Consistent WILDs through hard-work

I had another attempt at this today. I should mention that I am doing WBTB stuff for DILDs in the morning and then attempting WILDs after a full 8 hours sleep so I am making it more difficult for myself.

Anyway, I followed your advise and it did help. What came to mind was that I had been controlling my breathing up to the point where the heavy breathing starts, but surely your subconscious needs to take total control over your breathing as you enter a dream, so I think the laboured or heavy feeling is because your waking and subconscious minds are both wanting to do the job of breathing for you. Anyway, I just stopped thinking about my breathing and thought about the sensation of air passing through my nose instead.

With this frame of mind it wasn't uncomfortable at all. I had loads of various sensations and floating feelings but a total absence of any imagery. This may be because I had already had a full nights sleep.

I know you can do this any time of day, but while I am learning do you think I will have to give up my DILD work and use my WBTB for WILDS until I get them working, or is it realistic for me to go for the WILDS during the day straight away?

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Originally Posted by Jumbli

is it realistic for me to go for the WILDS during the day straight away?

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it is absolutely possible, and that was my primary goal for doing all of this. i will say, however, that it oftentimes requires a much longer session...the benefit of WBTB is that your body is already prepped for sleep. doing it in the middle of the day requires that you are able to relax your physical body very effectively while maintaining consciousness. that's where the "hard work" comes in. if you're interested in pursuing it, i can post the daily exercises i do to this end.

Yes, I would be interested in seeing your daily exercises. I am planning to invest plenty of time in WILDs and am not put off by the hard work.

Thanks.

I can't make it past the illusion of suffocating!:damnit: Also how long is that supposed to last?


Great guide though.

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Originally Posted by mongreloctopus

it is absolutely possible, and that was my primary goal for doing all of this. i will say, however, that it oftentimes requires a much longer session...the benefit of WBTB is that your body is already prepped for sleep. doing it in the middle of the day requires that you are able to relax your physical body very effectively while maintaining consciousness. that's where the "hard work" comes in. if you're interested in pursuing it, i can post the daily exercises i do to this end.

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Please do post this. I'd be very interested to read it.

thanks alot, Im so mad at myself that i didnt read this earlier because last night while going to sleep layed still on my back and started to feel heavy and tingling, then I took a piss (not in bed, in the toilet:D) If I had read this I woulda held it in till morning.

I tried this and it went pretty weirdly, I was wondering if you could give me some answers. I was very still and relaxed and i rolled back my eyes, after a while I began to feel weird tickling on my feet and legs, but never felt it rose. I also never felt the vibrations or the imagery. all of a sudden My body goes sorta stiff and my eyelids fade to an even darker shade of black that looked more like empty space than the back of eyelids. I was pretty convinced that my body was asleep, except I could still feel that i was using muscles to roll my eyes back and I knew if I moved or did anything it would happen in real life. eventually I woke up due to the fact that someone had opened the door and turned the tv on. This is the weirdest part, after that, I got up and went to my mom telling her that i have been trying to go to sleep for an hour but could not. And even though I thought I was awake the whole time, my mom said that when she was looking for me, she checked in the bedroom and saw me sitting up mumbling noises to myself, even though I do not remember this at all and i do not remember falling asleep. She said she asked me if I was awake and I kept mumbling to myself. I was wondering if you know why this happened?

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but, I lay down and I start to concentrate on my breathing and i just let my body sink and when it goes all numb I do feel sensations but very little, no vibrations or anything though. I keep swallowing though, I cant help it.. I do try to resist it but sometimes it feels like i swallow on accident. Would that be a distraction?

After my body is all relaxed am I supposed to concentrate on my breathing and just rest like I'm trying to fall asleep?

Basically what I need to know is what to do after my body is numb? I'm not sure if i'm in full SP either, but i try not to really concentrate on that.

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Originally Posted by RandomUN

I keep swallowing though, I cant help it.. I do try to resist it but sometimes it feels like i swallow on accident.

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Me too, I don't get it.

Yeah, plus sometimes saliva would just keep coming, I don't wont to drool all over myself :embarrassed: I'm not hungry or anything..

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I can't make it past the illusion of suffocating!:damnit: Also how long is that supposed to last?

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it's not so much a matter of how long it will last, but rather what you do, psychologically, to overcome it. it's not enough to just know intellectually that it's an illusion if your body is still frightened. practice by putting yourself in the state where you start to feel like your breathing is all wacky, and then try to feel yourself breathing without controlling your breaths. if you can successfully 'watch' your breathing without interfering, try to keep relaxing into the SP feelings while doing this. the ultimate goal is totally convince yourself that you are in fact breathing even though it doesn't seem like it...after all, it's what you do every single night.

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I was wondering if you know why this happened?

