I've been lurking for a few days, but I thought I'd make an appearance now.
It's been a while since I've ever tried Lucid Dreaming. I saw Stephen Laberge's Lucid Dreaming at my parents' friend's house, and I was so intrigued that she actually got me a copy of the book for my 13th birthday a few months later. I tried working through it on-and-off, following the guided meditations, with no results. I didn't really apply myself that much, though, and I kind of forgot about it afterwards.
I actually learned recently my younger brother picked up the book and tried some of the techniques, with much better success than me. He told me he likes to fly around the world every now and then in his dreams. He's now the age I was when I first tried; I think I heard somewhere that many people find it easier to start lucid dreaming before puberty.
In my early teens I also discovered that if I masturbated in the morning and then fell asleep, I would get strange sensations like vibrating, ringing, falling, or being pulled or thrown great distances, and I'd hear ringing, chiming, or whooshing sounds. I'd usually see really bright colours or vivid images; one of the most vivid ones I remember is when I was being pulled downward from a castle in the sky. I knew when they were about to happen because I would get head rushes. I never considered them nightmares, but they usually disturbed or overwhelmed me, so I avoided them by getting up right after the head rushes. Then, they stopped happening to me. I learned only a few days ago this was called hypnagogia.

I was doing some reading last week about lucid dreaming, about different techniques and such, and I decided to start keeping a dream journal after meaning to for years. I usually remember the really vivid dreams, but most nights it's just fragments of dreams. My recall is too sporadic for an entry every day. I was also looking at the different techniques and thinking about the one I wanted to try first. I was also reading about the reality checks, different ones than the checks Laberge talks about. I started doing them during the day whenever anything strange happened. So, this morning I woke up as usual, then fell asleep and had the following dream:

I'm following my landlord down the hall to my room; he's carrying a parcel. I see his wife standing on my bed, changing my light bulb. She says something to my grandmother behind me, in another language. I realize that she actually doesn't speak that language. Then I try pushing my finger through my palm, and it works. I realize I'm dreaming, but I wake up.

* * *

I wake up in my bed and I notice the lighting is a bit off; nothing is ever this blue. I check the time on my phone. I notice the display is pretty dim. I decide to do the finger-pushing reality check again, and not only does it work, but my hand is also a bit misshapen. I realize I'm dreaming and I whirl around. I see my arm move across the bed too. I get up, turn on the lights in my room, and notice that the room is a bit brighter but still a lot dimmer than the actual light bulb. I'm definitely dreaming. I look around for a second or two; my bedroom looks a lot bigger than I remember. I start floating up, up to a mirror high on the wall beside my bed (this mirror does not exist in real life). I take a look at my face, and my skin is grey and withering, and the reflection is watery.

The latter half was a very quick process for me; it didn't feel like it could have lasted any longer than a minute. I was aware that I was dreaming, but I actually only exerted control over my dreaming during the 1-2 seconds I was looking around the room.
I did the masturbate-then-fall-asleep thing again today, and I didn't experience any hypnagogia (I haven't in years) but I got this instead. Is this beginner's luck or am I on to something? I was thinking of looking into the WILD technique first, since I sleep all the way through the night, but can lie in bed for hours on end. I also wonder if there are any of you who find it more likely to experience hypnagogia after falling asleep in the morning right after an orgasm, or if I was just a rare example.
Pleased to make your acquaintance.