Thread: Shocked about LDing?

I'm not new to LDing,(they would happen at random) but I just started to maintain a regualr practice of TRYING to become lucid. So last night I was having a normal dream and I did a RC and I knew I was dreaming, but I was so shocked that I was becoming lucid that I woke myself up! I went back to sleep after that and It kept happening over and over again, till the point where I got fustrated and gave up. Is this normal? Should I just keep trying? Much thanks given

This is very common to happen first time. Sometimes a couple more times.

But what you need to remember is to remain calm once you realise it is a dream. Try sitting down and just breathing. Look around the room/place, and just take it in. Don't scream "YAHHOOOOOOOO" and jump around like crazy. That's pretty much what I did my first time, and it woke me up.

It's pretty much anything that makes your heart beat faster which wakes you up. i.e. Excitement, fear, etc.

Originally Posted by slash112

This is very common to happen first time. Sometimes a couple more times.

But what you need to remember is to remain calm once you realise it is a dream. Try sitting down and just breathing. Look around the room/place, and just take it in. Don't scream "YAHHOOOOOOOO" and jump around like crazy. That's pretty much what I did my first time, and it woke me up.

It's pretty much anything that makes your heart beat faster which wakes you up. i.e. Excitement, fear, etc.

Yes, if you get excited, then the dream will no longer be a clear and vivid. At least that is how it works for me. Many times once I realize what it is, I just let it play out rather than change settings. Makes it easier for me when I want to change the settings to cheat and use something that has been laid out already. For example, I was having a dream and when I realized I was dreaming I wanted to change the environment. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I remember the levels for Batman Arkyum Assylum and used those :-).

Hahaha, it's funny that you mention this, because the same exact thing actually happened several nights ago when I attempted to WILD. I woke up like 5 times in a row after realizing that my WILD technique had worked. I just kept getting overly excited and waking up each time, eventually to the point where I gave up and said F it, and dozed off to have a normal night's sleep.

This is an extremely common problem among LDers.
There's a variety of things you can do in order to keep your lucid dream.
Basically you have 4 options:

Option #1: (the one you shouldn't go for)
Once you realize you are dreaming and get all exited you can just try to rush with your dream and become all exited which will most likely end up in waking up right away (Don't choose this option)

Option #2:
Calm yourself down. Sit down, remind yourself it's yourdream and that you don't want to wake up. DON'T THINK ABOUT YOUR SLEEPING BODY.

Option #3:
Anchor yourself to the dream. Basically connect with the dream by using your senses inside the dream. The most common techniques are: Spinning around (make a RC after, since it might give you a false awakening), rub your hands, touch your tongue to your roof of the mouth, grab something in the dream. Spinning around seems to be the most effective, however you will most likely end up in a different scenario or have a false awakening.

Option #4: (my favourite)
Just relax yourself, close your eyes and hold still. Don't force the dream to stay, let it go away but make sure to close your eyes and keep them closed, and do not move a single muscle. You will then be in your bed, completely still, the idea in this is to DEILD (dream exit induced lucid dream) back into the dream. You will feel the transitions for a couple of secs, then it feels like time stopped, this is how I know my new dream has just started .

Anyways, Option #4 is my favorite one because it's the one that works better for me. Good luck

Yeah, it's REALLY common. Just try to control it.

Whoa, guess it's not all that uncommon, :p

Hmmm. It doesn't really affect clarity and vividness for me. That isn't really the problem in these situations. (Well, I suppose it is for you...)

But it's just a case of trying to control your heart rate. I'm pretty sure that's why you wake up in these situations.