question about WILD

hi guys , ok here is how it happened , slept for about 6 hours , woke up stayed for a couple hours working on something , then went to bed , done like an hour of nice relaxing meditation Very Happy , i enjoyed it , then i thought to try WILD , while going to sleep , anyway it worked really smoothly , but i got to excited and i missed it , so i tried again and it worked successfully , felt the SP
( which is not a very bad experience btw , if u tried to enjoy it and relax )then total blackness , now i was VERY AWARE by myself and being in a dream , haven't experienced that much of awareness in any other lucid dreams , i am a beginner btw , and my last lucid dreams were weird , anyway now my question is ,

is that blackness just after the SP is the REM cycle or the Dream itself ?!!
when do i know whether i am in the dream or not yet ?!

cause i was there but didn't feel my body really , except my hands and sometimes my legs , i kept trying to move my body or at least imagine some light in the room , but nothing , i also kept rubbing my hands , and everytime i rub it , i see like very weak light (very weak white color inside this blackness) , when i stop rubbing the light goes ,
so any ideas ,may be i was focusing alot to make the dream pop , donno ,eventually i woke up after about 20 sec of this blackness , didn't get the chance to enjoy my first WILD , i was aware Mad , damn it

ok well my experiences like this during dreams. i have to close my eyes. and rub my hands or really concentrate on being in a dream then half open them and see what i can see. if i cant see my dream properly.or if things are fuzzy or if its still "darkness" i close my eyes again..and then do it again..and again till my vision of my dream is clear..hope this helps somewhat

Were you dreaming you were lying in bed in a dark room? Did you try to get up and walk around? I find it is best to leave my bedroom as soon as possible. Maybe go outside, or walk into another room and turn on some lights.

When I get stuck in limbo like that without any real feeling of a body, I like to imagine a new dream body performing a familiar activity that is very physically engaging and tactile. Imagine the feeling of rolling, running, jumping, falling, ect. Hopefully the imagined feelings will take over. Some classic advice is to rock back and forth until you roll right out of your body, or imagine running your hands over something with a familiar texture. Maybe your textured wall, or your favorite tree.

If it is dark and you can't move I would suggest that you imagine yourself standing up , walking to your door, and opening it up. Then imagine yourself walking out of your house, into a different room, etc. Do this until you "become" what you are imagining. It has always worked for me. Oh, and stay as calm as possible while you do this.

yes it was dark , and the problem is that i couldn't move , i'll try the imagination thing , i tried it for a second btw , imagined that i am floating from my bed , flying , and it kinda felt that it worked , but then i gave up on it , may be i should start once i get lucid ,and focus more , i like KingYoshi's idea on imagining walking away until it happens , i'll try it next time, thanks guys for the advice