Transition to the Dream State

Quest for Lucidity
1

Hey all, I read some LD literature yesterday and decided to really give it a try. Last night, I went to bed and did my best to get into a really relaxed state. I then counted from 1 to 100 saying to myself, “1 I’m dreaming, 2 I’m dreaming, 3 I’m dreaming”, etc. just as the reading I did suggested. For the first time in my life, I noticed the sleep paralysis, but didn’t worry too much about it, because I had read that was the first stage to REM sleep. As I continued, my whole body suddenly started tingling and a strange wave of sensation swept over me while the background noise in my room started to fade away. I felt like I was traveling somewhere with a very conscious awareness (like real life) and I suppose I got really excited and my heart started pounding. I woke up pretty quickly after that, but it was by far the most spectacular thing that has happened to me during sleep to this point in my life so far.

My question(s) is this: Is this a step towards achieving LD? More specifically, do any of you with LD experience have similar sensations while consciously trying to LD? During the “transition” I felt such a rush that I woke up, so how might I go about hanging on to that while staying asleep?

I realize this is the very first time I have tried anything like this, so of course practice probably makes perfect, but as a complete newbie, I was hoping to get some advice from you guys. Oh, btw I had a normal dream after that, and when I woke up I started a dream journal. I can’t wait to hear your responses, and wish me luck on my new-found resolve to become lucid!

-zlarin

2

Hi, and welcome to LD4all! :cool:

What you describe isn’t uncommon while doing WILD. I don’t WILD a lot, but what helps me is to be so sleepy when attempting the WILD that the body will fall asleep, no matter what happens in the mean time.

This is usually easier to do in the morning than in the beginning of the night. Sometimes it is possible to go back into a previous dream like this.

/me is at work and can’t write a lot. Good luck! I hope you will have a LD soon so you too can experience what it is like :cool_laugh:

3

Yup, WILD is much (much) easier to succeed with when you’re going back to sleep after a previous dream.

4

Well, I try to WILD just about every night. What I have to help me out is a playlist on my iPod with about 300 songs that help me relax. I play it on a low volume. It doesn’t affect the transition into that state at all for me. You could try this with any music if you wanted. Worth a shot I guess. For me, besides the relaxing part, it helps me to keep my mind focused on that particular theme of songs that are playing, which also stops me from having my mind wander off into random dream thoughts.

This doesn’t work for everyone, but it is worth a shot for you! :smile: The key to WILD isn’t so much focusing, but rather just relaxing while staying aware. Focusing too much will wake you back up. As for no success on the first try of a WILD, you did incredibly well for your first WILD. :thumbs: Good Luck!