Lucid Dreaming: Guided Lucid Dreaming & How To WILD
In today's recording let Reece guide you through the process of WILDing. This can either be listened to as an audio lesson during the day or as a sleep talk down at night. By the end of the recording, you'll have everything you need to successfully WILD! If you enjoyed this recording, please consider leaving a review and rating it.
Transcript
What follows is a guide on how to wild.
In it,
I'll go over exactly what wilding is,
Why learning how to wild has a place in your lucid dreaming practice,
What times to target when attempting to wild,
And the easiest,
Most effective ways to achieve a wild.
You can listen to this recording during the day as an audio lesson,
Or you can listen to it whilst falling asleep as a sleep talkdown.
If you're doing the latter,
I'll now give you a moment to get into bed and settle down.
Close your curtains,
Turn off your lights,
And get relaxed.
Then,
In a moment,
My voice will return,
And the lesson will begin.
So,
First up,
What exactly is wilding?
Wild is an acronym for Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming,
And was originally outlined in the seminal book,
Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming,
By Stephen LaBerge.
Essentially,
Wilding is the art of entering directly into a lucid dream from waking,
With no break in consciousness.
In principle,
It's a simple process.
You just have to let your body fall asleep,
Whilst keeping your mind awake.
In practice,
Though,
It's not quite as easy as it sounds.
I already dialed,
Though,
So why bother with wilding?
It's a good question,
And the answer will differ for each person.
We all have different goals and aspirations when learning to lucid dream,
So the increased effort and disruption to sleep that wilding typically brings may not be for you.
However,
Keep in mind,
When wilding,
You're entering the lucid dream at the beginning of your REM cycle.
Which means that if you're looking to maximise time spent inside a lucid dream,
Wilding is really the only way to go.
Okay,
I'll give wilding a shot first thing this evening,
Then.
Hang on a sec,
Not so fast.
Wilding during the first cycle of the night is not what you're shooting for here,
Unless you're sleep deprived and expecting to REM rebound.
Instead,
You need to aim for a time close to a REM phase.
REM phases become longer and longer and happen closer and closer to the beginning of sleep cycles the further into the night you get.
So,
You need to wait for at least three cycles of sleep before attempting to wild.
Four cycles,
Ideally,
Which translates to roughly six hours of sleep.
Sleep cycle lengths vary for everyone,
Keep in mind,
So 90 minutes is merely the average.
It's not an exact science,
But as long as you're shooting towards the end of the night and not the beginning,
You can have a wild.
So,
How should I wake myself up for a wild attempt?
First of all,
Let me issue this warning.
Regularly disrupting your sleep is bad for your mental health and your physical health.
So,
Knowing this,
I recommend attempting a wild no more than once a week.
Next,
You need to think about your living arrangements.
Do you live alone?
If so,
A sound-based alarm will work just fine,
Although for the sake of sanity,
I recommend something less abrasive.
If you live with others,
And especially if you share your bed with someone else,
Then setting a vibratory alarm instead is probably the better of the two options.
I'm referring to alarms you find on smartwatches and the like.
Set it for about six hours after you go to bed,
Then once it goes off,
Get straight up,
No hitting snooze or lazing around.
Stay up for 20 minutes or so,
And then return to bed.
And let the session begin.
In order for a session to be successful,
You must first be able to fall asleep relatively easily.
With that in mind,
In the lead-up to your first attempt,
You should start practicing getting better at falling to sleep.
Experiment with relaxation techniques,
For example.
Meditate just before going to bed.
Get into a regular routine.
No electronic devices in the last hour before bed.
End the day with a book instead.
All of these things will hone your ability to sleep on command.
Once you have this down,
The next step is to learn how to fall asleep whilst keeping your mind awake.
This might sound like an impossibility to some,
But rest assured,
It is possible.
But how?
How do I keep my mind awake whilst letting my body fall asleep?
In order to let the body drift away whilst keeping the mind present,
You must anchor it to something in the physical realm.
By doing this,
You'll keep the brain just active enough to maintain awareness,
But not so active that it can't fall asleep.
