First Attempts, and some questions! Long Post!

Hey there everyone! Nice to meet you!

Right, I first heard about lucid dreaming about 3/4 days ago, and instantly thought “I’m going to do that”. I’ve been reading up a lot on it recently, and have been doing the reality checks and keeping a DJ (although I can remember 4/5 dreams a night anyway - but it’s interesting going back to them).

The last couple of nights I’ve been trying to do some MILD without much success, although a coupld of times, there have been situations in my dreams about LD’ing.

Now the questions, last night I was going to lying in bed thinking “When I next dream, I will remember I’m dreaming”. I did this for 5 minutes or so, but started to realize that I was very relaxed and was seeing what I thought might be HI. I wasn’t going to try WILD at all, but I gave it a go anyway.

The experience:
I was aware of swirling patterns infront of my eyes for a while, and jsut watched them, not really thinking about anything. They soon dissapeared and my body felt heavy, kind of falling throught the bed, that only lasted a minute or so, but after that I couldn’t feel my arms at all, or move them. I couldn’t even remember where they were. After about 10 minutes or so of lying there, my heart rate and breathing shot up for no reason for a couple of minutes. I’m still conscious, just letting mind wander, not really thinking about anything at all - I’ve got no images appearing, or thoughts flowing.
I’m sure my eyes started twiching for a while, but nothing really happened. After 20-25 minutes, I seemed to lose everything and just found myself lying on my bed (having not realised that I had forgotton).

Questions:
What was that?
Should I have been thinking about things, images or whatever, as throughout it was just blackness.
Are there any other stages of whatever I was going through?
I didn’t really see any definite shapes or hear any sounds during HI. Is that ok?
Oh, and I didn’t do any counting or focusing on my breathing? Is that important? I also occasional thought about what I was doing, ie maybe going to LD - would this have affected anything?

Cheers for your time, and thanks for any replies, I realise this is a long post, but it’s the first time I’ve put it all into words - even if it’s nothing, it was a crazy experience, that I won’t forget in a long time.

Zilon.

You have just described exactly what happens to me in WILD. From what I know, those feelings are normal physiological body functions that normally occur when you are asleep, but because you are entering REM, you experience them.

Not being able to feel your arms or move them is Sleep Paralysis kicking in, don’t worry, its completely natural and safe.

My heart rate accelerated too, and after a while my eyes start twitching like mad. I thought this might be associated with Raping Eye Movements, but I don’t think it is, as you enter the REM stage at a single instance.

No, you should try not to think about anything.
Its fine if you don’t see definate shapes or hear sounds. I haven’t gotten to a stage where I could see shapes in my HI, many people don’t. Sounds are very uncommon for me.

You don’t need to focus on your breathing or count, but it is a technique and it works, try only doing one though.

I haven’t had a successful WILD, but I have gotten to these stages and felt the things you felt. I think we are close.

Good Luck!

Slinger

Cheers for the help and advice!

Have you had a LD then, and if so, what method did you use?

A couple more questions, why were my eyes flickering, and how many more “stages” would there be before I fell asleep?

And one more question (I’m full of them today), how much more effective is it if you do it after you’ve woken up, rather than when you first go to sleep?

I think I’ll stick with MILD and RC for now, seeing as I wasn’t going to bother with WILD, but it’s good to know what it’s like, if I ever do decide to try it again.

Yep, I have had one. I think it was just autosuggestion, though I didn’t really intend for it to happen. I mean, I didn’t put much effort into telling myself I would have one that night.

I really don’t know about the eyes flickering. It must be some physioligical process, I don’t know what its purpose could be. I’m not sure how many more “stages” there are. Hopefully you or I can find out.

From personal experience, I’m not sure because I havent done alot of WBTB. Almost everyone who has tried WBTB says that it is significantly more effective.

Good Luck! That was my plan, but I am terrible with RCs.

Slinger

Heh, cheers!

How long have you been trying to get a LD?

Hoom, might have to try some WBTB, although I’m not that fussed on the idea - I like sleep to much :smile:.

I have been trying for about a month. I have only had one LD, but I also havent beein doing RCs or trying to hard. I hope to start trying harder.

Heh, yes, I hate waking up for WBTB. I just go back to bed after the alarm sounds :content:

LOL “Raping” Eye Movements? :razz:
Slinger I hope to God that’s a typo and not an actual condition.

Zilon Congrats on getting as far as you did on your WILD , nothing ever seems to happen for me. The few LDs that I’ve had were a result of WBTB method and it worked pretty well.

Except you guys are right it’s tough to actually wake up instead of just rolling over and going back to bed. Unfortunately it seems like the only option for me.

Oh well, I’ll just practice WILD some more.

AHHH! WOOPS!!! That was a little off…Anyways…I meant Rapid Eye Movements
:shy: