Thread: Forget WILDing! Lets VILD instead!

Now I've had some awesome WILDs, instantaneous lucidity and amazing vivid dreams! Not to mention the sensations of warping through a tunnel. Except technically none of these were WILDs because I actually performed them in a false awakening.

I've tried to WILD so many times but I keep running into frustrating problems after frustrating problem after frustrating problem, and you get the idea. So I'll tell you about the one time I did consciously enter a dream. Well the interesting thing was I wasn't even trying to WILD. I was just day dreaming! Eventually the day dream became more vivid, more colorful, there were sounds. I became consciously aware that my day dream turned into something more, and to transform it into a dream I immediately started interacting with my environment. Grabbing things and all!

Eventually the day dream solidified around me and I was in a dream! No SP. No rapid heartbeat. No worrying about staying still. None of that. For the longest time I thought I had a successful WILD. Now I realize that wasn't a WILD, that was a VILD! Similar, but differences are important! The VILD feels more natural. And it seems the only limitation is your ability to daydream. Which in my opinion is still a lot easier to hone down then trying to stay still for an hour and wondering when SP is going to happen......

So let's talk about the VILD! I'm no expert, and I still struggle to repeat the magic. Thats why I want to hear your experiences, tips and advice!

Well, provided you weren't stoned to the gills or something...I really like the sound of this method so far. Do you remember if you had to do a WBTB, or if there was a certain time after waking up that you had the dream? Time budgeting is my biggest constraint...I have daydreaming down pat. I've been able to do something similar from time to time...if I imagine water dripping on, say, the desk in front of me, I'll actually start to hear and see it...I think this method holds incredible potential. Please, keep us posted on your experiments/experiences with this method.

This sounds like the technique for me. I daydream all the time. =)

Can you add more technique to this technique? If It was that easy then I would have maneged it before.

If I stare at something more of less in front of me for a while and relax then I can encorege the whole room to rotate usually up and down sinusoidally with about 2 seconds per cycle.

Personally, I see VILD as a variation of WILD. But yeah, the differences are big. Most of my WILDs are VILDs. It makes things really easy because I can basically use the same technique for both MILD and WILD: I visualize myself in a lucid dream as I fall asleep. When I am very tired early in the night, I fall asleep and get lucid later when the dream starts. When I've slept a lot already, I'll just go straight into the dream with no break in consciousness.

With a VILD, your body is your enemy: you want to keep your focus AWAY from your physical senses as much as possible. You want to keep your focus on what you are visualizing and trying to feel out any changes. Sometimes you have to be very aware of what's going on, because you can be in a dream for several minutes, but simply haven't realized it yet. So it's a good idea to try to "open" your dream eyes and move your dream body a little bit, kind of like a false awakening. A VILD does require you to be very aware of what is going on because you don't normally get SP. I rarely get SP now, which I like because I find the sensation kind of annoying.

Another thing to remember is to not be too forceful when visualizing. If you are too forceful and too focused, your mind will stay in "awake" mode and never relax enough to fall asleep. Also, if you begin to "see" things that differ from what you want to see, just go with the flow. Trying to change it before the dream really begins will likely jolt you awake or set you back. You can always change things once you're in the dream; the important thing about visualizing is that it keeps you company until you begin to dream.

For anyone interested, we have a great tutorial on VILD here.

Perfecting VILD is one of my new year's resolutions. I thought that maybe i should master regular WILD then move to VILD. Is that the wrong way to go? Should i just go ahead a start to try mastering VILD instead? I've only tried VILD once. I tried to go to a lake. I tried to hear watering moving. At first i had to think about it, but then it sustained itself. The weird thing was that i ended up inside of a pyramid. Later in the ld i made it out to an ocean (not a lake, but at least it was a large water source). When i tried this the first time, i waited for sp and then started visualizing. What time during the VILD technique do i start visualization? Do i do it before sp (possibly bypassing it) or wait for sp and then visualize?

Originally Posted by Naiya

With a VILD, your body is your enemy: you want to keep your focus AWAY from your physical senses as much as possible.

I understand what you mean how the VILD is really just a type of WILD. It looks like the only real difference is where we put our attention on. When I try to WILD, I focus so much on the SP. When I try to VILD, I forget that SP is even supposed to happen.

This is actually why I recommend VILDing instead! Because once I become aware of my body in SP, I get so EXCITED that I ruin all chances of entering the dream. I know a lot of people can't get past the excitement of the SP...So...VILD instead!

Another thing to remember is to not be too forceful when visualizing. If you are too forceful and too focused, your mind will stay in "awake" mode and never relax enough to fall asleep. Also, if you begin to "see" things that differ from what you want to see, just go with the flow. Trying to change it before the dream really begins will likely jolt you awake or set you back. You can always change things once you're in the dream; the important thing about visualizing is that it keeps you company until you begin to dream.

Thanks for saying this!! I admit, in the past I was really forceful with the visualization and I never got close to anything dream like. I think my last attempt would have worked if my REM period wasn't actually ending. I suggest going with the flow when the HI is mostly random. And then you can start messing with the HI once it gets a little more stable.

