Changing Your Self Image In Dreams

I've learned through experience that transforming your own body into something else can be quite difficult in a dream, and have only once had minor success in this. However, I had an idea. I have no trouble creating dream characters by saying "such and such a person will walk around the corner now" and lo and behold, the person with the characteristics I imagined walks casually from behind something (has a gun I can take, a dead person I wish to talk to, etc.). So, I figure, since it's quite simple to make things immaterial but still there, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch for one to simply summon a character, turn them around and "jump into" their body, possess them if you will. It might have strange side effects, like accidentally being backwards or struggling to control the body over the will of the DC, but I feel like this would be quite an easy way to transform the self image. Has anybody ever tried this, or tried other methods of transformation and met either success or difficulty?

I just look into a mirror and think of what I will look like. I've only done it once but it seemed to work.

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Originally Posted by NeAvO

I just look into a mirror and think of what I will look like. I've only done it once but it seemed to work.
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do you mean you think of what you want to look like first, or while looking in the mirror? Doing it while looking in the mirror sounds like something I'd have trouble doing :|

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Originally Posted by John

do you mean you think of what you want to look like first, or while looking in the mirror? Doing it while looking in the mirror sounds like something I'd have trouble doing :|
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Yeah sorry I wasn't that clear, think before you look at a mirror on what you want to look like. Hope thats easier to understand :)

u could possibly look at the mirror then close your eyes and imagine who you want to be then open them

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Originally Posted by frisbenis

u could possibly look at the mirror then close your eyes and imagine who you want to be then open them
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that's probably not a good idea, because you might end up opening your real eyes instead and waking up

Hi John,

My... you're everywhere nowadays.

I often have dreams of being in other "Self Images" as you call them. I call them Dream Personas, but intelligent people never quible over words.

In one dream I looked into the reflective glass of a door and saw that I was actually a young svelte woman. It is amazing, but unless you catch a glimpse of yourself in a mirror, there are few clues to who you actually are. Just the other night I saw myself as a fat darkhaired man of about 40 years old, who had a rash on his ear lobes.

I've never purposefully jumped a Dream Character in order to possess their body.

You know, I would not do such a thing indiscriminately. Perhaps I would "jump" a famous Saint or Guru, but I would be leary of taking possession of any typical person. I have problems enough of my own.

Oh, John, that reminds me.

the recent dream I had of having been taken up by the wind -- the Optimistic Flying Dream, in the Dream Interpretation Section -- for a moment I saw myself in the Third Person and it really was not my own Leo Volont Self Image. I was younger -- about 35, and more heroic looking -- sandy blond hair and not grey, a straighter nose, and more muscular. Because the Self Image was flattering I had not really thought about it not being "me". But since you brought it up...

I used to struggle to make things like this happen, but recently I started using this wand idea that I found somewhere on this forum, and now I can use similar methods for changing my self image. I now use my wand to create a "self image altering machine", then step into the machine, change my self image into whatever I want. I get out of the machine and I have become whatever I wanted to be. The machine helps me believe that I can make myself change another way than "by magic".

The magic machine is an interesting idea. I tried looking into a mirror and closing my eyes and then opening them again to change my self image, but sure enough I opened my real eyes. In the heat of the moment I'd forgotten not to do that. As for "jumping" into somebody causing all kinds of problems, I could see that happening, but I also figured that if you'd created this person by having them walk around the corner, you could create them to be a shell of a dream character with no personality or free will I suppose, a blank minded person you can just take control of. I wouldn't try doing it to a dream character with a personality and believable characteristics, it's much too difficult to do anyway.

The first time i changed my apearence I was looking in a mirror and thought of myself having certain facial features, my face changed as soon as I thought about it. After reading this I tried possessing a person but as I tried the person disintegrated. I tried again with a mirror, I thought that watching myself possess someone would help but instead I just moved him.

I wanted to shapeshift in a recent LD but couldn't no matter how hard I tried. I'd wanted to see what I'd look like with a pair of big threatening devil horns protruding from my head. I could feel it wanting to happen but I couldn't make it a 'reality'.

