Thread: Why You Fail at WILDs

I like the idea and had a good start with it, but same problem as always, I can't fall asleep and only get some weak HIs and SP. I tried it 3-4 times over 2 days and changed between counting in the back of my mind, repeating words or short sentences. I tried it at different times of the day, after a few hours of sleep and as a nap, but the idea might be ok, tried to Wild for many years now.

Originally Posted by samf

how do you remain aware while falling asleep? To me, falling asleep includes forgetting the conscious world.

I'll quote myself for this one.

Originally Posted by Mzzkc

There's a few good ways to do it: anchors, setting a 'reminder', straight-up willpower. and emulating thought patterns that occur when falling asleep are the ones I've found most effective.

Anchors are pretty straightforward and should be well known enough that I don't need to explain them here. Correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

The 'reminder' is something I developed awhile back when first experimenting with the idea. Essentially, you use prospective memory to set a 'sentinel of intent,' as I like to call it, to jolt you into consciousness the moment you feel the usual transition.

Using willpower simply involves going to sleep while forcing yourself to stay aware throughout the transition. For it work properly, you have to stop controlling the direction of your thoughts, while still keeping a close eye on your mental state. It's not the easiest thing in the world, and definitely not my method of choice. I usually only use it when I'm exhausted, but I still have my mental faculties performing well. Actually, my last two failures were accomplished using this one.

The thought pattern emulation actually evolved from my experiments with the willpower method. This time, you take full control of your thoughts, but direct them in such a way that each thought leads to a seemingly random associated thought, much like what happens when falling asleep. It takes some practice to get down, but I really like this one. The thought chains can be quite interesting at times.

Those are just what I use personally. Your mileage will vary, so I highly suggest you figure out what works for you. Unfortunately, that's something you've got to do solo.

Originally Posted by exileblue

I like the idea and had a good start with it, but same problem as always, I can't fall asleep and only get some weak HIs and SP. I tried it 3-4 times over 2 days and changed between counting in the back of my mind, repeating words or short sentences. I tried it at different times of the day, after a few hours of sleep and as a nap, but the idea might be ok, tried to Wild for many years now.

What's your mindset when making the attempt? What are you doing differently from how you normally fall asleep? Are you trying to recognize SP/thinking about it when you feel it? What were the times exactly, and how much sleep did you get on each day?

Originally Posted by Mzzkc

What's your mindset when making the attempt? What are you doing differently from how you normally fall asleep? Are you trying to recognize SP/thinking about it when you feel it? What were the times exactly, and how much sleep did you get on each day?

Normally I just go to bed and fall asleep in a few minutes, if it takes more time, then I listen to this weird whistling sound in my ears, it often speeds the whole thing up. When I Wild without your Idea in mind, I "try" to get SP and then I'm mostly stuck in my mind, I get short HIs but they disappear after a second. In the last days I started a new technique where I collapse every sensory information that I get, on a single point. After a short time of doing that, I come close do a dream-like state, but then I hit a wall, it's like I can't get more sleepy, but at the same time I can't fall asleep.
While trying a WBTB, I'll sometimes just lose conciseness, fall asleep, but mostly because I'm to careful not getting too awake, because then I maybe couldn't go back to sleep.
I never really think about SP, it just happens, especially because my Wild-tries often exceed 2 hours.
I slept pretty normal while trying your idea, 7 hours at night (wbtb after 4-5 hours) and than again a short nap 6 hours after leaving the bed.

edit:
1. I never had the feeling that I could really enter a dream, it just seems like I imagine to start dreaming, but it won`t really happen = HI, only for short bursts I sometimes had seemingly real images that just lasted a second. For me it's like trying to achieve the impossible, but that makes it so interesting.

2. It would be great, if you could explain your whole routine, what you do and think, so that I can better identify my problem. I never really read something like that from someone in this forum, who really "mastered" wilds.

It's okay to swallow?! all this time I lived in a lie?
I can handle without swallowing, but with swallowing it's easier!
I got to a stage when my feet mooving like a flame(If I concentrate in them), but then my mind saying me to roll, and Im like"No! you can't fool me!"....but after few seconds I surender...so what do u advise me to do?

Last night I tried a WILD. I just listened to the sound of my breathing and ended up falling asleep normally. That night I had a DILD! This is a little off topic, but I've heard that it's actually common for failed WILDs to become DILDs. Just saying...

Thanks for this,

Had one WILD experience since reading this guide, and I am now back re-reading it as I have failed since.

The outline of what happened when I was succesful was that I had been haunted by recurring dreams that woke me up, reset and woke me up again within 1-2 minutes for some time. I recognised this and kept repeating to myself "just go to sleep" as I had these dreams, tossing, turning itching you name it. BAM I wake up and only realise SP while I was in the beginning of my lucid, the sensation of SP faded away after a few minutes of intense dream stabilisation.

