Is my SP normal? Feeling paralyzed in dream.

I tried WILDing for the third time today and I was successful in having a lucid dream!! But getting there was rather weird. The second time i tried to WILD was pretty scary, which is why I stopped. My SP goes something like this: I feel my body going paralyzed in a throbbing matter. It is not a steady feeling of being paralyzed but it goes back and forth and I feel pressure in my ears a lot. However, i ignored all of that in my attempt today. But then when i thought i was already in the dream world i could not moved. It felt like i was paralyzed in the dream. Is that normal?

I used to struggle a lot with that last year. It doesn't actually have anything to do with sleep paralysis, though. It's just a common difficulty that will go away as you get better at stabilization and dream control. In the beginning I got around it by letting myself slide or fall out of bed in the dream, but later I found a much more effective way, which was to find something - anything - in the dream to focus on. If you find yourself lying in bed, try rubbing the mattress with your fingertips. If you can't move at all, look at the structure in the wall next to you. Just find something and explore it with as many senses as you can. That will bring your focus into the dream, and you will be able to move about freely.

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Originally Posted by Sibyline

I used to struggle a lot with that last year. It doesn't actually have anything to do with sleep paralysis, though. It's just a common difficulty that will go away as you get better at stabilization and dream control. In the beginning I got around it by letting myself slide or fall out of bed in the dream, but later I found a much more effective way, which was to find something - anything - in the dream to focus on. If you find yourself lying in bed, try rubbing the mattress with your fingertips. If you can't move at all, look at the structure in the wall next to you. Just find something and explore it with as many senses as you can. That will bring your focus into the dream, and you will be able to move about freely.

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Okay awesome. I tried your method and it worked perfectly. Also I have a question, as I become better at it, do my dreams become more vivid? Because while I am in the WILD, it feels real but when I get out of it I realize how blurry it actually was. I end up not remembering every detail, just about 60%. Is that normal at first?

I think so. But I have been WILDing since forever, so I will let someone else answer the question about beginners. I can say, though, that dreams vary a lot for me in how vivid they are. At the beginning they are sometimes a bit blurry, but that improves as I immerse myself in the dream. But some dreams, especially WILDs, seem to be in super HD quality. I always find in fascinating when it happens, but I'm not sure what sets it off.

As for dream recall, that is a discipline in itself. I am aware that my general dream recall is lousy, so when I'm in a lucid dream, I'm always afraid that I will forget what happened. I have found a workaround for this. Whenever something has happened it the dream that I want to remember, I do a little recap, either by telling a DC what just happened, or just repeating it to myself. That works really well for me.

Anyway, I'm happy that it worked for you. WILDing can be a lot of fun. :)