Thread: Mzzkc's Comprehensive WILD Guide

Originally Posted by Sageous

Other than your last line, you seemed to me to be taking exception or rhetorically reducing what I said. At best your responses were negative in tone if not, apparently, content. I guess you were just looking to extend the conversation?

Sorry for the misunderstanding... you might reread what you wrote, though, and tell yourself once more that you were not disagreeing.

Nope; wasn't disagreeing.

Was probably just looking for closure since I had recently come a literal inch from death roundabouts when I posted that, and things were still up in the air.

Damn, Mzzkc, you may have broken the record for delayed response time!

I'm far too lazy to go back and take a look at our exchange, which I'd long forgotten, so I'll take your word for it.

Also, given the reason for the apparent confusion -- a concurrent brush with death -- I guess I have no argument! I sincerely hope all is well now, or at least well enough...

Everything is great. =)

Still get headaches from time to time...and I still don't fully trust the skin on my head to stay attached when I wash my hair...but I'm hoping that my concussion induced super-powers will reveal themselves soon enough!

Originally Posted by Mzzkc

The Right Mindset:” Put plainly, you shouldn't be waiting for SP, looking for HI, or anything similar. You're trying to fall asleep here, not track your progress through a series of events.

Haha, I was doing the exact opposite. I was waiting for SP, looking for HI etc. I didn't know that was wrong, and I'm shocked that I've read so many WILD guides, and none of them ever came close to discussing this point. In fact many of them encouraged the idea, by saying for instance, "If your body starts feeling numb or you see imagery or hear sounds, than you're close to lucid dreaming" etc. Thank you so much for enlightening me!

What anchor do you use? I personally have experimented with pain anchors, but only got lucid once out of the 100+ times. Interested to see what you use.

Willpower is my anchor, more often than not.

Sometimes an environmental anchor makes itself convenient, but I never count on that. Then again, I'm not the best example to follow; I'm lazy as hell and always take the path of least resistance--not a good combination for those still getting the hang of things.

in an environment with minimal distractions such as light and the occasional sudden noise?

As a parent who is often tired in the mornings after kids go to school I have personally found that the distractions help me retain awareness as I fall asleep. I know I don't speak for everyone on that, but in my case the light and sounds of sleeping in my poorly insulated house after the kids go to school lend themselves to my successful WILDs.

I really do like your guide.

Any distraction that doesn't keep you from sleeping can be an excellent anchor, and I imagine your tolerance level for silly things--like light and the occasional creak--goes through the roof after you've dealt with kids for X number of years. XP

Originally Posted by Mzzkc

Any distraction that doesn't keep you from sleeping can be an excellent anchor, and I imagine your tolerance level for silly things--like light and the occasional creak--goes through the roof after you've dealt with kids for X number of years. XP

It's very true, though I think growing up without air conditioning also helped with that. I had to be patient with all kinds of discomforts and learn to embrace the Texas heat/light.

Kids...I was always fairly aware of my surroundings but I do believe they only heighten the awareness that was already strong with me. I've always been a light-sleeper so it's not uncommon for me to have many tiny awakenings on any given night. I believe this has only helped my lucid dream frequency.

Originally Posted by AurumKnight

Hey, thanks for this guide, it really helped me out by clearing up misconceptions that I had. I just had two lucids last night, one using pain as an anchor (hand under body) and the other using my sleeping mask. This was my first (and second!) WILD experience, so thanks!

Hmmm.


Very refreshing to read this guide - thank you Mzzkc!!
Just doesn't work with mantras and SSILD and visualisations for me - one time vibrations and optics, one time vibrations and both times it waned and I was awake. The main problem always was falling asleep - and I feel this anchor concept is just what I need - and also just what I got. Namely I have a nasty allergy at the moment, on my hands and feet - it itches and hurts a bit, and I can't really ignore it, when lying still in bed, but I was anyway able to fall asleep with it.
Now I am quite hopeful in trying this approach in WBTB and take the rash as environmental anchor - fall asleep while holding it in passive awareness.

I will report back of course!

This guide is truly the best
With it and anchor of counting from 0 to 2
I had 5 lucid dreams this week

Some failed WILDs resulted in DILDs aswell

I"ve got one question thought
What way would be most successful for counting anchor
~ Counting by thinking (saying them in mind)
~ Visualizing Numbers
~ Both?

- Thanks

Originally Posted by MisakaMikoto

This guide is truly the best
With it and anchor of counting from 0 to 2
I had 5 lucid dreams this week

Some failed WILDs resulted in DILDs aswell

I"ve got one question thought
What way would be most successful for counting anchor
~ Counting by thinking (saying them in mind)
~ Visualizing Numbers
~ Both?

- Thanks

Don't do this. Engaging your inner voice prevents sleep.

Originally Posted by cmind

Don't do this. Engaging your inner voice prevents sleep.

After a bit of thinking i've understood maybe what you meant

From what i've expirenced when trying WILD thoughts are starting to flow randomly
And those thoughts are part of falling asleep process and transmissioning into Dream

So if i would setup autonomous counting anchor it would probably work
But it also would make harder falling asleep
Which woud result in slight chance to fall unconsciouss during my
Because even auxiliary autonomous counting by thoughts could interrupt this process

It might be quite critical point, since during some of my WILDs. HI, vibrations etc. appeared after i've stopped using counting by thoughts anchor
So if i would use correctly setup visualization numbers counting as anchor, it would work fine & wouldn't interrupt my wild attempt?


