Is it possible to use lucid dreams to improve waking skills?

I read somewhere that it was possible to use lucid dreams to improve waking skills. The example was a surgeon who would perform an operation in a lucid dream the day before the surgery and when he did the surgery in reality, he could do it quicker and with less accidents. I don't have much spare time so i was wondering, if i practised guitar in a lucid dream, would i improve in reality? And other things too, like if i practised karate, or gymnastics or studied? Is any of that possible?

Also i know its not on topic, but i finished my first dream journal about 4 days ago and im having trouble remembering dreams with my new one. Is it just a matter of getting used to it? The old one was a copy book, but this time i decided to get a proper journal for writing them in, so I bought this nice notebook, but im having trouble adjusting.

thanks for the advice In advance :]

Rules of physics are different in lucid dream than in waking life. So I'm not sure about practicing things that you need reaction to your action. But if it's about practicing your moves, than yes, I have read about golf players practicing their swing and other sportsman.

And I would say playing an instrument is also possible. But all the skill you want to improve on, you would already need to possess. Like you can't learn new language or new instrument, but you can improve on already existing skills.

RE: DJ

Make your new DJ something special. Print our some cool picture and paste it in there, or draw something dream related. Write your goals, your achievements, your mantras, a thank you to your higher self for all the dreams, and anything that will make it special. Keep it someplace visible, so you don't forget. happy dreams:alien:

Ok, now I see that you have problem with remembering dreams rather than remembering to write them down. Recall can fluctuate, i'm sure it will be back in no time. Unless you went through some big changes, like different time of sleep and maybe some troubles that bother you.

I believe, it's definitely possible to use that up to some level, but not completely, because even if we can perfect something in the dream, even if dream perfectly copies waking life in terms of physics and everything, it still will require some practice for waking body to reach the same level and do the thing, unless you are talking about something that can be improved entirely mentally, in which case it might be easier to reach higher level in it. But either way if you do practice something in both waking world and dream world, it will definitely be somewhat easier to do in waking world after some dream world practice. :zzz:
As for the dream recall, as gab said, don't worry, dream recall is a pretty random thing when it comes to changing, but it definitely will return soon as you keep practicing. ;)

I don't feel like dream recall is random. Don't get frustrated when you are not having dreams or anything, just analyze what you are doing, what you have done, what differences there is from when you had lots of dreams. Things to note about recall is that it isn't entirely dependent on one day. If I am on the right schedule for 3 days my recall is right, but not if I just sleep one night 8 hours. It is the same with the recall techniques. If you do it consistently you should be getting better at them. If you aren't getting better at a tech or more dreams from it, then try another tech till you find what works for you. My DJ system is an example of all the things you should put down to increase recall and LDs by DJing in the most effective way. Make changes to it to fit you though. This is my personal opinion. :P

Yep! You can do anything in a dream! Big problems I see with it are if you don't spend enough time with your body, running, exercizing and knowing what your body feels like doing things like what you are practicing. This is not a problem if you are trying to figure out school, puzzle, painting, or anything that is really dependant on mental. I used to use just straight up visualization for training basketball. When I see this, I do this. This was before I knew what LDing was. :P but the visual helped a lot and got my visualization skills almost to what they are now. I lost them a bit, but I am finally higher than ever.

Meh, me rambling and talking too much. Hope you get something good out of it. Haha.

I think you can. Lucid dreaming provides an unlimited number of outlets for learning things. Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v-IMSKOtoE

I was thinking, since in lucids it is essentially composed of thoughts, then it could do the same thing. Perhaps not completely amp up your physical skills, but it can help. :)

Thank you all for the responses! The video was really cool, I had no idea the brain could do anything like that! :)
As for the journal, I remembered about 5 dreams last night but only one tonight. I think I will personalise it a bit, like suggested .

Now here's an interesting subject. In fields of science pertaining to brain functions, experiments like this never get old, and always produce interesting results.

Around the time of the London 2012 Olympic games, I was reading a short but interesting article in New Scientist magazine. They claimed that athletes were encouraged to lucid dream, specifically about things they needed to work on to improve their performance.

How does it work?
We don't know. And we likely won't for another 15 years minimum unless Einstein reincarnate comes along and develops an interest in neuroscience.

What we do know is how to do it.

The article provided a very concise two paragraphs, and only offered one example. If an archer were to have a lucid dream about tossing a coin into a cup, their aim would improve over 32% the next day.

Isn't that something?

Relating to your question though, it really depends on what you are practicing. As with the video, things pertaining to the fine motor skills are vastly influenced. However things pertaining to the gross motor skills will have little to no improvement. Running? Nah. Swimming? Nope. Speaking? Not a chance.

But:
These gross motor skills can be sidestepped. You can't improve how fast you run, but you can improve balance and concentration to an extent. Similar with swimming, and with speaking, if you suffer from a stutter or other speech impairment when presenting speeches, the you can work on your confidence and LD about presenting a speech to an audience. If the audience don't like it, screw them, it's your dream, and with the firing of a few neurons they will be rapt in amazement.

So I'm going to say yes. If you research a bit about the way fine and gross motor skills improve, you can sidestep the physical learning process with nigh anything. On the flipside, this isn't a well know aspect of dreaming. But that's a double edged sword, at the same time researching this would make you a pioneer to some extent. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Squilli0

Around the time of the London 2012 Olympic games, I was reading a short but interesting article in New Scientist magazine.

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Any chance you have a link to this article? Would be awesome.

I'll scrounge around for it, if I can't find it I can always scan the page and use imgur

Here is an example and how I think a skill could be improved and to what extent through lucid dreaming:

I have recently been working on improving my memory by memorizing spiritual songs such as Amazing Grace and Morning Has Broken. If I were able to lucid dream now (which currently I am not, used to be proficient many years ago, but now am struggling getting back to it), but if I were proficient at lucid dreaming now, this would be a perfect skill to work on in my lucid dreams to some extent because it is all mental, however, there are limits here:

(1) When I tackle a new song to which I really do not know the lyrics yet at all, could I learn them in a dream? Of course not!
(2) When I have started learning lyrics, but in waking life still need to go back to the written lyrics because no matter how hard I try I cannot recall what the next line is, could I progress in a lucid dream? Maybe. Memory works differently in dreams than in waking life, and some memories are easier to access in dreams than in waking, while others are harder, and still others the same.
(3) if I had mostly memorized the lyrics already, but sometimes still needed to pause to recall a word, or if I still made mistakes, but noticed that that was not right and was able to correct myself without necessarily looking at the written lyrics, could I progress from that to flawless singing of that song in lucid dream practice? Absolutely, yes. Lucid dreaming would be perfect for that.

Yes. I used to do this when I was in high school - dream study for a public speech or a test. It always made the assessment (in whatever format it came in) easier to succeed in, easier to breathe through.

I am personally a rock climber and I lucid-dream practice specific moves from time to time when I keep falling off in the same place. It helps me to be just mentally prepared for a route. Its definitely possible.