Was THIS a W.I.L.D.?

[oneironeer]

My alarm went off at 4:00 a.m., which, from 11:00 p.m. was a good 5 hours, and I went to the bathroom, took my supplements, had a little chocolate to stimulate the brain just a little (I did that last week during the successful WILD too), and went to the closet. My new dream goal is to be on a boat, preferably an old 1500′s kind of vessel, approaching an island to dock at and explore. Detailed, I know, but I’d be content with just being on a boat at first. So I laid there, feeling pretty awake for quite a long, irritating amount of time. I’d go through long periods of stillness and attempted to focus on nothing but random, dream thoughts — but nothing. Soon, I had to get up and use the bathroom again. Back to the sleep chamber. When you’re on the verge, or attempting to be on the verge of sleep for 2 hours straight, what you A: Think about, B: Deeply imagine, C: Have a half awake/asleep dream about, or a full-fledge dream about, all becomes entangled. Especially when your dreams can be false awakenings or take place exactly where you were conscious last. So I -think- I fell asleep and dreamed that an older aquaintence was calling EVERYBODY on his phone contacts and leaving the same voicemail. “Eh, would the person who keeps calling my phone, blocked, stop please? Ya don’t needa describe the contents of my fridge, come on! Leave da fridge alone.” This amused me, as I lay in my closet. I tried to let my mind wander, and suddenly I was “imagining” a large cat on my left shoulder. Even pretending to see a cat on my shoulder would not have been possible, however, since I was wearing big, bulky headphones and a sleep mask. But in the dream/imagining, my hand was covering my face as not to get scratched, and I turned my head towards the none-existent cat. Suddenly I heard a gong and felt my entire body start to vibrate. I heard a sitar ringing out as lights passed over my eyes. The sensation tapered off and I was disappointed, feeling as though I was still awake. I looked back again to the invisible cat, and it happened again, so I imagined looking towards my upper right as well, and it continued, ::bang!, bang!:: I tried listening to the rain sounds and definitely merely imagined the voices of seafaring men shouting orders and responses. I tried picturing myself hidden under a doorway to the captain’s quarters. But when the lights and vibrations passed, I was frantically walking around my office room attached to the closet (as seems very common when I attempt a WILD in there). “No, come one! A boat, a BOAT!” I circled the room and thought, “Okay, walk out the door!”, but the door led to my hallway and I ran passed my bedroom, seeing an empty and made bed. “Why does everybody disappear when I have these dreams?”, I wondered. I considered going back into my office to see if I’d see “my body” asleep in the closet, but I don’t believe in literal “out of body experiences”, and I knew even if I saw me there, it’d just be a projection of my mind. So I opened the front door, and another door was behind it. “Okay, don’t start this.” I opened it again and walked outside. Where there’s usually a small pond and pool area and more apartments, there was a lot of grass and dirt, a fence in the distance, separating the land from a beach. Beyond the beach was the stormy ocean I was picturing in my head. “No! I’m supposed to be OUT THERE!” So I ran into the grass, trying to find where the entrance to the other side of the fence was. I started losing control of the dream, so I scooped up some dirt and let it fall through my hands. Textures. I got up again and started walking around small sheds and trees but couldn’t find my way to the beach. Soon, I woke up.

[KingYoshi]

It would have had to happen to me for me to be 100% sure. It sounds a lot like a WILD, but I have laid down and WILDed in a dream and it feels identical. If you did fall asleep before the actual WILD, you may have performed it within the dream itself. Though, if you are not sure, I would just go ahead and call it a WILD. I mean, you went through SP and the entire process anyway. So, yeah...sounds like a WILD to me !

[oneironeer]

Yay, that'd make two! I've used this rain sound effect that's both soothing and yet makes it hard for me to fall asleep, and it seems to work as a good anchor. I'm afraid I'll start falling deep asleep during my future attempts, due to getting "used to" the SFX. Do you have an anchor, what is it if you don't mind me asking, and have you found you need to switch them out occasionally?

[KingYoshi]

My anchor is simply a visual. I observe the darkness of my closed eyes. As I carry on with my WILDing process, I let my thoughts wonder but keep a running watch on the darkness at all times. Though it is more like in the "background" of everything. I just casually observe. Once I start getting HH/HI, i shift my anchor to that. I pretty much do the same thing though. Casually observe the HH/HI and continue to relax and just let the hallucinations do whatever. The good thing about shifting to HH/HI once it appears is...it is rarely the same with each WILD attempt. This keeps it fresh from that negative "used to" effect.

[oneironeer]

Ah, that's interesting. I dunno if I could stay focused, I think I'd just lose consciousness, but that's awesome that you can do that. What's odd is, I've tried using this rain effect, sleep mask and ear plugs about 3-4 times now? And EACH time, I've become lucid -- but only the first time did I DEFINITELY go from laying there to conscious awareness of SP and then imagined my way INTO a dream. The rest of the time I have dreams of BEING awake still, sometimes DREAMING that I'm just IMAGINING things in my head that are in fact dreams. Last night I attempted to WILD and went from wondering why I could see a light through my sleep mask (which, if my eyes were shut like they should be, I wouldn't be able to see), to sitting in front of the computer, to walking in my room KNOWING I'm dreaming, but being unable to get my sleep mask off! It was obnoxious!. I now remember I think I used the imagine-a-loud-bang technique, acknowledging that I am in fact dreaming, but it gets real murky and confusing at that halfway point, and I wouldn't doubt that I could convince myself that I am NOT dreaming, and "will" the bang NOT to occur. Any suggestions?