PS. I find there are two major reasons why I can't focus on the HI. One is being too sleepy. If this is the case, try attempting your VILD at a different time in the night. If you need the deep sleep, then you need the deep sleep. The second is mind chatter. If you have mind chatter the moment your head touches the pillow, then I highly recommend doing some relaxation techniques or meditation before continuing with the VILD.

Perfecting VILD is one of my new year's resolutions. I thought that maybe i should master regular WILD then move to VILD. Is that the wrong way to go? Should i just go ahead a start to try mastering VILD instead? I've only tried VILD once. I tried to go to a lake. I tried to hear watering moving. At first i had to think about it, but then it sustained itself. The weird thing was that i ended up inside of a pyramid. Later in the ld i made it out to an ocean (not a lake, but at least it was a large water source). When i tried this the first time, i waited for sp and then started visualizing. What time during the VILD technique do i start visualization? Do i do it before sp (possibly bypassing it) or wait for sp and then visualize?

I used to think the same way too actually. I thought you were supposed to 'master' WILD before you do the VILD. Until I noticed that all of my successful attempts were extremely vivid and never really incorporated SP!

Ive never waited for SP to start visualizing. But I can see how doing that might help your visualization be more vivid? Nice experience btw, bodies of water are fun!

Originally Posted by Naiya

Personally, I see VILD as a variation of WILD.

I see it as a variation of MILD.

Originally Posted by Mario92

Do you remember if you had to do a WBTB, or if there was a certain time after waking up that you had the dream? Time budgeting is my biggest constraint...

I know what you mean, I really only have the weekend to try to VILD-WILD. My first sucessful VILD was actually during a nap. At that time I was jobless, so I didn't have any real reason to be productive

But, I got really close the other morning. My cat woke me up at about 7am, meowing and meowing at my door. I let her in my room, close the door, hop back into bed thinking that I want to VILD.....Then kitty meows and meows because she wants to leave my room. I kick her out, close the door and hop back into bed to try to VILD again. Ten minutes later, kitty was back at my door, meowing and meowing to get in! She kept me up for two hours! Does that count for WBTB?

Finally, at 9am I try to VILD. I guess being up for nearly two hours helped. My head is clear, theres no mind chatter (very important) so I can easily focus on the HI. This time I struggle to envision my dream forest, instead I had random items pop up. First I saw a pencil, and to keep myself from falling asleep I would tell myself what I'm seeing, "pencil, a sharpener, paint.......".

Wait a minute! I realize at this time that all of my HI are of art supplies! Oh man....I'm about to dream of work!

Whenever work stresses me out, theres nothing I can do to force the HI to transform into something fanciful. So for the time being, I just let the enivitble happen. And in a few minutes, I'm standing in front of the register and a costumer has a huge basket of art supplies. Oh well.....As long as I remain conscious I'll still be able to manipulate the HI. For now I have to 'move through' the images of work first.

I snatch the basket from the costumer and dump the items on the floor! I take this opportunity to increase the vividness of my HI by observing all the random art supplies on the floor. Then I dump the basket on the costumers head and send him off his merry way. BEEP! I get my first HI sound......ahh....I know this sound. It's the sound of items being rung up, how sweet

Then I hear the crumbling of paper. It was so real it startled me out of the HI!! I quickly focus within my head to bring back the vivid HI. I crumble paper in my own hands until I'm able to reproduce the sound of it crumbling. Soon, my HI exploded with lots of sounds. Like my boss some where mumbling. <-- note, my HI didn't get very noisy until I focused on sound!

Well...work served it's purpose. Now my HI has gotten pretty stable. It's not a dream yet, and I can still sense my body on the bed. And it's pretty hard to move in my HI.

I change the HI scene into my own bedroom. I imagine a tall mirror. I focus on my reflection in the HI mirror. I have no idea why actually!! I had this weird idea at the time that if I did this it would induce the dream state. It was pretty freakish focusing so much on my reflection, and seeing the whites of my eyes in an HI. Well something is working, because now I can walk around in the HI and I can talk without talking in real life!

I notice theres a random HI character hanging out in my home. I ask her if she's my subconscious. She just smiles and seems to want to lead me some where. She stands by a doorway. I look out the door....It's bright and sunny! And I can see...green! My dream forest! All I have to do now is walk out this door and I'm in the dream! I take a step forward..........

and I wake up. No no sorry, its not a FA, it was for real

WHY! I turn over and look at the time, its 10:30 am. I think my REM period just went to poop!! So, I got up, ate breakfast and that was that. Note to self..........go to sleep earlier............

Can you add more technique to this technique? If It was that easy then I would have maneged it before.

Sorry for the confusion, I was mostly just sharing my own experience and inviting others to do the same. I also recommend the VILD tutorial we have here in the forum. I'm not saying its as easy as day-dreaming, it's not. But I do believe it's easier than how most people perform the WILD.