I thought WILDs were supposed to be hard? & introduction

Hi, I'm new here.

I just started trying to have lucid dreams a couple weeks ago, and I seem to have an uncanny knack for WILDs. I've succeeded in 3 out of 4 WILD attempts so far. The failed one was when I tried WBTB when I wasn't really sleepy enough. I did fall asleep eventually and had a very weird chaotic dream that I might have been lucid for part of but I don't really remember, and when I woke up I was really tired and felt off for most of the day from oversleeping. Lesson: No more trying for a WILD in the morning when I've had a decent night's sleep and don't feel sleepy.

Everything I've read about WILDs suggests they're not easy to learn. Is it weird to find that it's really easy? Has anyone else had an experience like that? I think the reason it's been easy for me is that I've been experiencing sleep paralysis every now and then for the past five or six years. The first time I got SP was after my first (and only, that I can remember, prior to the past two weeks) LD. The SP was scary, but a little fun too. Once I got used to it and figured out there was a name for it, it was mostly fun and only a little scary. After the first time I had SP, it's mostly been sort of a hybrid thing with SP combined with really vivid imagery (the most vivid colors I have ever seen in my life was during SP) and sometimes sounds, like someone talking to me. I'd slip into SP, wake up briefly, and slip back into SP, and repeat that a few times, until I actually got up after waking. Never went from SP into a dream until I learned about the connection between SP and WILD.

Trying to find stuff out about SP was actually how I learned anything about LD in the first place, although I didn't really try it until just recently. I usually keep a journal, and, for some reason, I started writing down some of my dreams in my journal. It was about then that I realized I'd been remembering dreaming pretty much every day. Way back, I'd read that good dream recall was important to have lucid dreams, and this just seemed like really good timing to give LD a proper try. I decided to start keeping a separate dream journal and got a copy of EWLD from the local library.

I'm having a harder time with DILD. I've had one so far, and I consider that lucky. My friend's dog turned into my brother in a dream, and I actually realized I was dreaming. I got so excited I woke up right afterwards, though.

Anyway. I'm really glad to have found these forums, as I don't really have anyone to talk to about LD in real life.

Hey and welcome to Dreamviews! I'm sure you'll enjoy it here.

As for the question, dreaming is an intensely personal experience and stems from who knows how many different factors. This means that some people could take years to have a single LD. Other's not so much.

I'm also a natural LD'er so I too was glad to find a friendly community in which I could finally discuss the experiences with.

Awesome work.

No matter what some people would have you believe, WILDs aren't difficult to achieve if the conditions are right and you understand what you're doing.

Actually, a lot of the issues people tend to have with WILDs stem from how they're taught. Speaking of which, what material did you use to achieve your WILDs?

I was trying the hypnagogic imagery technique from Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, but I'm not sure I was doing it right. I was mostly just trying to relax, stay calm yet aware, and simply observe what happened while I fell asleep. When I went into SP, I continued trying to remain calm but aware, instead of trying to move like I used to do when I experienced SP. I'm having a little trouble still trying to figure out when I'm far enough into the dream to be able to try moving without waking (and actually be able to move).

Whenever I have had SP, except for maybe the first time, I seem to get into some sort of intensely vivid dream-like or hallucinating state as well as not being able to move and hearing a specific sort of background noise. Under those circumstances, it seems to me like simply a combination of SP (the way I get it) and not flailing would naturally lead to dreaming, anyway. So the real tricks (for me) would just be getting into SP in the first place and not losing lucidity as it turns into a dream. Sometimes I seem to slip out of the dream and back into SP, as well, though a couple of times I think I may have just been dreaming I'd slipped back into SP (the position I dreamed I was in those times was not the one I was actually in).

The only times I have gotten into SP have been after waking up in the morning and then falling back asleep. It seems that the right circumstances are any time I've had a partial to full night's sleep, but still feel as though I could fall back asleep (the one time I tried when I wasn't sleepy didn't work properly). I feel confident I could have a WILD any time I want in that situation, especially given that I've had so many experiences with SP in the past.