Struggling to have a successful WILD

I tried my third attempt at having a WILD, with no success. I decided to take a nap at around one thirty today. I relaxed, and started counting. I felt the bed shaking and knew to ignore it. I continued counting and got to three hundered, and lost count. I knew that was a sign that I was falling asleep, and started from one again. I got to two hundered, and lost count again. This kept happening and decided to just give up. My second attempt was this morning. I woke up at around six and thought about having a WILD. I woke up, went to the bathroom, and walked around my room a bit. Then I decided it was time to do it. I went to my bed, and counted. I often lost track and started over when I only got to numbers like twenty. I started thinking about random things, and tried to concentrate. Eventually I just rolled over and went to normal sleep. Now for my first attempt, which was a nap I took yesterday. After counting to only twenty I started hearing noises, which I knew was hypnagogia. I felt the bed moving which felt like an earthquake. My mind kept wandering and I gave up. I just couldn't concentrate enough. So, any tips?

The best tip I can think of is to suggest you take Sageous's WILD class in the DV academy portion of the forum. Read his WILD sessions thoroughly and do the homework. Report your progress on the "What happened?" thread. Receive feedback and apply it.

owtoty: why did you give up when your mind wanders? When you are counting and at some point you stop concentrating on the count and thoughts take over, maybe it's a good thing. Maybe you are getting somewhere. You should not quit this "wandering thoughts". Maybe it's the dream taking form.
I say this because i had 2 unintentional WILD with success. I say "unintentional" because i was performing B-MILD which kinda looks like what you were doing. I was concentrated on 1 thought. At some point, my mind stopped that concentration and other thoughts took form, than some visuals took form. It was a dream forming. I didn't quit. I became calm and, some seconds after, i was experiencing vivid images, my body vibrating and... (pop)... i was inside the dream.

I gave up mostly because I was frustrated that nothing was happening. I wanted to have a successful WILD so bad that I took another nap today. When I lost concentration I fell asleep and had a non lucid dream. Maybe is it because I'm attempting to WILD during a nap? Or maybe because it wasn't a REM period.

Hey, owtoty! :) I don't know if you've checked our WILD tutorial here, but there's a paragraph about being unable to focus:

Quote:

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Unable to Focus
Sometimes stress can distract you. It is hard to focus if you are worrying about everything you have to do the following morning, or the next day at work. Write down any distracting obligations in your dream journal so you can stop worrying about them and focus on your intention to lucid dream. If your mind is racing, try a meditative exercise to calm it. For example, you could imagine placing each bothersome thought into a large box, and closing the heavy lid.

If you having hard time calming down and falling asleep because you are excited about WILDing, start falling asleep normally and continue with WILDing when relaxed and closer to falling asleep.

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I also suggest checking Sageous's WILD threads, or maybe even trying a different technique? :) Good luck!

Don't stress out if the WILD wasn't successful. It will happen, but it could take time. If you try too hard it's worst. I've lost some sleep by trying too hard. Never again. When it happens, it happens. And, i said before, my successful WILD happened when i least expect it.
My tip is for you to keep trying everyday. Maybe you will have in 1 week, maybe in 2. When it happens, it will be easier for you to have another one.

I would recommend to train relaxation and concentration. Trying three times is nothing. I was unsuccessful to repeat intentionally my first OBE for about 5 years. But I trained and trained. Day after day... And made my own method, which I found (after maybe 10 years) was not very original... But I didn't have any sources of information and even didn't know that what I'm doing is "normal". Even if I thought that what I'm doing is something like lucid dream, I tried and try even now to find proof of reality in my travels... You know, I was, I'm and I will always be skeptic, but that is nothing to stop me. Ever. I believe in proofs :D