Thread: What happened? Post Your WILD Attempts, Good or Bad, Here

Originally Posted by BruteForce223

^

Hmmm alrighty, I'll stay up for closer to 15 minutes tonight then. I'm at a bit of a loss when knowing what I should be thinking about when I'm lying there, too. I've read and thought about all your stages/lessons in WILD but I still don't really know what I should be thinking about when I'm laying there waiting for a dream to form. I mean sometimes(Like last night) I won't get ANYTHING, no vibrations, just nothing.

15 minutes is definitely better, I think. Keep in mind also that if you're not interested in long WBTB periods, or just can't think of anything, there's always DEILD, which bypasses all that and you don't even have to get out of bed ... it's my personal favorite, BTW, especially on those days I just don't feel like thinking.

And, forgive me for repeating (because I can't say it enough), but "nothing" is not bad thing. Vibrations, etc, are not required for successful WILD's, or successful LD's in general. I've had thousands of WILDS, and almost all of them were achieved without witnessing any noise (much less looking for it). Don't worry about nothing, rather be pleased that you don't need to deal with a major distraction.

So like, should I be focusing on what I'm going to do in the dream? Or just focus on my mantra, or what?

Yes.

Focusing on your upcoming dream is an excellent thing to do during WBTB, or DEILD. You don't really even need to focus, just calmly think dreamy thoughts, or maybe imagine yourself, daydream-like, in your next dream.

I would save the mantra for the actual WILD, but you could think about it during WBTB, and maybe consider if it's the right one for that particular day.

Overall, though, it seems like your head's in the right place, and that's what really matters...

Originally Posted by Sageous

it's my personal favorite, BTW, especially on those days I just don't feel like thinking.

Mhmm I see, Thanks so much man. I would really love to try DEILD, but it sounds like it takes more skill than WILD, if you know what I mean. Also, I don't have an iphone or anything that will wake me up and then turn itself off without my reaching out and switching it off. In your opinion, for a somewhat intermediate/beginner dreamer, do you think WILD or DEILD is easiest achieved?

Thanks so much again man.

I naturally woke at 3AM(ish) and had some dream fragments in my head, tried to remember as much as possible but I couldn't manage to get them into my conscious memory. So I decided to try a WILD, So I layed flat on my back, and tilted my head slightly on the pillow, I then began my technique to keep my mind awake (drawing an environment line by line.) and I started to get small tingles in different limbs of my body, mainly hands and feet, then as I thought I was about to get some HI or something, or swallowed, completely jolting me out of the stage I was on and waking my body. The swallowing reflex always gets me, how can I counter it?

Originally Posted by Phased

I naturally woke at 3AM(ish) and had some dream fragments in my head, tried to remember as much as possible but I couldn't manage to get them into my conscious memory. So I decided to try a WILD, So I layed flat on my back, and tilted my head slightly on the pillow, I then began my technique to keep my mind awake (drawing an environment line by line.) and I started to get small tingles in different limbs of my body, mainly hands and feet, then as I thought I was about to get some HI or something, or swallowed, completely jolting me out of the stage I was on and waking my body. The swallowing reflex always gets me, how can I counter it?

Hey man, I understand Sage is the GOD at Lucid Dreaming here but I myself have countered this so I'll give you my 2 cents anyway.

Well yeah having my head tilted on 4 pillows has helped me alot, but also just learning to disconnect from your Physical senses man. So don't think about those feelings at all, don't focus on them, just concentrate on the dream world and maybe your mantra. I'm sorry if this didn't help an awful lot, just what I've learned from Sage/my own hardly-extensive experience.

Wish you the best with your dreams man!

Originally Posted by BruteForce223

I would really love to try DEILD, but it sounds like it takes more skill than WILD, if you know what I mean. Also, I don't have an iphone or anything that will wake me up and then turn itself off without my reaching out and switching it off. In your opinion, for a somewhat intermediate/beginner dreamer, do you think WILD or DEILD is easiest achieved?

In my opinion, an intermediate/beginner dreamer ought to stay focused on MILD and DILD, because the memory and mental discipline skills picked up practicing those two are instrumental to lucid dreaming.

