Thread: Differences between dream world and real world

Hello everyone!

After a while of ADA practice, I started to see it in my dreams. Just last night, I had a dream where I was practicing ADA. I felt my hair brush up against my forehead. It seemed perfectly normal, however.

I was wondering: Is there anything for this technique that is absolutely impossible for the dream world to replicate? I am in the early stages of practicing, so if you guys have any advice, that would be awesome.

Thanks!

Hello there, I'm not sure what you mean by 'anything that is impossible to replicate'. Did you mean a sensation in real life that is impossible to recreate in dreams? If so, my answer would be nope. As far as I know, your brain is the best simulator. Anything you can sense and perceive in waking life, you can recreate in dreams. They would both feel the same and realistic, the only difference being the absence of physical stimuli.

Hmmm, ok. I was just wondering if there are things about ADA that are different in the dream world at least MOST of the time (I know at least one conspicuous difference, such as holding nose and breathing). I'm not sure how to best explain this, but do you have any ideas?
If you need some clarification, just let me know, thanks.

Hmm still not quite sure what you mean but it seems like you're referring to the concept of reality checks, with the nose-plugging and still being able to breathe. In dreams, you also tend to be quite flexible/elastic. Have you ever tried bending your fingers backward or stretching them? One thing I noticed when I started ADA is that I somehow noticed the dream atmosphere is different than waking life. I can't really point it out but it just felt different somehow, and this was what helped me get spontaneous lucidity a lot, just feeling something feels 'off'. Another thing is keeping your eyes open and not blinking, in the dream world you won't have any problems whereas in waking life you'd start tearing up after a while of keeping them open. So sorry if i misunderstood, just correct me please~

If possible, could you elaborate on the dream atmosphere feeling different? I remember that is how I spontaneously got lucid once, but how do I learn to check for this "atmosphere" in waking life? I remember this worked very well for me.

For me, the atmosphere is kind of...humid, sort of but not uncomfortable, just slightly different in quality. You know how when you go on a long vacation then you return home and it just feels 'off' for a short while? That's exactly how it feels for me. Idk what exactly to do to enhance that aside from just keeping up with ADA and really paying attention to how the waking life atmosphere is, with gravity and temperature, etc.

Originally Posted by rhythm432

I was wondering: Is there anything for this technique that is absolutely impossible for the dream world to replicate? I am in the early stages of practicing, so if you guys have any advice, that would be awesome.

No, there is nothing in this technique (or anywhere else) that is absolutely impossible to replicate.

Though Paigeyemps' answer was more than enough, and she was correct in saying that your dreaming mind is capable of leading you to believe that any image, stimulus, or RC technique is a waking-life event (aka, real). Indeed, capable is the wrong word; during a dream you are meant to believe that everything is real; that's the way the program runs. Like it or not, there are no shortcuts toward breaking this program; you need to take one more step that requires a little work.

That next step is proper mental preparation that will lead you to question whether you are in a dream, to ask yourself whether, say, that camel passing you on a bicycle is a dream character or real. Once you develop a regular practice of questioning your state of consciousness, be it with ADA or any other technique, you will be ready to recognize the unusual in your dreams, or work with "failed" RC's. I believe King Yoshi covers this pretty thoroughly in his ADA guide, BTW.

Even things feeling "off," like Paigeyemps' dream atmosphere, will only feel off if you are prepared to notice they are off. Because during a non-lucid you are "programmed" to believe anything is perfectly fine, so you must learn to remember that the atmosphere shouldn't be this way, and then act upon it. Yes, this can happen accidentally, where your consciousness is in just the right place to notice something odd; but accidents don't lead to consistent LD'ing. There are no convenient automatic triggers; if someone tells you there are, just walk away.

It's may be a stupid and off topic question but may I ask, what is ADA?

It's a tricky question because the dream world is a repesentation of you, your ego, your fears, your memories, beliefs and expectations.

So it's only you that sets the limits.

If you don't believe or expect that it is possible to feel the wind in a dream, well you wont feel the wind.

So "Know thyself" <- Matrix reference

And Brony I think ADA stands for "All Day Awareness"

My favorite reality check is biting my tongue. Im not saying dreams can't simulate pain, because they can. But if you run your tongue against the roof of your mouth or the top row of teeth, the sensation in a dream feels totally different. I have experienced VERY high levels of pain in dreams though.

Also, I personally believe that there is one thing your brain cannot simulate. And that is 'not knowing'. This is how I practice my reality checks. In reality, there are an infinite number of factors that you can't anticipate. Say I was dreaming that i was lying in bed. And I got up and walked out the door. If it were reality, I wouldnt have known that there was a pile of laundry on the ground. I would have tripped and fell. That moment when you trip you think to yourself "what did I just trip on?!". You would never experience that in a dream. Because somewhere in your mind you know everything that can happen.