Huh??

[Cairus]

Mmkay, so I had my first experience the other night and wrote about it here:http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=94820 Decided to try again the next night. Went through starry/swirly hypnagogic imagry, then on to the brainslurry/memory footprint stage... I was waiting for my body to fall asleep. I messed it up a couple of times because my body started to ache from remaining in the same position for so long, and at one point my foot itched also. But eventually I started again and kept going, realizing that hey. Obviously, we ITCH AND ACHE *while* we're asleep, we just aren't aware to be annoyed by it until we finish a cycle and become barely conscious enough to address it and itch/roll over! So the only difference was being aware of it. And I felt it, this sensation of falling through the bed! It actually felt like I'd fallen and LANDED, like a JOLT, or like I'd sunk into the bed/rolled into the wall. I thought to myself, 'Damnit. First my body hurts, then I'm itchy... Now I'm falling off the frickin' bed. How'm I supposed ta lucidly enter the dreamworld like this?!' (The thing I failed to notice here was: how the hell would I have rolled over 'on accident' while I was aware? The only answer is that I HADN'T rolled over, because I didn't do it consciously, and if I was unconscious- then there would BE no 'rolling over' because I'm asleep and paralyzed, right??) So here's my mistake: I decided that if I was going to try to dream lucidly I sure as hell didn't wanna be falling off the bed while I was doing it, assuming I was still awake; so I decided to roll back into the middle of the bed. I started exerting all of this force, trying to roll over... And it was VERY HARD. It was like trying to play frisbee with a bowling ball. Like I was trying to shove a bloody couch. I finally rolled over... At which point I realized that, I'm pretty sure, I'd already been frickin' dreaming/asleep- as rolling over WOKE ME UP!! Which would explain the immense difficulty rolling over, right? Forcing my body out of this... Sleep paralysis? And no, I hadn't been 'falling off' of the bed- I'd been right in the middle of it that entire time! The transition between 'awake' and 'asleep' had just been so seamless... There was the 'falling' feeling and then I was there, in my bed, still 'waiting for sleep so I can dream lucidly', still calmly repeating to myself that I would soon be dreaming- exactly what I'd been doing *before* falling asleep. Is this what's called a 'false awakening'?

[Darkmatters]

Not exactly a false awakening if I understand correctly. An FA is when you dream that you wake up, but actually it's still a dream. What you did was to actually - apparently physically - fight to break the paralysis until you actually did it and that woke you up for real, right? Somehow... and this part I've never been able to do yet - what you need to do is find a way to separate your dream body from your actual physical body at some point after the HH (hypnagogic hallucinations). I think that's accomplished by the falling through the bed or rolling out of your body. I've read that a lot of people do the same as you did - actually get through the SP and apparently separate the dreaming body from the real one, but don't realize it. It's a matter of essentially stepping into the dream. What I'm not sure of is how you do it without moving your real body. It might be a matter of timing... making sure yu're through the HH before moving.

[Cairus]

DM, I have read both of your replies to my posts and the tutorial you linked. Thank you, and I will try working on this again tonight if I get around to sleeping. Yes, I didn't realize my body was turned off, I thought I was still 'waiting for it to happen' which is why I was kinda freaked when I tried to roll over and it felt nigh impossible. I will take this new information and see what happens when I employ it. You've been very helpful, it's inspiring.

[Emkinator]

Not exactly a false awakening if I understand correctly. An FA is when you dream that you wake up, but actually it's still a dream. There are two types of false awakenings. One is, like you said, dreaming of waking up, but the other type is called a continuity - you don't notice falling asleep and dream of still being awake. The FILD technique relies on this kind of FA. I actually had a very similar experience, Cairus. I was WILDing and having pretty intense vibrations, but I couldn't get past them. Every time I snapped out of them, I could bring them back in a few seconds by relaxing. I never had any trouble moving while they happened. Then when they happened again I tried to roll over but couldn't move an inch. Somehow without moving I looked at my phone's clock and immediately realized it was just a dream and woke up.