New member, hi - First night's experience

[Kikoku]

Okay, so I've just joined this website a few mins ago. Hi. Pretty hyped about all this to be honest because I know I've lucid dreamt (at least once) in the past. I thought it was a rare and crazy occasion that only happened to me so I never spoke of it but in recent years, I've read articles, watched TED Talks and YouTube videos about this natural phenomenon and the fact that it could be wake-induced sparked my interest. Now, bear in mind that I've dreamt plenty in the past but not so recently, I'm guessing it's because of the stress from college and my future. In fact, I kept what you guys call a "dream journal" too, on my iPhone since 2 years ago. I remember my dreams vividly and once I get up, I start typing it into my phone like a madman just so I don't skip out on any of the details. Anyway, I watched this video last night: **Can't post links but just look it up on YouTube: "Lucid Dreaming! (and How to Do It)" by Koi Fresco. The instructions provided by Koi were easy to follow and I followed them well, or so I think... but I didn't manage to lucid dream. I'll try to explain what I went through last night in as much detail as possible. I went to bed at approximately 11:30pm (yeah, I didn't set my alarm clock 4 ~ 5 hours prior to my bedtime) and I tried following his instructions. I guess I was pretty tired so I actually fell asleep the first time lol. Then, I woke up at somewhere between 3 or 4, realised I had fell asleep and tried to perform the WILD technique on the spot. First few steps were easy to follow, easing my mind and calm my breathing. Cool thing is, I managed to notice the indicators that my brain was sending me (itchiness, urge to roll over). This got me super excited so my heart started to beat rapidly and my breathing naturally increased but I reached the point where I managed to see the images. I managed to create scenes and visualise my friends in the dream - having a conversation with them but I was well-aware that these were all thoughts and I was not lucid dreaming. The scenes bounced from one thing to another depending on what I was thinking about. It went something like this: Friend A, coffee shop (saw things in a coffee shop), told myself to think about a beach and hear the sound of waves and it popped into my mind, Friend B, etc.) But they were all my thoughts and images, I guess. I tried again a second time, same thing happened and I fell asleep on my third try. So, with what I've been through, I'd like to ask some questions: - 1. I swallowed my saliva when I was trying to lucid dream, should I be swallowing it or not? Does this affect my chances of lucid dreaming or count as a form of movement? 2. My muscles through my entire body (legs, arms, neck and shoulder) felt extremely heavy when I was visualising my friends and recreating scenes. I thought I was about to go lucid at that very moment because I could tell that my body was sleeping. Am I wrong and is this muscle soreness normal? It went away once I woke up and stretched. 3. To reassure that whatever around me is reality, I count with my fingers from 1 side to the other from 1 - 10. I also use the tip of my right hand's fingers to tap my left hand (idk, I read it from somewhere that the fingers will go through your palm and you'll be able to undergo DILD by noticing this "error"). Any other common methods? 4. Is it true that numbers, alphabets and words will seem distorted when dreaming? 5. Any suggestions to help improve my lucid dreaming experience? Thanks