Cant make LD last but a few seconds

[grasswar]

I have had lucid dreams that have lasted 30 minutes, but lately I cant at all make them last even a minute. Usually after a few seconds my vision goes blank and I am forced to wake up. I have tried verbal commands, spinning, hand rubbing and everything. I dont quite understand why I cant make them last, i dont get too excited when I realize im lucid, on the contrary im rather calm. How can I overcome this problem? anyone got experience overcomming this?

[Basilus West]

I see two possibilities.
1) it's perhaps just a sort of dryspell, it will disappear.
2) perhaps you have to autosuggest stronger. I've the feeling that if this problem happens most often to beginners, it's not only because they're excited but also because they reach lucidity just at the end of a REM sleep phase. With more experience of autosuggestion, they reach lucidity earlier so that their LD's last longer.

Just a feeling though.

[Redifin]

Ever continued to wait? And not to be forced to wake up? Continue to Auto Suggest and wait it out. If you go into a ND and loose your lucidity, it's better than waking up and GIVING up! Hope it gets better for you!

[grasswar]

Actually i usually do wait, and most of the time another dream scape appears, only problem is that only lasts a few seconds also

[Nachician]

Which technique do you use to do these Short-Ld's???

[Toxikfox]

I started researching LDs since about 3 weeks ago. I've had alot of success w/ some of the techniques. I can have an LD almost every night if not more than 1.
My problem is I cant stay in one for long. I've had dreams that seemed they lasted for days but i was not lucid...I've been using the spinning and hand rubbing method and it works usually but only for a few minutes. Sometimes I'll have no indication that I'm about to wake up, so I don't get a chance to utilize these techniques. Am i getting excited? When I first become lucid I make it a point to calm myself. But I always have the feeling that I don't have much time to enjoy myself when in a LD.
I've read about a technique to stop time in your dreams. Your just supposed to picture a watch on your wrist and slow the hands to a complete stop. I've tried this twice once i got the watch to appear and the hands to slow down but i could'nt get them to stop. The other time i coud'nt get the watch to appear at all. I've read of a man who claimed to experience 100 years in 2 hours...was this an OOBE? Has anyone had any success with this or any other methods for stopping or prolonging dream time?

[nictheman]

Firstly Toxik, to achieve LDs nearly every night after only 3 weeks of practice is amazing in itself. You must have a natural, innate ability. Lucky you , and well done.

But yeah, in all 4 of my LD's I've left in less than 30 seconds. I don't know why, but from what I figure it comes with experience. Even though I calm myself, deep down I'm always really excited, thinking ahead in the dream. However, I think this a weak point in dreams because it doesn't seem to help to think ahead. So I'm just going to throw something random out at you, as soon as you get Lucid I think you should try and do something you want to do in a lucid dream. Shoot lightning from your fingers, whateve is on your to do list. That might cut out the initial confusion of "what to do what to do". In fact, this is from the LD4all site:

[Wissam]

I tried that yesterday (to do list) and i got a LD today it actually works because it gets you more existing and motivated, not to mention the fact that you will always know what to do. I have some other advice. In order to have long LD's you must always prove to yourself that you are dreaming. What i do, is i just stare into my hands every now and then because it's funny ! i always end up having too many fingers or too little! You can try doing that i guess.

[Toxikfox]

OK, thanks for replying. I've made a list of things to do. So far 1.Turn into an owl 2. Make it snow. 3. fly to thailand (or teleport.) Thats all i got so far. I'll try it tonight. Anyone got any other suggestions that are cool? I'll also try VILD tonight it seems very interesting and logical.

[Basilus West]