New to lucid dreaming, any tips?

Hi everyone, im new here and new to lucid dreaming, I have been trying to lucid dream for a few days now( WILD TECHNIQUE ) , first couple of nights was unsuccessful. However last night i got very close. I was listening to some Lucid dream audio in my headphones while trying to sleep, after about 30mins i was very relaxed and felt a tingling sensation run through my body I didn't move the position of my body at all since first laying in bed. A bit more time past and i had random thoughts in my head, so i tried to clear my mind, then my right arm suddenly jolted out, like i had a muscle spasm. I then began to hear the ticking of a clock (i dont have a clock in the room and they was no clock on the audio) and then i seen a purple square, after a few seconds weird patterns started appearing and my eyes was going crazy, moving really fast and twitching, i realized it was hypnogogic Imagery and got very excited. At this point my eyes, left eye particularly felt very uncomfortable, like the feeling when you dont blink for ages, it began to open up slightly and i could see my wall, i opened both my eyes and shut them as fast as i could but then the patterns and everything started to fade and it was just black again and my body felt normal. Im going to try the WILD technique again tonight. Can anybody share any tips that may help me tonight?

In order to get your focus to the non-physical focus or dream, you obviously need to have the focus on the dream, in other words your thoughts or visualizations. So keep focusing on the hypnagogic imagery. When your body relaxes you'll feel vibration, numbness and as I think everyone experiences... muscle jerks :) Just like the ones you get if you accidentally fall asleep while watching TV.

If your new to lucid dreaming I suggest that you keep a Dream Journal and remember to not only appreciate your lucid dreams, but your normal dreams as well.

If your practice WILD as well, your biggest goal should not be the lucid dream itself, but rather your body's sensations in the relaxation stage, because just like recalling dreams will help you get lucid dream through DILDing/ MILDing, your sensations during RELAXATION is what will help you in WILDing.

Traditional WILD is a pretty advanced technique unless, you do the DEILD technique so I would recommend that method first, because it let's you skip the relaxation stage and go directly to where the transition process happens automatically and it also lets you feel your WILD sensations that you have great use for in traditional WILDing later.

Good luck! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask ;)

It wasnt the relaxing i had trouble with, sure it took me a while but i think the audio helped alot, the only problem i did have was when my eyes was going crazy and was moving alot when all the patterns and stuff started to appear, my eyes felt so uncomfortable it felt like they needed to blink and my left eye slowly opened without me doing it, thats when it all went bad. Im thinking of trying the WILD again tonight and if i have no luck tonight i will try a different technique and come back to the WILD later on

You should try DEILD. It is an easier variant of the WILD technique. Hardest part is waking up without moving. Here is a guide

I agree with Daredevilpwn. If you want to "Force" yourself to have a lucid dream instead of taking weeks to practice reality checks and awareness you should definitely try DEILD. The WILD method is extremely hard for beginners and requires much concentration and relaxation at the same time. By the way, the muscle spasm is called a hypnic jerk and can occur as you fall asleep, sometimes accompanied with a falling sensation. Good luck! :)

If anyone is interested, last night was a fail. The problem i had this time was that i couldn't get to sleep at all, at least it seemed that way, although i don't feel tired at all this morning. I think i was too excited about lucid dreaming so i just couldn't sleep, this happens to me alot, if something is happening the next day that i am excited about i cant sleep. I am definitely going to try the DEILD method you guys are talking about. Thanks for the help man.

Wild schmild. Do a reality check next time you are dreaming. Trust me it works! ! !