Maybe I'm just too much of an angel to shapeshift into a devil?
:wink:

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Originally Posted by Leo

-- for a moment I saw myself in the Third Person and it really was not my own Leo Volont Self Image. I was younger -- about 35, and more heroic looking -- sandy blond hair and not grey, a straighter nose, and more muscular. Because the Self Image was flattering I had not really thought about it not being "me". But since you brought it up...
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Cool dream.

I read somewhere about creating a DC who is your twin, but your ideal version of yourself - in looks, abilities and mindset. The idea was to then "step into" this character and experience life as you would without hang-ups/physical deformities/ravages of time. (sigh).

I've never tried this, but it is an interesting idea, and could work for all kinds of things. I imagine the "stepping in" part would be tricky - I'd probably knock him over or vaporise him like Dark blood did. Being my ideal self, he'd probably be cool about this.

As far as changing self-image goes, I've managed to do this pretty easily through a CCTV-type system, seeing myself on a security monitor. Its similar to deciding what you want and then looking in the mirror, but was somehow easier for me because you're seeing yourself from a "third person" point of view.

Haven't tried the horns though.

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Originally Posted by Leo

I now use my wand to create a "self image altering machine", then step into the machine, change my self image into whatever I want. I get out of the machine and I have become whatever I wanted to be. The machine helps me believe that I can make myself change another way than "by magic".
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Also, love this idea!

i change with little or no effort, my favorites against nightmares are freddy krueger and it the clown, the only problem with the freddy was that when i fought the real freddy with my freddy he held his ground so then i changed into the clown with freddy gloves on, then he got scared and i sliced him apart...

I haven't changed my body in any way before other than changing my clothes. I know that I can though. I have actually been meaning to try adding aditional limbs and tails and stuff, just to see what it would be like but other things always come up.

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Originally Posted by John

I have no trouble creating dream characters by saying "such and such a person will walk around the corner now" and lo and behold, the person with the characteristics I imagined walks casually from behind something
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Gaaah, not fair. I want more than anything to be able to do that. D':

Per your question, I tend to look different automatically in a dream usually. Lately I've been looking like my waking self. One time I remember looking into a mirror and willing my hair different colors.

Edit: Oh, and you just reminded me- last night in my dream, for a portion of it, I was a little girl, maybe six years old with long blonde hair. Weird.

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Originally Posted by badassbob

I used to struggle to make things like this happen, but recently I started using this wand idea that I found somewhere on this forum, and now I can use similar methods for changing my self image. I now use my wand to create a "self image altering machine", then step into the machine, change my self image into whatever I want. I get out of the machine and I have become whatever I wanted to be. The machine helps me believe that I can make myself change another way than "by magic".
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Maybe next time I have a lucid dream I'll reach into a closet and pull out a cardboard box, and then cut a door in it and label it "transmogrifyer" with a dial on the side. Then I can write what I want to be and turn the dial to it, like in calvin and hobbes.

^ Sounds like a very complicated thing to do in a LD.

I'm not the only one who's read CALVIN AND HOBBES! One of us! One of us! One of us!!!

Or you could try making ten of yourself, just by crossing out "transmogrifier" and write "duplicator"! God I loved those comics. Why, Bill Waterson, WHY did you stop drawing them?!?

Um... o_0

Back to the topic at hand, I imagine actively trying to change one's image or form in a dream would be difficult if it's hard to picture doing it in real life. I know in dreams you can do anything (virtually), but a lot of the sensations I understand are "borrowed" from others. For instance, flying for many gives the sensation of being on a roller coaster, etc...

Maybe trying to visualize it a few times in waking would allow your subconcious to create and therefore successfully complete the situation? Or maybe you could just try some "natural herbs"... :wino:

what would be cool to turn into? i have had 2 lucids but havnt tried transforming yet.

Turn into a bird and fly with wings or be a lion and run through Africa. Better yet create your own animal and be it.

