I've been practicing WILD techniques for about a week and a half now and have managed to induce SP on each recent attempt. I don't usually get any HI when my eyes are closed so I count my breaths.

The second last attempt took almost exactly 40 minutes and ended up with me "inside my own head" in darkness, still counting. My body completely numb and almost a "swollen" feeling. I've experienced dizziness and sinking feelings on other occasions but I think I may have lost my concentration on this attempt. It was almost like I had awoken (or became aware/conscious), but as my eyes were closed and my body paralised, it was just complete darkness.

Over the next 5 minutes or so, I became more and more aware that I was lying in my bed. I started hearing cars outside and feeling started to come back to my fingers. I had tried to visualise a dreamscene but I don't really think HI or visualisation will work for me, based on my recent experiences. Because of this, I decided to change which reality check I would do. There's no point looking at my clock while in bed, if I can't visualise one while WILDing. So I planned to hold my nose as a check last night. Unfortunately, I was quite tired and actually fell asleep.

I will try again tonight of course, but what are people's opinions on this? I've noticed a few people seem to hit this wall, stuck in darkness and unable to slip into a dream. I read some more tutorials and planned to try imagining myself in my bed, which in theory should be easier than imagining a made-up dreamscene. I also plan to try rolling out of bed slowly afterwards and slowly opening my eyes. But any time I've got to this point I'm usually pretty convinced that I'm awake or have failed. This is probably my downfall. I suppose I shouldn't assume until I've RC'd.

Ideas?

Thanks for reading