Lucid dream – Stone texture – Wood texture
Scientific history
The first book to recognize the scientific potential of lucid dreams was Celia Green’s 1968 study Lucid Dreams. Green analyzed the main characteristics of such dreams. She reviewed previously published literature on the subject, and incorporated new data from subjects of her own. She concluded that they were a category of experience quite distinct from ordinary dreams, and predicted that they would turn out to be associated with rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep). Green was also the first to link lucid dreams to the phenomenon of false awakenings.
In the early 1970s, Daniel Oldis of the University of South Dakota leveraged the scientific principle of external sensory incorporation in an attempt to influence dream content and evoke lucidity. Three psychological techniques were employed: subconscious suggestion using a tape played before and during sleep; associative signaling using a muffled bell alarm timed to go off during REM sleep; and classical conditioning using a REM detection circuit and a bright eye-light. The results indicated that lucid dreaming can be facilitated using external cues and psychological methods.
Philosopher Norman Malcolm’s 1959 text Dreaming had argued against the possibility of checking the accuracy of dream reports. However, the realization that eye movements performed in dreams affected the dreamer’s physical eyes provided a way to prove that actions agreed upon during waking life could be recalled and performed once lucid in a dream. The first evidence of this type was produced in the late 1970s by British parapsychologist Keith Hearne. A volunteer named Alan Worsley used eye movement to signal the onset of lucidity, which were recorded by a polysomnograph machine.
Hearne’s results were not widely distributed. The first peer-reviewed article was published some years later by Stephen LaBerge at Stanford University, who had independently developed a similar technique as part of his doctoral dissertation. During the 1980s, further scientific evidence to confirm the existence of lucid dreaming was produced as lucid dreamers were able to demonstrate to researchers that they were consciously aware of being in a dream state (again, primarily using eye movement signals). Additionally, techniques were developed which have been experimentally proven to enhance the likelihood of achieving this state. Research on techniques and effects of lucid dreaming continues at a number of universities and other centers, including LaBerge’s Lucidity Institute.
Research and clinical applications
Neurobiological model
Neuroscientist J. Allan Hobson has hypothesized what might be occurring in the brain while lucid. The first step to lucid dreaming is recognizing that one is dreaming. This recognition might occur in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is one of the few areas deactivated during REM sleep and where non sleeping memory occurs. Once this area is activated and the recognition of dreaming occurs, the dreamer must be cautious to let the dream delusions continue but be conscious enough to recognize them. While maintaining this balance, the amygdala and parahippocampal cortex might be less intensely activated. To continue the intensity of the dream hallucinations, it is expected the pons and the parieto-occipital junction stay active.
L’Ange du Foyer ou le Triomphe du Surralisme by Max Ernst. Surrealist art can capture the disturbing nature of some dreams. Lucid dreaming is a possible nightmare treatment.
Treatment for nightmares
It has been suggested that people who suffer from nightmares could benefit from the ability to be aware they are indeed dreaming. A pilot study was performed in 2006 that showed that lucid dreaming treatment was successful in reducing nightmare frequency. This treatment consisted of exposure to the idea, mastery of the technique, and lucidity exercises. It was not clear what aspects of the treatment were responsible for the success of overcoming nightmares, though the treatment as a whole was successful.
Australian psychologist Milan Colic has explored the application of principles from narrative therapy with clients’ lucid dreams, to reduce the impact not only of nightmares during sleep, but also depression, self-mutilation, and other problems in waking life. Colic found that clients’ preferred direction for their lives, as identified during therapeutic conversations, could lessen the distressing content of dreams, while understandings about lifend even charactersrom lucid dreams could be invoked in “real” life with marked therapeutic benefits.
Perception of time
The rate at which time passes while lucid dreaming has been shown to be about the same as while waking. However, a 1995 study in Germany indicated that lucid dreaming can also have varied time spans, in which the dreamer can control the length. The study took place during sleep and upon awakening, and required the participants to record their dreams in a log and how long the dreams lasted. In 1985, LaBerge performed a pilot study where lucid dreamers counted out ten seconds while dreaming, signaling the end of counting with a pre-arranged eye signal measured with electrooculogram recording. LaBerge’s results were confirmed by German researchers in 2004. The German study, by D. Erlacher and M. Schredl, also studied motor activity and found that deep knee bends took 44% longer to perform while lucid dreaming.
Awareness and reasoning
While dream control and dream awareness are correlated, neither requires the otheraBerge has found dreams which exhibit one clearly without the capacity for the other; also, in some dreams where the dreamer is lucid and aware they could exercise control, they choose simply to observe. A 1992 study examining four forms of lucidity (knowing that dreamt people are indeed dreamt, that objects won’t persist beyond waking, that physical laws need not apply, and having clear memory of the waking world) found less than a quarter of lucidity accounts exhibited all four, with scores increasing with experience.
