Connection between WILD and dream control?

Hey Guys,

Technically this isn't my first posting as I had an account here many years ago but have been inactive in the lucid dreaming community for quite some time. Recently, in my effort to quit smoking, I have been wearing a 24 hour nicotine patch. As has been discussed on these forums before, the patch, if worn while sleeping, gives extremely vivid dreams all night long; Not a bad motivation for quitting smoking. Anyhow, over the last two weeks this has greatly rejuvenated my dreaming interest and a few days ago I had my first successful WILD, and have had a few very vivid and prolonged DILD's as well.

But the way my WILD played out and the subsequent DILDs gave me some insight into what I think may be important for WILDing and lucid controlling. Here's my thought: When WILDing it seems to be very important to transition focus from the physical body to the mental body. What I mean by this is that in the first stage of WILD I allow my physical body to become relaxed and sedated or what not. Then to evoke the WILD, I begin to imagine sensations of all sorts. I imagine the feel of riding a rollercoaster, or of climbing a rope, or of being on a boat, etc. The important part here is that I focus on all the sensations involved in whatever I'm imagining IE if on a boat, the sounds of the water and boat, the smells, the feeling of movement or vertigo, the sight. This really, really helps me to lose consciousness of my physical body and thus the WILD progresses.

But I feel like by the same logic a dream can be made even more lucid. When the dream begins, what if one were to not do anything but consciously feel, smell, taste, the surroundings. Not just by going through the motions, but doing so with the conscious intent of realizing that what you are experiencing is a dream and how insane (as in amazing) that really is!

I don't know, I really am an LDing amateur so I'm not at all trying to give advise, but it just seems like the processes used to help initiate a WILD also would help to secure the clarity and strength of the actual LD. Any thoughts?

Yes. The trick with WILD is that it's not an instant jump from wake to sleep. Sometimes it feels like that but more often it's a gradual transition through a gray area between wake and sleep. You have to become familiar with this transition and recognize the right moment to enter the dream and start moving. Move too early and you'll move your physical body. Wait too late and you may lose lucidity. Many times I tried to act on hypnogogia, thinking the dream had started, and failed. Like you say, you need to patiently focus on the hypnogogia and enhance the sensations and vividness to the point when you fully reach the dream state.

And I agree that this helps with non-WILDs too. You become aware of your dream senses and can will them to become sharper and more vivid. It requires focus and a bit of patience. It's hard for me to describe other than that it gets better with practice.