Waking up and finding yourself still doing a stabilization technique

**Denholm** · 12-22-2013 08:29 AM

Is it possible to be in a lucid dream, perform a stabilization technique when the dream starts to fade (e.g. by rubbing one's hands together), and to then genuinely wake up and find yourself lying in bed and actually rubbing your palms together (or doing whatever other stabilization technique you were doing)?

I'm guessing this isn't possible, but I'm curious as to what other think or have experienced! In fact, this very series of events took place in one of my LDs last night, only that I had a false awakening rather than a genuine one. I was surprised to wake up and find myself lying in bed and rubbing my palms together, as I had always figured this probably wasn't possible. Fortunately, I soon realized it was an FA and I continued with a lucid dream

I think this is an important question, because if we could establish that it is not possible to smoothly change from rubbing one's dream palms to one's actual palms during the transition from sleeping to waking, then we could be sure that as long as we can still feel ourselves rubbing our hands together (or doing some other similar stablization technique), we could be certain that we are still dreaming. This assurance should prevent us from giving up prematurely, which I for one have done many times in the past!

I hope I'm not asking a question that has been addressed elsewhere. I did a few searches but couldn't find anything...

**LouaiB** · 12-22-2013 11:21 AM

I once dreamed of my brother waking me up, and I got out of bed(not FA), then when I was standing, looking at my brother, I woke up, only to find myself standing at the same spot as in my dream(and of course my brother wasn't there).
The transition from dream to wake was literally a blink of an eye. Good thing I wasn't dreaming of clif diving, or I would have waked up slamed to the tableXD). It was a normal dream, I didn't take any alcohol or substance of any sort before sleeping. I guess while I was waking up, the SP turned off a little early, so I acted out my last dream actions, and this has happened to me numerous times. It's completly normal for me.
This dream and the others where not LDs.

**Denholm** · 12-22-2013 12:10 PM

Very interesting, thanks for sharing your experience! Reminds me of sleep walking, which as I understand typically happens during deep non-REM sleep. Only a small percentage of dreams occur during non-REM sleep, with most occurring during REM sleep. I wonder then if smooth transitions between dreamt and waking behaviour might be more likely when waking from dreams occurring in non-REM sleep compared to the more typical REM sleep dream?

Very interested to hear more people's experiences!

**LouaiB** · 12-22-2013 03:09 PM

I think I did wake up from a N-REM stage, since I woke up after 4 hours of sleep, but the dream felt a little vivid compared to a N-REM stage. Do 4 hours of sleep lead deep N-REM, N-REM, or REM?
P.S: I never had sleep walking problems, ever.

**Denholm** · 12-23-2013 05:33 AM

REM does occur early after one goes to sleep, it's just that the REM periods tend to be shorter in length near the start of the night. So I guess your dream could have occurred in any of those stages.

**JoannaB** · 12-23-2013 08:26 AM

I once woke up from a dream in which I was trying to avoid being squished by a landing helicopter, and I woke up in the middle of getting out of bed still trying to get out of the way.