Some questions + help

[czaarek99]

Hi. Yesterday I read about lucid dreaming and how it works. So I instantly started practicing RC and the rest found in the tutorials on this page. I was practicing the putting your thumb through your hand and looking at my hands RC. In the dream i instead put my arm through the glass in a window. I instantly realized I was dreaming. But then everything instantly turned black and I got into sleep paralysis. Had some scary black guy appear in front of me, anyway. I am wondering how I could actually stay in the dream. Because practicing all this to just instantly wake into a nightmare doesn't seem so great. Will I always fall into sleep paralysis after a lucid dream? How can I stay lucid? Those are my main two questions.

[ThreeCat]

Hi czaarek--Welcome to DV! Check out this thread: http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...explained.html You stay lucid by anchoring yourself in some way. Most often this is done naturally through mindfulness, but you can also say, "I'm dreaming" to remind yourself what you are doing. You can also engage in a dream goal you remember from waking life, which will in general keep the notion that you are dreaming in the forefront of your mind. You can also just slow down, take a breath, and observe everything around you. This can give your brain a moment to remember who you are and why you are here Good luck.

[Sivason]

Everything ThreeCat says is true. On top of that I will add that at first the brain is shocked when you suddenly become aware in a dream, and it tends to shut things down in a danger response. Remind your inner self that you are going to be working on becoming aware in dreams and that it is a good thing (do this in your head alot while awake, as if addressing a child). It takes some time to get past this, perhaps 10 or more lucid dreams.

[Urside]

The stabilization technique that works for me is the following: as soon as I recognize that I am dreaming, I get down on all fours and rub the floor, then rub my hands together, then rub the floor ... until I feel the dream is stabilized. I managed to stay in dreams while I felt I came very close to waking up. The reason why it works is rather obscure to me: it has something to do with establishing a close connection with the dream environment. I often visualize myself doing this as soon as I turn lucid, since it may not be the first thing I feel like doing in a lucid dream, obviously.