Newbie questions and introduction

**Doaty** · 12-03-2012 09:11 AM

I suppose this'll be my introductory post aswell as being a question-asking-post-thingamajiggah. I'm Doaty, pirate of the internets, steamers of the Steam, valve turner of the VALVes.
I enjoy long walks on the beach and I like birds.

Anyhow, I've got some small questions and some things I need advice on and since I'm not very good at writing continous texts, well, I'll take them one by one.

-Sometimes when I WILD my throat and mouth becomes so bloody dry that it's impossible to not swallow, it might be the air in my room since it's just turning winter and I'm not really in the position to buy a humidifier. What do?

-Yesterday-sort-of-today-I-suppose I tried WILDing yet again and this time I managed to feel a little bit more success than other times, I started feeling the feelings of me being upside down, my hands on the bedsheets feeling odd, my limbs going a bit numb, acceleration, falling, all that good stuff. I also started seeing colours, as in, psychadelic colour show consisting of purple, gray, green and yellow aswell as visions of places but there was like there was always something blocking me from stepping into the dream or, better said, it suddenly stopping and I have to wait another 50-100 breaths for it to happen again. Is it normal to be like that or did I just become too excited? I remember becoming a bit laughy and giggly when I felt the feeling of falling, did I maybe break mein REM when slipping a quick chuckle there?

-Most times when WILDing I fall asleep accidentally and lose conciousness but I have these dreams where I can feel myself present and like I have minimal control over it (being able to observe in half-conciousness-half-sleepness, no control just observing. Like when you're at the doctor and getting sedated, those middle 5 seconds between the sedative entering your bloodstream and it starting to work) but it's like being a haze of mishmashed thoughts and a big white fog and I cannot properly enter it. Is that just dreams being dreams or should I be doing something at that point?

-I'll bump with some more stuff later.

**melanieb** · 12-03-2012 06:18 PM

Welcome to the forum!

You've got some great questions there and we see them often in various forms. You're experiencing normal issues.

Let's try and break some of this down...

- Dry throat is a common problem among people attempting to have a WILD. What most people don't know is that you need not lie on your back to attempt a WILD. Any comfortable position in which you can fall asleep will work. Remember that you must actually fall asleep to have any form of lucid dream so lying in a position not normally comfortable to you only defeats your efforts.

- Those sensations of slipping in and out of a sleep/dream state and the visuals are common. I think they're more likely to occur if your body can not fully relax for sleep. When we attempt a WILD our body needs to feel comfortable and when we sleep on our backs there are a lot of factors that can cause the body to resist falling asleep. Minor muscle issues and itches can easily cause the body to stir. This is followed by the soft tissues of the mouth (like the tongue) slipping downwards as we lie on our backs causing the throat to constrict and snoring to stir us. Getting excited at what we see and feel can also cause us to break loose from the edge of sleep.

- Dreams are unpredictable and on some occasions your ability to be aware of the dream-state or control elements in it will be very tenuous at best. If you do have any level of control at all this period of fog or haze would be the time to try stabilizing...basically re-centering yourself and keeping calm to avoid losing the dream. Stabilizing tutorials are scattered around the forum and in our WIKI. I personally have stopped my activity and briefly closed my eyes (in the dream) to make certain I didn't lose control. You might also look around slowly or down at your feet as these actions seem to make people feel grounded in their personal reality.

On the best of days a WILD can be an amazing experience but if it becomes too difficult you can always try DILD or MILD. The ultimate goal is to reliably have a lucid dream. By far I've had more DILDs than WILDs.

Take a look around the forum and read some of the tutorials, especially in the WILD subsection. You can learn much from the experiences people have shared.

Also, look for our Dream Guides...they can point you to great advice and answer questions directly. They have green stars under their names. You may also consider posting in the Introduction Zone as people will greet you and share wonderful tips. We like to get to know new members.

Pleasant dreams!

**Doaty** · 12-03-2012 08:47 PM

Well damn, thanks, I didn't know I wasn't required to be on my back. I suppose that'll solve two problems, uncomfortability and dry throat since I never have those in my normal sleeping positions. Thanks, yet again. I'll check out some more threads to make sure I don't ask answered questions next time I ask.

**melanieb** · 12-03-2012 09:12 PM

I hope sleeping more comfortably does help.

You need not worry about asking questions that have already been answered elsewhere. Sometimes the right answer isn't easy to find unless we ask directly.

People are here to help. Ask all the questions you need to.

**karamia** · 12-03-2012 09:44 PM

My father passed 4 months ago and my 2 1/2 year old son never had a chance to meet him....although he has been to the house a couple of times since he passed. The other night, I had a dream that we were at my Dad's house and he was there. We were heading out for a walk and my Dad was out the door on the handicap ramp when my son came running through with me telling him to slow down. He ran into my Dad's leg which stopped him from falling flat on his face. The next morning when I went to wake my son up he asked "Is that Granddad on the ramp"? I was stunned and it lead me on this search. I had never heard of dream sharing before, but he has not been to my Dad's house in over a week and it just seemed a little more than coincidental. Is it possible that we shared a dream?

**Doaty** · 12-04-2012 04:02 PM

Uh, I am not intending to offend when I say: how is that relevant to my questions? I could try to answer your question I guess. I suppose if you're two very alike people there is a chance you shared a dream, or this could just be a very odd coincidence. Sorry that I couldn't be of more help.