Exiting a dream

I read this on an astral travel forum:-

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Many (astral journeys) end with a feeling of suddenly "popping" or "snapping" and sometimes a "pulling" back into their bodies; some even report being "sucked back" into physical form.

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Now, its it just me, or does this sound an awful lot like waking up? :D

But it gets me thinking. When Im lucid I often find that going from asleep to awake isn't an on off thing.

The way I can best describe it, is it almost feels like being at the bottom of a pool and "surfacing" into my body.

Does anyone else get where I'm coming from?

Would be good to read other posters descriptions of what they experience.

"Surfacing" -- that's a good way to describe it.

... Except for me it's more like I'm clawing my way up a cliff with my lower body encased in cement. Unless some external factor wakes me up quickly it usually takes a LOT of effort for me to pull myself out of a lucid dream -- even after I've started to lose the plot. Sometimes after I wake up I can't actually move my body for a minute or so. It's like I'm paralyzed.

I had one once where I felt like I exploded -- and woke up to find myself sitting upright in my bed with my heart going a million miles a minute. That was interesting...

But honestly, I'd rather not end my dreams by blowing up if I could help it. So if anyone has tips on how to make gentler transitions between lucid dreams and waking up, I'd love to hear them!

For me, it feels like I'm gradually becoming more and more aware of the real world. I don't normally feel any motion or sense of movement. I might notice something small, like the feel of the sheets against my feet, or the sound of my own breathing. From there, I might get some overlapping dual-vision of both the dream world and the real world. Once I notice something real, I have a hard time dismissing it. It grabs my attention, and I then become aware of my real surroundings.

This is only when I have a drawn out awakening, like the end of a lucid dream. One where I can fight it. Most of the time, I just wake up with no memory of having ever been anywhere else. I have to lie still and try to remember what the hell was just happening.

Sometimes it does feel like I am being sucked into my bed, but most of the time surfacing describes it. I gradually feel like I am rising and feel my body, until I am in it.

When I exit my dreams, it usually feels like I'm floating in the air, able to feel my physical body. Then, I feel a huge "jolt" in my entire body, but the biggest impact it has on me is my head. I don't know if that's a good way to describe it, but....yeah, that's how it feels.

For me, my vision blurs and dream objects start to lose focus. Everything fades to black, and the remnants of the dream become abstract thought. All the while, I'm becoming more and more aware of my real body. However, no real physical sensations ensue. Soon enough, the dream, and the abstract thoughts that accompanied its closure, fall into nothingness. My consciousness becomes entangled in the confines of waking life, and it is then that I am awake.

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Originally Posted by Mzzkc

For me, my vision blurs and dream objects start to lose focus. Everything fades to black, and the remnants of the dream become abstract thought. All the while, I'm becoming more and more aware of my real body. However, no real physical sensations ensue. Soon enough, the dream, and the abstract thoughts that accompanied its closure, fall into nothingness. My consciousness becomes entangled in the confines of waking life, and it is then that I am awake.

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That is exactly how it is for me as well.

In the few lucid dreams I have had, when I started to wake up, the dream went black like I had closed my eyes, then I sat up in my bed a second later.

I have never noticed any sort of transitional sensation other than the blindness.

The times I've woken up from a Lucid, I still my my dream, but it feels like I'm falling in slo-mo back into my body. Then my visuals fade into my real surroundings.