Near-death and out-of-body experiences
In a study of fourteen lucid dreamers performed in 1991, people who perform wake-initiated lucid dreams operation (WILD) reported experiences consistent with aspects of out-of-body experiences such as floating above their beds and the feeling of leaving their bodies. Due to the phenomenological overlap between lucid dreams, near death experiences, and out-of-body experiences, researchers say they believe a protocol could be developed to induce a lucid dream similar to a near-death experience in the laboratory.
Illustration from “The Secret of the Golden Flower”. A Chinese book of alchemy and meditation
Cultural history
Even though it has only come to the attention of the general public in the last few decades, lucid dreaming is not a modern discovery. A letter written by St. Augustine of Hippo in 415 AD refers to lucid dreaming. In the eighth century, Tibetan Buddhists and Bonpo were practicing a form of Dream Yoga held to maintain full waking consciousness while in the dream state. This system is extensively discussed and explained in the book Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light. One of the important messages of the book is the distinction between the Dzogchen meditation of Awareness and Dream Yoga. The Dzogchen Awareness meditation has also been referred to by the terms Rigpa Awareness, Contemplation, and Presence. Awareness during the sleep and dream states is associated with the Dzogchen practice of natural light. This practice only achieves lucid dreams as a secondary effectn contrast to Dream yoga which is aimed primarily at lucid dreaming. According to Buddhist teachers, the experience of lucidity helps us to understand the unreality of phenomena, which would otherwise be overwhelming during dream or the death experience.
An early recorded lucid dreamer was the philosopher and physician Sir Thomas Browne (16051682). Browne was fascinated by the world of dreams and described his own ability to lucid dream in his Religio Medici: “… yet in one dream I can compose a whole Comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests and laugh my self awake at the conceits thereof”. Similarly, Samuel Pepys in his diary entry for 15 August 1665 records a dream “that I had my Lady Castlemayne in my arms and was admitted to use all the dalliance I desired with her, and then dreamt that this could not be awake, but that it was only a dream”. Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys was probably the first person to argue that it is possible for anyone to learn to dream consciously. In 1867, he published his book Les Reves et les moyens de les diriger; observations pratiques (Dreams and How to Guide them; Practical Observations), in which he documented more than twenty years of his own research into dreams.
The term lucid dreaming was coined by Dutch author and psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in his 1913 article “A Study of Dreams”. This paper was highly anecdotal and not embraced by the scientific community. Some consider this a misnomer because it means much more than just “clear or vivid” dreaming. The alternative term conscious dreaming avoids this confusion. However, the term lucid was used by van Eeden in its sense of “having insight”, as in the phrase a lucid interval applied to someone in temporary remission from a psychosis, rather than as a reference to the perceptual quality of the experience which may or may not be clear and vivid.
In the 1950s, the Senoi hunter-gatherers of Malaysia were reported to make extensive use of lucid dreaming to ensure mental health, although later studies refuted these claims.
Induction methods
Many people report having experienced a lucid dream during their lives, often in childhood. Children seem to have lucid dreams more easily than adults. Over time, several techniques have been developed to achieve a lucid dreaming state intentionally. The following are common factors that influence lucid dreaming and techniques that people use to help achieve a lucid dream:
Dream recall
Dream recall is simply the ability to remember dreams. Good dream recall is often described as the first step towards lucid dreaming. Better recall increases awareness of dreams in general; with limited dream recall, any lucid dreams one has can be forgotten entirely. To improve dream recall, some people keep a dream journal, writing down any dreams remembered the moment one awakes. An audio recorder can also be very helpful. It is important to record the dreams as quickly as possible as there is a strong tendency to forget what one has dreamt. For best recall, the waking dreamer should keep eyes closed while trying to remember the dream, and that one’s dream journal be recorded in the present tense. Describing an experience as if still in it can help the writer to recall more accurately the events of their dream.[citation needed] Dream recall can also be improved by staying still after waking up. This may have something to do with REM atonia (the condition of REM sleep in which the motor neurons are not stimulated and thus the body’s muscles do not move). If one purposely prevents motor neurons from firing immediately after waking from a dream, recalling the dream becomes easier. Similarly, if the dreamer changes positions in the night, they may be able to recall certain events of their dream by testing different sleeping positions.[citation needed] Another easy technique to help improve dream recall is to simply repeat (in thoughts or out loud) “I will remember my dreams,” before falling asleep. Stephen LaBerge recommends that you remember at least one dream per night before attempting any induction methods.
Mnemonic induction of lucid dreams operation (MILD)
The MILD technique is a common technique developed by Stephen LaBerge used to induce a lucid dream at will by setting an intention, while falling asleep, to remember to recognize that one is dreaming or to remember to look for dream signs when one is in a dream.
One easy-to-apply method is to count your or other people’s fingers during the day, making sure it is done diligently and reaches the expected number. If this is done frequently when awake, similar behavior may continue into the dream, where by some discrepancy from reality, the dreamer would realize he or she is dreaming and the dream could become lucid.
Another method is to look at text (such as a digital clock, or a road sign), turn away, and then look back. If the person is dreaming, the text may change to something else. The dreamer would then realize he or she is dreaming and the dream could become lucid.
