Thread: Using the hands method

(skip to bottom if bored of intro lol) hey guys,
Just joined the site. Glad there's a community like this who WONT think you are crazy when discussing stuff like this haha. Anyway a bit of intro before I get into it.
I'm pretty new to lucid dreaming, tried it in the past and succeeded in getting SOME control. Mainly with minor actions and a good amount of lucidity within the dream.

Ive started up again recently and have attempted flying for lack of any other specific ideas that I have great desire for. (assuming the more you desire to do something the easier it is?)

On my first attempt a couple of nights ago I succeeded. After achieving lucidity I kept imagining how flying would be done, if it were possible and then this led to me flying about, SHOWING off to friends in the room lol.

anyway, although I have achieved that I still have difficulty gaining lucidity and control.

VV *MAIN QUESTION HERE* VV

I use the technique of looking at my hands (also asking myself "Am I Dreaming?"), but I think I've got it mixed up?
As I enter a dream, I guess first I REALIZE that something is odd, then I accept that I am dreaming, but THEN I think "oh man now I have to look at my hands to gain control" then it becomes an effort of me trying to bring my hands towards my face.
Sometimes I will be successful but otherwise I just fail to move my hands, kinda of like feeling frozen while trying to run in a nightmare, and after failing I lose lucidity. But my question relates to, is this step of looking at my hands even necessary since I have already accepted that I'm dreaming? Or could I have possibly just convinced my brain that it's necessary in order to gain control? Is this a common problem?

All advice is welcome. Thanks for reading. Hoping to improve my dreams tonight.

Usually doing reality checks during waking life just gives you right mindset for lucid dreaming. Most of the time I do a RC just to verify it,after I somehow gained lucidity, but thats just me personally. And I don't know why people bother with hands RC and other similar. I mean... for most of the people it is not even close to 100% success rate. You can check your hands, but if they look normal, you still continue regular dreaming. Pinch your nose and try to breathe through it. If you can do it, then you are obviously dreaming, since your waking body doesnt move to close the nose.
About the control... some dreams just are without or with very little control, even when lucid.

You should do a few different RCs just to make sure you're dreaming, like tambu said, the nose pinch one works every time. Looking at your hands is usually to stabilize the dream and make it last longer, since if that's the first thing you do upon realizing you're lucid, you can stay in the dream much longer, since you're not too excited.

Originally Posted by KushyBear

You should do a few different RCs just to make sure you're dreaming, like tambu said, the nose pinch one works every time. Looking at your hands is usually to stabilize the dream and make it last longer, since if that's the first thing you do upon realizing you're lucid, you can stay in the dream much longer, since you're not too excited.

I had two lucid dreams last night, both times the nose-pinch failed (luckily I was aware enough to confirm lucidity anyways). No RCs are foolproof, so you have to combine them sometimes. But lucidity usually comes from sudden awareness, not RCs; they're only used to confirm the dream state.

Looking at your hands could be useful in stabilizing the dream, as well as rubbing them together, touching objects, walls, or the floor, or doing other things like slowly looking at your surroundings.

I tried a nose pinch the other day and it DIDN'T work!! I thought I was dreaming, so I pinched my nose, found I couldn't breath and so assumed that I must be awake (which is weird because I've done the nose pinch before in a dream and it worked - I could breath through it)

[QUOTE=floatinghead;1548983]I tried a nose pinch the other day and it DIDN'T work!! I thought I was dreaming, so I pinched my nose, found I couldn't breath and so assumed that I must be awake (which is weird because I've done the nose pinch before in a dream and it worked - I could breath through it)[/QUOTE
technically it doesnt have to work every time, because just like you are breathing in real life no matter what you do in your dream, senses in real life and in a dream are separate, so you may not be able to breathe in the dream but still be dreaming in real life (were you a zombie when you woke up? Or all purple?XD)

Funny, I had a FA out of a LD the other night and the nose pinched worked, but I didn't believe I was dreaming for some reason. I thought that there was still an airway open so I used another finger to cover the actual holes, and I could still breathe. -_-

As Kushybear said, do a reality check just to make sure. The point is to know if you are dreaming, if you can know without the reality check, then you have found a substitute for the reality checks.

The nose plug RC can fail, but mostly (~95%) it works. Thats why I do multiple RCs (check the clock or some text or both twice, try to get my hand through something solid).

The nose pinch has worked every time for me so far. I mean most of the time its pretty obvious that your dreaming, because your somewhere you have never been before. But I guess you can RC just in case. But I don't think its always necessary.

