Stopping myself from waking up, my way

I fell out of favour with trying to become lucid over the last few months because it just wasn't working (I have since put it down to not getting enough sleep). Suddenly, over the last few weeks I've been quite lucky with attaining lucidity by chance. Something bizarre has been happening in my dreams and I've said to myself "This isn't normal, oo I must be dreaming!", and off I go.

As I was so excited, I found myself waking up in a paralysed state; remembering something I read, I used a technique of not moving when waking up, and just relaxing back to sleep. I managed to get back to sleep about 7 times (in the same night) and went straight back into a lucid dream. I thought this was amazing, and a lot of fun having several lucid dreams on the run.

What frustrated me was starting each new dream from the beginning, when I really wanted to finish off the dream before. I think I have found a solution to this, and it's quite simple.

When waking up, or feeling like I'm about to wake up (when the visual part of the dream starts to fade to grey), I just grab hold or something substantial and perform an action on it; whether it's uprooting a tree, pushing into a door or wall, or digging through dirt in the ground. Do this while the visualisation is fading, or when you wake up. If you do it after you've woken up, it's important that you don't move and concentrate on the last scene, imagining you're doing one of the actions above to something that was present in the scene, and hey presto! :banana:

This might already be in the tutorial so I apologise if it is, it's been a long time since I've read them! :eek:

That's an interesting way to keep from waking up. :) It keeps your mind focused during the dream, so if your dream is destabilizing for whatever reason, there's a chance the focusing on an aspect of the dream will keep that from fading, so you might be able to either recreate the lost environment, or when you wake you might be able to re-enter the dream, like a DEILD. :D

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Originally Posted by Clyde Machine

That's an interesting way to keep from waking up. :) It keeps your mind focused during the dream, so if your dream is destabilizing for whatever reason, there's a chance the focusing on an aspect of the dream will keep that from fading, so you might be able to either recreate the lost environment, or when you wake you might be able to re-enter the dream, like a DEILD. :D

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Oh dear, I should have re-read all the tutorials again before posting, but they're long and the acronyms are daunting :)

If I can add something to this post to make it not completely useless, a way I've started using to retain lucidity is to pick something up in my dream and throw it from hand to hand. I've tried rubbing my hands and touching the roof of my mouth with my tongue, but those didn't seem to work.

I first started this with a ball (as I guess that was logical) but I've found that picking up anything and throwing it between hands works. The last time I did it was with a piece of steak; however that lead me to waking up very hungry :eek:

Another good idea, I'll try this if I notice I'm losing lucidity. Most of the time my lucid dreams end with me losing lucidity and going into a regular dream without even knowing it.

Good ideas. Like you, I've found the most success with touching, moving, and interacting with the dream world. I need to get my dream body engaged in a physical way. Visualization alone won't cut it, for me.

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Originally Posted by Clyde Machine

Another good idea, I'll try this if I notice I'm losing lucidity. Most of the time my lucid dreams end with me losing lucidity and going into a regular dream without even knowing it.

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Yeah, that's exactly the reason I was looking to find something else to prevent me losing lucidity. I'll throw the object from hand to hand for a while, or if something is happening in my dream which requires the use of a hand, I'll hold it in my hand and rub it so I can feel the texture/features of whatever I'm touching.

Do you have any other techniques to stop yourself from "going with the flow" so to speak?

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Originally Posted by Robot_Butler

Good ideas. Like you, I've found the most success with touching, moving, and interacting with the dream world. I need to get my dream body engaged in a physical way. Visualization alone won't cut it, for me.

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It's good to know I'm not alone :) Do you ever look really closely at objects when you're interacting with them? I find that when I concentrate on the object, the texture becomes incredibly detailed, kind of like a close-up of a textured thumbnail in an art package. 'Tis pretty cool!

I really don't have any techniques to stop myself from "going with the flow" because whenever it happens, I've just lost it altogether. This morning I forced my way back into a dream and had a DEILD, but that's the first time I've rebounded from losing dreamstate, albeit a non-lucid state. I guess I'll just be taking your methods then! :D

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Originally Posted by Clyde Machine

I really don't have any techniques to stop myself from "going with the flow" because whenever it happens, I've just lost it altogether. This morning I forced my way back into a dream and had a DEILD, but that's the first time I've rebounded from losing dreamstate, albeit a non-lucid state. I guess I'll just be taking your methods then! :D

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Haha, glad to know it worked for you, nice! :)

I find the best bit about this technique, is that even if you can't force your way back into a dream in the 1st 60 seconds or so - providing you don't move and stay in the paralysed state - is that you can imagine everything much more clearly than imagining it when you're awake.

What I mean by this is if you just close your eyes during the day and think of your bedroom, friends house, or a specific location, you can see it in your minds eye, but it isn't too clear. When in the paralysed state following a dream, you can see it with much better clarity; sometimes even doing this allows you to get back into a dream at a pre-selected location.

It's a variation of using your senses, but that's not a bad thing, everyone should have their special ways to do things. Good for you :)

Aw, I wish I'd read this thread yesterday; I had an LD this morning and woke up almost straight away! Thanks for posting the information though, I'll try it next time. :)

Kwakwaversal, check this out, a DEILD from this morning:

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11.03.2010

48: 3.11.10; 11:18AM Part 2: Any Day Now. (DEILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

After not having a lucid dream, I went back to bed for a nap to try for one. I had one short dream which I'd woken up from, and forced myself to enter into another one. Although it wasn't what I would call a strong lucid dream, I knew I was in the dream.

I was on a train and in a car by myself, singing along wit the music of "Any Day Now" by Ronnie Milsap. I recall that, as my voice always is when singing in dreams, my voice was very strong and powerful, as if amplified by PA speakers. Before the song reached the dark break ("I know I shouldn't want to keep you / if you don't want to stay") I realized the dream really wasn't very clear or defined, almost like I was losing it. I grabbed a hold of a black handlebar next to me, remembering a trick I'd read about on Dreamviews for keeping lucid. The bar got much more defined and clear, letting me focus on the rest of the car, which in turn gave that much more detail and showed itself to be a lavish car with dark red seats and bright red walls and upholstery. (Thanks for the trick, Kwakwaversal, you saved my lucid!) The song got to the line "I'll keep holding on for dear life," and I noted how funny it was that I was holding onto the train to stay in the dreamworld while singing that part.

[...]

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I didn't think I'd make use of it so soon! :D

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Originally Posted by Taromon777

Aw, I wish I'd read this thread yesterday; I had an LD this morning and woke up almost straight away! Thanks for posting the information though, I'll try it next time. :)

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Doh! I hope it works for you. Remember to grab hold of something pretty big; I grabbed hold of a door knocker the other day (one of those small ones with thinly arched arms) and it wasn't big enough (as the actress said to the bishop). I think it's because it didn't give enough sensation in my hand. :?

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Originally Posted by Clyde Machine

Kwakwaversal, check this out, a DEILD from this morning:

I didn't think I'd make use of it so soon! :D

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That's well good :D I'm glad it helped; there's nothing more satisfying than getting back to a lucid after losing control!

Yeah, I was losing control real quick and just grabbed ahold of that bar, and everything came back, clearer than before. Could have been clearer, but overall the lucid wasn't very well defined until after I grabbed the bar, focused on it, then on my surroundings.

I've found in several cases where I thought that I was on the verge of losing the dream and kinda waking up in a dozing state that almost opening my eyes, but very firmly expecting to see my dream again when I did, was enough to tip me back into the dream instead of just waking up again.