Am I too awake?

Ive experienced the first stages of WILD on quite a few occasions (though i haven't been keeping good practice lately).
It seems I get to the hypnagogic imagery quite easily. In fact, i can be sitting on a bus or in a lecture, i'll put my head down and within minutes i am there.
When i attempt it in bed, after a few images flash in front of me, or i hear a sound (usually a line of dialogue) i snap to complete wakefulness. :shock:

Am i not tired enough to use WILD, am i concentrating too much on what i see/hear, or do i just need to practise more?

it seems that i can only do it once, then i have a lot of trouble entering the state again (after having snapped to consciousness) because i lay there thinking about it, and eventually just fall asleep.

Thanks guys.

I think you just need to relax more. Remeber all the sounds and stuff are normal and just let it flow. You might be focusing to much on the stuff, none of them should make you wake up.

This is similar to what happened to me when I started WILD for the first time. I think its important to be focused while trying WILD. I can see how WILDs are easy on the bus and in class because you're tried at the time. Another good time to practice is right after you wake up, say on the weekend. If you wake up early, you naturally what to go back to sleep, so why not make it a LD! I say just keep practicing, you should have it in no time at all!

I use this method, however it may be unique for me:

I wake up after 4+ hours of sleeping. I generally stay up for about 5-10 minutes and go back to bed.

I find a comfortable position (even tho it's not always easy). And tell myself to stop listening to my body. This means I will not toss and turn.

Then I start looking into my "mind's eye". Just visualizing stuff.
after some time I stop forcing myself to visualize things, but still look in my "mind's eye".

There are still images before me, and they are very chaotic.

I keep interpreting what I see. I dont think about anything else and try not to judge or change the picture.
I supress any thought I have and gently focus my attention on the images.

Then I forget about time and space. I became engulfed by the pictures.

I enter a fragile dreamlike state. I may or may not be lucid at this time.

However it is not a real dream. I have almost no control, but I can move and perform simple operations.

I enjoy this state, because it's as close to regular lucid dream as you can get.

But it's not WILD yet. Soon I feel sensations of WILD. My visualization collapses, and I realize I'm laying in my bed, but I'm right there!

At this point I feel shivers and trembling, and sound, and I'm entering WILD...

Combined with some MILD ld induction, this method produces good results.

Quote:

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Originally posted by The Miracle
Ive experienced the first stages of WILD on quite a few occasions (though i haven't been keeping good practice lately).
It seems I get to the hypnagogic imagery quite easily. In fact, i can be sitting on a bus or in a lecture, i'll put my head down and within minutes i am there.

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Maybe it's because there is a persistant noise in the background? Like the drone of a lecturer's voice or the constant rumbling of the bus's engines.

I know people have a easier time WILDing with white noise of somekind in the background.

In order to stay conscious between waking and sleeping realities, one must create a bridge.

Choose any object in your room. Something without a lot of meaning is best. Focus on this object before you go to sleep for about ten minutes. Look at it in detail. Memorize it in from all angles until you can visualize it fairly easily in your mind.

Now return to bed and focus on the object. It will be your bridge, your path from waking to sleeping realities. While you are focusing your mind on the object you will go through stages. Be sure your bladder is empty and your stomach content, but not overly full.


1) Take a comfortable position in your bed. Sink into it. Reassure your body that you will not fall, that you cannot be harmed.

2) Relax your muscles. Focus primarily on the calves, shoulders, hands, and jaw muscles. Let them go, even if this means letting your mouth hang open. This leads into #3.

3) Focus on your breathing. Breath lightly, making little to no noise, but breath deeply so that your stomach moves, and not your cheast. Allow the breath to enter both the nose and your mouth, which should be slightly open if your jaw is relaxed completely. Relax and resist the urge to swallow. Your mouth may get dry, but that's what happens when you sleep. Do not worry. No harm will come to your mouth or throat.

4) Allow your tounge to lay comfortably in your mouth. Reassure your body that your tounge will not obstruct your airway during sleep.

5) Your perception will now fade off in the following order:

1st - Body
2nd - Breathing
3rd - Heartbeat

At this point you should still be retaining the image of your bridge. Follow it until you reach the state of Dreaming Awake.

~LucidOne

I have a question that sort of goes along with this... are the body vibrations you talk about sort of like twitches? I got this far during my first WILD, but I thought the twitches were just random muscles spasms, and not the body vibrations.

And how close to lucidity are you when this happens? Is it really close? I ask because i felt like i was just lying in my bed when my body was twitching, and i felt really awake.

THANKS!

The vibrations are not twitches, but actual waves of energy which can be felt . They can be accompanied by a warm feeling which envlopes the "body". I put body in quotes because the waves are not felt with the physical body. They are felt with the energetic counterpart of the physical body, the energy body.

The vibrations are one door into either lucid dreaming, or a full out of body experience. If one wishes to exit the body, the waves must be first felt going from head to feet in a rhythmic manner. The waves are then accellerated to a high frequency, until almost imperceptable. This is when separation is possible.

If one wishes to lucid dream, simply focus on a bridge item. See my post above.

~LucidOne

thanks guys, there some great answers i know they will be helpful.

ashliebelle, you'll know the vibrations when you get them, its the weirdest feeling, yet utterly amazing at the same time...

i definitely need to try after a few hours sleep like you suggested Ev, cause i usually attempt upon first going to bed.