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Whenever i try to induce sleep paralysis i lay there for 10-20 minutes and all i ever get is a the regular tingling i get when i lay still for a while, i either give up, or try again and fall asleep. I really, really, really, want to experience and get good at WILDing but i cant if i cant induce SP
You don't need SP to have WILDS. Just keep practicing staying aware while drifting off... It takes time buddy.
Don't focus on sleep paralysis. You don't have much control over whether or not your experience it. You should be relaxing your body so much you completely forget it exists. Then, you can watch your thoughts as you move into a dream.
how can i stop from falling asleep then
Don't stop yourself from falling asleep. You have to fall asleep to have a dream, even a WILD. The trick is to transition directly to a dream, so you don't lose your awareness. You keep yourself right on the edge of sleep, almost fully asleep. When you feel or see the dream starting, you let yourself fall asleep the rest of the way. This is why timing is very important. For an easy WILD, you want to be very close to a long REM cycle so you don't have to stall for hours. It is very hard to stay aware through a long period of 'deep' sleep. It is possible, but it takes an insane amount of mental discipline.
Connor: I was struggling to get to even the SP stage until the other day.
I decided to set an alarm system with my iPhone, so that three 5 second auto-shut-off alarm sounds would play at different times in the night, giving me multiple chances for WILDing.
I'm trying a mixture of CrazyInsane's "CANWILD" technique, and when I fail at that, I try a normal WILD.
Just through trial and error, on my first night, third attempt I think, I hit sleep paralysis in a normal WILD. Very signficant vibration, and my legs felt like they lost gravity and began to float. My heartrate skyrocketed -- I tried to focus on calming and controlling my breathing, but I think all the focusing on staying calm is actually what led me to wake out of it. It took maybe 10 minutes of laying perfectly still, on my side, to reach SP.
Anyways, long story short, I guess it's just a matter of timing, state of mind, level of tiredness / awareness, stuff like that. I was never able to achieve it, until I tried it several times in one night, I guess I just hit a sweet spot where the correct factors lined up for some reason O_O.
I didn't do anything special or different, I was honestly surprised at the event.
If you have an iPhone or iPod, I could send you the alarm sound file I use. It has a fade-in alarm that gently wakes you up at 4:55, 6:25, and 7:55 (after alarm sound starts playing, aiming for the start of REM cycles, giving you like 25 minutes to fall asleep after you start the alarm playing).
I got a little off topic, but I'm currently trying to piece together a theory of optimum WILDing that I hope to make a thread about soon :)
Good luck mate, we're all in this together.
im just a bit discouraged that i cant find the right combination after trying almost everynight since april but I WILL SUCCEED NO MATTER WHAT!
also i heard swallowing is not good to do during a WILD attempt but thats a huge problem im having too, i just cant stop my body from swallowing, i've propped my head up like suggested but it doesnt help
Yeah, I find the swallowing issue particularly difficult, because I have some kind of unidentified allergy to something, and every night (I'm probably allergic to dust mites or whatever) my sinuses get all stuffed up, and the back of my throat all phlegmy. I just drink some water and swallow really hard in an attempt to clear as much phlegm as possible before I start the WILD.
For some reason during my vacation in Hawaii, I had no allergy symptoms -- I could breath through my nose so easily at night, it was amazing! I should get that shit figured out.
Even without much phlegm though, it's still really hard. Just try not to think about it at all, just don't even regard it as an issue. I did a couple swallows before sleep paralysis hit -- I think it's not much of an issue until you're actually in sleep paralysis. And trust me, when you're in sleep paralysis, you've got bigger things to worry about :D
Edit: Connor, try to focus more on the state of mind and level of relaxation and such -- I'm getting the vibe that the physical side of things is the less important side.
