Okay this might sound a bit crazy but I'll try to describe in best detail what I did but first some background information. I found out about the website about 5 days ago and haven't had a WILD but one DILD. I had never experienced sleep paralysis or anything of the sort. Honestly, i haven't gotten anywhere close to a WILD except last night. Anyways heres my story.

To be exact I consumed a small mcdonalds coffee about 5 hours before going to sleep. I think it was an iced mocha. When I go to sleep, I proceed as normal to have a WILD. At first I was just relaxing, counting, the normal stuff. An image here and there of some desert land. Eventually I was just about to quit and try to go to sleep in the same position that I was because I was tired anyways and thats when it struck me. I wasn't able to because of the coffee no matter how relaxed I was. Knowing that my mind wouldn't fall asleep, I tried relaxing as much as possible and it was amazing. I had total control of my body, I was barely swallowing almost no saliva excretion and then was when it happened. It's hard to describe but it felt to me like a surge of energy starting at my feet and ending at my thighs. I knew instantly that it was sleep paralysis, it was the first time it had happened and I was really excited but I knew I had to keep calm. One strange part was that the sleep paralysis did not reach my arms, only my legs. There was a significant difference between the feelings in my arms in legs. My legs felt like they only went up to my thighs and my arms merely just felt heavy. So I continued, drifting into uncharted territory. I kept counting and I became so relaxed that my breaths were extremely short. Then came the fun part that I thought was impossible until I experienced it. I started seeing images, but they started becoming faster and faster. I'd see one for a second and then I would be seeing another. Every breath I took I felt myself falling and it was amazing. It was like a slide show but so quick that it was more similar to a video. I was never able to actually go into the dream though. I think it was most likely the caffeine because I gave up the attempt and wasn't able to go to bed normally for 2 hours after that. Not really a fun night but the experience was amazing. So here is my hypothesis

CAFFEINE! Useful to keep your mind awake to advance to the end stages of a WILD but not enter your dream.

This would be useful for people who have never experienced sleep paralysis and/or the fast images.

My theory is that the caffeine keeps you alert so that you don't doze off. The way I personally went as far as I got was just thinking, Screw this I'm sleeping, and relaxing as much as I could despite being unable to fall asleep but still drifting farther into my conscious. I'm willing to give it another attempts with the caffeine because if it does work in that sense, it would be useful in giving first time WILDers the sense of relaxation required and the experiences of sleep paralysis and seeing the images or hallucinations.