A method developed by psychologist Stephen Wack of remembering to think about lucid dreaming before you fall sleep is to have a key element that will allow your memory to flashback to the idea of lucid dreaming (such as a possible sign taped to your wall that says ‘lucid’ or any other kind of reminder.) This will allow the sleeper to partake in the daydreaming of lucid dreaming while falling into REM, gradually increasing the likeliness of achieving such goals.
A key element in MILD is reviewing in memory the dream from which one has just awoken. When a point is reached in the dream at which an obvious dream sign occurred (e.g., a man with two heads walks past) individuals performing this technique depart from actual memory and instead imagine they became aware they were dreaming. Upon returning to sleep, these individuals will often find themselves back in the same or similar dreams, sometimes even encountering similar dream signs situation that can improve the odds they will remember their intention to question whether or not they are dreaming, and thereby achieve lucidity.
Wake-back-to-bed (WBTB)
The wake-back-to-bed technique is often the easiest way to encourage a lucid dream. The method involves going to sleep and waking up five to six hours later, focusing all thoughts on lucid dreaming while staying awake for an hour, and going back to sleep while practicing the MILD method. This technique has had a 60% success rate in research. This is because the REM cycles get longer as the night goes on, and this technique takes advantage of the best REM cycle of the night. Because this REM cycle is longer and deeper, gaining lucidity during this time may result in a lengthier lucid dream.
Wake-initiation of lucid dreams (WILD)
The wake-initiated lucid dream “occurs when the sleeper enters REM sleep with unbroken self-awareness directly from the waking state”. There are many techniques aimed at entering a WILD. The key to these techniques is recognizing the hypnagogic stage, which is within the border of being awake and being asleep. If a person is successful in staying aware while this stage occurs, they will eventually enter the dream state while being fully aware that it is a dream.
There are key times at which this state is best entered; while success at normal bedtime after having been awake all day is very difficult, it is relatively easy after sleeping for 37 hours or in the afternoon during a nap. Techniques for inducing WILDs abound. Dreamers may count, envision themselves climbing or descending stairs, chant to themselves, control their breathing, count their breaths to keep their thoughts from drifting, concentrate on relaxing their body from their toes to their head, or allow images to flow through their “mind’s eye” and envision themselves jumping into the image to maintain concentration and keep their mind awake, while still being calm enough to let their bodies sleep.
One technique recorded by Stephen Wack is a method of attempting to remain in the dream after realizing that one is experiencing a lucid dream by touching something with a lot of detail such as a rough brick house, your hair or a stream of flowing water. One of the most unique interactions a body can experience is touching the tip of the tongue to the roof of one’s mouth. This can be very helpful in remaining in the dream.
During the actual transition into the dream state, dreamers are likely to experience sleep paralysis, including rapid vibrations, a sequence of loud sounds, and a feeling of twirling into another state of body awareness, or of “drifting off into another dimension”, or like passing the interface between water into air, face front, body first, or the gradual sharpening and becoming “real” of images or scenes they are thinking of and trying to visualize gradually, which they can actually “see”, instead of the indefinite sensations they feel when trying to imagine something while wide awake.
Cycle adjustment technique (CAT)
The cycle adjustment technique, developed by Daniel Love, is an effective way to induce lucid dreaming. It involves adjusting one’s sleep cycle to encourage awareness during the latter part of the sleep. First, the person spends one week waking up 90 minutes before normal wake time until their sleep cycle begins to adjust. After this cycle adjustment phase, the normal wake times and early wake times alternate daily. On the days with the normal wake times, the body is ready to wake up, and this increases alertness, making lucidity more likely.
A variation on this method is WILD-CAT. Identical in virtually all respects to the original Cycle Adjustment Technique, differing only in such that on the days in which one is allowed to sleep-in (normal wake times), the subject wakes briefly at the earlier wake time then returns immediately to sleep until the normal wake time. This allows the subject to return to sleep in the hope of inducing a Wake Initiated Lucid Dream. One advantage to WILD-CAT is that it can be combined with other WILD induction methods. The WILD-CAT variation was also developed by Daniel Love.
