Attempted a WILD this morning :\

[NineInTheAfternoon]

Needless to say, it didn't work. I was probably asleep at about 1 AM, and my alarm woke me up at 5 AM (I wonder if my self-suggestions would have woken me up, but I set an alarm anyway to be sure ). I remembered a dream when I woke up, too bad I started my dream journal a bit earlier today and not at 5 AM this morning So that dream was gone. Anyway, I was laying there, meditating, keeping myself awake, thinking about lucid dreaming, counting back from 100 with "You're dreaming" in-between. I was probably in a bad position or something, because I found myself having to swallow every minute or so. It might have been because I was trying not to swallow, so my body made me do it. Do you think this had an effect on not being able to WILD? To continue...after about 45 minutes, my body was very stiff, and I assumed I was starting/was in SP. I felt mostly paralyzed in my hands/arms, not so much in my legs, and hardly at all in my chest and head. Is this normal? Or does SP slowly increase from there and I just needed to wait longer? After an hour, I thought I was making progress. I began to hear sounds, a brighter light in my eyelids. A question also here, if I do RC's while trying to WILD (like, holding my breath and trying to breathe), is that a bad thing? Something that will hinder my WILD attempt? Well, it eventually became too much for me, I thought I might have been in a dream, but not entirely likely... I opened my eyes and looked around. It turns out, the light was just the 6 AM sun coming up, and the noise was construction going on across the street. Can someone answer my questions, or have any tips for me? Another question, am I supposed to actually fall asleep? While in the (mostly) paralyzed state, I was trying to keep my mind active and focused on Lucid Dreaming. Then I realized that maybe I read something wrong, and that I was supposed to focus on Lucid Dreaming and fall asleep in this state. It's a long post, thanks to anyone who reads and responds

[Robot_Butler]

You do have to fall asleep to have a successful WILD. Lying in bed for hours trying to keep yourself awake will get you nowhere. The idea is to keep a small part of your mind aware as you drift into sleep. Imagine just sitting in the back of your mind and watching yourself fall asleep. Let your attention drift a little every once and a while. Just be sure to bring it back to a simple mental excercise so you don't let yourself lose consciousness completely.

[NineInTheAfternoon]

You do have to fall asleep to have a successful WILD. Lying in bed for hours trying to keep yourself awake will get you nowhere. The idea is to keep a small part of your mind aware as you drift into sleep. Imagine just sitting in the back of your mind and watching yourself fall asleep. Let your attention drift a little every once and a while. Just be sure to bring it back to a simple mental excercise so you don't let yourself lose consciousness completely. Thank you for the response Yes, now that I look at it, I'm probably not going to get much dreaming done while I'm awake XD So basically, you're falling asleep while conscious enough to enter as a lucid dream? I don't completely understand the transition, but I'll try to. You want to do exercises to remain conscious, but not try to stay awake, right?

[Jeff777]

Nine, it doesn't sound like you did anything "wrong" per se, however ninja is right...you ARE supposed to fall asleep. Trying to keep yourself awake kinda defeated the process. The main thing that chips away at WILD's being hard is diligent persistence. Be flexible in your approaches and learn of your body and mind in the process. One of the best things about WILD'ing in my opinion is that I learn more about my mind and my body during the relaxation process, than in a WILD itself. Keep chipping away Night, and good luck.