Maintaining and Strengthening Lucidity

[Josh Redstone]

I'd go with what you were doing before, and concentrate on one aspect of the dream to stabilize it, like your hands or the ground. When you focus on something in a dream, not only are you concentrating on a dream object (which obviously means your dreaming anyway) but your tying up your senses in the dream, which can also prevent you from awakening.

[lateralus897]

Alright, next time i get the chance, i'll definitely try that. But i'm afraid that once i get everything straightened out and i wanna go do sumthin, my lucidity is just gonna fade away like it always does. Any tips on maintaining lucidity?

[Ryan]

Yes I have some tips for you. Keep moving! Stay active. Don't think on it too hard, unless your are already engaged in tactile sensations. It is quite common to get excited and not engage the dream body. While one is sitting there excited, the dream fades! Often I will walk or run in the dream. Anything that helps give the feeling that one is interacting with the dream scenery can serve as a point of focus. If the dream starts to fade and you can still feel yourself running or walking, keep it up. This can trigger the scenery to reappear. As you are moving you want to really feel your feet hitting the ground.
I have found that tactile sensations are very helpful for stabilizing the dream content. Experiment with any tactile sensations you think might work for you. I once danced myself into a dream that started out as hypnagogic imagery. If its something you can "feel" it will usually have good results. Some people conjure and carry around an item the entire dream. Experiment and have fun.

[lateralus897]

Alright, thanks a lot both you guys. I think Ryan may have helped me not only in maintaining lucidity but in WILDs. I have always had a problem of crossing over. maybe tactile sensations can help create a realistic environment and help me engage it. i have a lot to learn. thanks again Josh and Ryan.

[jason]

I find that in order to have a degree of control in order to clarify lucidity and lengthen the experience.You need to save energy.You spend energy during sexal axtivity.Try to avoid ejaculation if engaging in sexual activity.,as this wastes the energy that you need for lucid dreaming or AP.In one of Castanedas books he quotes Don Juan "there are 2 things you can do with the sexual energy you save.You can make love with it, or use it for dreaming".It's very true.You might also want to try  verbal commands in the dream environment -"clarity now!", or "awareness now!".This works as long as you have enough energy to draw upon.If you save energy and practice lucid dreaming enough, you can learn to travel away from the dream itself,to the astral planes,or the real time zone,or change to another dream.Also try affirmations before you go to sleep,and/or during the day.Say to yourself "tonight I will have a lucid dream".It also helps to have a specific place or task you want to accomplish.You could also try energy building/raising techniques such as Robert Bruces New Energy Ways.I also believe that asian "Ki" or "Chi" building techniques would be worth investigating.

[lateralus897]

Ever since I've started preparing for lucid dreaming i've had probably 6-7 experiences in which i realized i was dreaming. Problem is, everytime something goes wrong. The first couple of times i got overexcited and woke up. The one almost WILD i had i ended up just losing my lucidity. The rest i've just lost lucidity, never really getting anywhere to close to being fully conscious. I've read about some techniques, and i've tried asking myself a simple math problem to get the logical half of my brain working. that didnt work well. I think every other time, i had just tried to think about being more conscious. I have a couple ideas left to try, like concentrating on one aspect of the dream to strenthen its vividness, but I would like to know if anyone else knows other things which could help me out.