Awake All Night

[Asymptote]

Ever since I joined this forum, I've been attempting to achieve lucidity again. Well, except for the first one, I've failed completely. After an attempt to have a WILD at the beginning of the night (as opposed to using WBTB), I've discovered that I can't get to sleep, because I'm actually trying to sleep, and that's no good. Has anybody got any advice? If this goes on, I'm going to be completely exhausted... As you can tell from my writing, sleep deprivation has already begun.

[QwinsepiaSquared]

You should only try WILD after you get 5-6 hours sleep. It's much easier then trying when you first go to bed.

[Vex Kitten]

QwinsepiaSquared speaks the truth. WILDing works best after a few hours of sleep or during a quick nap (if you're really really tired). So just get your regular sleep, perhaps telling yourself you'll have a lucid dream as you drift off. Wake up a few hours later and then try to WILD. By the way, welcome to dream views. Best of luck with WILDing.

[Tornado Joe]

Hi Asy, I agree with the above advice - however I know how you feel about wanting to try it at the beginning of the night. The good news, at least for me, is that it can be done. I've found myself in the hypnogoggic stages as early as around 2am (usually go to bed around 11 or so). To help you relax I'd recommend using an mp3 player and running some binaural beat audio through your ears. You can use BWGen (free binaural beat generator) to program and create the track - then copy to your iPod and play it as you lay still in bed. It works wonders in getting you to that stage where you begin to lose awareness (like meditation in a way). What you'll have to practice is keeping your consciously aware and not slip into dream. there's plenty of info about using BWGen on our site here if you type it in the search field. If you need any more details feel free to contact me