Lucid Dream Supplements (LDS)
The Lucid Dream Supplement (LDS) technique was developed primarily by LaBerge with others following his lead. LaBerge filed for a patent application in December 2004 that outlined the basic technique of boosting Acetylcholine levels to promote lucid dreaming. The application included misleading details however; such as repeated references of ingesting the supplements at bedtime. It is now known that taking the right balance of supplements after several hours of sleep is far more effective[citation needed]. LaBerge did not name the method nor has he publicly discussed his research. The term LDS was coined by researcher/practitioner Scot Stride[citation needed] who worked with a small group of pioneers, including Thomas Yuschak, to optimize the LDS approach. The LDS method uses primarily non-prescription supplements that are ingested to produce favorable conditions for the brain’s neurotransmitters and receptor sites during REM sleep. By increasing or balancing the levels of Acetylcholine, Serotonin, Dopamine and Noradrenaline the person can significantly influence dream vividness, memory, clarity, awareness and mood. Enhancing these mental states during REM sleep significantly increases the odds of becoming lucid. The LDS technique can be combined with other techniques (like WBTB or WILD) to complement or amplify them to produce even better results. Thomas Yuschak describes the details of the technique in his book and is widely credited with popularizing the method. Based on anecdotal accounts from various website forums, many people who have experienced difficulties with the other techniques, for whatever reason, are using LDS as an aid in overcoming their obstacles. Some people use LDS to jump start their LD practice and then move on to one of the other traditional methods. Other people use it recreationally to experience more memorable and vivid dreams than they normally would. As well as the Lucid Dream Supplement some have reported increase in dream vividness using other vitamin supplements such as B6/B12. Vitamin B5(pantothenic Acide) taken right before going to sleep will enhance vividness of dreams. Vitamin B6 will cause frightening dreams.[citation needed]
Lucid-dreamnduction device (LDID)
Various tools have been brought to market to assist in the goal of having a lucid dream. The first widely distributed dream-induction device is the NovaDreamer, designed in 1993 by Craig Webb. The general principle of all devices works by taking advantage of the natural phenomenon of incorporating external stimuli into one’s dreams. Usually a device is worn while sleeping that can detect when the sleeper’s eyes move rapidly and they have entered REM sleep and are likely dreaming. The device detects the movements and triggers a set of flashing lights that can be incorporated into a dream. For example, flashing lights from the device in your dream may be a flashing light in the sky or flashing headlights, and the dreamer can recognize them and enter a lucid state. The NOVADREAMER was discontinued in 2003 but the NOVADREAMER2 should have been available late 2009.
Lucid dream mask models
The Lucidity Institute produced the original Dreamlight and NovaDreamer models, the former being only produced in limited quantities due to the high price and complicated design. Funds raised from these devices were used to help fund further research by the Lucidity Institute. A similar device called the NovaDreamer II has been “coming soon” since at least 2004. A similar device known as the Dream Mask has also been produced. Some individuals have created their own devices using foam and simple electronics.
Reality testing
Reality testing (or reality checking) is a common method used by people to determine whether or not they are dreaming. It involves performing an action and observing if the results are consistent with results which would be expected in a state of wakefulness. By practicing these tests during waking life, one may eventually decide to perform such a test while dreaming, which may fail and let the dreamer realize that they are dreaming.
The pain test: The dreamer does a simple action that would cause pain, like biting ones finger, and seeing if they experience any pain. If they do not, they know that they are dreaming.
The hand reality check: The dreamer looks at their hands and they may appear to have more or less than five fingers.
The nose reality check: The dreamer pinches their nose shut and if they are able to breathe without using their nose, it is a dream.
Sticking one’s finger through the palm of one’s hand.
Looking at one’s digital watch (remembering the time), looking away, and looking back. As with text, the time will probably have changed randomly and radically at the second glance or contain strange letters and characters. (Analog watches do not usually change in dreams, while digital watches and clocks have a great tendency to do so.) A digital watch or clock may feature strange characters or the numbers all out of order.
Flipping a light switch. Light levels rarely change as a result of the switch flipping in dreams.
Looking into a mirror; in dreams, reflections from a mirror often appear to be blurred, distorted, incorrect, or frightening.
Looking at the ground beneath one’s feet or at one’s hands. If one does this within a dream the difference in appearance of the ground or one’s hands from the normal waking state is often enough to alert the conscious to the dream state.
If you listen to music while you sleep, listen to see if the lyrics are changed or if the tempo (or speed) of the song changes.[citation needed]
A more precise form of reality testing involves examining the properties of dream objects to judge their apparent reality. Some lucid dreamers report that dream objects when examined closely have all the sensory properties, stability, and detail of objects in the physical world. Such detailed observation relates to whether mental objects and environments could effectively act as substitutes for the physical environments with the dreamer unable to see significant differences between the two. This has implications for those who claim there is a spiritual or supernatural world that might be accessible through out of body experience or after death.[citation needed]
Prolongation
One problem faced by people wishing to experience lucid dreams is awakening prematurely. This premature awakening can be frustrating after investing considerable time into achieving lucidity in the first place. Stephen LaBerge proposed two ways to prolong a lucid dream. The first technique involves spinning one’s dream body. He proposed that when spinning, the dreamer is engaging parts of the brain that may also be involved in REM activity, helping to prolong REM sleep. The second technique is rubbing one’s hands. This technique is intended to engage the dreamer’s brain in producing the sensation of rubbing hands, preventing the sensation of lying in bed from creeping into awareness. LaBerge tested his hypothesis by asking 34 volunteers to either spin, rub their hands, or do nothing. Results showed 90% of dreams were prolonged by hand rubbing and 96% prolonged by spinning. Only 33% of lucid dreams were prolonged with taking no action.
