Adam's WILD Technique!

**Adam** · 02-25-2008 04:50 PM

Adams WILD Technique
Version 1.0 updated 25th February 2008
Version 1.1 updated 16th March 2008

Introduction

I have been lucid dreaming for about 13 years, I do not know the exact time, but it has been since childhood. Until recently all my lucid dreams have been natural Dream-Initiated-Lucid-Dream (DILD) or Dream-Exit-Induced-Lucid-Dream (DEILD). I have been practicing a variation of Wake-Initiated-Lucid-Dream (WILD) techniques for near on 6 months now and this version of what I do when I WILD appears to be the most successful for me. As far as I know most techniques teach you to focus your attention on Hypnagogic Imagery (HI), ask that you stay awake for anything up to 2 hours; sometimes more. What I do is focus more on the physical sensations created by the mind, rather than visual sensations. Incorporating Wake-Back-To-Bed (WBTB) and only being up for a maximum of 10 minutes.

Synopsis

The WILD technique basically works by remaining conscious until you fall to sleep and start dreaming instantly. If done right with practice it can be a relatively easy technique and can produce some amazing experiences. The WILD technique works best in conjunction with WBTB since you enter Rapid-Eye-Movement (REM) sleep a lot faster after 5-6 hours sleep and don’t enter stages 3 and 4 as you do when you first go to sleep.

The big problem is remaining conscious until the dream starts. Overcoming this leads to many strange experiences, some can be quite scary, others very strange, quite synonymous with its name ‘WILD’ I guess.

I have put this guide together as this is a variation on the technique which works very well for me and has produced some amazing results, even managing to WILD from going straight to sleep avoiding WBTB! I hope this helps others, and if there are any questions I am happy to help, so on with the tutorial.

Prerequisite

Okay there is one thing you need to consider before trying this, this might change based on your successes but for me the following I have found is important. I will try to explain why it is important and how you can achieve results.

- Ensure your sleep pattern is regular and plentiful!

One point I have found common with people new to lucid dreaming or who have trouble with lucid dreaming and/or dream recall is a good amount of sleep and a regular sleep schedule. My theory is the better quality the sleep is, the more relaxed the body is. For example – if you tend to sleep for short amounts of time each evening your body doesn’t get the rest it needs. The amount of sleep required varies with each individual, with the average being 7.2 hours. Some people require no more than 4 to 6 hours of sleep, while others require 8 to 10 hours. By ages 15-19, we begin to establish our lifetime average. The amount of sleep required stabilises once one reaches adulthood. I am a believer that 8 hours should be sufficient for your body to be restful.

I have noticed with lack of sleep, I sleep deeper, primarily because the body doesn’t have a regular pattern of sleep, and doesn’t know when the next amount of good sleep is going to come from, so sleep is deeper for the body to get the rest required to recharge. Regular, plentiful and scheduled sleep allows the biological clock to sync and your body can sleep lighter knowing it will be getting regular sleep/rest – and I believe there is a direct correlation between good, light sleep and lucid dreaming success. Mainly due to lighter REM sleep.

The Technique

The technique is to be practiced in conjunction with the aforementioned prerequisite. Results cannot be guaranteed since this technique has been refined to me, but happy to work with people to get this to work well with them. My technique is aimed at working alongside WBTB, as this seems to be where the best results come, not just for this technique but also for most WILD techniques.

- Set your alarm for about 4.5 to 5.5 hours after you go to bed this is allowing for 30 minutes to fall asleep. It would be beneficial and results would be better getting to sleep at about 11pm. This means you get up around 3/4am, it is still dark, and external distractions are do not come into the equation, since everyone else should be sleeping too. One common complaint is people try to WILD and then some outside their room is talking, or their cat jumps on their bed. Doing it in the middle of the night limits these distractions.

- Once awake, aim to be awake for about 5/10 minutes. These times can vary, and you will need to work to find which amount of time is sufficient for you. If you are awake for 5 minutes and you find you fall to sleep to quickly, then lengthen the time you are awake for, and visa versa.

