Disappointed with LDing

In the last 5 months, I've had fairly good luck with initiating WILDs. Maybe 60-70% success rate. The problem though is that no matter what I tried, the last 5-6 LD's have been mostly or totally in the dark. It's gotten pretty frustrating. I feel the sensation of flying, but don't see any of the scenery or where I'm going. I might just know that I'm flying close to the ground but can't even see the ground. Walking around in my house is almost totally in the dark. Last night I tried to stabilize the dream by crawling on the floor and concentrating on the texture of the carpet. Even went prone to rub my entire body against the floor to see if that would work as someone had suggested. Just woke up. I've read all the forum stabilization tutorials and tried some of the suggestions including yelling "clarity now!", hand rubbing, engaging my senses when I remember, etc. I do my WILDs using WBTB and using Galantamine/Choline. I usually only try WILDing once a week, but try nightly to DILD using MILD with little success so far. Doing the WILDs involve a lot of effort for me, but it's starting to seem to be not worth it if I can't see what's going on. Not sure where to go from here.

Hi pdunc,
I was wondering at what time you start initiating your WILD's? More specifically, where in your sleep cycle do you attempt to get lucid? And also, do you have normal non-lucid dreams with visuals? What I am getting at is that, while your WILD's might be successful, you might not be in REM sleep at all when you get lucid, hence the lack of a dream scene. If you do indeed get normal non-lucid dreams, it shows that you are not incapable of dreaming with visuals at all and the cause might be somewhere else.

Hi EddieDean,
I do often have very clear, vivid NLD's and have also had detailed (with full light) LD's. I begin my WBTB about 5 hours after my bedtime. Stay awake 10-20 minutes, then it takes 45 mins to an hour or so after I lay down to do my WILD process that an LD begins. If I start the whole process after more than the 5 hours after bed time, I usually can't go back to sleep. I'm thinking that at this point I may stop doing the WILDs and concentrate on trying to have DILDs so that I can enter fully developed dreams. DILDs are hit or miss though and I have only had one, my first LD 3 weeks after starting the practice.

I expect that the timing of your WILD's might just be off compared to your sleep cycle. As you seem to be quite good at WILD in itself (getting to the dream in the first place) I would suggest experimenting with the timing of your WBTB's before completely abandoning WILD, because it might still be a great way to become lucid for you!

Try DEILD as well. It is a WILD technique that takes much less time to work than traditional WILD.

After going over my notes and upon reflection, I have an idea about the situation. But before posting my thoughts, I will try some things that come to mind and will keep you posted as to whether or not I'm correct. Thanks for the input.

I've encountered the same phenomenon. But mine occurred primarily in DILDS. It's a subconscious issue I believe; somewhere, somehow you've come to expect the darkness and distortion, and this "glitch" has temporarily infected your LD code. It's only a temporary aberration, but I can definitely commiserate with your frustration! It's sort of like going through a dry spell regarding NLD recall. I'm sure you've experienced those. You eventually get over them and stuff goes back to normal...eventually lol. For me, I had to take a step back and go on an LD hiatus as far as conscious induction efforts went. I just backed off and embraced whatever nightly NLDs (which, btw, were fully vivid and detailed -- why the hell couldn't my LD's possess the same high quality?) my stress-free mind brought to me. After some time, I had a non-intentional DILD which was of similar high quality to my concurrent NLDs. And soon another followed after doing an intentional WBTB. And that seemed to break the spell.

Now I'm looking to get back into full-blown WILDs (via FILD or SSILD). Historically, for me at least, my WILDs are far more vivid and lasting than my DILDs. I'm very eager to get back into my stratospheric sojourning with a renewed alacrity. Most importantly, I'm going back into it with a full expectation to experience explosive intensity and vivacity. Expectation, I believe is crucial. But what most people don't understand is you have to have something substantial to hinge this expectation on: you can't effectively program your subconscious to believe something contrary to the evidence you have thus far. Evidence of vivid DILDs is the key to expect the same to occur with the WILDs.

Thanks for your thoughts and encouragement AstronomyDomine. I will keep working on my WILDs.