Hello Everybody!!

Hey! It's nice to see an awesome lucid dreaming community. I'm pretty new to lucid dreaming. I've had quite a few LD throughout my life, I just didn't know what to call them. Anyways Im going to be browsing the forum for some new tips and techniques to try. As of now my problem is staying in a lucid dream. I will start out by realizing i'm dreaming in a dream. Then I will get so excited that I will usually go into sleep paralysis and freak out and wake up, or I will drift off into a normal dream without realizing it. LD don't last long with me, but I am working on that. I had the most interesting experience last night, unlike any other actually. A friend told me that if I look at my hands throughout the normal waking day and say "Im not in a dream" that I could use this in a dream to stay in a lucid state of dreaming. Well I did this in my dream, and I had to focus on my hands hard to try to stay in the dream. But next thing I know everything fades to black, and I feel as if my whole body is covered with other peoples hands, I felt a strong strange vibrational energy throughout my entire body. Now Im in a sleep paralysis state, I believe. I try to get up and walk around, but in that state I thought I had woken up. So I ease up on trying to stay in this state, and next thing I know I fade back into normal sleep without evan realizing it. I just thought I would share this experience because its so fresh on my mind. Sorry if this isn't the right spot in the forum to share lucid dreams.

I do have a few hobbies music, drawing, thinking about life, but mostly I spend my free time producing music.

Anyways, its nice to be here!

Hey there, BedofClouds, and welcome to DreamViews! I'm new here myself and to lucid dreaming like you. And I think this might be the right spot in the forums to post this since it is an introduction, after all. Hope you have a great stay here!

Hey and welcome :)
Wow, sounds like some really nice experiences you have already made there!
Just one thing (maybe it's just a misunderstanding). I noticed how you said "I'm not in a dream". I guess that this is not the best thing to say as it might tell your subconscious that everytime you look at your hands you are not dreaming. First off I would start by assuming that you actually are dreaming (even though you are convinced that you are not, but nevertheless actually question your surroundings). So after you assume that you are dreaming have a close look at your hands. Do they look real, are there 5 fingers on each, etc... So if that's all set and you most certain that you are awake, then you can say "alright, I am awake".

If you have any questions feel free to ask :)

benni's right. When doing any reality check (such as looking at your hands), always assume that you are dreaming and that the reality check will be affirmative. Otherwise there's a high chance that it will negatively effect your lucidity.

Welcome to DV!

Hey, thanks for replying everybody. Haha I guess I had it wrong. Thanks for correcting me benni and CNBG! It makes more sense to do it that way now that I think about it. I've just started using this technique so it shouldn't be to hard to change it up.

Thanks for the tips and welcoming guys :)