Thread: Why You Fail at WILDs

Words can't express my gratitude for this brilliant tutorial. I've been trying to LD for over a year and managed only a rare DILD once every few months. I recently found this site and decided that I'd try to WILD, since I'd already tried nearly everything else with little success. So, I WILD'ed the usual way and managed a difficult and short DILD. The next day (yesterday), I came across this and realized that everything that you've stated made complete logical sense. So last night, I gave it a shot.

I had two LD's! It's unprecidented for me, and I thought it would never happen (at least anytime soon). Go figure that all I needed to do was fall asleep to make the WILD work, lol. I simply told myself to notice the shift and become conscious in the dream, then let myself drift like I usually do, and BAM! Two LD's! It's a miracle! Thank you so much! You need to get this posted as an official tutorial. This, my friend, is gold.

Did some more work on the WILDs,

had a week+ with no success when I allowed myself to move like a hurricane. Fell asleep without maintaining awareness. Decided to limit it a bit and moved only 3 times until I found a position in which I felt comfortable.

Focused on the breathing, it took time for me to find the balance between too much focus on awareness, was probably lying there for an hour or more. However I noticed that I was gradually heading towards sleep.

SP hit, didn't really expect it, became excited, but quickly regained the focus on breathing and falling asleep. WILD!

Gonna work on awareness and calming my mind quicker, probably through meditation, as I am remaining awake too long and it is probably messing up my sleep cycle.

I promissed to return when succesful, so this is me doing so.

I agree with Kaze, get it stickied as an official tutorial. The reasons for this is the emphasis on falling asleep, don't get all worked up about SP (it is only a stage to be recognised) and trust and work on your awareness.

Thanks a million again, great work!

Nice job! That's what it's all about. You fall asleep, then your mind is still looking for the anchor. So what happens is you kind of "wake up" into the transition. Once you start to recognize this feeling more and more, I think you wouldn't even need an anchor no more, your mind would get used to noticing the transition.

Besides falling asleep, I think the main key is memory footprints. You know how when you're laying there and all of a sudden you wake up two minutes later and remember small parts of a dream? I think that's the moment where the WILD starts. That's what happened during my nap. I kept slipping into mini-dreams, waking up every couple of minutes. I was pissed off at myself I kept thinking why the fuck can't I catch myself. Then boom, I came back from another mini-dream, rolled over and SP hit me in like three seconds. Mzzkc if you're reading this, I hope one day you do make that big comprehensive guide, lol.

this helped me a ton! i had a clear line drawn between wild and sleep in my head. like aware sleep and sleep are two different halves of a whole. i was directed to this thread and bam i can do it. or get to sp at least. what do i do when i reach sp? im gonna try in an afternoon nap today.

This afternoon I took a nap... before I got comfortable, I said to myself, "I'm going to WILD, but I'm going to fall asleep normally." Well, I did. I think the WILD failed, but that's okay because it turned into a DILD like WILDs always seem to do.

Originally Posted by Elucive

Mzzkc if you're reading this, I hope one day you do make that big comprehensive guide, lol.

I'll see if I can work it in on a day my homework schedule is fairly lax. Since I do work from 10PM-2AM every day, even weekends, it shouldn't be too hard, as long as I keep up with it.

Originally Posted by jguitar

this helped me a ton! i had a clear line drawn between wild and sleep in my head. like aware sleep and sleep are two different halves of a whole. i was directed to this thread and bam i can do it. or get to sp at least. what do i do when i reach sp? im gonna try in an afternoon nap today.

After you hit SP, just keep doing what you were doing before. No need to change the game up, since your body was already falling asleep to begin with. The biggest mistake people can make during SP is to do something that would prevent them from falling asleep, like get excited or focus too much on the sensations. Really, whatever got you to SP will be enough to get you into the dream. That said, you can change it up if you feel the need to. Just be warned that doing so doesn't always yield the results you want, and it takes some experience to know what will work and what won't in any given situation.

Strange, i always thought since i sleep on the side, wilding on my back would bring more success. I think i fall asleep too fast and without awareness in my normal postiion, while lying on my back gets me into SP quite fast, i just need to drift away to sleep without being too aware about it. I may try sleeping in my normal position, but i have no idea how to keep me aware enough so i don't just doze off.
ALSO, nice of you to mention that you need 8 hours of sleep before wilding, that gives me a wide range of testing to see what suits me, since i usualy went for 4 to 5 houts.
Nice tutorial as everyone already stated btw.

