Thread: Trouble maintaining control

So I've had about 6 lucids in the past week (3 of them last night) and when I realize I'm lucid it just goes away. Any recommendations on how to take that next step?

There are several good established threads on here that will probably be really helpful for you......don't know them right off the top of my head but check around because I have seen some good advice. As for me, when I started I had the same issues. First of all you may be trying to exert control over your scene too quickly - you don't want to just go straight from realizing you're dreaming to trying to control the dream environment, that's skipping a couple of steps. If it's the actual lucidity that is fading, which is what it sounds like, what you want to do is reiterate to yourself "I am dreaming" as you look around observing the scene, noting how amazing it all is and how real it all feels and making SURE not to become overwhelmed or excited. Just be calm. Count. Think "This is a dream." Do not allow your concentration to be broken.

Over time, you can multitask. It is a little bit like learning to drive a car - at first, doing something else while driving, like talking or thinking, can be distracting and dangerous. But after awhile, you can listen to music, let your mind wander, and talk to someone else while also driving with no problem. In an LD, your primary focus should be on maintaining awareness, and your secondary focus should be on the stimuli in the environment - at first. Remember that neurologically speaking, it is thought to be the DLPFC (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) that is key in dream maintenance, and there are few neurons linking the dream state to your perception of awareness - by maintaining lucidity, you are strengthening those neurological pathways and increasing the chances for future episodes of lasting lucidity (much like working out makes your muscles stronger).

any personal tips?

Sure - first of all, how do you feel at the moment you become lucid? Are you going, "Holy crap, this is a dream!" and getting excited about it? That's what used to screw me up. I would be so excited that I would either wake up or lose my lucidity because I was too mesmerized to concentrate. Walking through a predetermined set of dream checks helped me to stay calm even after I became lucid. For instance, say you have already become lucid, ok, tell yourself, "I can't be sure until I do x, y, and z" and then do those things. Like try to breathe through your nose (x), then look at your hands and note any weirdness (y), and finally read some text or flick a light switch (whatever happens to be available in the existing environment; don't attempt control at this stage), and this is "z." The point here is to increase the time you are lucid while not arousing your sympathetic nervous system too much :-) Once you do this a few times you will probably (hopefully) find that in subsequent lucid dreams you can maintain lucidity more easily and go from there to start directing/controlling the environment.

Good Luck!

i'll be in the middle of a dream and i'll hold my nose then i'll be like holy crap im in a dream!!!!! then it'll slowly fade to black.

Originally Posted by HPJoker

i'll be in the middle of a dream and i'll hold my nose then i'll be like holy crap im in a dream!!!!! then it'll slowly fade to black.

This happens to a lot of people and it's something that can take some time to work through. First of all, don't expect the dream to end when you become lucid. Expectations greatly influence our dreams. Second, stay calm, just breathe, try not to get over excited. If the dream lasts long enough then stabilize. Do something that engages your senses like rubbing your hands together or looking at the details of the dream scene.

Everything just takes practice and time. Keep working at it and don't get discouraged.

Yep, I think your problem is your initial reaction to the realization you're dreaming is too strong. Even if you can't really do anything about feeling that "holy crap!" reaction in the moment, you can usually fix the second part - the fade to blackness. As soon as you realize you are dreaming, focus on something in the environment and/or start rubbing your hands together (both is ideal but sometimes looking at something in the dreamscape when you've just become lucid makes you more excited, so if you find yourself in awe of the realness of the object you are looking at, look at your hands while rubbing them). Tactile stimulation in the dream does wonders for keeping you in it, and the dream should not fade out if you are engaged in it and concentrating on the sensations you are feeling. While you are doing this, try to CALM DOWN so you can stop having to focus so hard without the dream going black.

I'm having trouble moving, and opening my eyes, in my lucid dreams anything for that guys?