- When awake, I usually take a toilet break (easier to concentrate on the WILD on an empty bladder) and perhaps get a glass of water (I drink about a pint during the night) or something, but this is usually it. I then get back into bed. Try not to wake too much as this can sometimes make it harder to fall back to sleep. I find if it takes me more than about 20 minutes to WILD I get frustrated and this has a detrimental affect on my success.

- When in bed there’s not really too much ground breaking here, but it is different from what others do – I basically wait a couple of minutes for my body to get relaxed, thinking about nothing, just falling to sleep. This can be in any position you like, just try get rested again. Naturally your heart will be beating faster, because when you sleep, your heart rate slows down, getting up and out of bed speeds it up again. So resting for a minute or two is important to relax yourself. Then when I feel relaxed enough, and I am ready to drop off, this is when I start to WILD.

- Lay as still as you can, eyes shut, and preferably on your back, although not imperative, I find it easier to manipulate the sensations on my back, but try what is best for you. I focus my attention on my body; primarily on my back (this is why lying on your back helps). At first it seems there is not a great deal going on, but usually to start off with I will focus my attention on my back sinking into my bed. Sometimes in tandem my eyes will also feel as if they are looking further away into blackness. Like when you concentrate on your eyelids, it’s like you are looking beyond them. I use this visualisation to make it feel like I am sinking deeper into my bed.

[An important note here is that at no point do I concentrate on Hypnagogic Imagery. All sensations I focus on are motion, not visual. You might find visualisations help, but for me I do not use them]

- When you get to this stage, it is important to try not to force these sensations. Go with them. Initially it will more than likely be your back sinking and sometimes it might feel like you are going to flip around, or you might experience a sliding sensation. It varies each nigh, but the main focus is on the sensations. What I do is wait for them to get quite intensive, and then try landing myself (usually I feel like I am falling at this point) somewhere. Like back on a bed, or just into a room. You have to focus your mind on the feeling of your back sinking, or your legs rising, but once you get these, your mind takes over and this allows you to WILD.

- The transition from these sensations into a lucid dream can be quite tricky, getting into the dream might be difficult at first but it is important to remember that if at first you don’t get there you should be able to quickly get back to the sensations and start again. I sometimes find myself going back to the sensations a couple of times, and you should really get there instantly providing you don’t wake up.

I learnt that one key thing which helped was when lying still and with my eyes shut it was like I was focussing on my eyelids. But soon I tried looking beyond them, and my vision would change to seem like I was focussing further and further away from them. I used this then to feel like it was me moving away from this rather than my sight looking further ahead if that makes sense? So when I am looking into my eyelids, I visualise my back sinking into the bed, and at the same time my vision would look beyond my eyelids further convincing myself I was sinking further and further into my bed. And from here once you get these sensations they pretty much take over.

One difficulty I have experienced is breathing. I found sometimes that if I was breathing too deeply my breathing in would counteract the sensations of me sinking. Because your stomach/chest moves outwards when you inhale, so this counteracted my sensations I was trying to induce. So then I would lye still in my bed, waiting till I was tired and ready to sleep and my breathing had slowed right down, then I would be ready to try. Once I had realised this, then it was a matter of using my vision it help induce the sinking sensations, which doesn't always happen at first, but after a while you begin to feel it. Something which helped was digging my back into my bed and holding it there for 30/60 seconds, and then you relax, this gives the opposite feeling that it is in fact your legs sinking, which helped a lot.

This is the technique I have been working on recently with fantastic results for me.

I am happy to answer any questions you might have if you are going to try this technique. Any comments or suggestions you might have are also very welcome. I hope this brings you many lucid dreams like it has done for me.
Adam.

______________________________________

Here are some experiences from people who have had success with this tutorial:

Originally Posted by Robot_Butler

I tried this again last night, Adam. Great success!

