>>52555212Here's the trick. It's not just about knowing that you are in a dream. You need to know the implications of that - ie because I know I am in my dream that logically follows that I am the master of it, because it's my dream, right? Everything that happens is the power of expectations.
>focusing on a physical sensation in dream can help with that thoughYou need to stabilise it well enough to make things as clear as reality. For example, I can like look around and tell you that the seats of the Academy in my dream are white and the walls are wooden and there is probably around 5 rows of white benches and that I am sitting in the second row around the third from the left, there is a window that is open to the right of me and golden light is filtering in from that direction and that we are in. Touching things is the fastest because you can 'feel' everything like the wind and the texture of the floor while doing whatever you want.
>trying to exert more control over the dream risked me waking upThis is mostly due to feeling extreme emotions like extreme excitement. You can still feel emotions as long as they are moderated. The second thing that can happen is if you are really close to waking up you will wake up no matter how much stabilisation you do.
>maxie would appear in those lucid dreams a lot but it'd always be the weirdest stuffThat's why portalling is really good. You can get out of the previous dream which ensures that it is the right setting and the right scenario. This saves time remaking the whole world from scratch and also have the character appear.
If I have trouble getting the setting right on top of the character, this may sound weird, but I've found that climbing into photos or paintings will get me exactly to what is depicted in the painting.
