I just have a few questions, i have found out about LD’ing a couple of days ago and i had to see what it was like. I read about it on the forum for quite a lot of the day and decided to try and use the WILD method.
I went to bed and relaxed myself and i counted every time i breathed out. I found it quite difficult to keep my mind empty (i found imagining all my thoughts where on a TV and switching it off quite good).
At around the 200 i could feel a numbness and a sort of tingling but i didn’t know if i couldn’t move as i was to scared i would have to start again if i did, so im not sure if it was SP. I then started to get really hot and my heart started racing, it was really wierd and slightly hard to breath so i tried to calm down by telling myself to relax and continued to count. It then went away and I started feeling almost like i was floating and not in my body but still connected as if I was tethered to my body. Then it went away but i didn’t see any images or anything so gave up.
I was mainly wondering if this was an OBE or the beginnings of an LD. I would also like to know if anyone thinks i was close to getting an LD or anything similar and I would happily accept any advice.
Sorry about the long post, i got a bit carried away, i would be grateful if someone could help.
Well, here’s my first experience with WILD. Any feedback is appreciated:
It was very strange. I woke up in the middle of the night and figured it was a perfect time to give it a shot while falling back to sleep. I made an effort to do a the “1 I’m dreaming… 2 I’m dreaming…” counting while going back to sleep. I do believe I hit that place of SP. It was a damned strange feeling of disconnect. It was sort of like my consciousness didn’t have a place if you get my meaning. Usually, considering we’re experential beings, “you” are where your body is. But for a while there, “I” was… well, to be honest I don’t know where in the heck I was, but it wasn’t where I normally am. I can see how that could be pretty terrifying. But for some reason, I was able to maintain calm, and be OK with the fact of it. Maybe because I’d already thought about all that, and so was expecting it, I was able to write it off as ‘normal’ and not panic. Leading up to all this, there was this tingly kind of sensation in my extremities, a heaviness in my chest and what felt like an increased heartbeat, and then this strange sensation that all there was, was thought.
That’s as far as I got this time around. For some reason I kept getting pulled back into feeling my body, and never saw any hallucinations or light or sounds or anything even approaching a dream state… just black. But theoretically, if I’m to believe what I’ve read so far, that state of SP will eventually lead to hallucinations, images, and then the entering of a lucid dreaming state. Is that correct? Perhaps I just need to ‘let go’ more?
One thing’s for sure though, it cut into my sleep. I feel really tired and a little strange today. I don’t think the sleep I got after doing this experiment was particularly good until much later in the morning. I’m sure I could have slept very well into the morning and felt much better for it, but I had to go to work. So, I guess this is the sort of thing to do on weekends. That said, when I finally DID manage to get to sleep normally after all this, the one dream I recall having (which was quite short, and non-lucid… I think) was themed exactly along the lines that I was hoping for when I had originally wanted to get to a lucid dream.
Thats exactly the same with me. I tried again last night and i could get my body to the tingly heavy stage but my head just wouldn’t go to sleep
It was really frustrating but i suppose i needed to be more relaxed…
The only thing i can recommend is lots of practice and try to be really relaxed
I would still appreciate some advice from the more experience LD’ers and WILD’ers
I suppose I’m not really an experianced LD-er or WILD-er as such but I have read and spoken to others that are and picked up some information.
@ Vichlatti
I’m guessing you mean Hypnogogic Hallucinations rather than HI as the “pretty lights” are actually counted as HI. Personally I think it will vary from person to person. From what I’ve read some people may not experience HH before they enter a dream.
@ 2colorcrayon
It does sound like you were very close. I have managed to reach the feeling surrounded blackness stage. I would guess that trying visualizing a scene would probably be the best thing to try.
@ Fleep
I have no experiance with OBE at all… there is a topic about it in the Beyond Lucid Dreaming Forum Click Here
If I were you that is where I would look for OBE/OOBE related information.
I’ve been trying to WILD at Night and I can usually get my body to relax pretty well like feel really heavey (sp?) but my mind is really alert (in a bad way if that makes sense) and I just lay there and i try to think about lucid dreaming but i dont feel tired or sleepy at all.
