Can't WILD because I can't fall asleep

[Tom]

Considering that you listed no reason or cause for staying awake, my guess is that there is nothing specific. A common response is to suggest relaxation activities and exercises before sleep and exercise during the day. Melatonin pills could help with causing drowsiness and are more effective over longer periods of time than the sleeping pills which were failed antihistamines. There are also visualizations such as putting a soft white light in your heart chakra. It might be a good time to work on your trance exercises with the intent of drifting off to sleep from trace. Are you thinking too much? Is that what is keeping you awake?

[Dokter]

I don't know what it is. I just don't fall asleep easily. Clearing my mind doesn't work; in fact daydreaming to sleep seems to be the best method for me. I excercise a lot, but not neccesarily before sleep. I could try that. Maybe do some pushups and crunches during my awake time before I attempt to WILD.

[Dokter]

Although I should mention that my attempts this morning were not entirely unsuccessful. I did manage to achieve a pretty euphoric state at a few points while attempting to fall asleep. Does that mean I'm on the right track? Should I just stick with it?

[Tom]

MILD is easier than WILD and usually precedes it. If you are not getting enough sleep, then you should work on getting more of the usual variety of sleep and then add MILD. It is familiarity with lucid dreaming that will ease the transition to WILD.

If you are getting enough sleep, then the challenge is what to do with yourself so that sustained concentration is not needed over several hours every night. It might be better to consider that you do not have a problem, exactly. Many of us here would like to be able to avoid going to sleep quickly. If you can find the advantages to your situation they may not be the ones you are looking for but they should be recognized.

[fredhedd]

when i used to try and have wilds i would lie awake for hours.  i never figured out what the problem was.  looking back on it now i'm thikning that i wasn't relaxed enough.  can you enter into a trance?  if you could do that and wait for some hypnagogic imagery it may work.  easier said than done.  
being awake and concentrating too hard usually goes hand in hand w/ being too tense.  no matter how long you lay there for.

[pod3]

Will and mindfulness are linked. I can focus my will, but not into sleep. I can make my body go to sleep while I focus my will, but my brain does not go to sleep. I have started to go into shock before, maintained my will, and maintained consciousness. However, I completely turn off my mind, and dreams get progressively more lucid every night.

I had been struggling to explain this for years and have just thought of something useful.

I'd like to use a comparison to TK. Maybe it's happened to you:
You can build up alot of power meant for a certain task. You feel the power. You know it's there. Things around you may show that they know. You keep on concentrating and concentrating, but nothing happens. Your mind wanders. THEN, the energy is finally let loose, and something happens.

I may undirectedly ponder a question my mind. I totally forget about everything as I fall asleep. The very question is answered in a dream. The same thing as in TK happened. A certain amount of energy relating to the task at hand is released as the sleeper turns off his waking mind.

After listening of the detached bodily sensations occuring while people induce lucid dreams, I believe that their "inductions" aren't really happening until they are already dreaming. Be it vortices, colors, crossroads, or whatever, they have told themselves that after seeing these things, they will know that they are dreaming, but they are just dreamsigns - not the road.

[Dokter]

Sorry, I'm not sure what TK stands for.

[ame]

It is easy to fall asleep with OBE practise. You might get an OBE too if you're lucky.

Also you might like to try brainwave generator software ( http://www.bwgen.com ). There are many preset for many purpose such as inducing sleep or LD.

Maybe you're one of the people who don't need much sleep. Do you fell tired with little sleep?

[pod3]

TK stands for telekinesis, but the allegory represents majick, or psi, in general.  Energy is built up and released. Will just builds energy up. Miracles happen upon release of energy, not build up. In any case, concentrate upon what you want to do, and forget about it, totally.

[goingslow]

I have a problem sleeping.. kinda always have.

I have been taking the type of over the counter antihistamine pills Tom was talking about.

Im trying to stop taking them now though because they make me tired all day now. Someone told me if you take them too long they start leading to fatigue.  That was of course after I said lately im very tired.  Valarian root helps and it actually doesnt have bad side effects.  I dont think the OTC pills are bad as long as you dont take them every single night.

