I know about the WILD technique, but this seems to apply to waking up and going back to sleep in the middle of the night or morning. Your mind is already in the middle of a REM cycle.

However, I was wondering if it is possible to go from the waking state (meaning you've been awake all day and it's time to go to bed) and go directly into lucidity when you first lay down to go to sleep at night.

I know for myself there have been times when I closed my eyes when I first go to sleep at night and I could see the bedroom as if I had my eyes open. It was similar to a lucid experience (just not as vibrant and vivid as a lucid dream). I know that what I was experiencing was much more than simple hypnagogic flashes of images.