Just want to support the whole, don't try to WILD with that description. In fact the mental repetition "just go to sleep" sort of became my serendipidous anchor to maintaining awarenes.

Gonna use your advice on retrospection, focus on what went right when it happend and try a more relaxed approach. My failures since have all been with me trying completely still, focusing on my breath, completely ignoring what happened when I succeeded. Have had 2 WILDs so far, both where I didn't recognise SP until I was in the dream, so I will really try not to give a crap about it and "just go to sleep".

Thanks a lot, will update when I am succesful!

Really?
I just wrote up a huge thing for this thread and went to click "Go Advanced" and found out that I'd been signed out. I clicked back, dreading what I knew was to come, which was my wall of text, gone.

Why was I signed out?

Whatever. What I came to tell you was that I had another lucid dream, and I'm unsure of what I feel its classification is. I'd like to know what it sounds like to you.

The facts:

-thinking a lot about lucid dreaming before I went to bed
-fall asleep as normal
-woke up from sleep, with intent of going back to bed
-perhaps, but cannot be sure, consciously made effort to use your method
-fall asleep, directly into dream, with full consciousness right off the bat

The full awareness right off the bat leads me to believe that it would be a WILD. With my other lucid dreams -- MILD and DILD -- there's always been some other dream material before the Point of Realization.

However, I didn't feel like any conscious effort was put forth, like in my first WILD, which had led me to believe that I was responsible for the lucidity -- that it wasn't just a coincidence.

P.S.: To anyone who is reading this: if you have other people in your house, always shut your door before you go to sleep. I woke up from this dream due to a door slamming downstairs.

I'm not sure how this method worked, but it did, I think. I decided to take a nap at 11 just because I was tired, not really thinking about trying to have a lucid dream, and I was in the middle of a dream completely aware that it was a dream. After seeing all the pairs of shoes that were in my room outside of a airport terminal thing, I went inside and saw some writing on the wall like in Portal. I remembered the things about sleep guards and was afraid it would say something like "Go bAcK To sLeeP." I tried spinning and rubbing my hands simultaneously so the words would be more clear, but all that did was wake me up to find I was in sleep paralysis in the most awkward position and that my heart was racing. I remember being calm in the dream, do you have any suggestions on how to not waken too quickly?

Sorry for the late replies. I've been somewhat busy as of late.

Originally Posted by exileblue

Normally I just go to bed and fall asleep in a few minutes, if it takes more time, then I listen to this weird whistling sound in my ears, it often speeds the whole thing up. When I Wild without your Idea in mind, I "try" to get SP and then I'm mostly stuck in my mind, I get short HIs but they disappear after a second. In the last days I started a new technique where I collapse every sensory information that I get, on a single point. After a short time of doing that, I come close do a dream-like state, but then I hit a wall, it's like I can't get more sleepy, but at the same time I can't fall asleep.
While trying a WBTB, I'll sometimes just lose conciseness, fall asleep, but mostly because I'm to careful not getting too awake, because then I maybe couldn't go back to sleep.
I never really think about SP, it just happens, especially because my Wild-tries often exceed 2 hours.
I slept pretty normal while trying your idea, 7 hours at night (wbtb after 4-5 hours) and than again a short nap 6 hours after leaving the bed.

edit:
1. I never had the feeling that I could really enter a dream, it just seems like I imagine to start dreaming, but it won`t really happen = HI, only for short bursts I sometimes had seemingly real images that just lasted a second. For me it's like trying to achieve the impossible, but that makes it so interesting.

2. It would be great, if you could explain your whole routine, what you do and think, so that I can better identify my problem. I never really read something like that from someone in this forum, who really "mastered" wilds.

I think I know what "wall" you're talking about. That happens to me sometimes, too. At that point, I'll either stop the WILD and take my mind off of the whole process for awhile by doing something else (like getting a glass of milk) before retrying, or simply give up my awareness exercise set a sentinel let myself drift off, and hope for the best. It really depends on my state of mind. The main idea here is that you want to distance yourself from the WILD as much as possible, if that makes any sense.

I'd go over my usual routine, but I don't really have one. I just WILD when I can, accounting for variables and mixing methods as I go along.

Originally Posted by idanl09

It's okay to swallow?! all this time I lived in a lie?
I can handle without swallowing, but with swallowing it's easier!
I got to a stage when my feet mooving like a flame(If I concentrate in them), but then my mind saying me to roll, and Im like"No! you can't fool me!"....but after few seconds I surender...so what do u advise me to do?

Surrender faster, but don't pay it any mind. Moving only sets you back as much as you let it. Swallowing works in a similar fashion.

