Thread: My first (failed) WILD attempt - what went wrong?

Last night I performed my first WILD attempt, following Clairity's WILD-MILD tutorial. I went to bed at about 21:10, and woke for this attempt at 00:35.

I got up, slowly walked to the bathroom, and then returned straight back to bed. I began the slow chanting in my thoughts - "1, I am dreaming, 2, I am dreaming, 3, I am dreaming..." - all the way to 100 and then restarting.

At what I'd guess to be about 00:45, I began to experience the described falling sensations. I tried my best to stay calm, but at times I was so excited that I could feel my heart beating loudly, totally out of rhythm with my slow breathing.

I began to feel the need to swallow and decided not to resist it. My mouth was very dry, and I figured it was okay, since swallowing (especially last night) feels like a reflexive and involuntary action to me.

From about 00:50-01:00 the falling sensation became very intense and I felt what I thought might be this "distinctive change" in consciousness.

Feeling lost, I didn't do an RC yet, because the falling sensations still continued (and this wasn't described in any tutorials I read). I continued the mantra for quite a while, and these sensations began to slow, until they were each about 2 minutes apart.

At about 01:15 I had another intense falling sensation, and then a bit milder (but still there) feeling of a change of consciousness. Following what I read in some added-on comments, I used the breathing-through-blocked-airway RC to check so as to not disturb the transition process. Succeeded.

I lay in bed for quite a while longer, with the sensations becoming more intermittent again (about 1 every 3-4 minutes), becoming impatient. I stayed calm while now visualizing myself walking over a bridge between awakeness and a dream state. No change in the sensation.

Finally, I decided to just go to sleep and hope for a DILD. I rolled onto my side, noticing that my body was very slow-responding and tingly. I suppose this suggests that I might have been there had I waited longer?

I checked the time before going to bed - it was 01:38.

Spoiler for summarized events:

1. 21:10 - went to bed
2. 00:35 - woke, went to bathroom
3. 00:45 - falling sensations began
4. 00:50 - intense falling began
5. 01:00 - intense falling ended
6. 01:15 - second (single) intense falling
7. 01:38 - went back to bed

Does the transition ever normally take this long? Did I do something wrong?

P.S. The DILD didn't come, either.