Thread: First LD Problems Waking Up

I've never done a FILD, so I can only give you general advice.

From reading the FILD tutorials it sounds like you have to stay conscious as you fall asleep. That is the whole reason behind wiggling (or almost wiggling) your fingers. I'm guessing you probably lost consciousness at some point, or you would have been lucid at the begining of the dream.

I suspect you woke up because you had reached the end of that REM phase (a lot of people wake up briefly after each dream).

I'm about to go off on a rant here, so I apologize. You will hear a lot of less-experenced LDers swearing up and down that excitement in a LD makes the dream end. I agree that excitement at the begining of a LD (when the dream state is still naturally unstable) can end the dream, however, once you are firmly in the dream there is no reason excitement (or sex, flying, closing your eyes, etc) will wake you except if:
1. the dream phase is over OR
2. you believe it will make you wake up
The reason believing excitement (or anything else) will wake you up can make you wake up is because the subconscious is powerful and likes to make sure our beliefs are affirmed. In other words, believing something means your subconscious will go to extremes to to prove you right, wether you are wrong or not. Is that clear?

Beyond all this, nice job on your first lucid! Sounds fun -- flying, fighting security guards.

Thanks for the help! One more question:
When you FILD, should your fingers be rubbing together? Is this important at all?