Question for LDers: Realness of LDs

I have a question for all lucid dreamers, especially experienced ones: How "real" do your LDs feel?

What I mean by real is, how strong is the feeling that you actually were there, in the dream, experiencing the things that happened?

I have had a dozen LDs over the past couple years, and am presently experiencing a long dry spell, but all of my LDs so far have seemed some how not real, or insubstantial. It always feels, when I wake up, almost as if some one "else" was in the dream, and I am sort of just remembering what happened to that person. Or, its like the dream was a movie that I watched. Even though I almost always remember sensations and vividness, I also always feel disconnected somehow. Like I wasn't really there, I just remember being there.

What I'm wondering is, who out there has had similar experiences, who has had different ones.

Specifically, I wonder if there is anyone out there who has been LDing a long time, and when they started their dreams felt as "unreal" as mine. If so, I wonder if they have gotten to feel more real as they LDed more.

Is this something that I'll be stuck with? Is it just how I feel when I LD? Or can it be changed, can I learn to feel like I'm really there?

-Lux

All of my LDs so far have felt like normal dreams :\

But I've only had DILDs, and I think I read that WILDs may be a lot more vivid and real.

They feel extremely vivid.



I used to doubt that they would be any more realistic, but then I had my first

Amazing!

I've had lucid dreams like that, but I've also had some amazingly vivid dream (and just about everything in between)

Well, while I'm dreaming, I'm always amazed at how real the dream seems. Afterward, though, I have similar experiences to yours - the dream seems somehow less real, or like it was a memory from a long time ago, rather than happening only hours before.

I'm not any more experienced than you are, though (I've only been doing it for a year or so, but I've had more than a dozen LD's).

my LDs are very vivid and realistic. But, like naikou said, after when i wake up and remember the dream, i dont remember it being so significantly vivid and realistic. But i know that it realy was extremely realistic.

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Originally Posted by rookybeats

They feel extremely vivid.



I used to doubt that they would be any more realistic, but then I had my first

Amazing!

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Did your LD(s) feel just as real after you woke up?

My LDs can be vivid, but after the fact, the memory is always disappointing. I think it's because in all my LDs so far there has been a fundamental difference between waking experience and LD experience that my dreaming mind has yet to overcome: namely, I'm sleeping, I'm dreaming. It just doesn't seem like my brain is responding in the same way, no matter how real it may seem at the time.

-Lux

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Originally Posted by Scarred_for_life

I've had lucid dreams like that, but I've also had some amazingly vivid dream (and just about everything in between)

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Did it get better over time, or is it just totally random? Are there influencing factors, techniques, perhaps?

But, vividness is not necessarily the thing I'm after. Most of my LDs are vivid: I remember seeing amazing colors, feeling real textures, etc. But, remembering them it seems like I wasn't every really there. They don't have the same immediacy of waking life, for me.

-Lux

Ok I'm just going to say it. I think that there is no such thing as a "lucid dream"

I think that you are only dreaming that you are in control.

See the more you think about something when your not sleeping the more likely that you will dream about it. (I.E. Lucid dreaming)

I really think that you have no control what so ever, you just think you do.

My LD are extremely real, I can feel the coldness of the air, the ground underneath my feet, my shirt on my shoulders.

My LDs are always very realistic. I can taste food or the strong burn of alcohol, or feel cold winds, or feel the pain from a pinprick...I remember a dream character's unique voice or looks, or the the pattern on the walls of the house I'm in. Even though I'm able to do things like fly, the dream feels as real as when I'm awake.

Sometimes when I'm in an LD, it feels like I'm there for hours. I've tried to keep track of time, but it's just about impossible. Logically I know that dreams last around 10 minutes, but LDs seem to be a lot longer to me.

Anyway, after I wake up, it kind of feels like the dream is as real as a memory from two days ago.

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Originally Posted by Naiya

My LDs are always very realistic....

Anyway, after I wake up, it kind of feels like the dream is as real as a memory from two days ago.

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Has it always been this way for you, or was it different in the beginning? How does this differ from normal dreams in terms of how real it feels (not just having sensations, but feeling like you really experienced them) during and after the dream?

