Thread: Encountered Some Trouble with Dream Stability

So last night I had my first lucid dream. I had come to an empty room, and quickly realised that I had no idea where I was or how I had gotten there in the first place. I immediately became extremely excited, but I managed to calm myself, and shortly thereafter began to both spin and knock on my surroundings, as I had heard that helps to solidify my surroundings. This did well; the dream was slightly hazy before I had begun said methods, but it began to clear up. However, I found that with spinning, the more I did so, the less of a grip I had on my lucidity. After a while, I was back into the sway of the dream.

Therefore, I have a question: Once one is lucid, the dream can certainly be stabilised, but what is that to one's lucidity? Should I practice alternate methods to protect my consciousness, or was my experience unique or a chance occurrence? Thank you, and if this topic has already been discussed, please link me to said discussion and I will close this thread.

It sounds like if you spin for too long then it starts to affect you adversely instead of for the better. From my experience spinning is not always the best method and seems to work for me only when trying to salvage a fading dream. When you spin you kind of lose your touch with what's around you which is the opposite of what you want to happen when trying to stabilize a dream. I find that rubbing my hands or focusing on my surroundings works best when I first become lucid. I suggest you experiment with some stabilization techniques to find which is the right one for you but be sure to only spend 5-10 seconds on it unless the dream is very shaky.

Check out nina's guide to stablilization.
What you experienced is perfectly normal for the first couple lucids you have, and even once you become a seasoned dreamer, they'll still occasionally happen. Best not to worry about them too much or else they'll end up happening more.

Good luck!