Hello. I can't seem to maintain my lucid dreams.

**HoboS** · 10-18-2011 11:33 AM

Hello Dream Views forum.

So before I get to my question, here's a little background of my lucid dream "adventures":

I had my first lucid dream the same night my friend talked to me about them, it was probably about 4 years ago. I was probably just so excited about them. One moment I just realized that I'm dreaming. The lucid part lasted for about 10 seconds or so. Then it turned back into a regular dream.

After that I started keeping dream journals, doing reality checks and what not. I didn't have another lucid dream for a while so I kind of stopped doing those things.

Skip forward to about a year - year and a half ago.

I got interested in LDing again, started doing the checks and remembering my dreams. Although I never had a LD that time I still remembered my dreams quite often. I wasn't so good at reality checks though. I kept forgetting to do them.

Now lets skip forward to about a week ago. Once again I got interested, I read about the different techniques and stuff again. Started doing reality checks more often and thoroughly. Checking writings, looking at clocks, my hands, clothes, remembering the past, recognizing the place and so on.

So after about 4 years I got my second "experience". It wasn't really a LD, more like sleep paralysis. I started hearing noises coming from my door, like someone was trying to get in using keys. Since I have the only keys I quickly associated the situation with being paralysed. I tried opening my eyes but it was too hard. Then I raised my arm up, at least I felt like it was raised, trying to wake up when I realized I'm "kind of" lucid and maybe I could go back into a dream. And I did, the whole thing felt like going over a high-point on a rollercoaster. I wasn't lucid in the dream though.

The next LD happened a few days ago. I met a friend in my dream, I remembered I don't really communicate with him any more so I did a reality check. I looked behind him and on the wall I saw the same calendar I have in my room. Usually when I do checks I read the months name on the calendar to see if the text is stable. Quite obviously the text on the dream calendar wasn't. I knew I was in a dream, but then again after about 10 seconds either the dream transformed to another dream or I just lost lucidity and went with the flow.

And then there's this night. I was walking down a street, randomly I got the urge to check if the text on street signs is stable. Like I usually do when I walk down a street and I start doing random reality checks. It wasn't and I knew I was dreaming. Although I started losing control I looked down and tried focusing on my feet, when that didn't work as well as expected I tried spinning and remained stable.

Now here's the weird part. During the whole dream I kept doing reality checks. I kept drifting in and out of lucidity. And I didn't have that much control over what was happening. I knew I was lucid, then suddenly I was dreaming again for a while before realizing I'm asleep. Based on all of my previous experiences that's the main problem with me. I can get lucid, but I can't maintain it. I don't wake up, I just go back to the flow of the dream.

Most of the advice I've seen is to help people stay in the dream - as in not to wake up. Do you have any advice that could help me stay lucid in the dream?

TL;DR Instead of waking up after realizing I'm lucid I usually lose the lucidity and start dreaming again. Any advice?

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot about this question: Do you guys think I'm not actually having a lucid dream, but instead I'm dreaming about having a lucid dream?

Thanks

**BobbyLance** · 10-18-2011 12:23 PM

Hi there my friend, it's actually possible to lose your lucidity when you are already lucid. When you do things in a lucid dream, sometimes, you tend to get carried away(because of the epicness of lucid dreams) and start to lose your lucidity I advise you to do reality checks very often once you are in a Lucid Dream. Do an RC every minute or everytime you try to do something in an LD. Hope this helps

**HoboS** · 10-18-2011 12:28 PM

Ah, thanks for the advice. I'll try that next time. Although, are there any passive techniques? Kind of like "poking yourself with a needle" or "holding an object in your hand" thing? Or would things like that just fade away after a while?

**BobbyLance** · 10-18-2011 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by HoboS

Ah, thanks for the advice. I'll try that next time. Although, are there any passive techniques? Kind of like "poking yourself with a needle" or "holding an object in your hand" thing? Or would things like that just fade away after a while?

The passive techniques you've mentioned like poking yourself w/ a needle and stuff might work, but I doubt it'll last. Sometimes, when we seat on a jagged/rough chair, it might hurt at the beginning, but it'll start to fade of after sometime, same with the techniques you've mentioned. But I think there's this one passive technique I think will kinda work, it's EILD(Electronically induced lucid dream). You'll need a music player that can loop a song. Go to this Audio Repository article and download the files under the EILD sub-category. The thing here is, you'll listen to it the whole night then you'll hear it inside your dreams. I still don't know if this works 100% but it doesn't hurt to try right? Hope this helps

**Kona** · 10-18-2011 02:59 PM

Alright so like the other guy said, it's normal to lose lucidity and what you described. That happened to me a lot when I first started lucid dreaming, but as long as you were aware that it was a dream then you were lucid. To help prevent this you can re affirm with yourself that you know that it is a dream, that you know it isn't real. You can do this by maybe shouting, "this is a dream! I am not awake! I am in the dream world!", things like that will help. You also need to make sure you have the dream stabilized pretty well. This can help prevent pre mature awakenings and will help you stay lucid.

Hope this helps, good luck!

**HoboS** · 10-18-2011 03:05 PM

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to try out the audio loops. I also made a little step-by-step plan for the next time. I'll just focus on maintaining the awareness first, after that I'm probably going to try to change the scenery to my room since I'm so familiar with it. After I can successfully maintain my lucidity I'll either try to summon something or make my window into a door to step outside.

**madvorak** · 10-18-2011 03:50 PM

Huh, you really want to change the scene to your room?
If I have a LD in my room, I want to change the scene and get out

.

**HoboS** · 10-18-2011 03:59 PM

Well I figured it'd be a nice place to start. It's familiar so I can calm my self down, try to maintain the lucidity and just get used to being lucid. I could just look a round for a while until I'm stable enough to try start experimenting

**Twoshadows** · 10-18-2011 04:19 PM

HoboS--

I find for me it helps to have a goal that I immediately set out to do. That way I'm less likely to lose lucidity and just "go with the dream." So before bed I decide exactly what it is I am going to focus on my my lucid dream...and usually that goal will be one of the first things that pops into my head after the "Hey...I'm dreaming" moment. And once I am working at that goal I find that I stay lucid much much longer.

See if that works for you.

**timbob** · 10-19-2011 01:36 AM

I have this problem aswell but I thinks doing extra RCs always prolongs my lucidity

**Bossalinni** · 10-19-2011 03:01 AM

Dream Stabilization and Clarity Tutorial - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
Try that tutorial. It worked wonders for me. I actually got stabilization under control the night after I read it

**jojo946** · 10-19-2011 03:12 AM

you're question kinda contradicts itself in my view. Regardless if your dreaming within a dream that you are having an LD nevertheless it is still an LD because the main thing is there. You know you're dreaming. To stay lucid in a dream you need to interact in the dream as much as possible. You do this by touching everything, smelling the air, tasting any fruits like if you're in a forest or jungle. Interact using all your 5 senses the more in tact you are in the dream wen ur lucid, the more likely u will keep the lucidity. Also always remember to stabilize in the technique for stabilization here on the site. It also worked wonders for me. Another thing to remember is do things NOT POSSIBLE IN REALITY. That will certainly maintain ur lucidity.