Falling asleep with MILD

[Cdwoods]

Hey, does anybody have any tips for falling alseep while trying a MILD? I got the mantra and visualization down I feel, but I feel like I can't fall asleep while doing it. Does anybody have any advice?

[Mitchellkid]

I got the same problem wish i could help

[Threeofeight]

More information about what you experience is welcome I'd say doing moderate to intense workouts work up a sweat. Also Yoga works up sweating. That oughta help with falling asleep. Turn off electronics. You might want to have a little sleep first. Maybe put yourself to sleep and catch yourself falling asleep THEN do the mantras. That sounds good to me. I don't know I rarely do mantras but what I do know is putting an intent in it might serve you well.

[Cdwoods]

What I mean is that I can fall asleep easily, but only if I'm not doing the mantra or visualizing. I'm just curious if there's a way to overcome that.

[spellbee2]

If you find that the mantras and visualizations are keeping you awake, it's fine to stop doing them so you can get some sleep. Do them for about 10-15 minutes at least, and if you haven't fallen asleep then just stop, get comfortable, and assure yourself that the best thing for you right now is to fall asleep. Even if MILDing is not the last thing on your mind as you fall asleep, the effort you put in will still help tremendously. And as important as doing the visualizations and mantras is, it's even more important to fall asleep - obviously you can't get lucid in a dream if you're not getting asleep to have the dreams in the first place.

[dolphin]

You don't have to do the mantra or visualizing while you are falling asleep. When you are visualizing or repeating mantras, you are performing what is known as rehearsal. Rehearsal strengthens memories. There are two types of rehearsal. Repeating mantras and visualizing are the two different types. Repeating mantras is an example of maintenance rehearsal. Maintenance rehearsal involves repeating something over and over without thinking about its meaning or connecting it to other information. Maintenance rehearsal is best for holding something in your short-term memory. However, your short term memory only lasts about 20-30 seconds, so once you want to remember is no longer in your short-term memory, it can only be remembered from your long-term memory. Because you are likely to be unconscious for more than this time before the dream begins, it is best to focus on making what you want to remember a long-term memory. Visualizing is an example of elaborative rehearsal. Elaborative rehearsal involves thinking about the meaning of the memory being strengthened and involves connecting it to other information already stored in memory. Elaborative rehearsal is best for converting what you want to remember into a long-term memory. In the case of visualization, you are basically trying to learn something that you want to remember in the future. For example, if you missed a dream sign, you want to visualize yourself catching that dream sign and intend to catch that dream sign in the future just like you are visualizing. This way, next time you come across that dream sign in a dream, you are more likely to catch it due to what you learned from the visualization. Mantras are helpful for keeping you from become distracted while you are visualizing and for those times where you are unconscious for less than 30 seconds before the dream starts. However, it is the visualizing and other types of elaborative rehearsal that is helpful for converting the memory you want into a long-term memory. So, once you are confident you have learned what you want to remember well enough, holding something in your short-term memory is not necessary so you don't have to do mantras or visualization anymore while going to sleep.