Last night I tried to WILD for the first time, and the results were… interesting. I didn’t use WBTB- I just read a book for 30 minutes before bed to relax and then started meditating on my back. It took a while but I started getting numb and losing track of where my limbs were, and my eyes started twitching randomly, and I started getting weird sensations like the surface I was sleeping on rotating around in space, and I knew that REM paralysis had set in. There were no pretty lights or images though, just darkness. At this point I got really excited because I didn’t think I would manage it on the first time, and my heart started beating really fast. That was probably one of my mistakes. Then I remembered that I had to imagine my dream, so I tried to imagine the beach world I had planned. But it seemed really far away, and whenever I got close I would start swimming out and eventually end up alone in the deep ocean, which I’m really terrified of. I tried to rewind back to sitting on the beach a few times, but I always ended up in the deep ocean. Eventually I just gave up, but the reality was no better. I was trapped in my own body with sleep paralysis, and I couldn’t call for help. After realizing that I kind of just panicked, and my heart started beating even faster. I didn’t try to move or open my eyes though, because I had heard stories about sleep paralysis and they were not fun. Eventually, though, I had had enough and I tried moving a finger. That spread an amazing sense of relief through my body and I was free, and also drenched with sweat. That should have deterred me from ever WILDing again, but I still want to keep trying. I’m afraid, though, that the memory of that experience will keep me from relaxing enough. Any tips?
Hello geegeegee5,
If this attempt was really your first, then you were awesomely good and got very far there.
Most members around here would suggest you to stay away from WILD until you manage to get your fears and excitements under control when having LDs, since DILD-type LDs are statistically easier to achieve.
If you really want to keep trying, which is also interesting, you really need to get these fears under control. Being scared of SP just makes it worse. I cannot prove it’s 100% safe, but as far as I know, it doesn’t cause any harm when you aren’t scared.
Getting out of SP is easy, you can find several texts around here about it. For instance, you can simply wait for it go to away, change your breathing speed abruptly, i.e. hold your breath and then fill your lungs very fast. Most people can open their jaws and it also breaks SP.
Remember assure yourself that it’s not dangerous to get into SP. It’s probably as scary as you expect from it.
Yeah, I will probably stay away from WILD for a little bit and try SSILD until I can get my excitement under control. I have been reading up about sleep paralysis a little bit, and it does seem like often times is really isn’t as scary as some make it out to be. It turns out I actually used one of the common escape methods in wiggling a finger even though I didn’t know it, so that’s pretty cool. Anyway, thanks for the advice!
Just be glad you didn’t get monsters in your first SP like I did, heh. But that’s no reason to stop trying. You might have a knack for WILD, so keep trying and don’t be afraid of what you know are hallucinations.
That said, my WILDs, the few times I got them, went smoothly. I don’'t have to visualise anything, just get through the buzzing and vibrations until I hear a loud pop and there I am, in my room in the LD, seeing things with 20/20 eyesight and fully cognizant from the start.
[color=blue]Jeez, for a first attempt you went really far! It took me almost 5 times to get to the eye-flicking part. You, sir, are very lucky.
As for the frightening experience, that was your own excitement. Remember, if you believe something will happen, it will. When you were attempting to visualize your beach scene, you should have tried (yeah, I know, kind of hard for a first-timer) to “let go” the excitement. Usually, first timers often wake up due to excitement, lack of patience, or other common errors.
However, it’s perfectly fine if you want to try another technique. Try one that fits you best-they’re different for everyone!
Good luck!
-The Professor[/color]