Recent DJ Posts

I technique, I think Michael Raduga's Phase technique addresses this question to some extent. You might want to look it up (there's a thread on DV about it here). Also, since his Phase is basically a DEILD technique, and DEILD is a form of WILD, reviewing Raduga's technique will not take you away from your overall WILD pursuit.

Other than that, can i get an example run of the WILD technique? Showing all the steps in a basic matter (Awakening, Waiting, etc..) because i'm going for it all next time..

1. Set a specific day and time for the attempt, based on experimentation/experience (mine is on Wednesday mornings, with WBTB beginning at about 8am).

2. Stay up a bit late the night before (usually until 2-3am for me) to be sure my personal maximum hours of pre-WBTB sleep pass before WBTB-time (5 hours).

3. Go to sleep normally, with thoughts of my upcoming WILD prominent in my mind.

4. Waken around 8am -- I don't use an alarm for this, so sometimes its a bit earlier, sometimes later; I am careful to not get concerned about waking off-schedule.

5. Do a WBTB for a minimum of 30 minutes, sometimes as long as an hour. During WBTB, I keep my thoughts "dreamy," I review what I'll be doing in my upcoming LD, and I do not watch TV, use the computer or phone, engage in conversation, or do anything that might wake me up too much.

6. I lay back down and begin my WILD by lying on my back, breathing deeply a few times, and settling into a steady repetition of my day's chosen mantra. I will continue repeating the mantra throughout steps 7 and 8, and sometimes right into step 9.

Special note: be sure when you lay down to begin your WILD you do it in a quiet dark place in which you can be sure that there will be no waking-life intrusions for at least a couple of hours. This seems obvious, but it's often overlooked.

7. I go to sleep. Because I am a light sleeper, this can take a while (sometimes more than an hour), so I have learned to be very patient. On the path to sleep, I generally hold still, but I do move if I must: I scratch itches, swallow, shift uncomfortable limbs, and even occasionally succumb to the rollover impulse (though I don't recommend that, because it can be very difficult to hang onto your self-awareness during this natural process meant to get you to go to sleep faster). Also on the path to sleep, I quietly ignore the assorted noise that can accompany my journey, because it really does not matter (it doesn't even deserve it's own step number).

8. I transition to the dream. Still repeating my mantra, I either sense the dream beginning or have already begun forming one of my own (usually the former, because I've found it easier to reform an existing dream than to start from scratch). I then calmly feel myself becoming part of a new world, and remember that it is my dreamworld. (This actually ought to be part of step 7, but, given that the WILD transition is what this entire endeavor is about, I figured it should get its own number.)

9. I dream. I settle into the dream, taking a moment to remember my sleeping body, remember my goals, and maybe (but not always) do a RRC, all of which help assert my self-awareness, my presence in the dream, and strengthen my access to memory. I usually let the dream play for a very short time before doing anything, just to be sure that my dreaming mind/unconscious is in full dream mode and ready to work with me. Then, with as little thought as possible, I leave the dream I am in and set about assembling a new dream based upon the day's goals (sometimes, though more and more rarely these days, I will stay in that first given dream for a time, if its schema seems interesting or potentially fun).

On a side note, this is the place a lot of people seem to lose their way: they get all the way to the dream, and then either get exited and wake up, fall prey to the grandeur of their dream and lose lucidity, or simply forget that they are supposed to continue being self-aware and lapse into a NLD (often about being lucid, which can be confusing). This is a very good reason for continuing your mantra right into the dream, because it serves as an excellent reminder that you are dreaming.

10. I notice that I am about to wake up, and prepare to do a DEILD. In order to prolong my dream, and in deference to the fact that we are physically bound to REM periods that max out at about 90 minutes, I take care to notice when I start hearing things like my waking-life breath or white noise machine in the distance, and remind myself that I'll be waking soon. I gather up as much of the fading dream as I can (usually intellectually, by remembering plot lines, major characters, and the last complete state of the scene that is rapidly fading) to prepare for step 11.

11. I DEILD. As wakefulness sets in, I gently keep my eyes closed, and, holding onto all the dream details I brought with me, I wait patiently for sleep to resume, and head right back into the dream I just left. I also will return to my last dream even if I am planning on starting a new one once I return to sleep, because for some reason the presence of the last dream makes it easier to form the new dream.

12. I wake up. On good days wake-up will take a while because I will repeatedly return to the dream through DEILDs, but eventually the party will be over. Then I lay quietly for as long as an hour, reviewing where I've been. Eventually I will get up and set about recording it all in my DJ. The whole process, from first laying down to sleep to closing the DJ's cover, usually lasts 10-12 hours.


That's it in as small a nutshell as I can manage; keep in mind that these steps are the ones I personally take (though I do recommend them), and your specific steps will almost certainly vary.

I hope all this helps, and above all I wish you the best of luck with your WILD dive!