Thread: First Attempt - Some Success

Background: I used melatonin to get my sleep schedule back on track and experienced a sense of well-being that eventually flowed into a semi-lucid dream; it felt as though I was cycling between awareness and dreams. My imagination would run away from me, but then I would abruptly realize that I was still laying in bed.

The next day, I Googled melatonin side effects, read some first-hand accounts of lucid dreaming, and tried taking melatonin for a couple of nights to reproduce it. No luck.

Today, I tracked down this site. I read a couple of threads and in the evening, I decided to give WILDing a shot. I seldom remember my dreams, so this seemed like the better route.

More Background (lol): I may be predisposed to WILDing, which would explain how I had such good luck on my first attempt. I have strong hypnagogic imagery that often scares me awake. Also, sometimes in the first few minutes after I "wake up" and start moving around, I continue to dream. It can cause me to say/do peculiar things. Sometimes I remember, and sometimes I don't. When I was a kid my parents were concerned that I was schizophrenic, but it only happens a few times a year, and only when I'm falling asleep or barely awake. I also had a few incidents of sleepwalking as a teenager.

As an adult, I occasionally wake up screaming. I usually fall asleep and forget that anything happened, so it doesn't have much of an impact on me. However, it's not pleasant for the people who live with me. My first roommate was convinced that our house was haunted because I woke up startled, she came to check on me, and I insisted that a dead girl wouldn't let go of my hand.

WILDing: I tried to get there by laying in bed, completely motionless, concentrating on staying awake through hypnagogic imagery and sleep paralysis. My girlfriend pestered me from the other room a few times, and came to wake me once. A little bit later (I didn't move to check the time), I thought she came into the room again. Frustrated, I tried to roll over and my arms barely moved. At that moment, I realized that I was almost there, and I was irritated that she was about to snap me out of it.

I hoped that she would just think that I was sleeping and leave me alone, but then she leaned over and repositioned my hands. I wanted to tell her to leave me alone, but I couldn't even open my eyes.

As she continued adjusting my arms, I felt as though I was falling through the bed. Then everything was dark. I was standing in a black room, and at that moment, I realized that I was dreaming. That's all I remember. I think I shot myself in the foot going in with low expectations and didn't know what step to take next. When I fall asleep tonight, I'm going to try counting and reiterating that I am dreaming.

When I woke up, I complained to my girlfriend about how she kept coming into the room, and it turned out she only disturbed me once. Tricksy HI! I'm happy that I made it that far. It was pretty encouraging for a first time attempt, and if nothing else, retaining consciousness through HI makes it less frightening, and that should keep me from disrupting my girlfriend's sleep.

Fingers crossed I get it right this time.