Thread: i fell into REM sleep straight away

hi i'm new and i'm a pysch student at uni and we had a topic on sleep and our lecturer told us apparently we could control our dreams so i was interested and stumbled upon this site.. i've been reading thru the forum for a couple of days now, and i thought i'd give lucid dreaming a go. i used the "1 i'm dreaming, 2 i'm dreaming, 3 i'm dreaming" "technique", and i got to 20, then started to count from 1 again, then i got to 16,.. then things started getting weird. it felt like it was getting darker and darker so i guessed i was drifting off to sleep so i kept counting to ensure i wouldn't just fall asleep.. and then my heart rate started pounding and i felt my eyes rapidly moving, so i gather i was in REM sleep. i had relaxed my body before i went to sleep and when i went to move, i felt like i couldn't. i got scared so i slowly opened my eyes and i was awake. and suddenly i felt my hands were all sweaty and my feet were really cold, i think it was shock of something actually happening or might have happened if i waited it out. all i want to know is this normal?? and is it possible to fall straight to REM sleep? (sorry if i sound stupid!)