-Lux

Lux-

Yeah it's always been that way. A normal dream doesn't feel as real to me, no. Non-lucid dreams aren't as stable as lucid dreams (for example, the environment), and I don't usually get realistic sensations in them, let alone complex ones such as the taste of a particular food.

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Originally Posted by Donutdude123

Ok I'm just going to say it. I think that there is no such thing as a "lucid dream"

I think that you are only dreaming that you are in control.

See the more you think about something when your not sleeping the more likely that you will dream about it. (I.E. Lucid dreaming)

I really think that you have no control what so ever, you just think you do.

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That doesn't explain how LD'ers can use eye signals to communicate to the outside world.

Yeh I know what you mean Lux. I've been LDing for about a year and a half and most of them have not seemed very real.

The last LD I had however was pretty real- probably because it was a FILD not just a DILD so it was far more stable and vivid and I remember thinking how everything was so real and true to life in my house. It still wasn't as real as real life though- well the dream was, but the memory of it wasn't if that makes sense. It's amazing at the time but the memory of it fades a bit when you wake-up.
I think it will get better though as this is a big improvement for me and it took me about four years to have a lucid dream in the first place and now I've had nearly 40. Maybe saying "I will remember my dream to be as real as real-life" before sleep or in a LD or some similar auto-suggestion may help?

Good luck.

I often have vivid dreams, lucid or not, and so my LDs are usually quite vivid. I'm not sure if WILDs are more, less or the same vividness as I've never had one; but I would say that the key to a vivid LD is a good dream recall.

When it comes to a sensation of "realness" I have three categories of LDs.

The first, most common type of LD feels vaguely unreal. It is often this sensation that clues me in to the fact that I'm dreaming. Yes I have strong sensations of touch, heat, cold, taste, smell, etc. But it all seems just a little bit strange.

The second type are the LDs that feel "ultra" real. It is kind of hard to describe. It all feels real, just more intense. When I dream about food or sex it is usually this kind of dream.

The third type, which are rare for me, are the LDs that feel absolutely normal. Everything feels just like waking life, as far as I can tell.

When I wake up from a dream, if I don't do something that helps me remember it, the memory (and the sensations from the dream) rapidly fade. However, if I write down some notes about the dream as soon as I wake up from it the memory (and sensations) stay clear in my mind. I am able to remember it as well as I recall things from waking life.

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Originally Posted by LuxAeterna

Did it get better over time, or is it just totally random? Are there influencing factors, techniques, perhaps?

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A lot of it's random, but usually dreams I have in the 5:00-7:00AM range are clearer and less detatched

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Originally Posted by Jules2007

The last LD I had however was pretty real- probably because it was a FILD not just a DILD so it was far more stable and vivid and I remember thinking how everything was so real and true to life in my house. It still wasn't as real as real life though- well the dream was, but the memory of it wasn't if that makes sense

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It does make sense. That is exactly what I'm talking about. It's like when you wake up all your left with is the aftertaste of the dream.

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Originally Posted by Scarred_for_life

A lot of it's random, but usually dreams I have in the 5:00-7:00AM range are clearer and less detatched

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After how much sleep?

-Lux

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I really think that you have no control what so ever, you just think you do.

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Some people have the same theory on waking life. It's called determinism. Doesn't mean either you or them are correct.

Oh, was about to start a thread on this.

Very, VERY real since I started taking a new supplement cocktail. This afternoon I had an LD, a nice one which lasted for a long time, woke up and had another one, but I was tricked into thinking it was real, because I was UNABLE to wake up, and everything looked just like in real life, no noticable weird dream processes like going from one place to a completely different place (for example, from my bathroom to my school=:banana:)

When I have Lucid Dreams they always tend to feel so real that I forget there is such thing as the physical world. I like watching my dreams in third person though because I tend to always have good story lines in my dreams.

They are as realistic as walking life. End on all realistic-ness threads..