Originally Posted by bbbblaahhh

Really?
I just wrote up a huge thing for this thread and went to click "Go Advanced" and found out that I'd been signed out. I clicked back, dreading what I knew was to come, which was my wall of text, gone.

Why was I signed out?

Whatever. What I came to tell you was that I had another lucid dream, and I'm unsure of what I feel its classification is. I'd like to know what it sounds like to you.

The facts:

-thinking a lot about lucid dreaming before I went to bed
-fall asleep as normal
-woke up from sleep, with intent of going back to bed
-perhaps, but cannot be sure, consciously made effort to use your method
-fall asleep, directly into dream, with full consciousness right off the bat

The full awareness right off the bat leads me to believe that it would be a WILD. With my other lucid dreams -- MILD and DILD -- there's always been some other dream material before the Point of Realization.

However, I didn't feel like any conscious effort was put forth, like in my first WILD, which had led me to believe that I was responsible for the lucidity -- that it wasn't just a coincidence.

P.S.: To anyone who is reading this: if you have other people in your house, always shut your door before you go to sleep. I woke up from this dream due to a door slamming downstairs.

That's a tricky one. In my book, it's a WILD if you go directly from being awake to being lucid within a dream. I would say you had a successful if wholly unintentional WILD, but others may disagree with me.

Originally Posted by sydiswatching1

I'm not sure how this method worked, but it did, I think. I decided to take a nap at 11 just because I was tired, not really thinking about trying to have a lucid dream, and I was in the middle of a dream completely aware that it was a dream. After seeing all the pairs of shoes that were in my room outside of a airport terminal thing, I went inside and saw some writing on the wall like in Portal. I remembered the things about sleep guards and was afraid it would say something like "Go bAcK To sLeeP." I tried spinning and rubbing my hands simultaneously so the words would be more clear, but all that did was wake me up to find I was in sleep paralysis in the most awkward position and that my heart was racing. I remember being calm in the dream, do you have any suggestions on how to not waken too quickly?

Erm, I'm not really sure if that constitutes a WILD, but for your dream stabilization issue, I'll point you to a decent resource.

Ok. If I may, I will recap.

1.- I set my alarm 6 hours after I sleep.
2.- I sleep like I normally would, without wild in mind.
3.- I wake up due to alarm. Shut it off, go back to sleep while staying conscious (I will use counting as an anchor).
4.- I LD.

Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. I'm new to this, and I think wild is a good method to start out with.

I will try this method tonight and post results. Assuming I have it right, of course.

Best wishes. Goldenaxel321

It didn't work out for me. SP simply never happened. I think I'll try DEILD next. It's not a bad idea, it's just not for me. Thanks anyway.

Originally Posted by goldenaxel321

It didn't work out for me. SP simply never happened. I think I'll try DEILD next. It's not a bad idea, it's just not for me. Thanks anyway.

If you were looking for SP or even expecting SP, then you were doing it wrong and didn't understand the idea at all. XP

Is there any difference between the position you normally sleep in and the one you WILD in?

I find that it's nearly impossible for me to make it past that final stage unless I'm oriented in my typical sleeping position.

Also, I would suggest trying to "give in" to what's happening. Deferring your control of the situation to your body might be just what you need. It's hard to explain it in sufficiently understandable terms, but it's similar to the mindset of giving up on an attempt and simply letting yourself fall asleep.

Hope that helped.

Thanks!

I tried last night, and kept running into the same barrier. Electricity running over me, and as soon as I *realize* what's happening my wandering thoughts clear, and the vibrations fade... maybe it's because a mental block now. I'm going to try repeating a mantra while relaxing: "When I feel the vibrations, I will begin dreaming".

But while I failed at WILDing, I did learn that my preferred sleeping position while dreaming is on my side, but I've been trying to induce mainly by lying on my back. I will try again tonight by getting completely relaxed on my back, then rolling over to my side and falling asleep.

Hope it works!

I think I failed a Wild because I got to hypnogogic imagery but then my heart rate when down or something that made me take short sudden breathes and I couldn't go further so I break the sleep paralysis

Mzzkc thanks for that post. I think it will help me out in my own WILD experiments.

I have had similar issues as the poster above. I've done that resting and just waiting and having that energy and heart beating stuff but then I 'wake up' and it fades away and I'm wide awake. I think what you told gave me the right idea on how to try it next time.

This afternoon I took a nap... before I got comfortable, I said to myself, "I'm going to WILD, but I'm going to fall asleep normally." Well, I did. I think the WILD failed, but that's okay because it turned into a DILD like WILDs always seem to do.

Originally Posted by Elucive

Mzzkc if you're reading this, I hope one day you do make that big comprehensive guide, lol.

