Don’t worry this isn’t quite going to be the usual ‘Can’t WILD please help!’, so please read on!
I am sure this has been discussed in dribs and drabs spread over the forum, but I’d like to ask the question in a topic of its own.
Most of the tutorials one reads on WILDING require one to very intently wait out the period of falling asleep. Many emphasize the importance of maintaining awareness. That seems fair enough, but from what I’ve read and from my own experience, the majority of people, especially beginners like myself, find that they are either too aware to fall asleep, or lose concentration and drop off. There seems to be a very precarious balance of consciousness one has to keep, and it can easily be upset just by noticing that one is falling asleep! I’m sure these methods work wonders if one can strike the balance, but it is rather hard.
I never had any success trying to WILD like that. But recently I’ve tried something quite different.I focus on my intent to LD, taking a moment to be aware on my breathing or some other anchor. Not straining to concentrate, but just aware. Then I relax totally, let my mind wonder and go to sleep as per usual.
If I do this, I effectively lose awareness, but when SP and HH set in it suddenly clicks back. And by that stage, it seems too late to interrupt the process: I get drawn into an LD in what feels like seconds later. Sometimes I even gain awareness just as the dream starts, without having to wait out the hallucinations (mine are usually auditory).
So this seems to me a much more stable, easy and much less stressful vehicle for WILD than grimly lying like the effigy on a tombstone for hours. It is usually a problem for WILDers that the onset of SP or whatever else makes you more aware, but here I think we’re trying to use it as an advantage. But it is hardly a ‘technique’ as yet, and I’m never quite sure how I do it, so I have trouble repeating it consistently. Has anyone else had a similar experience, or do this regularly? And, if so, do you have advice?