Once the initial barrier of lucidity is broken, the dreamer next obstacle is the excitement of being conscious within a dream. It is key that the dreamer immediately relax upon becoming lucid. There are many methods that work, but in general saturating any of the senses with stimuli from the dream is important. Vision is usually the first sense to fade away, with touch commonly being the last. If the dream starts to fade, grabbing hold of anything close by, making sure to feel the tactile sensation, can prevent the dream from fading. Other techniques include shouting in a loud and clear voice, NCREASE LUCIDITY! inside the dream. People are often reluctant to do this, but it significantly stabilizes the dream and increases its vividness. The well-known author, Carlos Castaneda, suggests that the dreamer touch their tongue to the roof of their mouth, an action that greatly increases the realness of the dream.
The experience of losing lucidity and waking up has been described as similar to using a camera to unfocus on a distant object while refocusing on a much closer one. The distant object (the dream body) blurs out at first and eventually disappears completely as the closer object (the physical body) comes into focus. Using a different analogy to describe the transition, the mental or dream body image slowly evaporates like water on hot pavement, as the normal physical body image coalesces and takes its place.
Other associated phenomena
Rapid eye movement (REM)
Main article: Rapid eye movement sleep
When a person is dreaming, the eyes move rapidly up and down and vibrate. Scientific research has found that these eye movements correspond to the direction in which the dreamer is “looking” in his/her dreamscape; this has enabled trained lucid dreamers to communicate whilst dreaming to researchers by using eye movement signals.
REM Sleep. EEG highlighted by red box. Eye movements highlighted by red line.
False awakening
In a false awakening, one suddenly dreams of having been awakened. Commonly in a false awakening, the room is similar to the room in which the person fell asleep. If the person was lucid, they often believe that they are no longer dreaming and may start exiting the room and start going through a daily routine. This can be a nemesis in the art of lucid dreaming, because it usually causes people to give up their awareness of being in a dream, but it can also cause someone to become lucid if the person does a reality check whenever he/she awakens. People who keep a dream journal and write down their dreams upon awakening sometimes report having to write down the same dream multiple times because of this phenomenon. It has also been known to cause bed wetting as one may dream that they have awoken to go to the lavatory, but in reality are still dreaming. The makers of induction devices such as the NovaDreamer and the REM Dreamer recommend doing a reality check every time you awake so that when a false awakening occurs you will become lucid. People using these devices have most of their lucid dreams triggered through reality checks upon a false awakening.
Sleep paralysis
During REM sleep the body paralyses itself as a protection mechanism in order to prevent the movements which occur in the dream from causing the physical body to move. However, it is possible for this mechanism to be triggered before, during, or after normal sleep while the brain awakens. This can lead to a state where a person is lying in his or her bed and they feel paralyzed. Hypnagogic hallucination may occur in this state, especially auditory ones. Effects of sleep paralysis include heaviness or inability to move the muscles, rushing or pulsating noises, and brief hypnogogic imagery. Experiencing sleep paralysis is a necessary part of WILD, in which the dreamer essentially detaches his “dream” body from the paralyzed one. Also see OBE or Out-Of-Body-Experience, opposing the scientific theory of these occurrences stating that the paralysis is actually an occurrence to one who is already “separated” from their physical body meaning that “physical action potentials” have no effect here but “mental actions” do – a hint given that those who are finding difficulty moving are using the wrong “mechanism”.
Out-of-body experience
An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one’s body and, in some cases, perceiving one’s physical body from a place outside one’s body (autoscopy). About one in ten people think they have had an out-of-body experience at some time in their lives. Scientists are starting to learn about the phenomenon.
Wake-induced OBEs, including those intended to achieve Astral Projection, and waking induced lucid dreams cover such similar ground that common misinterpretation of one as the other (or even equivalence) can be hypothesized. Realistic-seeming yet physically impossible impressions of flying, time-traveling or walking through the walls of an environment matching one’s bedroom are equally hallmarks of either. (As those who have experienced them will attest, neither “feels” like ordinary dreams at all.) Their induction techniques are similar, and both are easier to perform at times typical for afternoon naps and late morning REM cycles.
Rarity
During most dreams, sleepers are not aware that they are dreaming. The reason why this is the case has not been discovered, and does not appear to have an obvious answer. There have been attempts by various fields of psychology to provide an explanation. For example, some proponents of Depth psychology suggest that mental processes inhibit the critical evaluation of reality within dreams.
Physiology suggests that eeing is believing to the brain during any mental state. This being said, if the brain actually believes something so much, it will actually believe that it is real. Even waking consciousness is liable to accept discontinuous or illogical experience as real if presented as such to the brain. Dream consciousness is similar to that of a hallucinating awake subject. Dream or hallucinatory images triggered by the brain stem are considered to be real, even if fantastic. The impulse to accept the evident is so strong the dreamer will often invent a memory or story to cover up an incongruous or unrealistic event in the dream. hat man has two heads! is usually followed not with must be dreaming! but with es, I read in the paper about these famous Siamese twins. Or other times there will be an explanation that, in the dream, makes sense and seems very logical, but when the dreamer awakes, he/she will realize that it is rather far fetched or even complete gibberish.
