Thread: SP!? FAQ! lets clear things up.

Originally Posted by Myke Gregory

i have several questions to ask you as the dreaming comunity.
i need to clear up all the things i have heard about SP.
when i hear one thing, someone else tells me different so lets clear things up.

Do i really just have to lie there until my mind just falls into a dream?
When/if i do fall into the dream will i be lucid strait away?
and is thinking of a dream on its own enough to keep you awake?

thanks for all your replies.
Myke.

You may be able to enter a dream just by laying in bed and letting it happen. This is the WILD technique. There are various ways to WILD, one of which involves using Sleep Paralysis, the paralysis of your body while awake. Others did not- some focus on keeping your mind busy, others on visualization, some just happen.
If you retain your consciousness, you will be lucid straightaway, making it a successful WILD (Wake-Induced-Lucid-Dream, now that makes sense ). If you fail to retain consciousness, you will enter a dream as on any other night, and if you were to become lucid during that dream you will have had a DILD (Dream Induced Lucid Dream).
As I've said, there are different ways people keep themselves awake.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that we dream, and are able to lucid dream, outside of REM periods. We can be successful in NREM. So, while keeping track of your dream times and learning approximately how far into sleep you may be in a dream, it's not always 100% necessary to keep strict calculations and do WBTBs for REM periods.

You may be interested in the DEILD technique, if you're struggling with WILDs. Many find this to be significantly easier than WILDing from a period of full awakening, and you don't end up laying awake for as long.

When you experience the paralysis of SP, you do not always get hallucinations. Sometimes you get nothing but paralysis, sometimes you get hallucinations in addition to paralysis. The types of hallucinations vary, and one of the hypnagogic hallucinations commonly associated with SP is the feeling of vibrating or being electrocuted. However, it does not always, and it's not the only one.

The end of the hallucinations associated with SP do not necessarily mean that you are in a dream. The hallucinations may have just ended, SP itself may have ended and you'll find yourself able to move, or maybe you did in fact enter a dream.

Yes, you have questions and it's confusing. This is because this is the hardest part of the WILD technique, and everyone learning to WILD wonders... "So, what do I do now?" Remember also, that perhaps this method of WILD induction isn't for you. Focusing on your body while you fall asleep is only one way to do so. Methods like VILD and HIT and counting (or what have you) may be easier for you, so try not to get sucked into the SP obsession and just do what feels right and easiest for you.

Originally Posted by Shift

The end of the hallucinations associated with SP do not necessarily mean that you are in a dream. The hallucinations may have just ended, SP itself may have ended and you'll find yourself able to move,

heya shift

on several of my WILD attempts i have gotten a load of HH, vibrations, (what feels like) a racing heart beat, etc.
it gets really intense, then dies away, and i just feel numb, but am NOT paralysed.

then if i wait, exactly the same thing happens again, and again. it happened 3 times in a row, with a 5 min gap in between.
but with end result of no SP, just numbness

what should i do?
why did this happen?

(i apologise if this is the wrong place to ask this)

thanks

try getting up and doing a RC when it starts dying down. A lot of times you'll have a FA and be in the dream.

The WILDs that I had yesterday was like fishing and catching really small fish. I'd get a nibble, and nothing else, but when I finally pulled up the line, I realized I had something.

Sometimes the dream doesn't start automatically....you may have to "get up" and just check things. And when you do, a lot of the times it gets the dream going.