Attempt at WILD

Hi guys, it's been way too long since I last visited dreamviews and i'm very excited to be back and to share my thoughts, views and experiences.

I would say I am quite adept at Lucid Dreaming, i've had so many - more than I can count. I have atleast 3-4 a week and sometimes even 2-4 in the same night.

Now the reason for this post is that a few days ago I decided to try WILD. I've had experiences with SP and not very pleasant ones to say the least. I've always been afraid of SP since it's always the same usual scary experience. However, a few days ago i decided to read more about WILD and hopefully to use the SP I experience, quite regularly, to trigger a WILD.

So yesterday something weird happened. Not sure if all this reading triggered it, but somehow I woke up in the middle of sleep paralysis.

I remember seeing a dark figure floating over my matress and and I was terrified. I was sweating like a tank and couldn't move (which is typical of Sleep Paralsis). This went on for a while and I was having the worst nightmarish experience ever. Till suddenly I somehow realised I'm actually in SP and that there is nothing really flying over my bed. I did hear some evil voice behind me but my realisation to the fact that I am in SP started to overcome the fear I was feeling.

I remember my body began to vibrate and I kept saying "I am now going to go into a dream" I said this a few times and to my disappointment woke up. Now guys, I messed up. Because though I thought I woke up I WAS ACTUALLY IN THE DREAM STATE. I had completely forgotten my reality check and had completely forgotten that when you WILD you usually enter the dream state in your room.

The problem is that me "waking up" was so damn real that I couldn't even imagine me being in a dream. I should have done a reality check, but I will try it again.

Apologies for the long post and if anyone can shed some light as to how I can not experience such horrifying events would be greatly appreciated.

I think you experience such horrifying events because you have come to expect them.

The best idea I can think of to get rid of this expectation is to create and maintain a mindset that does not include you experiencing horrifying events. Even if you do actually experience horrifying events, try to direct your focus away from them and towards your mindset that does not include experiencing horrifying events. Don't try to make the horrifying events go away. Just let them be. They will go away as soon as they are off your mind. Redirecting your focus someplace away from the horrifying events will help take them off your mind.

Thank you for your reply. The problem is that it is very terrifying, it's so realistic that it's quite hard to shift your awareness away from it. They are not images, something physically shows up everytime I go through SP and it's always something in dark clothes and disfigured face.

I will however try to strengthen my awareness of it all being the works of my mind and hopefully things will get better.

By the way, how does the IRC chat work? I've followed the instructions and sent mlembot a request with no reply...

SP that happens regularly is considered a medical condition / sleep disorder. Some quick searching suggests that this can sometimes be caused by things like poor sleep schedules or insomnia or narcolepsy, but I'm not an expert. Failing conditions like those being a possible cause, it seems that the most viable option to deal with it is, as dophin said, from a mental angle. Realizing what is truly going on during the event (becoming lucid, essentially) as you did is a start; this is essentially how many people here dealt with nightmares (and began lucid dreaming at the same time). It might be difficult at first, but perhaps with time and practice it will become easier.

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By the way, how does the IRC chat work? I've followed the instructions and sent mlembot a request with no reply...

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Send a PM to spellbee2 explaining the issue. I had the same problem; the bot seems to be a bit temperamental sometimes. :)

Travis E I believe you may be correct in saying that SP is from a sleep disorder. I do indeed have insomnia and have had it since I was a kid. Nightmares are also something i've been having since a kid and they have not gotten any better. In fact, I had a horrific nightmare last night and woke up sweating. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to use it to my advantage enough to trigger a LD.

Nightmares are one of the reasons I learned how to lucid dream and on many occassions my lucid dreams have been triggered from these nightmares (i.e realising that this isn't really happening).

I am still working on strengthening my awareness to SP / Nightmares so hopefully things will get better.

P.s I managed to get a response from mlembot and can join that chat! Thank you! :)

Sorry to hear about that. :( I don't feel I'm of much help for nightmare advice because I don't really experience them personally. Even when I have scary dreams, there always seems to be a separation between my emotions in the dream state and those of my waking-life self such that even with dreams that are quite scary, as soon as I wake up I feel okay and not really bothered by what just happened (it's kind of hard to explain in words). So, I never consider them nightmares. Whether this is some personal quirk or a consequence of my ongoing journey of developing an integral state of self-awareness, I'm not sure.

In principle, with well-developed enough self-awareness and lucidity, you could reach a point someday where you recognize those nightmare elements in your sleep as being nothing more than a part of you, as with all your other dream imagery, on such a deep and instinctive level (as in, not even really having to stop and think about it) that they cease to be bothersome. But this can take quite some time and experience to achieve. Don't give up, and I hope things will get better for you soon. Perhaps someone else here will have some ideas that might provide some more immediate help as well. :)

DarkIllusions, the username fits the story :chuckle:

That is really cool that you overcame the fear during SP. I recently had a similar experience, which is in my DJ if you're interested. I'm curious about the dark presence floating above your bed and the voice. Any more details??