Let's talk about my failed attempt

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 :P

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!

Hey return, welcome back to the forum!

To me, it sounds like you had the WILD already in your grasp: you had the sensations, the visuals, even the vibrations. It just didn't kick over into a dream because perhaps you waited to long for it to happen. Meaning, what I do when I get to the vibrations stage, is I open my "dream eyes" and start the lucid immediately. Sometimes I'll even visualize a dream scene and then my eyelids become transparent and I start the dream that way. My point is, I believe the dream has already begun once we WILDers start getting those sensations or transitions. You just need to believe that, and step into the dream. For me it's so literally that way, that the dream starts out with me being in my bed in my bedroom immediately following or even during the vibrations. Had alot of false awakenings that way before I realized that I was already dreaming haha.

Hope that helps. I know it's different for everyone, but maybe my way will give you a place to start and experiment. Good luck, sounds like you're just a hair away from getting it down!

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I laid down and told myself that I will not move until I'm in a dream.

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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.

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It didn't seem hurt your attempt, but it seems like you were more focused on WILDing than falling asleep, and if not then disregard this. It should be a point to make sure you can fall asleep. Don't think or worry about not moving, because you don't normally do that when falling asleep. You also don't necessarily have to fall asleep on your back, and it would be better to sleep in your regular position, as long as you're comfortable enough to stay conscious throughout it.

It seems like you were in Non-Rem sleep and hypnagogic imagery started settling in. It might help to actually roll over, and despite it reversing your progress a bit, it'll probably be worth it. Being comfortable is priority when sleeping, so if there's pain or anything like that, get rid of it and continue.

EDIT: Or you could just go with OpheliaBlue's suggestion. That works too.

Oh yeah, about the rolling over part that Llama mentioned, I swear that's just a schema. Rolling over has never messed up any of my lucid attempts. Like he said, if it helps you get more comfortable so you can sleep and dream, then do it.