Did I nearly do a WILD on my first try?

Okay, greetings all, I'm basically new on these forums. (Okay, totally new...)

I know this post is long, but I'd be REALLY grateful if somebody (preferably with WILD-ing experience) could read it through and tell me what they think.

Since I was about 14, I've never been able to remember my dreams.... like maybe a couple a year. So, over the past week I've been trying to wake myself up, and using a dream notebook, with limited success. (Over the past four days I've recalled 2 fairly vivid dreams, which for me, is phenomenal, as I sleep very deeply and formerly I ALWAYS forgot my dreams before I woke.

But here's the thing... last night, I decided that, what the hell, I'll try to induce a lucid dream, using the WILD technique... and I think it nearly worked!

I've done a bit of background reading over the last couple of weeks, and when I began, I knew that WILDs are considered pretty hard to achieve, so I knew what I was getting into. But I decided to try it anyway.

[size=18]Basically, I'd REALLY appreciate some comments from 'ye of bettere experience' as to whether or not I actually came close to getting a WILD...

So with that in mind, here's what I did. (I read up A BIT on how WILDs are supposed to be done... dunno how right what I did was, however...)

I woke myself up after 4.5 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, I didn't remember any dreams at this point. It's now 4am.

I make myself a cup of coffee, have the coffee, surf the internewt and read a bit about WILDs to reinforce that I want to have a WILD, etc. I go to bed again. It's now 4:40am.

Now, I stretch out, with hands and legs splayed and palms facing upwards on my big, comfy queen-sized bed, cos this position seems to be the one I find most relaxing. Then, I have a stab at using the "61-point relaxing technique" that a thread on this forum linked me to. It worked quite well, and my body felt warm and heavy, and a bit numb. It's now about 5:00... I think...

Now, I've got my eyes closed, and I count to 100, adding "I'm dreaming" after every number...

This is where, to put it bluntly, "the weird shit" started to happen.

First, I start to see lights on the back of my eyelids... SORT OF like the ones you get "burnt" on your eyeballs and linger for a while after you've been staring at a bright light for ages in waking life...

Now, I'm still counting, telling myself I'm dreaming, I'm going to dream. I'm feeling myself exhale. Then, suddenly, I start to feel my eyes moving about, VERY rapidly, beneath my eyelids, and it's hard-ish to keep my eyelids closed, but after a bit, I get the hang of it without having to put in too much effort. This is kinda cool, not at all disconcerting as what I had read led me to believe. Also, I started to get REALLY wierd tingling sensations, and numbing, running up and down my body. After then, it was almost like my body was asleep, and I was sorta feeling my body be totally numb. My eyes have stopped moving about now.

My breathing's really shallow now, and I get a weird ringing in my ears... sort of (actually, exactly) like hearing cicadas chirping in summer. I still feel a little bit disassociated with my body, but not totally.

My vision's still getting these patterns of moving light, but I can't see any shapes or scenes, as some of the stuff I've read on the net led me to expect. I did see the occaisional pattern, some sorta recurring geometric pattern, like a star opening and closing (if that makes any sense...).

Every now and then, I'm telling myself I'm dreaming, I'm going to dream...

NOW "the REALLY weird shit" starts to happen.

I start to concentrate, but not to much, on the patterns and moving colour. And then, I get the now-familiar sensation of my eyes moving beneath my eyelids, rapidly. (is this REM???)

It then started to seem as though I was being twirled around REALLY fast... liek a massive g-force was acting on my body, pulling me down into my bed and, oddly enough, slightly to the right.....?

That subsided. The patterns are continuing, but then something else starts to happen. I feel as if I'm being pulled up, by the chest, with my arms and legs dropping behind me. It feels as if I'm rising off the bed. (I think my arms actually DID move in the bed, as they seemed to be a bit closer to my sides when I awoke.

And then, just as I was getting this rather COOL lifting sensation...

My alarm went off. No shit. This was 6:00am (I have uni classes at 8am you see...) Did the reality checks and everything, and it was real. Bummer...

So, although it took me about an hour, it felt like I was getting somewhere...

What do you guys think? Did I nearly make a WILD? If so, how far along did I get before my alarm woke me up? And if not, what was I doing wrong, if anything, or do I just need more experience?

The attitude I'm taking at the moment is that my primary goal is to boost my Dream recall (it's AWFUL at the moment). But I'm also gonna try WILD or another method every now and then... hoping that it will work, thinking it MIGHT, but not being too excited and focussed about it....