I apologize for the run on sentence, and thank you in advance.
Hello Ghost175.
I’m guessing you are asking for advice
Personally when I try WILD I find it is very helpful to clear my mind of thoughts, using a form of meditation. After being in this state for a short time I usually find myself falling asleep. This works for me every time unless I’m extremely active. I find my diet can affect how I sleep too, If I eat a lot of sugary food, it is much harder to get to sleep as I find myself feeling fidgety.
The feelings of heaviness do sound like SP or at least the start of it.
There is a thread about WILD that contains a lot of information: Here
There is also a page on different techniques which is good. Here
Hello, this is my first post as well as my first experiences with lucid dreaming. I have some questions that I wasn’t able to find answers for.
I’ve started using mostly WILD and done it a few times making little progress. I tried this a few times before switching to a combination of MILD, WILD, and WBTB, which I’ve done only a few times as well.
Basically, I go to bed at night using MILD. I wake up about 4 hours later (using an alarm clock), write down anything I can remember about my dreams, spend about 10 minutes reading up on lucid dreams, and then attempt WILD laying on my back. If this goes on for a long while with no progress, or I start to feel that I’m getting frustrated or unproductive, I switch to lying on my side and just try to fall asleep while using some MILD.
My questions are:
Is this technique to my benefit? Or could I be hindering myself by not focusing on one technique/technique combination?
How much time does this process generally take? Is it normal to feel for a very long time that nothing is happening(half an hour-ish)?
I usually find that when I lay down, my hands go numb almost immediately and everything else is slow to follow(I usually only get up to having a slight feeling in my legs. No other parts of my body have gone numb as of yet). I have trouble focusing on any one thing through the whole session though. For instance, I’ll focus on the numb sensation, but after a while it becomes less notable and I notice vague dots or images. After a while, those too fade and I hear the tintus in my ears and focus on that. Sometimes my breathing plays a role too when I involuntarily change breathing patterns and start snoring. Basically, I find that if I try to focus on any particular sensation too long, it starts to fade. Is it ok to switch attention every now and then?
Swallowing always throws me out of whack. I never really get an involuntary reaction to swallow, but after a while I get the strong sensation that I should swallow, especially as my mouth starts to fill with saliva. How should I manage this?
I don’t expect to master this in only a few tries, but these questions would help guide where I go with this technique. Any responses are appreciated.
I had exactly the same thing with swallowing, every time i felt the need i couldn’t stop concentrating on it and eventually had to swallow or i would involuntarily swallow.
How annoying?!
I think you just have to try not to think about it Easier said than done maybe?
I tried to WILD last night, and at one point, I think I either fell asleep shortly or became unconscious, but I remember regaining consciousness and having a weird feeling all over my body sort of like when your foot or hand falls asleep. If I tried to move something, it felt like it was stuck in place, and every time I breathed in and out, it felt like I was sort of “rising” out of my stomach. Is this normal?
It is hard to say if a technique is to someones benefit or not… a technique that might get one person lucid every night might never work for somebody else… I think this is something where you have to make your own judgment. If you are progressing then it is helpful if you aren’t and are getting frustrated with your technique maybe you should try changing it or taking a break. I have never heard any evidence why you can’t do multiple techniques.
Erm… Really unsure at the moment I have this too… but I believe after talking to others that once you find the technique that works for you and become experienced with using it that this will be less likely.
I believe others who focus on a part of the body have said that switching focus can be good as it stimulates the thought patterns… but I don’t use this technique so I’m unsure.
Yes swallowing can be a problem for me too… I try not to focus on it I think it is similar to itches It’s the sort of thing you just have to ignore; this is easier to say than it is to do however
@ Halcyon Ragnarok
What you are describing sounds like SP to me. This is quite a normal feeling to experiance whilst attempting to WILD.
when i try WILD i see the hypnagogic images once or twice i felt like i was spinning but i never here anything but i can visualize something it will appear im relaxed its just i dont kno what to do i count and stuff but i never start to dream
Try to relax and lie in a comfortable position. Lose feeling sense of your body by just doing nothing, with exeption of that you must stay aware by doing something like counting. Try to let te images come to you, ore make them yourself. But stay patient.