That said, DEILD for me is the easier dive because it requires much less "focus" time and is fueled by your previous dream, so a mantra, all that lying still stuff, and forming a dream are not necessary. I've never thought about it, but you could be right that DEILD might need a bit more experience or skill, because it does require a higher level of self-awareness and keeping your wits about you, but you could certainly do a DEILD before ever completing a WILD.

For what it's worth, I was doing DEILD's long before iphones were ever invented without a problem, and also don't think it's a good idea to use an alarm to wake you up anyway, so that might not be a good reason not to try DEILD. Rather than using an alarm, I think it's better to schedule your DEILD attempt for very late in your sleep cycle (after 5 or 6 hours) so that you can wake from a dream naturally and return right back to sleep and the dream without waiting (too long) for your next REM cycle. Doing DEILD after an LD is very effective as well, because your head is really in the right place for an immediate return to the dreaming.

Originally Posted by Sageous

In my opinion, an intermediate/beginner dreamer ought to stay focused on MILD and DILD, because the memory and mental discipline skills picked up practicing those two are instrumental to lucid dreaming.

That said, DEILD for me is the easier dive because it requires much less "focus" time and is fueled by your previous dream, so a mantra, all that lying still stuff, and forming a dream are not necessary. I've never thought about it, but you could be right that DEILD might need a bit more experience or skill, because it does require a higher level of self-awareness and keeping your wits about you, but you could certainly do a DEILD before ever completing a WILD.

Mhmmm I see. I have actually had success with WILD in the past, I've induced about 5 or maybe 6/7 WILDS from WBTB technique but as I said previously my main issue with trying DEILD is waking myself up without an alarm to be honest, I guess I could do what I've heard from alot of people, which is just tell yourself(almost like a mantra) that you're going to wake up instantly after having a dream. I'll try that tonight anyway, and if I don't wake up, when I do wakeup whenever that ends up being, I'll WILD and hope for the best haha.

Seriously appreciate this advice man I actually feel alot better about attempting a DEILD now!

Originally Posted by Phased

I naturally woke at 3AM(ish) and had some dream fragments in my head, tried to remember as much as possible but I couldn't manage to get them into my conscious memory. So I decided to try a WILD, So I layed flat on my back, and tilted my head slightly on the pillow, I then began my technique to keep my mind awake (drawing an environment line by line.) and I started to get small tingles in different limbs of my body, mainly hands and feet, then as I thought I was about to get some HI or something, or swallowed, completely jolting me out of the stage I was on and waking my body. The swallowing reflex always gets me, how can I counter it?

First, listen to Bruteforce's excellent advice and try to ignore physical distractions like swallowing. Your body's going to do what it wants to do as it drifts to sleep, and you have to let it, to know it's going to do odd things, and that those things can be ignored slide when they occur. This advice is not only for swallowing, but tingling, vibrations, "SP," and whatever else your body might independently invent.

But if what you describe is much more violent (I'm thinking a sleep-apnia-like spasm of a swallow, like your body was trying to correct something serious) and there is nothing you can do to avoid it waking you up, you might consider changing your sleeping position:

Try lying on your right side first, but if you still get a swallow reflex, you might try your left side, which positions your stomach in a way that might make such swallowing less likely. If you must lie on your back, however, consider using more pillows or perhaps tilting your bed at a slight angle, with the head higher than the foot. And keep tilting your head to one side; that's a good idea. In case you're curious, my bed is currently tilted and I stack three large pillows under my head to counter acid reflux issues... and it works most of the time.

And, of course, if all else fails, there's always DILD!

Originally Posted by Sageous

First, listen to Bruteforce's excellent advice and try to ignore physical distractions like swallowing. Your body's going to do what it wants to do as it drifts to sleep, and you have to let it, to know it's going to do odd things, and that those things can be ignored slide when they occur. This advice is not only for swallowing, but tingling, vibrations, "SP," and whatever else your body might independently invent.

But if what you describe is much more violent (I'm thinking a sleep-apnia-like spasm of a swallow, like your body was trying to correct something serious) and there is nothing you can do to avoid it waking you up, you might consider changing your sleeping position:

Try lying on your right side first, but if you still get a swallow reflex, you might try your left side, which positions your stomach in a way that might make such swallowing less likely. If you must lie on your back, however, consider using more pillows or perhaps tilting your bed at a slight angle, with the head higher than the foot. And keep tilting your head to one side; that's a good idea. In case you're curious, my bed is currently tilted and I stack three large pillows under my head to counter acid reflux issues... and it works most of the time.

