I congratulate the author of the article on having the tenacity to stick with their goal and actually achieve lucidity. I must say, though, that achieving a single flying dream that ended immediately and then giving up on lucid dreaming is like practicing SCUBA in a bathtub once and then thinking that it isn't worth the hassle.

What you achieved is the kindergarten of lucidity (no offense). There are realms and levels of consciousness much more interesting to be experienced... You peeked through the first gate of dreaming and were lucid for a matter of seconds and dismiss the entire endeavor? Of course your experience was fuzzy and uncontrolled. You don't know how to control it yet. And, you were already waking up as you achieved lucidity. That cloudy ascent through the light back to your waking state is not an indication of what is possible within a stable lucid dreamstate.

Remember how long it took you to learn how to walk... or to speak? Remember how feeble your first attempts and successes were in those areas? Well, I have to tell you... Lucid dreaming makes walking and talking look like learning Wii Tennis. Just as there are muscles and neurological pathways that must be developed before you can hope to walk, so is it with dreaming. Just as you must first crawl before you can walk... so too is it with dreaming.

Flying is the crawling of lucid dreaming.

The things that are possible with lucid dreaming are actually infinite. None of the common "detractions" actually apply at all. Whatever you find more appealing or worthwhile about your waking life can be replicated in dreamtime... only it is usually possible to exceed your waking experience by an exponential factor. You can use your dreaming to further your waking life goals if you wish. You can luxuriate and wish-fulfill if you choose... and yes, at more advanced levels the "reality" of the dreams can not only exceed the "holo-deck," but even exceed your waking life. Colors more vivid, smells more intense, tactile sensations well beyond what is possible here.

But even all of these things are merely scratching the surface of what is actually a multi-dimensional, gargantuan, transcendental iceberg.

As some others have said, there are easier methods... and with practice, it can become like second nature. The level of attention to the mechanics goes way down while the effort you can apply goes way up. Think 1st bike w/ training wheels vs. Lance Armstrong... then multiply it by a googleplex. Waking up and going back to sleep is useful, but you have to "dial in" the correct amount of time to stay awake for you. 2hrs is generally way too long. 45 minutes is much better for most people. Personally, I find that a few seconds is sufficient if your awareness is strong enough.

Some of the more advanced dreamers who have posted here (swamibaba, ElCucui etc.) have hinted at some of the potential here, but only vaguely. ElCucui specifically described the ability to go directly into a lucid dream without going unconscious first. That can be difficult to master for most people, but is well worth the effort. (note: it is not necessary to do it sitting up or on a couch.)

For those of you interested in exploring lucid dreaming, OBEs, astral projection and the related phenomena, I would say that the Lucidology.com site is a very good place to start. Nic gives a lot of great tips for beginners. He has a whole series of videos for free as well as a bunch of helpful goodies like a free flash lucidity timer. Truthfully, what he gives away for free is much more than most paying workshops would give you. The lucidology 102 stuff he charges for, but that is already well beyond what is actually needed to get going.

The author of the article admits to feeling euphoric in his first brief foray into the lucid dreamscape... he was just dipping the baresest tip of his toe.

once you are able to control the dream? I've always had extremely vivid dreams, most of which have plots and run like movies. I have many repeating dreams and repeating locations in my dreams. I can taste and smell, hear and they stick with me. I've never trained to control them, but I have found my self in situations where I become aware that i am dreaming and am able to do what ever I want. However, it seems that the dream ends shortly after I achieve this awareness... that is a often wake up soon after I realize I am in a dream. It seems that the dream can only exsist if I think it is real, once I realize it isn't it goes away.

I learned lucid dreaming during childhood. My earliest memory of a lucid dream was after I was allowed to watch a horror movie by my older sister. I had a dream that a demon spirit came into my house disguised as a person. I, then changed him to a burglar, but that did not seem helpful either so I changed the person to my uncle. I also learned to change other dreams such as falling off a railing by stopping in mid-air and flying. In my teens, I learned that I use lucid dreaming for other things, usually involving women. I do not lucid dream all of the time though usually the only dreams that I remember are those that involve lucid dreaming. While I cannot say whether normal dreams are more vivid in terms of the senses, it is definite that my lucid dreams are. Sex during a lucid dream is a very odd and phenomenal experience. It is not better than the real thing, but it is just so strange.

Not waking up after achieving lucidity is a bit like not falling off your bike when you remove the training wheels. It can be quite difficult at first, but becomes such a second nature that eventually you don't even have to think about it.

The short version of the answer you want is that lucid dreaming occupies a middle ground between many extremes of consciousness. In this case we are dealing with the continuum between excitement and disinterest. Upon becoming lucid you are immediately on a tightrope with one extreme to your left and the other to your right. Become too excited about being lucid and you will wake up immediately. Become disinterested and you will fall back into normal dreaming... or even worse into deep sleep.

So the trick is to find and maintain the middle ground. Keenly interested detachment, or something to that effect. If you practice meditation in your waking life, this will be much easier to do. I would suggest you stop what you are doing upon achieving lucidity and immediately take a deep breath. If the world around you still seems to want to dissolve, try spinning. For some reason that often can lock you into a dream that would otherwise eject you. Most important is simply to will that you stay dreaming.

You may have to work on distinguishing lucidity from being awake. For many people, the act of recognizing that they are dreaming is synonymous with waking up... and so that is exactly what they do. Next time you find yourself lucid, calm yourself. Relax your mind and then try and recall the things you wanted to do in the lucid state. Then calmly go about doing them.

Thanks JahSun!

That actually makes a lot of sense. I think that I do get too excited when I become lucid. I willl certainly give it a try! Thanks for the advice.