Have i understood correctly your post?

Great guide, keep up the good work OP.

Originally Posted by MisakaMikoto

After a bit of thinking i've understood maybe what you meant

From what i've expirenced when trying WILD thoughts are starting to flow randomly
And those thoughts are part of falling asleep process and transmissioning into Dream

So if i would setup autonomous counting anchor it would probably work
But it also would make harder falling asleep
Which woud result in slight chance to fall unconsciouss during my
Because even auxiliary autonomous counting by thoughts could interrupt this process

It might be quite critical point, since during some of my WILDs. HI, vibrations etc. appeared after i've stopped using counting by thoughts anchor
So if i would use correctly setup visualization numbers counting as anchor, it would work fine & wouldn't interrupt my wild attempt?


Have i understood correctly your post?

Seems pretty spot on to me. =)

I don't know if it's appropriate to reanimate threads that have been down for four months, but this is the most helpful discussion about WILD I have read. After realizing the standard WILD guides were pretty misleading, I still only had a vague notion about my anchor having to be as passive as possible, while still maintaining awareness. I did not realize exactly how passive the anchor could be, for instance, that it could be described as something that was "autonomous."

For me, this is all still just a matter of theory that hasn't been borne out in practice, but I've got a much clearer idea of potentially helpful anchors. I was just counting down audibly in my head last night during a three-hour frustrating period of wakefullness after taking galantamine and alpha gpc choline. There were some independent execution problems there, but even if I'd done things correctly, I was way too engaged with my anchor. I'll switch to the idea of a visualized timer counting down automatically from 100, or some sort of loose physical awareness of my sleep mask. I am sure I'll probably pass out unaware as I have countless times, but it's a good place to start.

This all seems to necessarily be a matter of trial and error, dependent on how consciousness works for each individual, with what appears to involve a pretty wide range of effective anchor approaches, depending on the person.

Wowwie!

Originally Posted by 2Jupes

I was just counting down audibly in my head last night during a three-hour frustrating period of wakefullness

I bet it was...Hearing your voice in your head prevents sleep. It actually engages your vocal chords and you cannot fall asleep while doing it, no matter how long you wait (unless you're on some heavy sedatives, but then you won't be able to lucid dream anyway).

Yeah, switch to a non-verbal anchor. Counting/mantras don't work for everyone and I didn't start getting success until I stopped vocalising in my WILD attemtps.

I tried WILD once more before calling it quits and waking up for the day. I lay down on the bed and counted 1 as I inhaled, and 2 as I exhaled, and then did that for the rest of the time while doing the mantra, I will have a lucid dream. Then, it felt like my head was going back and forth, and then it stopped after 2 seconds, and then my entire body became num. I stopped waiting after 10 minutes because I was just too awake after that. Was the head going back and forth the vibrations that everyone is talking about, or just some kind of hypnic jerk? And what was my body going num for, and why did nothing happen after that?

Originally Posted by DylanBizarro

I tried WILD once more before calling it quits and waking up for the day. I lay down on the bed and counted 1 as I inhaled, and 2 as I exhaled, and then did that for the rest of the time while doing the mantra, I will have a lucid dream. Then, it felt like my head was going back and forth, and then it stopped after 2 seconds, and then my entire body became num. I stopped waiting after 10 minutes because I was just too awake after that. Was the head going back and forth the vibrations that everyone is talking about, or just some kind of hypnic jerk? And what was my body going num for, and why did nothing happen after that?

Nothing that you described sounds anything close to hypnagogia or WILD, sorry. At what point during this mantra fest did you expect to magically fall asleep?

Originally Posted by cmind

Nothing that you described sounds anything close to hypnagogia or WILD, sorry. At what point during this mantra fest did you expect to magically fall asleep?

Darn it. Sorry for the late reply, I have been sick. Well basically, I was laying down while counting and I occasionally said the mantra. I expected to eventually fall asleep maybe in about 30 minutes. I tried again and this time I got this sense that I was flying and then lost all feeling to my body except sound.

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

Yeah, switch to a non-verbal anchor. Counting/mantras don't work for everyone and I didn't start getting success until I stopped vocalising in my WILD attemtps.

Oooooo tell me more….I never considered "mental vocalization" as a problem. What does work for you?

I've tried mantras…no success. I've tried rhythmic motion visualization (swinging, walking)…no success. I've tried desired dream scene visualization: no success. Basically: no success! I think I've never had a non-accidental WILD and it's really frustrating!

Then, it felt like my head was going back and forth, and then it stopped after 2 seconds, and then my entire body became num. I stopped waiting after 10 minutes because I was just too awake after that.

Sounds like your body was falling asleep but maybe you either became excited about this or something else brought you back to wakefulness. The moving head does sound like a hypnagogic hallucination (unless you were really moving your head for some reason).

Based on your second reply (flying, losing all feeling but sound) seems you are super close and that the mantra is working. I would stick with it