Upon watching Daniel's video regarding transforming into animals in a dream, I've had it in my mind that this would be a pretty cool technique to practice.
I was able to achieve what I think was my second WILD last night and during the hypnagognic stage prior to the dream, I pressed my thoughts towards becoming a cat, As it happened, I ended up in a fuzzy sort of lucid dream in which I actually appeared to have some of the features of a cat! I suppose in a sense, I'm answering my own question, but I'm trying to work out to which extent I may have influenced the dream or if it's possible to go all the way with this.
In any case, I'd appreciate any of your thoughts on this matter :)
P.s, I hope I'm not bothering anyone by posting so much. This is the first opportunity I've ever had to ask lucid dream related questions to experienced dreamers and it seems that every time I lucid dream, I have more questions as I like to push the boundaries of what I can achieve within those dreams.
Thanks in advance.
Dave
It definitely seems possible, though, I haven't gotten it to work during my WILD attempts. It seems like what shifters claim to do - their senses activate first before they "shift" (lucid dream) on "awake" methods. On an attempt, I had some promise on a lucid dream, but, I got afraid of irrational fear and moved, not being able to fall asleep for another few hours. It seems very possible if people have claimed to do it but using different terms, so, I wish you well with your attempts!
P.S. - I've also been trying this so, if I do get a successful WILD from this, I'll update. Best of luck though!
I've tried this before, but though I sometimes got short promising scenes during hypnagogia, I could never get them to transfer to a lucid dream.
This is a really interesting topic, and I hope others will share their experiences with this!
To be honest, I don't have a lot of experience with it, as I actually don't get much in the way of hypnagogic hallucinations anymore these days (but how I miss them!). That said, I have attempted this on a few occasions. So far, though, that has caused the scene to shatter -- but I think that has probably been my own fault, for getting too excited and acting too soon.
I'll include Daniel Love's video on hypnagogic hallucinations -- I think you'll find it very useful if you haven't watched it already! Here's the link, as well as a pointer to Love's book again:
Why Do We Hallucinate While Falling Asleep? — Hypnagogia / Hypnagogic Hallucinations (Lucid Dreams)
I'd also encourage you to review chapter 3 of Are You Dreaming?: "The Landscape of Sleep" (hypnagogia is covered on pp. 45 ff.).