Thread: How to VILD effectively

This is a thread about VILDing and WILDing. It’s a pretty long thread but it should be a worthwhile read. I teach a bit of well.. I’ll refer to it as “philosophy” for lack of a better word. If my technique actually works for you or not, the rest should help you WILD with better clarity, vividness etc.

I guess the best way to start out a thread like this is by stating the purpose. To try and teach you how to WILD in a short time frame and pretty much anywhere. But this is directed towards people who have had multiple lucids. People who know what a lucid is and how it feels. Keep that thought in mind. How a lucid feels.

Now, lets dive into the philosophical stuff. Consider this: What makes up your waking life? It’s one thing. (Well.. you COULD say five I guess... ) The five senses. Touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste. This is all you can use to prove that you are alive and this is all you can use to explore the world around you. Some of you may see where I am taking this and have noted that these are everything we (usually!) use to explore the world in our dream as well.

Simple enough?

Now, we can look at what role each plays in our dream. What we think we feel, see, hear, smell and taste are what make us believe we are in the world in our head. Now, the order those senses are listed is very important. This is the order of importance that the senses tend to play in out dreams, how much each contributes to the realism of the dream and how much you will need to concentrate on each to get it to seems real. Heres a breakdown:


Touch: The hardest part of building your dreams from scratch is to get all the feelings just right. This is the sense that we take for granted the most. Take a moment and study yourself. How much are you truly feeling right now?

You are probably feeling your ass on the chair, your feet against the floor and the mouse in your hand. If any of you limbs arn't resting on anything, you'd feel the slight bother of your muscles working against gravity.

Now this is just you sitting like a bum in front of your monitor. Theres tons of different feelings you register without even thinking every day. When people try to imagine themselves in a dream, they normally concentrate on sight they hold their hand in front of their face and go "ooo hand" but they're usually not really convinced it’s a hand. Its certainly won't seem like their hand. It might as well be a 2D image somebody drew on their minds eye.

Hold your hand in front of your face. feel the weight of your arm? Thats YOUR arm and you know it. Flex your fingers. Feel the different muscles working in your arm and hand? Now, try to capture the feeling in your head and let your arm relax. Now try to recreate the scenario in your head. If you can do it, you're already on your way to jumping into a dreaming state. If not, I'll have some exercises later on.

Sight: Often considered the most important because this is how we collect the most information and the majority of our dream world is represented. I don't think theres much to say about sight that’s not known anyways. Visual representations are commonplace in the mind.

Sound: Like touch, this is almost always ignored. Especially when we are being dazzled by what we are seeing. You wouldn't believe how much you miss sound-wise in movies. Often a movies will have "music" playing in the background the whole way though. You never really notice it though because its ends up being the columns under the bridge that is the visuals. Try watching a movie and pay special attention to sound and music. You may be quite surprised. (unless it’s a crappy movie). The same things that applied to touch apply to this.

Smell and taste: Now we get to the two lesser senses. Smell and taste. These do not contribute to most dreams. Especially taste. Smell is most often used to set the tone of the atmosphere. Like touch, this is also ignored by the conscious mind attempting to generate a scenario. Did you know that water has a smell? Quite a distinct one in fact. It is simply just lost in the setting along with touch and sound.

Taste is comprised of 70% smell. Go figure the importance of that XD

And now.. the part this has been leading up to.

The method

Now here’s a rough sketch of the thought process you could (should?) take to VILD. This is very similar to Gothlark’s V-WILD. In fact that’s what it pretty much is… but there was no formal write-up for that technique so I feel the need to make one that is to my satisfaction. Call it what you will. A VILD, V-WILD…. Doesn’t matter. Here it is.

Alright.. =) first things first. Close your eyes and decide on the dreamscape you want. If possible, you want somewhere that will let you do the next few steps easily. I will describe a sample dream as I go through the process.

