I've been in LD "training" for just over a week now, working on becoming more aware in WL, doing LaBerge reflection/intention, RCing a lot during the day, and setting intention for dream recall at bedtime.   I've been shooting for starting MILD once I get enough DJ entries and start doing well on the LaBerge prospective memory exercises.    I've journaled successfully dreams from one or more dream periods every night once I started to intend to recall, some with a lot of detail.

Yesterday I read about SSILD 2.0 here and decided to give it a try if I woke up in the middle of the night.   I went to sleep last night with the usual intention to wake up and remember my dreams completely.    I went to bed around 00:00 and woke up around 04:00, I didn't move upon waking [normally I toss for a bit before remembering I should stay still] and recalled a few scenes and jotted down keywords in my journal.  Then I decided the time was right to try SSILD, so I got up, went to the bathroom, rinsed out my mouth, and got back in to bed.  I was out of bed for no more than about 3 minutes but felt very awake so I didn't want to stay out of bed any longer.    I did the cycles, first about 6 quick ones then about 4 slow ones, and tried going to sleep.  During the cycles I felt fairly relaxed but didn't feel at risk of falling asleep. After the cycles, I was highly alert and awake still.  Several times I tried changing positions, doing a few more cycles, and so forth, but I just remained incredibly alert and awake.  I periodically performed RCs several times (not too frequently to wake me up more) to make sure I wasn't in FA.   I eventually noted the time at about 0600, still very awake.    I did not do any relaxation (61 point or tense-relax) because the SSILD guide mentions not to do any other techniques since they can interfere (does this also include relaxation techniques?).

I finally drifted off to sleep at some time and woke at 0800, thinking I had no recall but eventually recalling a few short  scenes from the morning dream period but knowing I had forgotten a lot.   Normally (in the last week since I started spending effort on recall) my recall is best from the last morning period so that's sort of frustrating.

Maybe WBTB based systems are not good for me -- I generally fall asleep quickly at bed time but if I wake and become alert during the middle of the night I can have trouble getting back to sleep until very late morning (like happened here).   Although I will note that in the last week I've woken several times around 4-5am to do a quick journal and had no trouble going back to sleep.   Any mental activity that's not relaxation focused tends to keep me up, as seemed to happen with SSILD.

Or maybe I just had "one of those nights."  

Another possibility is that two days ago I've  moved from a vacation-environment (not working, in nature, dark nights, very quiet, fresh cool/cold air, no bed partner) back to city life (working at office job, street lights partially illuminate room, noisy cars on street outside, stuffier warmer  room air, bed partner whom I'm trying not to bother when I wake and journal).  I'm using ear plugs for the noise but I think I'll get a sleep mask to cut out the extra light.

Anyway, I think I'll stick with my LaBerge program as it makes a lot of sense to me and doesn't actually seem all that "difficult."   Exercising prospective memory seems like a highly valuable approach.  I thought SSILD sounded "too good to be true" and for me it looks like it is.   Mabye that's premature and it will change down the road, we'll see.

I'm very interested to hear any comments/suggestions!

thanks!
          Current LD goal(s): Increase LD frequency