The Secret of Long Lucid Dreams

Lucid Adventures
1

We all know the feeling. One moment you’re in a fully engaged lucid dream, and the next, you begin to feel your real body lying in bed and slowly, bit by bit, your dream senses melt away like water slipping from desperately cupped hands. And you wish you could’ve a few minutes… no, a few mere seconds more to finish your adventure in the dream world.

I used to struggle with this too. Then, I discovered a technique so blatantly simple yet effective that my lucid dreams more than tripled in length. Where they used to last only a few minutes (if I was lucky) I found myself in consistent 20-minute long lucid dreams. Each dream seems to be increasing in length as I learn to better control my state of lucidity with this one easy method.

The technique is so simple and obvious that I can hardly take credit for it. I’m sure many others have figured it out just as I have; I am simply sharing it with those who do not yet know. It involves no fancy lucid pills, no counting, no jumping through fiery hoops. I cannot guarantee that it will work for everyone, but I do know that it worked for me. And when you think about it, it just makes sense. So, without further ado, here goes:

[color=indigo]The Technique
Think. Really think. When your lucid dream ends, which sense is the first to go? Your hearing? Your sight? Taste? Smell? For me (and I think for many others as well), it’s the sense of touch. By the time I realize that the dream is ending, my sense of touch is already gone. The other senses follow rapidly, and soon I am left with a last fleeting image fading into blackness.

So, with that in mind, the obvious way to effectively keep the dream from fading out is to consistently keep the sense of touch engaged. I found that the old method of rubbing my hands together worked alright, but who really wants to walk around constantly rubbing their hands together? An easier way is simply to ensure that you are always touching or holding onto something from the dream world. I found clasping my hands or holding onto any other part of myself (such as my arm, etc.) worked alright, but it is more effective to grasp a dream object.

It is important to be aware of whatever you’re touching as well. Constantly engaging and being aware of your sense of touch is like an anchor to the dream world. As soon as you forget to engage your sense of touch, you are in danger of the dream slipping out of grasp. But as long as you are aware of that sense, you are strongly linked to the dream and it will last virtually as long as you remember to keep holding on or until you are woken up.[/color]

I urge you to try it out. It worked extremely well for me. Again, I cannot take credit for this idea; I am simply sharing it with those who do not yet know. I hope it helped. My apologies for the novel. Good luck everyone and happy dreaming! :smile:

2

I gotta say, I absolutely agree with you.

And you’ll also notice that a lot of the prolongation techniques already focus on touch. Rubbing hands is a feeling, spinning around is a sensation, and interacting with the dream environment keeps you emotionally engaged with the dream world, sometimes physically too.
I’ve even suggested removing clothes as a means of control and stabilization because it would keep you aware of your dream body and rubbing your hands on another person as a means of prolonging LD sex.

While we’re on the topic of touch, emotional feelings go hand in hand. Keeping emotionally engaged can be just as important. I’d even go as far as to say it isn’t touch that’s the first to destabilize, but your emotional focus on the dream. Thinking about WL sensations too much can the cause touch to destabilize and so on.

Emotional control comes with practice though, so for those who want a more hands on approach, something they can do, a focus on touch would probably be more reliable. :smile:

3

This is amazing! I’m definitely trying it out.

4

For me, touch has often been the last to go. I have exploited this in chaining. I do think about using touch preemptively to prolong dreams, but like you said, one does not really want to go around rubbing one’s hands all the time. I once pricked my finger on a dart to reenter a dream. It was an effective, strong sensation. Jumping into a pool of water is good for livening things up, but not very convenient. Perhaps one should choose an anchor object based on its ability to create a strong sensation. An ice cube, a cigarette, a giant asian hornet.

5

I think this is a good thing to remember. In my longest lucid I was walking around sipping from a glass of water i held in my hand. Also another time, when the dream started to fade, I desperately held onto a door handle and was able to stay in the dream.

6

Assuredly this is a very good technique. I find that one thing which prolongs my LD’s quite well though is to look at my hands; to stare at them for a second and to see the contrast between them and the ground. But when that doesn’t work, as you said grabbing on to something is the best method. I often crouch down and grab onto the blades of grass (As I usually make a point of going outside as quickly as possible in my LD’s), start pulling on them and feeling them between my fingers. When I do that my lucidity skyrockets and everything is crystal clear for quite some time.

Thanks for this one, Gemini. :wink: