Thread: Go to RC and the dream fades

The usual stuff of controlling expectations and staying calm applies, but I would suggest giving stabilization more priority over doing RC. Sometimes doing RC can make the dream stable, but not always. The more used to you are the higher you can maintain it. If you are doing WBTB and/or WILD then focus on doing it during longer REM cycles.There is no easy fix for this. I have lucid dreams almost on a daily basis and some fade quite fast upon realization. So I take advantage of the situation and do a DEILD.

lucidbunnie gave a super awesome answer, and I think that like she said the main thing for the RC is controlling expectations and remaining calm. I get super excited when I realize I am dreaming and it can be counter-productive when I wake myself up. Also you don't absolutely have to RC to realize you are dreaming.

But still, I would like to hear more thoughts on this subject, as I have suffered the same problem, especially when I first started dreaming. For me something that really helped was changing my RC. I started out with the nose plug RC, but like you described, every time I did it I would wake up instantly. I wonder if it had something to do with my brain thinking I was cutting off my breathing? Eventually I found my own personal RC, where I pop a joint like my fingers, and in dreams there is no popping sensation. This kept me in my dreams a lot more often. Still, though, sometimes an RC or even just realizing I am dreaming without an RC will wake me up almost immediately.

Expectation and calmness are important. I have another thing to add:
Are you too consumed by the thought of RCing when you are in the dream? I myself have a tendency to focus too much on my thoughts and end up not paying any attention to the dream itself which makes it fade away for me.

I have a Q. Are you already lucid before you go to perform that RC? Or are you just about to become lucid, and you are going towards that RC, and then the dream ends?

Most of the time I am lucid before it, and then go to solidify the dream by using an RC (most of the time it is looking at my hands, or thumb through palm).

Originally Posted by Charles3

I have a Q. Are you already lucid before you go to perform that RC? Or are you just about to become lucid, and you are going towards that RC, and then the dream ends?

Most of the time I am lucid before it, and then go to solidify the dream by using an RC (most of the time it is looking at my hands, or thumb through palm).

Originally Posted by Amerate

Most of the time I am lucid before it, and then go to solidify the dream by using an RC (most of the time it is looking at my hands, or thumb through palm).

Ah. Gotcha. I asked because I do RC's when I am already lucid, for various reasons, too.

But sorry, I don't know why that happens

What makes you want to solidify the dream at that time? Does it feel like its fading, and then you respond to the feeling of it fading by trying to RC? Or did it show no sign of fading until you perform the RC?

Originally Posted by Charles3

Ah. Gotcha. I asked because I do RC's when I am already lucid, for various reasons, too.

But sorry, I don't know why that happens

What makes you want to solidify the dream at that time? Does it feel like its fading, and then you respond to the feeling of it fading by trying to RC? Or did it show no sign of fading until you perform the RC?

Generally only happens after I go to RC, but I generally try to RC right away. Tonight, or next time I become lucid, I will try to skip the RC and just focus on the dream world. The thing that troubles me, is that I have had successful LD before, but now they happen more often but aren't as fufilling, or fade right away.

Originally Posted by Amerate

Generally only happens after I go to RC, but I generally try to RC right away. Tonight, or next time I become lucid, I will try to skip the RC and just focus on the dream world. The thing that troubles me, is that I have had successful LD before, but now they happen more often but aren't as fufilling, or fade right away.

Hopefully you find the method that works for you! Everyones experience can be so different.

One philosophical RC is ask yourself is where you are where you really live? How did you get there? I did this and then sucesfully controlled flight but then i was in the ocean with sharks so I succesfully ended the dream on purpose

It may be that your RC is making you concentrate on the fact that you are dreaming, rather than concentrating on the dream itself. By engaging in the dream you almost try to fool yourself into continuing the dream by distraction, whereas stopping to do an RC is almost the opposite.
I think this is the problem I've had for ages, so I'm trying to do something different.
The problem is, doing an RC can also stabilise the dream if you are only semi-lucid.

Maybe judge that by only doing an RC if you are still not quite lucid, but if you are already lucid, just keep engaging in the dream to stay in and stop it fading.