I chose a nice low patch of grass beside a lake. The water seeps through the soil and makes it swampy where I am supposed to stand. We will build the world around us by using the 5 senses. First is sight because it always seems to be the thing people need to spark off the dream world. I etch the scenery in my mind. First, I do the sky. Be sure to include as much detail as possible. For example, the sky is a brilliant shade of light blue with semi-transparent fluffy clouds floating lazily through it. The sun shines down in helpful rays. It helps to think poetically like this when you are identifying the features of your scenery. It helps draw the connections that make up much of the foundation of the dream. For example, in your head you likely have the connection implanted between a “helpful” sun beating down on you and warmth on your face. Having a “helpful” sun over a simple sun (or no sun at all. It may not even be included in the dream!) will help later when you try to build up the rest of it.

The rest of the picture gets build up in this manner. There is a range of majestic mountains in the background. They frame the perfectly calm lake in which no ripples can be seen. The muddy ground protrudes ahead of me in a miniature peninsula towards the centre of the lake.

Once you have finished that, you have completed step 1. You now have generated a rough shell to spark your dream. (remember that there is almost no way that your conscious mind can match the ability of your “dream mind” when it comes to creating eye candy so don’t even try to get it perfect. If you’re really desperate, coloured blotches is okay at this point =O). The next step is slightly trickier. You must insert yourself into the dream and appease your “setting senses” touch, sound and smell.

These are the senses that you normally ignore but they make a very vital part of your world. You may have to rediscover these sense completely before you could even dream of using them. (haha.. sorry for the pun..)

First is touch. Build yourself from the bottom up. You start with feet. Your feet can feel the cool, moist grass and squishy ground. They feel the weight of your body resting on them and sink slightly into the ground. Next is your legs. They need to keep you us so you can feel the muscles working slightly, slightly tense but not too much. Then comes the upper body. Same deal as the legs and feet. Next is another unexpected feeling, Clothes. You feel them pressing against your skin 24/7. Are you naked in your dreams? If not add on the clothes. Are they tight anywhere? Do you feeling it pinching or squeezing?

Then, try and feel anything else you may be feeling. The feeling of wind on your face, is it humid, is it hot?

[edit] the rest of this tut was added on later. Just saying this so the rest of this thread makes sense…

Then comes sound. Everything has a sound. When I type this, my keyboard makes a sound. When you swallow, it makes a sound. Hell, when you breath, you make a sound. Any kind of action, any kind of motion will produce a sound. When a big breeze comes by, I will feel it on my face and I will hear the rustling of the trees and the grass.

Then is smell. This should mainly come from your memory. This sense is both easy yet very difficult to reproduce. You see, you only ever smell one scent. But that scent is a combination of the scents all around you. By far the easiest way to get the right scent is from memory.

I know what it smells like to be standing by a lake so I remember that scent and include it in the dream. If you don’t really know what you should be smelling, just use the smell of the most prominent feature.

By now, everything should be a mess. You will most likely have lost clarity in the sight and have forgotten most of the touch. Try to recapture as much as you can. You have just felt it/ seen it/ heard it/ smelt it. You should be able to pull all the parts that are still fresh in your memory and meld them into one big picture. As you pull it together, try not to concentrate on a single sense or you’ll likely lose track of the others again. Do it slowly. There is no reason to rush. In fact, from this point on, attempting to do things quickly is liable to rip the whole thing apart.

When you have pulled it all together to your satisfaction, try to hold it together. Now we must stabilize everything in order to move to an actual dreaming state. (I don’t consider this dreaming yet. Although, it tends to be hard to draw the line between a dream and a visualization.) For a short while, just bask in the senses. I squish my feet in the mud and feel is squishing under my toes. I see a deer flitting under the trees at the other side of the lake. I feel a nice breeze wash over my face and hear is rush by my ears.

After a short while, it should feel much easier to maintain. In fact, you may not even have to think about it at all to keep everything running! Now, DO NOT DO ANYTHING DARASTIC! You may feel exited, but do not rush. Keep yourself and your mind where you are standing. It is often important at this time to remind yourself that you are dreaming. This is all a dream. Otherwise you are likely to descend into a semi-lucid or non-lucid.