I was on my back imagining my body falling backwards, and that my bedsheets were like a parachute that the wind was pressing against me as I fell. Like I was falling through space while wrapped in a bedsheet.

I hit sleep paralysis and started feeling my body humming and vibrating like mad. My girlfriend kept kicking me, so I kept popping out of SP. Once I was in, it was pretty easy to return, so after about an hour of trying not to get mad at the lady, I finally hit a great bout of SP.

I decided it was time to finally enter a dream, so I started imagining the feeling of floating upwards. I was trying to make it as vivid as possible, and next think I knew, I slammed against my ceiling. I reached out my hands and felt the texture of the ceiling for a minute or two to make sure I was 100% locked in the dream, then I opened my eyes. I then started climbing around on the ceiling like spiderman.

This whole time, I was listening to a man and a woman discussing Tax Law. They were talking about the alternative minimum tax and how it didn't allow for the deduction of wholesale grocery purchases at your farmer's market.

I was crawling on the ceiling trying to figure out what the hell they were talking about. As I turned the corner to climb down my bedroom wall, I felt a huge gust of wind, and looked down to find myself outside, on the side of a tall building above an outdoor farmers market. The two people talking were walking along the street far below me.

Originally Posted by Riot Maker

Worked for me last night.

I just basicly followed the procedure and after about 10 minutes of intense sensations, i just had that feeling that i could roll out of my bed, and i did.

thanks adam, great tutorial btw.

**Vex Kitten** · 02-25-2008 04:59 PM

Nice write up.
How often do you practice this technique?

**Adam** · 02-25-2008 05:01 PM

I did it for a while to refine it - about 3-4 times a week, will about 90% success. Now I have not had time because I have been so busy with work/holidays/study that I didn't want to disturb my sleep - but in full swing was quite often with very good results

**Axel** · 02-25-2008 05:01 PM

You've told me this technique over DV chat but you didn't give me this much info so i'm going to try it this way tonight. Hopefully I will get close enough to modivate me to keep working on it all week lol (winter break ftw)

**Vex Kitten** · 02-25-2008 05:05 PM

90% success rate, huh?
Does that come with some sort of guarentee?

**Adam** · 02-25-2008 05:12 PM

Read the small print

It did take a lot of failed efforts to get here though, so this shouldn't be seen as the mirracle technique lol - I personally find it easier to stimulate physical sensations than visual ones, and induce lucid dreaming this way - for those similar to me, they should have similar success

(I hope).

**Clairity** · 02-25-2008 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by Adam

I have put this guide together as this is a variation on the technique which works very well for me and has produced some amazing results, even managing to WILD from going straight to sleep avoiding WBTB!

Adam, I would love to be able to WILD without having to WBTB. I'll definately be giving this a try!

**Adam** · 02-25-2008 06:44 PM

It worked when I was extreamly exhausted and really tired, because I then I found it really easy to fall to sleep and straight into a lucid dream (via WILD)

**ArtfulBodger** · 02-25-2008 07:15 PM

Like i said in your 'Poll' Thread, im gonna try WILD on my side tonight, and now i'll be using this method. Seeing as i wont be on my back, maybe i'll imagine my head falling through the pillow. That should have the same effect, shouldn't it?

A very descriptive and helpful tutorial adam.

**phonix** · 02-25-2008 07:19 PM

I find WILDing a very amazing tactic, its like nothing I have ever felt before and I remian Lucid for so long!

**Adam** · 02-25-2008 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by ArtfulBodger

Like i said in your 'Poll' Thread, im gonna try WILD on my side tonight, and now i'll be using this method. Seeing as i wont be on my back, maybe i'll imagine my head falling through the pillow. That should have the same effect, shouldn't it?

A very descriptive and helpful tutorial adam.

