Using Lucidity to Practice Fighting

I haven't had many LDs and the ones I had weren't as full as I'd have liked them to be, so I'm not speaking from experience. There is scientific evidence to suggest that this is entirely possible. Visualization has been used by many athletes (including myself) to improve muscle memory when one is not able to practice physically.

My friend tried this and said that 90% of the time the practice didn't carry of into real-life. For this to be effective you should have excellent dream recall to where the only distinction between real life memories and ld memories is the knowledge that you are dreaming.

You would also need to be able to "render" an extremely realistic (as in real world physics, appearance, and body strength, size, and other various factors) environment. I'm not sure of the difficulty of this, but I would expect that if the skills of God are readily available in the dream world it could be quite difficult.

If and when I ever get full lucidity (and once I'm done having a crap-load of fun) I am going to try this out. Can't wait! :)

Someone said that you could use lucid dreams to hone your technique. I disagree with that. Maybe for a beginner that's the case, but anything above 5th kup should not be mental anymore, it's about muscle memory. Muscles don't get activated in your dreams.

That being said, I encourage all of my students to practice fighting in lucid dreams. Combinations for real self defense situations can't be done at full force in class.

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Someone said that you could use lucid dreams to hone your technique. I disagree with that. Maybe for a beginner that's the case, but anything above 5th kup should not be mental anymore, it's about muscle memory. Muscles don't get activated in your dreams.

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When you practice any technique, a pathway is created and reinforced, and if you practice it enough it becomes so reinforced that it becomes second nature. LDing can create and reinforce pathways as commands are sent to the muscles like when you are awake. Muscles don't 'remember' anything, it's pathways being built up.

Lucid dreams can't make muscles or other parts of you physically stronger unlike actual physical training, but it can certainly be used to practice techniques, and there are plenty of stories in La Berge's book on the subject. You're going against a lot of evidence, anecdotal or otherwise with your claim you know.

Photolysis is exactly right. Muscle memory is all in the brain. It's not as if muscles have little brains in them that remember stuff. It's all about establishing a pathway so your brain becomes more used to doing a certain thing. This allows you to do this particular "move" quicker and more efficiently, and it allows your mind to be able to integrate the move in the right situations better. Still, you have to be able to create that perfectly real world dream environment, which couldn't be that hard.

Has anyone tried to create a nearly perfect real world dream environment?

one day i realized i could learn a little more about self-defense, and i picked up a book - a very good book. i didn't feel like i needed to practice any of these techniques that i studied, but i certainly wouldn't rely on practicing in my dreams if i did - after all, it will be your safety in jeopardy. a little bit risky if you ask me... best of luck to you, but i would seriously consider taking classes.

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Originally Posted by theyearthreethousand

one day i realized i could learn a little more about self-defense, and i picked up a book - a very good book. i didn't feel like i needed to practice any of these techniques that i studied, but i certainly wouldn't rely on practicing in my dreams if i did - after all, it will be your safety in jeopardy. a little bit risky if you ask me... best of luck to you, but i would seriously consider taking classes.

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Practicing in lucid dreams can never be the same as taking classes run by a professional. But if you already know roughly what you are doing, then they can be an excellent addition to your training.

A good example of what I mean is learning to drive. If you've never tried to drive before, you couldn't use lucid dreaming to learn as the 'driving a car' model would be full of holes, and would likely be very innaccurate. However, once you've actually driven for a bit, and got the feel for handling a car, you could use LDs to learn to drive much more successfully, as your car driving model would be much more accurate.

Similarly when it comes to martial arts, once you've got the basics, you could use lucid dreams to refine your techniques. LDing can also be used for other situations as well, such as reacting under pressure, or decreasing reaction times to unexpected situations, both of which are very important in self-defense or martial arts.

It isn't the same because I can down backflips in my dreams because I am not afraid of getting hurt. IRL I can do a backflip or kick like I do in my dreams.

I practiced a couple of techniques in my dream just two nights ago. I've actually had some good success with practicing in dreams and I think that they have benefitted me in waking life as well.

Just learn to fight in real life. Half of learning to fight is experiencing how much it hurts to get hit. You have to get used to the real physical contact, pain, and exhaustion of a fight. Can't really mimic those in a dream.

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Originally Posted by Robot_Butler

Just learn to fight in real life. Half of learning to fight is experiencing how much it hurts to get hit. You have to get used to the real physical contact, pain, and exhaustion of a fight. Can't really mimic those in a dream.

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Agreed, however any practice you can get is good.

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Originally Posted by Oneironaut

You can't practice every aspect of fighting (namely; the physical), but fighting is just as much a mental art as it is a physical. What you can practice is comfortability with the mental aspect of a fight. You can practice reaction time. You can practice locking attack combinations into memory. You can practice the mentality of "what do I do if this guy is coming at me with a knife??" Having the ability to fight means nothing, if you're the kind of person that just freezes up in fear, or has no idea what to do, when things are getting crazy. Practicing in dreams will help you familiarize yourself with the concept of fighting, and can help tremendously.

And for those that say "fighting while lucid isn't a fair fight" should seriously meet some of my dream characters, some time. Lol.

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i totally agree with you , i am in muay thai, and the basis in any martial artis to stick the technique into your memory and make it your reaction for the time when the situation appears you do it as a reaction , i think it would really help to do this (but obviously it will not help you to strike harder or to have a better condition) just makes you react correctly in the moment

before i was in classes i had the desire to learn this techniques of martial arts and these awesome stuff , it really helps what i did , i just watched "how to" youtube videos and other videos showing the technique , then you just practice it in your room and do mental sequences of yourself applying the technique then practice it again and by just doing that you become pretty good against street fighters trust me they will fear you and wont bother you again , but obviously getting in classes is much better

power is a big responsibility, you must handle it with wisdom otherwise you will end up screwed

You don't need to LD to learn how to fight :P Just clench your fists, find some courage, and just start swinging at your opponent.

What you want to do, I am guessing, is LD to find the courage to actually do something. In real life, you know you really want to kill that jackass, and you play a scene in your head where you are tombstoning that mother f****r into the cement and start beating the crap out of him. While you know you are capable of beating him up, you just can't bring yourself to swing your arm and break his face in real life.

If you want to hit someone/beat them up, do it in your dream. Bring that person you dislike, and just begin hitting them in the face. This'll prepare you for hitting them in real life. If you want to practice fighting (like a fist fight, or karate), that is another story, as the physics in your dream is entirely different and you might be fighting like in the matrix. :lol: Sometimes, when I know I can't just hit someone in real life, I do it in a dream. It's fun, and it's definitely tempted me and gave me more courage to actually do so in real life.