Some observations and questions about my attempts to LD

**raklet** · 10-23-2007 01:50 PM

General Observation
---------------------------
This first observation is about sleeping in general and not specifically about LDing but I will tie it in. When I sleep, I perceive time to pass very quickly or rather I lose large chunks of time for which I cannot account. For example, I will go to bed at 10:00 pm and will wake up later to get a drink. My mind will tell me that I have only been asleep a short while, but in reality it is 4:00 am.

LD Observations
----------------------------
I haven't had an LD yet, but I have had several instances when a dream sign has indicated to me that I am dreaming. My mind snaps into focus that I am dreaming and here are the things that occur:

* I become aware of my physical body. I can feel it laying in bed, but it feels dull, heavy, and fuzzy. I feel a dull ache in the limbs that I have been laying on or that have not moved for a while.

* My sense of hearing becomes very acute. I can hear every little noise that is occurring throughout the house.

* I can feel my eyes twitching rapidly underneath my closed lids. They twitch to the point of being annoying and distracting.

* My heart starts to beat strongly and rapidly. This fully awakens me and ruins anything that might have occurred otherwise.

Sequence of events during last nights sleep
-----------------------------------------
I went to bed at 10:00 pm. I was having a fuzzy broken dream when I was awoken at 2:30 am by heartburn and the need to go to the bathroom. I ate a couple of tums, relieved myself, got a drink, and went back to bed. Instead of drifting back to unconsciousness, I decided to see if I could WILD up a dream. I lay quietly looking at my closed eyelids and listening to the sounds of the house. The light in my eyelids started to intensify until it became white and very bright. It then turned into an oscillating line that looked like an electrical wave on an oscilloscope. I wondered if this was the start of a lucid dream and heard a voice telling me that "there were three ways to connect". When I heard the voice, a fuzzy wave came over my body and I heard two electronic bursts (like the warning buzzer at a factory telling you that something is about to turn on). Immediately after, my eyes started to twitch rapidly and my heart began pounding. I told myself it was all just signs of dreaming and to try and relax. I lay with my eyes closed a little longer, but couldn't get the feeling back, so I opened them to check the time (I didn't think I had been laying there that long) and was surprised to see that it was 4:07 am. I rechecked my watch several times over the next few minutes, but the watch was consistent in showing I was indeed awake. I closed my eyes and lay quietly thinking about this, wondering if I could salvage any of this again. When I couldn't stand laying still anymore, I opened my eyes to check the time again. Now, it was 4:40 am. This happened twice more with me losing chunks of time, but the intervals getting shorter until time no longer was passing - I was just laying there staring at the seconds go by (boring). At this point, I gave up on the LD experiment and let myself drift back to oblivious sleep.

Questions
---------------------------
What is the eye twitching and heart beating all about?

Why did I lose large chunks of time when it seemed to me that I was conscious? I could hear the sounds of the house, the wind blowing, my wife breathing next to me, and my own heart beating, and could see the black of my closed eyelids. And, I was formulating this post in my head because I needed something to do to stave off boredom.

If I really was dreaming, how come there were no visual images to accompany the dream?

Cheers,

Raklet

**dreamscaper22** · 10-23-2007 03:54 PM

welcome to the forum...what you are experiencing is either sleep paralysis or a false awakening. All u needed to do start thinking of images and you might lucid....sounds like you were pretty close
I had an experience like yours....I didnt know that i fell asleep though.
I wouldnt move, no matter how hard a tried. now i know that it was either SP(sleep paralysis) or an FA(false awakening)

**Chris182t** · 10-23-2007 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by raklet

Questions
---------------------------
What is the eye twitching and heart beating all about?

Why did I lose large chunks of time when it seemed to me that I was conscious? I could hear the sounds of the house, the wind blowing, my wife breathing next to me, and my own heart beating, and could see the black of my closed eyelids. And, I was formulating this post in my head because I needed something to do to stave off boredom.

If I really was dreaming, how come there were no visual images to accompany the dream?

