I am a firm believer that time is just a perception. It is not the same for everyone at a given time.

There are elements that can affect our perception of time. Such things as sensory deprivation, emotions, and activity can all affect this valuable sense in some way or another. Take sensory deprivation. Without all your senses intact, one can lose the perception of time because they can no longer judge it visually, audibly, or “feel” it. Sensory deprivation is usually done in an isolation tank, and I have read it can be quite exhilarating.

You can also take emotions. When you are in a depressed state, time sometimes seems to dilate, almost making the situation become more unbearable. Conversely, when you are excited, time might seem to move fast, more so than you might want it. Have you ever been dreading an exam to such an extreme that the anticipation seemingly stretches time, thus burdening you with a protracted sense of anxiety?

I am sure we have all experienced activity to the same extent. When you are doing something fun and interesting, you may feel that time simply slips away. This can be seen in playing games (of any sort), reading, and other such activities. In fact, it can even be seen when you are not particularly having fun, for example, when you are working or studying very hard (you feel like there is not enough time in the day). Other times, when you are overly bored and remain rather idle, the feeling is the opposite, where you wish time would pass faster. A reoccurring bored state might even lead you to a depressed state where the feeling is doubly so, or at least fractionally increased.

In our lucid dreams, we can learn to change spatial objects or expanses. We can even learn to influence that mental space in some way. All we have to do is either gain more control, or figure out clever ways to “trick” our mind into giving us what we desire (i.e. opening a door or spinning around).

I think time operates similarly. It is just another controllable variable in our dreams. What we must do is find ways to “trick” our mind into expanding this perception, so that we can experience lucid dreams to an even greater extent. I am not saying that this will necessarily work. I am not saying that we will get days or months in our dreams as some people have implied. It seems like a plausible avenue, and thus worth exploring. Who knows, we might very well find a way to get the time in a lucid dream that we desire.

Basically, think of ways that one might be able to dilate time. They might be relatively obvious methods or very abstract ones. That is what this topic is dedicated to though – any method to prolong time in a dream.

One method might be drinking something, like an elixir, that knowledgeably effects time (might even want it on a label or something of that sort). You might even need to clarify how much time will be dilated by. I have heard of another idea where one tries to cast a spell that slows time down, but keeps everything within the dream moving at a normal speed. Both of these ideas can be adjusted at the will of the LDer.

Unfortunately, I am unable to apply these ideas myself. I am still learning to gain lucidity. I have only had two lucid dreams since I started on this forum, and I do not yet have much control. I hope that expert LDers will aid this cause.