To become a master at lucid dreaming, I have always known that I would need to master art of falling asleep consciously. Consciously falling asleep is sometimes known as WILD- Wake into Lucid Dream- method. The reason for this, is that it seems to me that Dream induced Lucid dreams -where you become lucid while in the middle of a dream- is pretty hit or miss technique. Whereas if I could master the WILD, I could pretty much be lucid at will.
I have had limited success with the WILD technique until a couple of weeks ago. After some intensive internal energy work I realised that I had been avoiding discomfort in my life. I realised this a thoroughly Western things to do- we are told that we should try to be as comfortable as we can at all times and use any method possible to avoid discomforts. TV, food, medicines, drugs and alcohol, quick sex, mod cons, avoiding difficult conversations- the list of ways we find comfort over discomfort is endless.
But discomfort is as much as part of life as comfort is, and to deny it is to avoid life in some regards. This goes against everything I was taught by my culture, but I realised it is the only way to true happiness. There is nothing spectacular about this insight, it is what Buddhists have been saying for centuries, but to truly understand this in my body was a revelation for me.
Then I applied this insight to my WILD practice. As I lie in bed ready to fall asleep, I keep my body very still and do not move a muscle . Over time discomforts arise- little itches or numbness or pains. Rather then react, I accept these as part of life and continue to lie still. Eventually I feel the sensations of sleep begin to take hold, a deep heavy relaxation or a warmth through my body followed by a buzzing or tingling as my physical body falls asleep and my dream body takes over. Finally I literally feel myself falling, and after a period of falling a dream starts to take shape and I am lucid in a dream.
If I am too comfortable it is easier for me to lose awareness of my physical sensations and therefore fall asleep without being conscious. So a level of discomfort is actually as good thing, as it grounds me to my physical awareness. That said, there is a point where the discomfort becomes agonising and I cannot hold detached awareness anymore and need to move my body to find comfort again. I’m sure over time I’ll get better at holding awareness of both comfortable and uncomfortable sensations, and hence it will be easier to practice the WILD process.
Over the past eight days I have been able to be lucid in either a dream or non-dream sleep state for five of those days. Only one of those was a LD generated inside the dream. I believe I am now on the path to being able have LDs at will, maintaining this process and understanding.
lucidlife.com.au 