I'll see if I can work it in on a day my homework schedule is fairly lax. Since I do work from 10PM-2AM every day, even weekends, it shouldn't be too hard, as long as I keep up with it.

Originally Posted by jguitar

this helped me a ton! i had a clear line drawn between wild and sleep in my head. like aware sleep and sleep are two different halves of a whole. i was directed to this thread and bam i can do it. or get to sp at least. what do i do when i reach sp? im gonna try in an afternoon nap today.

After you hit SP, just keep doing what you were doing before. No need to change the game up, since your body was already falling asleep to begin with. The biggest mistake people can make during SP is to do something that would prevent them from falling asleep, like get excited or focus too much on the sensations. Really, whatever got you to SP will be enough to get you into the dream. That said, you can change it up if you feel the need to. Just be warned that doing so doesn't always yield the results you want, and it takes some experience to know what will work and what won't in any given situation.

Strange, i always thought since i sleep on the side, wilding on my back would bring more success. I think i fall asleep too fast and without awareness in my normal postiion, while lying on my back gets me into SP quite fast, i just need to drift away to sleep without being too aware about it. I may try sleeping in my normal position, but i have no idea how to keep me aware enough so i don't just doze off.
ALSO, nice of you to mention that you need 8 hours of sleep before wilding, that gives me a wide range of testing to see what suits me, since i usualy went for 4 to 5 houts.
Nice tutorial as everyone already stated btw.

Remember when I said I accidentially WILDed? Well, it happened again!

I had just gotten home from an appointment, and I was really tired, so I stayed in the passenger seat and closed my eyes. A while later, I felt the same pulsing as before. Every now and then it would fade, but then I'd relax a little and I would come back. This happened a few times, but I eventually went into the dream. I'm not sure what, but something happened and the dream transitioned to me on the couch trying to WILD (I'd lost awareness). Then somehow the dream transitioned back to me in the car, and now I knew it was a dream, or at least suspected it. This is the most irritating part: I wanted to reality check, but I couldn't move, just like before! I tried verbally commanding my hands to move, but it didn't work, and then I woke up. Able to move again, I reality checked, and I was awake.

I'm about to take a nap without focusing on WILDing to see if it'll happen again. How do I overcome the in-dream paralysis?

Thanks for your post!

I didn't get to a WILD, only SP, but with knowing the knowledge that I should be simply going to sleep with an anchor rather than counting consciously (which kept me awake for hours before with no WILD) I got a hell of a lot further than I had done in the past.

I think you might be able to help me, recently I've been waking up in the middle of the night for no reason, maybe subconsciously in order to LD, i don't really know.

Well anyway after I wake up I can close my eyes and see the dream I was just having quite well, but I still feel conscious. Not lucid conscious, as I've DILDed before and that felt completely different. Its really strange, almost like two minds, my dream mind being hazy but nearly there and my awake mind being conscious. I think to myself, 'I'm awake' in my dream, but because I'm almost half and half don't become lucid.

Do you reckon if I keep doing this but spend more time on being, aware/thinking about lucidity/something else, I'll have a successful WILD?

By the way, your OP is really useful and I'll probably try it out tonight, thanks for the help.

Originally Posted by bengreenmusic

I think you might be able to help me, recently I've been waking up in the middle of the night for no reason, maybe subconsciously in order to LD, i don't really know.

Well anyway after I wake up I can close my eyes and see the dream I was just having quite well, but I still feel conscious. Not lucid conscious, as I've DILDed before and that felt completely different. Its really strange, almost like two minds, my dream mind being hazy but nearly there and my awake mind being conscious. I think to myself, 'I'm awake' in my dream, but because I'm almost half and half don't become lucid.

Do you reckon if I keep doing this but spend more time on being, aware/thinking about lucidity/something else, I'll have a successful WILD?

By the way, your OP is really useful and I'll probably try it out tonight, thanks for the help.

If you wake up in the middle of the night, try to not open your eyes and do a DEILD.

I took an afternoon nap today, and I think I got really close. Less than an hour before the nap, I'd beaten The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (I got it for my last birthday, and I don't care that I'm four years late!). Seeing as it's the best and longest Wii game I've ever played, I was thinking about it as I fell asleep, and it became my anchor. I think I heard a faint whooshing noise at one point, and then the anchor started to affect me directly. My body would seem to tingle whenever I thought of certain parts of the game; I almost could feel the things that I was imagining. After that, I swallowed or something, and the sensations went away. That's the closest I've ever gotten to a successful WILD. Before you say anything, I did RC right after coming out of the "trance;" I, unfortunately, was awake.

This thread needs to stay on the front page. In my opinion, it's the best WILD tutorial since Billybobs.