Thread: Greetings

Hello. I am Ishnox and joined this forum after having read some advice on WILD techniques. I read this two hours ago, at about 4:30 P.M. I decided to give it a go, and went up to my room. My brother was playing inFamous on my PS3, and I figured I could use some background noise to concentrate on. Having read that it takes about 25 minutes to get the "urge to move" sensation, I sat perfectly still in an upright position with my eyes open and staring at a spot on the ceiling for what (I'm sure you know) felt like an eternity. I am guessing it was my brother's vidya game playing that prevented me from dreaming, but I managed to achieve sleep paralysis. My hands felt like they were upside-down and numb, and before long my body felt crooked. Soon, my body from the neck-down was numb for quite a long time. It began to feel very hot, and my eyelids (cliche time!) felt quite heavy. After what felt like thirty seconds of shut-eye, I returned to consciousness and my shoulders had an internal pain in them. This was enough to make me wake up and finally see the clock; it was 6:10 (EDIT: P.M., not A.M.). That's when I came downstairs, got a bag of muffins, and made this account. Does anyone know what went wrong, if anything?

Hello, and welcome to DV!

I'm no expert on WILD, so I can't help you with that, but we do have a WILD subforum where I'm sure you'll get an answer and helpful advice. I also think you might be interested in the WILD course in the DV Academy subforum (there are other courses there, too, by the way).

Welcome to the forums, Ishnox!

As far as your WILD attempt it sounds like you did it at a rather odd time which can cause some problems. Many people combine WILD with a WBTB (wake back to bed) in which you wake up in the middle of the night (preferably in between REM periods if you're doing WILD) use the bathroom, walk around, just stay up for a couple minutes, then go back to bed. This way when you get ready to do your WILD you are already sleepy and are about to enter another REM period. They can also be done during naps but most people seem to do it around noon, not in the evening. Feel free to try it at that time though, it may work for you.

Also it sounds like you attempted it in a sitting position with your eyes open and looking up. For WILD you want to be in your most comfortable sleeping position or on your back with your eyes closed. You treat it as though you are going to fall asleep but you just maintain enough consciousness so that you don't completely fall asleep. During this time it can help to choose an anchor, something to keep you conscious but not too much to the point where you can't fall asleep. A lot of people focus on breathing or heartbeat and some even focus on a fan. Pretty much anything rather quiet and that doesn't change a lot in volume, unlike a video game. The idea here is to focus on your anchor but not too much so that you end up falling asleep and into a dream but without losing consciousness causing you to automatically be lucid.

Your body going numb was most likely the onset of sleep paralysis. SP can cause various physical changes such as increased heartbeat, heavy breathing, and even sometimes pain or itching sensations which is all completely natural, your body does this every night you fall asleep just you generally lose consciousness before this happens. Once you get to SP it is a good indicator that you are almost there. After this there is often hypnagogic hallucinations (HH) that can affect any of the senses. The most common are seeing images (what most people think of when they hear the word hallucination) though you can also hear sounds, smell sents, etc. Once this happens you just want to stay relaxed and try to keep that delicate balance of consciousness. The dream should start to form from your HH (if you have them, they don't always occur) and once it feels fully formed and you feel confident in moving on you can continue with whatever your heart desires.

It can sometimes be frightening going through SP and experiencing various HH but don't be afraid, they are both very natural and mean you are almost to lucidity. They key thing is to remain calm. This even hold true in the dreams themselves since if you get too excited you will wake up. Just give it a few tries trying to find the right balance/anchor for you and you should be lucid in no time

Hope this helps.

Thank you for your advice! I appreciate your welcome!
Haha! I have no idea why I wrote "an upright position" upon rereading. I was lying on my back in bed, however, another tutorial on the forum instructed that eyes should be open. This is not true?
I have heard that concentration, relaxation and confidence is key, although I have a couple of problems. One, I say to myself "I will dream lucidly tonight", however, I'm not sure whether that's true or I'm just saying things in one ear and out the other. The bigger problem: It seems all of my WBTB attempts have failed almost comically in my own personal war with my subconscious. I have set my alarm for 4:00 A.M. multiple times and never remember the alarm going off. Assuming I did it while 75% asleep and have no memory of turning it off, I put a soap box on top of the button. Still no memory. So last night, I put a book and the soap box on top. I awoke at nine in the morning to find the soap box on its side next to the alarm clock, the book next to my face on the opposite end of the bed, and STILL no memory of ever having turned the damn thing off. I think what I'll do tonight is turn the whole thing upside-down and put it on the floor. I just can't regain consciousness to stay awake to even begin the WBTB process!

I don't think I've ever heard of somebody doing a WILD with their eyes open since you're trying to fall asleep and keeping your eyes open is just counterproductive. Also, the saying to yourself, "I will dream lucidly tonight" is MILD (mnemonic induced lucid dreaming) and while it's a good idea to try it while you fall asleep normally don't do it while preforming a WILD. When attempting a WILD always focus on your anchor or whatever you use instead of trying to merge the two techniques. As for not remembering turning off your alarm try hiding it somewhere. Put your alarm clock in your dresser of somewhere away from your bed so you have to get up to turn it off. There's also various gadgets you can use but they're not necessary.

Getting up in the middle of the night is a little bit of a hassle but it lets you use the bathroom and you can think of it as one step closer to lucidity which is worth way more than a couple minutes out of your night.

Thanks again for the advice, Burke. I have been told that having confidence in yourself attaining LD is important even when not going for a MILD approach. Also, I have heard listening to Theta bianurial waves helps the transition into REM sleep. Is this true?

Yes, confidence and maintaining a positive mindset if key to lucid dreaming. Lucidity is just a state of mind so if you keep negative thoughts associated with it then you're bound to have more difficulties than someone who is staying positive and always looking for ways to improve.

Binaural beats can help you become more relaxed which can then lead to an easier time falling asleep/entering REM but I've never used them. Theta binaural beats in particular have been known to help people attain lucidity which makes sense. The theta waves that they cause our brain to be in is the same state we are in right before we fall asleep so they also help again with falling asleep. I also believe that our brain is in a theta brainwave stage while lucid dreaming so this may also be the case.

It all sounds like they can help and I don't see any harm in trying. I haven't had any experience myself with them but you're free to give it a shot. Please share your results with everyone else here in case you do

Thanks! Also, I have a couple of questions. One, I was under the impression that the point of WILD was to remain quite conscious while your body falls asleep. Is it that or to just be aware of the fact that you're going to be dreaming? Also, what exactly should I use as an 'anchor'?

You only want to be conscious enough so that you don't fall asleep normally. You want just enough so that you still fall asleep but never actually lose consciousness. As for anchors it's personal preference, really. Some people count their heart beat or breaths, others listen to an outside source (like a fan), and some count numbers like 1-50 and then back down. Anything that doesn't require a lot of focus but that you can't lose consciousness from either.

Welcome to Dreamviews, Ishnox!

Burke pretty much covered everything. But if you still have a question, please ask.

As you can see, WILDing is very complex. It's best understood by reading as many tutorials and related threads to get an idea. Then just keep trying and by trial and error finetune your own technique. The basics are the same, but everyone is different, so there could be differences between WILDers, and even between your own attempts. Like how long to stay up for WBTB and what's the best time, anchor that will work for you, the sensations you get, etc. But it sure is a blast.

And if you have not done so yet, check out WILD class You will not be sorry.
Happy dreams