I took an afternoon nap today, and I think I got really close. Less than an hour before the nap, I'd beaten The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (I got it for my last birthday, and I don't care that I'm four years late!). Seeing as it's the best and longest Wii game I've ever played, I was thinking about it as I fell asleep, and it became my anchor. I think I heard a faint whooshing noise at one point, and then the anchor started to affect me directly. My body would seem to tingle whenever I thought of certain parts of the game; I almost could feel the things that I was imagining. After that, I swallowed or something, and the sensations went away. That's the closest I've ever gotten to a successful WILD. Before you say anything, I did RC right after coming out of the "trance;" I, unfortunately, was awake.

Originally Posted by Mzzkc

Don't WILD. Work on Awareness. FALL ASLEEP!

I seem to have endless trouble with these... my anchors always seem to keep me awake. When I stop using my anchor, I fall asleep normally. I've tried counting a few times; eventually my mind would zone out, but I'd keep counting. I may have some success with that, but most of the time when I WILD, I'll be awake for an hour, and a reality check will prove that I wasn't already dreaming. I'm a little afraid of how you're going to reply (it appears that you criticize anyone who asks questions without reading the tutorial), but what anchors work for you? I really need to find something that allows me to have a successful WILD and not keep me up all night.

Linky.

I cover some stuff there.

As for the anchors I use personally, music tends to work the best, but it bleeds over into the WILD and annoys me to no end, so I tend not to use anchors much these days. For reference, though, having clothes on is also a good one that I've had some success with. Those work for me, but as Elucive has already said, everyone has a different anchor that is best for them, and no one can figure out what it is except you.

Bump because people are still concerned about 'stages' when they shouldn't be.

I'd like to thank you Mzzkc,

Your guide in combination with BillyBob's How to WILD has given me the final piece of the puzzle.
Now it's up to me to figure out how to solve it (and I'm already making some progress with it)

I now realize that it's inevitable that I need to find my own way.

Once again,
Thanks

Originally Posted by SamJoe

I'd like to thank you Mzzkc,

Your guide in combination with BillyBob's How to WILD has given me the final piece of the puzzle.
Now it's up to me to figure out how to solve it (and I'm already making some progress with it)

I now realize that it's inevitable that I need to find my own way.

Once again,
Thanks

Hunh, I just re-read that, for the first time in very long time, and realized BillyBob was trying to do nearly exactly the same thing I tried to do here. Our approaches and focus are vastly different, however. While I put heavy emphasis on the bare bones solution to the problem that is plaguing DV (and somewhat toward the idea that everyone has to develop their own technique), BillyBob spread his focus to cover all the bases, which might have hurt the strength of his underlying message.

For a second, I was worried that if I didn't see the light when I read through it so long ago, then everyone might be doomed to figure it out themselves. But then I re-read your post and it dawned on me this thread really does compliment BillBob's tutorial in a way that might help accelerate the progress of those who read both. It's great to see you're forging your own path, and I'm glad I could help you, if even a little bit.

Still, I thought for sure I was one step ahead on this one. Oh well, the delusion was nice while it lasted. XP

Originally Posted by Mzzkc

Hunh, I just re-read that, for the first time in very long time, and realized BillyBob was trying to do nearly exactly the same thing I tried to do here. Our approaches and focus are vastly different, however. While I put heavy emphasis on the bare bones solution to the problem that is plaguing DV (and somewhat toward the idea that everyone has to develop their own technique), BillyBob spread his focus to cover all the bases, which might have hurt the strength of his underlying message.

For a second, I was worried that if I didn't see the light when I read through it so long ago, then everyone might be doomed to figure it out themselves. But then I re-read your post and it dawned on me this thread really does compliment BillBob's tutorial in a way that might help accelerate the progress of those who read both. It's great to see you're forging your own path, and I'm glad I could help you, if even a little bit.

Still, I thought for sure I was one step ahead on this one. Oh well, the delusion was nice while it lasted. XP

Indeed, where both of you want to convey the importance of falling asleep, BillyBob presents it as a concrete technique with an emphasis on 'the falling asleep part' whereas you present it more as a mindset/view which people trying to WILD should have. As BillyBob's is a true tutorial I don't think him covering the bases hurts the strength of his underlying message, I think people's preconceived misconceptions do. I would advice anyone to read through both carefully, trying to link them together. It really does give you a head start.

