Scared to LD/WILD?

[AkiKaza-chan]

Hello, you guys. After two years of taking a break from active LDing (and from DreamViews, though I've lurked constantly and kept reading extensively on the topic in other mediums), I've decided to return! I'd stopped last time because, at 14 years old, some of the things I was experiencing were a bit too frightening for my childish mind But I've taken up an active interest again. The main reason that I stopped (and that I don't continue to pursue LDing as actively as I would like) is because I am still a bit apprehensive about SP, False Awakenings, and WILDing. After I read about sleep paralysis, I developed a subtle fear of it, so of course my body decided to bombard me with it at every chance it got. I woke up in SP most times I went to sleep, and it scared the hell out of me not being able to move. I did NOT like the feeling of being constrained. I also started having multiple FAs, not very often, but when I did they usually came 2-3 or more per night. All of these experiences left me quite shaken, so, naturally, I decided to take a break from dreams. I would pray most nights that I would have a dreamless sleep, so that I wouldn’t have to go through any of this. The reason I am posting this is because just a few minutes ago I almost went into a WILD. Not almost, but I’d practically succeeded. I’ve been very scared to WILD because most people say it causes sleep paralysis, which I am obviously not too fond of, so I’ve never actually practiced it. But I realized that it’s not hard for me to do. What has just happened is more of a combination WBTB & WILD: I laid down and fell asleep within minutes, woke up a few minutes later, and, still quite tired, lay still in the bed. All of a sudden a dream scene (dreamscape of the room I was falling asleep in) began to form in front of my eyes. Startled, I opened them and peered around my room. However, I was quite curious, and closed my eyes again. The scene started forming again, and I saw a slightly tilted version of my room. I opened my eyes again, and it went away. Closed them again. This time I was in the dream, right there. I saw another “me” in the corner reading something. My mind was flooded with thoughts that were too fast for me to decipher, things I wanted to do, experiments I wanted to try. I turned to fly out the window, but I got scared of just “leaving my body” sleeping and going to play in the dreamscape; I was also scared that my DC self might attack me for some reason :S (I have dreams with very vicious DCs). So I opened my eyes again and woke up for the last time. What frustrates me the most is that I was right there, I had successfully done it, I was in the dream. And I chickened out. I hate myself so bad sometimes -_-; tl;dr - I know this was too long, didn’t plan on writing this much, sorry :s But if you did read this far, has anyone else had such an irrational fear of sleeping, and trying to WILD, or being conscious not in your physical body? It’s probably more a fear of…how can I say it…existing and trying to make sense of another reality, of this dream reality, more than it is WILDing and getting caught in SP. Any help on how I can get rid of this fear and finally enjoy LDing as much as I want to? Or am I just gonna hafta tough it out by myself?

[Shwaleti]

I find this very interesting. Though i have never had a fear of sleeping or any of this i think the best thing to do is persistence while reminding yourself that all of this is harmless. Eventually the process will become more comfortable and familiar and then you can start to enjoy dreaming again.

[dark_grimmjow]

Hey AkiKaza-chan. I know how scary sp can be. I've had a few, extremely scary sp experiences. Scarier beyond what i thought sp could be. I did lose some sleep over it to start with, but i learned to just try an enjoy it and face it. I've had very negative sp experiences and some very positive, peaceful sp experiences. I've learned to like the feeling of sp. I know that it is easier said than done when it comes to facing sp. I look forward to sp now, because i know what it is now, and i know that if i wait it out; i'll get to a lucid dream afterwards. I think one of the most important things to do when facing sp is to face it with a positive, happy mindset. I've noticed that when i do that, 9 times out of 10, the experience will be pleasant rather than unpleasant. For me, every sp experience has been different. They tend to be like snowflakes. No two sp experiences are alike. So having said all that. The best advice i can give you is to face sp with a positive mindset and don't give up on facing it. Learn from your experiences. After having experienced it a few times, you can learn what it can be like, so it shouldn't be as big a surprise the next time it happens. I think that with time; you'll come to like sp as both an experience and a way to an ld. So i think you should give WILD at try. Since you seem to be able to get to sp easily, WILD could be a very good ld technique for you. So i encourage you to keep trying and good luck!

[freakyDreamer]

Hi! The first day I learned about lucid dreaming (googled 'dreaming' and found dreamviews), I did reality checks extensively the whole day, literally, I probably over a hundred RCs, and kept asking myself if I was dreaming or in reality, and would then do an RC. At night, I repeated the mantras "I will remember my dreams", and "I will realize I am dreaming while dreaming." Well, they worked. I remebered 6 dreams that night, and usually remembered 1-2 a week. Well, my first 3 were repeats. When I got in bed that night, I thought for no reason at all, what would I do if my closet door started opening. I could not get that out of my head as I repeated the mantras and fell asleep. Well, I had a false-awakening. I 'woke up' laying just as I had when I fell asleep, and my room was arranged the exact same. Suddenly my closet door started opening, and I heard an alarm going off. I was terrified. I realized I was dreaming, but, being my first lucid, I was to scared to face up to my fear and woke myself up by closing my eyes and repeating "it's just a dream". I had that dream 3 times in a row. After the seconds time, I got up for a half hour and was scared to go to bed. Since I was scared of it, I dreamed it again of course, and felt the same terror. Then I had a good, long dream, non lucid of course... Then had the bad one 1-2 more times. Now, compared to some nightmares I have had, which over half the dreams I remembered before then were horrible nightmars(I was sometimes afraid to go to sleep when I woke up from a horrible one all sweaty). So I didn't do anything the next few days, and then did RCs and mantras again. Then I had my first good lucid...I woke from excitement 10 seconds after becoming lucid though... Then I read the WILD tutorials, and I too was freaked out to try it because of peoples 'horrible' sp experiences. I tried anyway, and was unsuccesfull. Then I tried DEILD, and when I woke up in the middle of the night I didn't move. A few seconds later, I felt really wierd, like I was spinning around, and I heard techno-noises. Nothing scary, but was still a little freaky. After 15 seconds of that, it stopped, it was early in my sleep, so I was probably at the end of my REM cycle. Finally however, I have been able to, as you can see in my sig, I have WILDed 4 times. They were half-DEILDs, since I wake up and just glance at my clock, so move a tiny bit. SP for me is not scary. I don't hear any noises, don't feel anything. I see pictures rotate around me, and after seeing that for 5-10 seconds, they stop spinning and and the one in front of me grows bigger and bigger until I am in the scene, which every time has been in my room. I have had a WILD 3 nights in a row! How? I wake up 3-6 times every night at consistent times by drinking a lot before I go to bed. You mind won't wake you up to go to the bathroom if you are in a REM cycle, even if you have to go really bad, which then you will go in your bed. So, after every REM cycle you will wake up. The first few times I just fall asleep within a minute, and don't even try to WILD. After a few times, after 4-5AM, when my REM cycles are really close together, when I wake up, I just don't move and enter SP and a lucid dream in under a minute! Yea yea...sorry this is so long. Well, hopefully that will help, and remember that SP is NOT scary. For most people, they just see things. -FreakyDreamer