Falling Asleep

[moosehawk]

Fairly often when I attempt WILD I will fall asleep at maybe 5 or 15 minutes into it and then I'll wake up at 30-45 minutes after that. Now here's the problem: It feels as if though my mind just wandered off for a couple seconds and I'll continue counting even though those seconds were actually 30 or more minutes! I just started becoming suspicious of this happening a couple days ago when it felt like I would instantly remember dreams when I lost track of counting. I'll then look at my clock and get frustrated realizing I probably just slept through REM. Is this feeling pretty normal? Is the solution as simple as more practice and being more awake during my attempts?

[Tucane]

Yep, more practice is key and awareness is the word you're looking for. You still have to fall asleep to be able to enter a dream. Have you ever fallen asleep so fast that you could actually watch/feel yourself falling asleep? That is what it's about, but you don't have to fall asleep that fast. You only need to be there to watch it happen, as you fall asleep through different stages. You don't need to keep track of anything in particular, just go with the flow so to speak. You need some kind of anchor that hooks your awareness, so that you don't lose yourself in the process like you described. If you use counting, make sure to count your breaths... and if you happen to lose track, start over at 1. Make sure you have slept before you go for a WILD. I prefer doing mine early in the morning, although anytime after sleeping 3-8 hours should work fine. Good Luck, Tucane