And, of course, if all else fails, there's always DILD!

Awesome thank you and also thanks brute force! Very helpful, will tilt my bed and get some extra pillows for my head to stay up and give it another shot tonight!

Thanks a heap guys.

EDIT: Sorry about the horrible spelling, I am a bit tired..

*Sigh*

So last night I got up after 6 hours sleep,(compared to the last nights 5 hours) and stayed up for 15 minutes. I was doing my best during this time to only focus on how awesome my dream would be, and the great things I'd do once I became lucid.

So I got back into bed and lay there repeating my mantra out-loud until I was focused on it enough to do it in my head. I lay there for what felt like about 30-40 minutes and I got nothing.

I was talking to Paige, (If you didn't know she's a Dream-Guide around DV) and she said it's maybe because this much sleep(5-6 hours) is too much as I might be running past my REM sleep cycle?
If I could get your take on this Sage, would be most helpful.

Cheers man.

With all due respect to Paige: No, your REM periods are cycling along just fine after five or six hours of sleep. There isn't just one REM period each night; they repeat themselves for as long as you are asleep.

The whole point of waiting several hours before doing WBTB is that your REM periods aren't just still, um, cycling, they're doing so with minimal NREM time in between each period of REM. If you manage to get 10 or more hours of sleep, REM periods will run pretty much uninterrupted. So, the longer you sleep, the better your chances of getting right back to REM when you go back to bed.

So why not do WBTB after 10 hours of sleep? Well, aside from using up your whole day in the process, the downside of all this sleep and REM is that after a lot of hours of sleep your body is very interested in waking up. So, if you introduce something like lucidity into those very late REM periods, your addition of awareness will likely just wake you up, immediately, for the day... in other words, it can be done, but it is very difficult to stay asleep and LD after 10 (or even 8) hours of sleep.

Also, you might try stretching that WBTB time a bit longer. My personal time is about an hour, though LaBerge thinks that it should be a minimum of an hour. I'm not sure about the physiology behind this, except that, since you're staying "sleepy" during WBTB, the longer delay will guarantee reentry in REM and not NREM.

Great to see you continuing the effort, Bruteforce, stay strong and good luck with the next dive!

Originally Posted by Sageous

With all due respect to Paige: No, your REM periods are cycling along just fine after five or six hours of sleep. There isn't just one REM period each night; they repeat themselves for as long as you are asleep.

Also, you might try stretching that WBTB time a bit longer. My personal time is about an hour, though LaBerge thinks that it should be a minimum of an hour. I'm not sure about the physiology behind this, except that, since you're staying "sleepy" during WBTB, the longer delay will guarantee reentry in REM and not NREM.

Great to see you continuing the effort, Bruteforce, stay strong and good luck with the next dive!

Hmm I see, alright I'll try closer to around 40 minutes tonight then.

Also I've been having great success with countering the swallow mechanism the last week or two, but last night it was quite troublesome, I ended up having to lay on my side for my attempt at WILD which I've heard isn't generally as effective as your back, though I'm not sure how true that is.

I'll try 40 minutes tonight, then, And thanks a ton for explaining about REM periods man, makes sense.

Cheers again.

Well, last night was extremely uneventful. I spent most of yesterday's spare time thinking about how AWESOME my WILD was going to be and I got up in my sleep and turned off my alarm without waking up.

So yeah I just woke up at a normal time and tried to WILD, which as expected produced 0 results.

Ah well, at least I know now that I need to put my alarm on the other side of my bedroom so I have to actually wake up to get out of bed and turn it off.

I'll post tonight's results as soon as I get some haha.

Brute

I've tried WILD a couple of times and I have a few questions. On my first time I only stayed up for 5 minutes and read a book during that time. I then tried to go back to sleep, and I couldn't go back to sleep for almost an hour. Like I was trying to do WILD, but nothing at all was happening. After almost 45 minutes of just sitting there, I just said "Forget it." and went to sleep. How come nothing happened at all?? This is my next question. Once you get into the HI and you're just watching the scenery form and stuff and you feel comfortable with it, how do you get into the dream? I'm a noob at WILD, so these questions may be really stupid. Please bear with me if they are

^^ Welcome Xvaluer!