[Tom]

Melatonin works differently than antihistamines and it is a powerful antioxidant. It can be taken about 20 minutes before you want to go to sleep. It might work the first time or it might not. It can take two or three weeks. The purpose of using melatonin is that it helps to re-set your sleep cycle. It is generally safe to take up to 5mg every night for this duration, but 3mg is more common and some people respond with only 1mg. If, however, you have a large sleep debt and you will not be getting eight hours of sleep you should wait to use the melatonin until you have more time to sleep.

[pod3]

I've found that I won't have a fully lucid dream until I'm fully caught up on sleep. If my sleep is 50% caught up on, my dreams will be 50% lucid, etc. If you're lucky enough to straighten everything out, it could still be awhile before you get one.

[TruthSeeker]

Could anyone explain me what WILD and MILD is? Some techniques I could try? Been trying all sorts of hard methods to start having lucid dreams, getting nowhere.
I would really appretiate it!

Thanks,
TruthSeeker

[Tom]

http://brain.web-us.com/lucid/luciddreamingFAQ.htm

It looks like the four letter words go well beyond simply MILD and WILD. This site has some ideas that look interesting enough.

[thegenius]

Dokter

I have had difficulty sleeping myself. At the base of this ramble, you may find your solution.

I'm the type of cat who's best thinking is done at 2am. This makes menial duties (such as working at 6am) a great conflict. []. The root of my problem was this: I was incapable of quieting my mind. I had such a busy  brain, that when it came time to be still, I could never hush my own static.

And so, my insomniatic friend, I decided to hunt for a more "Zen-like" approach to my delima.
Rather than stiff drinks or madness, I embraced a search for Jedi-like control of my mind, energy and time.

...which led me to brainwave entrainment.

By controlling your mind's brainwaves specifically, you will gain greater control of its random static.

Brainwave entrainment, in short, is merely the method of stimulating the mind by harmonizing it with an additional wave source. Consider the chant methods and rituals used by Tibetan monks, Dervishes, etc..
The toned sounds of these rituals are used to induce directed consciousness (or trance to use a very loose term), by entraining their brainwaves to a musically generated second wave source.

The concept is simple: If you can directly control your brainwave frequencies, you can induce any mode of consciousness you choose. You wanna sleep? entrain your brainwaves to a waveform which is equal to your mind's interpreted waveform of sleep (i.e.: 4Hz - 8Hz).

Check this out for more on this approach:
http://lucidquest.com/links.html
(There is a brainwave section towards the bottom)

Also, you might wish to employ the use of binaural sounds and rhythm technologies which are abundantly available on the web. Check out the following sites:

http://lucidquest.com/dwnld.html
Excellent brainwave music (for the kaamehaamehaa enthusiast)
There are a few fantastic .mp3 downloads
there which will blow your mind...
(P.S.: don't forget your headphones)

http://www.bwgen.com/
free brainwave entrainment software which uses binaural beat
stimuli. I recommend downloading the tool and using some of the
relaxation presets.
(Again, you'll need headphones)

As always, do a little research and familiarize yourself with whatever grabs you!

I hope my blather proves itself worthwhile...[]

Namaste,

[pod3]

It's like sleeping on a problem. Form the question in your mind. Clear your mind. Go to sleep. You will dream of the solution, more vividly the more caught up on sleep you are.

Clearing my mind, light, etc. helps me to sleep. You will have to be able to do this to some extent in order to use the mind entrainment CDs. If you can't give in to relaxation, hypnosis will just grate on your nerves.

[Dokter]

Hi,
I have particular trouble achieving WILDs because I have difficulty falling asleep in any circumstances (for example, on an average night I will lie awake for several hours before falling asleep).

This morning, I got up at five, went to the washroom and read for about 15 minutes, then went to bed and tried counting "1 I'm dreaming, 2 I'm dreaming..." but I just couldn't fall asleep no matter what. I got to 100 4 times before I gave up.

Are there any tricks to help me fall asleep?