Cheers,

Raklet

First of all, your eyes moving around wildly like that is because you are entering your REM (-rapid eye movement) stage of sleep, where the most dreams occur.
And i'd say that your heart beating like that is just due to your excitement or shock of you entering sleep paralysis.
The light you said you experienced is a classic example of Hypnagogic imagery. This is completely normal and occurs when your body is falling to sleep, and during sleep paralysis.
Finally, about the loss of time..maybe at some points you could have been drifting in and out of consciousness which, as you were unconscious, do not remember, therefore taking up that extra time.

**Sara** · 10-23-2007 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by raklet

* I become aware of my physical body. I can feel it laying in bed, but it feels dull, heavy, and fuzzy. I feel a dull ache in the limbs that I have been laying on or that have not moved for a while.

* My sense of hearing becomes very acute. I can hear every little noise that is occurring throughout the house.

* I can feel my eyes twitching rapidly underneath my closed lids. They twitch to the point of being annoying and distracting.

* My heart starts to beat strongly and rapidly. This fully awakens me and ruins anything that might have occurred otherwise.

Hi Raklet,

How interesting, last night I just experienced exactly the same as you described here :-)

I was trying to get to a dream without losing awareness, but also I got awake by the strong heartbeating. But it's really a special feeling, isnt't it, knowing your body is asleep but your mind is still awake.

To give you some courage: I experienced my first LD later that night :-)

**Amelaclya** · 10-23-2007 05:56 PM

I also experienced the strong rapid heartbeats while trying to WILD. (I think going into SP) It actually hurt

I never actually fell asleep, but I definitely stopped it then! I'm a bit afraid to try again after that.

I am not so sure that the heartbeat was caused by excitement or fear. I felt really calm otherwise. And I was just still trying to focus on counting - not saying things like "OMG OMG OMG OMG"

**Sara** · 10-23-2007 05:59 PM

I couldn't find anything in tutorials yet about this... maybe there is anyone with this experience who knows how to avoid/overcome the fear/excitement when this happens.
I tried saying a short sentence to myself "stay calm, i'm going to dream" but that was not working (yet).

**calloway** · 10-23-2007 08:00 PM

the exact same thing just happened to me!!
i was trying to lay still so my body would fall asleep.
well i could not move any muscle in my body..so I know it was SP...but no dreams were coming to mind and i tried to think of one but my mind became unfocused. i could still hear the buzzing of the power bar in my room..and i heard my mom come in the side door...and i was just laying there...it was boring!

i tried opening my eyes...with some force...and they felt like my physical eyes and everything in my room was the same..

this has happened twice now ...with no LD! what do I do after i know SP has kicked in?

**Maric** · 10-23-2007 08:30 PM

Ya I also have a problem of getting bored while trying to WILD

**raklet** · 10-23-2007 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by Chris182t

First of all, your eyes moving around wildly like that is because you are entering your REM (-rapid eye movement) stage of sleep, where the most dreams occur.
And i'd say that your heart beating like that is just due to your excitement or shock of you entering sleep paralysis.

How do you push past / ignore those things so that they don't bring you fully awake?

**Chris182t** · 10-23-2007 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by raklet

How do you push past / ignore those things so that they don't bring you fully awake?

Well there's no way to stop the eyes moving, so it'll just have to be a case of ignoring it.
Try and take your mind off it, focus on a scene in your mind or just let your thoughts drift for a while.
If the heart beating quickly is because of excitement, then the more times you get to this stage, the more you'll get used to it, therefore taking away the effect.
I could be wrong though, i'm by no means an expert on WILD

Have you tried any other techniques if you're finding this one too hard?

**raklet** · 10-24-2007 04:14 AM

Originally Posted by Chris182t

Have you tried any other techniques if you're finding this one too hard?

This doesn't just happen when I WILD. When I am having a normal dream and recognize a dream sign that brings me to consciousness, I get the same rapid heart beating. I am pretty sure I can deal with the eyes, but the heart beating wakes me up before I even get a chance to try.

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