lucid only when "lightly" asleep?

[antoinette]

Hello Dreamers, In time I noticed that besides having lucid dreams more often when I sleep during the day, I also tend to become lucid more when I have a very light sleep. Does it happen to you too? And do you know why is it so? (I'm hoping understanding why might help me become lucid during deeper sleep) This is sort of a problem for me because I have to constantly make sure not to wake up and sometimes I'm even "half awake" in parts of the LD and that kind of takes the fun out of it . Any thoughts? Or tips how to go deeper into sleep while dreaming? Thank you and I'm sorry if this question has already been answered before.

[Athylus]

I usually get lucid after I wake up and go back to sleep even though I've had enough sleep, so I am usually in fact light asleep. My LDs also aren't vivid or long because of that. I sometimes slowly feel myself becoming aware of my body while LDing and wake up soon after that, do you recognize this? Maybe you should try practicing WILD. That's all I have to say. Oh, don't be sorry btw, that's what this forum is for after all.

[antoinette]

Yess, I experience the same thing, it feels kind of as if my mind was checking to see if my body is still there in my bed but each time it does I'm a little more awake or I wake up completely. Thanks for the advice, I will definitely try WILD!

[Athylus]

WILD takes long to master antoinette, but you should read some info through. Apparently WILD is more vivid so you shouldn't have a problem there. Never had one myself though. ):

[Dohan]

I had lucid dreams two nights in a row and both times they were right before waking up. I've experienced the half-awake thing too, for like a few seconds. Yesterday there was a moment when I was wondering whether I was dreaming or awake and just thinking. I think I had been dreaming and then reached the borderline. I don't know what to do about it...when you don't need any more sleep it's kind of hard to stay asleep. Sometimes I relax in my dream when I feel like I'm about to wake up and it seems like I can hold onto the dream longer, but relaxing means not doing anything so I can't enjoy the dream like that.

[Sivason]

I think at first almost all lucid dreams happen in the lightest times of sleep. It is easy to understand why. The idea we all share of drifting into sleep can be applied to starting to wake. You just start to reach a mixed state where you get a vague amount of waking awareness but you Are also still more asleep than anything. In attempting to lucid dream you have created an intention to watch for this very thing. If you notice you are dreaming in this light sleep you can go one of two ways. That is you become too aware and perhaps even get startled by the lucid moment. The other is that you calmly observe that it is a dream and doing so puts your intention towards dreaming and therefore sleeping. At first you have to go through learning how to deal with this light sleep kind of lucidity. Eventually, perhaps 100 lucid dreams later, your brain has become wired for lucid dreaming. Then you will be able to reach a lucid state in true REM sleep, which is where vivid adventures happen. Alot later, say 1000 lucid dreams and you can become lucid in all the stages of sleep. My advice for not waking is if you start to feel your real body, then try to not acknowledge it at all. Instead, stop trying to see anything or do anything in the dream. Simply look for your hand in the dream. Picture you have put your dream hand in front of your dram face. Now picture yourself slowly working the hand. Open it, close it, spread the fingers. This kind of focus on the body that exists in the dream, pulls awareness away from your real body. Simply keep it up until you actually see a clear hand that is responding to your will.

[kadie]

I am having the same problem. If I go to bed intending to dream about a certain thing, I usually do and I recall small bits, I am lucid too but it is very weak and I have very little control. I guess hopefully with practice and more practice the dreams will get stronger and richer. Ill be curious to see what others suggest.

[kadie]

Ohh! Good info sivason. Thanks. I guess I was typing when you posted that or I just missed reading it. That's good to know. Thanks again.

