SSILD (2.0) Tutorial

#53

I would, but it’s hard to tell that I’m in SP and not still in a dream. Not that I can tell that I’m in a dream when this is happening, but you get the idea. So I end up breaking out of it without realizing. It’s also quite hard to think rationally when as far as you can tell, you can’t breathe.

#54

It certainly takes a while to get used to it. I must have had it over 100 times now but I still break out of it because of uneven breathing.

#55

Can I do the first 3 cycles while sitting up in bed (eyes closed and all that) then lie down for the other 1 or 2 before I sleep? Is that fine? I’m still falling asleep far too quickly.

#56

You could try that. One DreamViews a person did it while sitting in a chair and it seemed to work.

#57

I attempted this method last night and it didn’t work. I’m not sure what happened :sad: I’ll try again tonight though.

#58

Hey Cosmic.iron, Here’s four quick questions for you

  1. Do I have to repeat the cycles until I fall asleep, or is it enough that I do 3-4 cycles in slow motion?

  2. While doing the cycle, Do I have to exclusively focus on the component alone, when I am doing the component. Ex: While looking at the void behind eyelids, do I hv to exclusively focus on it, keeping other components in abeyance? Sometimes I get distracted and focus on sounds as well, while looking at my closed eyelids.

  3. My fan is quite noisy, as a result I am unable to focus on subtle internal sounds and always get distracted to focus externally at the sound of my fan. Is it OK?

  4. What about thoughts that I have when I am doing the cycles. Do I have to ignore them or suppress them?

Thank you.

#59

Hi lucky, pls see my answers below:

  1. There is no need to repeat the cycles till falling asleep. Doing so can potentially making it difficult to fall asleep actually.

  2. It is okay to simultaneously feel other sensations, but you probably don’t want to do that consciously. The trick to a successful SSILD session is really in finding the perfect balance between sufficient stimulation to the various senses and being able to fall asleep quickly afterwards. The stimulation is achieved through “focusing”; therefore you need to make sure there are sporadic moments of staying focused during each slow cycle.

  3. Focusing on external noises is perfect okay.

  4. Do not suppress the random thoughts. You need them to carry you away so you can relax more quickly and it also makes it easier to fall asleep after the exercise. Just make sure you pull your thoughts back to focus on the sensations once in a while.

#60

Let me know how you did it (the more details the better) so I can help you diagnose.

#61

Well I did retry this method, I went to bed around 12-1 am so I woke up at 7 am, I got up rinished out my mouth, then I went back to bed. I settled in and Began the first quick cycles ( how log should these take? I’m not sure if I should be really quick or what) I got exetreamly distracted by my thoughts but I just begun the cycles again. I switched from quick cycles to slow cycles nothing really happend during those and after I finished I fell asleep. Now I did not become lucid, BUT I had very very weird vivid dreams, which I definitely think was from this technique. I will be attempting it more when I have the chance.

#62

Thank you cosmic.iron,

Well, here’s a few more questions:

  1. Can i sleep by 12 and get up at 4 AM, study for 2 hrs and around 6-6.30 lie in my bed while doing this technique and falling asleep naturally. ( What i imply is that, will this method work if gap between WBTB method is large)

  2. Can i do this technique at afternoon naps?

  3. do i have to repeat any mantra while doing this technique?

Thank you.

#63

  1. Assuming you are able to fall asleep after that, you may actually have a much greater chance to succeed this way.

  2. It depends. Sometimes we simply don’t have enough time during naps. Some people do report success during naps so it is worth trying.

  3. No mantra is needed, other than reminding yourself to repeat SSILD cycles and/or do RCs upon each awakening after SSILD.

#64

Thanks a lot cosmic iron.

I still hv few doubts left.

  1. Can I change my sleep position during/after the exercise? Is it necessary to do this exercise with my body facing the ceiling?

  2. Can I move my hands and legs during the exercise? When I am doing the exercise, can I open my eyes?

  3. Can I do this LD induction exercise for 1.5 hrs, i.e, max half an hour for the exercise and 1 hr sleep to induce LD?

  4. Do I hv to allot equal time for each component?

  5. Do I hv to follow the same pattern of ‘Eye-Hear-Feel’ Pattern or is components done in random order?

Thank you.

#65

Cosmic Iron, thank you for continuing to research/refine your method!

Lucky1990, check the tutorial in the meantime, should help with some of your questions.

My Experience in brief. LD last night from SSILD!(assumed) In the past, I had at least one lucid dream maybe around 12years old after my father told me about it as a way to deal with nightmares(defeating the “monster”) but over the years I got away from the practice of recalling my dreams, much less having lucid dreams. In the last 10days or so I started researching, started dream journal, reality checks, looked at different methods to induce LD and decided to try SSILD. Had LD last night on 3rd night time attempt (3 night time attempts, 2 afternoon nap attempts=no luck at nap). LD success was great, though a little short and was discovered instantly when something happened and I said “this is a dream, now I can do what I want”(and did until it ended) - did not do RC in dream.