One thing I don't know though, should I breathe through my mouth, or nose? I prefer nose (despite only getting to use one nostril most of the time), and I did last time, but I didn't get past the vibration and floating feelings. I've heard breathing pattern can be important.
well WBTB attempt right now, i hope it works
Yeah, same here. Good luck mate.
well, after laying staying up for 15 minutes, then laying still for 30 minutes i then thought i couldnt fall back asleep so i couldnt WILD, but right after that i fell asleep without warning. how did yours go?
and a quick question. what are things i can do to keep my mind up but not become completely awake, during the 15 minutes i didt know what to do so i made that post then meditated
I'm having trouble with that too man. I laid in bed for an hour trying to relax and go to sleep, but I was so focused on trying to WILD that I couldn't go to sleep and my mind was all over the place. It's really a mental thing I guess.
What I try to do when trying to fall asleep but stay awake mentally is count with each breath. In, 1, out 2, in 3, out 4. And as long as you are counting it doesn't matter if you lose count or count randomly, just keep your brain going.
thanks for the idea
Okay, just woke up :)
When I tried it several times last night, I'm sure I got to the first stage of sleep paralysis three times. There is a total change in the way my body feels. Very energetic, and I think depending on my breathing, I can feel myself going deeper into this state. The problem is, every time I get to this stage, my heart races out of control, and it feels like my veins are pumped with adrenaline. I don't know why my heart gets so excited; I feel mentally calm. I try to control myself by maintaining deep rythmic breaths, and thinking of soothing music and such, but it feels like something that I cannot control. I feel strongly that it's this seemingly uncontrollable excitement is what causes the onset of SP to go away.
tonight im trying CAN-WILD as something different
Be sure to use the WBTB technique coupled with the WILD. It's nigh impossible to enter SP if you haven't slept beforehand. You want to wake up 5-6 hours into sleep, which means your brain will be entering or about to enter the longest REM period of the night (assuming you sleep the recommended 8 hours). This way, when you lay back down to WILD, your brain can easily transition into that stage of sleep in which we have the most vivid dreaming and when we're paralyzed, thus getting to SP should be simple. Sometimes if I wake up at just the right time in the middle of the night and go back to sleep, I can reach SP in under a minute.
i dont know the right time for me to wake up yet
okay, another WBTB, i feel good about this try.
Tonight I did another "CANWILD" salvo.
My aunt came to visit and arrived late, so everyone stayed up late to greet her, have drinks, and talk -- unfortunately, it messed with my sleep schedule, and I don't think any of the alarms hit a REM stage. Just one of those nights.
I'm trying to work out a "dream schedule theory", an attempt to accurately discover one's own REM stages. I think this would be essential for reliable WILD attempts.
that sounds interesting
ps:i decided to try a WBTB, MILD.... i still failed
The reason you fail is because you are not going to sleep, but rather laying still in bed waiting.
Its not the not moving part that tricks your body into sleep, its the losing consciousness and drifting in and out of dream scenes.
You will make far more progress if you are trying to fall asleep than you will if you are trying to look for SP. Like Robot_Butler said, you need to be falling asleep, but cling on to that last little bit of consciousness before you slip under. Then, when you enter SP and dream scenes start forming, move into the dream.
This person knows what they are talking about!Quote:
Originally Posted by Moose
If you want SP (which you do!) you'll need some pre-sleep and before you attempt you'll need to get your brainwaves back into alpha. What does this mean? you need to sleep long enough for you to wake up into REM. This means prefferably either 90 minutes OF SLEEP (so calculate your alarm timing accordingly) or anywhere from 5-6 hours OF SLEEP.
After this, wake up for at least an hour but no more than 3, and stay active. If you are prepped correctly, after waking you should feel a little cold and mostly like shit. Stay up long enough for this to go away! Then go back to bed, turn your lights off, and lay completely still in a comfortable position, preferably on your back.
If you want SP, this should help you. Don't try to get it without pre-sleep because that hardly works consistantly for anyone. I did this the other day with some good results. Give it a few tries!
OH YEAH! Last night i got up for about 5 minutes and went back to bed i remember 2 dreams vividly but i became concious or woke up for a second while the dream was transitioning to another dream, from then on i was lucid, but i didnt use to much control,,,,, where is somewhere i can keep a dream journal online that only i can read
SP is not induced. LMAO. For starters your trying to achieve it from a hypnogogic state, which it can only be experienced from a hypnopompic state... Meaning you have to wake up into SP. Not fall asleep into it. I never heard of anyone trying to induce it before, most people wish it would stop. Reason being is that being conscious & paralized is a terrifying experience & on top of that, your subconscious draws on memories & images that support your emotional state. This is also relevant in the random audibles.