Developmental psychology suggests that the dream world is not bizarre at all when viewed developmentally, since we were dreaming as children before we learned all of the physical and social laws that train the mind to a eality. Fluid imaginative constructions may have preceded the more rigid, logical waking rules and continue on as a normative lifeworld alongside the acquired, waking life world. Dreaming and waking consciousness differ only in their respective level of expectations, the waking expecting a stricter set of eality rules as the child matures. The experience of aking up normally establishes the boundary between the two lifeworlds and cues the consciousness to adapt to waking expectations. At times, however, this cue is false false awakening. Here the waking (with its level of expectations) is activated even though the experience is still hallucinatory. Incongruous images or illogical events during this type of dream can result in lucidity as the dream is being judged by waking tandards.50]
Another theory presented by transpersonal psychology and some Eastern religions is that it is the individual’s state of consciousness (or awareness) that determines their ability to discriminate and differentiate between what is real, and what is false or illusory. In the dream state, many experiences are accepted as real by the dreamer that would not be accepted as real in the waking state. Some religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism describe states of consciousness (i.e., Nirvana or Moksha) where individuals “wake up”, and discover a new or altered state of consciousness that reveals their normal waking experience to be unreal, dream-like, or maya (illusion). The assumption is that there are degrees of wakefulness or awareness, and that both lucid dreaming and normal waking experience lie somewhere towards the middle of this continuum (or hierarchy) of awareness. In this context, there must therefore be states of wakefulness that are superior to normal waking awareness. Just as when the dreamer awakens to realize that a nightmare was illusory, the individual can, like the Buddha, undergo a spiritual awakening and realize that what is called normal waking awareness is, in fact, a dream.
It has been hypothesized that Meditation before sleep can also improve the occurrence of a lucid dream as it potentially minimizes the time taken for a person to fall asleep therefore increasing the chances of maintaining awareness to induce a lucid dream.
See also
Astral projection
Dream argument
Dream question
Hemi-Sync
List of dream diaries
Pre-lucid dream
Sleep paralysis
Psychedelic
The Art of Dreaming
Notes
^ Lucid Dreaming FAQ LaBerge, S. & Lly paralizedevitan, L. (2004). Version 2.3
^ a b Frederik van Eeden (1913). “A study of Dreams”. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 26. http://www.lucidity.com/vanEeden.html.
^ Watanabe Tsuneo (March 2003). “Lucid Dreaming: Its Experimental Proof and Psychological Conditions”. Journal of International Society of Life Information Science (Japan) 21 (1): 159162.
^ LaBerge, Stephen (1990). Bootzen, R. R., Kihlstrom, J.F. & Schacter, D.L., (Eds.). ed. Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness during REM Sleep Sleep and Cognition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. pp. 109 126. http://www.lucidity.com/SleepAndCognition.html Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness during REM Sleep.
^ Green, C., Lucid Dreams, London: Hamish Hamilton, 1968.
^ Oldis, Daniel (1974). The Lucid Dream Manifesto. pp. 5253. ISBN 0-595-39539-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=cv-CbDbCng8C&printsec=frontcover#PPA52,M1.
^ Malcolm, N., Dreaming, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1959.
^ Laberge, S. (1980). Lucid dreaming: An exploratory study of consciousness during sleep. (Ph.D. thesis, Stanford University, 1980), (University Microfilms No. 80-24, 691)
^ LaBerge, Stephen (1990). in Bootzen, R. R., Kihlstrom, J.F. & Schacter, D.L., (Eds.): Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness during REM Sleep Sleep and Cognition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, pp. 109 126.
^ LaBerge, Stephen; Levitan, Lynne (1995). “Validity Established of DreamLight Cues for Eliciting Lucid Dreaming”. Dreaming 5 (3). International Association for the Study of Dreams.
^ Muzur A, Pace-Schott EF; Allan Hobson (November 2002). “The prefrontal cortex in sleep” (PDF). Trends Cogn Sci 1;2(11): 475481. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(02)01992-7. http://www.bostonneuropsa.org/PDF%20Files/Pace-Schott/MUZUR_ET_AL.__02.pdf.
^ Hobson, J. Allan (2001). The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. pp. 9698. ISBN 978-0262582209.
^
L’Ange du Foyer ou le Triomphe du Surralisme by Max Ernst, 1937. Private collection.
^ Spoormaker,-Victor-I; van-den-Bout,-Jan (October 2006). “Lucid Dreaming Treatment for Nightmares: A Pilot Study”. Psychotherapy-and-Psychosomatics. 75 (6): 389394. doi:10.1159/000095446. http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=fulltext&file=PPS2006075006389.
^ Colic, M. (2007). ‘Kanna’s lucid dreams and the use of narrative practices to explore their meaning.’ The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work (4): 19-26.
^ a b LaBerge, S. (2000). “Lucid dreaming: Evidence and methodology”. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23 (6): 9623. doi:10.1017/S0140525X00574020. http://www.lucidity.com/slbbs/index.html.
