Productive Use of Lucid Dreaming: What have you guys done?

[Jellyd0nut]

As many of us know, LD's can be used for more than simply mucking around, blowing things up, and doing hilarious things with DC's. There have been many studies regarding the use of LD's for more productive things: things that will affect your waking life positively. For example, there was a study done at Heidelberg University in Germany in which a bunch of lucid dreamers demonstrated the fact that motor skills training in a lucid dream translates directly to reality by practicing throwing coins in a cup before and after dreaming. There's also been a lot of speculation on using the dreaming to prepare for a stressful task the next day, like an interview or presentation (but I haven't heard of anyone doing this). In this thread, I wanted to hear about some of the productive things that you guys have done in your dreams! I think it would be nice if people saw these as challenges of a sort. Let us know down below what you guys have been able to do! Best, Jelly

[Sensei]

Can you link to these studies? I would love to read them. I believe that LDing can be used productively, but I would love to see more studies done on it. I have used it to study, pray, meditate, practice fighting, practice sports, practice video games, practice parkour, understand concepts, and also for just general fun. Don't forget about fun as a productive use, it is one of the things lacking in life. I am not just talking about entertainment, I am talking about doing something yourself and having a blast doing it. I love TV and movies, but I feel that they don't have the same level of excitement as doing something "for yourself" does. I think, of course, that video games shouldn't be lumped in with movies as I feel like they are as productive as any mental hobby (except maybe LDing) and are usually lumped in with the wrong sorts of things. I think that video games and LDing could be the future of learning and developing a better world. But that is just my two cents.

[SinisterDezz]

As far as practicality, I regained some of my lost memories after I got amnesia. Ironically, the cause of the amnesia was lack of sleep. I slept maybe 15 minutes a night on average towards the later end of last year and through around May. I finally decided to go back to lucid dreaming, and it helped a decent amount. I sleep a healthy(ish) amount now. I found that it was a lot easier to access memories through dreams rather than meditation. Maybe that is worth looking in to. (My life is becoming more and more like Kaneki. Send help.)

[Jellyd0nut]

Hey Sensei, Nice to hear you've used it for such things! Have you happened to experiment on yourself (similar to the Heidelberg study) to see the effects on reality? I'd love to do something like that in the near future. Here are some links to the studies I was talking about: Heidelberg Study on Motor Skills Lucid Dreaming and Future Sports Training As far as practicality, I regained some of my lost memories after I got amnesia. Ironically, the cause of the amnesia was lack of sleep. I slept maybe 15 minutes a night on average towards the later end of last year and through around May. I finally decided to go back to lucid dreaming, and it helped a decent amount. I sleep a healthy(ish) amount now. I found that it was a lot easier to access memories through dreams rather than meditation. Maybe that is worth looking in to. Wow, nice to hear this as well! I've actually thought about this quite a bit myself. It's always nice to be able to get more sleep, and lucid dreaming provides quite a nice incentive to do so. I'm glad it worked out for you.

[lucidbunnie]

I believe very process of lucidity by itself is productive no matter what you do. It hones your mental faculties and definitely improves focus. So, no matter what we do as long as we attain lucidity it is productive. I have not experienced that many fully conscious lucid dreams, but I have had several extremely vivid semi-aware dreams. In these dreams I would usually have an understanding that I'm from a different "world" and that the reality around me is not my native reality, but I won't necessarily realize I'm dreaming. I have swam sometimes in such dreams and had found that I was able to swim in my apartment pool without having ever swam or taken swimming lessons in waking reality. So, I guess that could towards developing skills in dreams in general.

[TravisE]

The act of practicing lucidity (not necessarily just in dreams but in waking life as well) appears to be beneficial in itself. Developing it involves improving one's self-awareness and exercising memory and recall. It encourages one to be more “present” and mindful, noticing little things not seen before or seeing things from perspectives that one's never considered before. There are a lot of things that seem to tie in closely, like meditation, which has innumerable benefits of its own. Years ago, I started the hobby thinking I was “just” getting into lucid dreaming. Little did I know I'd eventually begin learning of techniques and practices that could very well improve (and probably already have) me as a whole.

