Have you ever felt physical pain while in a dream? Many people have the luxury of never experiencing pain in their dreams. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people. I feel pain in my dreams just as vividly as I feel it in waking life. Some people use the lack of physical pain as a trigger for lucidity; if they are injured and suddenly realize they are not feeling any pain, they recognize they are dreaming.
Have you ever been injured in a dream and woken later to find yourself experiencing pain in the same part of your body that was hurt in the dream? Or how about the reverse — have you ever injured yourself in waking life only to have the pain seep into your dreams?
In my own experience, physical pain is fully capable of crossing the border between waking and dreaming. I recently injured my foot and a few days later dreamed of hobbling along a wooded path, stumbling a few times due to pain in that same foot. In my dream, the pain in my foot felt just as intense as the pain I was feeling while awake.
It provided an opportunity for lucidity because I paused long enough to wonder why I was walking through the woods instead of resting at home with my foot elevated. I questioned the scenario and realized I must be dreaming. Interestingly, the pain didn’t go away even after I discovered I was in a dream, nor after I considered that my dream self had no reason to suffer the pain my waking self was dealing with.
Even more intriguing is when the situation plays out in reverse. On two separate occasions, I have dreamed of being injured and then awakened to find I was feeling severe pain in the same part of my body that had been injured in the dream. The pain carried over from the dream into my waking life.
This raises a fascinating question: how does a dream injury trigger pain in your waking self? Does the dream injury occur as a result of pain in your sleeping body (perhaps due to sleeping in an uncomfortable position)? Does your mind interpret pain signals from your sleeping body and feed them into your dream, producing a dream scenario that involves the same pain? Or, does the dream injury occur with no prompting from the body and is then translated into physical pain by your waking self?
The answer just as likely may be “all of the above”. The mind-body connection is a powerful thing. In any case, experiences like these always evoke in me an even deeper respect for the mysteries of the dreaming mind.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
great topic. my first take is as you say "all the above." especially when you add psychosomas like "phantom legs" to the mix, as well as relationship with dreaming and deep emotional traces. we hobble around all day without knowing the causes of our current moods too, when often they can be found to lay in half-forgotten disturbing dreams from the night before. and when you flip it, the potentials for dream healing become the next possibility….
A few years ago, I tried experimenting with the concept of feeling pain in a dream. I was aware I was dreaming and intended to inflict pain on myself to see what it would be like…. & the funny part is, my plan didn't get too far , because…well, it hurt so I stopped. Kinda like real life.
Conversely, one common dream testing technique I use is to put my finger through my hand, and this never hurts. I'm sure b/c I never think of this action in the context of any pain, it's just my "dream hand" and my "dream finger".
I think expectation plays the biggest role in shaping physical sensations in a dream.
Ben Q.'s last blog post: The Joker
Does anyone have unexplained pain during Lucidity? I look at lucid dreams as more of a problem then a fun time. I have them most every night and they are most always wake induced. Most of the time I have a sever pain somewhere, not always and not always in the same place. Though most of the time the pain is in my right side, around the lower part of my ribs. If anyone could lend a helping hand I would really appreciate it. Also, does anyone else experience loud sound, bright lights and fear going into and out of wake induced lucid dream?
Thanks,
Clinton