Some challenges to work through further. Before starting LD methods, I was already waking up to use the bathroom about 4-5 hours after going to bed so don’t need the alarm I think. Previously it seemed I could go back to sleep within 1 minute. SSILD seems to wake me up more so I tweaked it last night so I only stayed out of bed maybe 2 minutes and went straight to SSILD cycles, still didn’t sleep right away (verified through RCs) like normal but did have a big event today-so that probably didn’t help me in dozing off quickly after cycles and is the type of event that can cause some insomnia where I normally have none. Also some noises including wife noise/movement probably isn’t ideal - I put in ear plugs last night when it worked! I only did a few short *additional cycles after putting in earplugs.

Any tips?

#66

  1. No you don’t have to. Sleeping in a different position helps you stay more awake, but if you have trouble fall asleep you might want to use the most comfortable position instead.

  2. You can move around if that makes you more comfortable. Just compensate with some extra cycles and you should be fine. You don’t want to open your eyes.

  3. Yes. It is important for you to experiment and tailor the technique to suit your individual needs.

  4. No, and you shouldn’t be counting. Do it in a relaxed, loose manner. It doesn’t hurt to allow your mind to drift once in a while.

  5. Try to do it in that sequence, although it is fine if you lose track at some point. Just resume from the beginning.

#67

It is really rewarding when I read about people’s success stories with this technique. They make the effort worthwhile!

If you always have trouble falling asleep after the exercise, you should consider the following:

  1. Get up a little early and go back to bed quickly.
  2. Sleep in the usual, most comfortable position.
  3. Do more short cycles and fewer long cycles.
  4. Don’t get up at all. Just remember to do a few cycles upon each subsequent awakening. I call this “chaining” and usually you will hit some HIs or FAs after the first couple of tries.

I hope this helps :smile:

#68

Okay, it has been about a week since my last experience. I have been working everyday this week and waking up many times a night with a teething baby so I was always WAY to tired to fully commit to trying my this method. However twice this week I dreamed of dreaming or teaching people to LD! :grrr:

So I woke up at about 5:30 am to feed the “little dreamer” and I was so calm and relaxed and happy I was rocking him thinking “This is great I dont have to be up in an hour for work…I can lay back down and try to LD” I felt very positive.

I was still very tired when I crawled back into bed and I started my cycle…fell asleep…dreamed about teaching my husband how to use SSILD! URG! :cry:

I then woke up again and started my SSILD cycle again, I got into the second rep of the first cycle and I started having INTENSE HI, usually If I do get HI- I end up startling awake right after I see a flash of a vision or whatever. Well this time I felt it coming on and building up very intense but there was no color to it it looked like the snow/fuzz from the TV but with black borders that were trying to create images.

I then became aware of my body and I couldnt move! I was concious and aware during the HI and the SP. I kept telling myself to calm down that it was okay nothing was scary or going to hurt me. This has never happened to me and it was exhilarating to be aware of and concious in my mind although my body and imagery was doing its own thing. I kept testing to see if I could move and I also kept trying to make the imagery turn into something other. I believe I was so excited yet unfocused that I woke up. I immediatly did a RC to make sure I was really awake and I was :sad:

I really think this eperience was a BIG step on my lucidity path. It was exciting and fun and now I kind of know what people are talking about now when they say “be aware and try to mold the images while your body is asleep” I was always confused by that. So I guess now I need to learn how to get myself into a LD when I reach that state again I guess I could have WILD if I knew how to focus.

But it all started with trying to SSILD this morning and that is exciting!

#69

I tried SSILD for the first time two days ago and managed to remember a dream (was on a bit of a dry spell) but nothing more. Tried again last night/this morning but got same result, but this morning I didn’t get out of bed before using it so that might have affected how it worked. Hoping for better results when I try again though, I somehow think i’m getting close to an LD.

#70

So after having like 1 LD over two weeks I had 5 or 6 this morning with a mixture of this and MILD.
Can’t think of anything I did differently other than taking panadeine painkillers before lying back down. I guess I’ll try doing the same again just in case.

#71

Hi,

Just wanted to ask about time allotment to each component.

  1. During warm up cycles - 10 secs for each component = 10*3 components per cycle = 30 secs for each cycle. Max 3 mins for 6 short cycles.

  2. Main cycle - Max 1 min for each component in a cycle * 4 cycles = 12 mins.

Total duration of SSILD = 12+3 = 15 Mins.

Is it enough?

#72

About that, yeah. You shouldn’t be so calculating with it, though. Best to just think to yourself “yeah, I think I’ve been doing this part for somewhere around 30 seconds, time for the next step” each time.