Since a long time, I finally had a semi-lucid dream today (yay!) and now I'm wondering: what methods do you guys apply to gain higher clarity & control in dreams?

I did a reality check in the dream and realized, that I have 6 instead of 5 fingers but I wasn't really that concerned with gaining control over my dream. So what works? And how do I remember the technique in my dream? I know that 'spinning' is said to potentiate the lucid dream, but what does that mean? Shall I rotate around my vertical body axis on one leg? Or does spinning in an office chair work? What if there is no chair?

Spinning can be used as a transportation technique. As for gaining clarity, you can focus on a specific object. But it seems to me that you simply decided not to take control in the moment. That can and will happen depending on well...how much you want to take control in the moment.

Congratulations though, i know you've been trying for quite some time...

Congrats

For me spinning is very useful when I find myself getting to excited at the realization that this is a dream..The excitement of realizing your dreaming at first tends to alter heart-rate/brainwaves too much, thus taking you out of REM.. Spinning helps me solidify the dream self for some reason. Spinning on one leg is fine but I imagine a chair would be ok to. Eventually I just built the habit of meditating once I realize I'm lucid, or staring at a specific thing like obli said and calming my breathing down. I don't always do this, but I do it more than spinning now. The breathing is the main thing for me - a few deep breaths and I'm usually good.

Sometimes though, like with psychedelics, no matter how much you try to control it you can't and you have to go with the flow.

Thanks for your congrats guys, much appreciated.


So 'spinning' in a broader sense works? I feel that my main obstacle is somehow remember these techniques in the dream. Meditating, rubbing one's hands together etc, I've all heard this, but in this particular moment when I'm semi-aware, I do not remember.


Haha, so weird. Well, I _want_ to become lucid, but once I'm in a dream, my will becomes weak. So how do I intensify my will? I remember a semi-lucid moment a week or so ago, where in a dream I realized that the scenery was odd and tried to poke thru the wall for a reality check. Well, I didn't woke up but I didn't became lucid either. The scenery just switched and the dream became blurry. Meh. Is that my scared subconsciousness?

For the drug record: this dream was probably triggered by a special cocktail I happen to ingest yesterday. First, I listened to theta binaural beats for ~ 2h, then reading half of RAW's Cosmic Trigger and then before sleeping I ingested 3 semi-strong hops/valerian pills, 750mg DMAE, ~ 800mg ibuprofen, 500mg phenibut & 1 tablet of Milgamma (300mg benfotiamine & 100 mg vitamin B6)

- DISCLAIMER: I had some back/neckpain and I used all OTC pharmaceuticals within the recommended dose, but one should slowly research the substance synergies before ingesting such a cocktail. I know all substances from single and and mixed applications and I extensively read the literature before. I will abstain from such a mixture for a week or two for health's sake and only try to reenact it, if other measures fail.

Generally I focus on my hands when I feel a dream slipping away... although this morning something different happened - I could feel myself waking up and focused on the desire to stay and play longer with the person I was adventuring with in my dream, and it brought me back.

As for intensifying your will, do you have specific goals for things you want to do in your dream? That may motivate you, if you can manage to remember them once you become lucid. In my experience, unless I set an intent once I realize I'm dreaming (my fallback is flying or walking on walls, if nothing else comes up) I lose lucidity pretty fast and the dream continues normally, but with increased vividity.

Noted.


Mhh, not really, my goal was/is to become lucid first, but since you ask me: I guess (remote) healing people and receiving lessons from ascended masters as non egoistical goals. As for the egoistical goals: flying around, having sex, teleporting to other planets, gaining more information on how to obtain that awesome house I find myself in while dreaming.

Semi-lucid moments seem to occur more often, today I tried the mediation method as recommended by UC, but sitting down on wet ground with stones all over it while a F-16 jet is crashing down in a 100 m radius near you isn't really working (I was too scared). Interesting to see that my sub-consciousness seems to retain information from waking life, guess I have to focus more on goals and clarity techniques in general and particular. I currently attribute the present semi-lucid moments to the frequent reality checks, my nightly DMAE intake & the 2hs of daily theta binaural beats meditation.