Thread: What not to do while LDing?

From my own experiences;

- Do not let anything distract you, it can lead losing lucidity
- If you want to do something, decide it fast, don't hesitate
- If you can hardly do something (special ability, flying etc.) , don't do it. I mean do not spent too much effort.

These are things that cause losing lucidity for me

Do not rush off to do things without stabilizing.
Do not close your eyes.
Do not spin.
Do not do crazy fast hectic things if the dream is already unstable.
Do not pay attention to scary things.
Do not pay attention to things you want to be gone.
Do not doubt yourself.

Originally Posted by Shift

Do not rush off to do things without stabilizing.
Do not close your eyes.
Do not spin.
Do not to crazy fast hectic things if the dream is already unstable.
Do not pay attention to scary things.
Do not pay attention to things you want to be gone.
Do not doubt yourself.

Pretty much everything you shouldn't do

Originally Posted by Shift

Do not spin.
Do not pay attention to scary things.
Do not pay attention to things you want to be gone.*

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!

Originally Posted by Abra

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.

Don't eat your house. >_>
It tastes horrible.

But LaBerge said it, so it must be true! [/blind belief statement]

What works for some may not work for others. In LaBerge's studies, he was met with a 95% success rate (compared with 90% for hand-rubbing). *shrugs*

Originally Posted by Abra

But LaBerge said it, so it must be true! [/blind belief statement]

What works for some may not work for others. In LaBerge's studies, he was met with a 95% success rate (compared with 90% for hand-rubbing). *shrugs*

He's not a god, he's just a scientist, of course. What works for some doesn't work for others.
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=61304
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=56542
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=52814

So if it works, use it. If it doesn't, be done with it. *shrug*

Originally Posted by Shift

What works for some doesn't work for others.

That's why I asked for advices from your own experiences.

Don't let anything but solid evidence convince you that it's not a LD. Do reality checks. Don't assume you're actually awake just because the dream isn't going how you want it or someone tells you otherwise...

I speak from experience

Sex.

Don't waste your time, it's better in real life and it can cause your dream to destabilize.

Oooh I have two more!

Do not only do one reality check. Sometimes they fail, always have a backup RC. But don't only do it when one fails. Get in the habit of doing three every time- boom boom boom!

Do not only look at text/digital time once. It can look normal and stable. It can even look normal and stable on a second glance. 3rd time's the charm, try to look at least three times.

- Don't think that you have to do something quick because your dreams always end quick. That's probably why your dreams end quick (because you think they will).

- Don't do something that gets you killed in the dream if you don't want to risk a false awakening or waking up.

- Don't hope that something works - know that it will work (easier said than done).

Last night I WILDed. Colors were almost like black and white so I decided to close my eyes for a sec and open it. Just when I closed my eyes, I woke up. I'm still mad at myself Fresh exprience, again, do not close your eyes

Don't try to imagine your actions just do them.

Spinning works for me.

I would hesitantly second the suggestion not to have sex. (And for those of you who read my dream journal: do as I say, not as I do! ) It does tend to destabilize the dream. On the other hand, the few times that I've managed to have lucid sex without waking up, it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. But that's only 2 or 3 times out of.... well, a lot.

One thing I would definitely say not to do is to think too much about your waking life. Thinking about things like your job, a project you have to do for school, a fight with your girlfriend/boyfriend, even what you're going to have for breakfast when you wake up - this will put you in the fast lane to waking up. You want to focus as much of your cognitive resources on the lucid dream as you can.

Dont rush into things (already sed but meh) this always makes my lucidity slip away slowly

Spinning works for me. I've had a few times where I went blind, and the best thing to do there is visually rebuild the scene instead of opening your eyes. What I experience is either:

1: My eyes already feel open, but I can't see.

2: My eyes are closed, but I can't control/feel my eyelids.

The worst thing you can if you end in a blind state is to force your eyes open. Keep them closed and rebuild the scene. A good way to do this is bring your arms up. You're not really blind, so just tell yourself that you can see, and then bring up your arms. Rebuilding the scene from there is easy, just start moving around and things will come by them selves.

Back to spinning, I usually use it for stabilizing or teleportation/transformation of scene.

Anyway, bad things to do, there's a lot. The worst is closing your eyes. Some people can do it, most can't. I tried it once, and then I woke up. Not trying it again.
If things start to get unstable and you can feel your body, don't panic. Bring up your arms calmly and focus on them. Forget all about you waking up and just focus. Waking up is usually a chain-reaction. First you feel it, usually because of external input, like a swift wind through your house or something. This goes into the dream and wakes you up a bit. You then start fearing that you'll wake up, furtherly enhancing the effect, and then yatta yatta yatta. In order to not wake up, you have to forget about waking up by focusing on something else.

Everything else people said is true, and I agree completely.

There's only one main thing for me, and that's NOT to get your hopes up. Unfortunately they have to end, and it's impossible to do everything you want to do in one lucid. And I agree w/ those who said don't exert too much energy. If it doesn't work, don't try it.

I guess, not dying helps

Don't summon your enemies so you can fight them. One killed me in a lucid once...

Dying can for some lead to waking up. For me I just start another dream or I rise again. I can't really die.

Originally Posted by ninja9578

Sex.

Don't waste your time, it's better in real life and it can cause your dream to destabilize.

Non-lucid sex is pretty good though, at least IMHO. I'm supposing this is because you can't tell how much it sucks compared to the real thing because you're not really paying much attention anyway.

Originally Posted by Mini Man56

Don't eat your house. >_>
It tastes horrible.

Ha hahaha!