Thread: SP Help please.

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

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.

Originally Posted by Moose

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.

This person knows what they are talking about!

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