(idea) by stash Fri Mar 07 2003 at 23:55:48
WILD!

  • That is, Wake-Induced Lucid Dream. I've studied lucid dreams since I was 5 years old, and have been having them at least that long. But I have never found an easier method of inducing one than the WILD technique. Dreamers take note: if you've tried and tried and failed to wake up in your dream, try this! The following is how I did it this morning but I highly recommend quoi?'s writeup @ lucid dream for details. I've tried the technique only twice and have been fully successful both times. Of course all the usual advice about staying lucid once you're there still applies.

  • Sleeping in this morning, I keep falling back asleep. I'm walking with friends in snow-covered country towards pine log-buildings near railroad tracks. Then I wake up again. Eyes and body still heavy with sleep, I remember that I want to try the WILD technique. I roll over onto my left side and curl up. Still half-asleep, body sense warm and fuzzy, I concentrate clearly on my breath, counting each exhale. I don't think about anything else. By about 7 or 8 I feel nice and sleepy but keep the numbers clear in my head. By 10 or 11 a strange clarity comes into my mind, as if I am not sleepy anymore. Body is still heavy with sleep but mind is fully awake. Then I realize I'm sitting sideways in the driver's seat of a parked car. I'm facing the open car door, reclining on my left side against the seatback in the same knees-bent position of my body-in-bed.

    There is one fact I want to emphasize in this writeup. If you remember nothing else but this, my purpose is fulfilled.

    A successful application of this technique will result in
    absolute continuity of consciousness across the waking/dreaming barrier.

    In other words, one moment you are awake in bed, counting breaths 1...2...3...etc. and suddenly you will realize you are no longer in your bed. You are somewhere else. This is explosive news for everyone interested in the relationship of mind to body, regardless of their interest in lucid dreams.

  • Looking around at the snow-covered landscape surrounding the car, I am filled with the thrill of my success. I get out of the car and my feet crunch in the ice. I'm standing in a parking lot near the same exact buildings I saw in my last dream. I walk around behind the car and immediately do some exercises to ground myself in this new body so I won't wake up: run in place, spin around with my arms out, look closely at my fingers as I wiggle and articulate them. This was crucial during these first moments because I could still vaguely sense my body-in-bed, and focusing on it would have woken me up.

    I walk over to a nearby field covered in snow powder. Children run to and fro in play. Oh my fellow dreamers, lucidity is a special kind of ecstasy! Just walking, feeling the muscles and tendons move beneath the skin, feeling the snow crunch underfoot, smelling the clean cold air, hearing the children's laughter.... Ordinary things are transformed into the most magnificent things you have ever experienced! This is no exaggeration.

    With childlike glee I leap into the air and fly around overhead. The children scream with delight. I swoop down and give rides to one or two at a time. I mentally imitate a hang-glider and the aerodynamics of my flight become exactly that, though I am still just a human body with arms outstretched.

    After a while I land and decide I'm tired of the cold. I long for more a tropical setting, but I'm not sure how to get there. It occurs to me I could try to WILD again from within my current dream but I need a detailed description of where I'm going so I can focus on it. I ask a woman to describe for me a tropical place that she's visited. She says, "How about the north shore of Siberia?" Interesting suggestion but not exactly what I had in mind. I ask her if she really thinks that's tropical and she says there's a microclimate there that's very similar to Southern California. Somehow I don't quite believe her. My friend Rolf approaches and I ask him for a suggestion. He suggests Hawaii and the woman says she's also been to Peru. I think the conversation becomes a distraction from my real intent and the dream fades as I wake in bed.

  • I try to WILD again but I can't concentrate on counting my breath because I get distracted thinking about my just-experienced-success and keeps me awake. I give up and log on to Everything2 to share this experience with you. Message me if you have any questions.

I like it!