^ Erlacher, D.; Schredl, M. (2004). “Required time for motor activities in lucid dreams” ([dead link] Scholar search). Perceptual and Motor Skills 99: 12391242. doi:10.2466/PMS.99.7.1239-1242. http://daniel.erlacher.de/index.php/Time_required_for_motor_activity_in_lucid_dreams.
^ Kahan, T., & LaBerge, S. (1994). Lucid dreaming as metacognition: Implications for cognitive science. Consciousness and Cognition 3, 246-264.
^ Barrett, Deirdre. Just how lucid are lucid dreams? Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams, Vol 2(4) 221-228, Dec 1992
^ a b Lynne Levitan; Stephen LaBerge (1991). “Other Worlds: Out-of-Body Experiences and Lucid Dreams”. Nightlight (The Lucidity Institute) 3 (2-3). http://www.lucidity.com/NL32.OBEandLD.html.
^ Green, J. Timothy (1995). “Lucid dreams as one method of replicating components of the near-death experience in a laboratory setting.”. Journal-of-Near-Death-Studies 14: 49-.
^ File:GoldFlwr3.gif
^ “Letter from St. Augustine of Hippo”. Newadvent.org. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102159.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
^ (March 2005). The Best Sleep Posture for Lucid Dreaming: A Revised Experiment Testing a Method of Tibetan Dream Yoga. The Lucidity Institute.
^ Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light, 2nd edition, Snowlion Publications; authored by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, an eminent Tibetan Lama, and his student Michael Katz, a Psychologist and lucid dream trainer.
^ Religio Medici, part 2:11. Text available at http://penelope.uchicago.edu/relmed/relmed.html
^ Blackmore, Susan (1991). “Lucid Dreaming: Awake in Your Sleep?” ([dead link] Scholar search). Skeptical Inquirer 15: 362 370. http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Articles/si91ld.html.
^ G. William Domhoff (2003). Senoi Dream Theory: Myth, Scientific Method, and the Dreamwork Movement. Retrieved July 10, 2006.
^ a b Webb, Craig (1995). “Dream Recall Techniques: Remember more Dreams”. The DREAMS Foundation. http://www.dreams.ca/recall.htm.
^ a b Stephen LaBerge (1989). “How to Remember Your Dreams”. Nightlight (The Lucidity Institute) 1 (1). http://www.lucidity.com/NL11.DreamRecall.html.
^ a b Stephen LaBerge; Leslie Phillips, Lynne Levitan (1994). “An Hour of Wakefulness Before Morning Naps Makes Lucidity More Likely”. NightLight (The Lucidity Institute) 6 (3). http://www.lucidity.com/NL63.RU.Naps.html.
^ Stephen LaBerge; Lynne Levitan (1995). “Validity Established of Dreamlight Cues for Eliciting Lucid Dreaming”. Dreaming (The Lucidity Institute) 5 (3): 159168. http://lucidity.com/DreamLight_Validity.txt.
^ Stephen P. LaBerge (2004). “Substances that enhance recall and lucidity during dreaming”. US patent application 20040266659.
^ Thomas Yuschak (2006). Advanced Lucid Dreaming (1st ed.). Lulu Enterprises. ISBN 978-1-4303-0542-2.
^ Foremski, Tom (1994-05-01). “Getting into your Dreams”. San Francisco Examiner.
^ Ations.net
^ a b Lucidnet.co.uk, Reality Check
^ Reality testing, Lucid Dreaming FAQ at The Lucidity Institute. (October 2006)
^ a b Lynne Levitan, Stephen LaBerge (Summer 1993). “The Light and Mirror Experiment”. Nightlight (The Lucidity Institute) 5 (10). http://www.lucidity.com/NL52.LightandMirror.html.
^ H. von Moers-Messmer, “Traume mit der gleichzeitigen Erkenntnis des Traumzustandes,” Archiv Fuer Psychologie 102 (1938): 291-318.
^ Stephen LaBerge (1995). “Prolonging Lucid Dreams”. NightLight (The Lucidity Institute) 7 (3-4). http://www.lucidity.com/NL7.34.RU.SpinFlowRub.html.
^ Carlos Castaneda, “The Art of Dreaming”
^ Lucidity.com, NovaDreamer Operation Manual
^ First Out-of-body Experience Induced In Laboratory Setting. ScienceDaily (August 24, 2007)
^ Out-of-body or all in the mind? BBC news (2005).
^ Sparrow, Gregory Scott (1976). Lucid Dreaming: Dawning of the Clear Light. A.R.E Press. pp. 5253. ISBN 87604-086-5.
^ LaBerge, Stephen (2004). Lucid Dreaming: A Concise Guide to awakening in Your Dreams and in Your Life. Sounds True. p. 15. ISBN 1-59179-150-2.
^ Jouvet, Michel (1999). The Paradox of Sleep: The Story of Dreaming. MIT. p. 75. ISBN 0-262-10080-0.
^ McLeester, #### Ed. (1976). Welcome to the Magic Theater: A Handbook for Exploring Dreams. Food for Thought. p. 99. OCLC 76-29541.
