Thread: First WILD focusing on trip there

So I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming off an on for about 6 months now, though that sounds like a long time really I actually only attempted to do a lucid dream or sleep paralysis o.b.e maybe 10 times... around there... but last night I finally got it!
Mainly I've been having problems getting there, or more specifically problems falling asleep. I'm doing this for religious reasons (and curiosity reasons) so I think that excitment and "Oh my god did I do it... lost it. Wait Did I just do it! nope lost it" (or what I call the Wow factor) kept waking me up. There of course of been many people who have said this on these pages but let me just confirm that if you want to lucid you gotta relax! Its an awesome thing but don't think of it as this awesome ability/gift, just go for the ride.
Now what has really allowed me to fall asleep and WILD really stabily and lucidly last night.
First thing is that I bring my awareness to my black screen (back of eyelids/black void) If I have trouble doing this I focus and watch some Hypogonic (forget spelling of that term) visuals for a while. Then I empty my mind. As Grandfather Stalking Wolf/Tom Brown Jr. terms it I go into the Sacred Silence, as Zen terms it I go to no mind. Basically I stop thinking and pay attention to the first thing that pops in my head. Then no matter what it is I focus on it. I read a post by someone (sorry I forget who) that talks about how in the dream if things begin to get unstable focus in on it and it will stablize and get more detailed, so I focus on the glimmer of an image my sacred silence produces then I just keep focusing and flowing with it. See when that image is there and it kind of takes a good solid shape your mind associates something else with it, like the psychiatrist free association game (I'll say house and you say the first word that pops into your head). So one image leads to another image or thought or feeling or sensation, then you associate again and you start flowing. Now this is where I would either go unconscious (delta out) or I'd jolt awake a little 'cause I just caught myself deltaing out. That is where I had a problem till last night. What happened last night was that after some time, only 20-30 minutes, of free associating (which let me just say is really about the vividy of a day dream plus some. Things are kinda iffy and see through most of the time) I decided to just go asleep but to chant I'm dreaming while I did it. This was after I tried chanting "I'm dreaming" earlier while free associating and noticed I could do both. Basically its like when your counting breaths for Zen meditation, after some time you start day dreaming while your still counting then you notice your way up at 12 breathes when you really should of started over at 4. In otherwords you could do both, you just weren't aware that your counting because it went on automatic. That was how I chanted I'm dreaming when I was just one step away from going to sleep/unconscious. I focused on the chant when I first started but then it just went on automatic and I woke up on the floor (I sleep on the floor) at my old house I grew up in during middle school (I'm 25). I got up and was hoping I wasn't doing this physically and acting a fool but then realized I really was in my dream body only since I felt kinda lighter and floatier (I Realtiy Checked later just for the hell of it). So went to kitchen and tried levitating an object to me which after some tries worked and etc.... Really I just wanted to talk about how I reached there since earlier when I was trying to crack that problem I found less experiences writen on how people mentaly got there then peoples experiences while there. (who knows maybe I was looking in the wrong place.) So Here's my Formula:

1)Lay down and stretch and move around as much as you want until you get nice and comfortable and settled in. (And even then if you need to itch or something its better to itch or move a little and start over rather then trying to live with it, though sometimes the itch goes away.)

2)Draw the energy and your awareness from your body into your head. Or in otherwords focus on the visual blobs you see behind your eyelids.

3)Once you notice your living there and not really noticing your body any more let go of all thought. You probably can only do this for a second but thats all it takes. It might take a couple tries especially at first but just keep doing it until you get a glimpse of a color or shape or maybe a sound or smell or touch then focus in on it in a relaxed way. This should gradually add more detail to it. Hold your attention on to it until you start building on that sense and you get an object or thought or whatever. Then hopefully you should be able to just free associate a background to it or maybe an action it does or you do. If your having trouble mentally think okay I see... something grey with a streak of black...kinda takeing a shape of a donkey... must be a yellow medow behind it...okay now its walking that way. Try not to mentally say these things for too long though because it keeps you awake (keeps me awake at least). We're looking for it to sort of happen on its own but it won't Completely like a dream you'll still have your awareness on it. You'll probably lose that free association image you built upon pretty quickly but just keep doing it till you get pretty good at it and it starts coming effortlessly. Just keep going with the it till you hit a road block with it then start over again on a new image.
4)Now when you've had enough of this and you feel pretty close to going unconscoius chant "I'm dreaming" without really paying attention to it. Just put it on automatic and allow yourself to go to sleep (should be pretty easy at that point hopefully).

Well that's what worked for me. Everyone is different of course so this probably Only works for me but who knows, I guess there is a lot of people out there.
One last thing is that before I tried this I did have a good feeling it would happen for me and I prayed to the creator, the four directions (especially the East and offered its spirit some kinickkinick), our earth mother, then really quickly the creator again before I went to sleep and my problem solving abilities were Much quicker.
I'll add onto this later, Hopefully it'll keep working for me
Good Medicine