Thread: Favorite Lucid Prolong Technique +++++++

Pretty cool! BTW, do you also look at your hands while you are rubbing them, or just rub them?

If not, I wonder if it would help or hurt?

No, I didnt have to look at them. Just the sensation of touch kept me lucid.

Easy as pie!

I've done that in my last two LD's and it worked really well. I did a dream spin to get me going and then keep rubbing my hands together to keep it lucid.

Yep, I both look at my hands and rub my hands. But unfortunately, I found that this helps only for a few seconds. Since I don't want to be rubbing or looking at my hands the entire LD (it's very distracting from other stuff, like, flying while rubbing your hands!?), I'd like to find a better technique... (oh and spinning occasionally helps me. It's nice at stabilizing dreams, but NOT to change scenes. For me at least).

Originally posted by Wicked
Yep, I both look at my hands and rub my hands. But unfortunately, I found that this helps only for a few seconds. Since I don't want to be rubbing or looking at my hands the entire LD (it's very distracting from other stuff, like, flying while rubbing your hands!?), I'd like to find a better technique... (oh and spinning occasionally helps me. It's nice at stabilizing dreams, but NOT to change scenes. For me at least).

Yeah, I imagine it could affect people differently. For myself it was no distraction and keeps me lucid for quite some time. Spinning is great but it usually changes scenes which I don't always want to do. Keep talking yourself in the dream as well, it keeps me pretty grounded. I repeat a mantra "I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming..."

I like the "rubbing hands" technique also. Doesn't always work, but it seems to work better than anything else I've tried.

Talking to myself seems to work best for me. But thats sort of an annoying habit I have IRL anyway, so when Im in the dream im like a Airline pilot "Ok now im flying, wow thats pretty awesome, hey Im gonna check whats happening at that Volcano, OK here we go..."

According to www.ld4all.com, rubbing your hands together is the second best way to prolong lucidity, with the well known spinning technique being number 1.

I've tried spinning, and it works! Next time I'm lucid I'll try the hand rubbing.

I never have success with spinning. everytime i try i just start to feel my body in bed more and more. i like rubbing and looking at my hands.

Do you really have to rub your hands the entire time or just when you feel as though you are loosing lucidity? I can't imagine having to rub your hands the entire time. That would get really annoying. How often do you need to rub your hands or spin? What about doing both at the same time while talking to your self? Thats gotta be a good method too.

hey, ol' member signing back in...
I had a few LD's last year, when I just started this. My first one was actually really long, and I kept it going with rubbing my hands. Every now and then, I could feel the dream slipping. Like, the colors would start to fade or just a sensation. Then I would stop up, rub my hands for a short while while looking at them, and continue with my dream. Worked like a charm...

Haven't focused on LDing since then, but I just moved and thought I should try to get into it again. Actually, it only took a week before i had my first LD and it was my first LD where I realized after a while I was dreaming (in the others I just knew). Same technique... as soon as I would start feeling the dream fade, a quick look and rubbing of my hands would bring me back. Kept it going till at one point I didn't get to rub my hands before I woke up. I knew I was about to wake up, but happened too fast for me to be able to do the rubbing. Never tried the spinning though. But until I get a stable supply of LD's to test different techniques, I'm sticking with this

how does looking at your hands maintain lucidity? What is it about their appearance that keeps you sleeping?

It fixes your consciousness on something "concrete" within the dream.. often funny stuff might happen with your hands It's also said that looking at the ground works in the same way. You just need to consciously occupy your mind with dream stuff

I've thought about a few times, and figured this would be a good enough place to ask.

If you were to spend several tries at LD and instead of trying fun stuff or multiple things, just focus on one. Meditation. Just meditate on the Dreamworld for prolonged times. After a few sessions of this, do you think that would increase length in the dream without all those techniques while Lucid in future sessions? Who knows, after a while of just focusing, some trippy things might happen. Maybe a Dream Hypnogogic state?


Has anyone ever tried this?

THat sounds like a pretty good idea, just trying to stay in the dream as long as possible and not do anything, that might be a pretty good idea, heck I'd be interested in who will show up If I am sitting there doing nothing.

So you look at your hands to help stay lucid. What is it about being lucid that makes it hard to maintain? I understand you can get too excited and wake up, but I read lucidity can be lost through simply gowing with the flow of your dream. In my very brief experience of being lucid, I woke up presumably due to overstimulating, but I can't imagine how consciousness is lost whilst maintaing sleep.

ive tried staring/focusing on something for a few seconds and it seems to work for me. in a dream i just had i felt like i was going to lose it if i looked over at someone too quickly, so i just stared at a piece of paper i had to sign. focusing on the name for a bit was enough to ground me

Originally posted by justsomeguy
ive tried staring/focusing on something for a few seconds and it seems to work for me. in a dream i just had i felt like i was going to lose it if i looked over at someone too quickly, so i just stared at a piece of paper i had to sign. focusing on the name for a bit was enough to ground me

this technique does "ground you" in a dream.... i usually only do it once and the dream stays stable for about 10-15 minutes (it also helps me to see clearer and gain more lucidity)

in my opinion focusing on the details of an object in the dream is the single best way to prolong and stabalive LDs (and iv tried alot of different techniques) rubbing your hands together gets agnoying and it doesnt make for a very fun LD experience, you can also hold your nose and keep breathing through it which isnt fun either, or just take 10 second to focus on an object, touch it and feel its texture, realize how the light from it makes a shadow and such, and then be on your way

Originally posted by SigurRos
So you look at your hands to help stay lucid. What is it about being lucid that makes it hard to maintain? I understand you can get too excited and wake up, but I read lucidity can be lost through simply gowing with the flow of your dream. In my very brief experience of being lucid, I woke up presumably due to overstimulating, but I can't imagine how consciousness is lost whilst maintaing sleep.

It's kind of weird. I first thought this two when I heard of it, "how can you forget you're dreaming after working so hard to realize it?" Basically, through changes in environment and such, you may lose lucidity. You don't really make the decisions you would've if you were fully awake. For example, I read somewhere someone posted that they had a lucid dream, and spent the majority of the dream tossing a coke bottle up and down. ???. You'll wake up and be like, why'd I do that? You can even forget you're dreaming when you get caught up in the dream. Hard to understand without just experiencing it.

My current favourite is to feel and really take in the scenery, and to cap it off, eat things like grass and leaves when you feel your losing lucidity. See here

In my 'kind of LD' I looked out side, and the second I did that I felt extremely heavy, and woke up. I think I should have rubbed my hands.

Only tried this once, but it worked (I think) : look and move forward, taking in your surroundings, forcing the dream to generate new stuff.

-edit- I used this when I was feeling myself wake up, to keep myself asleep/dreaming.

I really want to try the hand rubbing technique but can't seem to remember it when I go lucid.

When I realize I'm dreaming, the way I stay lucid is to talk to myself. I have to verbally reassure myself that I'm dreaming, or verbally describe all the things that are 'wrong' within a dream. It works okay...but only because I've used that method the most.

Originally posted by Vex Kitten
but only because I've used that method the most.

I don't wanna jinx it, but I found that some of my RC's started to become unstable after a long time of using it. It might be worth your while to find a few more
I recommend always having about 3 checks. It's too easy for one or two of them to fail.

PS: Woof