Lucidity help

[Fale55]

Ok i've had A LOT of LD's but I havn't had very much to do because they are too short. When I get in my dreams I try to clear my mined then I wake up. When I want to stay in my dreams i'll ALWAYS forget hand rubbing and dream spinning and all that other stuff but last night I had one and I told myself twice I was in a dream and I started flying then I woke up right away. HOW CAN I GET MYSELF TO REMEMBER TO DO HAND RUBBING AND INCREASE LUCIDITY AND STAY IN LONGER?

[Spartiate]

Well, first of all, I don't think those things actually have an effect on the length of your dream, but rather on its vividness. The length of our dreams is determined by the length of our REM periods (which can't really be modified). It is possible, however, that something wakes you up prematurely... You sound a bit stressed about the whole thing. Don't worry, relax, worrying about it is counterproductive (You already know what you need to do, just go with the flow and let your subconscious deal with it. If you force it, then it will likely fail.). When you become lucid, act like you have all the time in the world, don't feel rushed like if you needed to get a bunch of things done before it's over. The less emotional you get in a dream, the easier it is to control.

[Redrivertears]

Hola, For the most part I'll add my voice what Spartiate said, except that I think that hand rubbing (or more generally paying attention to your dreamsensations) does in fact prolong your dream. Its a technique I very often employ to do just that. (Also, general concensus these days is that dreams are not directly linked to REM, so the lenght of your dream would not be determined by the lenght of the REM period.) But yes, remain calm, don't feel rushed, don't feel stressed. Act as though you have all the time in the world, and pay enough attention to the dream itself. Its very easy to get so caught up with 'thinking' in your dream, about your dreamgoal, about how to control this or that, that you withdraw your attention from the dream itself. That too is a sure way to wake yourself up, at least for me. Additionally, set dreamgoals beforehand. And repeat them to yourself often. Hopefully they'll be with you in your dreams (but it depends on how lucid you are). Without solid dreamgoals, lucid dreams often end up quickly for me. With a dreamgoal, it's usually easy to make it last until the goal is completed. For me though, remembering my dreamgoal usually doesn't happen right away. It often takes days of weeks of repeating my dreamgoal to myself before I actually remember it in my lucid dreams too. And lastly, accept that some dreams end prematurly, no matter what you do. You take the good with the bad, and don't let yourself get worried or stressed over it. Just my 2 dreamcents, -Redrivertears-

[Spartiate]

Also, general concensus these days is that dreams are not directly linked to REM, so the lenght of your dream would not be determined by the lenght of the REM period. Do you have any sources for that? I would be interested in finding out more...

[Redrivertears]

Hey, Try a search on google for NREM dreams. You'd be amazed what turns up Personally, I always recommend people to read Owen Flannagan's "Dreaming Souls". It's getting a little outdated now (2000), but he makes a rather good summary of what present neuropsychology and neurobiology is doing qua dream and sleeptheory, plus he presents some rather interesting viewpoints of his own. Other well known names in the field are Allan Hobson and Mark Solms, also very interesting reading for the relationship between sleep and dreams. Hope that helps, -Redrivertears-

[lagunagirl]

i think the hand rubbing doesn't necessarily make the lucid longer, but it does make it less likely that you'll come out of your lucid sooner. Like spartiate said, your dream can only be as long as your REM, so it wouldn't make the dream longer, it would just make it so you will stay in it longer

[Fale55]

i think the hand rubbing doesn't necessarily make the lucid longer, but it does make it less likely that you'll come out of your lucid sooner. Like spartiate said, your dream can only be as long as your REM, so it wouldn't make the dream longer, it would just make it so you will stay in it longer That's what I meant...

[Pancaka]

Well, first of all, I don't think those things actually have an effect on the length of your dream, but rather on its vividness. The length of our dreams is determined by the length of our REM periods (which can't really be modified). It is possible, however, that something wakes you up prematurely... You sound a bit stressed about the whole thing. Don't worry, relax, worrying about it is counterproductive (You already know what you need to do, just go with the flow and let your subconscious deal with it. If you force it, then it will likely fail.). When you become lucid, act like you have all the time in the world, don't feel rushed like if you needed to get a bunch of things done before it's over. The less emotional you get in a dream, the easier it is to control. I disagree. I see what you are saying, but it has nothing to do with his REM periods, just the fact that he wakes up to quickly after becoming lucid. On MY first lucid I rubbed my hands together and everything became vivid, but I got so excited that my face (in my dream) started to become horrifyingly deformed and my vision started fading (as I was waking) and so to maintain I started rubbing my hands together vigorously and spinning around and I was still in my dream. As for remembering to do it I'm not so sure, but because that's my main way of becoming immersed in the dream, I do it first thing. If you can't remember to rub your hands together than I think it MIGHT help to make it a habit in your daily life...then again it might just make you stay in nld because you think it's natural...I don't really know. I just want to help

[Fale55]

I disagree. I see what you are saying, but it has nothing to do with his REM periods, just the fact that he wakes up to quickly after becoming lucid. On MY first lucid I rubbed my hands together and everything became vivid, but I got so excited that my face (in my dream) started to become horrifyingly deformed and my vision started fading (as I was waking) and so to maintain I started rubbing my hands together vigorously and spinning around and I was still in my dream. As for remembering to do it I'm not so sure, but because that's my main way of becoming immersed in the dream, I do it first thing. If you can't remember to rub your hands together than I think it MIGHT help to make it a habit in your daily life...then again it might just make you stay in nld because you think it's natural...I don't really know. I just want to help THANKYOU thats the question I want answered here