Howdy y'all,
I've gotten two notable WILDs as of recent, and both seem to have an interesting pattern. I hope I can get another WILD soon enough, as my dreaming practices have started to pay off quite a bit, but I've been curious about how others experience the transition from wakefulness to dreaming. I have a question for anybody who has experienced or regularly experiences WILDs:
-What does the transition look/feel like to you?
-Is there any recurring patterns in the way you transition?
-Do you experience hypnagogia prior to transitioning?
-Do you experience sleep paralysis prior to transitioning?
Additionally, I am interested in what happens shortly after the transition:
-Where have you appeared in?
-Do you often appear in the same place or is it different each time?
-Does it take a bit for certain senses to stabilize/manifest or do some senses fail to manifest without your input (i.e. you start by feeling numb then eventually regain feeling as the dream progresses or your vision is blurry until you put on glasses you spawn)
-Is the location you appear in light or dark?
-Are your memories/goals relatively intact? If not, what memories/goals stick around?
-Do you find it easier to manifest dream control in WILDs or DILDs. Does it take some time for dream control to manifest after the transition?
Finally, I'm interested in what method you used to achieve your WILD and how easy it is to replicate.
Please describe your experience in as much detail as you would like. I'm really interested in this topic and would greatly appreciate the answers. In the future, I want to try to run statistical analyses on the various LD induction methods by creating a survey. When I have more time I'll be sure to pop it here. As you might be able to tell, I'm pretty invested in the science behind this all.
There's a post limit per day so I'm just going to pop my experience in this post and try to answer my own questions.
From the two successful WILD induction attempts I've had, they have both been induced from sleep paralysis. Both occurred at the second REM stage using the LOVE method. The induction technique I used to achieve them both differed, with the first induced from the sudden sound of thunder and the second induced via IMP. Both were preceded by the use of CILD (counting method) and dreamwalker. Only in the first WILD did I experience hypnagogia prior to transitioning. In both, I experienced waking up into sleep paralysis, wherein I was in my room at night when I was suddenly engulfed in darkness. In the second WILD, upon realizing I was in sleep paralysis, I simply did IMP and was able to successfully enter a dream.
After the transition is where both diverge. In my first WILD, I was thrust into the darkness of space without gravity, whereas the second I got out of bed in my room. In only the second did I have the memory to do my proper reality checks. In both, however, my sense of touch and balance were the only senses that took some time to develop. In the second WILD, I was able to remember to do reality checks, but I did not remember my initial goals. My primary focus in both dreams was to escape from the situation I was in by either fighting my way out or flying to a different location. In both, my dream control was very high.
My experience with WILD is very limited, I've only had two successful WILDs so far! But I'll try to answer, anyway: For me, it's a feeling of increasingly being hyperaware of my body and surroundings while I try to fall asleep while staying aware. At the same time, I feel like I'm more and more detached from this reality. At some point, I realize that I can see despite my closed eyes and that the light in the room is golden. That is something that is true in all of my LDs, WILDs or DILDs, this golden light.
Hypnagogia is something that I experience quite frequently, but for some reason, it has never led to an LD. I do get sleep paralysis sometimes, but same here: hasn't led to an LD yet.
After I realize that I might have crossed the barrier between wakefulness and sleep, I do a series of reality checks and then "get out of bed". For some reason, in my LDs, I usually find myself in the house I used to live in until about 12 years ago.
My sense of sight kicks in immediately, but I think the other senses lag behind a bit. My memories are a bit hit or miss. It always takes me a short while to realize that I'm in my old house again and remember that I don't live there anymore, but I eventually do.
Dream control seems about the same in WILDs and DILDs for me. I usually have somewhat decent dream control – except for flying, I have not mastered more than floating around aimlessly yet. I'm not sure when dream control kicks in, as I always walk around a bit at first, touching stuff and trying to orient myself, before I attempt dream control.
One of my WILDs was a result of using the Anchor technique, the other a mixture of DEILD and Anchor.
I don't know if this is allowed here, but I'm bumping this post because I'm still interested in seeing how other people experience this phenomenon. Not many people have seen the post, apparently.
I guess to make it more interesting, I would like to give an update that I had another brief WILD, which was once again characterized by sleep paralysis and being engulfed in darkness. This time I attempted the drop technique. I attached a rope to a somewhat heavy object (my pocket knife), with a small handle on the opposite end so I could hold onto it. I did this so I could do the drop tech without compromising my sleeping position. During this test, however, I found that the handle was just too big such that I was very close to letting it go, but it hung onto my fingers once I drifted. This feeling of my hand being tugged, however, was what caused me to enter sleep paralysis. During sleep paralysis, I found that I unwillingly let go of the rope. I attempted to use this moment to enter a dream, but it was cut short because I was sleeping with my dog, who kicked me in her sleep (I guess she was having a dream of her own). I don't remember much of my surroundings other than the color red before I was woken up. When I woke up, I discovered that I had never actually let go of the rope, meaning that the sleep paralysis was actually a false awakening of sorts. I have decided from now on to attempt the drop technique without using a handle and only the rope and pocket knife.
Again, I highly encourage anybody to give their experience on this, because this part of lucid dreaming is really fascinating to me.