@ Shaolink: I think it does count as moving, I have that too The best way to avoid it is forget about it, in my experience. The more I try not to do these things the more distracted I am. I believe the attention that gets distracted when you yawn or swallow is more of a problem than the movement itself. I mean if you swallow and think “Oh crap, I swallowed!”. So if you have to swallow just swallow like it’s no problem at all. If your mind is calm and focused (on couting, breathing, images, or whatever) enough you won’t even noticeif these things happen.
Also, with practice this gets better. For the swallowing too you can lie on your side or put another pillow under your head. With your head up a bit you tend to need to swallow less.
@ Flammee: I also have those problems with the counting and images. It gets better with practice. Meditation also helps keep focus so you don’t suddenly realise you aren’t counting anymore. The problem with the images is a bit trickier, for me at least (by images I’m including seeing what you would see if your eyes were open). But what you want to do is focus on them gently. Simply watch, without judging or trying to control them. If they fade, let them fade, but keep watching as more might show up. Many people focus too hard wehen they seeimagery and that’s the best way to screw it up! If you keep watching you’ll get into a dream this way. Every now and then you might want to remind yourself “I’m dreaming” just in case. I’ve watched HI and entered a ND many times
Remember that dreaming happens every night without us being aware, so there’s nothing really we have to do to get into the dream except get out of the way. The conscious mind has to let the unconscious do it’s job. The trick is only to stay aware and not fall asleep.
@ Puce: First, I’m glad you’re giving meditation a chance I really don’t know if this happens with everyone, but when I started it really seemed that the results were backwards! That meditaton was keeping me from LD’ing. But that’s probably just how my silly paranoid conscious mind sees it! (I’m saying that for the image part you haven’t been able to get to…)
WILD doesn’t have to be on the back. Most people do it because you tend to be a bit more awake like that (I fall asleep on my side most of the times ), so whatever position you’re confortable in is ok. The numbness is probably just your body getting really relaxed, so that’s a good thing! Unless you’re letting your arms hang off the bed or something and they get numb just like when you sit on your hand.
Anyway, I hope I could help. Note that I’m far from being good at WILD! 80% of my WILD’s are kind of on accident
Meditation seems to help me concentrate more on the counting, but it might be like learning a musical instrument. Playing the instrument seems easy in the first lesson; then becomes hard for a while, until you get quite used to it; after that is another easy part, in which you’re skilled enough to be able to do what you’re supposed to do; and then it gets harder again because pieces start to be pages long.
This was an example for things getting easier and harder, but I just wanted to give an example to how there are periods in achieving a skill (and failed at the example, I think). I might still be in the first period, in which I think that meditation helps. Or maybe it is just beginner’s luck. Not that I believe in it, but I’ve read The Alchemist and written a report on the connection between the story and beginner’s luck recently. Also since meditation and Buddhism is usually seen together (even though there are many other meditation teachings), and Zen Buddhism has this Shoshin idea (beginner’s mind, in short); that might be the case.
So the position doesn’t matter? I tried yesterday night too, and I had even came to the conclusion that the position wouldn’t matter myself; but when I lied on my side, I lost my concentration more quickly and drifted off to sleep (I don’t remember a dream though). I don’t think that I’ll be able to do it that way. Thanks though, I’ll keep that in mind. And also I’ll remember not to move when I go numb.
Yesterday night, while attempting on my back, I think I might progressed a lot (when compared to my previous situation) . Even though I lost consciousness every time images (or sounds) started to appear, I did remember what I was doing a short time later (before I fell asleep). That ruined all the HIs, but I think I’m doing fine, considering how people say that WILD is one of the hardest methods to have LDs.
I know that still have a long way. It is like I want to go to the US from Australia, and I’ve only taken a step in that direction.
No problem and I liked your analogy with playing an instrument, sure makes sense!