Do basic actions. I turn on the spot and begin walking away from the lake. Again, I stress this because it is important, take your time. I do not want to try to fly right now. I don’t want to attempt the task of the month. All I want to do is move further into my dreamscape. It is often good to encounter a DC now. Talk to them. See what is happening in this dream. Without direction, you are liable to never enter a true dreaming state.

I turn around and see a few tents set up. I walk towards them and my friend comes out of one of them.

“Hey dude, what’s up?”
“I was about to go do some fishing, wanna come?”
“Sure.”

As you progress through the dream, it will stabilize further and your dream mind will take control. If you have had a lucid before, you should be able to recognize when it has turned fully. But don’t check every other second. A watched pot never boils and a watched dream never turns. Although, try not to lose track of the fact that is a dream. Otherwise you lose full lucidity. Although, if you quite enjoy semi-lucidity, it may not be such a bad thing =P

At the end of our fishing trip, we returned to camp. But it had just been ransacked by a bunch of thugs. I knew I defiantly didn’t make that happen. Therefore my dream mind had taken over and this “reality” was no longer simply what my imagination could churn out. I was lucid and quite pissed at a gang of thugs =)

Tips and tidbits

When does this work best?

The best time to try this is actually RIGHT when you wake up. You can actually jump right back into a dream you just had by closing your eyes and re-imagining it. It goes 5x faster when you have just come out of a dream. Plus, if you wish, you can actually go back to a previous part of the dream that you remember and start fresh from there. This is especially effective if you just came out of a non-lucid. You can make something that you wished didn’t happen, not happen then continue on from there.

I can’t think of a scenario. What do I do?

You do something I like to refer to as “squirreling”. It’s originally a debating term but it fits here pretty nicely. Pretty much you take a part of one concept and use it to obtain an utterly different one. Simply pick an object out of your surroundings or some random surrounding. For example, I see a bow. I’ll use that. Then you generate another surrounding for that object. Boxes are common in factories so I’ll think of that. Voila, I have a dreamscape I can use =O

I can’t visualize anything. What do I do?

Work on it. I can’t really teach visualization. If I were to write a 200 page book and you read it cover to cover, you would likely still be unable to conjure images out of thin air. But there are was you can try to build it up.

By far the best way is to experience something then try to visualize it. For example, when you held your hand in front of your face then closed your eyes and tried to visualize it. If you were unable to do a complex shape like a hand, try something simpler like a square. Repeat as many times as you can. Look at a square, close your eyes and try to keep it implanted on your vision. Once you have been able to get the square successfully multiple times. Try getting it without first looking at it. The same goes with all the senses.

Please, comment comment comment. Even if its to say “Thanks that worked”, “I don’t think this would work” or “I hate you and I slept with your mom last night.” It helps me learn as well. I will try to answer all questions to the best of my ability in this thread as well.

Happy dreaming, hope this helped a bunch of people =)

Great !!

1. do we open our eyes when we are done?
2. can this be done at normal sleeptime and if so is it better to do it at other times?

thanks for a great post anyway

This is what i was looking forward to earlier on. Great job man

Wow. although I've never tried to VILD before, this makes it seem like the most enjoyable way to induce lucid dreams. I think it will be easier to visualize if you imagine yourself barefoot with wind and breathable clothes. I want to think of it like Matrix style: standing in a white room with the environment flooding in around me. This should be in the Tutorials section

much to concentrate on, I got quite a good image from reading this post, I guess when I fully concentrate and do that method in bed I might have some success

Thanks for sharing.

Ill be trying this when i goto sleep and when i wake up for a WBTB
this seems relly cool, and a good way to go lucid

hey good tutorial, i have one question though.

while you're imagining the sound of yourself breathing, etc. in your dream world, how do you keep from concentrating on yourself breathing in real life? I would confuse the sound of my breathing with the sounds i imagine in the dream area.

Originally Posted by shaftmonkey

hey good tutorial, i have one question though.

while you're imagining the sound of yourself breathing, etc. in your dream world, how do you keep from concentrating on yourself breathing in real life? I would confuse the sound of my breathing with the sounds i imagine in the dream area.

thats not really a very good thing to try and use to help build up sound XD. I was just using it to show everything has sound.

