More WILD troubles

[ouija]

I just spent almost an hour in SP. Sometimes I would drift away slightly and see things like a glimpse of a row of shiny sportscars but it would disappear very quickly and I'd be able to hear outside noises again. The noise is very faint with my earplugs in but it's still there. Anyway, towards the end my left arm was so numb it actually started to be quite painful. I realise this can be normal and put it out of my mind. I had previously closed the door to the room. I heard a cat meow so I got up. Turns out I'd locked the cat IN the room, instead of outside. Anyway, I'm still having loads of trouble getting from SP into a dream. I can't imagine scenes. I try visualising objects spinning, I try visualising tactile scenes like riding a bike. I try more counting. I just feel I'm making no more progress, and just spending longer and longer in SP.

[HakktHazard]

I have the same problem, although sometimes I can't even get into SP.

[Tornado Joe]

Hi Ouja, Anyway, I'm still having loads of trouble getting from SP into a dream. I can't imagine scenes. I try visualising objects spinning, I try visualising tactile scenes like riding a bike. I try more counting. I just feel I'm making no more progress, and just spending longer and longer in SP. It may be that you're keeping your mind awake with all your visualizing. The entrance to a WILD is very narrow - too much conscious activity and you'll remain awake, too little and you'll fall asleep. It's sort of like driving a manual transmission and keeping that balance between the clutch and the gas when going up a hill.

[ouija]

I don't normally visualise anything. When I first set out, I would count my breathing and I ended up lying there in SP but aware I was lying on my bed. Reality checks or attempts to visualise a dream at this point don't work for me. Any suggestions will be greatly welcome

[Adam]

Hey Ouija, Whilst I would not consider myself a pro at the WILD technique, I can myself become lucid with the WILD quite easily now after a couple of months practice. I will offer you some advise which worked for me. First off, are you trying to WILD following WBTB? Assume you get up in the middle of the night, then go back to bed to WILD? If so skip to part b, if not read part a. But first, I find the most important prerequisites for a successful WILD is a regular sleep pattern with plenty of sleep; you don't want to be too tired when you try WILD and you don't want to be too awake either. A regular sleep pattern should help you have a natural sleep. One which is not too deep in REM sleep, and light enough, and long enough to not wake up, or become disturbed. I find I best lucid dream, and have more clarity and length to my lucid dreams in light REM sleep - so get some sleep, get a pattern going, and get your body used to the routine. Moving on. Part a) I would always try WILD as part of WBTB - So go to bed for say 10 or 11pm which ever is your normal time for going to sleep. Then set an alarm or practice MILD, or either way, get up about 5 hours, maybe 5 and a half hours after going to sleep - this was you awaken from REM sleep, so when you go back to sleep, falling into a lucid dream should be easier for you. Part b) When you go back to sleep, I would normally stay awake for only 5-8 minutes, but you might want to vary this depending on how well you wake up when you WBTB. Some people need longer to wake, others less, its all about trial and error. So when you get up, I would go for being awake for 10 minutes, take a toilet break, turning on lights to get your eyes working. Idea is to wake up your mind, but have your body still needing/wanting more rest. This helps when you WILD to allow your body to fall asleep, reach SP and then allows your mind to stay awake and successfully WILD. So when you get back to bed, as I say start with 10 minutes, if you find it takes you too long, try shortening this time, if you find you fall asleep right away with no results lengthen it. People are different so you will have to work this part out for yourself. I tend to always try some chanting, like repeating "I will be dreaming soon" or something to that effect to get the lucid dreaming thoughts in my subconscious. And then just let myself fall to sleep, but there is a turning point you should notice from being awake to drifting off to sleep, this is the point you need to catch, but not with too much excitement, once you feel your body dropping off, engage your mind a little in though, to keep it active as your body drifts off to sleep, at this point I usually experience shifts in my body, I will feel it moving and such. I go with this, and visualize the movements getting faster and stronger, at this point you are very close to getting into the dream, your body gets numb and you feel sensations of movements, some people just feel the usual SP, some visualisation or sounds, don't get too caught up on these though if they don't appear. Important to remember they don't always show, so if you wait for them, then you might be waiting for a while. As you feel this shift in your body, its difficult to explain but you need to try keep your body asleep, and your mind drifting off further into the dream, then things become cloudy and lighten up, this is when the dream appears, for me, I almost always end up on my floor in my room when I WILD. You might be the same, if you feel the SP strongly then try simply rolling your astral body out of your bed, but not your actual body, you should then become lucid. And with that you have achieved your WILD As I said its hard to explain, if you have any questions let me know, but thats my take on the WILD and how I achieve it. Clairity has an awesome WILD technique that a lot of people swear by too, you wont go wrong by reading that and taking advice from her either Hope this helps, Adam.

[ouija]

Thanks for the advice, Adam. I do in fact perform WBTB. I have attempted WILD as I go to sleep at night and realised that it simply means I wake up an hour later and find it very difficult to get to sleep. So normally 10-15 minutes awake after about 5 hours of sleep is when I attempt to WILD. I've recently read BillyBob's thread and he advised to keep your thoughts away from WILD so lucidity creeps up on you and you're there. This didn't seem to work for me, but I have only tried this method a couple of times. I find my mind wanders, I drift off occasionally only to find myself in darkness wondering what I'm supposed to be doing. "oh yes, I was counting... umm was I at about 150?" so I continue. Normally i'll feel shifts, twitches, numbness moving up my body. Sometimes I head the occasional noise here and there, or see a streak of colour but it disappears very quickly. After this I usually keep counting expecting something to happen. After a while I feel another sensation, this time much stronger, and often my heartrate increases at this point. Not due to excitement, it just happens. I focus on keeping my breathing slow and my heartrate usually slows back down. Sometimes I can feel and hear my heart beating so vividly that I am sometimes able to almost will my heartrate to reduce. It's a very strange sensation. Maybe I'm leaving it too late to attempt rolling out of bed, but any time I've tried I'm always aware that I'm in SP... and can almost feel that if I was to push too hard, my real body would in fact move. And this has happened when I try a nose pinch RC.

[Adam]

No problem, who told you to count down if you don't mind me asking? It seems like this could be a distraction for you? Yeah as per BillyBob (where is his technique?) I have said the same, try to fall to sleep but catch it just before you do. It's hard to master, but if you can, it really does save you soooooo much time!! If you want more direct conversation happy to discuss on MSN if you like, my address is in my profile.

[ouija]

Counting my breathing actually, not counting down. Sorry.