I think the position may matter, but in a very personal way. I don’t believe in any “best” position to WILD. I also fall asleep on my side almost every time (not sure if I mentioned that in my previos post…) but all my successful WILD’s have been on my side
What I’ve been trying and having some good results with is I first lie on my back with my arms up above my head. I try to relax and WILD like that. After a while I get a bit tired of that position but instead of giving up I move to the second position which is normal lying on the back with my arms down by my body. I stay there longer. At one point I’ll get the strong urge to roll over, which is only a way for the body to check if the mind is asleep so it can enter SP. Supposedly if you can fight that urge and not move you’ll enter SP and then a LD! But that urge can be VERY strong sometimes (as it is in my case). I always give in and roll over Anyway, instead of giving up I move to position three which is on my side. For some reason after this process I tend to be able to stay more aware on my side! Although I fall asleep many times too but even when I fall asleep I’m able to carry some awareness into the dream and end up having a DILD!
This might just be something you can try sometime later… I see it as something in between WILD’ing on my back and on my side. Since I usually fail at both
During afternoon nap today (which I don’t usually take) I tried to have a WILD again (I know that it won’t work, but I also know that I need a tremendous amount of practice, so I try at every chance), and I guess I might’ve come quite close. I don’t remember seeing HI though.
It was just like this: I was on my side and I kept counting “1, I’m dreaming, 2, I’m dreaming…” until I stopped counting (quite a big of a teutology, right?). I think I might’ve lost consciousness then, but I remember being conscious again when I percieved an image like those in WILD-step-by-step tutorials, and I got over-excited. I kept reminding myself that I wasn’t supposed to secrete adrenaline and such, but the image faded.
Maybe I was just lucky or maybe it was just my imagination, I don’t know. I don’t remember having any HI, but the scene seemed real anway. It was like I was looking down to a room, and in the room was just a wooden table with a book on it. The book’s cover looked like the one I’m reading nowadays. I had focused on the book and nothing else. When I “woke up”, my heart was beating and I was already out of (if I was ever in) SP.
I move around a lot in bed it’s very hard for me to stay still in one possition for a long time… How can i make sure i dont move at all when trying to WILD??? And also instead of counting to distract me, can i sing Beatles songs in my head?
Ok so I just finished trying WILD while taking a nap. My intire body started getting tingly and i couldnt move my teeth or legs or hands. I was waiting to go into HI but i couldnt focus on an image I wanted. I was waiting for one I wanted and I heard some noises but I never went into a dream. I remember feeling like I was spinning in circles and going down a black tunnle into white light, but then i went back to HI. This was my very first attempt ever… What happened!!!
kk thanks :happy: i tried this afternoon for the very first time and i went to HI and then i went down a black tunnel and there was a blinding white end and when i was halfway there, i went back to HI but i think its pretty good that i got that far!!
So… when the dream scene forms do you see it in your head or is it like you are there? Is it like you feel like you just get up and then your in a dream? I’m a bit confused with this part. Help would be greatly appreciated.
I’d say the same thing - you definitely should remain passive, just let the images come. But if the images are dull or disturbing or something, maybe you can start with thinking about about some pleasant images, and then fall into passivity?
I used to start with thinking about some nice views from dreams that I’d had, and then when I became passive, the images continued to be flashbacks from my earlier dreams, until I found myself in a landscape where I could walk around and look at things, totally lucid… but it never felt very real, and all I could do was walking around… so I don’t do WILD-like things anymore
And btw, for me the feeling of spinning around is something that usually comes before I fall asleep.
I think this belongs in the WILD category, but I’m new and I didn’t enter the state with purposeful intention. Basically, the LD I had the other night seemed to induce itself at about 8-9 in the morning, through a hypnogogic state without me attempting to WBTB or try to induce as I was falling asleep.
I’d gone to sleep the night before a little drunk at around 2-3am. I had about 2 or 3 dreams during the night until at about 8 o’clock or so (working back from the time I finally awoke at 9), without waking beforehand, I became aware that I was in a liminal state, with consciousness drifting between waking and dreaming. At first I tried to manifest a dream world (an Old West town square. No idea why!). It felt like my brain was tuning into a frequency, like a radio, and that this world existed outside my head and just had to be synched up with it. This is kind of hard to describe, but I could feel my consciousness tumbling and spinning through my head in loops and arcs as the dreamstate deepened.
