Hi DV,

I would like to talk about my last night's failed attempt at WILD. For reference, I've been practicing for some weeks now and I used to frequent this forum years ago, so I think I'm familiar with the basics (at least on paper). Anywho, yesterday was a WILD day, so I was prepping myself the whole day, doing reality checks, reverse reality checks, thinking about LD, etc. I smoked a cigarette of Calea Z before bed and went to sleep. After 4.5 hours, I woke up without an alarm clock (wow!) even though I had set an alarm for 5.5 hours after sleep for WBTB.

I went with this natural awakening, though I had poor dream recall. I smoked some bowls of Calea Z out of a water pipe, along with a little bit of chamomile for relaxation and wormwood for dream intensity. Then I proceeded to WILD. I laid down and told myself that I will not move until I'm in a dream. There was a storm outside, so that occasionally drew my attention as I did 61 point relaxation technique and then started counting breaths with a mantra that escapes me now, but it was clear to me that it was the right choice at the time. It was something like "patience" or somesuch. I think it's worth noting that I was WILDing on my back, even though I have never been able to fall asleep on my back. I figured this would help with mental alertness.

After a bit, I experienced some of "the sensations," including a feeling of intense space and floating in my mind. I've experienced this intense space before during meditations, so I didn't think much of it. I kept chugging on. I then felt some vibrations, had a few swallows which I paid little attention to, some faint colors/shapes, and at one point I had a strong twitch of my forearm which partly startled me back to awareness. I paid little attention to all these and kept counting breaths. After a bit, I became clear-minded and could think/count/etc without distraction. I persisted with eyes closed, waiting for the dream to come.

Then, my both my biceps started hurting and this hurt persisted for what felt like a long time, though I resisted the urge to turn over.

Finally, I decided to call it quits when lots of birds started chirping outside and it started getting lighter. I looked at the clock and saw that I had been laying there for a little short of two hours. Disappointed, I rolled over and tried to fall asleep. Unrelated, but next thing I know I'm in my bed looking at my puffy hands, doing a reality check and becoming lucid. I started grounding myself, examining whatever was in front of me, and telling myself to remember this state and to remember to do RC's and basically laying foundation for future attempts. I am not sure as to how the rest of the night went, but in an unrelated dream or dreamscene within the same dream I became lucid again, and then I woke up to a really intense, vivid dream, having overslept for work

I'm grateful for the two DILD moments last night, but I'm wondering where I went wrong with my WILD, or whether I should have tried RC'ing after the vibrations or what? Please critique my attempt and tell me points of improvement.

Thanks a lot!