I just tried WILD for the 2nd time now. I’ve been out with some friends yesterday, and only slept like 5 hours (actually, we all went to bed about when the sun started rising outside! )
Anyway, I was pretty tired and decided to take a nap (especially after reading that that’s ideal for WILDing). So I laid down, relaxed and started counting. Soon I had that feeling of being on a giant swing rather than in my bed.
The HI wasn’t very special most of the time, just your average whirling colors. Then suddenly a dark, foggy picture of a man standing next to a concrete column showed up. It lasted only fragments of a second, but it was so vivid it was hard to tell if that image was in front of my “inner” eye or my actual eyes.
There was a phase of nothingness and colors again, and then: Again, a dark, foggy scene. I think I saw firefighters (would make sense, considering how much smoke there was). A bit later, another image, the firefighters were running around with the hose. Then a similar scene, from a perspective from under the hose which has being unreeled.
All those pictures were brief, vivid moments. They were only visual, no sound or anything else was there, but the images were (except for the darkness and the smoke) incredibly clear, I haven’t experienced something like that in a concious state.
After about 30 minutes I heard my sister coming up the stairs and I aborted the WILD.
In my first try (I went to sleep really late back then), which was about I think 3 days ago, I was really able to feel the numbness crawling up my body and I heard a constant humming sound. The “swing” feelling was also present, but not as strong. After almost an hour I had to cancel the WILD because i had to go to the toilet!
Still, I think I’ll keep practicing WILD, after trying for so long with MILD and VILD!
Anyway, those are good results. Just keep on trying and you’ll get further in no time. Just remember that all WILD’s can be different, so not getting HI or the swinging sensation doesn’t mean you aren’t on the right track
Another day, another WILD attempt!
By now I can definately confirm that WILDing is much easier in the afternoon. This time the whole swinging sensation and imagery weren’t as vivid or strong, but I could feel numbness and tingling crawl up my arms all the way from the fingertips to almost the shoulders. It felt a bit as if the blood circulation was cut off (which I of course know wasn’t). It was uncomfortable, but interesting.
At one point I definately saw a black circle in front of my (closed) real wake eyes, a bit later a bright dot. Both were, unlike the other colors I’ve been seeing rather stable.
For a moment there was also a forest scene. It was a mental image, but again, really vivid. I guess the forest theme was influenced by the birds which I could hear through the opened window.
But exactly bacause of background noises like that I ended up standin up cancelling the whole thing. It was just annyoing with all those noises from everywhere (which were no HH, obviously). I expected that at least an hour had passed, in fact it only were about 30 minutes, not too bad of a result for such a short time, I guess!
Funny enough, I still had a weird, “light” feeling after standing up. That again reminded me of doing an RC, which proved I was still in my wake body (what a shame ), but anyway, good for keeping up the habit.
Tomorrow morning I want to try WILD in combination with WBTB, since I can sleep in!
Sorry for the double post, but I feel like I’m getting close!
I just tried WILD again, at really early afternoon. Not only I get results, like the numbness in my arms and the vivid mental pictures, faster, but this time I felt what could be first hints of my dream body!
I started feeling an incredible lightness and somehow I felt like I could move something besides my real, wake arms. It was a faint feeling, and it dissapeared quickly again, but it came again shortly after. Also, it felt like my legs were positioned so the soles touch each other (hard to describe, but you should know what I mean), while I knew I had them stretched out straight!
The mental images were really strong, stronger than the few times before. I saw a road, rivers and my own feet, crossing a garden fence’s door (like when you look down while walking through it).
A bit earlier I also saw Pride from the manga Fullmetal Alchemist. The fun thing was that his image was a mental one, while the colors and patterns in front of my real eyes matched to his power (shadowy spikes, covered by jaws and eyes). Interesting to watch the combination of cinema in my head and what happened behind my eyelids.
Nice! I’m guessing if you’d tried to imagine your dream body standing up at those moments it might have worked. I’ve done this a few times, but I have to be able to catch the right moment. The trick, for me at least, is to imagine the movement, because if I simply try to move like I normally would I risk moving my real body…
In fact, I tried imagining moving my body. I imagined stretiching my limbs and sitting up a few times, sometimes accompanied by some muscle twitches. I guess from then on it’s really just a matter of finding that right moment.
However, I stood up because I heard my sister coming home and not answering her greeting would have been awkward at least.
