My first attempt with WBTB+WILD. How close did I get?

Quest for Lucidity
1

All day yesterday I had been doing the hands RC. I probably did it at least 30 times. I read the wikibook, read various websites, and learned pretty much all I could possibly find on the internet about LD for a lot of the day. At about 1:00-1:30 am, I went to bed. I attempted autosuggestion. I told myself firmly and (as far as I could tell) believed it when I told myself, “In 5 hours I will realize I’m dreaming.”

I feel asleep after a while. I woke up shortly after (it was extremely hot.) It had only been an hour. I vaguely remembered a piece of a dream though. I went back to sleep, and this time woke up at 10:00 am. No such luck on the autosuggestion, however I did have two dreams to put in my Dream Journal. I had planned on doing the WBTB earlier than that, but my alarm didn’t work. Oh well.

I begin doing WILD. Shortly after I can feel a tingly sensation in my hands and my legs. I assume these are the faint beginnings of sleep paralysis. I’m counting to myself 1 I’m dreaming 2 I’m dreaming, etc. The tingling intensifies a bit after a while. I’m looking for any HI I might see, and I could see a star-like figure after some time. I try to focus on it, but all the while my family is making an extremely freakin ridiculous amount of noise downstairs, so this is making the entire experience very difficult to maintain. I tried to maintain my conscious thought but I don’t remember what happened before I then started hearing a fluttering, pulsating sound of some sort. I felt like I was being pulled, or perhaps trying to be pulled, into the blackness. (I don’t get much HI sigh) I go through and I’m standing in the blackness, but I don’t think I have much conscious thought at this point. I tried to lift an arm, but nothing. I thought to myself, of course, I must not be even near ready to jump through because there is no imagery.

I suddenly wake. I’m not sure why. I think back on what happened and thought “Damn, that must have been close.” I fall asleep normally, and a couple hours later with a pretty detailed dream, and a vague remembering of another.

So overall I think I may have gotten close, but no lucid dream for me yet. Although I did get 3 new entries for my Dream Journal, and a 4th fragment. Comments, criticism, advice is welcome :grin:

2

Well since its the weekend and I have lots of free time, I decided to try again with a nap. I’ve heard some people get their most frequent LDing during nap time, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I tried to WILD for about an hour, and got nowhere. I’m not sure what went wrong, but I didn’t get the tingly sensation, nor did I get any HI. I think once or twice I caught a fleeting glimpse of an eye, but thats it. :sad:

3

Sounds like you got very close. I understand that dreams sometimes don’t have images at the start, so it seems like from where you were, simply holding on would have worked.

Also, are you sure your awakening after that “pre-dream” wasn’t a false one? Did you try a reality check?

4

Well, I am not positive it wasn’t a false awakening, but I do not have any recollection of ever being lucid in a dream, so that would have been a first. I just went back to sleep anyhow, so I guess I don’t really know for sure. It definitely felt real though. I should have done a RC to be sure though :tongue: I will try again in the morning.

5

It sounds like you were very close. Some people don’t get visual HH, they get auditory or dream body sensations instead. It sounds like it’s you case. When you feel yourself being pulled, or something like that, it means you’re very close to a LD. Then you have to try to intensify those sensations, or try and roll out of your bed, stand up, etc.

6

Interesting, I think you may be right. I don’t seem to recall ever having any significant amount of HI. I tried autosuggestion again, telling myself that in my next dream, I will realize I am dreaming and become lucid. I must have repeated it at least 30 times. Autosuggestion must not be my thing, because that didn’t work again. Although I did tell myself also to wake up at 8 am, and I woke up naturally at like 6:30 am.

I remembered one ND, and put it in my journal. I then attempted to do WILD. I felt pretty relaxed, and after a bit my foot started to tingle, but nothing beyond that. I suppose I’ll just keep trying, from what I’ve read this is a difficult technique to master. After falling asleep normally again, I remembered another dream to put in my dream journal, but no lucidity. I think I’m getting closer though because instead of just remembering the whole thing like a movie, I remembered parts in which I was thinking things, more like I was actually there. My daily RCs haven’t seeped in yet, but it’s still only been two days.

7

Autosuggestion doesn’t work immediatly. You have to wait “a certain time” :wink: in order it works.

8

I’ll continue trying it. I think the reason it hasn’t worked may be due to the fact I’ve never (as far as I can recall) had a LD before, so I can’t just order my subconscious to have one, because it may not know exactly what it is yet. Either way I’ll keep trying that and WILD.

9

Update: I think I’m getting somewhere. I tried WILD again today. Nothing for a while, but then BAM my entire body feels like its pulsating. I knew that was it, and I could feel myself almost separating from my body, but I just got too excited. I tried not too, I kept telling myself to calm down, because I’ve read too many times how excitement can ruin it. My heart rate just shot up and it must have woken my body up. I was so close :meh:

10

I think too you’re getting somewhere. Your first steps in WILD are very encouraging. Some people can hardly WILD and it’s easy to know cause they have quite no results in their first attempts. It’s obviously not your case. :smile:

11

When you took a Nap and nothing happened, did you try to relax your body. I think the reason that after waking up, when you do a wild it works well is because your body is already relaxed.