Thread: Afraid of attempting WILD.

There is no need to be scared of wilding, the things you experience happen every single night when you fall asleep so no need to worry. I have also never hear that it will feel like your choking or that someone will come into the room. The most that should happen is that you feel a spinning or moving sensation, see some stuff, and hear some some sounds. The spinning is actually very fun.

Cool man. It sounds like you've tried it. Hey it looks like your willing to adopt, i'd be happy to be a adoptee if you dont mind. LOL im in the library now so i might have to go home and use my ps3 web browser. It'd be cool to stay in touch, i really want to have a close friend to help me out. Nice to meet you sugarglider.

I had this exact same problem when I first started because I used to experience terrifying sleep paralysis before I had even heard about Lucid Dreaming. However now that I am well informed about it, it doesn't scare me anymore and I don't even have hallucinations when attempting WILD, only when waking up to SP. Not sure if this helps, but once you realise there is nothing to be scared about and nothing can actually hurt you, its easy to overcome your fear and get into some great lucids, especially when you know they are so worth it!

I'm the same as destinationmoon (Isn't that a Tintin book?) I used to have terrifying nightmares that I now know are SP and FA. I'm not a successful WILDer (yet ) but here's my thoughts:

Start trying to WILD in afternoon naps.
Practise regular meditation first so you get used to 'odd' things like HIs
Make up some affirmations about nightmare scenarios, "If I get scary SP I'll just relax and go to sleep" etc.

You hear those sotries, but it's different for each person. Firstly, as others have said, there's nothing to be afraid of. I had a WILD where my dad came into my room and told me to wake up for school, although I just remembered getting up at 3AM to go to the bathroom. Then, I realized that I had already fallen asleep and entered a dream. I barely noticed. On the other hand, I've had WILDs with a lot of vibrations and hypnagogia. I had some auditory hallucinations, and I was startled at first, but then just kept going and made it. It took a few tries to get over it at first, but there's really no reason to worry, or else not many people would try to WILD in the first place.

yes it is a tin tin book

and I think you have to attempt it and go through it to judge it for yourself, there is no point being scared about other peoples experiences as everyone is different. the only thing that is the same about everyone is that everyone has survived nothing can hurt you and you just need to ride it out and think of it as an important gateway into lucid dreaming

Originally Posted by Sigurd

Hi guys! With little success in lucid dreaming, i've only gotten about 15+. But i really want to do WILD. But I am really scared of the things i hear like, "You will see your mom come in your room and call your name", or,"You will feel like you are getting choked." What the hellz? I really want to try it out but really is this true of getting sleep paralysis for hours and hours on end?

Now i've heard that this is the holy grail of lucid dreaming tutorials, but honestly i DONT HAVE CONFIDENCE TO PERFORM IT. Is there like a page that debunks these things or is it all true?

If there is anyone who has performed WILD, could you guide me through it, um.. Like a lucid draming aid? That would REALLY be helpful.

I won't lie to you, sleep paralysis CAN be a frightening experience for those unaccustomed to altered states of consciousness while being immobilized. Like in lucid dreams, I've found that often in Sleep Paralysis your emotions accentuate and your subconscious mind will often immerse you in a(n) visual, auditory, or kinesthetic situation during SP. Often times, what you're likely to experience will be in direct correlation to your expectations and/or emotions.

I don't think "getting over fear in sleep paralysis" has a trick to it. It just takes good old fashioned conditioning, experience, and remembering that the experiences one has are subject to the one experiencing it. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by TheWeirdnessSymposium

I'm the same as destinationmoon (Isn't that a Tintin book?) I used to have terrifying nightmares that I now know are SP and FA. I'm not a successful WILDer (yet ) but here's my thoughts:

Start trying to WILD in afternoon naps.
Practise regular meditation first so you get used to 'odd' things like HIs
Make up some affirmations about nightmare scenarios, "If I get scary SP I'll just relax and go to sleep" etc.

Thats good, i guess the afternoon is better for the mood, when you're doing it at night you might get heightened fear. Thanks symptom.

Originally Posted by Jeff777

I won't lie to you, sleep paralysis CAN be a frightening experience for those unaccustomed to altered states of consciousness while being immobilized. Like in lucid dreams, I've found that often in Sleep Paralysis your emotions accentuate and your subconscious mind will often immerse you in a(n) visual, auditory, or kinesthetic situation during SP. Often times, what you're likely to experience will be in direct correlation to your expectations and/or emotions.

I don't think "getting over fear in sleep paralysis" has a trick to it. It just takes good old fashioned conditioning, experience, and remembering that the experiences one has are subject to the one experiencing it. Hope this helps.

Wow guys you inspired me to do it, thanks jeff. I'll keep you guys updated and i will just ride it out, like said.
Thanks guys!

Some people experience frightening hallucinations some of the time. Other times, you just slip into a dream without any noticeable transition. There are also times when you experience fun or beautiful transitions. It is just like dreaming. Sometimes you have nightmares, but that is no reason to stop dreaming.

The cool thing about WILD, compared to a nightmare, is you remain conscious and lucid throughout the experience. Even if you see something frightening, you remain aware it is a hallucination. It is like watching a scary movie. You know it isn't real.

Originally Posted by Robot_Butler

Some people experience frightening hallucinations some of the time. Other times, you just slip into a dream without any noticeable transition. There are also times when you experience fun or beautiful transitions. It is just like dreaming. Sometimes you have nightmares, but that is no reason to stop dreaming.

The cool thing about WILD, compared to a nightmare, is you remain conscious and lucid throughout the experience. Even if you see something frightening, you remain aware it is a hallucination. It is like watching a scary movie. You know it isn't real.

That makes perfect sense. AAhhh! Yesterday i was going to perform it but i was scared. Today i definitely will... I hope.

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.