Struggling with my WILD'ing

Hello everyone, i am still fairly new to this, though i did try it many times a few months ago before i gave up, im willing to try it again and try harder. This has been my second night trying to WILD (the first night there were too many distractions, people awake etc.) This time however, is the furthest ive ever gotten so i know im doing something right. But i never got to the point of attaining a lucid dream.

Basically, i went to sleep and set my alarm for about 4 and a half hours of sleep (due to the fact i dont have time for 6 hours because there will be too many distractions, i have to fix up my sleep schedule) but i believe through my research there is a REM cycle around this point, it just isnt as long as the one after about 6 hours of sleep. I stayed awake for about 15-20 minutes. I layed down and stayed perfectly still and tried relaxing, staring into the darkness of my eyes, and eventually after about 30 minutes i definitely felt sleep paralysis start to kick in. Instead of feeling a heavy feeling i just went totally numb but then i started feeling a few vibrations.

During sleep paralysis, i waited and kept on focusing on the objective while trying my best to keep relaxed, but i saw no hypnogogic imagery or colors swirling, voices, pretty much anything that let me know i was progressing past the sleep paralysis phase. I just layed there for about 5-10 minutes until i felt like i wasnt in sleep paralysis anymore (unless you get used to the feeling and u dont feel it as intense anymore?)

Anyways, I tried over and over for about 2-3 hours, reaching this same state of sleep paralysis about 3 times with no luck of getting into a lucid dream. I tried imagining a beach in clear detail during my sleep paralysis, but i only saw flashes of a few colors in the darkness of my eyes that you can see anytime during the daytime just by closing ur eyes. I eventually gave up for the morning because i knew at this point i was doing something wrong, and that i probably didnt wake up during the right period for my wbtb method.

Also, during the time sleep paralysis hit, my heart was beating pretty fast to the point i could feel it basically beating out of my chest (like when your nervous.) Does this happen to everyone, or is this a symptom that im not relaxed enough? Even while my heart was beating i was breathing and trying my best to relax and i still felt the sleep paralysis, but still no dream or voices/swirling colors. Any advise would be really helpful from any of you, thanks :D

My heart also speeds up. Not everybody gets all the HHs, like sounds or images. Were you maybe too awake? For WILD to work, you have to eventually fall asleep. The trick is, that you have to catch yourself right at the moment of falling asleep and stay aware as you enter a dream. Keep trying, couple of days is not long enough to say it's not working. Try different times for WBTB. Try to stay up shorter or longer.

Have you tried DEILD? How about MILD for a DILD?

Good luck:)

Moved to WILD :3

I don't think it was sleep paralysis. It sounds more like it was your body going deeper into sleep, because I know exactly what you're describing. Before, I thought that it was sleep paralysis, until I experienced the real deal. Try to move next time this happens to you. If it's sleep paralysis, you can't move at all.

Sleep paralysis is such an unmistakeable feeling! It's like a sudden and strong rush through my whole body, which will be completely paralysed as soon as this happens. I feel intense vibrations and tingling while being paralysed, before I transition into a lucid dream. This sequence doesn't take many seconds, so you can't be stuck in sleep paralysis for a long period of time. It's very likely that it'll quickly disappear the first time you encounter it, because it's a very overwhelming feeling. You'll get used to the paralysis after you've experienced it a few times.

When you WILD, it's not really the sleep paralysis that you should strive for. As gab said, you must fall asleep. It's really no big difference between going to sleep and trying to WILD, other than you're staying slightly aware of yourself falling asleep when WILDing. This means that if you're constantly waiting for the sleep paralysis to come, your mind will keep you too awake. You can focus on the blackness if you want, but not too much. And you don't have to lie perfectly still at all. If you feel like you must move to feel comfortable, then move.

It's great that you know the importance of combining WILD attempts with WBTB, and I suggest that you shorten the time you stay awake. Try five minutes or less (this always works for me). I also think that you should sleep for a longer time too, if it's possible.

You mentioned that your heart was racing, and I've read that it's actually a hallucination. Also, the swirling colours start to appear before sleep paralysis, along with other hypnagogic imageries. Don't worry about not having them. Just relax and fall asleep, but keep a little bit of your consciousness. Soon, you'll suddenly become sleep paralysed. Don't think about what to do when you're paralysed to enter a lucid dream. If you stay calm (this will, like I've said, get easier with some experience) and forget about your physical body (you can try to visualise a dream scenario, or just keep an empty mind), you'll transition into a dream.

Keep trying, and you will be successful! :)