First LDs...and some issues.
Hello everyone.
I've been lurking on these and other forums for quite a while now. Basically, I've had an interest in lucid dreaming for the past three years. This interest has taken different forms; at times, I've been very actively attempting to have a lucid dream, using a technique every night and morning (these periods of intense activity usually lasting a week or two), and at times it's been in the back of my mind.
Anyhow, a month or two ago, I had my first LD completely out of the blue. In it, I was sitting in my bathroom trying to log into a computer. However, no matter how many times I tried to type my password, it wouldn't come out quite right. Then I realized that that must be because I was dreaming. Suddenly, the reality of the room seemed extremely bizarre. I decided to run and go tell my sister I had a lucid dream, but on my way down the hall, I felt myself losing lucidity, and I felt everything fading to black. So I tried spinning, which I had read helps, but it only led to a false awakening and I lost lucidity. In all, this might have lasted 15 seconds.
This morning, I had another. I was lying in bed, after waking up a couple of times and drifting back off. For some reason, the idea of lucid dreaming was in my head. I think I kind of woke up from a dream and thought it was lucid, though it really wasn't. I decided I was going to try to be lucid. But, I was sort of aware of being awake--at least, at that point, I saw all black. Then I started to imagine myself in a situation, still seeing all black. I imagined I was in a rain forest on an island. Suddenly, I heard huge sweeping winds and rain, though I still saw nothing. I thought to myself, "I must be lucid dreaming--I can hear the wind and rain!" It's possible that some real life noise caused it, or I might have imagined it. Anyway, I imagined myself hopping off the island into the water and swimming with a bunch of fish, and it felt more and more real. I forgot about lucidity. Then I got out of the water and onto a dock, and suddenly, I gained full vision. It was like the black just kind of faded to a real image of the dock, through my real eyes. It was startling, and at this moment I remembered my desire to be lucid. It worked, and I had the same weird sense of reality as in my LD of some months ago.
I noticed some people on the docks, and started talking to a girl I was sitting right next to. Just then, I felt myself losing lucidity, and everything faded to black. I was about to give up, but then I had a crazy idea. I thought, "Maybe I didn't lose the dream. Maybe I just closed my eyes in the dream." I'm not sure how to describe what happened next...I remembered where the girl was in relation to me, and I just...reached out and grabbed her leg. I couldn't see anything still, but I could feel her leg in my hand. I realized this couldn't be a leg actually in my bed with me, and then I just...opened my eyes and I was back on the dock in the exact same place. I got up, and tried jumping and spinning around, but everything was in slow motion, like a 3d video game with lag. Then I went back to black, and this time I couldn't get back. I woke up.
I tried to go back into lucidity a couple of times but it just didn't work.
Neither of my dreams really lasted more than a few seconds. How can I prolong them? Spinning and jumping really didn't work.
I'd appreciate any advice/tips/comments! :)
