Important Questions

Hello. I have not LD’d deliberately, although I have them naturally about once every 2 months. (Usually, I enter the dream and know that I am dreaming.) I have no problem with controlling dreams. I just had some important questions that I need answered.

Note: LD is “fun,” but I am going to be responsible and careful with it. I am not one who does it because it is “cool.” In undertaking this I fully appreciate that I am dealing with my subconscoius and sleep, two very important things.
On that note…

1.Is there any risk of SP with FILD? When my WBTB sounded, I was pondering the risk. I simply can’t believe how it is so different from WILD. The whole point is retaining consciousness. (If you haven’t inferred, SP is not something I would mentally recover from. Seeing dark shapes, glowing eyes and feeling strangled, then being sucked through the floor at 9 G’s is not something I am ready to deal with, or even risk, especially at night.)

2.Probably the most important one. I just need reassurance more than answers. It is very hard not to Ld without freaking out before sleep. It’s different during nighttime, I feel more, “cautious” I suppose. FILD seemed like a great idea until I was about to do it, and I freaked. When I feel the heaviness of sleep and the twitching of winding down, my heart beats wildly, and I lose my sleep. This has come to the point that I can’t even sleep regularly without staying up for 3 hours listening to Podcasts. I need help on remaining calm.

3.This is probably the reason for the above, (Out of my dream diary, 1st night trying to LD)

In real life: I practiced incubating my dream until I was tired. I was focused on my dream, but I was excited. I was about to fall asleep when I thought I heard my own nasal breathing, and thought I was having a sleep-consciousness experience. Since I was about to fall asleep my vision was “tingling” and my limbs were heavy. I also heard my tinnitus ringing loudly. I was afraid to move, and my heart beat wildly. I tried in vain to walk out of my body briefly before I shakily began to move fingers, arms, and legs. Finally, I turned around and realized the sharp nasal breathing was in fact my neighbor shoveling his driveway. I was greatly relieved, but the experience was etched in my mind.

While this may seem like a trifle, but my mind will not let go of it, I am more than ready to.

3.While I have not intentionally LD’ed, I exert too much power over my lucidity. Simpling thinking about something causes it to happen. Scenes change on the merest whim. I lose characters just thinking about things. Objects switch around, and I may look twice at something and find it completely different. Also, I dont have Real Life vision. While I am seeing first-person, I don’t have a frame of vision. I am always looking straight ahead, and It feels slightly 3’rd person. It is hard to think in my dreams. Faces are blurred, but only because I can’t look directly at them. I can “feel” their face, though. I cannot look at objects in detail.

NOTE: THIS HAS ONLY HAPPENED IN NATURAL LD’s, and I have not tried the “more clarity option” or rubbing my hands together, or visualizing, etc.

Any help, would be greatly, greatly appreciated, and I am more than ready to tackle this. Once i get past a mental barrier, I can handle anything from there. Please be helpful and not corrosive, and I will sleep much easier. :smile: Thank you so much!

Sleep paralysis is not as bad as you think. It sounds to m like you’ve already experienced it, when you mentioned your tinnitus ringing and your heart beating wildly. That’s about all there is to it. Do it with your eyes closed and you will see no shadows. When I first did WILD, all that happened was my body felt like it was vibrating (softly), my heart rate picked up and I felt blood rushing in my head (no worse than during exersize), and then I had the noise in the ears, like your ringing tinnitus, except for me it was a roaring like a jet, combined with a whistling, and also a gurgling boiling sound. I expected these things and so they were’nt frightening. I’m sure you would be fine with sleep paralysis. These hallucinations happen in the process of the body falling asleep, and once it’s happened, you will be in a dream, just like when you turned round and saw your neighbour with a shovel.
As for the difference between WILD & FILD, I don’t know. I’ve never used FILD as far as I know.
There’s no reason to be anxious before trying for a LD. It’s something that’s completely safe and natural, and millions of people have done it before. It’s not as if you’re opening the gates of hell is it?
I hope this has been of some help to you. Good luck with your attempts.

I agree with Mighty Mutant, I believe SP is seen as worse than it actually is.
I think the reason it has built up a bad reputation is because of the instinctive reaction we may have to feeling unable to move, combined with the feeling of falling asleep or being semi-aware.

For your 3rd question, it sounds like you need to increase lucidity. It could be hard to remember whne you are unprepared and unconcentrated. If you remember, take a breath, and breathe out slowly, collecting your thoughts, or clearing your mind, whatever. Otherwise you can easily get a bit turned around in there and just do things impulsively. It could be that you need to just stop and take it all in, it can do wonders for clarity.

As for SP, you need to just take the bull by the horns. Not every night. But decide when you want to try WILD and say, Fuck it I’m doing it. Bring it on! I’m sure you can muster up the courage to face SP directly at least ONE time. Maybe it doesn’t happen that time, but then you know, you have the courage.