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it's pretty common when your body is in sleep paralysis, that if you try to speak it'll sound like mumbling. i think it's somewhat unusual to be sitting up though.

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I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but, I lay down and I start to concentrate on my breathing and i just let my body sink and when it goes all numb I do feel sensations but very little, no vibrations or anything though. I keep swallowing though, I cant help it.. I do try to resist it but sometimes it feels like i swallow on accident. Would that be a distraction?

After my body is all relaxed am I supposed to concentrate on my breathing and just rest like I'm trying to fall asleep?

Basically what I need to know is what to do after my body is numb? I'm not sure if i'm in full SP either, but i try not to really concentrate on that.

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it is a safe bet that any bodily feelings you have while doing this are not what you think they are. for instance, it is common to feel like your heart is pounding, or about to explode; or for it to feel like the air you are breathing has the same consistency as molasses; or that there is an uncomfortable build up of saliva in your throat....(incidentally, these feelings tend coincide with the traditional locations of the chakras) the best possible thing you can do in any of these situations is relax--don't ignore the sensation, and don't become obsessed with it...simply feel it and move on with the process. i know it is easier said than done, but that's why this requires the hard work.

when your body feels numb, it means that you are in at least a light trance, but you'll notice that if you try to move a limb, you can easily do so. when SP occurs, it will not be possible to move your body. you may in some cases feel two bodies, one that is paralyzed and one that is kind of floating in the same spot as your physical body. it's hard to describe exactly what will happen, because the sensations are different for everyone. the biggest thing to remember is that you want your body to fall asleep--it won't be possible if you are over-analyzing everything that you are feeling. you have to work on the concentration exercises so that you can anchor yourself to the objective without getting caught up in the strange sensations.

and so, here is my daily exercise regimen:

1. stretching: you can do it however you want, but i start by standing up and beginning at the top of my body--neck, shoulders, arms, chest, back, abs, obliques, hips, hamstrings. i sit down to continue stretching my groin, quads, gluts, calfs, feet.

2. sit comfortably: i use my couch because it has a nice solid back and an ottoman upon which i can put my feet. i usually rest my hands on my thighs, but it's just a matter of finding a comfortable position in which you are not used to falling asleep.

3. concentration practice: i choose one of two types that i have gotten accustomed to--breath awareness and spot awareness. the former consists of attempting to pay attention only to the feeling of breath in my nostrils--i don't follow it into my body. i try to pay attention to the sensation of the air passing by the tiny hairs in my nose, and the outer rim of my nostrils. i try to notice everything about it i possibly can. the latter consists of choosing a mark on the wall in front of me that i will focus all of my attention upon. it's important to keep a soft focus and not strain your eyes. if i find my eyes wandering, i reset them. i try to envision the spot at which i'm staring as if it took up my entire field of vision. i do only one of these exercises in each session, and i typically choose based on what seems less boring to me at the time. i always choose an amount of time that i will be doing this beforehand, and absolutely must stick to it. i set a timer and do not stop until it goes off. if you feel bored or can't concentrate at all anymore, do not stop--you must train your will power. i started with ten minutes, and am now doing twenty minutes.

4: body awareness: without having moved from the original position i begin moving my awareness throughout my body. i begin with one foot and move it up through my leg to my waist, and then begin at the other foot and repeat. i then move up from my pelvis (avoid genitalia or you may end up too distracted to continue) through my abdominal region, through my chest to the base of my neck. i then start with one hand and move up through my arm to the shoulder and switch to the other hand and repeat. i then move up through my neck, face and to the top of my head. from here there are countless exercises you can make up yourself and do--i spend about thirty minutes on the body awareness section. (in case it's unclear, what i mean by moving awareness, is to attempt move all of your attention into a single part of your body. for example, i would attempt to feel and be conscious only of what my left thumb is feeling. i would try, in a way, to become embodied in my thumb, focusing my awareness to the total exclusion of all else. the breath awareness is a good prelude to this, because it is the kind of focus you need [although i find the body awareness to be a hundred times easier, and more enjoyable]).

