Dream levels?

**joloughlin1** · 10-31-2013 01:12 AM

I find that I can only lucid dream on the second level of my dream. Like I fall asleep then fall asleep in my dream and then I can lucid dream. But then when I wake up in my dream I lose lucidity. Is this normal? Does anyone have a similar experience? Does anyone else have dream levels?

**NyxCC** · 10-31-2013 02:49 AM

Hi and welcome to DV!

When you wake up in the dream, it's called an FA, a false awakening. It's quite possible for you to become aware that this is a dream in one of those awakenings. I wonder if this happens by chance with you or are you trying to induce an ld in the dream itself? Some people have those in-dream lucid dreams, like an in-dream WILD for example (which is technically a DILD

).

Now, movies like inception can be somewhat confusing since they make us believe there are different levels, that dreams are like a matrioshka doll. It's much easier to think about dreams as one scene ends and the next one begins, as if you are switching TV channels. There is no up and down, there's only next dream button.

Our awareness, however, can fluctuate in dreams, we can get distracted, and therefore lose lucidity. With practice though you can learn how to be lucid for longer. One very good thing to help you with that is to have a predetermined goal of something you want to do. You can repeat it before going to sleep to make sure you remember and then when you become lucid just go for the task. Hope that helps!

**joloughlin1** · 10-31-2013 02:11 PM

Okay, but it happens like this. I fall asleep and then am in the "real world" in my dream then fall asleep in the "real world" in my dream then go to like outer space for example and become lucid. Then I will wake up and go to the first level real world. It goes back and forth between "real world" and the lucidity dream but when I come back to the "real world" I will tell others (dream characters (mom dad ect)) about my dream in the second level. I'll go back and forth all night long. So like I will remember my dreams in the different levels. Is this normal? Am I making sense?

**NyxCC** · 10-31-2013 04:27 PM

I understand what you mean. I guess it all depends how you personally think about the dreams. If you think about them as levels, then they are like levels in your own mind. Others experience something similar, but they may not call it levels. For example:

Dreamer A falls asleep, dreams he is going to bed and about to have an ld. He falls asleep in the dream, has a false awakening, does a reality check or maybe just randomly he becomes lucid. He does whatever he wants to and then the dream ends.

He wakes up again, i.e. another false awakening, but now he thinks he is in the real world, he begins to journal and tells his friends that he had a lucid dream, he doesn't notice that he is still dreaming.

Yeah, that happens to a lot of us, so it's normal. One very useful practice that good dreamers use is to RC every time they wake up. That way, you can turn those levels of dreams you are referring to into lucid dreams as well. Moreover, you can RC before you start journalling and telling your friends about the dream. If it is common for you to do this, then it is a sign that you are dreaming. Remind yourself throughout the day that you will RC and ask yourself if you are dreaming when you wake up or after you had an ld. That way you will have many more lds and it will be easier to understand. Our mind operates on the world is real mode of course, so it is perfectly normal to think in dreams that they are real. Our awareness is what helps us tell the difference. To make that awareness improve, one of the things to do is to be on the lookout for dream signs and keep RCing.