Originally Posted by
Sageous
^^ Ah, Sydney...
My first feeling upon reading your post was a pang of jealousy. Seriously; I would love to be able to just fall back to sleep -- I can't begin to count the number of times I lay for two hours, wide awake, with no hope of sleep. To be able to just drop off after a few minutes would be golden for me. But I do understand your question, so let's just move right to my second feeling:
Remember, Sydney, that falling asleep is indeed an important part of WILD. It can be problematic if you do so too quickly, before properly gathering self-awareness, but try to keep in mind that in order to successfully WILD, and enjoy that LD, you do have to fall asleep.
So here are two suggestions:
a. Yes, stay up a little longer during WBTB; even a lot longer. Ten minutes is not very long (LaBerge suggests a minimum of an hour), and there is an excellent chance that you simply have not yet woken up enough to maintain waking awareness. Try not to do much during this time, except for having dreamy thoughts.
b. Consider putting your tendency to fall asleep to work for you. During WBTB, set your intention, imagine what you'll be dreaming, and just think generally dreamy thoughts. During the WILD, just relax, use your mantra, and do nothing more than get ready for your dream. Since you're not going to encounter them anyway, don't worry about all the "noise," and don't even worry about too much about holding still. Just be ready for your dream. Here's the catch: The LD you finally have may be a DILD, because you may have lost awareness for a moment, but it's still a LD, so enjoy!