a kind of odd thing...

[Stsdude2]

I guess when I start to try and fall asleep and I’m doing the relaxing stuff and what not, I get kind of excited like “I’m here, I’m going to wake up tomorrow and record a dream, I want to dream” and that kind of prevents me from sleeping, kind of like when your excited for christmas and you say “SCREW SLEEPING” except its not and you want to sleep but you cant. Another thing that has nothing to do with that but I figured I might put here so as not to take up space and look like I’m asking too many questions , I was wondering if someone could explain MILD WILD and all that stuff, I have been browsing through the forums and cant seem to find it.

[Spinny]

Heh, I just made another post explaining MILD and WBTB, so I guess I’ll enage in some copy-and-paste action and write the rest. I love explaining this stuff.

MILD stands for Mneumonic-Induced Lucid Dream, and is performed by repeating something to the effect of “I’m dreaming.” or “I will have a lucid dream tonight.” repeatedly in your head while falling asleep. The theory behind this technique is that by continuously repeating the mneumonic of your choice, the phrase will eventually become planted in your unconscious, at which point it will manifest itself in your dream (via anything from a sudden realization that you are dreaming to a disembodied voice speaking the words out loud) and induce lucidity. It generally take a few nights to work, depending on the person; some people have reported instant success with it, while it’s taken months for others.

The WBTB, or Wake-Back-To-Bed, method involves setting your alarm clock to go off 5-7 hours after you’ve gone to sleep, and works by waking you up during your REM cycles, after your body is already finished with continous non-REM deep sleep. It is usually done in conjunction with another method, such as MILD or WILD, as the fact that when you go back to sleep you’ll drop into REM immediately or almost-immediately, depending, allowing you to influence your dreams more directly. To use this method in conjunction with MILD, simply use MILD while falling back asleep. If you like, you can get up for a while and read LD-related literature, browse the forum, etc., as this helps some people gain the level of mental clarity they need and/or help induce LDs by virtue of information consumption. However, others (such as myself) require an absense of movement and outside stimulus in order to fall back asleep, and as such move as little as possible upon waking. Do whatever works for you.

Also, as far as your excitement goes, this is common for those new to LDing; I know from personal experience that it’ll subside enough over a few days or weeks that it won’t get in the way of your LDing practice. Until then, focus your energy on improving your skills; though it’s not a good idea to be over-zealous, enthuisiasm certainly keeps one motivated.

There are other techniques for LD-induction (reality checks, noise induction, hypnotic suggestion, meditation, etc.), but those outlined above are the most common. However, the information here just skims the tip of the iceberg; if you want to know more, I’d suggest making your way on over to the LD4All homepage, which contains a wealth of information on the subject. If you’re really curious, purchase a copy of Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, by Stephen Laberge, the world’s most prominent lucid dream researcher.

Good luck, and may lucidity fill all your dreams to come!

[Basilus_West]

Hi stsdude2! Welcome to the forum!

About MILD, here is an excerpt of the Lucid Dreaming FAQ at Lucidity Institute:

3.2.4 Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)

The MILD technique employs prospective memory, remembering to do something (notice you’re dreaming) in the future. Dr. LaBerge developed this technique for his doctoral dissertation and used it to achieve lucid dreaming at will. The proper time to practice MILD is after awakening from a dream, before returning to sleep. (Modified from EWLD, p. 78 )

Setup dream recall.
Set your mind to awaken from dreams and recall them. When you awaken from a dream, recall it as completely as you can.

Focus your intent.
While returning to sleep, concentrate single-mindedly on your intention to remember to recognize that you’re dreaming. Tell yourself: “Next time I’m dreaming, I will remember I’m dreaming,” repeatedly, like a mantra. Put real meaning into the words and focus on this idea alone. If you find yourself thinking about anything else, let it go and bring your mind back to your intention.

See yourself becoming lucid.
As you continue to focus on your intention to remember when you’re dreaming, imagine that you are back in the dream from which you just awakened (or another one you have had recently if you didn’t remember a dream on awakening). Imagine that this time you recognize that you are dreaming. Look for a dreamsign–something in the dream that demonstrates plainly that it is a dream. When you see it say to yourself: “I’m dreaming!” and continue your fantasy. Imagine yourself carrying out your plans for your next lucid dream. For example, if you want to fly in your lucid dream, imagine yourself flying after you come to the point in your fantasy when you become lucid.

Repeat until your intention is set.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until either you fall asleep or are sure that your intention is set. If, while falling asleep, you find yourself thinking of anything else, repeat the procedure so that the last thing in your mind before falling asleep is your intention to remember to recognize the next time you are dreaming.

As Shift says, you’ll find a lot of explanations in the LD4all home page and you can read the Lucid Dreaming Wikibook too.