Thread: foundations for self-control and staying asleep

here i will not be explaining dream stabilization in terms of perceiving a dream environment (which has been done well by others), but about what to do at the very start of a lucid dream before other methods. this is intended for people like me who have had trouble staying lucid enough to properly utilize the more common techniques (rubbing your hands, spinning, awareness of senses...)

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lucid dreaming has been a bit of a struggle for me over the past three years, not so much in getting lucid but because i do not have naturally stable dreams. waking up shortly after becoming lucid or getting distracted and losing awareness have been some issues; my primary aspiration at this time is to consistently stabilize in dreams to the point where i am fully present in the moment, in control of myself, and aware of my senses.

i'll keep this fairly simple and only emphasize the points i haven't really seen brought up elsewhere - i realize that the process of learning to stabilize varies from person to person and some methods work for some while seemingly doing little for others.


extending the dream

waking up because of an expectation that a dream is ending can get mixed in with physical limitations. if your awareness is firmly held on the dream you are in, you will probably stay asleep.

i have been training myself to look at my hand upon becoming lucid. i focus intently on the sight of my right hand and count slowly to five. i have had several dreams where my vision completely fades out, but by focusing on where my hand would be the scenery returns and i stay asleep. this has worked to steady myself even if my vision is relatively stable, and it helps to know exactly what to do as soon as you become lucid - your hand is a pretty natural reference point.

at first you may remain asleep but lose lucidity, have a false awakening, or shift to another location. but with practice you should stay asleep and lucid every time you stop yourself to hold your attention within the dreamworld.

begin with your body

i've found that, for me at least, it helps to start stabilizing my awareness of my dream body and then my surroundings.

after focusing on your hand and preventing yourself from waking up, look down at your feet. doing this gives you a sense that you are standing and occupying a body that has weight and can be controlled like your physical body. shift your weight between your feet and step lightly on each foot. remember that you can be still and if your feet aren't busy walking, you probably aren't going anywhere.

become aware of your dream body and familiarize yourself with the sense of inhabiting this body. (i think this is a good point at which to rub your hands together rather than right at the beginning of the dream, because vision is our primary sense.)

stay in one place

this point is pretty crucial for me. if i'm lucid but keep moving around in the dream i'm likely to get distracted and forget to completely stabilize. developing the capacity to remain still and not do anything must precede any other kind of dream control - i need a visceral sense of self-control, mentally and physically, before any of my actions in a dream are really meaningful and easy to remember. it's pretty self-evident that an action in a highly lucid dream is more significant than one done when you are barely present in that moment.

after all this is done, move on to stabilizing your surroundings - which has been explained plenty of times here. turn around (spin) to get a sense of the completeness of the dream setting - that it surrounds you and isn't just a static image before you. work on your sense awareness...


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notes about progress

i keep track of the number of days in each month when i had at least one dream in which i began to stabilize. i also give myself a rating for each day for the quality of stabilization, then graph a value for each month. it really helps to know that i am steady improving. it's also good to break things into segments, so as not to get frustrated by tackling a bunch of tasks at once; for example, if you can easily look for your hand then focus on your body, only practice staying in one place for a while until you can comfortably move on to more tasks.