MILD/WILD help?

[Shane]

So I have been working on attaining lucidity recently and last night I thought I would try MILD which almost ended up like a WILD but fell flat at the end.

 In my first and best attempt last night I made it up to feeling vibrations and almost reaching sleep paralysis. I believe I also hit HI. The problem is I never reached actually falling asleep. It was a series of unfortunate events including excitement at the weird sensations of almost reaching the dream state, itchiness, and some Hypnogogic jerks/spasms. 

What I was doing last night: Laying at a slight incline with pillows, listening to some classical music (That helped with relaxing but later distracted), focusing on a dream scene with repetitive mantra, and a simple breathing exercise.
 

Any tips on what to do in the later sections of the process or the process as a whole? (I'm still newer at these and trying to figure out a good technique.)

[greg lousy]

 I'm glad you posted. This site is a great resource, but I've always had a small problem with the description of the MILD technique here (and it sounds like that's what your going on, right?)  MILD techniques were named and described by Stephen Laberge. Laberge describes recalling a specific dream scene and visualizing lucidity within it as one MILD technique.  The mantra thing is another.  He lists two more (I think).  I would recommend doing only one of these things, and not just because of Laberge separates them, but because starting out, I found the simplest and most direct approaches the most helpful (still do).

     It follows then, that I would recommend the simpler of the techniques - the mantra thing.   Personalize it, but keep it simple "I am dreaming", "Am I dreaming?" ,"I will become lucid" anything.   Try to stay with the meaning of the words and what your trying to do as opposed to rote repetition.  Do it until you fall asleep or until you feel like your intent is set.   People have had success incorporating specific dreamsigns (e.g. "I will see my old dog and become lucid").  The dog seems extraneous to me but play with it, see what works for you.  

    Since this practice is aimed at remembering to become lucid  it can be effective to do as you initially fall asleep, as well as in WBTB, whereas WBTB is basically essential to any method where you try to go directly from wake to sleep consciously (which is difficult anyhow).  So WBTB will increase your chances with this technique, but is not essential to it. This is great because you can make a habit of it, every time you nod off.  If you do WBTB, stay up for at least twenty minutes. Wake up completely.  It helps to do something mentally engaging, then do the mantra thing as you return to bed.

      Whatever you do don't worry about technique.  If you keep directing conscious effort towards dreaming and lucidity IN ANY WAY - you will arrive!!

 

      

[Shane]

I'm glad you posted. This site is a great resource, but I've always had a small problem with the description of the MILD technique here (and it sounds like that's what your going on, right?)  MILD techniques were named and described by Stephen Laberge. Laberge describes recalling a specific dream scene and visualizing lucidity within it as one MILD technique.  The mantra thing is another.  He lists two more (I think).  I would recommend doing only one of these things, and not just because of Laberge separates them, but because starting out, I found the simplest and most direct approaches the most helpful (still do).

     It follows then, that I would recommend the simpler of the techniques - the mantra thing.   Personalize it, but keep it simple "I am dreaming", "Am I dreaming?" ,"I will become lucid" anything.   Try to stay with the meaning of the words and what your trying to do as opposed to rote repetition.  Do it until you fall asleep or until you feel like your intent is set.   People have had success incorporating specific dreamsigns (e.g. "I will see my old dog and become lucid").  The dog seems extraneous to me but play with it, see what works for you.  

    Since this practice is aimed at remembering to become lucid  it can be effective to do as you initially fall asleep, as well as in WBTB, whereas WBTB is basically essential to any method where you try to go directly from wake to sleep consciously (which is difficult anyhow).  So WBTB will increase your chances with this technique, but is not essential to it. This is great because you can make a habit of it, every time you nod off.  If you do WBTB, stay up for at least twenty minutes. Wake up completely.  It helps to do something mentally engaging, then do the mantra thing as you return to bed.

      Whatever you do don't worry about technique.  If you keep directing conscious effort towards dreaming and lucidity IN ANY WAY - you will arrive!!

 

      

Thanks Greg! I will keep this in mind tonight!

 Actually I am not sure what I am going off Correction: I believe I was going off this:
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/mnemonic-induction-of-lucid-dreams.html

I have read many different takes on MILD, WILD, etc.. and have gotten some confusion with them. I think I'll try them out separately and experiment. I definitely need to try to successfully WBTB since previous attempts resulted in me shutting off the alarm and falling right to sleep or not setting it at all.

I'm sure I could figure out something but what do you recommend doing during the awake portion of WBTB?

[Sunshine]

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[greg lousy]

I'm sure I could figure out something but what do you recommend doing during the awake portion of WBTB?

LaBerge's studies indicated that many different activities worked for different people, but the common denominator was that they all engaged the brain in an active way - meditation, puzzles, reading....  The clearest result of his WBTB data was the part about waking up completely for a while (something like a ten fold increase in the likeliness of a lucid. (I don't usually refer to Laberge so much, but he did actual research, and I don't want to just advise people to do what works for me). 
   
      If you have any recall upon waking for WBTB, I think journaling those dreams is a great thing to do, because your mind is active and its directed towards dreams, double whammy.

If your serious enough, I would consider reading a book on the lucid dreaming (another great WBTB activity!) . Here are a few

"Entering the World of Lucid Dreams" - Laberge - the old standard
"Lucid Dreaming: a Concise Guide to Awakening in your Dreamsa nd in your Life" - Laberge -  a later, shorter and straight forward account of basic techniques
"Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self" - Robert Waggoner - also great

     These books will of course clear up the techniques, but on a personal note, they ended up doing so much more for me.  Briefly,  I was working overnights at the time and  I read Waggoner's book at work for a few shifts. I got home and slept and my lucid dreaming just exploded.  I had been journaling for about a year with mostly fleeting and sporadic lucids, and suddenly my experiences were well beyond what I had deemed possible. They became a lot like the lucids I was reading about - the kind of thing I thought I was years away from.
         It later occurred to me that by reading on and off through the night, I had basically been doing 4 or 5 hours of MILD practice before sleeping.  I continued reading other books on the subject, not even trying to learn anything new, just as practice (how else could I focus on dreaming for hours?)

          Lastly, as a general rule, people don't tend to have much luck with WILD when they're just starting out. 
Keep at it and I look forward to seeing the results!

[Shellidfl]

Well said, greg!

[Jomid59]

I'm sure I could figure out something
but what do you recommend doing during the awake portion of WBTB?

You will.
Pretend you have SP.

[Shane]

You will.
Pretend you have SP.

I may give that a try though it may be a little tricky to pretend to be paralyzed. Isn't that just sitting still? 

[Jomid59]

You will.
Pretend you have SP.

I may give that a try though it may be a little tricky to pretend to be paralyzed. Isn't that just sitting still? 

  yep.

Seriously intense focused super duper masterclass in stillness.