I would suggest both approaches, wbtb (just in case the NREM skip is something not everyone can archive) and WILD from cold. The eye thing he does is still a bit of a mystery for me, though he showed me how he does it but with his eyes open. As far as I can tell the movement is looking up towards the inside, though I might be wrong. He moves the eyes just once and keeps them there for a few seconds; if the plugging takes place he knows he's asleep and if it doesn't he repeats the process. He also punctuated that it wouldn't work unless he got the feeling I mentioned in the first post.

I'll try different approaches for a few days and inform if I discover anything interesting.