5. trance: this portion can be done on its own. i usually combine all of them because it is most convenient for my schedule, and because the previous exercises have already put my body in a relaxed state. however, this particular exercise is very unpredictable in terms of length of duration. if you are doing this one separate from the others, you need to stretch beforehand, do about ten minutes of breath awareness, and then go through one sweep of body awareness focusing on relaxing each part of your body into which you move your awareness. if you are doing all of these at once, you can just jump right in--in the same comfortable position on the couch (note: i have kept my eyes open until this exercise. if you find yourself using your eyes to follow your body awareness exercise, you should close them for that. you don't want to handicap yourself with visual cues) i try to 'let go' of the feelings of my physical body. the easiest way i can do this, is by imagining the same sensation of floating you might have if you were in a pool holding your breath floating face down like you're dead. (i find, actually, that a lot of the feelings i use to do this are the ones i associate with dying in a dream) this exercise is tricky for a few reasons. the first is that if you're doing it right, your mind is going to want to fall asleep with your body. this means that you will probably start experiencing all sorts of hypnotic hypnagogic imagery that will distract you from your purpose and possibly cause you to fall asleep. it may also mean that you will notice this, and then forcefully fight back to maintain consciousness. this will stop you from moving beyond the stage that you are in. the more you do this exercise, the easier and faster you will enter trance states. there is a huge continuum of level of trance and you will become aware of how deeply you go into it. i do not time this exercise, but decide rather arbitrarily when it will end. if i notice that i have dozed off and suddenly "jerked" awake, i will usually call it quits because i am too tired mentally to continue, and will just continue to fall asleep. i do not do this exercise when i could fall asleep, or i probably will. it's kind of misleading to call it exercise, since it's sort of the reverse, but what i try to get out of it is a familiarity with moving into the state of being in which i don't feel my physical body, and instead feel what will become my dream body. it is this second body that you will have to direct to exit your physical body, and i have the most difficulty with it. if i am not physically relaxed enough, when i try to separate the two bodies, i will begin to tense muscles and that makes it impossible to continue. i then usually will have to start the cycle over.

exercises 1-4 should be done at least once a day at a time when you are fully awake. i like to do them after i wake up in the morning, as i tend to get up quite early, thanks to dream recall/dream awareness. exercise 5 can be done as often as you like, and can be used as actual WILD attempts. a few additional pieces of advice--i describe some of the sensations that i encounter while doing this, but it's not a good idea to think about this procedure in terms of what you WILL encounter. it's different for everyone, and focusing on your expectations of the goal will result in failure. relax in the moment and don't worry about whether you're doing it right or not. if you are relaxed and lucid, that's enough. another good tip for increasing your powers of concentration--act at all times as if though you are in a dream (not that you could be dreaming, but that you actually are) and must remain lucid. try to avoid falling into the autopilot mode we live most of our lives in, and actually be aware of everything you are doing--be aware of your body and how it is moving, of your environment around you, and try to avoid the incessant monologues we use to maintain our version of reality. the more aware you become of yourself and your environment, the more aware you will be while dreaming, which will boost your dream recall and your ability to accidentally become lucid. it will also make it easier to feel your dream body while awake and stop your internal monologue while in trance.

if any of this is unclear, or you want further explanation, i am happy to help as always.

Just wanted to let you know that you've written a great tutorial and I'm going to keep trying it out. I got pretty far last night. My heart was beating faster and my body heated up (well, to my mind), and of course I felt the tingling sensations. I couldn't get further though, I think I was just too awake. Anyways, I'll let you know how it goes.

Brilliant guide. On my first attempt my "second body" began to float above my physical body, I could actually feel my physical body below me :D.

I couldn't manage to "roll out" of my physical confines though, and I wasn't sure i'd be able to either because although I felt sleepy, i didn't feel "asleep".

Giving it another go tonight. :oops:

Keep up the good work. :D

Two questions....

While doing the stages like concentrating on breathing, are you constantly telling yourself that you're going to be lucid? Or do you just concentrate fully on breathing, and the following stages?

Second, will this work by focusing on breathing through the mouth? I've got a TON of allergies, and my nose is usually too plugged to breath through comfortably.


I really hope I can do this... I'm disabled so I have to take morphine for pain, as well as 4 vitamins in the morning to get me the basic vitamins I'm not getting through this diet.

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Originally Posted by Casyle

Two questions....

While doing the stages like concentrating on breathing, are you constantly telling yourself that you're going to be lucid? Or do you just concentrate fully on breathing, and the following stages?

Second, will this work by focusing on breathing through the mouth? I've got a TON of allergies, and my nose is usually too plugged to breath through comfortably.


I really hope I can do this... I'm disabled so I have to take morphine for pain, as well as 4 vitamins in the morning to get me the basic vitamins I'm not getting through this diet.

