Steps To First WILD (My Notes)
I learned about lucid dreaming in college, about 15 years ago. I've had LDs every month or two as long as I can remember. They're addicting fun, usually from DILDS (recognizing that I'm dreaming while I'm dreaming). From reading the forums I realized that I also do WBTB LDs sometimes.
Neither of those methods is reliable for me. I started looking at WILDs a couple of months ago, because the idea of lucid dreaming on demand is compelling.
One success doesn't make a pattern, but it was great to see WILD work in practice. Here're my notes. Hope this helps you find your own path.
I started out reading about techniques to induce LD. My focus was on WILD, but as a newbie to the "science" of LD, the processes seemed subjective. People tailor methods to their tastes until they find something that works, so I learned from everyone. I found that just visiting the forums would sometimes be enough for me to remember to reality check while dreaming. I started a dream journal, but have not kept it regularly. When I do wake from a dream, I spend a few minutes writing it out in my head before getting up. That usually is enough for my recall to be solid.
I usually sleep around 10 PM, but I have better dream recall when I go to bed an hour early or later than normal, so I have varied my sleep patterns while learning. What seems to work best for me is to sleep early, with a cell phone alarm set to vibrate at about 4.5 hours after I think I'll be asleep. This gives me time to rest and get a few sleep cycles in before waking up to try to WILD. Also, this works best for me on the weekends when I can sleep in a little.
Fully waking, getting out of bed for the bathroom, and water, seemed better for me than trying to WILD without getting up. I wake in a half-fuzzy/dreamy place, and it's hard to focus unless I wake up all the way first. (I can try WBTB without getting up, but I'm most likely to just roll over and go back to sleep if I do.)
Back in bed, #1 for me is finding a comfortable position. I want to be laying so that I can completely relax without moving again. From there, I have tried both counting and also the mantra type methods, like thinking "I'm going to be dreaming in a minute. I'll know that I'm dreaming."
What's important for me is that I stay mentally awake while my body goes back to sleep. I learned to notice a place where I stop paying attention to my body, or feeling where it is, or noticing my breathing. People have suggested that the body sends itches to see if the mind is awake, and this happens just that way to me. I expect it, and look forward to the itch like it's a red light turning green, now.
I'll notice that my sense of "physical self lying there" varies a lot at this point. I might not notice tingles (arms/legs) or I might notice them a lot. It can feel like a wave of heaviness and a flush has come over me. The first few times this happened I would get too excited, thinking, "Woo... it's close now... this is sleep paralysis or halucinations stage... LD here I come!"
This is the most dangerous (to the experiment) spot for me, because I'm most likely to go to sleep here. My mind wanders from thought to thought, and I see flashes of dreams and random patterns behind my eyes. I failed so many times at this place, but just trusted that other people were really getting past it. (Thanks to everyone who's posted about trouble at this spot. You kept me going ... I knew I wasn't alone in it, and I was on the right track.)
I was stuck at this stage for a few weeks. Two things helped me out of it: Others suggested trying to move my dream body, like trying to walk, or opening eyes to "see". For myself, I also decided that when I reach this stage, I AM dreaming. This may not be technically correct, but it helps me to remember that I've arrived at where I need to be, and it is OK to relax and try to enter the dream fully.
Last night, I tried to walk. I didn't feel my legs, but I was thinking about walking in that way that makes things happen, in dreams. I tried to see, and I felt my eyes open at the same time I was aware that my body was asleep. I saw light, and a keyboard with keys spelling out, "TIME TO GET UP" on it in bright blue letters. Which made dream sense, which was perfect... no need to reality check it, because I was still aware.
I decided to be the dog (a great dog I had for years, a husky) for the night. I ran around and dream characters acted like I was that dog. I asked one if a friend was present (no one challenged the dog talking), and asked another to go fetch. It worked! Whoever thought up the idea of summoning things behind your back, or just around the corner, did us all a favor in posting it. My subconscious spent 20 or 30 minutes doing odd dream jobs before me before I lost lucidity. Spinning worked to change the scene, and to stabilize the dream. I accidentally summoned an unpleasant person, and spinning erased it out of the dream, as well.
Probably didn't hurt that I was playing Prince of Persia yesterday, and it has a dreamlike undo sequence every time the Prince falls.
Good luck, everyone!
-- AMFW
