How do I prevent losing lucidity?

Basically, last nite I had my first ever LD and it was completely unintentional. I only ever wanted to WILD and that failed and for some reason, I was playing with LEGO and thought it was strange as I was 16 and never played with LEGO. I did a RC and became Lucid.

I remember getting excited but don't remember anything after that and I assume thats because I lost lucidity but I want to know how to keep Lucid. I didnt wake up I just went back into an ND and there was no warning or whatever so I didnt know I was going to lose lucidity.

It was proberly only like 5-10 seconds long.

So yeah, how do i keep Lucidity, I knew it was a dream yet I still lost it.

--Focusing on the sensation of my feet on the ground. Stomping them is even better as the real-seeming physical impact drives home the new reality. *STOMP* "This is a dream!" *STOMP* "Stomping on this hard floor feels totally real!" *STOMP* "But I'm dreaming!"

--Touching the walls, the floors, anything that is around me. Feels totally real. Get close enough and you can see the scratches and dirt on the desks.
Touching my face and hair, recognizing the feel of my own countenance in this new world. Yep, that's me. I feel that. I recognize that. I'm here, wherever that is.

--Once I'm established in the new reality, I also find it useful to say my name, recite my address and phone number, the names of my family members, etc. I'll also do a few multiplication tables. This not only stimulates the analytical mind--bringing in waking consciousness--but it momentarily deadens emotional excitement that might wake me up. It's hard to get excited about 9x3, and it's a bit of a challenge to remember the answer in a dream state.

(http://www.evolver.net/user/cobalt_s..._dream_reality

Those are all real good techniques ^^

- I shout "MORE LUCIDITY" sometimes, at it usually locks the LD in place, at least for a few more minutes.

- Then I examine my hands, wiggle my fingers, and I USED to shove a finger through my palm, but it was so real it grossed me out hehe.

- Finally, and this is my favorite: find a mirror. I find a mirror, stare into my eyes, and they nearly always change size or color which locks in lucidity for me as well.


Even with all these techniques, I will still lose an LD from time to time. I believe it has to do with too many activities in my LD that get my adrenaline going. And sometimes just the awareness of the LD is enough to excite me too much and I wake up. So practice all the techniques you can remember and find what works best. You attained lucidity, so you got that hard part out of the way so congrats! And good luck.

I've got the exact same problem. Does the big "stabilize" techniques also work for hanging onto to lucidity? Such as spinning, rubbing your hands, etc.? I know they help with keeping you from waking up from excitement, but what about staying lucid?

Edit: I guess this should've been posted under dream control, but I saw the thread here :p

^^ Those are all great techniques, I find that if I take a few moments and stand totally still, as a way to make sure the dream doesn't fade away gives me time to adjust. I think different techniques will differ on effectiveness from person to person. It depends on the level of your lucidity, as I find that I'll realize I'm dreaming, but then get distracted and then completely forget. Spinning and checking my hands does help me to hang on to lucidity as it acts as a reminder that I'm dreaming, so yes, I believe they do aid staying lucid.

Also, another method, which is very important, is keeping some sort of record of your dreams, even if you only jot down a few notes on the general gist of the dream. Going through what you remember of your dream when you wake in your head over and over is also helpful. If you do this regularly, it will not only improve your dream recall, but make it easier to attain lucidity as you are training yourself to become more aware of when you dream. :)

OK, thanks. I keep a DJ right by my bed, and lately I've made sure to put as much detail as possible. I used to be lazy and just jolt down the basics, but seriously. Detail helps so much.

When you feel as if you're about to lose it, spin around. I spin around in my head while falling asleep to help me gain lucidity in the first place =)

Oh I forgot about the spin! I tried the spin once but it caused me to black out before and lucidity, but I've read of gobs of LDers who like to use that technique. Definitely worth trying the spin at least once.

i find just staying calm, taking in all my surroundings, breathing steadily and looking at my hands works. I've got to say the spins never worked for me. I usually start to lose lucidity after trying to hard to control or manipulate something in my dream, if i start to lose clarity i just stop what i was doing, center myself and rub my hands against something to create the feeling of friction, that's saved me from blacking many times

anything that creates physical sensation is great as well. ex putting your hands in cold water?