Thread: Afraid of attempting WILD.

I have experienced a lot of terrifying hypnagogia but what works fine me to beat those experiences is to keep trying.

Do a WILD attempt and if you get to the hypnagogia part and get too terrified to proceed abort the attempt. Then analyze the situation from a cientific point of view (you may have been moved in the hypnagogia but when you wake up you are in the same place in bed - You didn't move; you may have heard someone you may know but you know it's impossible for that person to have been there - No one was there; you may see strange stuff but you know that it isn't real - It was all in your head).

With time and a lot of attempts you will get some immunity to those terrifying experiences. I was a lot scared of the noises and the feeling of being grabbed and of things touching me and even of a giant insect flying towards my head on my bed (this was the most stupid hypnagogia that i had and it scared me, LOL) but with a lot of attempts with some aborted ones in the middle i was able to have some decent WILD experiences by being able to ignore the terrifying stuff. You will also get used to the Sleep Paralysis you may feel on the aborted attempts each time you face it.

If you are brave enough you can skip the aborted attempts part but in my opinion i always learned something about my own mind and sleep onset process with them.

It's all in your head. Keep trying and conquer your fears. Keep us updated on your progress.

I haven't got to the stage in WILDing that's scary yet, but when I do I think I'll try the Acceptance Paradox technique from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

With the Acceptance Paradox you acknowledge that something makes you feel bad. It works with nerves when you are doing a speech in public: you acknowledge your nerves and accept them; you say, "Yes, I am nervous and that's fine."

The same may work with fear in WILD attempts.

Sleep Paralisys is so fun!. I think of it like a bonus that comes from choosing WILD over other lucid dreaming methods. it does take some getting used to before you get to enjoy it .

Originally Posted by Junknown

I have experienced a lot of terrifying hypnagogia but what works fine me to beat those experiences is to keep trying.

Do a WILD attempt and if you get to the hypnagogia part and get too terrified to proceed abort the attempt. Then analyze the situation from a cientific point of view (you may have been moved in the hypnagogia but when you wake up you are in the same place in bed - You didn't move; you may have heard someone you may know but you know it's impossible for that person to have been there - No one was there; you may see strange stuff but you know that it isn't real - It was all in your head).

With time and a lot of attempts you will get some immunity to those terrifying experiences. I was a lot scared of the noises and the feeling of being grabbed and of things touching me and even of a giant insect flying towards my head on my bed (this was the most stupid hypnagogia that i had and it scared me, LOL) but with a lot of attempts with some aborted ones in the middle i was able to have some decent WILD experiences by being able to ignore the terrifying stuff. You will also get used to the Sleep Paralysis you may feel on the aborted attempts each time you face it.

If you are brave enough you can skip the aborted attempts part but in my opinion i always learned something about my own mind and sleep onset process with them.

It's all in your head. Keep trying and conquer your fears. Keep us updated on your progress.

I did it and aborted. LOL i'm happy about aborting. Like you said I'm already getting used to it. It'll take some time though.

Originally Posted by TheWeirdnessSymposium

I haven't got to the stage in WILDing that's scary yet, but when I do I think I'll try the Acceptance Paradox technique from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

With the Acceptance Paradox you acknowledge that something makes you feel bad. It works with nerves when you are doing a speech in public: you acknowledge your nerves and accept them; you say, "Yes, I am nervous and that's fine."

The same may work with fear in WILD attempts.

I do that when Im in a scary situation IRL. I'll add that man thanks. I'll aknowledge the fear.

Great to know you made some progress .

Get familiarized with the process but don't keep holding it back for too long. Eventually you will be able to add another step to your last one and when you notice it you will have added enough steps to get to the point of the real WILD. Then, you will already know the road you have to walk and it will become easier.

Btw, what kind of experience did you get? To what part of the process did you get? Did you get some hypnagogia?

Good luck and don't give up.