Why is it Hard to Move in Lucid Dreams?

I've been trying to lucid dream for a while now, I've been inconsistent, fluctuating my desire and effort. Recently though, I've tried the napping technique and some cool, strange things have happened. In my dream, I noticed that the text on my computer was changing every time I looked at it (like a reality check), so I said to myself "this is a dream". I wanted to do something exciting, like move stuff with my mind, but I found it took so much effort to control even my movements intentionally.

You describe on your site that dreaming is as real as waking reality. Is my brain just getting used to what lucid dreaming is? It felt like I had to drag my body to move or even like I had to get out of my body to move... Maybe this relates to astral travel? I did move something with my mind, but it was glitchy... It felt weird and not right - not like how sweet I would imagine actually moving something with your mind would be. When I wanted to get "back into my body" I had to fall off my bed? I don't know what this means, any ideas?

Rebecca says: It will take time for your conscious brain to learn the new rules of an unconscious dream world. In your lucid dreams, there is no such thing as gravity. Everything you experience is just a construct of your unconscious, based on your experiences here in the physical world. Like Morpheus said to Neo, "You think that's air you're breathing?"

My advice is to start off doings that you CAN do in the physical world, to give yourself a chance to explore some fun lucid dreams without challenging your conscious logic. Try walking, running, exploring and interacting with characters. Then you can progress on to "impossible" things like flying and telekinesis!

I too found it hard to fly, walk through walls, and manifest objects at first. The key is to stay as lucid as possible, and slowly build up your confidence with little "impossible" tasks. If something doesn't work, leave it alone and try something simpler. There is a conscious block in the way and you need to resolve it in baby steps. Once you get going, it's a sharp learning curve. I have no qualms about running through brick walls or jumping off the Empire State Building anymore... :)