Thread: We NEED to change the way we think about WILD.

Originally Posted by Metaphyz1k

I’m really beginning to think that the WILD techniques that most of us know, use (or try to), and for some reason deem acceptable are an absolute waste of time. The endless counting and breathing exercises associated with the traditional WILD methods are completely unnecessary and the principles these methods are based upon are illogical at best.

Conventional WILD techniques describe the process as "tricking your mind into thinking the body is asleep by remaining still for a long period of time", but just think about that phrase for a moment. What basis in any scientific fact does that really have?

First of all, the body doesn't go to sleep, it rests. The brain is really what’s doing the sleeping via the altering of brain waves and sleep phases, etc. Also, how exactly does one go about performing this so-called “trickery”? Don’t you have to make a conscious decision to do the tricking and doesn’t this consciousness reside within the brain? Wouldn’t you therefore be tricking yourself; if so how is this even possible?

I want to know what's really happening when I feel the effects of sleep paralysis coming on. Tell me how these molecules are interacting with those molecules and in what way all of these neurons are firing electrical impulses in this manner to produce what I experience as a transition from waking to dreaming. Maybe it isn't yet possible to know all of this, but shouldn't we be at least trying to understand it from a more biological perspective? This knowledge would certainly aid in the creation of better WILD techniques.

Don’t keep telling me, “oh yeah, the mind is being tricked into thinking the body is asleep or something”. When I piss, my penis is being tricked into thinking my head is falling off.

I just think it’s nonsense. And the notion that resisting the urge to move or itch is a test is also complete nonsense. A test is also a conscious action and unless you’re somehow consciously telling yourself to do an “itch test” to see if the “body is asleep”, no test is actually being performed.

If it’s true that remaining still for a long time causes the transition into dreaming when attempting a WILD, then how come certain techniques require little or no time of remaining still, and they work instantaneously? Many times I’ve woken up from a dream without moving or opening my eyes and I’m quickly pulled back into a dream.

Please stop wasting your time counting to a thousand, you’re just keeping yourself awake. There are better ways to remain aware and transition into a dream in a much shorter period of time. The problem is, the better techniques that rely on visualization and the imagining of tactile sensations are all too often overlooked in place of the lesser methods.

A good example of a more efficient technique is this.

And more recently I saw this thread, which I liked as well.

At least these methods are a lot more efficient. Of course you should always do what works for you, but we should start thinking more like the people responsible for the WILD variations I linked to above.

How many threads per day do you see people posting to complain about how traditional WILD techniques aren't working for them? This is pretty substantial evidence to suggest rather objectively that the traditional techniques aren't effective a lot of the time, not to mention how time consuming they are.

Sure, some people swear by certain traditional WILD methods, which is great, and I'm not saying that they never work because obviously they work just fine for some people. But for a vast majority of WILD practitioners, the process as they know it just can't work for them no matter how hard they try and try.

Let’s try to understand what’s really happening from a more scientific standpoint and utilize this knowledge in the creation of more effective techniques.

Thanks for reading all of this shit. What do you think?

I think this topic has been exhausted by spaceexplorer, and rightly so. He made very good definitive points. The body is not "testing" the brain of course because that would mean the two work independently. Though (as Akono said) saying that techniques regarding "tricking the body into falling asleep" aren't effective at getting the WILD practitioner to WILD couldn't be further from the truth. If you believe anything on the contrary, visit my thread HERE, and sift through all the pages while tallying up the success stories. You might even feel inclined to put asterisks by the ones that claim they had not been able to WILD (or LD at all) up until attempting the method laid within that thread.

As far as I'm concerned, using words like "tricking" and "mind" and "body" when WILD'ing just aid in the relaxation/transitioning process and keeps things simple so as to not slip the practitioner into a "paralysis by analysis" state by excessive scientific rigor (pun intended). You'd do best to keep things like this in mind before trying to "re-invent wheels" that have been getting many members here from point A to point B.

With all that being said, you and others with your thinking patterns are more than welcome (encouraged actually) to come up with a method of your own that involves how "molecules are interacting with other molecules and on neurons" as you so quaintly put it. If it arouses enough interest and the community deems it helpful enough...it'll be permanently tucked away in our tutorials section where many aspiring WILD'ers on the internet can read your induction method for years to come.

Until that happens, you're limited to methods of your own, methods on another site, or what we have here.