Achieving Lucidity quite easily... but can't hold on to it

In the midst of many unsuccessful attempts at WILD and MILD, I've stumbled accross a "technique" which, for me, has a 100% chance of producing a lucid dream. It's so simple, though.

Basically, I wake up naturally sometime during the night, RC to confirm that I am awake, note the time and note that I will probably be dreaming very shortly. I close my eyes, I feel my vision blink over and I'm immediately in a dream - no lapse in consciousness. The dream that appears is extremely vivid and often has no correlation to other dreams that night. Because I went straight from waking to dream, I immediately note I am dreaming.

This is where my difficulty comes in. As soon as I note I am dreaming and become lucid, it instantly fades (this happens if I become lucid through this method or even by a RC mid-dream). I have about five seconds before it fades and I wake back up. I've tried every technique I could find on maintaining lucidity, to little avail. The only one that even works at all is rubbing hands together or feeling and concentrating on the texture of what I happen to be holding on to in the dream (and I'm almost always holding on to something). This prolongs the dream somewhat, but just sitting there constantly concentrating on the object makes it difficult to do anything else.

Now what I can't quite figure out is what type of induction this is. It is somewhat like a WILD in that I go straight from waking to dream, but also has some hints of MILD. So then, any insights as to this type of induction, and any ideas on how to hold on to my lucid dreams for at least an appreciable amount of time.

Once you find that you are lucid, go to sleep and see what happens.

Well I know this can be very upsetting but you're in great shape as you will most likely attain longer and longer LDs as you progress. The idea behind the prolonging techniques is to ground your senses in the dream thus remaining there, vision is usually the first to go for people which seems to be the case with you too. Im glad these have been working for you but to get to your statement of doing nothing else while holding onto the dream.

Next time you find yourself maintaining a dream but can do little else try to focus on the feeling of the dream, whats dreamlike about it, whats around you (if youre not looking at some texture/detail), the sounds, smells, just the over all FEEL (yes I know it can seem very real), all the while telling yourself repeatedly "I am dreaming this is all a dream". You will get your LD bearings over time. Don't let it discourage you as these shorter LDs are paving your way to some great ones and you seem to easily slip into them.

Best of Luck and LDs!

I'm not sure, but it could be that it's an HI sequence instead of an actual dream. It seems to fit with the characteristic of HI that it's short, fragile, and occurs when between the sleeping and waking states. Also, you don't simply lose lucidity, you actually wake up after this every time! Dreams shouldn't disintergrate that quickly out of themselves like that, but HI does. Also, you don't feel any sort of big transition except for your vision 'blinking over'. It all seems to indicate HI.
I wonder... try this technique again, but don't think of it as a lucid dream but as HI. Try to see more after it fades. Continue it as if it was a WILD. It seems to me you can somehow skip the relaxation step and move quickly into vivid HI, and maybe this can help you to actually achieve a full LD.

Rubbing hands has also worked for me. I think the idea of this and of spinning is to achieve the sensation of body movement (dream body). I have not tried spinning but plain to.

When I spin i just wake up, its weird..

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Originally posted by Jalexxi
I'm not sure, but it could be that it's an HI sequence instead of an actual dream. It seems to fit with the characteristic of HI that it's short, fragile, and occurs when between the sleeping and waking states. Also, you don't simply lose lucidity, you actually wake up after this every time! Dreams shouldn't disintergrate that quickly out of themselves like that, but HI does. Also, you don't feel any sort of big transition except for your vision 'blinking over'. It all seems to indicate HI.
I wonder... try this technique again, but don't think of it as a lucid dream but as HI. Try to see more after it fades. Continue it as if it was a WILD. It seems to me you can somehow skip the relaxation step and move quickly into vivid HI, and maybe this can help you to actually achieve a full LD.

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I did suspect that they were just vivid HI, but what brought doubt to me was that the few times I've become lucid mid-dream, long after I had fallen asleep, the same thing happens (I begin fading almost immediately and wake up). Thanks for the comments all, I just got to keep working at it.

Have you tried just letting go of most of your lucidity? I'm not sure how to do this, but can't you surrender your control back to your dream? What happens when, as soon as you become lucid, instead of thinking 'I will remain aware', you think 'I will just go with the flow. Whatever happens, I will just react upon it and not think about it too much.'. Even if you completely lose lucidity, if the dream continues after that, you've found the cause of your waking up.

On a side note, I assume that you are calm after gaining lucidity? I know excitement woke me up on my first lucid, but it seems to me that if you can gain lucidity so easily, excitement should not be your problem.

Success! Last night I had the first lucid dream that I was able to hold on to. I had made (another) unsuccessful attempt at a WILD earlier that night. Although the attempt at WILD took me through a whirlwind of HI and sensation, no dream started. Now, I've noticed a trend that for about 90% of my WILD attempts, I will have a lucid dream sometime after (usually an hour after) the attempt. I often will have non-lucid dreams in between the attempt and the lucid.

Well anyway, the method by which I became lucid was different from all of my other lucids. I was lying in a bed (not my own), and felt that my eyes were closed. However, I could still see. I concluded I must be dreaming. The dream then blinked over to an entirely different dreamscape (outside in my yard). I proceeded to explain to my family members present that I was in fact dreaming even though they could see me. At the time I was under the (obviously incorrect) assumption that my real body was following the same footsteps as my dream body, except my real body's eyes were closed, but I could see through them via dream. I held that assumption the entire dream, but I was regardless quite lucid and in control of my dream. I walked around a bit, felt the sun on my face, felt the coolness of the soil. After observing and talking for a bit, I decided to try breaking the rules and make an attempt at flying. I reared up to jump, lept into the air, and froze about two feet off the ground. The dream abruptly ended.

Now the interesting thing that differed about this lucid dream from all my short-lived others is that I never once thought the words "I am lucid." I was aware of it, but never once declared it. I have the feeling this was why my other lucid's faded so quickly. Declaring "I am lucid" seems to trigger an immediate end to my dream.