I tried to do WILD again last night and I find that as I count…I’m just too awake. I can lie in bed for hours on my back (the position I use for WILD). Maybe I am waking up at the wrong time. I went to bed at around 11:15 and woke up at 4:05. That’s a little less than 5 hours. By the time I gave up on WILD it was around 5:40, and that’s not staying up for 60-90 minutes, but just long enough to stretch and then trying to WILD. I decided by the time I stopped I would try to just fall asleep in the WILD position, but even though I got really tired and was out of it, I don’t think I ever fell asleep…I wonder if I can fall asleep lying on my back (I’m a side sleeper).
One of the guides said to adjust the time…later and later. I guess I should be waking up later but I was afraid if I wake up so close to morning, I won’t be that tired, plus I get nervous waking up 2 hours before I have to actually get up for the day because WILD often takes over an hour to attempt leaving me with less than an hour of sleep.
How do I know if I am waking up too early or too late?
First, the body can stay awake for hours if it is kept moving. There are urges, or itches of sort, that are called “roll-over signal” and are a mean for the body to check if the mind is awake. If you answer to them and move, then the body stays awake. If you bear the signal for a while, the body relaxes quickly. It’s a matter of remembering to stay still, no matter what.
Second, there are lots of relaxation techniques to fall asleep faster. One is tensing your muscles for 30 secs before relaxing them, you can google for some, or I’m sure other dreamers will be able to cite a few
Third, you can use a side you sleep on if you still find difficulty
Dream on.
Well, the names “body” and “mind” are more of a convention here, to explain the process. Of course it’s all part of the mind; but in a way, like there’s a part that controls our heart and other involuntary functions, there’s another part which does this: testing if the conscious is awake, and responding properly by relaxing or tensing the body.
The idea was first explained by Nicholas Newport, from Lucidology; you can check out his explanation vids, particularly Lucidology 101, part 3.
Yeah, little itches and urges to move or roll over can be a test. If you move the body knows the mind is still awake and won’t enter SP. So the trick is to pretend you are asleep and not give in to these urges, which can be pretty intense sometimes…
If you always stay too awake try changing positions or doing something else besides counting. If instead you fall asleep you now have two opposites and can try to find something in the middle
If any part of me moves - it has to be the face. The rest of me is completely still but the swallowing etc causes me to move a little. I get tingling and purple blobs and sometimes it feels like it’s getting more intense but it just subsides and I seem to go in circles getting up to a certain level of numbness, and then down, and then back to that again but never getting further and never getting HI.
Incidentally, I found you can get colors and geometric patterns by applying pressure to your eyeballs with your hands - I wouldn’t recommend it, it kinda hurts.
Hm maybe so. But the reason I reacted was because there was a heated discussion in the dreamviews forum about this Newport guy and his “Methods”. I watched his videos aswell, but after reading about him on the forums I changed my views about him a bit. See for yourselves. But still, I don’t really believe there are any real “rights or wrongs” when it comes to lucid dreaming.
Like mattias said, it’s a matter of finding the right balance; remember that you are supposed to fall asleep in order to have a WILD
Plus, when experimenting the first times, it’s always better to fall on the “too sleepy” side instead of the “too awake” one, as it brings less frustration, plus you can have a LD anyway with all the thinking about LD you just did ^^
So, if you can’t fall asleep in one position, try doing it in another, more comfortable one, just keeping your attention aware; one good thing to focus on is the buzzing of your ears.
I’m starting to think I can’t fall asleep lying on my back, even when I give up wild but stay on my back I kind of go in and out of consciousness but never fully fall asleep - and I become exhausted. Is it possible not to be able to fall asleep in a certain position?
I will try a different position next time to WILD.
Well, if you’re not used to that position, it is very possible to stay awake. If you plan to WILD in a position, first fall asleep in that position a couple of times the standard way, then attempring a WILD should come much easier
What part of it does that? 