How do you increase the duration of your Lucid Dream?

When I first started to LD, I never complained because the ones I had were long and fun. They sometimes lasted an hour it felt like. Nowadays, when i enter a lucid dream I have from seconds to minutes to get anything done. I have done every tech ive read, looking at my hands, looking at ground, talking outloud, paying attention to all senses, and a mix of many of them. The thing is none of them work very well and i cant stay in them. Usually when my spin alert goes up its too late, the second i lose any bit of the dream it all falls apart and its too late to spin. Do you think I should spin whenever I feel this uncertainty about my dreams at the start (usually at the very beggining i never spin and just try looking at ground or something). When is a good time to spin and also how is a good way to keep in dream for you?

I know what you mean. This was my biggest block when I started. What I did was just kept trying to LD. After awhile with more experience, you will be able to keep the dream state going.

I’m also having difficulty extending length of LD, or waking up immediately. :confused:

3 things I am experimenting with

  1. spinning or rubbing hands - the first times I tried these they gave me FA, but I didn’t understand it. Last few times I tried, still woke up IRL.

  2. During MILD I am telling myself that when I become lucid, I will stay in the dream.

  3. I have changed the timing of my WBTB from 4:00 am to 2:30am. I hope that I am more tired at this time and will naturally stay in dream longer.

At least I am becoming lucid more frequently. :smile:

Now just have to extend length of LD.

Anyone have any other tips?

In fact I find this very useful. Rubbing hands schould keep you in the dream, which is fading out. even if it fails, you propably get a second chance with a false awakening.

why isn’t looking around mentioned? Just look around everywhere, from left to right, top to buttom, at things near and far… This should prevent your REM from stopping.

another technique is not looking at the ground, but touching it! or walls or other things!

my own favourite is combining rubbing hands and looking around. I do this almost automaticly!
I even got lucid by that! HOW? It was just a normal dream and it started to fade out, the dream coming to an end. Just like some automatic reaction I started to rub my hands and look around, which stabilized the dream and then I thought “hey, okay, this is a dream, otherwise it would not make any sense what just happened” :grin:

well the only advise I could give is keep at it, its not like one day your going to stop getting lucid dreams, so there is no rush! so don’t get too annoyed with it. I have been doing it for over 10yrs and I am still not perfect but it took me a long time to get used to it. I still go through phases when I just can’t do it, but its really depends on how much you want it. I enjoy at times but sometimes I get little motivation as my waking life can be quite exciting.
I suppose if you are couscious of most of your actions during the day then you will be more likely to aware of your dreams at night, as sleeping is there for your body and your brain to catch up on the days events.

SuibaRher thanks for the suggestions.

Samzen, your suggestion of patience is also helpful. You say you have had LDs for 10 years!

I would like to hear from you, and other experienced LDers what changes you noticed over the years?

Do you LDs become more frequent? Are they longer, more vivid? Do you have more control? I’m curious :confused: