Help calibrate my WILDing skills?

Hey, I have a couple of problems when trying to WILD.

The first one is that every night I wake up before my alarm rings. But it's not something like 10 minutes before it, it's and hour! I usually go to bet at midnight and set my alarm to 5am - 6am, but for some reason I wake up at 4am. When I wake up I don't know if I should try to WILD right now or sleep again and wait for the alarm. Does waking in the wrong time screw up my REM cycles?

Another problem is that when I go back to bed, I always fall asleep before expected. Normally I think that I will first have some HI. But the problem is that I have none, or just a few, and then I black out. It's really annoying. Are there any methods to track how close I am to falling asleep?

These are the main problems I currently have. Any help is appreciated. :-P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Risoles

Hey, I have a couple of problems when trying to WILD.

The first one is that every night I wake up before my alarm rings. But it's not something like 10 minutes before it, it's and hour! I usually go to bet at midnight and set my alarm to 5am - 6am, but for some reason I wake up at 4am. When I wake up I don't know if I should try to WILD right now or sleep again and wait for the alarm. Does waking in the wrong time screw up my REM cycles?

---

Just try and WILD after you wake up, you'll never know if the hour gap is a problem until you actually try. I don't think it should cause all that much of a problem.

Quote:

---

Another problem is that when I go back to bed, I always fall asleep before expected. Normally I think that I will first have some HI. But the problem is that I have none, or just a few, and then I black out. It's really annoying. Are there any methods to track how close I am to falling asleep?

---

If you're falling asleep pretty quickly, you might need to wake your mind up a little more.
Try walking around, reading a book or even checking the dreamviews forums :P

How long do you stay awake before you try and go back to bed? It should be between 30 minutes to an hour.

I just stay awake to go to the bathroom. But isn't 30 minute going to wake me too much? Won't it be hard to fall asleep again?

Yeah, you're not staying awake long enough. Try 15 minutes if you think 30 will be too much.
Basically, just wake your mind up enough so that when you lie back down you wont fall asleep within seconds. I always try and read a little bit when I attempt WILDs.

Also, what do you do once you get back into bed? Do you focus on your breathing? Do you have a small mantra ("I am dreaming...") or something?

I usually wait for any hypnagogic hallucinations, but I always fall asleep before expected, without seeing them.

If I try using some concentration methods after staying awake, will I fall asleep at all? I feel like I'm never going to fall asleep if I keep counting or focusing somewhere.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Risoles

I usually wait for any hypnagogic hallucinations, but I always fall asleep before expected, without seeing them.

If I try using some concentration methods after staying awake, will I fall asleep at all? I feel like I'm never going to fall asleep if I keep counting or focusing somewhere.

---

Well, you'll never know if you'll fall asleep until you try :P
The general idea behind WILDing is that you keep your mind awake while your body falls asleep. So, assuming all goes well, once you're relaxed and in a hypnagogic state, you'll just enter a dream.

Sorry to interrupt this 1 on 1 conversation, but I have a tip I use to get to SP. It requires more mindwork to stay conscious, but not physically. It is more interactive than counting IMO.

When I WILD, I usually think of a song I know really well and go through it from beginning to end. I try to focus on the words in sequence, and I keep the music together, and The object is to go through the song completely without skipping/repeating any lines. It's harder than it seems. But not so hard that it keeps you awake. that is my input. Hope you liked.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AngelOfLife

Sorry to interrupt this 1 on 1 conversation, but I have a tip I use to get to SP. It requires more mindwork to stay conscious, but not physically. It is more interactive than counting IMO.

When I WILD, I usually think of a song I know really well and go through it from beginning to end. I try to focus on the words in sequence, and I keep the music together, and The object is to go through the song completely without skipping/repeating any lines. It's harder than it seems. But not so hard that it keeps you awake. that is my input. Hope you liked.

---

Awesome idea, I'll try this soon. I actually do something similar to this, I'll imagine myself having a conversation with someone with all the imagery that would go along with the sequence and that can usually carry me into a dream or at least get me close to it.

A conversation! That's GENIUS! Haha, I have done that before but only in SP. I often have hallucinations of people's voices. They have started some pretty funny inside jokes around my circle of acquaintances. XD

I bet the imaginary conversation would be fun because you can tell them anything you want and make their reactions crazy! Phew; good times.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AngelOfLife

A conversation! That's GENIUS! Haha, I have done that before but only in SP. I often have hallucinations of people's voices. They have started some pretty funny inside jokes around my circle of acquaintances. XD

I bet the imaginary conversation would be fun because you can tell them anything you want and make their reactions crazy! Phew; good times.

---

Yeah, it's really cool! Haha, I have had some pretty absurd scenarios with that technique :P
Also, reading your post prompted me to remember one of my dreams from last night - cheers!

I had a hallucination once that my friend Ben was saying "icky smell icky smell!!" and I was like "what is it?" and he answered with screaming the word "COCONUTS!!"

the next day I was with Ben and another friend David, and I told them about the "icky smell" incident and Ben said "hm. That's funny. I don't like coconuts so it makes sense!" qnd now it's a running joke b/t the three of us.

Good times, good times. All thanks to WILDing HH. X3