Anchors can take many forms.
A fan,
For example,
Or a pink noise track.
These are auditory anchors.
What about holding onto an item as you fall asleep?
This is a physical anchor.
Beware,
Though,
You need to be thoughtful when picking an anchor.
The anchor should be perceptible enough to help keep you focused,
But subtle enough to not prevent you from falling to sleep.
This is a fine line,
Admittedly.
And where exactly this line will be drawn will depend on you,
If you're a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper.
So you'll need to experiment with different anchors to find what works best for you.
If you find yourself struggling to fall asleep because of an anchor,
Simply return to the drawing board and try something new.
So,
For example,
If at first you tried a pink noise track,
Maybe try focusing on the sensation of a ring on your finger instead.
Rest your attention on that physical sensation and let the body fall asleep as you do.
If all else fails,
Then try focusing on something super,
Super simple,
Like the breath.
Okay,
So once focused on the anchor,
What should I expect?
Well,
Firstly,
Don't be surprised if your body starts bothering you.
I'm uncomfortable,
We should turn over,
Your internal voice might say in one,
I'm itchy,
We should scratch the itch,
It might say in another.
Again,
Dealing with this is a fine line.
Whilst you certainly don't want to stew in this discomfort,
Know that you will be resetting your attempt each time you give in to one of these demands.
So with that in mind,
I'd recommend giving in only if it's towards the beginning of a session,
And resisting if you're a little further along.
Secondly,
Don't be phased when you start to experience hypnagogia.
This can manifest in all sorts of different ways,
But some common ways are flashes of faces,
Sparks of color,
And whispers of voices.
Think of this as your brain gearing up to dream.
It's a liminal state that's not quite awake and not quite asleep.
Some people like to explore this in-between state,
Intentionally lingering there for a while,
But it's up to you.
If you'd prefer,
You can simply let these hallucinations pass on by whilst staying focused on your anchor,
And wait for a fully-fledged dream scene to form.
Some people even experience sleep paralysis during wild attempts,
But honestly it's a lot rarer than you'd be led to believe.
So don't go in expecting it,
Because more often than not,
You won't.
If you do,
Then just ride the wave.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
You're simply experiencing the awareness of rhamtonia,
Your body paralyzing itself so it doesn't act out dream scenes.
This paralyzation actually happens every single night,
And it's totally normal.
In fact,
It's a good thing.
If you weren't paralyzed in your dreams,
You could end up really hurting yourself back in waking life.
So the only difference with sleep paralysis is you're now aware of the paralyzation.
So just hold on,
And before you know it,
You'll be lucid dreaming.
I've tried wilding a few times now,
To no avail.
This is hard.
It is,
You're right.
But don't feel disheartened.
Wilding is considered a fairly advanced technique,
So you'll almost certainly struggle with it for a while,
Either with failing to fall asleep,
Or with falling asleep but losing awareness.
If you're determined to succeed though,
And keep on practicing,
You'll eventually have a wild,
No doubt about it.
And the more you practice,
The more you can refine your techniques,
And the closer you'll get to mastering it.
So,
Simply put,
Just keep on trying.
Don't try too hard though.
My recommendation would be to put aside maybe a couple of nights a month to practice.
Choose nights when you don't have any pressing matters to attend to the next day,
And never practice so much that you start seriously affecting your sleep.
Remember,
You should always prioritize your sleep hygiene over your lucid dreaming practices.
To do otherwise is a little mad,
If you ask me.
Whilst an occasional wilding session is fine,
Good even,
Encouraged,
Certainly,
It should be used sparingly,
For the sake of your mental health and your physical health.
And so,
With all that said,
I wish you good luck and happy dreaming.
If you listen to this during the day as an audio lesson,
I bid you farewell.
And if you listen to this as a sleep talkdown,
I wish you a good night's sleep and have fun in your lucid dreams.
You are now feeling supremely relaxed and ready for sleep.
Allow yourself to fully let go and softly repeat this mantra to yourself as you drift off.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
Tonight,
I will lucid dream.