Neither one is actually ahead of the other, I hope that lifts your disappointment a bit

Mzzc. There are two posting members here who I think are totally awesome. These postsare amazing because they show you obvius things you already know. I have seen this only once before, and there the post was drowned in thanks as well. Way to go.

Mzzkc how about making a personal guide, here me out its not as wacky as it may seem.

Find out how people tend to do wilds, their personalities, sleep times, weather they are a morning birds or not and categorise them. After this make a quiz to find out which category people will fall in to and thus what their sleeping position should be close to. This sould not be a definate guide but a guideline that has canceled out most of the stuff a novice may not need. So you make a guide which could have the closest relevance to a person . A guide like this would need information about hundreds of people but could be done. I believe this would be the next step in guide making.

Originally Posted by dreamspinner

Mzzkc how about making a personal guide, here me out its not as wacky as it may seem.

Find out how people tend to do wilds, their personalities, sleep times, weather they are a morning birds or not and categorise them. After this make a quiz to find out which category people will fall in to and thus what their sleeping position should be close to. This sould not be a definate guide but a guideline that has canceled out most of the stuff a novice may not need. So you make a guide which could have the closest relevance to a person . A guide like this would need information about hundreds of people but could be done. I believe this would be the next step in guide making.

That seems time intensive. It'd likely take a team of people to pull off, and I'm not sure how effective the final result will be since everything will be determined by the readers' ability to figure out what category they fall into. And even then, from what I've seen, people tend to vary so wildly in what does and doesn't work for them that the number of individual guides required would be enormous. That's not to say it's a bad idea, but implementation would prove incredibly difficult.

Recognize what happens when falling asleep.

This is pretty straightforward. Simply recall moments where you were about to fall asleep, but were suddenly forced into alertness. Those with WILDs already under their belt can use those experiences to help better determine even more of what goes on when falling asleep.

I've been just doing this for practice when I take naps in the afternoon. I'll lay in bed with a quiet mind and try to watch for the shift into the pre-sleep imagery. I'm able to sort of hold on to a conscious thought, but its only sort of half there when I start to drift into sleep, but as soon as I notice that I'm starting to dream, I'll snap out of it, my hearing will turn back to external and I'm consciously aware I'm in my bed.

Any tips on retaining this consciousness without going overboard and snapping your attention back to the external world?

Hi, good post. I have been trying WILD for sometime now and been successful couple of times. But unable to be consistent. I tried your method and letting me go to sleep. I do the counting thing and in the middle it stops when I'm about to fall asleep. I suddenly realize that I stopped counting and will start again to keep my awareness, which actually disturbs my sleep and I'm awake again. I'm finding it difficult to fall asleep and keep awareness and the same time (which is very key for WILD I guess). What is that I'm doing wrong?

Appreciate your help.

Counting probably. It's a terrible anchor for most people.

Thanks for your reply. What are the other options that I could practice to keep me aware?

There are tons of them.

Check out this guide for better info.

Wow. This was just incredible.

I got home from school and thought, "I'm tired. I'm going to take a twenty-minute nap." So I got home and launched myself into bed. I didn't even know that I'd kept my mind conscious when my body began to fall asleep after about fifteen minutes.
I could've sworn I heard some sort of scraping/ticking noise. I felt the pulsing of my heartbeat under my skin all over my body. I suddenly just knew, "This is what sleep paralysis feels like. I've done it."
However, I may have followed up with the transition wrong. As soon as the pulsing stopped, I opened my eyes. I could see a picture of my room, but it was fragmented, distorted. Just to make sure, I tried to check my hands---I had no fingers at all! I think I did something wrong because I had to force myself to move. In other words, I was still paralyzed. I was also worried because I knew that my alarm would go off in about five minutes and that I wouldn't be able to sleep through it. Suddenly the view shifted and everything went back to normal. I did a reality check and was awake. I felt so terrible!

That was my first real WILD. What did I do wrong? Did I move prematurely? At this point, when I'm so close, I need answers!

Good job! As far as I can see, you didn't do anything wrong. The having to force yourself to move thing happens to me quite a bit as well, but there really isn't anything you can do short of staying calm and pushing through it with sheer strength of will.