And I forgot to mention the big problem with breathing but more importantly, with smelling. DON'T! well at least, not like you normally would. For smelling, you do sort of a cover-up job. Otherwise you're likely to try sniffing in real life... =/. Try taking a big whiff right now. see how it feels? Now try re-creating that feeling in your head without breathing in. Its a little tricky, but thats how you can "breath" in your dream =)

Ok I got a question not about the method, but to you arby, have you had any success with this technique, if so how long did it take you, how much practice was involved, I'm very interested in nowing this if anyone has success with this tech.

Well, i'm a natural. I've tried analyzing what exactly I do to get lucid ever since I learned about LDs. I wanted to share how I did it and thats how this was born. Thats why its so oriented towards that philosophical part of what makes up a dream. So, even if people can't quite do this (i've tried it out myself, mind you) they should be much better off with other techniques.

But its alot harder to figure out what you're doing when you're not really concentrating on doing a technique. When I tried paying attention and analyzed what was happening inside my head, nothing happened because I didn't consciously know the next step.

Its taken over a year (check sign up date) but I think I've got a firm grasp now on what I do

Therefore this topic isn't about "ARBY'S #1 100% VILD TECH" because that would just be silly. This thread teaches the basics so people may expand upon it. Indisputably, the best technique for you will always be one of your own creation, one that fits you. Take what I say here to heart, but do not hold to it singularly, experiment and try to find your own path. =)

But then, following techs that have worked for others is always a good start to that.. XD

jeez i tend to ramble... lol

Originally Posted by shaftmonkey

hey good tutorial, i have one question though.

while you're imagining the sound of yourself breathing, etc. in your dream world, how do you keep from concentrating on yourself breathing in real life? I would confuse the sound of my breathing with the sounds i imagine in the dream area.

Hmmn. Thats a tricky one.
I think if you are having problems it would be best to leave it out.

this... sounds... FREAKIN AWESOME!! ...

i cant wait to try this. Iv'e recently just got out of my dry spell and looking for a new technique to expand on!, thanks a bunch dude!.. I LOVE YOU

Man, you've interested me... I've not been into LDs since mid-late 2006; I stopped for various reasons.

However, this looks both easy (compared to other tecniques) and effective; if it works I'll be back in the business soon

I'll let you know!

(I also want to thank italianmonkey who pointed me at this thread: thanks! )

I'm concentrating on VILD for the month of February. I'll report throughout the month

Arby, you are a GENIUS.

Thank you so much for this thread!

I've been a total failure at everything else. MILD, WILD, DEILD...you name it. I've always naturally tried to visualise dreams when trying WILD (A method I'd have liked to succeed at because of the whole straight into lucid dream thing) but I didn't know how to do it properly.

I saw your tutorial last night and tried it when I went to bed. It was hard for me when I tried it first because I couldn't zonk out properly. The blackness behind my eyes kept overriding my fragile visualisated scene. I tried again a short while later. I was able to zonk out better and when I brought sight, sound and feel into it together the scene I was visualising expanded to all around me and my scene transitioned to a shaky dream. I guess this is what you meant by stablization - I was in the scene properly and it had expanded to surround me. It was really running itself, but I still had to concentrate to keep it together.

I lost lucidity slightly when I did that, making me suspicious at first when I woke up it might have failed and that it had been a DILD. But I remembered that the scene I had created was stable throughout with no laspe of dream conciousness in it, so I guess it was ok.



That was the FIRST TIME a technique has worked for me properly! And that was my first shot at VILD.

I'm going to keep doing this, I really think it's going to work. Also, I had a hard time getting enough touch into my dream when I was standing, so I entered the dream on a horse. Now, I can't really say anything about tht yet, I have no idea how good it is, but I'll keep trying it.

Oh yeah! Thank's for the tutorial, arby!

I will try this tonight (although it might not work since I'll be on a plane). All techniques have failed for me so far but MILD has been the best so I'll try this for a while, if not I'm back to MILD

this sounds like a great method thank you for posting such a detailed description. I have a couple of questions.

