WILD Techniques and Tips?

[jamboh]

Apologies if this information is elsewhere in the forums, I have tried searching but couldn't find much about WILDs, can someone point me to threads if I have missed them.

It seems that WILDs get less attention that regular LDs but listening to Robert on the recent parachallenged radio interview he seems to suggest that they are a lot easier to induce that AP (although 'easy' for him is not necessarily easy for me ) and are a much more powerful experience that a standard LD. I've had some very vivid standard lucid dreams but more often that not my lucidty is poor, and I wake up too quickly, so I want to investigate WILDs.

The rough technique he described on the show is similar to what he wrote in the original AD (I don't have the 2nd edition so I don't know if he's updated that section)..

1) Get some sleep (at least 3-4 hours)
2) Get up and stay up for 10-15 minutes or so to wake yourself up a bit
3) Go back to bed
4) Lie on your left side
5) Imagine a scene from a shopping mall or similar and imagine yourself standing there as clearly as possible
6) Give the scene a name eg. the name of the mall or shop, and repeat it in your mind every couple of seconds or so
7) Keep doing 5 and 6 while you drift of to sleep
8.) Feel a brief falling sensation, and then you will find yourself in the scene

I had a go at this last night, without success. I found that the imagining of the scene and the repeating of the phrase got in the way of me falling back to sleep. But it was only the first time I have tried this so I will keep at it.

Just wondering if anyone who has (or has had) WILDs could chip in with any advice, tips or techniques? I'd also be interested to hear about any interesting experiences you've had in WILDs, and whether you've been able to convert them to projections?

[lamommy78]

I have tried to do this myself by looking at a still photo of someone and then concentrating on my memory of it while on the threshold of sleep. I have been able to have long vivid dreams about the person, but lose my lucidity. I would be interested to learn other methods. I think I will try your method next. My main problem has always been becoming or staying lucid. Good luck!

[CFTraveler]

Besides what's on here, you may try the Phasing resource- Phasing and WILDing are essentially the same thing.

[jamboh]

Thanks CFTraveler, interesting reading! I just realized that although I've heard about phasing, I never really had a clear idea about exactly what it is. One question though.. do you think phasing/WILDing is astral projection i.e. onto the astral plane? (or the RTZ I guess but that would seem to be bypassed?) or is it more like a dream? I realize that there are lots of opinions on this and it's largely subjective, but seeing as how you do phasing and the standard separation-exit AP you can probably give an interesting take. RB seems to describe the WILD state as being quite different to the AP state, and said he believes it's an internal experience like a dream. Either way it sounds fascinating... hope I have some success with it.

[huseini78]

4) Lie on your left side
8.) Feel a brief falling sensation, and then you will find yourself in the scene

1. Sleeping on the left side has something to do with the energy channels, right ?
2. What is with the brief falling sensation ? Does it project your mind/energy body into the dream state ?

[CFTraveler]

Thanks CFTraveler, interesting reading! I just realized that although I've heard about phasing, I never really had a clear idea about exactly what it is. One question though.. do you think phasing/WILDing is astral projection i.e. onto the astral plane?

Yes, I think it is. I think the astral plane has a lot of gradations, from a 'private symbolic' area or content (which is usually nonlucid, but sometimes it can become lucid, and then you can move 'out' into the collective areas.

(or the RTZ I guess but that would seem to be bypassed?)

I don't think I've ever phased into the RTZ, there is usually a distinct experience of separation- but I have had RTZ exits that immediately afforded movement into the astral plane via artifacts, vortexes and reality fluctuations. But that's another theme.

or is it more like a dream? I realize that there are lots of opinions on this and it's largely subjective, but seeing as how you do phasing and the standard separation-exit AP you can probably give an interesting take. RB seems to describe the WILD state as being quite different to the AP state, and said he believes it's an internal experience like a dream. Either way it sounds fascinating... hope I have some success with it.

He also talks about how AP and dreams are different 'regions' of the astral plane, or used to in the old version of the tutorials. I think when you phase you usually end up in an area that is more 'collective' yet highly symbolic- for whatever that's worth. At least it's how it is for me. I do think that lucidity is the factor that facilitates the move into the AP- and since with phasing you start out lucid, the 'private' dream areas are bypassed. Perhaps it's a psychological thing, who knows.

[jamboh]

Success! ...well that happened a lot quicker than I was expecting!

Last night I did the WBTB (wake back to bed), but literally about 2 minutes, just enough time to go to toilet. I'd had about 5 hrs of sleep. Then when I went back to bed I tried a method that i found on a the dreamviews forum (thanks alienor), and kind of adapted it. Basically it involves quieting your mind, shifting your focus inwards, and mentally counting your breaths while saying "one I'm dreaming, two I'm dreaming" etc. At first I had a bit of trouble holding my concentration, as imagery and fragments of dreams kept interrupting my train of thought, so I switched to a meditation method I used to practice some time ago. I imagined myself slowly moving down a road, while still doing the breath awareness and allowing myself to drift off to sleep.

After a minute or two I became very internally focused on travelling on the road and then I suddenly felt myself being rapidly accelerated along the road and into complete blackness, but still while fully conscious... which apparently is one of the signs of entering a WILD. After a few seconds the blackness started to resolve in a dreamscape, and I found myself standing fully conscious in a dream. The whole process took no longer than 10 seconds or so and what amazed me most was how I could remember the whole process from start to finish; literally a few seconds ago I was lying in bed, and then suddenly I was standing on a path in a field and there was no break in consciousness!

I won't bore you with the details of the lucid dream that followed but I can say that it was the longest, most lucid, most stable lucid dream that I've ever had. Usually in my LDs I have to fight for even limited lucidity, the dream usually lasts a max of 30 or so seconds (of relative dreamtime)... and usually I spend most of this time looking at my hands and shouting commands in a desperate attempt not to lose the dream. But in this WILD, I felt no pressure or sense that I might wake up anytime soon - it was completely stable, and I had near-perfect lucidity from the start right through to near the end. Best of all it lasted for what felt (in the dream) like at least 10-15 mins. which gave me plenty of time to wander around and marvel at my surroundings, test gravity (which was normal, I couldn't fly) read some text and watch it scramble, etc.

The only dissapointing thing was that instead of waking up on purpose, at the end I allowed some of my dream mind to take over which dulled the last part of the dream a bit. Also right after I woke up I had incredibly real memory of it, but then I went back to sleep and had a regular dream and when I woke up again, my memory seemed to have faded a bit... not in the detail, but it kind of seemed to have faded in 'real-ness'.. hard to describe.

Anyway, long story short, WILDs are amazing!!, and not as hard as I'd though. I will definitely be experimenting again tonight.

[sleeper]

Success! ...well that happened a lot quicker than I was expecting!

cool!

[Beekeeper]

That's fantastic, Jamboh!

[embrace]

WILD works best in the morning, right after waking up. It's easy to fall asleep again fast and it's likely to do it consciously. My piece of advice is to not move your body at all after you wake up. It's tempting to do so because our body really makes up want to move or roll over (by sending us signals of being itchy, tired, etc.) - that's how the body knows we've woken up. If you ignore those symbols, the body will fall into a sleep paralysis, and from there it's not far to a smooth transition into a dream.