Yep, sound's like nearly WILD to me. You were getting to the hypnotic imagery stage (something I've never experienced) If your alarm hadn't gone off and you had continued to remain focused you would have probably ended up in a dream fairly soon. Now that you've experienced this far it should be easier the next time. Just try going to bed earlier and then waking up earlier. It's very important not to get too freaked out by the imagery, and just passively watch it. Personally I have never gotten to this phase because I don't get out of bed...

It then started to seem as though I was being twirled around REALLY fast... liek a massive g-force was acting on my body, pulling me down into my bed and, oddly enough, slightly to the right.....?

In my opinion, from my WILD experiences, if you opened your eyes here, I think you would have woken up into a dream. I think you waited too long and you consciousness fell asleep. When it happens to me, I usually feel myself slide off of my bed in some manner and towards the ground.

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Originally posted by Theotherguy
Yep, sound's like nearly WILD to me. You were getting to the hypnotic imagery stage (something I've never experienced) If your alarm hadn't gone off and you had continued to remain focused you would have probably ended up in a dream fairly soon. Now that you've experienced this far it should be easier the next time. Just try going to bed earlier and then waking up earlier. It's very important not to get too freaked out by the imagery, and just passively watch it. Personally I have never gotten to this phase because I don't get out of bed...

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No, getting freaked out was not at all a problem for me. I actually enjoyed the sounds, sights, and sensations I was getting... it was actually really fun, I can't really explain it.

But the thing that confuses me, is that I haven't even got my dream recall up to a decent standard yet. You see, I've always had massive trouble remembering my dreams, cos I'm a really deep sleeper. (No shit... I've LITERALLY slept through earthquakes...)

And so, for all I know, in my dreams I might sometimes, if not often, be lucid... but lucid or not, I can't remember them! Grrrr...

I've read about how hard wild is supposed to be as a technique, but... well, other than not knowing QUITE what to do, it felt really easy to me...?

Meh. I'm going to keep working on dream recall (it's about 2 every week at the moment, which though abysmal, is AWESOME for me, as I only ever remember a dream once or twice a year...!). I'll also try every now and again to do a WILD, as I think/feel somehow that I could get the hang of it quite easily...

but hey, thanks Theotherguy, that's helpful. I'll take your advice and try it again on nights where I can go to sleep early, and wake up late... (which is thursday, friday, saturday and sunday for me... hehehehe Uni classes gave me a long weekend...)

I hate my alarm now... I think if it hadn't have gone off, I would have made it on my first go.... grrrr.... :? :lol:

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Originally posted by GoobCow
It then started to seem as though I was being twirled around REALLY fast... liek a massive g-force was acting on my body, pulling me down into my bed and, oddly enough, slightly to the right.....? *

In my opinion, from my WILD experiences, if you opened your eyes here, *I think you would have woken up into a dream. *I think you waited too long and you consciousness fell asleep. *When it happens to me, I usually feel myself slide off of my bed in some manner and towards the ground.

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Hey, thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I think I understand what you said about "waiting to long"... but just to get things straight...

Am I actually meant to open my eyes to "wake" into the WILD? (I must have missed this somewhere along the line in my reading) If so, exactly when do I tell when to open my eyes, and exactly how do I do it? I'd really appreciate some advice on this point, because this comment really grabbed my attention... Opening my eyes... weird...

Also, there were two seperate points in my attempted WILD that I felt my eyes moving rapidly, but a space in between when I didn't.... is this normal?

I've never actually felt my eyes move. But the thing that tipped me off is you said you felt as if you were moving across your bed. Obviously, you weren't moving across your bed, so the best bet is your "DREAM BODY" was sliding across the bed. At this point, if you open your eyes, you won't be opening your real eyes, but your dream eyes, and you'll be in a Lucid dream.

What i think happened (because theres no way you had hypnagogic imagery for an hour) is that you sort of went on too long with the wild attempt, and you entered a dream (when you started moving across the bed), still didn't realize it, and eventually lost consciousness. Therefore, i think if you had opened your (dream) eyes after you moved across the bed, you would have awoken in your dream world.

My wilds tend to end with me getting the feeling of sliding across or down or through my bed. Then when I open my eyes (dream eyes), I'm back in my bed, and then I can proceed to get up and begin my LD.