I LD quite frequently and easily... at least that's what I thought.
However, as more and more of these occur, I am beginning to doubt that I am lucid dreaming at all. I feel very disconnected from them, like I am having a dream about having a dream in which I am lucid, if that makes sense. The decisions I make after realizing I'm lucid often make very little sense, and even when then do, something feels a little wrong about them.

Some LDs for me have been so real that I wasn't sure for the rest of the day if I actually woke up or not. This is especially entertaining when you've got an LD inside an LD.

Most of my Lucids feel very real, but then after I wake up I realize they weren't as real as I had thought at the time.

But once I achieved a DEILD inadvertently and it was so realistic, like hyper-real. At first I was lucid but it was so realistic and I couldn't fly or summon people like usual so I actually talked myself into believing I must actually be awake. In the dream I had woken up on the couch upstairs, so I started to think I must have sleep walked up here and lay on the couch before waking up. Then I woke up for real right after I decided I was awake, that pissed me off to no end.

I've never been able to duplicate that. But it has me really excited to achieve my first deliberate WILD. If they're all as vivid as that, it's going to be awesome!

I think dream recall has a lot to do with how real your dreams feel.

I'm sure every dream feels real at the time - otherwise it would be extremely easy to become lucid :)

However, you may not remember it very vividly just because your dream recall is poor. And therefore it won't feel real after waking.

I also read that if you stay awake after having a lucid, you'll remember it in more detail and as more realistic than if you fall back asleep afterwards.

Like when returning from a vacation..

As real as any realized reality! :)

Levels upon levels upon levels. It is always going to vary until you learn how to focus inside the LD. Once the subconscious mind is used to your conscious mind constantly being focused and forcing clarity.

Once that is done, the stability will make your lucid dreams extremely real. But it is all about practicing focus.

Mine keep getting more real as I have more of them. The last one was scary realistic.

My LDs seem more real than waking life.

All of my dreams feel fairly "real".

I had an LD, when I was about 7 or 8, that I met a boy of about the same age on a beach and we met a dragon...a very cartoon like dragon. Everything was going well for a while (the details are sketchy at this point in my life...I am 30 after all) but for some reason the dragon grabbed the boy and did a knuckle twist in his back (you know, like kids do on the playground) and I tried to run away but couldn't and the dragon grabbed me and did the same. The pain from the knuckle twist woke me up and I could actually feel the knuckle twisting in my spine and I was arching trying to get away from it. It took a minute for the pain to subside, even after I was awake. It was very real...even though cartoon dragons don't exist in waking life. I felt the pain of the event, and in the dream...I was really experiencing what was happening.

Then there are dreams that are very "dreamy" in nature. Where I am an active participant, but there isn't any physical substance to them. These are usually dreams in which I am lucid, but don't take control. I almost always know I am dreaming...it's only recently that I realized control or direction was an option. I didn't know we had choices in dreams...I didn't know they were real.

I will have dreams in which the physical feelings I feel will wake me up, and I can still feel what I was feeling in the dream. I can feel the heat of someone breathing in my ear or the wind blowing in my hair; the water splashing in my face...really feel it. I wake up still feeling it for a moment. These are the dreams that I tend to remember the most. But I also remember dreams that are "dreamy" feeling...I just remember them less and they do tend to feel less real. But it's not something I realize until I wake up.

Just the other day, during a naptime dream, I felt my daughter crawl up on the bed to lay down with me...I reached out to snuggle her and there was no one there. I've had dreams where the cats jumped up on the bed and were playfully biting my hands (I could feel them biting my hands)...and when I reached out to push them away...they weren't there, and I would remember I put them out and wake up...still feeling the places where they had bit me. Another, that I remember quite clearly, is feeling my husband crawl into bed with me in the morning (he works nights) and snuggle up to me...when I reached out to give him a pat, there was no one there and I woke up. Granted, most of these are probably false awakenings, but they are still dreams that feel very real. Maybe that's a start...focus on false awakenings and how real they feel, and try to incorporate that level of reality into your LD's.

I also, truly believe, that the reality of your dreams is a matter of perception. If you believe that your dreams are really taking place in another realm of existance...then they will feel and be very real. If you think a dream is just a dream...it will only be a dream.

Just some personal thoughts and opinions to think about...