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

Last few days my attempts haven't been going anywhere I loose awareness too fast and never go above 30 after counting.

Hmm I think I should start from the begging. So if I strictly follow all the 7 guides I will surely get a LD if I do it long enough? I just want one lucid dream. I want to experience it once. I am jealous of everyone that can lucid dream.

Originally Posted by xArDDe

...So if I strictly follow all the 7 guides I will surely get a LD if I do it long enough? I just want one lucid dream. I want to experience it once. I am jealous of everyone that can lucid dream.

Well, surely is a difficult guarantee, but if you take the class as presented, pay attention to what you are reading, do the homework sincerely, and make a real effort on your part, then you very likely will have at least one LD, and probably many more.

Good luck!

What would you say is the best way to learn? Go 1 tutorial a day or more?

^^ It's been a while, but I think I originally released the 7 sessions about a week apart, with the assumption that students would have that much time to do their homework, or at least get familiar with each topic. So it might not hurt to give similar time to each session. Remember, your goal of a lucid dream is a valuable one, and sometimes the valuable stuff takes a little extra time to aquire... so be patient!

Okay, today I had one attempt again. I felt like this was my closest one yet.

I laid in my bed at 4PM and I was really tired from school summer practice and I had only slept 4 hours beforehand. All of my body is now relaxed. I breathe slowly. I start repeating "I am dreaming", but for some reason this time I didn't so much. I have noticed that commonly when I WILD that I almost fall asleep and space out then suddenly snap back into awareness an my heart starts beating and I take a big breath causing me to wake up even more. But today after snapping back into awareness I notice that when I stare into the back of my eyelids I can kind of imagine pictures and they seem kind of 3D. But it's wasn't that easy to change them. Also I had my body completely forgotten. I can't remember if something else happened, but I fell asleep too early. So that's that. I just wanted to ask you a question. My sleep schedule is all over the place atm. Should I always fall asleep at like 00AM every night? And start actually doing WBTB (I almost never do it correctly, either I just turn the alarm off or I stand up and when I go to bed I fall asleep immediately.)

^^ Seems like you're making progress, xArDDe!

Originally Posted by xArDDe

I just wanted to ask you a question. My sleep schedule is all over the place atm. Should I always fall asleep at like 00AM every night? And start actually doing WBTB (I almost never do it correctly, either I just turn the alarm off or I stand up and when I go to bed I fall asleep immediately.)

It is good to have a fairly regular sleep schedule for successfully WILDing, but it isn't that critical. As long as you are able to sleep for 5 hours or so on the night you WILD, you should be fine.

Yes, you really ought to start actually doing WBTB, as it can be very helpful for successful WILDs. It might not seem important at the moment when you first wake up after that 5 or so hours' sleep, but it is: you need to take a little while of "up" time to gather some waking-life consciousness so that you are better able to stay aware as you are falling asleep (and more able to do your mantra, form your dreams, etc). So try not to just stand up, but do things like move around a bit, think about your upcoming dream, or maybe read a favorite lucid dreaming book (stay away from TV, phones, and computers, though, as those things tend to wake you up too much). If you can resist the urge to go back to sleep and manage a 15-minute WBTB, you might find yourself more able to settle into your WILD without immediately falling asleep... it really is worth the extra effort!

Dang I'm in a difficult situation.

I want to continue learning WILD, but I also want to MILD. It seems like a way easier and guaranteed method, I don't know why I skipped it.

Should I stop WILD or is it too late and I would have just wasted my time? Or should I continue trying to WILD once a day and do MILD as well?

I probably have to experience MILD at least once and then start WILD after mastering it.

And I am sad that I am this close to WILDing.

A part of why I want to switch too is because WILD is too time consuming for me.

^^ There is no need to stop attempting WILD's while you learn the MILD technique; in fact, MILD can be very helpful to achieving WILD transitions.

MILD is an excellent technique because it covers many of the important bases for successful LD'ing, so learning it will only make your WILD's easier. Also, WILD and DILD are not techniques, but the names given to the two types of transitions to lucidity that can happen (WILD = moving from wake-to-sleep-to-dream without losing waking-life self-awareness; DILD = gaining waking-life self-awareness during a non-lucid dream), so it isn't like you would be doing two techniques anyway.