The next thing I knew, my consciousness is properly split between waking and dreaming. The physical world was definitely present, but everything physical about it was shadowed out. I could feel/see myself lying in bed, but my body was “coated” in shadow. The other half was a dream bedroom with a twisting and zooming animation of multicoloured pixel-art explosions projected onto a wardrobe. By focusing on this projection I would get pulled further into it and further into the dream, but if I at all focused on my body then I would get pulled in that direction (this also happened if I tried to reality check with my hand. I would get confused as my body tried to move and I would get pulled to the physical). If I engaged physically I swung towards waking. If I engaged visually, I swung toward dreaming. It took a little bit of practice to solidify the dreamworld and really pass out of waking.
Hey, I haven’t been into lucid dreaming for a while and decided to start with a WILD because those are in generally easiest for me. However, one thing that I’ve always wondered is, How long does the HI generally last?
My greatest problem has been drifting off into sleep and then missing out on my opportunity to LD. I can generally recognize what is a Hypnagogic Hallucination or not, but I tend to drift off to sleep or get distracted and “wake up” before I can start dreaming.
Last night I tries wild again and had a new experience. I was laying in bed with a blanket overt head so just in case I opened my eyes I wouldn’t see demons in my room and laying their very quiet and relaxed I saw some flashed then I started seeing a strange plaque with gems and strange writing on it. This was pretty vivid I started to see full scenes of this video game I played like all day. It was in 3rd person and started to get more vivid it started to feel as if my eyes were wide open but they were completely closed. It felt like I was in a open space but in reality I was under a blanket. It got more vivid but then for no reason I through my hands in the air and took me out of this state. So I think I got pretty close next time I will so it with WBTB and I will definately be able to make it into my dream. I’ve gotten pretty close a couple times but can’t get into the dream, what are some techniques I can use to get into the dream.
I know it’s a WILDish topic, but I want to ask about DEILD(it like his brother).
What do I basicly need to do in DEILD, just don’t move/open eyes and such?
For me, I just focused purely on the visuals and got drawn more and more into them. All movement was done with my mind, like controlling a videogame with my thoughts. Once that was solid enough, the dream sort of let me into my dreambody, as if I first had to realise the distinction between them both before I was allowed out to play. Wasn’t able to keep the dream longer than a few minutes because it was so new and exciting, but when it was fading, it was focusing on the visuals that would pull it all back again.
Usually when I try to wild mind wanders and I start thinking about things daydreaming etc. Is this ok? Or should I focus on one thing counting,breathing etc.
Thanks
In my experience (although I definitely don’t know if it’s right) both usually help me. The daydreaming gets me to stop focusing so much on my body, because I think I focus so much that I unconsciously tense up and respond to twitching. For some reason I’m pretty sure that my body knows my mind is awake at those times, so I try not to focus on it too much.
Counting my breaths have gotten some weird responses from me as well (like tingling and heavy breathing), although it hasn’t worked for me yet.
Im my opinion, its okay as long as it doesnt get out of hand. Every now and then, do a “status report” of how far you’ve progressed in WILD. It serves 2 purposes: to keep you aware, and to see how far you’ve gotten in the techique.
The best way to avoid it is forget about it, in my experience. The more I try not to do these things the more distracted I am. I believe the attention that gets distracted when you yawn or swallow is more of a problem than the movement itself. I mean if you swallow and think “Oh crap, I swallowed!”. So if you have to swallow just swallow like it’s no problem at all. If your mind is calm and focused (on couting, breathing, images, or whatever) enough you won’t even noticeif these things happen.
If you keep watching you’ll get into a dream this way. Every now and then you might want to remind yourself “I’m dreaming” just in case. I’ve watched HI and entered a ND many times 
I really don’t know if this happens with everyone, but when I started it really seemed that the results were backwards! That meditaton was keeping me from LD’ing. But that’s probably just how my silly paranoid conscious mind sees it! 
(I’m saying that for the image part you haven’t been able to get to…)
Unless you’re letting your arms hang off the bed or something and they get numb just like when you sit on your hand.
but even when I fall asleep I’m able to carry some awareness into the dream and end up having a DILD! 
many people say an afternoon nap is a good time to WILD, I never take naps, so I couldn’t say… 
Well, kinda. It can be hard not to move sometimes… you’ll get better with practice.
