New guy alert!

[Maria92]

Hi! I just joined about 5 minutes ago, and I thought I would introduce myself. Just call me Mario. I'm so happy to see a community of lucid dreamers! I had no idea such a brilliant resource like this existed! Well, I have a question right off the bat; whenever I try for a WILD, it has to be before I go to sleep at all (school and work kind of get in the way). I was wondering if it is even possible to enter a lucid dream without any prior sleep. If so, what kind of experience would it be? Short-lived, poor quality, etc? Also, if I wake up from a lucid dream before it ends on its own, will I be more likely to remember it? Also, (last question, I promise), whenever I try the WILD approach, I count my breaths. I can usually make it to the count of 72 or so (depending on the night) before I feel this sort of numbness slowly (oh, so slowly) creeping through my legs and/or arms. Is this normal? Am I doing it right? Thanks! Mario

[Jeff777]

to Dream Views!! - REM in the first few stages of our sleep cycle is quite minimal and would make for a rather poor lucid dream. - Waking up right after a lucid dream means the dream is still fresh on your mind, so yes, you would more than likely still remember it (considering your dream recall is fair anyway). - Sleep paralysis precedes WILD's. WILD's happen during REM. While you can get into SP with relative ease (not saying you're entering SP, just illustrating a point), you will need to time your best moments of REM to coincide with your SP attempt. REM occurs typically every 90 minutes and becomes lengthier, with fewer intervals in the latter stages of ones sleep cycle. I'm not saying it's impossible to WILD sans WBTB, but...it's something I've never done. Hang around the forums and peruse topics on WILD and discussions of it. If you don't have much time to use a WBTB then perhaps you should consider DILD's as a viable option.

[ScoobyDooMoo]

Hey to DV!! I haven't had any proper LDs either

[Maria92]

Thanks for the great info! Yeah, I kind of figured it would be harder/not as great to WILD without any prior sleep. I get one free day during the weekends...maybe I'll try for then. Heh, heh, still trying to get in the habit of reality testing. I've got at least 4 of them that I do at a time. If that doesn't work, nothing will. Still trying to build up my dream recall a bit. Had a great, vivid one just last night. I find it helps to repeat the mantra, "I will remember my dreams" over and over and over again in my head before I sleep. (Except for that one time where I actually dreamed about remembering my dreams. My subconscious is laughing at me.)

[Robot_Butler]

It is extremely difficult to WILD when you first go to sleep. It is good meditation practice, but don't expect to have many amazing dreams. If you can get relaxed enough, you may be able to experience a cool trance-like state. Maybe even a brief dreamlet or some hallucinations. You really need to do it later in the night, when you can easily slip in and out of sleep, and are close to a long dream cycle. Try to pay attention to all of your dreams throughout the night. If you can wake up after every dream, you will have plenty of chances to try MILD or WILD without interrupting your sleep very much.

[Maria92]

Sounds like it would be a good idea to get the hang of DILDing first, then, or at the very least, try to couple a WILD with a WBTB. Makes sense. Thanks for all the great feedback! I just like to watch the bananas party. Please excuse my excessive smiley use. This is all still kind of new to me!