Cant seem to stabilize no matter what i do! Help please!

[mitch3590]

This morning a had a WILD and on becoming lucid i started trying to stabilize myself. It felt like kind of a half assed WILD so i was trying very hard to stay in the dream. I was constantly looking at things around me and making mental notes of my sensations within the dream, i grabbed a plant and shoved it in my mouth and started eating it to try an get some sensory overload (i remember it tasted kind of good at first then i almost threw up and had to spit it out because it was so nasty ) but to all my attempts at trying to stay in the dream, i woke up. Since looking at my hands doesnt help me stay in the dream anymore, and focusing on my surroundings might not work so well for me, does anybody have any other techniques that they use? I also used to rub my hands together but that doesnt work too well anymore and the last time i tried spinning i physically wasnt able and the movement that i could make started making me feel my physical body in my bed. I havent given up on any of these techniques but lately they have all been failing me

[dreamingofdreaming]

It could be that you are just going through a "phase" at the moment. I have lucid moments where I will go lucid and check my surroundings and all that good stuff but I wake up right away. It's not often, but it happens. Perhaps yell outloud that you will stay in the dream, tell your self you have infinite amount of time to enjoy the lucid. Try doing less stabalizing and try summoning something or try making something hover, morph, blow up etc... Puting your mind on something else in the dream should help you concentrate more and therefore stay in the dream longer. Good luck

[Mzzkc]

My RC works as a decent stabilizer for me when I first become lucid and later on when I need to maintain it. For me, holding my nose and breathing through it can create surprising sensory data that I can't help but focus on. Focus is key here. If you focus on trying to not wake up, well, your brain isn't going to be able to process the negation there, so you're more than likely going to wake up. However, if you really put your focus into a task, for the sake of that task, you're going to be grounding yourself deeper into the dream. So, by thinking of stabilization techniques as tasks, instead of ways to keep yourself from waking up (which is what I assume you're doing), and then focusing your attention on these tasks, you'll achieve the techniques' desired effects. That was all very long winded, but the basic idea is "don't try to not wake up". If it's easier to understand, just do what dreamingofdreaming suggests. It's all the same in the end.

[bigCHEESE77]

Instead of rubbing your hands together, rub them on things in the dream. That way you are implanting the details of their feel and appearance in your mind, and you are treating it as if it is reality, which should help stabalize.

[mitch3590]

Cool thank you all. The morning after i posted this, i had a pretty good WILD. It didnt last very long due to a false awakening but i was pretty lucid and dont even remember doing very many stabilization techniques at all. I looked at my hands once and then just kind of calmed myself and collected my thoughts for a second. I will definitely try these techniques though, just think i have been on an unlucky lucid dreaming streak. Hopefully thats for the most part over though!

[mitch3590]

That breathing with nose plugged technique is pretty cool btw, tried it the past couple mornings and its worked pretty well but so have the other RCs so i think i just had a couple lame experiences, like the one this morning where almost everything i did was just like in real life, couldnt walk through my door no matter how hard i tried, hands looked normal, but the pop tarts i tried making turned to mush upon touching them

[RunflaCruiser]

it's because you've grown accustomed to thinking about waking. You've unknowingly reprogrammed your subconscious to wake up when you get lucid. Try relaxing a little and letting go.

[Koalaman]

it's because you've grown accustomed to thinking about waking. You've unknowingly reprogrammed your subconscious to wake up when you get lucid. Try relaxing a little and letting go. This could've been true for me too. I've tried so hard to not wake up (and thus indirectly focusing on waking up), that it actually made me wake up. When I let that go, I started paying my attention to the dream and remembering being lucid. When I first tried that, for the first time I had a lucid dream that actually lasted longer than a minute. I guess it takes some practice stabilizing dreams for some, like us. I always found it hard to stay in my lucid dream, but I didn't find it hard to initiate one. I guess this has all to do with conditioning of the brain.

[mitch3590]

This could've been true for me too. I've tried so hard to not wake up (and thus indirectly focusing on waking up), that it actually made me wake up. When I let that go, I started paying my attention to the dream and remembering being lucid. When I first tried that, for the first time I had a lucid dream that actually lasted longer than a minute. I guess it takes some practice stabilizing dreams for some, like us. I always found it hard to stay in my lucid dream, but I didn't find it hard to initiate one. I guess this has all to do with conditioning of the brain. I have never really had too much of a problem with initiating my LDs but my problem with those times when RCs and all other techniques fail is just because i have been too focused on not waking up like a few of you said, as the last couple LDs i've had have been fairly long and all the techniques that i tried worked fine. Even when my RCs are wierd where things like my hands are normal, it is the act of performing an RC that makes me lucid, rather than the actual sight of something being out of place, so i am always lucid when i look at my hands even if they are normal. Just have to relax and enjoy the dream instead of being worried about waking up. I just keep having wierd LDs like that; for example the most recent one i had everything was normal, hands normal, couldnt walk through my door, and a number of other things were normal. I guess its just random to have dreams that dont work like dreams and more like RL for me, but not a big deal or anything im too bummed about as it doesnt happen the majority of the time and im just happy to be LD as much as i have been lately. Also my problem was more that techniques that should work wouldnt, rather than i was having problems staying in my dreams.

[Koalaman]

I have never really had too much of a problem with initiating my LDs but my problem with those times when RCs and all other techniques fail is just because i have been too focused on not waking up like a few of you said, as the last couple LDs i've had have been fairly long and all the techniques that i tried worked fine. Even when my RCs are wierd where things like my hands are normal, it is the act of performing an RC that makes me lucid, rather than the actual sight of something being out of place, so i am always lucid when i look at my hands even if they are normal. Just have to relax and enjoy the dream instead of being worried about waking up. I just keep having wierd LDs like that; for example the most recent one i had everything was normal, hands normal, couldnt walk through my door, and a number of other things were normal. I guess its just random to have dreams that dont work like dreams and more like RL for me, but not a big deal or anything im too bummed about as it doesnt happen the majority of the time and im just happy to be LD as much as i have been lately. Also my problem was more that techniques that should work wouldnt, rather than i was having problems staying in my dreams. Indeed. I have often become lucid by merely thinking about it while dreaming. The RC was just an addition to be 100% sure that I was dreaming when I was already quite sure. There was just one time I had a feeling I was dreaming but wasn't sure. I looked at my hands and was disappointed by them being realistic, because that would mean I was still awake. Then my hope for a lucid dream made my hands turn blue at which point I became lucid in my very realistic dream room.