[FryingMan]

I think at first almost all lucid dreams happen in the lightest times of sleep. It is easy to understand why. The idea we all share of drifting into sleep can be applied to starting to wake. You just start to reach a mixed state where you get a vague amount of waking awareness but you Are also still more asleep than anything. In attempting to lucid dream you have created an intention to watch for this very thing. If you notice you are dreaming in this light sleep you can go one of two ways. That is you become too aware and perhaps even get startled by the lucid moment. The other is that you calmly observe that it is a dream and doing so puts your intention towards dreaming and therefore sleeping. At first you have to go through learning how to deal with this light sleep kind of lucidity. Eventually, perhaps 100 lucid dreams later, your brain has become wired for lucid dreaming. Then you will be able to reach a lucid state in true REM sleep, which is where vivid adventures happen. Alot later, say 1000 lucid dreams and you can become lucid in all the stages of sleep. My advice for not waking is if you start to feel your real body, then try to not acknowledge it at all. Instead, stop trying to see anything or do anything in the dream. Simply look for your hand in the dream. Picture you have put your dream hand in front of your dram face. Now picture yourself slowly working the hand. Open it, close it, spread the fingers. This kind of focus on the body that exists in the dream, pulls awareness away from your real body. Simply keep it up until you actually see a clear hand that is responding to your will. Nice advice! I got a "lucid in darkness" dream last night (walked into a dark room, became lucid, lost all visuals), I was just standing there lucidly like a dope trying to think of what to do until I woke up. I had even rehearsed in waking life doing a "lucid in darkness" action: doing a dance or patting my body down with my hands but didn't remember to do them, I think what I tried was "looking at my feet" trying to make them appear. But the hand in front of the face and I think the "patting down the dream body" which doesn't require any visuals to perform also nicely focus attention on the dream body. Wish I had remembered that! While looking at the hand, also perhaps add rubbing the thumb against the fingers repeatedly (like trying to rub salt or crumbs off your fingers) which adds a tactile element to the visuals.

[FryingMan]

Also, sivason, thank you for the timetable of LD experience progression! I was starting to think I could only LD during those close-to-waking times. It's really good to know that moving on to solid REM LDs comes with experience.

[Azul]

I think at first almost all lucid dreams happen in the lightest times of sleep. It is easy to understand why. The idea we all share of drifting into sleep can be applied to starting to wake. You just start to reach a mixed state where you get a vague amount of waking awareness but you Are also still more asleep than anything. In attempting to lucid dream you have created an intention to watch for this very thing. At first you have to go through learning how to deal with this light sleep kind of lucidity. Eventually, perhaps 100 lucid dreams later, your brain has become wired for lucid dreaming. Then you will be able to reach a lucid state in true REM sleep, which is where vivid adventures happen. Alot later, say 1000 lucid dreams and you can become lucid in all the stages of sleep. I can attest to this, I don't usually have a LD until its close for me to wake up for the day. Recently my LDs have been spontaneous, I can't say stabilizing isn't a problem for me as I'm still experimenting. When I wake up I honestly don't what causes that, the intensity is always there and I've balanced out the excitement.

[Athylus]

I think at first almost all lucid dreams happen in the lightest times of sleep. It is easy to understand why. The idea we all share of drifting into sleep can be applied to starting to wake. You just start to reach a mixed state where you get a vague amount of waking awareness but you Are also still more asleep than anything. In attempting to lucid dream you have created an intention to watch for this very thing. If you notice you are dreaming in this light sleep you can go one of two ways. That is you become too aware and perhaps even get startled by the lucid moment. The other is that you calmly observe that it is a dream and doing so puts your intention towards dreaming and therefore sleeping. At first you have to go through learning how to deal with this light sleep kind of lucidity. Eventually, perhaps 100 lucid dreams later, your brain has become wired for lucid dreaming. Then you will be able to reach a lucid state in true REM sleep, which is where vivid adventures happen. Alot later, say 1000 lucid dreams and you can become lucid in all the stages of sleep. My advice for not waking is if you start to feel your real body, then try to not acknowledge it at all. Instead, stop trying to see anything or do anything in the dream. Simply look for your hand in the dream. Picture you have put your dream hand in front of your dram face. Now picture yourself slowly working the hand. Open it, close it, spread the fingers. This kind of focus on the body that exists in the dream, pulls awareness away from your real body. Simply keep it up until you actually see a clear hand that is responding to your will. Sivason you're a boss. Thanks for the insight and golden advice!