These are the basis principles of WILD. Is there anything of this you don’t do?
I agree with Moinsquerien, relaxing is very important with WILD. I have found clearing my mind of thoughts helps to move towards dreaming. Although it can be tricky sometimes as I tend to go to far and fall asleep.
I agree that WBTB will help you to reach this state too as you will be tired and closer to falling asleep. FILD is a technique for maintaining awareness and may not work for everyone though. It is definitely worth trying but if you find you can’t get to sleep using it then it may be better to try a different technique.
LD techniques are, ultimately, a personal thing. Do whatever works best for you. From my experience, combining MILD/WBTB/WILD works great, there should be no problem at all.
A successful WILD usually happens quite fast for me, it does not take much more than 10-20 minutes if I am tired enough. There is little use in trying to force it. If nothing happens for a long time, I just do MILD and try to go to sleep normally, or try WBTB/WILD a few hours later.
Focusing on my body does not work well for me. I mainly try to focus on something in my mind. It has the added benefit of being boring enough so I can still fall asleep.
Ideally, you should lose all awareness of your real body. This is more difficult the less tired you are. However, if you think you have to swallow, do it. Otherwise you might end up thinking so much about it that you cannot get any further in your WILD attempt.
Here is a small list of bad signs when doing WILD (from my experience):
Heart starting to race/pound
Suffocating feeling
Urge to swallow
Feeling an itch somehwere
Being aware of individual body parts
Urge to open the eyes
Extremely relaxed feeling in which you think you could stay for hours, but still being fully awake
Nothing happens for longer than 30 mins
Being startled awake by some HH effect
This mainly means that you are not falling asleep, which you have to do in order to WILD!
And here is my list of good WILD signs:
You know are lying in bed, but don’t really care.
No awareness of individual body parts, or no awareness of a body at all
Mind seems “contracted to a single point”
Floating feeling
Gravity seems to shift around in unpredictable ways
HI starts to form actual scenes which seem very real (compared to just swirling colors, etc.).
Hearing loud, swooshing sounds
Being unable to move, even if trying (SP)
Giving up, getting up and noticing something really strange about your bedroom.
If this happens, you should be just a step away from a lucid dream!
I’m dedicating the next week or so to practicing WILD. I haven’t been successful with it yet. I’m having much of the same difficulties as umbrus.
I tried an experiment. Knowing that I would likely lose awareness after relaxing, I set my watch alarm to go off an hour after I lie down. When I went to sleep that night, I couldn’t recall hearing the alarm. Last night, I set it for half an hour. Same thing. Tonight I’ll try 15 or 20, my plan is to hear it and stay aware, without moving a muscle.
I would usually slightly panic whenever my pulse and breathing sped up, because I felt like I was suffocating. I also haven’t seen or heard any HH.
i learned about lucid dreaming like 3 days ago, ive had pretty good dream recall (relative to the amount of time that ive tried to improve my dream recall, which as of now, ive just started a dream journal), usually 1 dream every other night, sometimes every night. Since ive learned about LD’s ive been trying the WILD method. more specifically counting to 100 as im lying down. i havent tried the WBTB method yet, but im going to try that tonight. the first night i had trouble getting to 100, i kept on getting sidetracked with other thoughts, but somewhere around 78 (had to restart a few times, from losing count) i had the feeling of falling through my bed… but because it was a falling sensation, it got my heart rate up and adrenalin flowing… the second night, i counted to 100 and did an RC, nothing, so i counted to 100 again, and around 52 i started to get SP, i had the feeling of vibrations going through my body, and a loud ringing in my ears… and this is hard for me to explain, but it felt like my consciousness shifted from my whole body, to just my head… the rest of my body went numb, i couldn’t even feel the texture of my sheets. i dont have any sort of question… just posting my experiences so far.
So, I guess this is the sort of thing to do on weekends. 
That said, when I finally DID manage to get to sleep normally after all this, the one dream I recall having (which was quite short, and non-lucid… I think) was themed exactly along the lines that I was hoping for when I had originally wanted to get to a lucid dream.
How annoying?!
Easier said than done maybe?