Try this: in your waking life. go to a big mirror (bathroom one works) Unfocus your eyes and don't blink.
this causes the background to fade in and out. but pay attention to your image in the mirror. you can watch your face change, you might see your face brighter of darker or with different facial hair etc.

I did this once while repeating "double double" (intending my image in dreams to look like me) that night i had a flash of an LD where i was looking at myself in a mirror. no doubt i looked perfectly like myself, not like someone else. I've done this acouple times with success. I'm gonna try repeating "x appearance" when gazing into the mirror. and see if i can see if my dreambody changes. if it does. i may have invented a technique for intending appearances in dreams. worth a shot.

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Originally Posted by NeAvO

^ Sounds like a very complicated thing to do in a LD.
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not really, all you'd have to do is open up a closet and expect to find a box, a knife, and a marker. You could just pull the marker and knife out of your pocket probably, and a box is a pretty likely thing to find pretty much anywhere, shouldn't be too hard to do. Although, you might need to get a DC to push the button for you (an orange feline DC perhaps). I think I'm gonna try to do this next time I have an LD (hopefully soon, I've averaged 4 or so a week for the past couple weeks).

Yah! Other Calvin and Hobbes fans! I really like the "Transmogrifyer Gun" ones.

Anyway, I still haven't gotten a lucid yet (or maybe I did, when my dream recall was still nothin :doh:) but shapechanging or transforming is one of the high ones on my to-do list. After learning some control, of course.

I want to try a dragon, really. They're mythical creatures, so I wonder how my mind would try that... and they've got wings and four legs, so that would be interesting to control.

Anyway, I'm not going to try possessing. It seems evil, and thus I would never keep control.

Anyway, dream lucidly,
-Metroid48 :yumdumdoodledum:

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Originally Posted by sunoco

what would be cool to turn into? i have had 2 lucids but havnt tried transforming yet.
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Originally Posted by sunoco

Turn into a bird and fly with wings or be a lion and run through Africa. Better yet create your own animal and be it.
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I did turn into a cat once (sadly not on purpose).

I was in a garden at night and an old man (like an alchemist or wizard) gave me this little bag with some kind of edible stuff inside. When I ate it, I changed into a cat and went running across the rooftops of the town. It was quite strange experiencing a body that moved in a totally different way to my own.

So maybe that's another way to tranform - look for an old man who wants to give you something nice to eat! Don't do this IRL though - you may wake up on a dodgy website with a chloroform headache. :wink:

Lol. So, how realistic does it seem? Oh, and in your dream right there were you lucid?

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Originally Posted by Metroid48

Lol. So, how realistic does it seem? Oh, and in your dream right there were you lucid?
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It was not Lucid unfortunately, so it wasn't super-high detail. I also must have seen myself from third person at some point, otherwise I wouldn't have known what I was! :D

my usual look is me when 13 - 16 (changes time to time) - that means the same of now (20) but thinner and shorter.
i can change it a little - hair colour or so - if i have a mirror and "change " things one to one - sometimes deep changes "feel " painful, but luckyly i never feel pain too real in dreams.

I have a question! *raises hand*

For anybody who has changed self image in an LD; can you actually feel any change, or is it all cosmetic like a mirage or a hologram?

Actually, that's also been one of my questions. But, from what I've read, it feels 'real' and you can experience said animals senses.

I'm just wondering how you can be, say, a dragon, or any creature with more than four limbs (wings count, too). I mean, how would you know how to control the wings for example! Or a snake, how do you know how to slither?

Anyway, but I think it feels real if you do a proper change.

BTW, any ideas on those questions?

A couple nights ago i had a dream it wasent lucid but i had turned into a girl of about 13 (no clue about any of the features becuase it wasent lucid and i dident really pay attention) but i remember the feelings of the dream and you do feel diffrent from forms, its not like a mirage.

Ok, very interesting! I had a dream where I changed, and I would DEFINATELY like to have it again. Unfortunately, since the dream was non-lucid (at that point), I remember it kind of... fuzzily? Is that a word?