So: Go ahead and learn MILD while you are still attempting WILD's. Though MILD is meant primarily for DILD transitions, its techniques and the mindset they develop might help make your WILD's easier.

I tried a WILD after a 12 minute WBTB, which I think is a pretty good amount of time. I'm happy I found this time because it will make WBTBs much easier and reliable. I started by lying down and just relaxing. After a few moments, I started doing SSILD cycles, but kept drifting off to random thoughts. After a little while of doing cycles, and drifting off, I got,really uncomfortable, and wanted to change positions. I remembered not to do this, and tried waiting it out. It's really annoying because the uncomfortableness snaps me out of the relaxation, and is usually why I fail my WILDs. I feel like I've gotten almost everything right for WILD except for the lying still and falling asleep part which is plagued by this roll over signal.

^^ It could just be that you need some more experience resisting the rollover urge. In time, you might find yourself able to stay relaxed as that urge passes. It might help to try to focus more heavily on your dream and less on the discomfort, seeing that discomfort not as a nuisance but as a sign that you are nearly asleep.

That said: You might consider starting out in a more comfortable position. Though lying on your back is probably the best position from which to try your WILD, if you're getting too uncomfortable, or if the rollover urge is defeating your attempts, then lying on your back might not be your best bet. You might try lying on your right side in your next few attempts; maybe that will help. Later, after you've got a few WILD's under your belt, you caan go back to lying on your back again.

I'm actually probably going to start attempting WILDS on my back because I've found that part of the discomfort problem is from me putting weight on one side of my body since I sleep on my side. I also like your idea to make the comfort into a positive part of WILD. Thanks.

My last WILD attempt was definitely my longest. I was lying in bed on my back for just under an hour without moving at all. I finally resisted the roll over urge, but didn't really get anywhere past that. The only real difference I noticed was that my fingers and hands had gone numb. This hasn't ever happened before, so it was new. After I got those sensations, I waited, but didn't progress any further.

^^ Sounds like a step in the right direction...

Did your attempt end because you fell asleep without lucidity, or did you just decide enough time had passed?

I just gave up, but it's weird how I could fall asleep in a few minutes after giving up, but couldn't consciously or unconsciously fall asleep during WILD.

^^ It might just be that you gave up shortly before you would have fallen asleep during your WILD.

An hour seems like a long time, but it might not hurt to hold out for another half hour, I think. Sometimes we give up on our WILD's just before they're completed, thanks to things like that rollover urge, boredom, impatience, disappointment, etc.; try to stay on your path a little longer next time, and you might just find yourself in your dream!

^^ I wish I read this before my last attempt. It took about 40 minutes in total,and after about 15 or so(hard to judge) I was really relaxed, and kept drifting off with random thoughts, then after a few minutes I would snap back into awarness. This kept happening, and being in the state felt really warm and relaxing. I eventually came back to awarness, and got impatient as well as had to get about my day. There's a few reasons I think I failed. One was that due to complications I had to do the attempt after 7 hours instead of my usual 5-6 hours of sleep. The other was being impatient, but I did have to get going with my day .

Dear all, I need guidance on WILD. Last night I took 100mg 5 htp and slept for 5 hrs. I woke up and took galatamind 8mg combo with GPC 600mg. I laid back in bed and imagine my arms swing open with every inhale breath I take and reciting my mantra (actually it's my high school name... I yearn to go back since it's been torn down 15 years ago). I was so determined that I believe I didn't move at all for god knows how long... then suddenly, my body swung in an anti-clockwise direction. It went faster and wider in circles. I actually caught myself enjoying it and wanted to go faster and faster. It went on for about 30 secs and it stopped completely. The motion did not slow down and stop. It just stopped instantly. I felt puzzled and I thought to myself, is this it? I'm in the dream? Then I felt the fan blowing on my feet... and I was like... oh no... should I do a RC? Lying still I try to move my left leg so softly and I felt the mattress fabric. I was awake. Not only awake... I was wide awake. I don't feel sleepy at all. I don't even feel like I just slept. You know? when you wake up in the morning you need a few minutes to adjust to "awake"... I don't have that feeling at all.

