A long time ago, I lost sight WHY I chose VILD as my induction class of choice. It's not because of the speed, the power or the vivid inductions. When it comes down to it, it turns out those really don't matter very much. The REAL reasons I VILD is because it's goddam fun, doesn't take much (if anything) out of your real life and feels natural to do.
Thus, I will tip my hat to billybob and his simple induction thread and do what I should have done a long, long time ago. Don't post anything even resembling a technique, but rather post a set of guidelines and tips that are useful. Following these guidelines should maximize your chance of getting a successful Visually induced dream. (Even a non-lucid one.)
VILD GUIDELINES
Be aware in general
Look around you. Bask in your senses. How do you plan to experience the world in your head if you've never experienced it in real life?
Let your feelings guide you
As little thought as possible should be involved. Don't second guess where your thoughts are going at every turn.
Trust yourself. Be confident.
You CAN visualize. You do it every night, you do it every day. It would be silly to think this suddenly stops when you try to fall asleep.
Keep a general direction
Always have some sort of goal (such as exploration or somewhere you're trying to get to). Make sure you are always working towards this goal. It will keep you aware.
Interact with your environment
It's all "real". Reach out and grab it!
If something doesn't work, don't do it.
You will be working with trial and error. Some visualization places won't work. Some goals might become bad to pursue. If you find yourself in a situation where things aren't working out, don't stay the course. Change something and continue un-obstructed.
Have no preconceptions.
I guarantee your experiences are going to be different from mine and every other person on this site. Trust only yourself and discard any information that does not seem to fit. EVEN THINGS I SAY, EVEN THINGS ON THIS LIST.
Relax and fall asleep.
You are going to bed. Act like it.
How to fail a VILD
Strive for perfection.
Even I, one of the best visualizers on this site, do not do "pixel-perfect" visualizations. If you try to make everything perfect, it simply will not work. In real life, your perceptions are incomplete and imperfect. This is why optical illusions work. This can still be "REAL" without being "perfect"
Use the force.
Hard-handed manipulations to your environment can give un-intended consequences. General dream control principles still apply to your visualization and things that would destabilize a dream could do the same to the visualization. Exercise finesse with your manipulations.
Stay awake.
Falling asleep with no LD is preferable to staying awake ad infinitum trying to induce one. It is very easy to keep yourself awake. Let go of the real world and all it's worries. Shoot for the dreams. It's okay even if you miss.
VILD when you're not in the mood/in the zone
Sometimes you're just not in the right state of mind to WILD. Just like if you aren't in the right mood to fall asleep, you'll only aggravate yourself if you try.
Make it become a chore
Have fun! When you aren't enjoying induction any longer, you are already lost.
If you've ever wondered how naturals WILD, this is as close as you will get. We don't lie down with a technique in mind, but rather we have naturally developed a set of guidelines that we automatically follow as we fall asleep. It's nowhere near the rigor of a tech but it is complete and gets LDs a decent portion of nights. I am eternally curious if a "non-natural" can become a "natural" by developing and subscribing to their own guidelines. There is no physical reason why everyone can't be a natural, is there?
