Thread: WILD or something else?

Although I've only just discovered these forums, I've been having lucid dreams all my life - just didn't realise there was anything special about them until recently, or that it was possible to control/enhance them.

Anyway - enough background.

Yesterday morning, my cat woke me up shortly before my alarm was due to go off. I had to get up to let him out. I went back to bed, and the alarm went off. I didn't want to get up immediately, because I felt warm and comfortable. But on the other hand, I didn't want to go back to sleep either, as I needed to get up soon to feed the animals. So I was lying there with my eyes open. It was kinda dark, but light enough to see the lampshade and a beam across the ceiling. I felt really, really relaxed and comfortable. After a few minutes, I could also see a sort of patch of darkness, which looked like it had been slashed in the middle, and light was showing through the jagged gash. The patch of darkness kept swirling into mist. I could still see the lampshade and beam. If I closed my eyes, I could see the jagged light, mist etc. Then I opened my eyes again. After a minute or two, it was as if the lampshade and beam were disappearing, even though my eyes were open, but I could still see the gash of light. Next thing, I could see dream imagery: a woman pushing a child in a pushchair (stroller?), then a road going past a hotel. Then my OH made a noise, and I woke up properly, and got up. NB: I wasn't actually trying to do WILD or anything.

This morning, I was just lying relaxing after I woke up. I've been thinking about LD a lot lately, and I've only just learned about WILD. My experience was similar to the previous morning, but I started lucid dreaming. I saw a bunch of terrified people being pursued by a pack of wild dogs - so I changed all the dogs into Scooby-Doo.

Then I thought that was kinda boring, so I tried spinning. I've never done that before. When I stopped spinning, I was in what I took to be my own bedroom (except it wasn't really - it was a bit grander than my real bedroom). I tried to float through the ceiling, but I kept getting stuck. So I tried pushing my hands through the ceiling, but they only went so far then got stuck again. So I did a sort of sideways shimmy through the window instead, which was interesting. I saw the outside of the house, briefly (my real house is an old farmhouse, and the dream one was a similar style but altogether grander than the real one), then I woke up.

Although the experience was kinda fun, it didn't feel very real or immersive - it all felt rather experimental. I'm not sure if what I experience was WILD or not, and I'd be interested in anyone's comments.