I wish I had’ve found this technique earlier. Very reliable, hassle free, always throws me into a dream in an interesting way.
I’ve only tried it for the past two days, but it’s worked both times. First time I just kind of appeared at the start of a dream, lucid, and thought “huh that’s weird”
Second time (last night) I did some weird OBE thing where I floated out of my body then was stretched and distorted. That was fun.
Just one problem. Though it’s not really a problem because I can still use this technique with it, but… when I get to the stage of doing the steps, concentrating on the things, I keep getting distracted. I always get a song stuck in my head and/or get really twitchy and have to move a bit. Any good ways to clear my head completely?
Well if you ever practiced WILD you may stumble on the same problem. With SSILD this isn’t that a big of a problem. But if you want to get rid of it you need to practice how to clear your mind or how to stay calm in bed. You can do it, everybody can do it, it just takes time.
For clearing your mind meditation can help or you can use focusing techniques where you focus on one thing and you keep your awareness focused on that one thing, although I prefer passive observation technique where you try to become aware of as much things as you can but as you become aware of something you acknowledged it and let it go.
This 2 techniques might not seem like techniques that will help you clear your mind and you are right, there are techniques for clearing your mind but in my opinion with lucidity the key is awareness and those 2 techniques I mentioned do exactly that, they raise your general awareness and you might have WILD because you will acknowledge the change in your environment from hearing few sounds and body sensations to actually seeing whole dreamscapes and feeling them.
I hope I helped you a little bit but you should look into meditation and relaxing techniques…
Thanks for the advice. The part of SSILD in which you concentrate on sounds always seems to help, so perhaps I should sit there and listen to the tinnitus for a bit to clear my head. Meditation would likely just put me to sleep.
Another question, I sleep like a drunk, so, do I have to stay completely still while doing the steps?
Since I always fall asleep when I try this earlier in the night (after 4 or 5 hours of sleep) I was thinking I could do it while moving some fingers or toes to keep myself awake until I’m done.
Oh, and can I do it while sitting up instead of lying down? That would help quiet these intrusive thoughts.
You can try adjust your schedule and the length of time to stay awake prior to doing the exercise. Not sure sitting up would work as that will prevent you from falling asleep. After all the goal is to be able to sleep quickly after, if not during, doing the exercise. You shouldn’t try to quiet down those random thoughts though. That’s the absolutely wrong thing to do with SSILD. Those thoughts are your friend.
Glad it works for you. The song sticking your head is not a bad thing. It can be used in similar ways as visualization. Try to listen to it in your head instead of playing it yourself consciously. Don’t play it by thinking about the lyrics, just listen to it as the whole no matter how faint it seems, as if your hearing the original music being played on some radio from far away. Doing this will ease the strain and help put you into a trance. As for itching, you should feel free to scratch. With SSILD you want to stay as comfortable as possible. If you moved, just do an additional cycle to compensate. Simple as that.
How well known is this technique? I feel that it should be written about more in books because it took me a while to find SSILD and its really efficient. Or maybe its just me because I find MILD and WILD hard to do
This technique is still quite young, at least in comparison to the ones you mentioned. It is very popular in China though… Quite possibly being the most favored technique by Chinese dreamers. You are not alone in finding MILD and traditional WILD techniques difficult and inefficient. In the past years I worked with large numbers of Chinese dreamers (mostly novices), and my observations suggest there are things fundamentally wrong with traditional techniques/theories. The quest to find better techniques is far from finished.
When looking for lights and patterns behind my eyelids, should I follow any scenarios that start playing or should I block them out and continue to look at the “static” instead?
These “scenarios” are like short scenes that play out in front of my eyes, but like a movie, I can’t interact with them at all, so I can’t reach out and pull myself in.
Oh, in case you are going to tell me to drop everything and focus on the scenario for a WILD instead, let me say that as soon as I notice them they disappear. So, if you’re going to tell me to do so, is there a way I can stop that happening and use them as an entrance, like with DEILD?
To be able to interact (such as touching, step into, etc) with these imagery our body needs to be in paralyzed state. Unfortunately that’s often not the case, especially if it happens during earlier stages of sleep. We can mentally immerse ourselfs into them, by imagining waliking into the scene, but again that depends on how deeply we are in the trance. Many suggest passively observing them, or try to increase their intensity consciously, but as you said this kind of mental activity often result in the disappearance of the images. Personally during (or even prior to) this stage I can command a subtle shift of focus from the physical body/environment to the dream body/environment regardless of whether I’m paralyzed at the time, which results in instant WILD. However, that is an entirely different subject so I won’t elaborate here. One other method is to divert the focus to hearing or kinesthetic sensations. Focus on them and mentally increase their intensities seem easier to many people. In all, managing conscious phase entry is always tricky, especially during premature mind/body conditions. That’s why I keep emphasis on the concept that SSILD is not a WILD variation. WILD may occur during the exercise, but it shouldnot be actively pursued.
Alright then, thanks for the advice. If it’s not too much hassle, could you tell me how my technique is? SSILD worked perfectly for me the first two or three days but for the last week it’s gone terribly.
I wake up 5-6 hours after falling asleep (rather than the 4-5, because otherwise I pretty much pass out as soon as I turn my alarm off)
I sit up with my eyes closed for 5 minutes to wake up a bit
I lie back down and do the steps, though not very well. I get to the second or third repetition before getting distracted, feeling uncomfortable, falling asleep, or any mixture of the three
Don’t just sit up with eyes closed. You want a little bit of activity to wake up your brain so it starts firing the right kind of neurotransmitters. In this case, we want the kind that are called upon when we need increased awareness (especially spatial), focus, and attention. Try to get out of your bed and stretch a little, go to bathroom, etc. Of course you don’t want to wake up too much.
If you feel uncomfortable then chances are you are trying a little too hard. I suggest you perform a series of really short and quick cycles first, say, a few seconds for each sensation, and do not attempt to actually feel anything. Doing this will help you relax very quickly. After the quick repetitions you can slow down and you will typically find it easier at this point and may actually be able to feel some subtle sensations.
If you feel uncomfortable, you should adjust accordingly and make yourself comfortable. SSILD does not require you to stay still. If you moved, just do one of two extra cycles to compensate.
I really don’t get why this worked the very first two times I’d ever tried it and yet, after that, it’s only worked like twice the last two weeks. That’s pathetic. I can’t think of anything that I’ve changed, or anything that I’m doing wrong, either.
I must just be having a wicked dry-spell or something, I don’t know.
Our body and mind conditions change all the time, so you need to adjust accordingly. Eventually as you have more success you will become more sensitive to the various conditions and therefore achieve more consistent result. I published the latest SSILD article on my blog, you are welcome to check it out – cosmiciron.blogspot.com
Ooh, that was a good read. Didn’t know you had one. Neat.
I suppose I should just stick with this technique rather than trying to mix MILD in?
Even if it hasn’t been giving me LDs lately, SSILD still gives me some very bizarre dreams/nightmares, this morning I woke up in sleep paralysis for what I think is the first time. Had to try and move my fingers to break it.
Edit: I keep getting weird dreams where I’m controlling hallucinations but oddly not lucid.
Thanks everyone, I haven’t posted in a while but have had a long dry spell and was getting discouraged. It’s good to know that I only need to stay awake for 5-10 around 3am. That may help me follow-through with my SILD plans (Which I’ve had some success with before)
It’s good to know that I only need to stay awake for 5-10 around 3am. That may help me follow-through with my SILD plans (Which I’ve had some success with before)