Rubbing hands together!

Why does this work..its bugging me..

Rub your hands together to prolong a lucid dream or keep it lucid..

Is it because we have been told it works, or have read so.. and therefore our subconscious makes it work in our dreams?

Like, if you was told patting your head works and you believed it..in your dream it would be just that..

Who came up with the 'rubbing hands' technique?

Ky :)

Rubbing hands is simply a way of engaging the sense of touch in the dreamscape.

According to Laberge, the tactile senses are the last to go when a lucid dream starts to fade out. Things like rubbing your hands or spinning can help prolong the lucid dream, but for me these kinds of things are only needed if I'm near the end anyway. I've only squeezed another half minute out these methods. My experience has been that a solid and stable lucid dream reqiures no effort to keep it going.

I have been frustrated during my past several LDs due to weak dream stabilization with my last several LDs only lasting 5 minutes or so. I remind my self that I am in a lucid dream and rub my hands together. I try to do this several times so that I don't forget that I am dreaming but I still get a fading feeling in the dream where things start to darken. Last night I tried falling backwards which sometimes works for me to stop the fade out. In this case though I fell through the floor and into complete darkness; from there I opened my eyes and was awake in bed.

Unfortunately I feel like my dream stabilization continues to get weaker as time goes on. Because of my weak stabilization I have very little control over the dreamscape which further degrades the dream when I try to influence it. Any ideas beyond the hand rubbing and reminding myself that I am dreaming to help this?

My experience with rubbing my hands together changed on my last good LD. For the first time, I was able to do it several times, each time stablizing the dream and adding more time. I think the issue is that lucid dreams are just unstable to begin with. As good and long as my last one was, I was very aware of the fact that it's existence was very fragile, and it would periodically start fading unless I did the hand rubbing, but I was also very careful not to "rock the boat" by doing things like scenery changes. What also helped me was just pretending I was awake and it was a normal waking life experience, no big deal, nothing to be excited about. (you can always get excited after you wake up :D )

satopnek wrote: Unfortunately I feel like my dream stabilization continues to get weaker as time goes on. Because of my weak stabilization I have very little control over the dreamscape which further degrades the dream when I try to influence it. Any ideas beyond the hand rubbing and reminding myself that I am dreaming to help this?

The best thing to do is to forget control and focus on stablizing the dream, it's more important and must come first. It should also be easier to do if you are not trying to control it. Would still recommend using the tactile sensations, touching things, feeling surfaces, rubbing hands, spinning around etc. These work the best for most people. But for me, reminding myself that I'm dreaming makes it more difficult, better to pretend it's waking life, that worked really well last time, actually forgot it was a dream for a while!

For me, it seems to work because it moves the attention around and "resets" it. I actually give two sharp claps, rather than rub my hands together, but it amounts to the same thing. When I do the clap I intentionally feel for the slight "sting" that accompanies the clap. Placing my attention on that sensation, and withdrawing from the dream experience for just a moment or two seems to be what does the trick.

satopnek wrote: I remind my self that I am in a lucid dream and rub my hands together. I try to do this several times so that I don't forget that I am dreaming but I still get a fading feeling in the dream where things start to darken.

So try to make sure you are actually feeling for the sensation the rubbing seems to produce, move your attention to it and off the fading feeling. Don't just do it in a robotic way. It's not just the tactile sensation in and of itself, it's your awareness of, and attention to, the sensation that makes the trick work. But don't dwell on it, it's just a momentary thing.

lucidinthe sky wrote: I think the issue is that lucid dreams are just unstable to begin with.

In my experience it feels like the attention that's the problem. There are differences in dreaming attention and waking attention that are difficult for me to quantify, but whose qualities I feel. In some ways, they seem opposite. In waking life when the attention is unfocused, we regard it as being spaced-out and the threat of lions, tigers and bears means being unfocused is not always the way to go. Of course, for the artist, like the attention in a dream, the wider play brings creative aspects to the fore. Conversely, in dreaming, being too focused is actually a hindrance as when regarding a particular for too long actually causes it too dissolve.

lucidinthe sky wrote: but I was also very careful not to "rock the boat" by doing things like scenery changes.

Yes, I think we often get caught up in the whole control thing. To be honest, I am more or less content to just let the experience be what it is. Often, all the attempts at changing things can be the cause of losing it altogether. Of course, having said that, flexing your dream muscles is a kick and an important part of the work.

Whats up you guys, Ive been lucidly dreaming for almost a year now and ever since I have been trying and successfully doing it for that long. I have tried and done the rubbing my hands trick. I actually lay in my bed in proper "dreaming etiquette", and as I fall asleep I keep simple triggers in my head like saying my name constantly in my head or just try to think about a cool setting until I conciously become aware of me not laying in bed but starting a dream walking or getting ready to trip into a action movie. For an example when i first kept telling myself " Man I wanna become lucid and fly and I know Im dreaming", after a good 5 minutes of that i found myself walking down a street with DCs that I trusted and stop and told myself "Im gonna just try to fly" it felt like the more i distracted myself from thinking about me actually lucid dreaming, the better it was for my lucidity perception.

I tried to use this to become fully lucid and pop in, but it did not work at all lol.

It was funny really. But frustrating too!

I haven been tryingot prolong lucid dreamd for years, i found this and creating a dream object to remind you that you are still in the dream were the best ways to prolong and remain very lucid. but still the dreams never last more than five minutes, recently i found the best way to prolong a dream is to enter a state of half awareness. i know that i am in a dream but i never aknowledge it as a dream and i accept where i am for what it is, i don't remember unimportant details when i awake but i remember alot more.

Be careful of so-called "experts". As with all things, lucid dreaming is an individual experience.

I met someone in one of my dreams that I would love to talk to again, for example. I haven't asked for a technique to "recall" this person, but am open to suggestions.

I have found that not all parts of the dream are under my control. This leads me to believe that (at least in my case) I am accessing an alternate reality.

Again, as in all things, be careful.

My experience with rubbing hands together is in my first lucid dream I remembered what everyone said about it, so the first thing I did was rub my hands together. It seemed to help stabilize the dream.

In my opinion, it clears everything up. Basically it's like using a photo-sharpening tool on your dream scene.