SSILD method ...

[majic]

I have had some success with this as well and think it is well worth putting some effort into

[johnb]

I have had some success with this as well and think it is well worth putting some effort into

I'm going to try it, too. Sounds easy to do, so why not?

[majic]

What I like is that you still take the role of observer but can move this observation around a little and it seems to leave me a passive role rather than start to get critical

[Tom]

cosmiciron says......on SSILD...

Normally people do the exercise with a lot of mental effort and expect immediate result. This is a common mistake that causes them loss of sleep. Since the exercise is designed to work after you fall asleep, losing sleep will not help you succeed. Your problem, on the other hand, is the exact opposite -- you fall asleep too quickly without entering the trance. The trance is the state when you become deeply relaxed, your mind begins to wander, and you often forget about the exercise. The longer we hold onto this state, the more likely we will succeed later. This is much easier to deal with than the losing sleep problem . You can try the following solutions:

1. Increase the number of repetitions. Do not fall asleep until you sense you have entered the trance -- mind begins to drift, you forget which step you are into the exercise, and etc.

2. With each cycle, you should feel you are going deeper into the trance. The sensations should feel more real with each cycle. For example, do not expect to be able to see anything during the first couple of cycles, but in later cycles you should observe a bit more intently and expect to see something out if the dark. Same thing goes for hearing things. In the beginning you don't expect to hear anything but later you should expect to hear the noise in your head more clearly. Please be careful though -- do NOT force yourself if you absolutely don't feel anything. Being able to fall asleep always has much higher priority.

3. During the last step where you try to fall asleep quickly, you may want to occasionally quickly glance at the darkness behind your closed eyelids. Do this very quickly and sparingly, do not focus and absolutely do not stress your eye muscles! If you feel this is keeping you from falling asleep then you should drop it and let go of everything to fall asleep ASAP.

You don't have to do all three above. I suggest you try them and find the right balance between entering the trance and falling asleep. If anything, you don't want to lose sleep so please do not stress yourself!

[Tom]

[this morning late i experianced another  [SSILD] lucid dream...]

[But before this lucid]... i woke up from a very vivid watermellon dream..
In this dream i saw hundreds of watermellons of  every size and color on display on long tables on a large green hillside..
Some were cut in half some were whole..
It apeared to be a .. [watermelon contest].. by hundreds of growers..
I remember how some of the half mellons would shine under the sun and others  although colorfull would be flat..[no shine]
Some of the DCs were wakinng up and down between the tables spraying water on the melons..
Sudenly in the dream...it started to rain on the melons..then I woke up in bed... .
Only five minutes after waking i heard ..[real thunder outside my window].. and a few minutes later it was raining...
Isnt that strange?
 Then  after  staying awake for 20 minutes i did the [SSILD] exercise then as I returned to sleep I aplied a ...
[special kind of focus or dream seeding] ...that I dont fully understand..
I seemed to just  make the dream up in my head little by little till it was a full blown dream!
in dream....I was driving down a country road and it started to rain so I turned off into a long tunnel..
But after a while I stoped my car in the tunnel and started walking because it seemed the rain was seaping into the tunnel from above making things muddy..
I then walked i for what seemed like miles deeper into the subteranian tunnel .nly
I must have seen some awesome sights down there because the deeper I went      the more in amazement I became..
Then I sudenly stoped and looked at some giant jewled objects hanging from ceiling and then I sudenly m knew that I could fly!
So I started levetating and flew deeper down the n....ever ending tunnels never getting enough1
I wish I could remember more details of what I saw    ....g
It apears that [SSILD] and some other things I did helped this lucid happen..
cheers..Tom   

[johnb]

Have been trying this a lot lately. Most of the time nothing happens, but sometimes it makes me see HI (or, more likely, allows me to remember seeing HI). That's a good sign, since I've never remembered seeing HI (hypnagogic imagery) before. I've seen a fair amount of hypnopompic imagery, but not hypnagogic.

[Tom]

I find that if I do SSILD in kind of a lazy manor that my mind will drift off the  subject of SSILD and I  will restart the  SSILD exercises several times  before finally getting to sleep..
And in the process of re doing the [SSILD]... I too notice a lot of HI or visual imagery...
Its durring this ...[HI or visual imagery]... often resulting in entering dreams.. [or dreamlets]...that I find myself ultra aware in parts of the dream often changing dream content at will!..[but not always lucid.. but close to lucid]...
Then  after finally  getting to sleep.. I often find myself [..stirring awake]... and re doing the SSILD exercises...even later through the morning hours..
But  now  I wonder   .... if my stirring awake may have been  several False awakenings?? 
I think doing  or re doing [SSILD]  exercises  many times durring the morning can have a strong effect on dreams
any how doing and repeating [SSILD] does set one up for a posible lucid or OBE from time to time at the least one can  have an awesome  NLD dream from the effects..
Tom

[johnb]

I find that if I do SSILD in kind of a lazy manor that my mind will drift off the  subject of SSILD and I  will restart the  SSILD exercises several times  before finally getting to sleep..
And in the process of re doing the [SSILD]... I too notice a lot of HI or visual imagery...
Its durring this ...[HI or visual imagery]... often resulting in entering dreams.. [or dreamlets]...that I find myself ultra aware in parts of the dream often changing dream content at will!..[but not always lucid.. but close to lucid]...

Definitely going to try this more. Also makes sense to combine it with the laying-on-your-back method mentioned recently by Moonbeam.

Then  after finally  getting to sleep.. I often find myself [..stirring awake]... and re doing the SSILD exercises...even later through the morning hours..
But  now  I wonder   .... if my stirring awake may have been  several False awakenings?? 

Yes, could be FAs.

I think doing  or re doing [SSILD]  exercises  many times durring the morning can have a strong effect on dreams
any how doing and repeating [SSILD] does set one up for a posible lucid or OBE from time to time at the least one can  have an awesome  NLD dream from the effects..
Tom

Probably could work for some people.