When you first start having lucid dreams you may realize that they only last a few seconds before you lose lucidity or wake up. Well there are many things that you can do to prevent this from happening.

Some techniques work better than others depending on the person. So make sure and try each one so that you can find the one that works the best for you.

Stay Focused

The entire point of all these techniques below is to help you stay focused in the dream. As soon as you lose focus you will lose all lucidity.

After you have had many lucid dreams and a lot of practice, all of these techniques will be obsolete and you won't need them anymore because you will be able to stay focused without them.

The most important thing is to stay as focused as you can in the dream so that you don't lose lucidity.

Prevent False Awakenings

When I first started lucid dreaming false awakenings were always the biggest thing that would end my lucid dream. A false awakening is when you dream that you have awoken from sleep but you are still in a dream. A false awakening can seem very real and convincing that you are no longer sleeping. These are very common when a person is lucid dreaming.

False awakenings can be prevented with practice. Every time you wake up you should do reality tests and double check that you are not still dreaming and then when you have a false awakening you will do the same thing and realize that you are still in a dream.

Preplan What Your Going to Do

This is also another important thing that you can do before you have a lucid dream. If you realize that your dreaming and the only thing that you are thinking about is what your going to do in your dream instead of focusing on the dream itself, then you will loose all lucidity very quickly. It is very important to preplan what you are going to do if you have a lucid dream.

The easiest way is to make a list of all the stuff that you want to do in your lucid dream. Then focus and think about the one that you want to accomplish the night before you go to bed.

Here is some ideas to get you started:

• Visit other planets and universes
• Travel through time
• Explore your own subconscious
• Fly as fast or as high as you can
• Explore the bottom of the ocean
• Create beautiful art
• Morph into your favorite animal or superhero

This is just a small list of some things that you can do. You will be amazed how at how real these all feel in your lucid dreams. If you have a lucid dream and you can't think about what your going to do within the next second don't worry about it or else you will loose your lucid dream. If this happens to me then I will usually just fly and explore my own dream world not worrying to much about what to do next.

Stay Calm

A lot of people's first few lucid dreams only last a few seconds. This is due to the fact that they get so excited they wake up or lose lucidity. When you first start having lucid dreams it can be very hard to stay calm. This is bound to happen to you at least once so don't get to upset or mad about it. Just take it as a learning experience for the next time you have a lucid dream.

Physical Activity

Preforming physical activity in the dream is a great way for you to remain focused. Rubbing your hands together or hitting yourself in the head will help your consciousness from drifting away.

Spark the Logical Side of Your Brain

When you start to think logical it keeps your state of consciousness aware and awake. This allows you to remain lucid longer and gain higher levels of lucidity. Ask yourself basic questions that you would know the answer to in waking reality. Something as simple as when your birthday is or what is 5+5 will do just fine. Don't ask yourself questions that you have to think to hard because this will make you lose focus on the dream and cause you to lose all lucidity.

Demand Clarity Now

Just this simple action of demanding clarity now is one of the simplest methods to preform yet is surprisingly effective. You are directly telling your brain exactly what you want it to do. Even if you are fully lucid it is still very easy for you to drift back into the dream state. If you find yourself starting to lose lucidity then just keep saying this out loud with the intention and belief of it happening.

Yell Out Loud

This one is one of my favorite methods that may seem silly but works great. You can just scream as loud as you can and it awakens your brain and keeps you alert. It also helps if you keep yelling out affirmations of the fact you are dreaming. Yell out loud that everything you are experiencing is not real and just a dream. You can also yell your intentions for the lucid dream like saying that you will remain lucid for the entire dream. Remember to stay focused as it is easy to get caught up in this one and just keep yelling and letting your subconscious mind take and instead of becoming more lucid you will just drift off into the dream world of unconsciousness.

Spin Around

This is the most famous methods of them all but it is defiantly not my favorite. It works great for some people and terrible for others. This method has had extensive scientific research done to it by Steven LaBerge and was proven effective in most cases. Even though it has such strong cred ability I would only recommend it as a last resort when your consciousness is at the brink of slipping away.

Spinning around usually changes the entire dream after your done and can cause a lot of confusion. If you are a more advanced lucid dreamer then it will be effective because you are most likely able to remain focused while doing it but for the beginning lucid dreamers it just causes chaos and confusion.

Even though I am not a big fan of it I would still recommend trying it at least once because it is a user dependent method and may work great for you. If you do try this method then make sure and keep telling yourself that it is just a dream over and over so that when you stop spinning and your in a completely different dream you won't get confused or lose lucidity.

Fall Back Words

This one is pretty much the same concept of spinning around and it has close to the same effects. This method also creates a lot of false awakenings. This method is more for advanced lucid dreamers that know how to prevent false awakenings and prevent confusion.

You should try every single method at least once and see which one works best for you. Some methods will work extremely well for certain people and some will actually cause them to lose lucidity instead of staying lucid. Remember that the entire point of all these methods is to help you remain focused and aware. It is very easy to get caught up in the actually method thinking about it more than you are thinking about your dream and that is the quickest way to lose your lucid dream.