SP & WILD confusion

Hello all,

I'm very new to this. I had never really paid much attention to LDing, I never really thought it was something one could induce. However I am sure I have had lucid dreams in the past, numerous times as a child, when I realised I could control a dream, or make myself slip back into the same dream after having woken up.
The other day I saw a BBC documentary on dreaming and LDing and Stephen LaBerge. It absolutely gripped me. So I have been reading up a lot and trying to achieve atleast some progress in this short space of time. I am even writing a dream journal of sorts, and this coming from a man who has never kept any kind of diary in his life, even for appointments.

The first time I tried to WILD was in the afternoon. I'd read that binaural music helps (?) so i downloaded some and put it on my headphones and counted breaths. Relatively soon I started to see HI, colourful swirls and "curtains". and kind of snippets of images, like a plant swaying in the wind but they would disappear before I could even see the whole image. and then a roughly circular still-image in sepia, of a man in a white suite walking down a cobbled street holding onto a crude iron railing kept appearing and then fading away. Then the music track finished. Quite the distraction. So I gave up and thought I'd leave it til bedtime.

That night, not a WBTB, just at my usual bed time, I tried to WILD and I think I achieved Sleep Paralysis. I was counting "1 I am Dreaming, 2 I am Dreaming". I got to over 1000 so it must have taken a long time. But i was deffinately completely unable to move. I felt totally numb and any attempt at movement only resulted in little twitches here and there.
However I got no HI and the boiler in my closet kept distracting me so i pulled myself out of it by forcing myself to roll over, and I just fell to sleep.
That night I had a dream, which is brilliant because I havn't recalled a dream in months. I only remember being in a restaurant getting served a Roast Beef dinner, however it came in a large ceramic white rectangular high-sided bowl. We were eating this roast dinner out of what seemed like tall white cermaic coffee-mugs with no handles. I do so wish I'd have been practising reality checks.

Lastnight, again not a WBTB just trying to WILD at bedtime, I achieved what i believe to be SP (with earplugs this time) relatively quickly. I had slight HI. but then I started to almost "sense" dream scenes. I had little to no visualisation but i had 2 or 3 distinct daydreams, where i was still counting "120, I am Dreaming, 121, I am Dreaming" but it was if what i sensed going on around me was normal. At one point i was suspended on a small wooden side-car on a huge wooden vehicle, and someone was telling me to stop counting because "you have to wait for Larry" (i don't know anyone called Larry). everytime I finished one of these little daydreams i asked myself "what the f*** was that, why did it feel normal".

This went on for a bit until I had another sense, or a visualisation, I'm not quite sure. In which i was suspended from a a kind of church spire or tall pointy building, and i was held by a harness, which was caught over the spire with a metal ring. Whenever I counted "180 I am Dreaming, etc" it would jump and come back down hard as if trying to snap the ring. Eventually the ring snapped and I started to fall. I stopped counting and tried to go with it, but I got a feeling almost like a huge plughole or flush had opened up under me and I was about to fall and I kind of mentally "grabbed on" and woke myself up.

While i was SPing (i think i was... a clear 'yes you were' or 'no you werent' would be very helpful haha) i think i had "vibrations", which i have heard mentioned. but Im not sure if these were vibrations or just me feeling my heart beat very hard all of a sudden. i tried to follow and felt for a second like i was on an enclosed water slide. but my mind went wandering about whether it was just my heartbeat and then they went away.

I've heard someone mention that you have to fall asleep in order to WILD. does this mean, that you get to the point of SP, and then try and fall asleep as usual. Or does it mean, you have to "fall asleep" with you're conscious still counting/chanting/concentrating?

So, that's my very brief journey so far. I'm finding myself looking forward to going to bed, to see if anything different will happen.

I would love it if someone more experienced (ie anyone who has had an LD lol) could give me some advice or feedback on what I have experienced. I have quite a scientific mind, and thus a tendency to doubt things that I don't quite understand.

Tonight I'm going to try the WBTB technique, but i find it quite hard dragging myself out of bed. I lack a bit of discipline. But I have a free day tomorrow so i don't mind losing some sleep.

Please post responses, it'd be nice to know if what I'm feeling is me getting marginally closer to LDing, or if I'm just lying in my bed convincing myself that its happening?

thank you for taking the time to read this

Dan

:welcome: treblig

Great description of all the sensations you get while falling asleep. It sounds like you are doing a great job of paying attention to what happens to your mind and body as you transition to sleep. Isn't it crazy that this all happens every night, yet we don't notice or don't remember it?

My only advice would be to keep doing what you are doing :D Realize that it is very very difficult to WILD when you first go to sleep. It can be helpful as practice in holding you awareness, but don't expect a great dream. Normally you will WILD right into NREM sleep, or just have a hard time falling asleep in general.

I'm excited to hear how your WBTB goes. If you are having this much success when you first go to sleep, I can't imagine how great it will be if you get the timing right.

that has filled me with optimism :) thank you robot butler (thumbs up on the login name lol)

i will deffinately post tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

does a bit of synicism ruin ones ability to LD does anyone know? I keep finding myself thinking "this won't work" and I'm not sure if this wakes me up a bit or not?

thanks again RB

Dan

Staying positive can't hurt. It will work, and it will be amazing.

You counted to 1000???
Oh my god..you are brilliant!
that's hard for me..I count to 400...and I got tired...
but I will try to count to 1000....and see what's happens...
guau....
Keep practicing...you are doing perfectly

haha, it was over 1000 by the time i gave up, but i was well into SP (i think) by about 300/400. i did lose my place a few times but i'd just come back to the last number i could remember counting. i just kept going so as not to fall asleep, but im not sure if this is the right thing to do? I guess its trial & error from person to person. anyway, once i was in SP it was quite easy to keep counting, my mind felt particularly clear.

but then i did have a particularly strange dream, and it didnt flag up to me as a dream. so i guess i need to be practicing DILD techniques like reality checking etc, so if i give up and still end up dreaming i might be able to become lucid.

this is all very "new age" for a Northern UK coal-mining-stock kind of bloke to take in. taking notice of dreams etc. so it might take me a little bit to figure out within myself that it is possible.

thank you so much for the replies. I definately feel better about my technique and my potential to LD. I'll keep going.

tonight is my first attempted WBTB so i'll let you know how it goes.

Dan

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LDs= 0 :(

Well, that went arse over tit, haha.

I woke up, got out of bed, had a bit of a stretch and a walk around in the dark. had a sip of water n got back in bed, only to start counting and then well, i woke up this morning haha. Maybe I didn't give it enough time. I did have a dream that someone stole my 'Sharpie' marker-pen tho haha. maybe i'll have more success tonight.