Wow.

I'd given up any hope of lucid dreaming quite a while ago, and hadn't visited this site for ages. Just last night, completely randomly, I decided to try my usual technique just for fun- a combination of gently twitching one finger under my pillow while repeating over and over "I will lucid dream" or "I will stay awake". The only effects of this was that it took longer for me to fall asleep. (11:00pm).

At 4:00 am I awoke, and wasn't quite sure why... I had a faint sensation of needing the bathroom, (probably from all that coke), so I went in with all the lights off on purpose, so I would fall asleep easily again. After going back to bed, I realised I had pretty much set myself up perfectly for a WILD. So I attempted one.

After a little bit of tingling, I was tempted to see how I was going, so I looked at the bedside clock. 4:11 am. I wasn't sure if it was true though, so I looked back after a few seconds and saw 4:12 am. I looked at the last digit for a few seconds, thinking "Hey, wait a minute... that's not a number" (I was trying to see if machine failure or whatever was happening) but realised stupidly that 2 IS a number!

Wow, sleep paralysis is the SCARIEST thing I have ever experienced. Seriously, it was freaky! I managed to engage it about 2-3 times during those early hours. At first I thought the mild tingling was SP, but when I REALLY got it, I truly appreciated how freaky it is. I got this massive "POP" and "WHOOSH" in my ears, and then really strong tingling all over my body. I had a sensation of that I no longer had control of my body, and the only thing I could control was my breathing. Speaking of breathing, I think it was either that I kept breathing incorrectly, or that I had to swallow, but I pulled myself out of SP a little bit too early. Didn't get to experience any images etc. I looked at the clock, it was like 4:45 but it looked really trippy! I had this tunnel vision effect going with all these lines fading away from the centre of my vision. This set of alarm bells in my head, so I held my nose as a RC, but no, I couldn't breath through it. I even sat like that for a few seconds forcing the air around the pinched gap, but it didn't help, surprisingly enough

Well, attempting a WILD on a sunday was a bit of a mistake. I didn't manage to sleep properly after that experience, constantly engaging minor SP and being awakened by a meowing cat outside, and later the sounds of the family awakening. And slamming the washing machine door.

I learnt through experience the importance of remaining relaxed, as at several stages I realised I was causing my leg to twitch with nervousness... As I relaxed more, the paralysis strengthened gradually.

Anyway, I've decided to keep attempting WILD for a few more times, as I've had little or no succes with DILD or whatever the acronym for lucid dreaming from within a dream is.
Wish me luck