After we capture the senses of the dream, should we start thinking of doing actions even if we are just visualizing it, and then eventually your mind will take over, or do we just play with the senses until we feel we have switched into a dream state?

also i am on a search for a non-DILD method that doesnt cause SP because frankly the experience is one i would wish to avoid. So does this VILD method cause SP?

I'm sorry, this may be a stupid question but I'm new here

Does this method manage to skip over SP? I tried a normal WILD breath counting technique the other day and the rapid pulse I got during SP made me think I was having a heart attack I don't really want to give up on WILDs, but I'm not brave enough to try that method again yet!

in regards to everyone asking about SP:

as far as i have learned from this forum everyone is different and every attempt is different.
sometimes youd feel SP, sometimes you wouldnt. but if you are building a scene, you would probably not be concentrating on how youre real body feels

DreamChaser:
visualising is not about looking at the 'blackness'. its about trying to make a picture in your mind

if you actually see something in that blackness; towards SP or whatever; its most likely H.I

I haven't checked this in a while. Pleased to see that people are still seeing it even when its not bumped up to the very top.

Originally Posted by A Humble Sinner

Arby, you are a GENIUS.

Thank you so much for this thread!

I've been a total failure at everything else. MILD, WILD, DEILD...you name it. I've always naturally tried to visualise dreams when trying WILD (A method I'd have liked to succeed at because of the whole straight into lucid dream thing) but I didn't know how to do it properly.

I saw your tutorial last night and tried it when I went to bed. It was hard for me when I tried it first because I couldn't zonk out properly. The blackness behind my eyes kept overriding my fragile visualisated scene. I tried again a short while later. I was able to zonk out better and when I brought sight, sound and feel into it together the scene I was visualising expanded to all around me and my scene transitioned to a shaky dream. I guess this is what you meant by stablization - I was in the scene properly and it had expanded to surround me. It was really running itself, but I still had to concentrate to keep it together.

I lost lucidity slightly when I did that, making me suspicious at first when I woke up it might have failed and that it had been a DILD. But I remembered that the scene I had created was stable throughout with no laspe of dream conciousness in it, so I guess it was ok.



That was the FIRST TIME a technique has worked for me properly! And that was my first shot at VILD.

I'm going to keep doing this, I really think it's going to work. Also, I had a hard time getting enough touch into my dream when I was standing, so I entered the dream on a horse. Now, I can't really say anything about tht yet, I have no idea how good it is, but I'll keep trying it.

Oh yeah! Thank's for the tutorial, arby!

Although I wouldn't quite suggest relying on a VILD if you haven't had much success already, I'm happy that you got a decent result out of it.

Yes, the lapse in lucid awareness is a very apparent part of the VILD (at least my version). You cannot truly keep awareness and let go enough to transfer to a true dream state. Often, you can expect this tech to dump you into a semi-lucid state. Depending on your perspective, this may be a great downfall or a fantastic plus side. I personally like semis so... go figure why I VILD. XD Also, you talked about perhaps having a DILD afterwards. Its a likely scenario if you went semi-lucid when your dream stabilized. Semi to full is a very short jump.

But, practice, practice, practice. If you're having trouble with touch, do small memory exercises right before bed. Think of what actions you will be doing when you first enter it and try to create an imprint of that in your mind. It makes it exponentially easier. (especially with the senses we normally ignore)

Originally Posted by zobey

This sounds great! It is something to keep your mind on while WILDing and creates the dreamscape of your choice at the same time! Can it be done right when going to sleep, or is it like all the others, best during WBTB/morning?

WBTB time works great because you have that imprint in your mind of what the dream was like. Just like almost all techniques, this is made easier in the morning. For this tech however, I don't find the perks of doing it at WBTB to be as large as the others however. You will not be likely to succeed at WBTB time if you cannot even get a decent VILD at other times.

Originally Posted by DreamChaser

So I can visualise in my minds eye, say my dining room in my house.
But when I do the look through my eyelids thing, I just see black and get some colours etc towards SP.
Which one should I be using? If it is the looking through eyelids at the blackness and form an image there, I have never been able to create an image on the black canvas.
How do you do it, or is it all with the minds eye?
Can anyone elaborate?

