see what works for them.
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    14. #14
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      I had a WILD today. At least, this time, I believe it was a WILD. Although it seemed a little bit too perfect.
      Also, it was obviously inspired by Highlander's (being naked outside) and Tiktaalik's (WILD experiences) dreams.
      Here is a link to the DJ entry.

      A couple of random thoughts and responses to the previous posts:

      Highlander's Naked jogging
      Your recent dream sounds like a WILD to me. Although there's always this "have I dreamt the transition" hesitation, isn't it? In the end, we have to go by our feeling about it, I think. My dream wasn't too different.

      Being aware of the transition
      I feel it is somewhat unfair how we define WILD. Two examples:
      Adam tries to have a WILD. There are lapses in consciousness but as the hypnagogia intensifies, he gets aware just before the vibrations and transitions from there. WILD.
      Eve tries too. Shee keeps the awareness through the whole process for almost an hour but then falls asleep unconsciously just before the transition and "wakes up", immediately lucid, as the dream forms around her. DILD. Although she blacked out for the transition only and the lucidity in no way can be called dream induced because she was lucid from the beginning, not reacting to something in the dream.
      The problem with lapses in consciousness is that they are hard to notice.
      On Sunday, I attempted a WILD and I lost it to falling asleep. When I woke up/regained awareness, I would swear that I was awake/aware the whole time. But I remembered a non-lucid dream. I don't remember entering the dream, waking up from it, not even feeling present in that dream, but I had that dream during that time.
      On Monday, I was doing something MILD-ish and the same thing happened. Twice. I had the feeling that I haven't slept at all but obviously, I had.
      Fake insomnia works like that - I fall asleep with the last thought "I can't sleep, I am still awake" and I wake up 30 minutes later with the same thought and don't notice the gap. (Although recently, I've been sleeping like a baby, falling asleep very quickly... basically what worked for me doesn't work anymore, I'll have to test stronger anchors and longer WBTBs as a result).

      To Tiktaalik
      Thank you for the link. I've read that thread maybe two months ago but I reread it and enjoyed it.
      Talking about that thread, have you ever tried any of Michael Raduga's techniques? I tried indirect techniques/DEILD but feel like it isn't for me.
      I find it interesting (and slightly confusing) how there are two different schools of thought - Sageous's "ignore the noise" school and Raduga's "play with the noise" school. I guess both can work for different people.

      Two types of WILD
      Very visual WILD/dream onset vs hypnagogia-driven WILD/sleep onset. Exactly my experience.
      In the first type, I usually end up non-lucid or semi-lucid. In the second type, I wake up after/during the vibrations. Or I don't dream after them.

      Anyway, I am not sure if I've learnt something today or if it was just random luck.
      I tried to move from vibrations before and always either moved for real or achieved a phantom movement that quickly collapsed.
      This time, two things were different from the previous attempts - I haven't thought about my real body at all and my awareness was really low - basically, my analytical mind was off.

    15. #15
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      Congratulations on the WILD. I can see the parallels to my recent dream.

      Thanks by the way for the critique - Yes, it may have been a WILD (in my case) like you say. However if it was a DILD then the vibrations were an obvious dreamsign. We must remember there is a high degree of subjectivity to all this as each individual is different. For example, one person's 'OBE' is another person's 'lucid dream'.

      Then there is the issue between NREM and REM. If I can recall even the latter state is called paradoxical sleep. I guess only a sleep lab could help answer this question fully.

      One thing that did amuse me was how cats slept. Even you allude to it in your lucid dream. For example I used to like the way our cat used to nap. He used to be 'asleep' with his eyes glazed over virtually open (except for that bit of a membrane). I used to flick my finger in front of his field of vision, in his face to see if I would get a reaction. 9 times out of 10 though he did not react. (He would react by dialating his pupils). Get it totally wrong and you would get clawed though.

      Cats must be the ultimate lucid dreamers in my book.

      Back to the subject:
      I somewhat agree with your breakdown analysis. However, I think in my/our case(s) the important thing is the net result overall rather than fuss over all the semantics and what constitutes the nomenclature of a WILD. Also it is necessary to learn from the experience by fully documenting it for future reference in the form of a written journal. We must be mindful though that no two experiences are or will be the same, or that the same 'tech' (method) will yield the same (guaranteed) results.

