A couple of questions about LD

Hi,

I stumbled across this site by accident, while researching sleeping/dreams.

Firstly I have to say - amazing. I have never heard of LD before and find myself hooked on peoples posts inside this site.

After just about reading every bit of info you have here and asking a few friends about LD, I have a couple of questions :-

1. It seems to me there has to be a part of the whole LD process that is dangerous for instance, surely it would be quite easy to lose your grip on reality?

2. If you become an expert at LD and you experiance them very often, is it possible to want to forget it all and just go back to dreaming normally?

I hope my questions dont sound too patronizing.

Many thanks for your time
Steve

Welcome to the site! I hope it's the beginning of a great adventure for you.

As for your questions...


1. I do not believe it's dangerous. I don't think you're any more likely to lose your "grip on reality" from lucid dreaming than you would from regular dreaming. I've certainly never heard of anyone having this kind of problem. As with many other things, if there is any danger of that sort of thing, it probably only applies to people who don't have a very firm grip on reality in the first place.

2. I don't know about this one. I have seen some members post that they always dream lucidly, and wish they could just have normal dreams. But I think those have mostly been people who came by it naturally, and have done it for pretty much all their lives. Most of us here have the opposite problem -- we can't dream lucidly nearly as often as we'd like -- and since you've never heard of lucid dreaming before I would have to assume that you're not a "natural", and you'd fall into the latter category.

Many thanks for a quick reply,

Following on from the questions:-

1. From your response on this question:- If your doing reality checks in the real world as well as in LD surely there must be a point where your mind thinks 'am I LD or really awake?' Do you think its possible for your mind to confuse the two? If so, surely that can lead to big/ dangerous problems

2. So what your saying is that even if your an expert in LD there is still no gaurentee that you would have a LD so... you would just dream normally

Once again many thanks for the info

Steve

1) LDing gives you a far better grip on reality. How can learning the difference between dreams and reality cause you to lose your grip? That's twisted logic. The whole point of LDing is to learn the difference. Your mind can't get confused between the two unless you're extremely stupid. I mean, if you think you're dreaming, then try to breath with your nose plugged, or put your finger through your palm, or levitate. You wouldn't be able to do any of these if you were truly awake. That's what LDing is all about, being logical!

2) I've learned to LD on will over the last year of working. I'm no natural. I had never LDed before that. Just a few nights ago, I decided to go non-lucid for a bit of a break. I stayed non-lucid just as I had wanted to. See, you have the control to do it or not do it. That's another thing about LDing, learning self-control.

First of all, don't assume that I'm an expert or have all the answers -- get some input from others here as well. Some of them have FAR more experience and information than I do.

1. This is really not my department. :) I can NEVER remember to do reality checks in my dreams -- unless I already realize that I am dreaming. For me, when I become lucid, it's usually just a feeling that I have that I know I'm dreaming. At this point I always try to fly, or at least float -- not by jumping out a window or anything drastic like that, just by levitating off the ground. I can always do this in my dreams. so if I'm dreaming, it always works. And since it's impossible in reality, it definitely confirms that I am dreaming. I have never made the mistake of thinking that I am dreaming when I am not. I'm not sure if anyone else has, but if they've mentioned it here I don't recall seeing it.

2. Again, you should probably get some input from someone else on this. See this thread for an example: http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/viewtopic....&highlight=stop

I see that Gothlark has also replied here -- he's much more an expert than I am, so I expect that his advice is sound. :)