It should do - The main focus is on part of your body. It's just that when I am on my back it makes sense for it to be my back sinking into the bed - so on your side it could very well be the same

**ArtfulBodger** · 02-25-2008 07:24 PM

It does sound like a very cool idea. I can imagine now having my head go through the pillow and my legs falling through last, if that seems like a good idea. Either way i'm trying it tonight for definate. Cheers mate.

**Adam** · 02-25-2008 07:29 PM

No problem, let me know how you get on - If it doesn't work right away, we can see what results you do get and go from there

**Photolysis** · 02-25-2008 08:44 PM

I'll definitely be giving this one a try; I've yet to achieve a very long WILD; the ones I've had have come late into the sleep cycle when I woke during a gap in the dreams. The dreams were certainly a lot better than the DILD ones though.

**Adam** · 02-25-2008 11:25 PM

Let me know how you get on

**Sean999** · 02-26-2008 01:36 AM

I'm going to try this. Most times when I've tried WILDing, I only get physical sensations. I usually try to strengthen them, but haven't had success yet. I always didn't know whether to visualize or not, and it just woke me up. This should keep me concentrated enough. Thanks for sharing!

**Adam** · 02-26-2008 11:34 AM

I am the same, visualisations just didn't work for me. So had to think of some other way of stimulating my mind and becoming lucid and this seems to work perfectly for me. Let me know how you get on

**Axel** · 02-26-2008 02:03 PM

Wow...I got the closest i've ever gotten using part of this technique. I combined visualizations and feeling sensations. All day yesterday I was playing Zelda (lol) and I kept getting HI of Link. In one of them link would roll and I would try to feel how it feels to roll and I felt it. Then he went and jumped off the edge, I then felt that. Then he took he claw shot and shot and something and zipped to it and again, I felt it. It only took about 5 minutes and boom I started getting tingly feelings like my legs fell asleep. But I just couldn't keep my eyes from staying shut, they were like twitching really fast and I could see a little line of vision at the bottom of my eyelids. If I opened my eyes fully the tingling wouldn't stop but when I opened them I felt dizzy for a second and then I felt normal. And eventually the tingling stopped.

(btw this was without a WBTB)

**Adam** · 02-26-2008 02:49 PM

Glad you made some progress!! I would really recommend using this in conjunction with WBTB though for best results. Unless you are really exhausted, try this again with WBTB

Either way thanks for trying, and reporting back

Adam.

**Axel** · 02-26-2008 02:55 PM

For me, it seems as though as I get closest to WILDing before a WBTB. But i'll try anyway. I was gonna try because I woke up at like 4:00 and decided not to try because I have to go to the dentist at 10:00.

**ArtfulBodger** · 02-26-2008 09:16 PM

Well.... Fate was unkind last night.

Didn't get to try the technique sadly. I went to bed at 10:30 pm, planning to wake via my alarm at 4:00am or via having myself automatically awake after any dreams (I'm apparently very good at that.) ... ...... Woke up at 12 am. The wind outside was insanely noisey and it was incredibly hot. I opened up the window in the bathroom expecting it to cool things down, but did it? No, it made whoosh noises from the wind in the alley. I layed there thinking i was about to get to sleep and my brother stumbles through the front door at 1 am. Still i lay there, now feeling incredibly hungry. At 1:30 i realise im not gonna get to sleep in these conditions, so i take my sleeping bag downstairs and my bed cover to lay on. I can't drag my matress downstairs so the Cover will have to do. Once I get downstairs and try to sleep I still feel an incredible hunger, so around 1:45 I get some water and a Chicken Tikka Sandwich (

) and 'Nosh' for a while. Then, after settling down for one last try before I nearly decide to stay awake all night, I realise that if i Sleep in the living room, i can hear the Rain on the conservatory window, and the wind from the chimeny. And the fridge. And the clock. And the fusebox under the stairs. And the crickets my brother feeds his lizards. I didnt get to sleep till around 3:30. I woke for college at 6.

I THINK at some point between 10:30 and 12 i had a dream, but i forget everything about it. And i remember forgetting it when i woke up at 12.
...
Last night sucked.