I'm not an expert and have never attempted a WILD, but I have read a lot and perhaps this may help.Quote:
Originally Posted by Connor23
As far as I understand, the mechanism for WILDing involves "tricking your body into thinking its asleep" while maintaining your conscious mind (not the entire brain) awake. In order to do this, you must allow your body to fall asleep like it normally would. If you keep having the urge to swallow, that probably means that swallowing is normal for you and your body when falling asleep. Following that train of thought, allowing yourself to swallow would not awaken or disrupt your body. I think you are doing more harm to your technique by constantly worrying about not swallowing than you would do by just allowing your body to do what it has to do in order to fall asleep, including swallowing.
Conner, that's great to hear! Lucidipedia.com has an excellent dream journal that is very flexible.
I didn't get anything last night. I've got family visiting, and I'm losing focus. I'm going to take a break and practice some dream recall while using the sleep cycle app to find my REM periods.
What I found helps is keeping your eyes closed and relaxing, but focusing on the back of your eyelids. Imagine a scene playing in front of you, but don't immerse yourself in it. This way, it'll help to keep you awake while your physical body relaxes.
The swallowing could be do to dry throat, if this is the case. then it is likely that your body is not properly PH balanced, which has been the leading cause of cancer in the U.S. A good test is cranberry juice.. It will also assist you with realigning your enzimes during digestion. This will eventually correct the problem. Natural antioxidants have proven to bring back a more acidic based system. Ulcers & heartburn are signs as well. So having a diet that allows for your enzimes to be monitored by red wine, blueberries,Acai.... just to name a few solutions. This will allow you to eat mexican food without the burn, for your system should allow for proper digestion of hot peppers. Other options like B12 may be to late as they strongly effect blood sugar in diabetics, which was also a ailment created by all the addatives & deadly agents in store bought foods that are killing thousands of people a year. So normally the body would not have a problem with B vitamins, but you can thank the FDA & 27 illegal substances reintroduced into our food & water supplies. So we know of the hormonal imbalance of store bought milk & how getting it from a farm is the only way to keep milk in the diet.
You're not helping anyone.
That's what I thought. I have had sleep paralysis episodes for the last 5 years and wake up into it. It's hardly ever been scary but it isn't something I can see trying to strive for, except in possibly wanting to astrally project? I have seen things, heard things, felt things, while awake but paralyzed, can't even turn my freaking alarm clock off sometimesQuote:
Originally Posted by Dreamsayer
Hmm. Perhaps I am misunderstanding you here, but I see you've been a member for a while, so you must know there are many of us trying to get to SP from a hypnogogic state. It's one of the biggest topics on this forum! We are not trying to induce SP for the sake of SP, but it is often a threshold one crosses to get to a lucid dream from a waking state. (A WILD) I have fallen into SP a few times on my way to a LD from a waking state. When you know what is happening and you know you are on your way to a lucid dream it is much less scary than waking up into it from a dream state without knowing what's going on (which I have also experienced).Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamsayer
That's not entirely true. In any case, you should not be trying to get SP. You definitely shouldn't be focusing on SP. It's more of a side-effect. All you really need to care about is falling asleep (I can't stress this enough, falling asleep is the most important thing) and keeping your mind aware of the fact that anything you're about to experience is a dream. SP happens right before HI begins, and I personally don't even notice it until the beginning of the WILD where I can feel both bodies simultaneously and have to fight off SP with my dream body.
Sure, sure. I agree SP is not what should be focused on. That's counterproductive for falling asleep. But it is often induced when WILDing and can be a sign that a dream is about to start. I also agree that SP is not the end product. Although it sure is interesting. I find it fascinating, but much easier to deal with in a hypnogogic rather than hypnopompic state.
what's the difference between hypnogogic and hypnopompic
Hypnagogic is the state before falling asleep and hypnapompic is the state directly following sleep.
Can you back this up?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamsayer
You can go into sleep paralysis either way.... I don't know what you're talking about.