Thanks, your explanation totally makes everything clear, we are very similar in our approach, I'm also doing all kind of weird experiments all the time. My portals are also oval, but tend to differ in color, blue or red or yellow. Going through them and come out of them is a profound experience. If you ever run out of HI you can try only the long cycles of SSILD, repeating them several times, HI always appear for me.

If you didn't try power naps yet, I highly recommend doing them, especially at evening they work the best. I found that when doing some visualizations, I must keep my focus very stable and my heart pulse low, only then I can go deeper. It's different than wild, I keep my focus one step away from the dream and I go in between states, half-asleep half-awake, in that state a lot of interesting stuff happens. You can also try expand/translate your consciousness into deep sleep first thing at night, it can be bad timing for lucid dreams, but it is very good timing for other kind of experiences.