Though I think all your questions, and more, will be much more thoroughly answered in my WILD class on this forum, here are a couple of quick responses:

First, try staying up for more than 5 minutes, it might help. Reading is a fine idea, but be sure it's a book that wiil keep your mind on the upcoming WILD and won't get you too awake.

45 minutes of just sitting there is not unusual; if you make it to 90 minutes without falling asleep, then it's likely time to pack it in for the day. However, if you've just had enough of maintaining all that WILD stuff (holding still, repeating a mantra, staying focused on the dream, etc) but still expect to fall asleep, you might consider setting your intention for a DILD, since your mind is already in the right ballpark for a LD. So, briefly, if you ultimately fell asleep, nothing happened at all yet ... try to be more patient.

If you start experiencing HI (you don' actually "get into it," try to avoid elevating noise like HI into an important stage; it is not), you are already well on your way to getting into your dream. You can even try using HI to help you form the dream that is coming; one of the WILD sessions covers that, too. Again, just be patient.

And finally, rest assured that there are no stupid questions!

Good luck!

Trying again tonight, can't wait to utilise my extra pillows and also the tilt on my bed, should be good! Any final tips for me?

VICTOR ROMA!

Hahaha, (Gladiator battle charge).

Sageous you beast you! After like 4 nights failure, SUCCESS I had a successful lucid last night after staying up for 30 minutes after 5 and a half hours sleep.
The details of it are in my Dream Journal.

Sir Sageous, I salute you.

Really man, thanks so much, thanks to you: I know what my timing is for WBTB! s

- Brute

Originally Posted by BruteForce223

VICTOR ROMA!

Hahaha, (Gladiator battle charge).

Sageous you beast you! After like 4 nights failure, SUCCESS I had a successful lucid last night after staying up for 30 minutes after 5 and a half hours sleep.
The details of it are in my Dream Journal.

Sir Sageous, I salute you.

Really man, thanks so much, thanks to you: I know what my timing is for WBTB! s

- Brute

Awhh yeah! Good going man, that's awesome! Implan to get one in the next fortnight, and try to WILD Every night for that fortnight.. Les see how this goes.

Originally Posted by Phased

Awhh yeah! Good going man, that's awesome! Implan to get one in the next fortnight, and try to WILD Every night for that fortnight.. Les see how this goes.

Sounds good, best of luck man!

- Brute

Thanks Sageous! I'm reading the whole WILD course right now, (I'm only done with the first one) and I can tell it's going to help me a ton. I'm going to go ahead and try WILD tonight, and I'll post on here how it goes.

Great!

Good luck!

Ok, so I woke up about 5 hours in my sleep cycle. I had a dream fresh in my mind so I knew a REM Period was about to or already had ended. I then went to the toilet, stacked my pillows and layed down, I had a lot of problems with swallowing which was annoying even though I had the tilt and the pillows, I think my lout was dry. I got passed the swallowing and tried to just ignore it and I the. Felt my body get heavy and tingle in my left hand, but it stayed like that for a very long time, I was focusing in drawing the dream landscape for about 20 minutes all up of nothing before I decided to stop for the night, it was hard getting up because I thought I could be just about to hit a dream, but I go up anyway. Was interesting, good progress in my opinion.

^^ Yes, definitely progress, I think!

Nice work; all that seems left is finding the patience to stretch your attempts a little further.

Toward the next dive...

Originally Posted by Sageous

^^ Yes, definitely progress, I think!

Nice work; all that seems left is finding the patience to stretch your attempts a little further.

Toward the next dive...

Definatly, this weekend is my WILD-a-thon. As I dot have to be worried about being tired for school or work. I will try some nap ones as well as some longer attempts at night, will be really good to make it into a dream or some HI, I love HI..

For Sparta!

Well I tried WILD last night, and I was amazed by the progress I have made. I got very close, I think. I started to see weird spontaneous colors, and I heard a weird electric like humming noise. The colors were mostly purple, and then it started forming into objects. It took a little bit of time for them to form completely, but it changed into Kobe Bryant's jersey. The jersey started to fade and the colors were back again, moving around in front of my eyes. I fell asleep soon after this, but I had a DILD later on xD I've made great progress, though, because about a week ago nothing happened at all.