A WILD within a dream?

[Tiktaalik]

So the other night I was having a nightmare in which I was been chased around my house by some intruder. I needed to hide so I locked myself in a room and laid on the floor. Whilst laid there I suddenly started to feel those vibrating sensations as if I was about to have a WILD. I noticed these signs within the dream and got excited. I laid still, closed my eyes and waited and suddenly I was hurtled through the floor and ended up back in the same room but now floating in the air. When I came back down on my feet I was lucid and believed I had just had a successful WILD! It wasn’t until I woke up I realised I was already dreaming when it occurred? It was bizarre as the transition felt like WILDs I had had before only this one was somehow from within a dream environment? I suppose it’s likely my dream just re-created the sensations from my past experiences and was triggered by me laying on the floor in the dream. Anyone else experienced this?

[Draeger]

I'd say that's normal. Once you are in a dream, anything can happen, that included. But something like a WILD in a dream is pretty much illusionary. It's just a scene change, probably expectation-driven, since it's not like you could "move down a layer" or something.

[Hilary]

I think it might have been a true dream transition, just happened without a break/the void in between. Honestly I can't remember if it's happened to me or not. It's really cool that you got lucid from the vibrations, though. As long as you're sure that you weren't just dreaming about being lucid, it does sound like some kind of DEILD. Cool!

[RelicWraith]

Yup. I've experienced something like this. A dozen times, or so, from my count. This has happened even in the most subtle of false awakenings. Anyway, it is indeed quite an unusual experience, but still repeatable.

[Tiktaalik]

I feel it was a genuine lucid dream and I pursued some dream goals afterwards with waking awareness. Though I’m leaning more towards the idea that the WILD was only a dream simulation it’s possible it was a DEILD of sorts as I was laid down in the dream when it happened and maybe I briefly woke in bed without realising and experienced the WILD transition and returned back to the same room as that was my last memory. It’s all quite vague now to be sure but very interesting.

[Sivason]

it’s possible it was a DEILD of sorts as I was laid down in the dream when it happened and maybe I briefly woke in bed without realising and experienced the WILD transition and returned back to the same room as that was my last memory. This seems most likely. If not then it is a DILD triggered by the strange feelings.

[IndigoRose]

I had this experience (not exactly WILD but a similar situation): Spoiler for dream: I am still doing SSILD. I can see a little bit through my eyelids, just a little bit of light, blue sky with clouds and some grass. I am in my childhood town, close to my childhood home. I am afraid I am waking up too much, ruining the SSILD! I have the idea to use movement to transition to the dream. I imagine walking and then running to a nearby forest. As I gain speed, the forest around me materializes. I stop and shout "I did it!" I also remember doing WILD in dreams at least twice but not successfully. I usually lie there, trying to WILD, but someone distracts me and we go to do something else and I stay non-lucid.

[Tiktaalik]

Yeah, similar situation. I suppose if it’s on our minds during sleep then it makes sense we’d attempt it in our dreams and experience a simulation of the experience.

[RelicWraith]

Well, it could've very well been a true lucid dream. Just not a WILD. You have to be awake to have a WILD; it's in its name! Your experience, if truly a lucid one, was most definitively a type of DILD. Again, in it's name, heheh.

[Tiktaalik]

Well, it could've very well been a true lucid dream. Just not a WILD. You have to be awake to have a WILD; it's in its name! Your experience, if truly a lucid one, was most definitively a type of DILD. Again, in it's name, heheh. Yes, I believe it was most likely a DILD also. Given the realism of the WILD like sensations does make me wonder though if I briefly woke and had a confused type of of DEILD.

[Tiktaalik]

I just had another experience like this. I was having a dream in my childhood bedroom when I became lucid. I then woke up within seconds, or so I thought. I actually had a false awakening as I awoke in my old bed in the same room without realising. I thought I had just woke from my dream so I put my head back down on the pillow, closed my eyes and instantly I began to feel the vibrations and the muffled ringing in my ears that I usually experience during a WILD. It was all very realistic and I remember trying to use the hypnagogic imagery I was seeing to pull myself into the dream. I struggled to do so but eventually I did enter a dream and after a brief moment of lost lucidity I realised I was dreaming again and enjoyed a good, stable 5 minute lucid. This dream was much more vivid and easier to recall then the last and I’m almost certain now those sensations were real and I had in fact woke briefly and performed a DEILD. It’s still possible it was an illusion of the false awakening and it all took place in the dream world but it felt genuine and even though I thought I was in my childhood bed I think I was just confused and was actually laying in my real bed. I guess I can never know for sure but it’s fascinating how the mind jumps around and gets confused like that.

