Hi.  I am a redditor who has been on reddit for some time, I just don't comment a lot.  I recently encountered SSILD, and it seems simple.  My question is, though, how does it work?  I know what the procedure is and all, and I did a google search but nothing came up as to the neurological processes that allow SSILD to function.  Can somebody help me out?  I would really appreciate it.    

Basically, it's increase your awareness so you don't miss dream sign, and sometimes you might accidentaly WILD using it, so you might enter a dream knowing it.  

Premed neurosci student here... ACh increase where in the brain? just curious  

http://www.reddit.com/r/LucidDreaming/search?q=ssild&restrict_sr=on  

I don't know what you read, but some misconceptions are clarified in the official tutorial

http://cosmiciron.blogspot.com/2013/01/senses-initiated-lucid-dream-ssild_16.html  

If you think you can just act out the steps of this tutorial and have better success universally than other techniques then you're a fool. I don't think you believe that though, I'm sure it's a misunderstanding.

People are going to fail to lucid dream with this method. Just like they fail when following any other tutorial for a given method.

it's probably a good method, you seem to understand the neurology behind it too, and that's great. The end result is what matters though, not the specific list of steps it took to get there.

My point is just that the focus on procedure will help some because it will work for them. However, if we focus on neurology, psychology, and the similarities between the variety of methods we can better understand the induction of lucid dreams.

Making new methods is great, and I never want that to stop, what needs to stop however is compartmentalizing these methods into different acronyms and claiming it's new, different, or a break through. It's distracting, and fragments the various aspects of the hobby.

Remember too... I'm not trying to take a shot at your method, I'm just saying it doesn't deserve an acronym of its own.  

There are hundreds of unique cases of success with this technique recorded on Dreamviews alone, and number of LDs induced are in thousands. In fact, a few people started experimenting with SSILD as the primary technique and posted their results in a thread called "The SSILD Test - 30 days" (http://www.dreamviews.com/research/139465-ssild-test-30-days.html). And in that small thread alone we have hundreds of successful LDs induced by just a handful users, many are novices. User "Matt1", in 18 attempts (8 partial attempts) induced 8 LDs, 15 FAs, and 1 HI. User "Venryx", in 18 attempts induced 12 LDs, 1 OBE, 30 FAs, and 2 HIs. Just to name a few. On the Chinese forum where SSILD was originated from you can find thousands of unique success stories and tens of thousands of successful LDs induced. As said in the tutorial, one user alone recorded more than 500 LDs in less than a year. There are also more than a dozen users on my small personal forum who each recorded a few hundreds of LDs within a year. If you do a google search you will find even more stories in other languages.

You can call all these people "fools", but I think that only demonstrates ignorance and arrogance, not brilliance.  

You have no reason to defend your technique from me. Defend the acronym, how is this method not just a twist on WILD after WBTB? Also why are there two S characters? The cycling just seems like any other relaxation technique.  

Yup. He posted the tutorial for 2.0 under the same name.  

The original name of the technique was indeed SILD, but it turned out it was taken by "Song Initiated Lucid Dream". Adding an extra S makes it more unique and easier to google, since Sild is actually some kind of fish.

If you prefer to refer to the technique with its full name then feel free. Even better, you might want to refer to it via its very original Chinese name - Tai Xuan Gong, if you can pronounce it, LOL.

Calling it a modified WILD is wrong. First off, WILD refers to the type of lucid dreams that are entered from a waked state, versus DILD which is initiated from within a dream. Thus, these are broad terms that define the "type of dreams", and not the "technique." Since you sound like you prefer to be rather precise with things, then the correct way to refer to the techniques should be "WILD Techniques" instead of just "WILD".

As for "WILD Techniques", there isn't one that exists as the official or De Facto one. Many are similar indeed, such as requiring deep relaxation, some breath works, or visualizations, yet they each have subtle differences that set them apart. While differences may be subtle, their outcome may not be so subtle. WILDing is such a delicate task that very subtle things can have huge impact on the result.

Saying SSILD is a modified WILD "technique" is without ground. In the tutorial users are clearly warned that it should not be used as a WILD technique because it will cause them to perform the technique incorrectly. The idea of SSILD is to quickly perform a few simple steps without requiring any delicate handling, then drop everything and go to sleep. It does not want you to stay awake afterwards. In fact, the experience you reported (having difficult to fall asleep) is exactly what would happen if you treat the technique as a WILD technique, which is wrong. Using SSILD it is possible to generate WILDs, but that should not be the goal. Majority of SSILD-generated dreams are DILDs, FAs, and OBEs.

As I said, the big differences are in fact subtle, and you need to be educated well enough to be able to really appreciate them. To name a few:

1. SSILD does not require relaxation.
2. SSILD does not require ANY mental exercises such as autosuggestion, mantra, visualization, and so on.
3. SSILD does not require you to stay completely still.

If you have done a lot of WILDs then you will truly appreciate the above 3 points. They are time consuming, difficult to perform (effectively), and can cause a lot of discomfort.

4. The cycling concept, while not entirely unique (Michael Raduga's Indirect Technique also employs that), is rarely used by other techniques, yet it solved big problems. (I won't get into the details since that's the subject of a full article).

5. SSILD does not require lengthy WBTB session. It in fact can be used completely without WBTB.

6. SSILD, when performed correctly, is itself a good relaxation technique and can help people sleep better, more quickly.

7. SSILD is known to create LOTs of FAs!

There are many differences between SSILD and the other traditional methods so I won't list them all here. I never said the technique is revolutionary or anything close to that. However, calling it a poser with a fancy acronym, even worse, one doesn't even "deserve" an acronym... that, I say is pure prejudice.  

I'm glad we agreed on the subject of WILD. Let me try to address your other points:

First, about being the sole creator -- MILD, being one of the most predominate techniques, had a sole creator, but that doesn't make it any less useful, does it? That said, SSILD is actually one of the few techniques that AREN'T entirely created by one person! As I wrote in the tutorial, it was essentially a collaborated effort of hundreds of people on our forum. And I don't mean hundreds of people "practicing" it. They were "developing" it! It was almost like an open source project!   In two years the technique (not the tutorial) already went through several revisions, all based on participants' feedbacks and suggestions. Thus, our confidence in the technique is not based on blind faith. I'd say this aspect alone makes SSILD a more unique technique on the market.

Am I the only expert on the matter? Or the singular source of information on the subject "in English"? I suggest you visit DreamViews and LD4all and see for yourself. Or, you could use Google Translate and visit our forum and should give you the information "in English". LOL.

As for strict adherence of the steps -- how would you know if it works or not if you don't adhere to the steps at least once? Besides, you are always free to come up with customized routines that work best for you. Neither the technique nor I are forcing strict adherence.

SSILD is not fool proof, that's for sure. But it is never advertised to be so. As for not needing relaxation or visualization, it is simply a fact, not "from the perspective of experienced dreamers". There is absolutely no relaxation or visualization involved in the outlined step, and anyone should be able to see that. The number of completely inexperienced dreamers who succeeded with SSILD is a large one -- a simple Google search can confirm that. In fact, I encourage you to do such search and see for yourself. Being skeptical is fine, but let's not ignore the obvious facts out there just for the sake of being skeptical.