^ Oldis, Daniel (1974). Lucid Dreams, Dreams and Sleep. USD Press. pp. 173178, 191. ISBN 978-1-60303-496-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=Vex2v68fVAYC&pg=PA48&dq=160303496X&sig=pC0fAyC2BsknYQ2KsuxBW3YPCy0#PPA173,M1.
Further reading
Barton, Mary E. (2008). Soul Sight: Projections of Consciousness and Out of Body Epiphanies. ISBN 978-0-557-02163-5.
Brooks, Janice; Vogelsong, Jay (2000). The Conscious Exploration of Dreaming. Bloomington, IN: 1st Books Library. ISBN 1-58500-539-8.
Castaneda, Carlos. The Art of Dreaming. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
Conesa-Sevilla, Jorge (2004). Amazon.com, Wrestling With Ghosts: A Personal and Scientific Account of Sleep Paralysis–and Lucid Dreaming. Philadelphia, PA: Xlibris. ISBN 978-1413446685.
Conesa-Sevilla, Jorge (2003). Sleep Paralysis Signaling (SPS) As A Natural Cueing Method for the Generation and Maintenance of Lucid Dreaming. Presented at The 83rd Annual Convention of the Western Psychological Association, May 1-4, 2003, in Vancouver, BC, Canada..
Conesa-Sevilla, Jorge (2002). Isolated Sleep Paralysis and Lucid Dreaming: Ten-year longitudinal case study and related dream frequencies, types, and categories. Sleep and Hypnosis, 4, (4), 132-143..
de Saint-Denys, Hervey (1982). Dreams and How to Guide Them. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-1584-X.
Gackenbach, Jayne; Laberge, Stephen (1988). Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain. New York: Plenum Press. ISBN 0-306-42849-0.
Garfield, Patricia L. (1974). Creative Dreaming. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-21903-0.
Godwin, Malcom (1994). The Lucid Dreamer. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-87248-6.
Green, Celia (1968). Lucid Dreams. Oxford: Institute of Psychophysical Research. ISBN 0-900076-00-3.
Green, Celia; McCreery, Charles (1994). Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-11239-7.
LaBerge, Stephen (1985). Lucid Dreaming. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher. ISBN 0-87477-342-3.
LaBerge, Stephen (1991). Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-37410-X.
McElroy, Mark (2007). Lucid Dreaming for Beginners: Simple Techniques for Creating Interactive Dreams. Woodbury, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 978-0-7387-0887-4.
Robert Waggoner (2008). Lucid Dreaming Gateway to the Inner Self. Needham, Mass.: Moment Point Press. ISBN 978-1-930491-14-4.
Wangyal Rinpoche, Tenzin (1998). Tibetan Yoga Of Dream And Sleep. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publ.. ISBN 1-55939-101-4.
Warren, Jeff (2007). “The Lucid Dream”. The Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness. Toronto: Random House Canada. ISBN 978-0679314080.
Yuschak, Thomas (2006). Advanced Lucid Dreaming – The Power of Supplements. United States?: Lulu Enterprises. ISBN 978-1-4303-0542-2.
External links
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of
Lucid Dreaming
Lucid dreaming, an external wiki
Lucid Dreams at the Open Directory Project
v d e
Psychophysiology: Sleep (G47, 327)
Sleep stages
Rapid eye movement sleep Non-rapid eye movement sleep Slow-wave sleep
Brain waves
Alpha wave Beta wave Gamma wave Delta wave Theta rhythm K-complex
Sleep disorders
Dyssomnia
Insomnia Narcolepsy Sleep apnea (Obesity hypoventilation syndrome, Ondine’s curse) Hypersomnia Circadian rhythm sleep disorder (Advanced sleep phase syndrome, Delayed sleep phase syndrome, Non-24-hour sleep-wake syndrome, Jet lag)
Parasomnia
Night terror Sleepwalking Somniloquy
Other/ungrouped
Night eating syndrome Nocturia Nocturnal myoclonus Sleep deprivation
Benign phenomena
Dream Exploding head syndrome False awakening Hypnagogia Hypnic jerk Lucid dream Nightmare Nocturnal emission Nocturnal Penile Tumescence Sleep paralysis Somnolence
Related topics
Bed (Bunk bed, Four poster bed, Futon, Hammock, Mattress) Bed bug Bedding Bedroom Bedtime Bedtime toy Bedtime story Caffeine nap Chronotype Dream journal Hypnopompic state Lullaby Methods of falling asleep Nap Nightwear Polyphasic sleep Polysomnography Power nap Siesta Sleep and creativity Sleep and learning Sleep debt Sleep diary Sleep inertia Sleep medicine Sleeping while on duty Sleepover Snoring Excessive daytime sleepiness (“Sleeping sickness”, which is not a sleep disorder.)
Categories: Dreaming | Lucid dreams | New Age practicesHidden categories: All articles with dead external links | Articles with dead external links from April 2009 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements from June 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements from December 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from November 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from December 2009 | Articles with unsourced statements from October 2009
We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Stone texture , Wood texture for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits china decorative wall panel.
Processing your request, Please wait....