[Sageous]

I think that the defining moment of this experience was that false awakening, Tiktaalik. If you had been truly lucid at that time, then you would have pretty quickly noticed that you were not in the same place you were in when you fell asleep. From there your dreaming mind provided exactly what you expected/hoped for: a successful WILD. Another hint is that one of the nice things about DEILD transitions is that they don't tend to include the hypnagogic/hypnopompic imagery that can accompany a WILD transition. This would be especially the case if you were only briefly awake and still very close to your last LD. The cool part is that the imagery was accurate enough to keep your mind in the right place to ultimately have a successful DILD, so all was not lost! Never underestimate the power of your unconscious/dreaming mind to provide you imagery that seems perfectly real, Tiktaalik, as that is its job. Because that imagery is so effective, learning to identify false lucids during the dream can be difficult, and frustrating upon waking up. But identifying them is a good idea: if you can build their possibility into your mindset, you should be able to avoid misidentifying them as a genuine lucid event. This matters because if they happen often -- and you misidentify them often -- then the false lucid theme will become hardened as a source your dreaming mind taps for imagery (it is, after all, what you really desire experiencing, right?), and you might ultimately develop a habit of dreaming about being lucid. This habit might lead you to believe them to be true LD's to a point where you no longer get to experience actually being lucid, but think you often are, and the rewards of true lucidity are consistently missed. I know this all might sound silly to you, but it does happen, a lot more often than folks might know.

[Tiktaalik]

I think that the defining moment of this experience was that false awakening, Tiktaalik. If you had been truly lucid at that time, then you would have pretty quickly noticed that you were not in the same place you were in when you fell asleep. From there your dreaming mind provided exactly what you expected/hoped for: a successful WILD. Another hint is that one of the nice things about DEILD transitions is that they don't tend to include the hypnagogic/hypnopompic imagery that can accompany a WILD transition. This would be especially the case if you were only briefly awake and still very close to your last LD. The cool part is that the imagery was accurate enough to keep your mind in the right place to ultimately have a successful DILD, so all was not lost! Never underestimate the power of your unconscious/dreaming mind to provide you imagery that seems perfectly real, Tiktaalik, as that is its job. Because that imagery is so effective, learning to identify false lucids during the dream can be difficult, and frustrating upon waking up. But identifying them is a good idea: if you can build their possibility into your mindset, you should be able to avoid misidentifying them as a genuine lucid event. This matters because if they happen often -- and you misidentify them often -- then the false lucid theme will become hardened as a source your dreaming mind taps for imagery (it is, after all, what you really desire experiencing, right?), and you might ultimately develop a habit of dreaming about being lucid. This habit might lead you to believe them to be true LD's to a point where you no longer get to experience actually being lucid, but think you often are, and the rewards of true lucidity are consistently missed. I know this all might sound silly to you, but it does happen, a lot more often than folks might know. Very true, you may be right. Others above have also experienced these false WILDs so I’m happy to hold my hands up and say I may have been fooled. That said, you do sometimes pop in and out of a dream a couple of times before truly entering when you have a WILD and I feel this may be what occurred. I was in a dream (during the false awakening) I popped out and became partly awake (during the transition) and then I re-entered (during the 2nd realisation). I guess I can never be fully sure. If it was indeed a simulated experience then that is fascinating. I don’t often experience false awakenings (or maybe I do and don’t notice?!) so I may need to work on catching these. The re-entered dream certainly felt like a genuine lucid dream though. I did stabilisation techniques, remembered my dream goals and even decided which one would be best for the environment I found myself in. Then at the end of the dream I was aware when it collapsed, tried to re-enter again but woke up and recalled instead. I’ve read about False lucids but personally I haven’t made my mind up on them yet. I understand the logic I just don’t feel I can label any of my experiences as “dreaming about being lucid”. There always feels like there is some level of awareness and presence even when I may not be thinking clearly. I prefer looking at lucids as being low level and high level with everything in between. High level meaning full waking memory and awareness in the dream, low level being aware that you’re dreaming but not fully comprehending what that means. Anyway It’s a big subject and I would like to read up about them in more depth. Is there another thread that discusses false lucids?

[Sageous]

The re-entered dream certainly felt like a genuine lucid dream though. I did stabilisation techniques, remembered my dream goals and even decided which one would be best for the environment I found myself in. Then at the end of the dream I was aware when it collapsed, tried to re-enter again but woke up and recalled instead. I’ve read about False lucids but personally I haven’t made my mind up on them yet. I understand the logic I just don’t feel I can label any of my experiences as “dreaming about being lucid”. There always feels like there is some level of awareness and presence even when I may not be thinking clearly. I prefer looking at lucids as being low level and high level with everything in between. High level meaning full waking memory and awareness in the dream, low level being aware that you’re dreaming but not fully comprehending what that means. Anyway It’s a big subject and I would like to read up about them in more depth. As I said above, that final dream did indeed seem to be a LD. That the transition may have have been a DILD, per your description, and not a WILD, doesn't remove anything from its value, I think.

[Tiktaalik]

As I said above, that final dream did indeed seem to be a LD. That the transition may have have been a DILD, per your description, and not a WILD, doesn't remove anything from its value, I think. Yes, I agree. The loss of awareness during the transition does indicate it was probably more of a DILD.