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the breath concentration is simply to practice concentration itself--no thoughts of dreaming, lucidity or anything else...just focusing completely on one thing (breath is an easy choice because you always have it with you).

you can breathe through your mouth if you want--you can really choose or make up any kind of concentration practice. the idea is just to train yourself to be able to stop distracting thoughts before they even occur. there is a form of meditation called omphaloskepsis in which one contemplates the navel. i haven't tried it, but whatever works, works.

as for the morphine, i have read anecdotes that seem to indicate that opiates (and morphine in particular) are conducive to out-of-body experiences. from my own experimentation, i have found that cannabis results in a 'loosening' of the dream body, making it far easier to project, particularly when ingested. from my experiences with opiates, i would say that they have a huge effect on dreaming and i'm sure you can come up with some useful experiments as long as you are taking it anyway. sylvan muldoon, one of the first 'mainstream' "astral projectors" was under the impression that it is easier to project the double when the physical body was injured or ill, so take that for what it's worth. if you follow the exercises and procedures prescribed, you should have no problem.

a note in general: some of you may have had initial success with the methods i wrote about, and that is awesome. but beware--the most likely situation is that your enthusiasm caused uninentional projection. this method does and will work, but it really does take a lot of hard work, and more than that, it takes time and patience. everyone is different, but it took me over a year of constant practice to actually succeed at doing this on command (and i still fail sometimes). don't get discouraged and don't let this be the extent of your dreaming practice, because regular dreams and regular lucid dreams are fun too. cheers.

Thanks a ton!

I'll have to try and find that 61 point exercise. The link in one of these threads just leads to a "this image no longer exists" or some such page. So, until then, I'm stuck trying to get each leg and arm to relax. Never been good at that haha.

Gotta say, I need to get over this. Having a horrible time keeping my eye up. I keep accidently loosening my eyelids, sometimes partially opening 'em, and, eventually, my eye seems to gradually come back down. D'oh!

Can't wait to try again tonight.

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Originally Posted by Casyle

Thanks a ton!

Gotta say, I need to get over this. Having a horrible time keeping my eye up. I keep accidently loosening my eyelids, sometimes partially opening 'em, and, eventually, my eye seems to gradually come back down. D'oh!

Can't wait to try again tonight.

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that happens to me a lot as well (partially opening my eyes occasionally). my solution, if i'm not in total darkness, is to wear a comfortable eye mask like they give you on airplanes.

Mongreloctopus. How successful are you at these WILDs? How many have you had?

You sound very skilled.

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Originally Posted by ChaybaChayba

, I practise WILD each night before going to sleep, and sometimes I take a nap for this purpose.

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Make sure you don't get too addicted to sleeping or you'll be unhealthy. (read this on wikipedia)

After "rolling out" of your body, how do you enter the dream? Should i Just visualize what i want it to be and it will appear?

It's hard to say how successful I am...When I start the process, I can usually tell right off the bat if it's going to happen or not. If I then follow through, my success rate is probably .8-.9; failures resulting typically from unforeseen interruptions. Sometimes, though, I won't have success until two-three hours after beginning my initial attempt, although this is somewhat rare.

I have absolutely no idea how many of these I have had--I stopped keeping track of the number of my lucid dreams and WILDs about a year ago, but recently I have had to cut back pretty significantly due to a new work/school/kickboxing schedule. I really only have time on the weekends these days, and the rest of the time I just do the exercises.

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After "rolling out" of your body, how do you enter the dream? Should i Just visualize what i want it to be and it will appear?

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It's admittedly quite difficult to describe, but here goes anyway: when you feel that you are 'outside' of your body, you have to feel your dream body as much as possible. It is the same kind of 'intent' that is used in lucid dreams to make changes to the dream. It's kind of expectation combined with volitional perception, as if though you are firmly convinced that something is taking place (even though it's not necessarily). With this specific kind of will, you will yourself into perceiving a dreamscape. The easiest choice is a real location that you are familiar with, so you can easily envision it. In the beginning of my WILDing adventures I used to feel my body floating up above my physical body, and then I would imagine myself 'jumping' into a dream (be careful not to move your physical body!), and then I would actually 'land' on the floor wherever I imagined I was. Bear in mind that I am only describing what has worked for me, and everyone has different proclivities, so experiment and use the most effective method you find. If you are having trouble only at this part of the process, don't worry! Being able to get to this point consistently is the hard part--from sleep paralysis you have pretty much already succeeded.

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Originally Posted by Toledous

I tried it, felt my body tingling, then for some reason I had to swallow really bad, so I did, and that threw off the cycle. It was really hard for me to focus on dreaming when I had the window open blowing wind in and moving the blinds and the fan going, but its too hot to be without them.

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I have found (thanks to severe strep throat once when I was younger), that the body always tends to swallow right before falling asleep.

How can I keep myself awake?
I have a hard time with either being too awake, anticipating the sensations, so it's hard to fall asleep;
or being too unfocused which results in falling asleep.

help? :bowdown:

I tried this method, I got to something of a half SP where i was aware that i couldnt feel my arms. But the entire time I focused on my breathing i was more aware of my heartbeat, it was extremely loud, kinda like an adrenaline rush, but I wasnt excited, it was still a slow steady beat. I guess thats weird, has anyone else had that? It was trouble concentrating on my breathing with it

Would it work better if I was tired or should I do it in the middle of the day?

Thanks for all of the info thus far