WBTB + WILD naturally/no alarm?

[Dinside]

So, I'll post my "theory" here. Maybe this isn't new at all and I've simply never heard about it. First, some background info that lead me to think about this: Even though I firstly read about lucid dreaming a long time ago, I only started trying it seriously almost two weeks ago. I've been doing RC everyday and the stuff. I've had one lucid dream so far. And how did it happen? Well, I had woken up from another dream. Took my cell and wrote down some stuff about the dream and then, went back to sleep trying to induce a dream by mantras. Later on, I realized that maybe this is how WBTB + WILD works? What I mean: instead of setting an alarm in order to wake up after a rem cycle, you use mantras. As you fall asleep, you repeat to yourself: "tonight I'll wake up after every dream I have and I'll remember to write it down". That's what I've been doing so far, and it's turned out just fine (not all the times though). And the thing is, when you wake up from a dream, you write it down, maybe drink some water and, then, try to fall asleep again, but staying conscious and repeating to yourself that you'll "enter" into a dream and already be lucid, or immediately do a RC, or something like that. So you basically replace the alarm with mantras, and wake up naturally. Again, maybe this isn't a new thing. I'm just asking about it cause when I read about WBTB I always see that people use alarms. And the thing is, I gave it a try the last two days, and couldn't sleep because of feeling anxious about falling asleep quickly (since I wanted to sleep the correct amount of hours). Thank you!

[robertcox88]

Yea that's another way to do it. It's not as foolproof as setting an alarm but if it works for you and works better for your sleep then yea why not.

[Spock]

To wake up at night you can either use alarms, or mantras, or practice noticing micro-awakenings, or use a partner, or even drink too much / too little (to induce the need to pee / drink). I'm pretty sure there are other, more obscure, options too... Alarms are the easiest to use and most accessible, but have many possible negative side effect - e.g. like what you mentioned, or killing dream recall, etc... I personally use alarms since my brain sometimes learns their schedule and wakes me up before they ring, although I also use mantras and [try to] practice noticing micro-awakenings. (btw, some people are just naturally good at spotting micro-awakenings, so they have no such problems)

[Dinside]

Great! It's good to know that I can attempt this method through different ways. Thank you guys!

[gab]

If you have a gentle alarm that wakes you up gradually without startling you, it's ok to use it if it works for you. I personally dring water before bed and then every time it wakes me up for a potty. Mantras to wake you up after each REM, which is the end of a sleep cycle, also help. Since we naturally wake up after each cycle anyway. We just don't notice them because why would we, right? Until we have a need to WBTB or we want to recall more of our dreams. *Moved to WILD