Newbie- Just A Few Questions

First off...great site. I somehow stumbled upon it a few days ago and have been sneaking around it ever since. :bowdown:

So i havent been really interested in lucid dreaming until just about a week ago (was more interested in OBE's)...mostly because i really wasnt aware of the potential, but im still a little bit confused on some things.

A few websites ive stumbled across have mentioned "Shared Lucid Dreams". You find someone you know in your dream, and can sort of shake them into lucidity by telling them they are dreaming. Im wondering if this is truly a shared dream, as in, if you woke up and called this person up, (assuming they have good dream recal) theyd remember the dream? Or is it simply your mind creating this person you know based on how you percieve them?

My 2nd question would be ive also been under the impression that you can gain experience(what have you), by performing tasks in your dream. For instance, if i wanted to get better at guitar, i could play guitar while in a LD, and it would have the same effect on my brain as if i was physically playing guitar. I've even heard you can gain muscle mass. :shock: So is this true? Obviously you have to be pretty good at LD's but im just wondering. FYI, i have yet to have a true LD. Just one where i somhow got cued into a reality check but then woke up :(

Anyway thanks in advance :yumdumdoodledum: i love these smiley emotes. :wink:

HI! Welcome to the forum.

I know nothing about shared lucid dreaming. My take on the whole thing is more scientific than supernatural so I believe it's more likely you're just meeting characters invented by your mind and not other dreamers. BUT logic and science cannot explain everything, so it is possible. There's a section on this board devoted to things like shared lucids and OBEs. . . you should check that out if you're interested in that subject.

For your second question. Yes. Practicing a skill in a lucid dream will help you with that skill in your waking life. I'm not sure about gaining muscle mass as I've not heard that one before, but a lot of people have said that practicing musical instruments in their lucid dreams is very effective.

I hope you find what you're looking for here. :)

Thanks Jimmie :) I appreciate the reply. Im with ya on the shared dreams belief (after ive studied the subject more) :P Either way the conversations ive heard people having with DC's can be pretty humurous to say the least. :lol:

I've been completely alone in both of my lucid dreams so I've never had a conversation with a dream character but from what I hear, they almost always refuse to believe they aren't real. If you're looking for a laugh, people's dream journals can be a very good read. You might try scanning afew till you find someone with a style you like. Usually listening to people describe their dreams bores the life out of me but I've found that people who practice at lucid dreaming tend to have more interesting and vivid normal dreams.

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Originally Posted by Jimmie

I've been completely alone in both of my lucid dreams so I've never had a conversation with a dream character but from what I hear, they almost always refuse to believe they aren't real. If you're looking for a laugh, people's dream journals can be a very good read. You might try scanning afew till you find someone with a style you like. Usually listening to people describe their dreams bores the life out of me but I've found that people who practice at lucid dreaming tend to have more interesting and vivid normal dreams.
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I have had the same experience. My Lucids are almost always just me in an empty room or house. I have never actually had a conversation in one. Infact, whenever I try to talk or shout in my Lucid dreams, it is very difficult and almost no sound is created (I very well could end up talking in my sleep....).

As to the original topic:

Shared Dreams, I agree with Jimmie... probably just characters that you created. But who knows.

Practicing skills: From what I have heard/understand, yes you can improve skills such as playing a guitar in your Lucid Dreams. It just seems like it would take a lot of skill at Lucid Dreaming to be able to pull it off. Most people don't end up with that level of control for quite a while. (I have been working on Lucid Dreaming for just under a year and I am NO WHERE CLOSE to that level of control).

Building Muscle: Um, no... I don't think so. There are too many physical aspects involved with building muscle. You don't just generate it out of thin air. You could improve your reflexes, but not muscle mass. I would be very interested to see if someone claims otherwise. I would be even more interested in what their proof is.

I think it might have something to do with neurons. . . your brain is made up of lots of neurons (they are what allow your brain to communicate with your body) and when you learn to do a new task it begins building new ones to facilitate your learning. It makes it possible for your speed and agility for this task to increase. (That's why the learning curve seems to drop off as people get older, because neurons can't be grown as easily by the brain and a lot of them die everyday) SO. . . for things like, typing, or piano, or building card houses. . . your brain can build direct lines of neurons from all the different areas of your brain you might need to perform this task. . . allowing you to perform it more quickly and with better reflexes. Your brain builds these neurons while you're in stage 3 and 4 sleep. SO. . . while you won't be able to build muscle tone while dreaming, you might be able to convince your mind to make up a few more neurons if you trick into thinking you really were practicing the piano.

I'm not a doctor or a psychologist and I don't really know a thing about neurons and the brain, just what I vaguely recollect from class like 2 years ago, so correct me if I'm wrong but don't flame me please. :)

Welcome aboard, Mister Plow :D Enjoy your stay!