The instinct to lick the ground

Over the years^[1], I have developed the instinct, in my dreams, to lick the ground (whether floor, dirt, pavement, grass), or really any nearby object, in moments of instability.

The instinct comes only in lucid dreams, and basically never in non-lucid dreams, and definitely never in real life (I promise).

Stability of the dream is something I've struggled with. A technique I learned about, pretty early on in the LDing journey, is to engage your senses (taste/smell/touch/sight/sound). Focusing on your senses helps to stabilize your presence in the dream, and usually makes things sharper and increases general awareness.

Sometimes my vision blacks out entirely, or I can just feel myself slipping away. I want to say that, in these moments of "instability", it feels like I'm close to waking up - but I can't say for sure whether that's really what is happening, or if it's just the feeling/fear of that happening. Sometimes it can seem like you've woken up, but you've only dreamt that you've woken up, and you're still in a dream (we call this a False Awakening in the LDing community)^[2]).

The easiest way to engage the senses is probably by touch. I'm a touch-oriented person in real life, too, so maybe that has to do with it^[3]. There's usually some object around in a dream, and, unless you're flying (or falling...), the floor/ground is also generally always nearby. Just bend down, or drop down, and touch the ground. Feel and focus on its texture.

So, touch is easy, but for some reason, touch+taste is extra effective for me. Maybe it's because the texture of the ground against my tongue is usually odd. It creates a sort of jolt, bringing my awareness fully back into my body. It's really the texture that is more memorable and focus-inducing than the taste^[4].

I sometimes like to think about the unique sensations that dream efforts have added to my experiences in life. Probably one on the list is this feeling of losing stability and then re-gaining it. Perhaps it feels similar to the real life experience of almost passing out but then coming back to being okay again. Sometimes it feels exactly like that, and sometimes not quite.

A note aside from the silliness of the (true) "instinct to lick the ground": I find it interesting that we are able to form habits in the dream world. I am my own proof, if you are willing to believe me (and if I am willing to believe myself). It's just like any other learned behavior. There is just a new variable introduced for the dream yogi: state = { REALITY | DREAM }.