unable to remain Lucid in Dreams without waking up... help!

Quest for Lucidity
1

so I’ve been having this problem since I’ve had my first LD a few years back.

I’ve had more success with having OBEs than with LDs, but to make a long story short; I just got back into practicing specifically LDs, as they are a lot less scarier, and a lot more challenging for me to induce. my first LD in a while have been a few days ago, then the next one was last night.

1st LD-once I realized I was dreaming, everything went blurry, and then grey. this has happened to me before. once I realize i’m dreaming > greyness and i’m stuck in between a dream realm and my body, sort of like in some weird grey realm. so I wake up. i don’t get it. total time of LD-2 seconds.

2nd LD from last night-I became lucid and it was actually very vivid, which rarely happens. so i started focusing on what i was doing. I am in this room with a tv, so i say to self “i wanna find a Wii U and play it”. I dont have any consoles irl, atm… so i start looking for a controller. I look around, nothing. I find a drawer on which the tv is standing, there is 2. I open 1st drawer, empty, i accidentally pull it all the way out and it drops making noise that made me feel it was so REAL it was pretty cool. it was as real as if it was irl. then I open the second drawer and find a N64 controller. i take it in my hands. again, it feels so REAL in my hands. then i look underneath the drawers which is on a 4 legged stand and there is a PS2. i hate ps2 but i thought wth… may as well play it. it’s all dusty, as well as the ps2 in the corner, as i take it in my hands. and there is a tiny ps1 next to it. right when i was about to play it, i wake up. Total time of LD- 2-5 mins

so as you can see, my LDs don’t last. they usually are 2-30 secs. but this last one was the longest one i’ve had in a LOOOOONG time.

any tips on prolonging my LDs?

a few things I wanna add

  • I started keeping a DJ by writing down at least one dream per night in my tablet. (thank god no more physical journals as they take up space and collect dust). that’s a lot, considering I haven’t been writing them down at all besides my LDs/OBEs.
  • on both occasions I took 3 hour naps 5-6 hours BEFORE i went to bed at night to induce LDs
  • on both occasions I meditated before going to sleep (this was after the nap)
  • on both occasions i told myself I will induce a LD and that I’ll wake up every 5 dreams (credit > Seth from Dreams, and Projections of Consciousness) this actually worked, as on both occasions i’ve woken up 2-5 times every hour or so before I induced a LD, without any problem going back to sleep as I have a bad case of insomnia. i guess naps really help.

I am going to get back into every day meditation very soon, probably tonight, as I know that really helps to induce LDs/OBEs. but any other tips besides meditation, naps, and everything else I’ve been doing? why don’t my LDs ever last very long?? it got me very frustrated!

2

Part of what helps is practice. At first it is really easy to get excited by lucidity and you wake yourself up out of excitement. The other part is that you need to make sure to focus on your dream body. Rub your hands, slap your face, feel the wall, eat something, try to see if you can smell anything. Do whatever you can to keep your senses working. Again, it might take some practice.

Also, it can help to have a clear plan for your next LD. I’ve found that the LDs in which I randomly wander about usually end sooner than those where I have a specific goal. For example, back when I had issues with LDs ending too quickly, I made a goal to find The Doctor and fly the TARDIS. After a couple of failed attempts, I remembered my goal in an LD. WHat followed was an LD way longer than any of my previous. Mind you, I woke up right after I fulfilled my goal, so I’d make sure you have a decent list and memorize it.

3

that’s funny. it sounds exactly like OBE problems. too excited=wake up. too scared=wake up. the thing is, I never get excited but still wake up. just the realization of me being Lucid makes me wake up.

but what you said about setting goals makes sense. i never had any goals in any LD. i’ll try this. thanks.

4

There are a number of stabilization techniques you can try.

As soon as you become lucid, remain calm and look at your hands. Look at the lines and wrinkles on your hands, count the fingers, turn them over and look at the back of them, look at the hairs, etc. Whilst doing this say out loud confidently and assertively “Stabilize lucidity NOW!”

Once you have done this imagine you are anchored into the lucid dream and confidently say “Anchored into lucidity” try to actually feel like you are now anchored to your dream. Then proceed with your goal for the lucid dream.

If at anytime the dream is fading and you are about to wake up try rubbing your hands together or grab your shirt and utilise your sense of touch. Touching something can help anchor you in by generating that sense of touch. Another technique is to spin in a circle with your arms out. Don’t spin wildly, do a controlled spin of say 2 spins then stop. Whilst doing this try to visualise the dream scene you would like to be in. You can also try falling backwards into a new dream. Again you have to visualise it also.

If at any point you end up in the void, where everything is black. You can try spinning again or running straight forward as fast as possible. This should take you into a new dream. Remember to reality check because sometimes you might enter a false awakening and think you’ve woken up when in fact you are still dreaming.

5

Sometimes its just a matter of practice but in this case of greyness, I suggest to stay calm and look for texture or light or shadows amongst the greyness. Look for anything at all different there. If its not already there, this looking can start to create light/shadows or different textures amongst the greyness.

I then usually just think about moving forward (not in a physical way but of just getting closer) to the part of the greyness which seems different or to a darker shadow or a lighter place I’ve picked out or an “almost shape”.

The thinking about getting closer to it usually causes some clarity to form out of it… it something starts to take up a form and then when I get even closer it will became a thing eg a building may appear out of the greyness.
…

Don’t feel disheartened by having short LDs, with time they can get longer. If you can feel when you are about to loose one, make sure you do immediately a dream stabilization technique eg rub hands together or just stare hard at them.

You may want to get into practice of doing dream stabilisation into your dreams anyway at times eg esp when you first enter one. Try not to stress about dropping out or try not to think of it too much as that too can cause drop outs.

Another thing I suggest is make sure you aren’t standing around at all in your dream not doing a thing eg some people will stand there for a moment thinking “what shall I do”… as not interacting with a dream can also cause a drop out. Stay actively doing things in your dream, keep your focus on it.

This is where having a dream goal may help too, choose something you really want to do so your desire for it can help hold you in a dream.

6

I am reading along.
All this advice is very usefull for me too. Because I long for longer LDs
Thank you people :smile: