First Lucid Dream?

Ok... so today, I fell asleep around 4 pm, I was reading a book and felt a bit tired so I thought I'd take a nap. I didn't sleep that deeply; i woke up once at 5, went back to sleep, woke up again at like 5:30, and went back to sleep.

Right after i went back to sleep at 5:30, I suddenly realized that I was in a dream. (I think I was in some department store, and I dont remember what made me realize it was a dream. I just remember that it was something wierd). So immedately, i was like woah im in a dream, and I remembered that i needed to calm down to stay in the dream. I went outside, and I started to fly, and it was working (except I needed to work at it a bit, like if i stopped trying to fly i would start to fall). Oh, also, for some reason, i couldnt open my arms or stretch them out or anything. It felt like there was this giant invisible rubber band around my body, so I couldn't stretch my arms I had to keep them at my side. Has that ever happened to anyone? Than I woke up. I think this might have been a false awakening... I dont know if it was or not; I didnt do any reality checks because. I wanted to go back to the lucid dream so i just kept my eyes closed, and about 2-3 seconds later I was asleep again.

If this happens should i open my eyes and do a reality check or just try to go back to sleep?

A couple dreams later, I became lucid again (i dont remember how), but it was a lot weaker. The first time i became lucid I could see all the people around me and I was in a whole other world, but this time it was more vague - I thought i might be in a room of some sort but I couldn't really see any of the details. The same thing happened in this dream as the first time - I woke up but it may have been a FA, i went back to sleep a couple seconds later so i dont know.


In both dreams, i was only lucid for a minute at most. So, basically, i want to know how to increase lucidity and duration. Also, when i was lucid i did not remember all the techniques on this site, like spinning around or saying stuff to make them happen... is this because my lucidity was too low? Does this mean i need to think about lucidity in real life more to remember them better in dreams?

Well, it was awsome, but I wish it had lasted longer.

Thanks!

Hey there congrats on your first lucid experience!

I have alot of lucids also when I take naps during the day. It's great because alot of times even when I wake up from an LD I am in this state where I can sort of just close my eyes again and slip back into one...or into the vibrations or HI. You can do this over and over again until you get tired of it. :)

Basically, at first you are just excited to be lucid so the techniques probably don't come to mind right away. Once you become lucid stop for a second and try to remember some of the different things you can try. Perhaps something simple like...look at your hands and say "increase clairity" or "stabilize lucidity". Examine something in detail. Whenever I feel my lucid fading I will stop and examine my hands, or the ground...anything that I can and it usually works at prolonging the dream. I use dream spinning as a last resort if I am stuck in the blackness when entering a dream or when a dream fades. It's a last resort because I will often spin myself awake.

Anyways, congrats again and if you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask.
-nina ;)