Is there a way to voluntarily wake up during a lucid dream?

**ultranova** · 09-13-2011 05:01 PM

As the title says: is there a way to voluntarily wake up during a lucid dream? I'm asking this because after waking directly from lucid dream, feeling the transition from dream to body feels more real and fresh than remembering lucid dreams earlier in morning because that way they feel like a memory. I've had like 15 lucid dreams and my last one was the only one that I actually didnt' wake up from and it felt nowhere good as the ones I woke up from directly. Maybe there's some method to wake up? Will wanting to go back to body do the thing? I'm little unsure about this because coming up with inconvenient method would cause me to wake up involuntary.

**AURON** · 09-13-2011 05:31 PM

Normally, by doing all that stuff they tell you not to do.....you know...getting overly excited, screaming, trying to die....things like that. On the other hand, I've had really long lucids where I wanted to wake up solely because of recall, and I spent a great deal of time trying to wake up, and nothing worked. I guess on the other end of the spectrum you could just try to not focus on the dream. Closing your eyes, meditating or things like that.

**ultranova** · 09-13-2011 07:34 PM

Hmm, trying to die seems interesting enough, I'll give it a try next time.

**Puffin** · 09-13-2011 07:44 PM

Thinking of yourself lying in your physical bed might do the trick. And closing your eyes is definitely a good one; sometimes dreamers close their eyes to change locations but end up waking themselves up because they didn't pay close enough attention to the dream. However you choose to wake up, though, watch out for false awakenings; the dream might fabricate a new scenario, one where you're supposedly back in your room. Always do an RC!

**ultranova** · 09-13-2011 08:00 PM

Yeah, I always tend to do RC upon awakening so I can catch FAs.

**Darkmatters** · 09-13-2011 08:31 PM

Find a random DC and start getting your freak on...

**Puffin** · 09-13-2011 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

Find a random DC and start getting your freak on...

That's probably not only the easiest, but the most entertaining way to wake up.

**LikesToTrip** · 09-13-2011 08:37 PM

I've always had the ability to wake up when I want to... I just imagine my physical body moving and shaking in my bed and I wake up almost instantly. Just think about how your body feels lying in bed and focus on that feeling.

**BeeClock** · 09-13-2011 08:40 PM

When I had my first lucid dream, at the end it was becoming unstable and stuff, so I figured that I should try to wake myself up. I heard that holding your breath can awaken you, so I decided to try it. Sure enough, I woke up. I'm not sure if it was because of holding my breath or if I just woke up at that time, but it might be worth trying.

In my second lucid dream, I laughed myself awake, which was interesting.

**Robot_Butler** · 09-13-2011 09:10 PM

I have a lot of tricks to wake myself up. I will squeeze my eyes closed, try to feel my body lying in bed, ect. Unfortunately, none of them are very reliable. They always seem to work, but often end in false awakenings. Be sure to reality check immediately after waking yourself up from a lucid dream. You may have just purposefully caused yourself to dream about waking up.