Thread: Having trouble making any progress

I've been reading posts, and tutorials from both the DV forums and numerous sites around the web, and for months now...it just doesn't seem as though I'm making significant progress. I've been trying to reevaluate what I'm doing - right and wrong, but I can't seem to find something that works for me.

What do you guys do to relax? I'm looking for specific techniques? Do you employ the aid of isochronic tones/hypnosis mp3s/binaural beats?

Is there a trick you use, in particular, to reach sleep paralysis? To get HI? To make it in to a dreamscape?

I've reached sleep paralysis only a handful of times, and not once in the past 3-4 months. I have yet to have a successful WILD. At best, the few times I've had HI it's been dull, hazy, and short lived. It seems regardless of how long I lie still, completely relaxed, and regardless of what I do - from counting my breaths to counting backwards - I just can't seem to get anywhere. I'm far from giving up, or even frustrated, but I feel I need to make some sort of change or minor adjustment to progress, and I'd like to hear some advice. I haven't tried visualization techniques much, perhaps that could work. Would anyone be so kind as to go in to some sort of depth about a few visualization techniques?

As always, thanks in advance.