Am I doing WILD correctly? Did I miss anything? Was I even close?

TIA

^^ Were you even close? I would say that you were there!

That circling motion of your (dream) body, as described, seemed more complex than hypnagogic imagery or dreamlets, and may actually have been the first moments of a dream, if a poorly assembled dream. So you may have completed your WILD transition, but for some reason your dreaming mind wasn't able to offer much of a dream right away.

Also the reason you woke up so quickly could be due to your excitement about all that circling (which I can understand, by the way! ). WILD transitions occur when you are very close to the waking state, so getting too excited might give your reticular system (the bit of your brain that wakes you up) a kick and cause you to wake up.

If this should happen again, I would suggest you do 2 things:

First, try to stay calm, and let your dreaming mind get into full gear; getting too excited, no matter how cool the imagery, can cause you to wake up or lose lucidity (especially early in the dream).

Next, you could help the process along if you'd like, perhaps by imagining a more complete scene. For instance, in this particular dream you might have imagined a landscape racing below your circling dream body, which -- if the landscape formed -- not only would further orient you in what is definitely a dream, but also give your dreaming mind some fuel for assembling a more complex dream.

As an aside, those supplements you took may have had a hand in waking you up. I've found that gallantamine in particular has a tendency to inspire wakefulness, for instance. I usually recommend that you put off using supplements until after you have had a few successful WILDs. Later, after you have a solid feel for doing WILD's on your own, is the time for experimenting with supplements, I think.

So: Since you seemed to have reached the dream, I would say you did your WILD correctly!

Woohoo! Now I know that by lying still with patience and recite mantra can indeed bring me to WILD... Have to practice controlling my emotions from now on. Sageous, thanks for your guidance. You suggest to be calm and picture a landscape, I think that is extremely difficult. I felt like I'm going at 60mph circling! The adrenaline rush is so high like a reverse rollercoaster, but I don't feel the dizziness though. Trying to stay calm is going to be really difficult.

I decided to stop the supplement after reading your post. Setting my phone alarm to 5am now! Btw I'm GMT+8.
Yeah!!! I love this new hobby!

Originally Posted by Humlea

You suggest to be calm and picture a landscape, I think that is extremely difficult. I felt like I'm going at 60mph circling! The adrenaline rush is so high like a reverse rollercoaster, but I don't feel the dizziness though. Trying to stay calm is going to be really difficult.

I didn't say it would be easy, but that calm will come with experience... and it will be worth the extra time and effort.

Good luck!

Fail attempt. Last night I had my first golf lesson. I think I was too tired. Woke up at 5am and try to WILD and doze off like in 5 mins. I dreamt about practicing my swing. Woke up in the morning with shoulder and back ache. Try again tonight. Don't give up.

Btw, if I were to set my alarm at 3am, 4am and 5am. Will it improve my odds or will it make things worse?

^^ I'm not a fan of using an alarm even once, because they have a tendency by design to wake you up too much (they don't call them alarms for nothing!). Setting more than one alarm might lead to too much wakefulness/disruption of your sleep cycle, perhaps a bit of confusion, and even anger as sleepy you wonders what is going on with all these alarms.

So I for one would recommend that you work with one wake-up per WILD attempt... and make that attempt your only one for the night. I know it might sound innefficient to limit yourself to one attempt per night (or week, for that matter), but with WILD quality is way better than quantity, and I believe that a single attempt that is anticipated, planned for, and scheduled for just the right time is going to give you a better chance at lucidity than forcing yourself (with those alarms) to do as many attempts as possible. I could of course be wrong, but I hope you will consider this.

Ok.... understood more about timing.

Noob question: I can't help but wonder why our mind is so stupid during dreams... I mean we saw/do funny things... things that are illogical. Why didn't we notice it and best part, we went with it as if it's a norm?
I dreamt about swinging the golf clubs in my office and beside the highway the next moment. Why wasn't I shocked about it? Why didn't I question myself whether is it logical to practice golf beside a highway?
Things we do in the dream that we will never do it in waking life... and we don't feel anything wrong about it.