Eye problems during SP

[Despierto]

I'm very new to lucid dreaming but due to very big interest I have a feeling I will learn fast. I haven never intentionally had a lucid dream and the method im working on right now is WILD by wbtb and afternoon naps. I have yet not successfully gotten a paralisation on my whole body, ive been doing it about 6 times so far. Although I have gotten paralyzed to my chest and at that point i felt some vibration and tickling sensation in my body. HOWEVER: the problem is, when i reach such state of vibration and tickling sensation my eyes have the tendensy of vibrating and its like they are trying to move around really fast. Like flickering. And its hard to keep my eyes closed at that point and even harder to keep them still(nearly impossible). I feel that this disrupts my paralisation and that I kind of get stuck her. Do you have any tips for me?

[SarcasticIndeed]

My eyes open unintentionally whenever I start getting into SP, and they ruin the whole thing. I still haven't found an effective way to stop this, but, if you have a sleep mask, stuff it with something soft and put it on your head. It could prevent movement of your eyes, helps a bit.

[Despierto]

I read now somewhere that it could be due to watching tv/computer. I see how thats relevant for midday naps but I can't understand how your eyes wouldnt be used to the dark efter 5 hours of sleeping when you do wbtb.

[sanctum]

During your WBTB, you might want to try reverse blinking to get your eyelids heavy. As SarcasticIndeed said, a sleep mask might help. You can also try WILDing from your side, if you're doing it on your back. I find my eyelids don't stay closed as well when I'm on my back.

[Sea07]

Yes, I have trouble keeping my eyes closed sometimes too and also experience violent eye-fluttering. I think it is due to the fact I am slightly tensing my eyelids because I am trying so hard to keep them closed, when I realize they are flickering I just relax my eyelids and it stops. As for keeping your eyes closed sleep masks are great.

[Despierto]

I've never tried WILDing from the side actually, is it as legit as on the back? I've read about the "roll-over reflex" etc and right now it feels like i would never get sp from the side if I cant even get it properly from lying on my back. And yea I've began to use sleepmask, it helped a little. I'll try to relaxe more next time and try to have it very dark. So it wont matter if I open them too much.

[dms111]

You can WILD in any position that you can fall asleep in. It makes no difference. I also want to point out that there is no such thing as partial sleep paralysis like you described in your first post. SP does not come on in phases. It hits you all at once and you'll be fully in SP within a couple seconds and in a couple more seconds you'll be in a dream. What you're experiencing is not part of SP, but just the ordinary effects of focusing on a part of your body. There are always slight twitches and tingling feelings in our bodies but we don't normally notice them because our thoughts are elsewhere. When we lay down to sleep they become much more noticeable because we aren't doing anything else. And the more we notice these tingles and twitches the stronger they will get. The flickering eyes are the same issue. If you close your eyes right now and focus on your eyes they will start flickering. There is nothing that you need to do with your eyes in order to WILD. You can move them around, blink, or even keep them open and still WILD successfully. Just let your eyes do whatever they normally do when you fall asleep and put your thoughts elsewhere. The most important tip I can give for this issue is you don't want to focus on your body at all during a WILD attempt. You want your mind away from your body. Don't look for physical signs that you are getting close to SP because there aren't any until you've already reached it.

[Despierto]

great clarification. Very nice answer, thank you dms111