Who else achieved dream-consciousness and control on their own?

I've been lucid dreaming and controlling dreams for 8 years, waaay before I knew they had a name for that, or even that it could be "artificially" achieved through tecnique and practice. As soon as the lucidity started, I was doing that WILD thing (Haha, there's a name for that too!). The first time it happened, I kinda thought some demonic power was pulling me into hell, but quickly realized I was just "falling" asleep and being aware of it. I had no control over it, and for a while it was happening almost daily. I usually experience WILD as a rushing sound in my ears and an intense and scary falling sensation; my stomach actually drops like it would on a roller coaster. For that reason, I pretty much hate WILD. And no, I still don't control it, it just happens.

I don't know if this can help anyone, but I have found dream conciousness and control to be best achieved during a daytime nap, when I don't feel like I am going too deeply into sleep (I have almost exclusively experienced WILD while sleeping during daylight or a lighted room). Also, if you feel yourself waking up, just give up your attempts at control, and if you are like me, you can easily regain it once you're asleep again. It used to piss me off so much when I would wake up.

I have found that I understand the tendencies of my dreams so well that I actually sabotage my efforts at control. For example, people tend to morph into other people. I will be thinking "please don't happen, please don't happen" and, of course, they instantly morph. I guess there's always room for improvement.

When I first started doing this (remember, it was all on my own), I became obsessed with it, and wanted to go to sleep all the time so I could return to my new and favorite playground. I would advise avoiding this sort of escapism; it is unhealthy and in my case, it turned out to be symptomatic of a serious psychiatric condition.