First timer - can you help me comprehend what happened?

Hey all!

I’ve been following the forums for a while now, and spontaneously decided last night that I would attempt my first LD, using the WILD technique (however IMMEDIATELY as I went to bed - not following any REM cycle).

It was about 4am in the morning, and I set out to lay on my back with eyes closed.
I plugged in my ipod headphones, with indie-folk and indie-expiermental quietly playing through my ear.

I kept a steady breathing pace, and counted 1 on the inhale and said “I will be dreaming” on the exhale. I continued this for what I would imagine to be anywhere between 40 - 70 minutes.

I felt images forming, and I felt myself putting too much thought into some of them, so I would try and let go of that and veer back to the overall state.

At one point I felt the vibrations that I have read occur, but it was initiated by a ‘slap to the face’ type feeling. Which i’m not sure, but may have made me more conscious?

When i had itches, I was able to ‘move them’ by thinking of them being in a different position on my body, which consequently allowed me to move past them being real. One problem i DID have, was having to swallow my saliva from time to time. Despite having my tongue firmly placed in the lower half of my mouth, it didn’t seem to help.

After a while I had this intense feeling of zooming in into light.
Kind of like in a roller coaster, as you are about to drop, and I felt as if I was moving forward. This was so intense however, that it led to opening my eyes.
I immediately did a RC , checking my hands and flicking the light - and alas I was wide awake.

And that was that.
Please let me know what I am doing wrong, or what I may have fixed?
I know I haven’t prepped myself properly yet, as this was a solely spontaneous decision, but I think for the first time I still achieved more than I ever though I would.

Can you help me comprehend what happened?
What is the next step?
What feeling should I be feeling?

I apologize if I sound like total noob, but any and all help would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

-Krzysztof

welcome :wave:

You had some good results there! I think you’re just a little practice away from success. Try it a few more times and just relax and passively observe anything you experience, the dream should form by itself.

The saliva problem is pretty common. Focussing too much attention on it is much more of a problem than the swallowing itself, though. So if you really need to swallow, gently do so and forget about it.

Few people get as far as you did on their first try, so don’t give up! :content: and feel free to ask any questions you have, there’s no such thing as a noob :tongue: everyone starts at the beginning, right? :cool:

thank you very much for you prompt response!

i think with a little practice i can steer away from putting too much thought into the saliva.

however how would you recommend maintaining my eyes closed, as apposed to bailing and opening them? is this some sort of false awakening?

furthermore, does anyone know if after that a WILD can still occur? or is all hope lost and i should just go back to sleep?

sorry for dropping so many questions! :smile:

/\ quoting you. ( If I press the quote button my screen jumps around crazily when I type)

You don’t need to keep your eyes closed.
I have had sucess with this technique. When I wake up in the night I close my eyes and count to a 100 if I forget counting I go back to where I last remembered. You should feel yourself falling and that hard to decribe that feeling you get when falling asleep. When you get to 100 open your eyes and sit up and do an rc. You should be in a dream.

Tried this last night but with little luck.

I was able to get past the saliva ordeal, but as soon as I was hit by that intense falling asleep, I was imagining either floating off my bed or sinking into it, but both times felt my muscles tensing up so much, that I was unable to direct my attention from it without going back to square one.

Any advice on how to stay relaxed and continue on past this vibrating muscle tensing?

Hello, welcome to the forum.
The saliva problem is a common one.

Yes, you should learn to ignore it, however, there is something that helps, too.
Lying on your stomach helps.

It was all HH, and the best way to deal with it is ignoring.
It may take some practice, tho.

Breathing and not moving should keep you relaxed, and focusing on the imagery (but not too much) should keep you awake.

I use hypnosis to relax, it is very effective.
But I almost never try WILD.

Oh, and your last post is unfinished.

Good luck anyway :tongue:

ive had problems before with this, but after finding a master of this on the internet (guys a freakin pro, over 5000 lucid dreams and counting) who was willing to share information, hes come up with several ways of getting past all of those blocks.

1: keeping your muscles from tensing too much.
muscle tensing is normal during the period of time when you switch from the wake-asleep threshhold, since your going from awake directly into a sleeping state, your muscles tend to spazz out occasionally.

ways to fix this:
1: purple stuff.
purple stuff is a drink that is not sold in most stores, but you caqn buy it online in jugs, its used as a cure for hyperness, or even people with minor turrets use it to stop certain actions they do unintentionally.
this can also be used to calm yourself to stop muscle tensing during WSP.