Anyways, now the only trick is actually becoming lucid, and then incubating the dream... That's it, nothing to it!!!...

Life, boy, on the other hand... :P *does reality check*

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Originally Posted by Metroid48

Actually, that's also been one of my questions. But, from what I've read, it feels 'real' and you can experience said animals senses.

I'm just wondering how you can be, say, a dragon, or any creature with more than four limbs (wings count, too). I mean, how would you know how to control the wings for example! Or a snake, how do you know how to slither?

Anyway, but I think it feels real if you do a proper change.

BTW, any ideas on those questions?
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When I've shapeshifted into animals it feels very real and you can actually feel the difference in the bodies and how they work/move. Like the very first time I shifted into a lion I gave it a test run to check it out. I could feel like difference straight away between the lion and the wolf.. it was like the lion ran lower and used its claws for turning.. it was a fast turner compared to the wolf and it really kinda dug its nails in when cornering. It also had a faster starting speed. Anyway none of these things I had really thought about before hand, they were just things I noticed straight away after shifting so it really does seem like a taste of the wild life.

With controlling wings... its like if you dream you have them it just seems to come naturally on how to open them. Like when I first turned into the lion I looked over my shoulder to see my body and tail but inorder to do so I had to fold my wing in the right way, which just seemed to come naturally. My wing came out from the side of my rib just under my arm and not from my back, and when folding it it was like flexing the muscles around the ribs. It was weird though because the wing was like there but not there.. like it was a brigher light and not as solid.. so it was like a wing of white light and not really a solid thing. Kinda hard to describe. Like having a solid animal with added light.. its not really winged but it is.

Anyway thats the only time I've had wings and they wernt really for flying, they ended up kinda helping me to corner better when running ,that and the claws.

So yeah, its like after you shift the rest just seems to come naturally.

Hm, thats really intresting Kazahel. next time im lucid im going to try becoming a lion and stuff like that.

I have appeared different in a dream,but it was beyond my control i think,I also had a different personality but I was still Lucid.I was far more aggresive in the dream,and I was leading others that were also Lucid.very strange

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Originally Posted by bendstringz

I have appeared different in a dream,but it was beyond my control i think,I also had a different personality but I was still Lucid.I was far more aggresive in the dream,and I was leading others that were also Lucid.very strange
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Wow, thats weird, never heard of anything like a personality change happening.

when you say self image do you mean the body or the mind?

me and my friend transform a lot in dreams. weve finally come up with a solution that works best for us. rather than imagining what we want to be, we look at our dream body and imagine it changing.

like if you want to become a lion, first try to grow fur over your body, lengthen your nails into claws. stand on all fours and lengthen your feet so that you walk on your toes/paws. and so on.

The way you change you image is very unique and certainly interesting, I haven't tried to possess a DC before and to change my appearance, I tend to just convince myself that I really do have whatever features I want, it works and its quick.

In the most accurate transformation, I became a dog in one of my dreams, but did not purposely transform into that. The dream simply began with me being a canine. In that dream, I was aware I was dreaming, but had no control over my surroundings or even me (which is happening to me alot now). The feeling of being a dog was pretty different in how my body felt, but of coarse my vision and mentality was that of a person. In another dream where I was actually lucid with dream control, I walked to a door, closed my eyes, opened then door with my eyes still closed, and transformed into a dog on the other side- though my control stopped simply seconds afterward. The door trick works for me, whether I want to see a person, place, or event on the other side.


I really like the idea of transforming into an animal, or adding wings (which I have not tried). I want to start doing this alot... after I get over this stage of lucidy without the actual control.

I have transformed my body a few times before. When I had 4 arms, for example. I focused on feeling the arms from my body and becoming aware of how they felt and moved. I have also transformed into a quadrupedic creature using that technique.

