Nature of LD...

Hey I got some questions about the nature of lucid dreaming which I just found out about today. I understand the basic idea (taking control of your dreams) but I have some questions about finer points.
Can you feel in a lucid dream? In my normal dreams that I can remember after I've woken up, all that I could feel at the most was kind of a pressure. Can you feel pleasure or pain in a LD or smell and taste?
Do they have levels of vividness that you aren't in control of? Can you take control of a dream and be aware but it be extremely vivid one time and then another not so much? Or is this something that can be controlled with practice?
Can you die in a lucid dream? This has two sides. One is can you just die and then come back in the dream, or just wake up and be fine, and the second is based on a story I heard. I heard a story, hopefully an urban legend, that a man died in his dream which then caused him to die in real life. The basic concept being that if you get shot and die in a dream that is extremely vivid, your body and mind are fooled and react the same way as if it really did happen, thereby shutting down your body.
I would like to try this out but just want to get fact seperated from fiction but also know if there is theory.

Hiya, Flubly, and welcome to DV! :mrgreen:

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Originally posted by Flubly+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Flubly)</div>

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Can you feel in a lucid dream? In my normal dreams that I can remember after I've woken up, all that I could feel at the most was kind of a pressure. Can you feel pleasure or pain in a LD or smell and taste?[/b]

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Yes, you can absolutely feel all those things -- although I've never really experienced pain myself, I know that others have.

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Originally posted by Flubly@
Do they have levels of vividness that you aren't in control of? Can you take control of a dream and be aware but it be extremely vivid one time and then another not so much? Or is this something that can be controlled with practice?

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Yes, yes, and yes. :D There are definitely different levels of vividness, lucidity, and control. You can get better with practice, but you're probably still going to have some LDs that are less vivid than others, and some LDs where you have less control than others.

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Can you die in a lucid dream? This has two sides. One is can you just die and then come back in the dream, or just wake up and be fine, and the second is based on a story I heard. I heard a story, hopefully an urban legend, that a man died in his dream which then caused him to die in real life.

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Yes, you can die in a lucid dream, and no, you won't die in real life. Many of our members report having died many times in lucid and non-lucid dreams, and they are still here to tell us about it. I have never actually died in a dream myself, so I don't know exactly what it feels like, but people say that sometimes they just wake up, and sometimes they just "respawn" in the dream.

Keep asking questions, and good luck on your lucid endeavours! :)

Welcome to the forum, man. I think Tygr pretty much answered your questions. I hope that you have a great time while you are with us. :D

Thanks a lot for the info, I really want to try this out. I'm glad to know that this isn't some crazy religious orginization but really just learning how to control a function of your brain that you don't noramlly use. I like the honesty and reality of the tutorials and am really excited to get started.

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Originally posted by Flubly
Thanks a lot for the info, I really want to try this out. *I'm glad to know that this isn't some crazy religious orginization but really just learning how to control a function of your brain that you don't noramlly use. *I like the honesty and reality of the tutorials and am really excited to get started.

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Damn Straight! :goodjob:

I smile every time I read something like this. I consitantly find myself amazed at how well DV handles the subject of Lucid Dreaming without sticking an almost inevitable new-age spin on it all. It's amazing, really, it is, and I can honestly say that if it weren't for that, and if it weren't for DV, Lucid Dreaming just wouldn't be an accessible subject/hobby/practice for the vast majority of people who AREN'T new-agey, etc. Myself included. So... yeah.

What you said, Flubly.

It wouldn't be fair to make it a hobby that only new agey people would be interested in. That just isn't practical. I am really glad that we don't do that.