Progression of sense perception and lucidity

[Worlds Within]

Since I have been studying lucid dreaming and various aspects of dreaming in general, as well as keeping a dream journal, I have had dreams in which all five sense perceptions have been readily apparent, although not at the same time. Over the last six weeks, I have noticed the increase in sensory dream elements in the following order: Obviously, the visual sense is always present. However sometimes it is heightened in that I notice a particular vivid color. I experienced a tactile sensation of sand striking my arms. (My first remembered vivid tactile sansation.) The pronounced auditory sense of leaves crunching underfoot as I was running. The strong gustatory sensation of coffee. Experienced in conjuction with the visual element of a red coffee container I was carrying. (My first remembered taste sansation in a dream.) Last night I experienced the strong smell of cigarette smoke in a dream.(My first remembered olfactory sensation.) It could be argued that noticing these various sensory element are simply the result of becoming more present in dreams due to my dream study and work . I would ask then, has anyone noticed a progression of sensory manifestations as a prelude to achieving lucidity and are those manifestations signposts of eventual success? I would think so, but what think ye? I don't recall reading anything in any of my dream study materials relevant to the above. Thanks in advance for your input. WW

[Gus]

i have been practicing a form of sense 'expansion' persay mainly i try to teach myself how to use different senses to understand different forms of energy, basically self-induced synesthesia, basically feeling music or seeing sounds, or hearing a feeling (i string together a feeling, hand movement, with music and i can go back and think of the part of the song and basically play it back by rememering how it felt with my hands) This also tends to bring about a different translation of the song and the message they are trying to portray, which actually seems to be more accurate than just listening. and i have noticed that to a rather large extent this seems to carry over, if not into the dream world, at least the inbetween stages. but i dont remember my different senses being utalized in my dreams the way you described

[wombing]

i would definitely take this as a good sign. the more detail the better. in my experience, i find that the senses i notice least during waking are non-existent or very subdued in my dreams (lucid or non-lucid). i can never remember experiencing strong tastes or scents in a dream...