I would say neither. The closest is the minds eye but thats still a little bit off.

This will probably sound really weird but stick with me as I try to explain it. You see through the eyes of your dream self. This is TOTAL detachment from your body. Its not a picture in your head or an image painted on your eyelid, but a separate eye entity.

These work just as your body works in a dream. Just as if you are feeling your dream arm and lifting your dream arm, you can see through the eyes of your dream self. Where to begin... What do your eyes feel like? BACK to the whole craziness of things we never notice anymore. Your eyes have a physical presence. When you try to look in your mind's eye, you probably feel a void. This is the lack of your eyes. Now, how do you figure out what your eyes feel like? Quite simple actually, make them differ from their current state. Hold your eyes open for a minute or so. Now you can most definitely feel them. Once you think you have the feeling down, we apply touch. Close your eyes and concentrate on the feeling that your eyes have. Look as if in your minds eye but with the eyes you have created. you should get at least SOME improvement if you can hold it together.

Why isn't this in the tut? Well I just realized it now after I though about exaclty where I see from. Life is a learning experience, eh? But I DID say touch was important, no?

Originally Posted by lucidboarder

this sounds like a great method thank you for posting such a detailed description. I have a couple of questions.

After we capture the senses of the dream, should we start thinking of doing actions even if we are just visualizing it, and then eventually your mind will take over, or do we just play with the senses until we feel we have switched into a dream state?

also i am on a search for a non-DILD method that doesnt cause SP because frankly the experience is one i would wish to avoid. So does this VILD method cause SP?

Personally, I have never encountered SP. You should be pretty safe with this. SP is really your body falling asleep, right? In this tech, you are already long into the dream world by the time that happens.

As for your question, you can do either assuming it's engaging and distracting enough.

Originally Posted by Amelaclya

I'm sorry, this may be a stupid question but I'm new here

Does this method manage to skip over SP? I tried a normal WILD breath counting technique the other day and the rapid pulse I got during SP made me think I was having a heart attack I don't really want to give up on WILDs, but I'm not brave enough to try that method again yet!

SP isn't really something to be afraid of. But yes, you should be safe (as mentioned above)

I've got a question and a problem =0!

How long should this be taking (at the longest)? I tried for about an hour last night and a little less a few other nights and couldn't transition into a dream. And that's my problem, my visualizations are very vivid, I have a few clear ideas to use for scenes, and I can hold all the senses together pretty well, but I get stuck at that point. 0_0

Originally Posted by sdlac

I've got a question and a problem =0!

How long should this be taking (at the longest)? I tried for about an hour last night and a little less a few other nights and couldn't transition into a dream. And that's my problem, my visualizations are very vivid, I have a few clear ideas to use for scenes, and I can hold all the senses together pretty well, but I get stuck at that point. 0_0

You need to transition into the dream.

Go and do something simple. Walk around, explore. Start throwing stuff at DCs if you want.. XD

If you want something that helps you transition, conjure up a chess board or some other game. Play it against someone. When the game is done, the dream should have transitioned. If you're afraid you might forget that it's a dream, write down "this is a dream" on a piece of paper and put it to the side. When the game is over, pick it up and read it.

Don't think about your real body and don't go asking yourself "has it worked yet?" You'll usually be able to tell when its become a dream if you remain vigilant in your awareness. Things will pop up that "you" did not create and weird things will begin to happen.

The time it takes fluctuates alot. A snappy WBTB time VILD can take about 30 seconds to become stable while a late night one can sometimes even take up to 20 minutes. If its taking up to an hour however, somethings not right. If you're having trouble stabilizing the dream and you're doing it before sleep, try doing it at WBTB time. It tends to be an easier shift. Don't allow yourself to wake up very much either. you want to go right back in.

Great tutorial! I'll try this tonight!

Thanks for the awesome tutorial arby, I didn't see this. Any kind of WILDing/VILDing always reminds me of meditation and hypnosis so much.