However, I still see it as a success, because I’m on the right track now !
I’ve been trying the WILD approach too. I really would like to be able to have an LD at will, instead of hoping that I will catch the fact that I am asleep and dreaming.
Last night I started my wild by tensing up and relaxing every part of mt body one at a time, and then I keep my head alert by looking for imagery, counting, thinking about previous dreams etc. Got to a point that my body awareness faded and all I sensed/felt was (for lack of a better description) a humming/vibrating cocoon of energy. It’s like I turned into a big blob. My head was clear though, and I was digging the way this felt, when my daughter’s cell phone rang and I could hear her talk (it was almost midnight GRRRR). I lost the feeling just like that.
It took an hour to get to that point, hopefully the more I will practice the faster I can get there. Not sure where that “there” is, but it felt as if I was going the right way.
I do however have trouble keeping my eyes closed, to really relax my eyes seem to want to pop open. Unfortunately my room is never totally dark, because of the streetlight (even with lined curtains) so the second I see something the feeling fades.
I know that problem too, when I try to take an afternoon nap, it’s obviously still bright in my room. I was already at a point where I seriously was thinking of wearing sunglasses. But once all the funny feelings start happening, they distract me from my eyes. Up to then it’s a real test for the willpower though.
If the light really bothers you a investing in a sleep mask should be the easiest solution.
I think I might just let my eyes open and see if I can continue that feeling while having some light. It is not very bright, and it might work as an advantage cause it does give some sort of surreal feel to my bedroom, a bit like a dream. I do have a sleep mask, but it’s uncomfortable.
I’ve never tried it with my eyes open, but I think I just wouldn’t be able to fully relax like that.
However, I start feeling my dream body more and more, I think I was already as far as wiggling my dream toes!
It’s almost how people describe an OBE, the feeling of the real body fades away as you slowly start feeling your dream body. I tried to imagine my dream self emerging out of my sleeping body but I felt like still being stuck - I really physically felt that! I’m not fully there yet, but it’s just a huge motivation boost!
Yep that is a good motivation boost, hang on in there!
It seems my body is now automatically waking up 6 hours after falling asleep. I actually managed not to move once I woke up. I was really stoked about that one!
Then I tried WILD because my body was still half asleep, but I found that my brain was as well, and I found myself unable to focus on anything. I couldn’t even remember what to do in order to clear my mind a bit, I was too groggy. I’ll have to tell myself before falling asleep tonight to start counting, maybe that will wake me up enough to watch for images or listen to sounds.
I think wakinf yourself up is, as with anything in WILD, just a matter of practice. As far as I can tell, the WILD technique is one of the hardest out there, but also, once you get goon enough at it, its the most reliable and rewarding method.
I’ve been trying to WILD every night for nearly a week now (I know that’s not that long in the grand scheme of things) and I have yet to come close to being successful. This is for many reasons (lack of concentration, laziness, etc.) but only one that I haven’t been able to avoid at all: swallowing. I suspect it’s partially because I pay attention to it now, but I can’t help from swallowing, and I’ve heard that it ruins WILD attempts.
If you have such problems, Graech, than I’d suggest you take it in steps and observe yourself falling asleep first, once or twice during the next nights. How does your body manage that issue by itself when you just let it do its work?
Then why should awareness should change anything about that? Like breath, even if you’re aware of it, it can go on by itself, so if you can fall asleep just fine every night, you shouldn’t have any of those problems with WILD’ing either
I have the same issue, though I never knew that it ruins WILD attempts (though I kind of figured). For me it’s either auto swallow or drool everywhere. Somehow, I always auto swallow. Someone actually told me once that I make loud swallowing sounds while I sleep. -_- Another one I face is having to breathe heavily every few breathes. Yay stuffed up breathing. But I don’t know how much normal patterns are meant to ruin chances of WILDing.
Hey! i was just trying WILD and i got to this part where i felt really uncomfortable and all i wanted was to shift in my bed, i think i read somewhere that thats the way your body checks if you are unconscious before entering sleep. But my question is: is there any way to make it easier to endure that part of WILD?
One of the best things to do is to try WILD 5-6 hours after first going to sleep. It will make things a lot easier since you fall asleep faster, and generally you won’t have as many uncomfortable feelings
)
My head was clear though, and I was digging the way this felt, when my daughter’s cell phone rang and I could hear her talk (it was almost midnight GRRRR). I lost the feeling just like that.
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