Must you concentrate on your breathing?

When attempting a WILD, do you have to concentrate on your breathing/count your breaths? For the people that do this, how long does it take before you get to the transition stage? Whenever I attempt a WILD, i find that concentrating on my breathing is too much of a conscious act, its too difficult for me to get drowsy. I usually try to just drift off to sleep while maintaining consciousness (without counting breaths), but this doesn't work too well. It is very difficult for me to fall back asleep after getting 5 hours of sleep. Any input?

Nope, its just a method. Theres lots of them around. Try looking through the tuts.

That's just so you don't go nuts thinking about nothing. You can tap your finger too or simply count.