What do you mean “weak HI”? Do you find it difficult to maintain a mental image of something in your waking imagination?
My advice concerning WILD is to focus as much as possible on the pictures in your head. If you’re concentrating on your breathing, heartbeat or any external sensations, then you’re being distracted. Your attention should be fixed exclusively on your mind’s own creations. Picture an object or scene in as much detail as you can. I often use a book or other every-day construct so I can more easily hold onto the image. If you want, you can also use a complete scene or room. Try to take as much detail into account as you can, like light sources, materials, proportion, etc. The idea is to confine your concentration to your imagination, and let it wander away from the real world. This allows you to remain conscious while the (hopefully) ignored aspects of your physical condition slowly fall asleep.
It’s not fast. I often get close to falling asleep 3 or 4 times consecutively before I finally do (-conscious or not). It’s very easy to notice some hypnagogics and become distracted, reminding yourself that you’re actually laying in bed, and possibly damaging your chances of getting to sleep until you can sufficiently occupy yourself again.
Last evening I managed to WILD by concentrating on an imaginary triangle…
During the night I tried to do the same after I woke up, and didn’t succeed!
It was more difficult during the night and I lost consciousness and lapsed into an ND.
Perhaps I should try a real (simple) object next time…
OK, last night I had a FA (I think) and I stretched but I couldn’t see my arm and I realised my arm was still on my stomach, and I couldn’t lift it up, so I went back to sleep. Is this what real SP is like? Cos I’m not really sure if it was an FA or real!
When I try to WILD I usually focus on my body until I start feeling totally relaxed. When I’m relaxed it feels like some energy going through my body every time I breath out. And about 1-2 minutes before I fall asleep a muscle usually jerks. Then I start focusing on what I see, usually I get some random images that fade away very fast, then I really have to concentrate so that I don’t fall sleep. Most of the time I fail and fall asleep. About once a week I start dreaming and know I’m dreaming, but so far I haven’t been able to hold on to the dream for more tham a few seconds. I try to WILD every night and I have found that for some reason I can’t even get close if I do it at any other time than when I go to bed. All my WILDs to far have been accidental.
I have tried WILD since some months but I never come in the state of SP. It’s almost every time the same. I come in a state when the thoughts become faster and faster and after a time they take me with them.
So what can u do then to keep the control and not to be pulled in an unconsciousness sleep? If I try to concentrate on that what I see or my body feeling I forget this after a short time. Sometimes I remember again and again for a short while on what I wanted to concentrate but then forget this again and after some of this cycles I fall asleep.
If sb can gimme some help what I should do I would be much appreciated.
This is what happens with me, though I didn’t think it was actually anything to do with WILD, I thought it was just bipolar head rushing. I’d like someone with some good experience to explain this too then! Wow…oh and welcome!
Very true, though I find that if I get too involved with the HI I will often find that they send me a one way ticket to unconscious sleep. So I watch them but also with a slight detachment from them. I am aware of everything I see but don’t allow myself to get absorbed in them.
I decided ton try this last night. I can create a falling sensation very well so I thought spinning might be just as easy. It did not work quite the way I wanted and I fell asleep. Though my concentration was not at it’s best last night either. Any way I did have a short DILD later and a WBTB/WILD with my own method anyway. I am going to keep trying that spinning technique and see what happens. I’ll try again tonight.
pleban:
Try and just create a small white dot in the center of your forehead in between your eyebrows. It does not matter if you actually see the dot or not. Just keep your attention focused at that area. Let yourself go and keep relaxing and stay focused in that one area. As you allow yourself to drift away you should start to see flashes of colors eventually shapes and so on.
So what you’re saying is -focusing on HI may not be the way to go. You’re advocating a strategy of maintaining focus on a mental image that your conscious mind creates - not the passive HI created as one falls asleep. I have always had trouble with the focus on HI WILD technique because everytime I do get HI and it develops into images or scenes, I am too aware of it and I rebound into a more wakefull state…
I completely understand what you mean. Often I’ll be distracted by the hypnagogics, which will bring my attention back to the real world. Coincidentally, I had some luck with WILD this morning, which you can read about in my journal here if you’re interested. The above problem occurred quite regularly during my attempt, but with persistence you eventually seem to just adapt and fall asleep.
I read your entry - very interesting! BTw -the first part of my reply to you did not appear. I wanted to remark that I found it unusual that you advocate focusing on a deliberate conscious mental image of your own creation rather than letting the scene develop through HI as LaBerge describes in the WILD chapter.
Ha but it is. You have already done it in fact. If memory serves you had your first WILD within a month and by 2-21/2 months you had something like 4 or 5 WILD S plus several DILD/MILD. Sounds like good progress to me. All you have to do now is allow yourself time to refine your technique.
Don’t get me wrong, I advocate trying absolutely everything and seeing what works more reliably for you.
For me, focusing on HI usually reminds me that I’m laying in bed, and that I’m attempting to get to sleep. As most of you probably know, trying to get to sleep almost guarentees that it’ll never actually happen. In my case, I occupy my mind with something that doesn’t directly remind me what stage of the process I’m up to, and hence cause me to remain fully awake.
By all means, try it both ways. Everyone’s different - I’m just providing alternate suggestions if you want to deviate from the general method.
Has anyone tried the “forcing WILD” technique?
I tried it and got buzzing in my ears. But I may have moved after I woke up or opened my eyes before. It looks like it can work easily. No need to count or anything! Just pop open your eyes when you wake up!
Slash posted it on another forum… (but who invented it?)
Do you still have to close your eyes again and wait afterwards or are you already in the dream? RC’s will be needed I think to clarify this…
[i]Hi, this is just my own way (kind of) of inducing WILD.
First you just sleep as usual, then at times your dream just fades away
smoothly and you realize your lying on your bed. now, just stay like
that for a while, then just immediately POP open your eyes!!
this will induce a WILD state. I’ve succeeded by using this 4 times.
but freaked out the first two times, and the third time, it just went away
and I woke up. The last time, I stayed calm and the ringing disappeared
and I thought if I opened my eyes I’ll see a dream scenery, but just as
I tried to open my eyes, my body started moving un-intentionally.
after awhile, it ended, and I flet myself in my bed again. so I got up and
wrote about it.
I heard this method works well if you sleep on your back facing the ceiling
or if your taking a nap during the day.
Next time I’m going to try to keep my eyes opened. (mentally)
the first time I did that I saw my room filling with colors and lights.
[/i]
I imagine this question has been asked more times than I can apprehend, but what position should I sleep in? I have a hard time falling asleep on my back, and it’s far more comfortable for me to sleep on my side or face down. I’ve just recently decided to start trying WILD, so I’m not very knowledgeable about the subject.
Is WILD pretty much an on-the-back exclusive method?
You should read through the entire post, this has been answered a few times already. The position doesn’t really matter. But in general it’s easyer to WILD it you lie in an uncomfortable position.
No. I have not tried it. I only vaguely remember hearing about it somewhere.
From the description I am not sure it would really be a short cut. It sounds more like the rolling out of your body or sitting up from SP. In this case you are just opening your eyes. I am not saying it won’t work. I just don’t think it would be a “short cut”.
