Hello all!

Well, I tried the getting up within 5-6 hours, having a chocolate bar and staying up 30 minutes or so, and going into a quiet place to stare at the backs of my eyelids technique...

I've experienced some or all of the stages, unintentionally before. I've seen the lights, heard sounds that were convincingly real, and seen dream scenarios start to play out, but as is natural, I've always fallen asleep when those things occur (or something pulls me back to being wide awake).

Last night, however, I did it intentionally, having read the WILD technique here at DreamViews and some other pages. When I woke up I surfed the web for some experiences, etc., and came across Lucidpedia's YouTube clip about it -- and in his, he just waited until he woke up naturally (after 6 & 1/2 hours), whereas I set an alarm for 5 & 1/2 hours after going to bed. That disheartened me a little, was I doing it right?

So I ate a chocolate bar, went and lied down at about a 45 degree angle in a large, dark closet. Very comfortable, I waited. I saw waves of light (nothing pattern-like, no crazy strobing), enough to where I was tempted to open my eyes to see if the cracks in the door were shining brighter than when I first closed my eyes. I kept 'em closed, and relaxed my muscles, and the lights got a tiny bit more interesting (not much though).

I only heard two things that were probably WILD related. An, "Ehh?" and something else I can't recall. Again, nothing major. My left leg vibrated, and each time something even vaguely interesting happened, I'd get a rush of adrenaline and my heart would pound a little faster, and I felt wide awake, even though I didn't move a muscle for at least a solid hour.

I get these... I dunno, jumpy ticks, whenever I'm not in control of something and I'm anxious about it. For instance, as a passenger in a car, if the driver's approaching a yellow light, I get all fidgety in my seats not knowing if they're gonna stop or gun it (and I have to close my eyes sometimes if they gun it). So it was the same, unfortunately, with WILD. I seized up after at least 45 minutes, full body tension, for a second, and let go... for a second I thought maybe it was a tactile sensation brought on my WILD, but I'm pretty sure I just weirded out.

I kept going anyways, and I may have drifted in and out of sleep, but when I'd return I'd be fully aware of where I was and what I was doing. At one point I felt a full body vibration (NOT one of my weird outs), and that got me all excited, but nothing ever came. I never saw anything more interesting than a web of light, never heard anything beyond one or two noises.

Finally I had to swallow, after an hour and a half of non-movement. My throat was completely numb, it was so weird. I didn't move anything but my throat to swallow. Soon, and I'm not sure why, I just slowly sat up, and decided that was enough. I looked at the time, and went back into the closet to try again, but soon discomfort set in, and I had to sleep.