2: stretch.
before you go to sleep, you can stretch to relax your muscles, i find this works better than the purple stuff, mainly becouse if you count on purple stuff too much, when you dont have it, you might not be able to even have a lucid dream becouse you cant relax.
these stretches dont have to be that complicated, just something that helps you relax.

now, ive heard people talking alot about having problems with swallowing, the thing is, it actually triggers muscles that trick your body into staying awake. (WSP is actually a way to convince your body that your mind has fallen asleep, in turn making it fall asleep, if you move your muscles, the body will wake up.)

ways to fix this:
simply dont think about it.
if you think about swallowing, you’ll do it.
its as simple as that.
this may take some getting used to, becouse if you think about not thinking about it, you’ll think about it making you do it.
gets pretty complicated if you think too deeply into it.

now, these vibrations are commonly misinterpreted as “normal” when lucid dreaming
heres the thing, what your doing is not just lucid dreaming.
people dont talk about this alot, becouse this vibration process is actually only related to WILD’s and O.B.E.'s, and personally i think O.B.E.'s are alot cooler, becouse they put you in a lot more focused state, and their even more vivid than lucid dreams.
this vibration process is a reaction that occurs when your “astral” body seperates from your physical form, wich pretty much means your getting into an O.B.E.
the MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do during this, is RELAX.
these vibrations, especially during the first time, will get stronger, and stronger, until your entire spine goes rigid.
not only will you feel intense vibrations, but after a little while you’ll start to hear buzzing noises, like your being attacked by bees.
this might even scare you a bit, becouse you cant move during this entire period of time, but once you reach this stage, your almost there.

now, even i have this little eye movement problem.
during lucid dreams, your eyes wont remain closed, unless you FORGET about them.
before you go to sleep, just to help this problem, close your eyes, and roll them around in wide circles, start rolling them clockwise 5 times, and then counter-clockwise 5 times, in wide circles, as far as they can go, but not enough to hurt.
this will keep your eyes shut, but this is only a temporary fix.
what you need to do is escape from your eyes.
remain imagining, dont focus on whats behind your eyes, focus on whats in your mind, what your imagining.
after a while of this, you will completely forget about your eyes.
therefore, they wont open unless you actually try to open them.

after this, keep going with your normal routine, and once you start feeling the vibrations, and keep relaxing, after a few minutes everything will stop.

no vibrations.

no buzzing.

after this, your lucid.
but you have to make sure!
you cant simply get up, becouse if your not actually lucid, youll have to start all over again.
this process is actually alot simpler, all you have to do is imagine yourself falling through your bed, like something really heavy is on top of you.
if you feel yourself falling down, this is good.
then, just to be sure, imagine yourself rotating clockwise.
like someones turning you around like a wheel.
if you feel yourself going to the left, then your good!
your in your dream.
if you open your eyes and see your bedroom, this is normal.
from a transition for your physical bedroom, your body doesnt recognize ever falling asleep, therefore, your still in your bedrrom.
just in a dream at the same time :grin:

well, that was a long post, but im still not done.
there is a slight chance of this happening once you wake up from lala-land, you might not actually be able to move.
at all.
not even scream.
this is a rare occurence, but its not permanent.
but your still in a semi-dream state.
your dreams will flow into your sight, but only FEAR will escape the confines of your mind.
let me explain a bit more, if this rare occurence is to happen, you will wake up.
you will try to move.
but you cant.
you try harder, your body fights you even more.
all of a sudden, a black shadow starts to flow from your door.
the most frightening thing you have ever seen will come out from the door, and most likely walk slowly torwards you with either a weapon, or maybe it has claws, and wants to rip your face off, either way, its going to scare the living **** out of you.
after a minute or two, your body will give way, and you will jump up, and the vision will be gone, these things are your own personal demons, everyone has thier own special ones sleeping within the confines of thier mind, but dont worry, they cant actually kill you.

anyways, good luck, and sorry for the long freaking post, had alot to explain.

Wow thanks for that long and in-depth response!
What other information did this fellow manage to pass onto you?
It sounds like he’s very knowledgeable in this field.
Mind sharing?

you can email him at support@lucidology.com

im pretty sure thats his email.