I wonder if it would be possible to split into two people? Having not recalled a dream in ages, I'm way short of trying it, but it shouldn't be far beyond what I do on roleplaying forums all the time (once I'm actually in an LD, that is). Maybe I'll split into five people and beat myself to a pulp. :twisted:

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Originally Posted by Brilliand

I wonder if it would be possible to split into two people?
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I'm sure that you could, since you can do like everything in your dream, but it'd be funny to see who's really the better fighter, the normal you or the other 1+ yous

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Originally Posted by Lucidbulbs

I'm sure that you could, since you can do like everything in your dream, but it'd be funny to see who's really the better fighter, the normal you or the other 1+ yous
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My evil clone was a better fighter, he locked me in the cupboard :(

Actually, I was thinking split yourself over two "bodies", experiencing both at once and possibly even using lucid powers on both sides. It could become an interesting battle. But there wouldn't be any question of you versus your clone - maybe you could use different shirt colors to differentiate. :mrgreen: It would be very difficult.

I play chess against myself, so I'm used to being two people. I just want to go all the way to a controlled form of split personality disorder. :-P

I actually had a lucid last night that relates to this.

I decided (spur of the moment kinda thing) that I wanted to transform into a girl and see what it feels like. I tried transforming myself a few times but nothing happened, so I had the idea of making a DC girl appear and then kissing them, leaning forward as I do so so that I posess their body, rather like you said. Twice the fun, too =D

Obviously this wouldnt work with animals.....I guess you could always summon a lion and then hug it, or even just jump into it!

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Originally Posted by adamL28

I actually had a lucid last night that relates to this.

I decided (spur of the moment kinda thing) that I wanted to transform into a girl and see what it feels like. I tried transforming myself a few times but nothing happened, so I had the idea of making a DC girl appear and then kissing them, leaning forward as I do so so that I posess their body, rather like you said. Twice the fun, too =D

Obviously this wouldnt work with animals.....I guess you could always summon a lion and then hug it, or even just jump into it!
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You can say her... You're definitely talking about a single girl. No need to ruin your grammar to be politically correct. :wink:

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Originally Posted by John

I've learned through experience that transforming your own body into something else can be quite difficult in a dream, and have only once had minor success in this. However, I had an idea. I have no trouble creating dream characters by saying "such and such a person will walk around the corner now" and lo and behold, the person with the characteristics I imagined walks casually from behind something (has a gun I can take, a dead person I wish to talk to, etc.). So, I figure, since it's quite simple to make things immaterial but still there, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch for one to simply summon a character, turn them around and "jump into" their body, possess them if you will. It might have strange side effects, like accidentally being backwards or struggling to control the body over the will of the DC, but I feel like this would be quite an easy way to transform the self image. Has anybody ever tried this, or tried other methods of transformation and met either success or difficulty?
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Sad to say, since I haven't had an LD yet (but I? hav a feeling I will tonight, but i'm not certain) but I would like to suggest this. Create a big red button and put who/what you want to change into on it, then press it. That's my guess.

Hm, that's a good question. In my second lucid dream I changed my physical appearance without consciously wanting it (but it was minor, my breasts just became bigger). I hope I'll be able to do it at will next time I've a LD.

Wow,

I never thought it was very hard to transform myself in dreams. A few of the things I've changed into:

- bird, the flying part was awesome i might add
- donkey, dunno.. very weird and not very lucid
- cat
- soul (popped outta my dream self and flew around, but thats pretty standard i guess)
- women (yeah, I've actually kinda felt the one form I took was myself in a former life if that sounds weird enough)
- snake (really REALLY weird)
- alternate "versions" of myself that were different ages but looked similiar. I never really thought to look like another person, its just that I take a male or female form in my dreams, and the male looks very much like my real self while the female is very different.

I have possessed multiple dream characters at once however, yet even when i can feel what they feel, i never consider it my dream form.

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Originally Posted by TheUnknown

- snake (really REALLY weird)

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Actually, I've been meaning to ask that. How does it turn out being a snake? What's it like? It's probably the oddest and most different form possible, aside from something like a jellyfish, so how'd it go?