**aceboy** · 02-27-2008 06:22 AM

great tutorial! i've always been wondering were yours was. (ive seen clairity's ,seekers, billybob) you pretty much explained everything, i thought i had some questions for you but i reread it and found them. ill tell you if i get any results.

**Terrorhawker** · 02-27-2008 12:51 PM

I'll be trying this tonight.

I have trouble WILDing because I can't keep my eyes closed. It seems like they are trying to force themselves open.

**Adam** · 02-27-2008 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by Axel

For me, it seems as though as I get closest to WILDing before a WBTB. But i'll try anyway. I was gonna try because I woke up at like 4:00 and decided not to try because I have to go to the dentist at 10:00.

Cool, let me know how you get on.

Originally Posted by ArtfulBodger

Well.... Fate was unkind last night.

Didn't get to try the technique sadly. I went to bed at 10:30 pm, planning to wake via my alarm at 4:00am or via having myself automatically awake after any dreams (I'm apparently very good at that.) ... ...... Woke up at 12 am. The wind outside was insanely noisey and it was incredibly hot. I opened up the window in the bathroom expecting it to cool things down, but did it? No, it made whoosh noises from the wind in the alley. I layed there thinking i was about to get to sleep and my brother stumbles through the front door at 1 am. Still i lay there, now feeling incredibly hungry. At 1:30 i realise im not gonna get to sleep in these conditions, so i take my sleeping bag downstairs and my bed cover to lay on. I can't drag my matress downstairs so the Cover will have to do. Once I get downstairs and try to sleep I still feel an incredible hunger, so around 1:45 I get some water and a Chicken Tikka Sandwich (

) and 'Nosh' for a while. Then, after settling down for one last try before I nearly decide to stay awake all night, I realise that if i Sleep in the living room, i can hear the Rain on the conservatory window, and the wind from the chimeny. And the fridge. And the clock. And the fusebox under the stairs. And the crickets my brother feeds his lizards. I didnt get to sleep till around 3:30. I woke for college at 6.

I THINK at some point between 10:30 and 12 i had a dream, but i forget everything about it. And i remember forgetting it when i woke up at 12.
...
Last night sucked.

Oh no! Sounds like you had a right nightmare trying last night! Good luck if you try again

Originally Posted by aceboy

great tutorial! i've always been wondering were yours was. (ive seen clairity's ,seekers, billybob) you pretty much explained everything, i thought i had some questions for you but i reread it and found them. ill tell you if i get any results.

Thanks

I have never really posted this. I did have another rechnique but this one works so much better because you don't have to focus on HI like so many other techniques. So good for those people who get more physical sensations than visual.

Good luck and let me know how you get on

Originally Posted by Terrorhawker

I'll be trying this tonight.

I have trouble WILDing because I can't keep my eyes closed. It seems like they are trying to force themselves open.

It sounds to me like you are trying to focus on something and by doing so your eyes wanting to open. I would try relaxing them first. Are you trying this in the dark? Also if you are trying to focus on something more than likely it is as if you are looking up, I think a lot of people naturally look up with their eyes closed. This sometimes means we are struggling to keep our eyes fully shut.

I would try looking down, if you have to look somewhere, this should make it easier to keep your eyelids fully closed. However I don't think it is too much of a problem having a little gap at the bottom of your eyelids, providing you are in a dark room with nothing to distract you.

Hope this makes sense? If you need anymore info/help let me know

Adam.

**Robot_Butler** · 02-28-2008 12:34 AM

Great write up, Adam. I like how you brought attention to the fact that you actually have to fall asleep during a WILD. Lots of tutorials I've read forget this or take it for granted and confuse people into staying awake for hours.

I've had lots of success with tactile sensations also. I don't sleep on my back, so I will stay on my side and imagine I'm swinging back and forth like a hammock or bouncing up and down on the mattress. I like the repetition/ rhythm.

I'm going to try this tonight.

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