I usually wake up in the middle of the night then I try to do WILD after. It takes me a while to feel anything, I count down from 100 saying, “100, I’m dreaming, 99, I’m dreaming…” And then I just say The next scene will be a dream. Last night was the first time anything happened. I heard something like spoons hitting together downstairs and then my whole body tensed up, and my heartbeat was fast, and I had trouble trying to slow down my breathing. I saw no lights before that, or objects. Does that happen after SP? The second time I heard birds singing loudly and I tensed up but not because I was scared or anything. I stopped both times because I had to swallow. Anything I was doing wrong and was that SP?
Well, it seems that your main problem is that you get tense. Try to calm down, do the WILD more naturally, without that much thought. You might even try to do it without counting. If you don’t activelly do anything (i.e. count, repeat mantras etc.) the proccess might be even easier and more quick. Try to control your emotions, keep your head calm and refrain from much thinking.
I’ve had problems with swallowing as well. Try not to focus on it and just let it happen naturally if you have to swallow, don’t let it distract you.