Inexplicable eye twitching

Last night when i was going to sleep and practicing the MILD technique as layed out by Dr. Laberge, my eyes began twitching very rapily but I was still very much awake. I opened them to peer at the clock on my vcr (the letters and numbers were stable) and closed them again. Immediately the twitching began again but eventually began to fade. It’s taken me several hours the past few nights to fall asleep, so over the course of the next hour and a half or so they began to twitch several more times but not as rapidly or intense as the first time. Does anyone know what the hell that was?

Also, in practicing the MILD technique, right before I fall asleep I get this sensation that starts in my neck and upper body and begins to spread, but I can’t calm myself enough to let it continue. My heart begins to race and my breathing becomes deeper. Does anyone have any suggestions to calm? Thanks… :content:

Sounds a lot like the experiences that people have when they are attempting to have a wake-initiated lucid dream, which is basically what a MILD is if carried out long enough. Remember also that when you are normally dreaming in REM sleep, REM stands for rapid eye movement, which is what you are describing. Howver, it seems strange that your senses were still “conected” enough for you to experience this. Perhaps you have managed to bring your body to a sort of sleepwalking lucidity (potentially extremely dangerous) as I mentioned in another one of my posts. If you haven’t found this text file yet, thanks to DJem most of your questions can be answered here: home.no/lucid/ld-faq.txt

Here’s another possibility: I have eye twitches when I’m stressed and tired, i.e. when I’m working a lot. Combined with your heart and breath thing, i’d say you could be displaying sympoms of stress. Just a possibility. They’re also classic symptoms of several drugs, but I guess you’d have mentioned that, right?

Those seem to be definite possibilities, monkfish. I was thinking more on the side of something created by the mind rather than the body, however. If very tired, muscle spasms are fairly common…

I had eye twicthing for about a week and a half, Its stopped about two days ago. I haven’t tried any techniques for LDs, and it was as frequent or as long as yours. Mine lasted 3 seconds and only happened maybe 5 times a day. When I asked my dad about it he suggested to get more potassium in your diet and getting more sleep. However, i had enough potassium in my diet and was sleep from 12 midnight to 9 am. So mine were unexplained also.

Last night I smoked a little bit about an hour and a half before I went to bed. So i was pretty tired when I went to sleep, but definitely not from lack of sleep or anything. The effects of the marijuana had mostly faded by the time my head hit the pillow anyway.
The eye twitching occured again almost immediately but did not last as long or happen as many times. The rush that I have experienced the past three nights happened only once for a short period of time shortly after lying down. I continued the technique as before and could conciously feel myself falling into a deeper and deeper sleep. This was followed by a numbing of the hands and arms. Mostly in the right arm. After a while I became frustrated because it seemed as if I came to a plateau and could go no further. I was so frustrated that I almost decided to stop repeating the “mantra” in my head just for the sake of sleep, but I decided that I shouldn’t stop just so I would know that I had made the best effort that I could.
I had no recollection of any dreams or even dream fragments this morning. But then again, i guess weed will do that kind of thing to you.
Also i used to smoke weed quite regularly but since i have been pursuing lucid dreams it is a very rare occurence. As for stress i really don’t see how that could be a possibility. I don’t have a lot of responsibilites during the summer which I guess is why I find that I have so much time to devote to lucid dreams (the pursuit of…).

p.s.- i guess it is worth mentioning that these twitches always came when the hypnagogic images were most vivid.

In that case, it sounds like you are just describing a stage of WILD.