Thread: WILD - Wake Initiated Lucid Dream

Originally Posted by sivason

Best advice is ignore it and don't worry about it. The holding still thing is a myth.

Well maybe not so much a myth as an exaggeration, I think.

Holding still is probably a good idea, and avoiding or at least challenging the rollover impulse is almost an anchor in itself. Indeed, I believe that holding still was meant to be nothing more than just that: avoid (or work with the sensation of) the rollover reflex. How we came to a point where being concerned about thinks like leg twitches are valid issues is more a process of simplification and exaggeration rather than myth-making.

The original techniques for WILD were made for people who do not necessarily possess the mental skills necessary to hold onto self-awareness and focus after rolling over and immediately fall asleep. Therefore it is a good idea to avoid that impulse. However, if your body is demanding attention in other ways, it is better to tend to them than to try to put up with them; in other words, if your nose itches, scratch the damn thing.

I think that WILD has been erroneously simplified in LD'er pop-culture to "Lie down, hold still, and wait." This is not only a wrong and woefully incomplete description, it is also very misleading, in that it allows not-so-experienced LD'ers to write tutorials that assume that you are supposed to hold still no matter what... it's almost become a given that you must lie still no matter what, to the point where threads are regularly created about how to put up with the need to swallow! For God's sakes, if you must swallow just do it!

Okay, I'm rambling. Suffice it to say that there are good reasons to hold still during WILD (especially for beginners who have not mastered hanging onto their focus and self-awareness during very challenging moments like the rollover reflex), but if your body's demands for attention are crushing your WILD attempt, then take a pause and attend away.