Quote Originally Posted by Abra View Post
Spinning is quoted as the most reliable stability technique, because it focuses on sensations of the entire body within the dream.

A lucid dream is the perfect opportunity to face your fears! Nothing can hurt you. Focus on that rabid fanged wolf until it becomes a noble friend. Lucid dreams can also tame phobias.

*Usually I'd agree with you on that. But today, I got a hold of several studies indicating that thought suppression rarely works (not only in emotional situations, but also in physical tests. In one test, subjects were told "not to think about" the pain they felt when submerging their hands in ice water. Subjects in another group were told to be aware of the pain. Contrary to my own expectations, the first group reported higher levels of stress!). I wonder how closely this happens in dreams, too? I could bring meditation into this (I expect that if the ice-water study had a meditation group, they'd report less stress). I guess it depends on the method you go about ignoring the problem; thought suppression or meditation?

That post was too long. I'll finish off by saying I agree with everything else, especially the first and last. Also, I'll add this:

Don't give up, even in a nightmare. Wake yourself up, and you'll regret it later!
No, spinning always wakes me up. You lose all visual 'perception', or at least I do, which is one of my primary anchors to a lucid dream. From what I've read on these forums, many people who spin either wake up or lose lucidity. Some people are able to transform the dream scene, but many people have expressed exasperation with the method. I never use it, because it always wakes me up. They asked from our experiences, what we think people shouldn't do. I think it's dumb to waste a lucid spinning around and waking yourself up

I personally don't really care about facing my fears, either. I'm scared of horror movie monsters and the dark. Why ruin a lucid on them? I'd much rather do other things than face my 'fears'. I had a lucid dream where I knew if I looked at someone, they'd turn into a horror movie monster because I expected them to. Why waste a lucid, when I can ignore that, have it completely disappear from the dream because I'm not paying attention to it, and carry on to do something fun or complete a goal? As they requested, things you wouldn't do in a lucid dream. If I wanted something to be gone, I wouldn't pay attention to it.