Am I close to a WILD?+Do you think my method will work?

I have been having difficulty with WILDs for a while now. I actually ended up kind of making up something and it seemed to work (everyone has their unique way). So I wanted to run it by you all.

My experience:

I tryed a WILD during an afternoon nap and I did get farther I think then I normally did. I was trying out a new technique that I really though would worked.

Instead of trying to clear my mind, I tryed to think of random things (purposefully lose some awareness). But at the same time I had to watch these thoughts, so maintain slight awareness.

I was getting there, my body felt really heavy, I could not move my muscles (except toes+fingers, I can break SP relatively easily). Also originally the random thoughts were sort of weak like in real life, then they started showing as kind of vague outlines (I could actually see), then for like 30 seconds I even was vividly daydreaming (it was weird, I heard less and less of noises from my house). Then my heart rate increased and I felt like I was looking for the effects of my WILD rather than executing the WILD (so I lost focus). And everything de-escalated in the reverse order from how it happened. Till I opened my eyes feeling very refreshed, it lasted approximately 45 minutes.


Method I used:
So I have tried all the WILD stuff (counting, focusing on imagery, clearing mind/meditating). The main problem I noticed was the same thing always happened, I lost focus and either could not fall asleep or fell asleep fully from loss of awareness.

So I thought about it, actually a previous posting by dms111 here helped a lot, specifically his art of zen link.

But basically a WILD is a balance of being aware and not aware so you can fall asleep. And there is a perfect combo to achieve a WILD. My method worked for me because I am too aware and have a hard time losing awareness/relaxing. I feel like WILD methods should be designed for specific personality types (creative, focused, logical, relaxed, tense, etc.)

So then I had to say ok what is relaxing, relaxing is letting your mind go astray (random thoughts). So WILDs are a paradox, that is why they are hard.

Once I saw what side I was unbalanced on, I just tried to overcompensate for that.

So instead of spending 20 min staring at nothing, supercharge the dream side of the brain because there is no way I have that kind of focus.

Method:
What to do for my method (for people who lack focus, and can't relax easily but are creative):
-Purposely try to think of really random thoughts+visualize (ex. lizards canoing down a river in a airplane)
-At the same time maintain a shred of awareness (keep it as minimal as possible)
-Make sure you are relaxed while doing it (obviously normal WILD position lying down, eyes closed, etc.)


So my question, am I close to a WILD, and is this method ok/make sense?


PS sorry if I rambled a bit, this is either going to make me seem like an idiot or a genius, lol

Thanks in advance

Ill definitely try this method tonight and let you know how it goes!

I briefly read your post, but I just wanted to say that you should try your WILD attempts in the morning. Set your alarm for about and hour or two before your normal wake up time and give it a go. The morning is where you're REM sleep is at it's highest. Attempting a WILD during that time would not only be ideal, but probably beneficial. It helps to close your eyes, and subtly focus on the darkness behind your eye-lids. Images start to form, then take it from there.


Summary: give it a go in the morning for a better chance at becoming lucid.

goodluck.

fourced- awesome let me know how it works out

jorge-ya I'm definately tryin a WBTB tonight/this morning. I'm getting real sick of waking up in the middle of night its sort of annoying, but you don't get something as awesome as lucid dreams without some pain.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bdream

fourced- awesome let me know how it works out

jorge-ya I'm definately tryin a WBTB tonight/this morning. I'm getting real sick of waking up in the middle of night its sort of annoying, but you don't get something as awesome as lucid dreams without some pain.

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View it as dedication rather than pain. But ideally you'd want to try the morning, there's your best bet.

Hey Jorge,

I think that's an awesome method. When I WILD I have a lot of the same signs and you were definitely very close.. Chances are once you practice this method more you'll get deeper and deeper in, edging from SP towards lucid dream. Just remember when you're on the border between breaking into a lucid dream from SP to repeat "this is my dream" or something like that...it's very easy to get carried away with the imagery. Also, sometimes I'll "wake" after experiences like what you described and it will be a false awakening..so be sure to RC as much as possible. Well done, though.

Nice, then I'll keep it up (combined with the WBTB). And I actually tried it this morning with WBTB, I actually ended up falling asleep/losting conciousness completly rather fast. I guess I should adjust my awareness higher and random thoughts lower when I am more tired.

And bro I'll remember to do that when I start getting closer to LD, because assuming the theory in my OP was correct at the point of LD you start losing control of your images you were originally generating (your subconcious takes over). So it would suddenly spike in difficulty to maintain awareness.

But enough theorizing, now I just gotta keep practicing/testing.

If you want to take it a step further, when you wake up stay up for at least 15 min. or so. Read Lucid Dreaming material to get your mind on thinking about your dreams and lucidity. If you wake up in the morning by alarm, shut it off, and give the WILD an attempt you're more likely to fall asleep. Staying up a little while might help.