[Jellyd0nut]

The act of practicing lucidity (not necessarily just in dreams but in waking life as well) appears to be beneficial in itself. Developing it involves improving one's self-awareness and exercising memory and recall. It encourages one to be more “present” and mindful, noticing little things not seen before or seeing things from perspectives that one's never considered before. There are a lot of things that seem to tie in closely, like meditation, which has innumerable benefits of its own. Years ago, I started the hobby thinking I was “just” getting into lucid dreaming. Little did I know I'd eventually begin learning of techniques and practices that could very well improve (and probably already have) me as a whole. Interesting point. Can you cite any specific example of how it's improved you? Glad to hear it helps!

[Suacy]

I'm a musician and one time recently I heard a melody in a lucid dream and then woke myself up right away and went to write it down. I'm trying to make this happen more often but have been having trouble hearing music in my dreams.

[Suacy]

Practicing being able to remember your goals for a LD when you become lucid translates into waking life, and is an important practice for waking life. When I'm watching TV it helps to suddenly become real-life lucid and remember that my goals for my life are to make art and share it, and that watching this stupid TV show is not helping me with that goal. It also helps to be able to remember who you are in waking life, meaning what your values are and who you see yourself as. This helps in difficult situations by leading you to do things that are in line with the person you want to be.

[xSkyer]

Anyone tried programming? It`s not possible to make code without any mistakes :x.

[TravisE]

Interesting point. Can you cite any specific example of how it's improved you? Glad to hear it helps! It's still very much an experiment and work in progress for me, so I can't yet say anything too definitive personally, though I've heard others say they have benefited in various ways, such as becoming more patient and unselfish. But I've found myself getting really interested in maintaining a constant awareness that I exist, observing what goes on within myself, and how I interact with the rest of reality, at all times (both waking and sleeping, as much as possible) and trying to eliminate that tendency of zoning out and being in “auto-pilot” mode. This is what many of us believe is a key, fundamental part of accomplished lucidity/lucid dreaming ability. One area where I might be seeing improvement is with things that make me frustrated or angry. It has been too easy to react and cause damage practically before I even become consciously aware of it. Being habitually in a lucid, “paying attention” mindset seems to make it easier for me to notice it just as it's happening, giving me a chance to try to behave or react differently, find a way to accept it or see the situation in a good light, or distract myself from it either by directly observing the thoughts and feelings themselves or just shifting my mental focus on something else (which is an area where meditation practice is said to be particularly helpful). I've also noticed something very fascinating after observing and studying myself for some time, especially what goes on during sleep. The line between things such as mental thoughts, daydreams, and actual dreams becomes much more fuzzy and unimportant. The longer I look at what initially seem like completely different states of mind and thought, the more they actually appear to be essentially the same thing: my thoughts; or ultimately, just me. I'm a musician and one time recently I heard a melody in a lucid dream and then woke myself up right away and went to write it down. I'm trying to make this happen more often but have been having trouble hearing music in my dreams. Oh yeah, that reminds me of another thing I forgot about—dreams are a source of incredible creativity! I've had several dreams, both lucid and non-lucid, of hearing music which I suspect was composed by my own mind, and I don't even have a clue how to compose music. It's very intriguing. Sometimes I can remember it for a while upon waking but usually eventually forget since I don't know music well enough to transcribe it. I've had lucid and semilucid dreams of consciously manipulating things like music and imagery and then sitting back to watch what happens. It's an amazing, fun experience.

[Suacy]

The line between things such as mental thoughts, daydreams, and actual dreams becomes much more fuzzy and unimportant. I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but I notice that my dreams often flow along a gradient of just thinking about things, to watching things appear and play out, to actually being a participant in a scene. It's like going from reading a screenplay to watching a movie to playing a video game, and it flows back and forth. For example, I'll be having a dream where I'm talking to someone and then they get angry and start to fight me, but then instead of having the fight, the dream pauses and I kind of work through all the ways the fight could go and watch them like a movie, then the dream fades away and I just am thinking about self defense in general, all while still asleep I think. Being able to pause situations and think through them is good practice for real life, a reminder to take a second to pause and think. This mostly happens in non-lucid dreams though, but I'm sure it could apply to LDs as well.

