Thread: Help with WILD

It's not a particularly strange question, strange or annoying sensations seem to be commonly reported when attempting WILD. I should mention I'm not a particularly "good" dreamer when it comes to things like WILD because I take a long time to fall asleep naturally, so I tend to not try the technique much these days.

Ignoring the sensations can work, and as I understand the trick to getting through these phases of WILD is to not give mental focus to these body sensations, so to accept that they're there and may just be part of the process. This seemed to work well for me when I've tried and got me further than other times when I was not focusing on them. Personally I think that it's partly the body adjusting and checking for a state of falling asleep, though it's also notable that when we're actually falling asleep many of us don't have a tendency to remain as still as we probably do when trying things like WILD. If you do feel an itch, you can gently try scratching it rather than ignoring it too, and then just resume the process.

I would suggest you keep trying to WILD with a mindset adjusting for the fact that you might just have to deal with these sensations being there in some way. At the end of the day, they won't harm you and are just a part of how your body works.

At what sort of times are you attempting WILD by the way? If you're trying them in the middle of the day or at a time you don't usually sleep at, it may feel a bit more difficult to actually stop focusing on things like these sensations. If you still don't find any success after adjusting how you deal with them and are not too bothered by interruptions to sleep, you could try combining WILD with WBTB through your normal sleep routine, as this tends to work well for some people; personally, in the past when I've tried something like WILD after awakening in the middle of the night it tended to be closer to success since it becomes easier to fall back asleep after a mid-sleep awakening, but sometimes I personally also find it more difficult to hold my attention on keeping my awareness and intents and end up drifting off on tangents more easily.

Hello there.

Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy it here.

As to your question about itchiness, honestly, the trick is to ignore it. I usually do two things. First, I focus on the itchy spot. Just delve into that itchy feeling without scratching it for a minute. Often I find that when I let go of that focus, it lessens a lot. The next thing I do is then shift my attention to a different part of my body. So like, my toe, or my knee.

I find it's helpful to practice a relaxation technique before going to sleep, such as the "61 point relaxation technique" Laberge describes in his book, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. It won't prevent itching, but it does train your brain to hyper-focus on a single part of your body. That can help you learn how to ignore itching better.

I always view the itching sensation as my brain's way of tricking me. It wants to test me to see if I'm asleep before inducing the dreaming state. Don't fall for the test!

I also recommend shifting focus from WILD techniques to DILD technqiues. Although, some people might argue differently, I found DILD to be an easier approach when I was new to lucid dreaming. WILDs can be hard to achieve, even when you're not new to lucid dreaming. Some people find it easier than others. It takes a certain skill to develop, before you get the hang of it. I think that practicing DILD techniques first, or in conjunction with WILD techniques, allows one more success because lucidity is not just about changing states of consciousness. It is also about mentally recognizing a dream world from waking life in order to stay lucid. You need the mindset to go with the techniques, and that comes from typical DILD foundational practices such as reality checking, prospective memory skills, and building a critical reflective attitude.

I personally recommend reading a beginner's book on how to lucid dream. The best beginner's book I can think of is the one I quoted above, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen Laberge.

Originally Posted by Hilary

Hello there.

Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy it here.

As to your question about itchiness, honestly, the trick is to ignore it. I usually do two things. First, I focus on the itchy spot. Just delve into that itchy feeling without scratching it for a minute. Often I find that when I let go of that focus, it lessens a lot. The next thing I do is then shift my attention to a different part of my body. So like, my toe, or my knee.

I find it's helpful to practice a relaxation technique before going to sleep, such as the "61 point relaxation technique" Laberge describes in his book, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. It won't prevent itching, but it does train your brain to hyper-focus on a single part of your body. That can help you learn how to ignore itching better.

I always view the itching sensation as my brain's way of tricking me. It wants to test me to see if I'm asleep before inducing the dreaming state. Don't fall for the test!

I also recommend shifting focus from WILD techniques to DILD technqiues. Although, some people might argue differently, I found DILD to be an easier approach when I was new to lucid dreaming. WILDs can be hard to achieve, even when you're not new to lucid dreaming. Some people find it easier than others. It takes a certain skill to develop, before you get the hang of it. I think that practicing DILD techniques first, or in conjunction with WILD techniques, allows one more success because lucidity is not just about changing states of consciousness. It is also about mentally recognizing a dream world from waking life in order to stay lucid. You need the mindset to go with the techniques, and that comes from typical DILD foundational practices such as reality checking, prospective memory skills, and building a critical reflective attitude.

I personally recommend reading a beginner's book on how to lucid dream. The best beginner's book I can think of is the one I quoted above, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen Laberge.

Super advice! Yes, DILD I think is much more approachable for beginners than WILD. For one thing, you're doing what you've always done: just going to sleep the same way you have all your life (perhaps with some intention setting before falling asleep). We are not wired to fall asleep consciously, so it takes some pretty serious adjustment to our basic nature to adapt to doing that. I myself may never have WILDed despite many attempts (and ended up with what I call "start of dream DILDs") -- I always have a moment of discontinuity before the dream starts. I don't count DEILDs, which I have had on a few occasions, as WILDs in this case.

It doesn't hurt to try them, because WILDs are definitely a major component of an experienced lucid dreamer's toolkit. But I would tend to tip the scale in favor of falling asleep unconsciously and dreaming and having a chance for DILDs, when you do try to WILD.

Reading a great book like ETWOLD (Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming) will also give you a great start. I think all you need from that book are chapters 1-3 to get a great start on a serious practice.