Separating Numbness from Paralysis during a WILD

[Sander]

Hi folks, My first post - but first I have to say this is a great community and has been a fantastic source of information! Really happy to have landed here... I'm definitely a beginner, but I've been able to get a couple very brief LD's (the usual over-excitement syndrome) since joining the forum. But that's been more than enough to keep me motivated. So those couple of experiences were DILD's, but I have also been practicing the WILD techniques in parallel. I haven't been obsessing on the success/failure (all failures so far, though), since I figure if I just practice the technique, after time the success will come (I hope!). I've been reading every post on this topic of Numbness vs Paralysis I can find. I think I understand better now, but was still just hoping for a little guidance. I've actually done a fair share of zen meditation prior to getting interested in LD, and that seems to make the first steps of WILD fairly easy for me. This is what my typical experience has been: - I'm waking up to do the WILD after about 6-7 hours of sleep or doing daytime naps - I lie on my back and I like to rest my hands right where they naturally land on my legs - Probably due to the zen, I don't have much problem staying still, clearing my mind, and ignoring the little itches, etc. - So after awhile, I feel that lightness of the body. I get that sensation where even though I know my hands are palms down, I can't really feel any particular orientation to them. It almost just feels like I'm floating in liquid. - Eventually I start to experience what seem like little dream fragments. I'm actually still not sure if these are HI, HH, or true non-lucid dream fragments. But they last 1-2 seconds and once in awhile I actually have a split second of lucidity where I physically enter the sequence and can feel the solidity of objects. The most memorable was where I brought a fork of spaghetti up to my mouth and actual felt myself biting down on it before I snapped out... - I'm sure due to my newbie-ness, these WILD sessions have so far either resulted in accidentally falling asleep completely, or just continuing to hop back and forth between dream fragments and awakeness, sometimes for more than an hour. So on to my question... So far I have never really experienced those vibrations or tingling that should be associated with actual SP (though I've read some posts saying that some people never really feel them). So I've been thinking that I'm probably only getting to that "numbness" stage and not beyond. But at the same time, I don't quite understand how I can get to the stage of seeing those "dream fragments" if I'm not in SP. I'm sure I'm just missing a fine detail here... Thanks in advance! Thanks!

[Elucive]

I say you should keep doing what you're doing. With more practice, instead I'd slipping into fragments without knowing, you'll start catching them sooner or later and slip into a WILD.

[Sander]

Sounds good! Thanks, Elucive...

[Sorox]

Same thing happens to me. Ill be laying still, then ill be on a bus, completely aware of my senses, and then ill get a kick and snap back to reality (in a matter of seconds)

[Sander]

Hey Sorox, So I see you have one successful WILD under your belt. Did you do anything differently for that one?

[Xegar]

I had one or two mini-lucid dreams while attempting to wild/deild (i open my eyes or moved, but tried to have an LD as soon as i remembered to deild). They are usually realistic, and last only some seconds but i'm afraid if i move, i will move my real body; they are not as stable as my best DILDs were. When i try to WILD, i can easily get to the numbness stage if i'm not extremely tired, but my problem is that as soon as i feel a little vibration, my body goes into a state where it is hard to breath and my heart rate increases, even though i'm not afraid of SP and i'm not getting excited because of LDs (I had 2 DILDs where i could stay in the dream and i was relaxed, knowing from experience that i shouldn't go crazy).

[Sorox]

Hey Sorox, So I see you have one successful WILD under your belt. Did you do anything differently for that one? Thanks for reminding me of that. I've actually had more sicne the last time I updated my Signature. My 1st wild, in my opinion is more of a WBTB than a WILD. I've had a wild after that though. I woke up, looked the ceiling, and actually got to SP with my eyes open. From there, I just sort of Kept looking at the ceiling, and this is where it got weird. I had 2 sights (I guess that's the best way to describe it) . In one eye, I was lucid, Moving my legs, seeing things moving in my room. In the other eye, it was my plain room with my arams at my side, in SP. It was very strange. Every other lucid i've had has either been a DILD, FILD, or a WBTB. Not many WILDs. I've been in SP Loads of times though, and it's pretty obvious whether or not you're in it, or just numb. I'll usually get a sound like "whrmmmmmmm" and Slight Vibrations. When I'm numb, it's close, but the sound isn't there, and the vibrations aren't as potent. Hope that answers your question.

[Perlinfalcon]

I've gone into SP and then a lucid 3 or 4 times. I have had the numbness you are talking about many times when trying to WILD. They are very different sensations. Like you, I have wavered in that floating disembodied feeling for over an hour. But when sleep paralysis sets in it is a very distinctive and sudden thing. To me, it feels a bit like someone dumped a load of wet cement on me along with an intense sensation of pins and needles. The sensation is not subtle. For me it is immediately followed by me opening my dream eyes in a dream bedroom. It sounds like you are very close, though. Especially since you are experiencing bits of hallucinations and dream fragments. For me, that is usually the sign that SP is imminent. I just try to focus on the images with my actual eyes as if they were real. I have gone from focusing on the images directly to a dream without SP a few times, as well.