[AnotherDreamer]

I think that the most beneficial thing that I have gotten out of lucid dreaming is a greater understanding of consciousness, both in dreams and in waking life. It has helped me to see the extent to which my mind has control over my emotions, my perception, and my ability to create positive changes in both my body and the world around me. Learning how to ground myself in dreams has helped me to see that I can control my emotions in waking life as well, to the point where I can summon a feeling. I have also noticed that, just like in dreams, my emotional state of mind in waking life largely influences my perception of the world, and therefore the world that I experience. In dreams, a negative state of mind could manifest as a scary person coming out of the shadows and trying to murder me. In waking life, a negative state of mind could manifest as paranoia and seeing people or situations as scary/threatening. In contrast, a positive state of mind in dreams could make me feel like I am on an adventure and everything can take on a magical quality. I may even be able to experience more profound and beautiful things when I am in a positive state. In waking life, I can experience a similar perception, and I can sometimes feel like I'm 5 years old, and everything will seem beautiful, fresh, and new again. Developing control over my state of mind is essential for my having a positive dream experience and for turning lucid nightmares around, and getting better at this has had an immense impact on my enjoyment of the world. Improving my dream control has helped me to have greater control over my body. I've been able to use the same skills that are developed in dream control, such as visualization and intention. I have been able to make stubborn warts disappear. I have been able to make my body no longer react to allergens to the point where I can eat foods that my allergist and my GP said that I would never be able to eat again without drugs and without carrying around an epipen. I have gotten better at intentionally releasing 'feel-good hormones' without drugs, whenever I want. I can also intentionally induce and control hallucinations, but I'm not sure if many people would really want that. I suspect that this is only scratching that surface. I suspect that any phenomena that has been previously attributed to and written off as merely being the result of a placebo effect can be controlled and replicated through the similar principles that govern dream control. Those are just a couple, but I think that I could list more stuff in detail such as increased awareness, greater creativity, emotional healing, and an awesome method for finding solutions to difficult problems through dream incubation.

[TravisE]

I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but I notice that my dreams often flow along a gradient of just thinking about things, to watching things appear and play out, to actually being a participant in a scene. It's like going from reading a screenplay to watching a movie to playing a video game, and it flows back and forth. For example, I'll be having a dream where I'm talking to someone and then they get angry and start to fight me, but then instead of having the fight, the dream pauses and I kind of work through all the ways the fight could go and watch them like a movie, then the dream fades away and I just am thinking about self defense in general, all while still asleep I think. Being able to pause situations and think through them is good practice for real life, a reminder to take a second to pause and think. This mostly happens in non-lucid dreams though, but I'm sure it could apply to LDs as well. I think I have experienced something like that as well. Often I'll have non-lucid dreams where I'll see actual imagery but somehow assume I'm just imagining it and toy around with the situation (as if I'm using it as a means of exploring thought experiments). Or I'll somehow shift from a dream scenario to being awake just daydreaming about it (or, occasionally, this will happen in reverse), only realizing several moments later that I'm awake and then think, “Whoa, wait… When did this actually change from a dream back to me being awake thinking about it?” Those are indeed the sorts of things I'm talking about. Also, getting lost in a daydream without realizing it while going through my day and then suddenly becoming aware and thinking, “Whoa, hold on a second… where am I and what am I doing?” The feeling is sometimes exactly like that of becoming lucid in the middle of an actual dream.

[invisible]

I had a lucid dream where I encountered someone that I wasn't getting along with in real life. I was able to interact with them with a positive outcome. The interaction didn't involve how I normally behave because I knew it was a dream. But the dream encounter helped me approach this person in a different manner in real life and things went much better than before.

[Vipeloid]

I think that the most beneficial thing that I have gotten out of lucid dreaming is a greater understanding of consciousness, both in dreams and in waking life. It has helped me to see the extent to which my mind has control over my emotions, my perception, and my ability to create positive changes in both my body and the world around me. excatly this is what i also do . In my meditation practice and lucid dreamings , i always observe the clear difference in my mind and my consciousness . Two different things. Sometimes my mind,subconsciousness , presents me , things that i cant remember or think about. For example in waking life , when i think about a song that i can partially remember , i can think or play the whole song with all rythms , notes and insturments. But when i play taht song on a dream it is like listening the real music from a player. With all sounds all notes all instruments. I mean , in waking life i can even remember everything about a song but my mind or subconsciousness always knows it. It feels like entering library of every type of memeries that you can reach. And that is seperate from my consciousness. Mind is like a machine a computer , takes an input , calculates by memories emotions and experience and gives a output. Mind thinks seperatly from consciousness. And thats amazing i think , too seeing this just to look at my thoughts