      Even when we think we have 'nailed it', our brains have the habit of throwing in a curve-ball and we end up a few steps back again. I guess by drawing on past experience can prepare us for this scenario.
      Lang and IndigoRose like this.
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    16. #16
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      Yes, I absolutely envy my cat her sleep habits. Like she needs 30 seconds to go from fully asleep to a crazy cat, killing beast, mode. And then needs a minute and a half to fall asleep again - and that only because she needs to groom herself at least for a minute before going to sleep.
      BTW when I started (induced) lucid dreaming, I was worried about having a FA, going into her room (she's there overnight because otherwise, I would get no sleep) and finding some kind of monster, turning it into a nightmare. I guess there isn't anything scarier than a huge cat hunting his or her owner. But I am rarely scared in dreams, so not a probable scenario.

      I agree it's the result that matters, although it would feel good to be able to say "I can WILD".
      I think WILD is seen as a higher technique in the lucid dreaming community for these reasons:
      - It allows us to have a lucid dream whenever we want it, not relying on the randomness of DILDs
      - WILDs are said to be more lucid and more vivid than DILDs because we are so close to our wake-like awareness and take it with us to the dream.
      So we have this picture of a lucid dreaming master, who just lies down, has a WILD and goes to do something like creating a new universe. And then there are all those noobs who just go to sleep hoping for a lucid dream after repeating some nonsensical mantra, and maybe some of them get lucky once every two or three weeks
      Anyway, I think this is an invented picture and the real masters just have more tools in their toolkit (being good at DEILD probably helps more than anything else).
      Regarding the higher lucidity and vividity, my experience with WILDs or pseudoWILDs so far has been exactly the opposite, I think it's because being so close to waking world is confusing to me. In my normal dreams, I almost never dream about my home or local area or anything too realistic or relevant to my current waking life. Or it could be because I've always had to sacrifice a large part of my self-awareness to be able to fall asleep. Or just because I am not used to them. I am looking forward to more WILDs, maybe this will get better with more experience.
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    17. #17
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      Quote Originally Posted by IndigoRose View Post
      To Tiktaalik
      Thank you for the link. I've read that thread maybe two months ago but I reread it and enjoyed it.
      Talking about that thread, have you ever tried any of Michael Raduga's techniques? I tried indirect techniques/DEILD but feel like it isn't for me.
      I find it interesting (and slightly confusing) how there are two different schools of thought - Sageous's "ignore the noise" school and Raduga's "play with the noise" school. I guess both can work for different people.
      Sounds like a great WILD and a smooth entry. The way you describe it is very reminiscent of my first experiences with WILD. This kind of entry I always find leads straight into my bedroom as well and I too experienced some confusion in the dream and thought I was actually walking around my real house in parts. I knew I was dreaming but thought my body was asleep in bed and I may wake my wife if I was too noisy!

      I haven’t read up on Michael Raduga's techniques but I know Summerlander who was helping me out in the other thread has worked with him and I believe the methods he taught me were from his school of teaching. I think ignoring the noise can work for some and using the noise can work for others. Personally I have found both can work for me but I agree when you experience “the noise” you shouldn’t pay too much attention to it. When I experience it I see it as an alarm telling me “It’s time!” but then I ignore it, look past my closed eye lids and try pull myself into the dream with an imagined movement.

      As a fairly new lucid dreamer I know what you mean by WILDs coming across like the “expert” technique. I do agree my WILD experiences are by far my favourite and I have much more control and awareness upon entering the dream. I also Love all the weird and wonderful sensations and imagery I see when I transition. It really is like something out of science fiction and I love going directly from my bed into a dream like I’m been sucked into a new world or alternate reality.

      That said I don’t think DILDs should be viewed as a lesser experience nor an easier one. I’ve had a lot of frustration trying to bring awareness into my dreams and think it’s a skill that takes a lot of effort to master. There is also a magical sense of wonder that comes with each realisation in a DILD that I find equally exciting. I also like how DILDs throw you straight into a fully formed dream and I love the exploration element of waking up in a new and unexpected place and seeing what I can find. I think DILDs are easier to explain and more commonly achieved which is why they are seen as better for beginners.

      These days I find attempting a WILD most affective and though most of the time I fail I quite often have DILDs as a result. I think both are equally valid and it’s all about timing and adapting to what happens in the night.
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