First Near-Successful WILD attempt - Advice!

Ok well I've attempted my first WILD, and personally I'm kind of proud with what I achieved; I got through more than I thought. I have a few questions though. I performed this before going to bed in the night, which despite being harder, I still tried. I'll start by describing my experience:

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I started in a simple position laying on my back with arms by my side, and essentially just lay there waiting for the onset of SP. Not long after being relaxed, I decided to do some breathing exercises, counting, inhaling and exhaling. After what didn't seem to be too long, I got the occasional tingling feeling (especially in my right hand) until it spread along my whole body like electricity. It was a curious feeling, not entirely dis-pleasant, but somewhat frightening. This seemed to linger for a little more, and I had to struggle to keep myself from smiling - I thought I had perhaps reached SP. However, without ever experiencing it before, it was difficult to tell. And as I had not yet moved, I was not going to risk moving and therefore disrupting my journey to SP in order to test if I really was paralysed. Still, after the tingling I felt my body start to vibrate too, almost swaying in my bed, like someone was rocking it. Throughout the most of the rest of the process, particularly in the 61-point technique, I felt small parts of this tingling sensation, before it usually faded away. Perhaps I focused on it too much?

However this soon faded and I felt almost as I did when I begun, except my body felt quite heavier, and my eyes were watering as they are prone to. Expecting some hypnagogic imagery or some form of 'stimulation', I guess, I attempted to be aware without focusing TOO intently. Still, there was hardly any, excluding the occasional dull light at some parts of my eye I'm not even sure I can't just attribute to my desire to want to see something. When my mind started to wander though, I adopted a variation of the 61-point relaxation technique (I think I finished at 66...) and was totally relaxed. However, nothing happened soon after, and as my mental state seemed hardly different to the initial stages I thought I may of failed.

After that though, while my real body's position seemed hard for my body to determine, I sort of tried to think of a previous dream I had with a dog and my friend in my backyard, and visualised moving. I sort of thought of my hand moving side to side in a wave motion, for example, and practically felt it. But it seemed to take full concentration, and I was still aware of the blackness of my eyes, or rather, position in the worldly room. A little frustrated I started counting my breaths again, but after a few creaks of the wall that seemed to jolt me a little, I couldn't focus, and tried to pull out of it to attempt another night.
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I'm just wondering if anyone can offer any tips for my future WILDing experiences. Is there anything I should focus more/less on? Anything else I should do? Any other general advice? And what I experienced, was it actual Sleep Paralysis? At later stages, during my frustration, I noticed the feel of some of the real world against my fingers and sensed I was coming out of it; had I tried to take too much conscious control of myself? I'm scared if I let go more I'll end up unconscious. How close was I to actual dream transition, though?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, and I thankyou in advance. I think I'm also going to wear earplugs from now on, and attempt the sequence later on in my dream cycle.

It sounds like you were in SP, or at least very close. Possibly just short of actual full paralysis, not sure as I haven't had it myself yet.

The only thing I can think of would be (and I've only read about this) - when you were feeling heavy after experiencing the tingling, try to feel yourself spinning or rolling or sliding down through your bed as if falling right through it. Focusing on the sensation of physical feeling is supposed to help transition you through to the dreaming state.

I'll just leave it at that since I can't speak from experience on it.

Ah thanks Darkmatters.. yeah I did at one stage, as I read people experience different things during transition such as speeding towards a dream or falling through their bed, and focused on it a little, but sort of as a sub-priority. I assume if I paid more attention that most likely would of helped.

Oh I forgot to mention when the first large wave of 'electricty' washed over me, my breathing became much deeper and my heart raced...would that of contributed to the detachment from it? It was sort of an unfamiliar experience, so I was just wondering.

This is typical of my WILD attempts. What I do is I slow down my breathing radically. Then I diminish the amount of air I breathe. I delay inhaling until absolutely necessary with no tension, I always wait a few seconds after I think I need to breathe before taking a small 'sip' of air. It gets so that I am barely breathing and my heart is very very slow. And all this concentration on breathing keeps my mind from wandering. It gets me soooo relaxed and no-minded that I can't feel my body.

I know what you mean by not knowing if you were in sleep paralysis or not. I never try to move in order to 'test' either. From this point I either start breathing naturally and try a visualization technique, either the 61 point one or a previous dream or something repetitive like climbing a spiral staircase up to heaven. then I bring the sense of hearing into it, like hearing my footsteps on the stairs.

I get those same body sensations. When your breathing becomes much deeper and your heart races, THAT is the point to jump through, IF you don't react mentally. Try to stay in a state of equanimity. Try to stay relaxed so that your heart does not race so much. If you remain committed to being UTTERLY relaxed instead of letting your heart race, you will notice that the blackness you see takes on a different dimension. There is a spacious depth to it, as if it extends to infinity, rather than ending at your closed eyelids. THIS is the gateway.
So if your heart races, you have probably missed. That is OK, I have passed the whole night before 'awake' and aware through different levels of relaxation. Keep practicing and you will have your first WILD either on purpose or even spontaneously. My first was spontaneous, as I was lying half-asleep I heard birds chirping outside my window, then it got very loud, as if I was in a jungle on ACID. But I was still awake. Then my body felt like I was on a roller coaster, then I figured I was dreaming so I sat up out of bed and tried to walk. I stood up and my legs didn't work and I landed on the floor. I looked back and saw myself still sleeping in bed. So I crawled back into bed and I was still in the same position of sleeping there, and I tried again to get that loud birds chirping. But to no avail. But I got it now so 1 out of every 5 times I try to WILD it is successful, even if I have to try all night. Even if I try all night I still feel like I slept very well in the morning.

Good Insight Dannon.

Here is what I believe your problem is. You do it at night. You even said yourself that you do. REM is required for Lucid Dreaming. If you try to do this at night, the chances of you having REM are like 1/100... experienced LD'ers can sometimes make this work, but you will not. Congratulations on getting into SP though.. The next step is entering the LD.. but it will not happen if the mind is not ready for REM, thats why SP faded and you failed... try these same steps during a wake back to bed and if you have the same kind of commitment, it is very likely to work.

Gary

Thanks Dannon, I think thats gonna help me alot...I just have to keep practising I guess :D Unfortunately I've been on a holiday in circumstances where I haven't been able to try it properly, but when time permits I'll get right back into it! Appreciate the advice!

And thanks too, atkins513/Gary :D Yeah, I know I should, but I definitely will now haha..

Thanks guys :D