I had the same problem. I get the idea that I'm dreaming and I tell myself 'i should check my hands!' but for some reason I cant get my hands to my face. Instead of trying to RC with your hands, just ask yourself if your dreaming and use that as a confirmation instead. The easiest way to tell if you're dreaming is by asking how you got where you are/were. It's as easy as that. Reality Checks aren't even necessary TBH, but they do sometimes help, say for example, you weren't sure if you were dreaming. Other than that I would say just question your surroundings and you should be fine.

Originally Posted by dreambro

But my question relates to, is this step of looking at my hands even necessary since I have already accepted that I'm dreaming? Or could I have possibly just convinced my brain that it's necessary in order to gain control? Is this a common problem?

Welcome

Well, personally, if I know I'm dreaming, or accept that it's a dream, I won't bother with reality checking. I just go about my ways. That said, they are a good habit. Do they help with control? Possibly. I don't personally notice a difference. Taking an extra moment to stabilize is what gives me the better control.

Have you convinced your brain you need to do it? Ooh... going to go with a "maybe" on that one. The brain loves repetition, so it's possible that your brain just liked the idea of combining the idea of "lucidity" with "checking your hands." There's nothing wrong with it at all, though. Lucidity can still be hard to think things through. As in, you won't suddenly be lucid and be able to act on an awake level. Chances are, in this particular lucid, the clarity of thought was not all there.

Is it a common problem? I don't think so...? But not sure, really.

Weird, I thought the nose pinch is foolproof :/
For me it has worked every single time.

Nothing is ever foolproof!

I tried the nose pinch RC test again last night - epic fail- (again) I pinched my nose so tight and tried to breath so hard I felt my ears pop! I tried the writing RC and took a look at the writing of my phone - which worked without a hitch! It's the last time I use a nose pinch RC!

wow thats really odd that you replied to this post so long after i started it.
You happened to reply literally 2 hours after i tried lucid dreaming again for the first time since i started this post.
pretty freaky.
im still having the same problems.

i had a FA but then started to try to look at my hands. i dont know if i was attempting to become lucid, or that looking at my hands has just become a theme of my dreams. i knew i was dreaming but i had no idea how to get control. i was able to slowly get out of my bed (in dream) then started waving my hands around in front of my face. Wherever my hands moved, the background would be wiped away to white. i kept trying to WIPE away the room i was in and create a new one but then id suddenly start seeing endless streams of my hands, like that effect they use in movies sometimes. or when a PC freezes and you see the trail of your mouse.

Anyway will try this phone reading thing,
i guess it all comes down to practice in the end

HAPPY DREAMING YALL

ha ha - the universe works in mysterious ways!

I really just wanted to bitch about the nose pinch RC saying that it 'aint all that - lol, but reading back to your first post I've since had similar experiences (I think) - I think it all comes down to belief - and the fact that you found it difficult the first time (for whatever reason) that experience is now cemented in your mind as a problem - which it is not - it is only our minds that create these barriers. You have a subconscious thought at the back of your mind telling you that you hope the slowing of hand thing doesn't happen again and because that doubt is there it creates that problem.

Remember - you are in complete control.

Another theory, which I've experienced a couple of times, is I believe you are in between states - waking and asleep. I've had lucids where I get up and walk around and it's like I am in a void - I'm just a consciousness floating in nothing, it only lasts for a few seconds and then I wake, sometimes the hand thing works and sometimes it doesn't.

Use the five senses teqnique
You have to use your
Ears: Listen to the sounds
Eyes: look around
Nose: smell
Tounge: lick anything
& Touch: rub your hands

I've did it I actually licked the ground I had bits of rocks in my mouth lucky there isnt bacteria in dreams lol
I gained full concinous after thinking wheres my real body
I said to myself *Hey if I'm dreaming then where the fuck is my real body* Then I said ARgh wtf nooooo lol

floating head: you are totally right about the state of mind thing. i can almost tell that im just creating the problem that im having. i will just have to imagine that sense of complete freedom you get when you overcome a problem. i guess its a hard thing to fake feeling such a rare feeling. perhaps why it has become so hard for me over time.

the in-between states of sleep and wake theory i guess does apply since i usually start lucid dreaming after a FA. the false awakening is sometime my conscious state looking through my eye slits, so i can literally see the real world while im dreaming, trapping experience. i guess similar to your walking experience, which btw is awesome.

cant wait till can just lucid dream on command, this feels like beginner levels noob experience

Gr8God - i will start licking as many things as i can so i can do it in my dream. also, How can you ever know you are in your Real body. since it feel as real as your fake body. you can never really be sure who you are.