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Lucid Dreaming
Biology 202
1998 First Web Reports
On Serendip
Lucid Dreaming
Doug Holt
Lucid dreaming is: dreaming while aware that you are dreaming. Webster's definition of lucidity continues with "clearness of thought or style" and a "presumed capacity to perceive the truth directly and instantaneously". In this sense, lucid dreaming is associated with controlling one's dreams as they are happening. It is a term that was coined by Frederik van Eeden in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 26, 1913:I can only say that I made my observations during normal deep and healthy sleep, and that in 352 cases, I had full recollection of my day-life and could act voluntarily, though I was so fast asleep that no bodily sensations penetrated my perception. If anybody refuses to call that state of mind a dream, he may suggest some other name. For my part it was just this form of dream, which I call "lucid dreams" which aroused my keenest interest and which I noted most carefully.
The term lucid may be a bit misleading. In the literal sense, true control is never actually achieved but the dreamer can influence the course of action indirectly. On a basic level, the dream will take a life of its own but the lucid dreamer is able to subtly alter the direction that it takes. Lucid dreaming is more complicated than this. There are many levels of lucid dreaming and awareness. Awareness that one is dreaming is considered the lowest. Researchers have identified two main types of lucid dreams, referred to as "high-level lucidity" and "low-level lucidity". High level lucidity is defined as "a state in which the dreamer is aware that he is in bed dreaming and that no physical harm can befall him" (LaBerge, "Lucid Dreaming Frequently Asked Questions and Answers", 1997). Conversely, low-level lucidity is associated with a state that "the dreamer is not fully aware that he is dreaming and that the environment is the sole creation of his mind, while the dreamer may have the ability to control his dream and do activities, physical threats may still be perceived as completely real." (Thurman, "What is a Lucid Dream", 1997).
What is the cause of these different levels of rationality among dreaming? The current thought is indicating that that there is a "lack of understanding about what is and what is not appropriate to the time and place of the dreamworld" (Levitan, "A Fool's Guide to Lucid Dreaming", 1994). This theory postulates that while absurdity is inherent in dreams, lack of practice in dream manipulation can cause the dreamer to confront ideas that may cause the dreamer to lose control of lucidity. This lack of understanding may cause the dreamer to misinterpret the dream and to have moments of self-doubt. There are three main situations that tend to initiate loss of control and rationality in a dream: Being afraid of physical harm; Being afraid of social consequences; Thinking that another dream character is really there. All of these pitfalls can inhibit a dreamer from achieving a higher state of lucidity in his dreams.
Why Would You Want to Have Lucid Dreams?
There are many reasons that people will want to have lucid dreams. The first desire for a lucid dream comes from the pleasure and excitement of being able to control one's dreams and achieve actions that are not possible. The most common of these dreams is the ability to fly, the second is sex. Many people report "their first lucid dream was the most wonderful experience of their lives" (LaBerge: "Lucid Dreaming Frequently Asked Questions and Answers", 1997). This would lead people to want to be able to continue the experiences and further their developments. Unfortunately, many people do not progress beyond a basic level of lucidity. The initial excitement wears off, and lucid dreaming becomes infrequent. For those who choose to pursue lucid dreaming to a higher level, lucidity offers tremendous opportunity for personal growth. Dreaming is a stage in which each action is the most real simulation that a person can experience. Compared to waking rehearsal, dream rehearsal offers many advantages, notably no social or physical consequences. This provides a forum in which a person can repeatedly play out scenarios without fear. This does not mean to imply that there is no fear associated with lucid dreams. One of the most frequent dreams reported is a nightmare. These dreams can be particularly frightful to lucid dreamers because oftentimes they will find that they are unable to exert the control that they are accustomed to having over their dreams. This leads to very nights of "limitless terror." Fortunately, for most of the population, lucid dreaming provides a method for relieving oneself of nightmares. If the dreamer is made aware that he is dreaming and that nothing can cause him physical harm, lucid dreaming provides and excellent forum for confronting and dispelling nightmares. On a more physical level, many elite athletes and artists who want to achieve perfection have utilized lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming provides a place for rehearsal of movements or speeches, similar to visualization techniques but in an environment that is infinitely more realistic.Learning to Lucid Dream
There are many methods and devices available to people to help them achieve lucidity in their dreams. Some of these techniques require years of training in meditative arts others require expensive new electronic hardware. There are, however, relatively easy methods that people can use to achieve the same results. The foremost method for increasing the potential of dream lucidity is keeping a dream journal. "Dream recall is one of the most important steps in learning to lucid dream. Without the memory of what was dreamt during a night's sleep, you could have had several lucid dreams without even knowing it." (Thurman, "How Can I Learn to Lucid Dream", 1997). Dream recall increases substantially if dreams are recorded upon waking. It is not uncommon initially only to recall snippets of the dreams, often- faces or sights but no connections. The dreamer who uses the dream journal technique is soon able to recall dreams in their entirety. The next step is to scrutinize the dream journal to see if any patterns emerge. These patterns can appear as common themes or "dreamsigns" that are prevalent. There are four main categories of dreamsigns: "Ego (the person is in a different body or playing a role that is not normal); Character (doing something that is unlikely or impossible in normal life); Object (something is strangely built); Setting (place of dream does not exist or the dreamer has never been there)." (Levitan, "1001 Nights Exploring Lucid Dreaming", 1992). Once the patterns are recognizable, when one encounters these particular signs, pose the question "Am I dreaming, or am I awake?", a technique known as reality testing. This is training the subconscious to question the familiar signs and sights in order to alert the mind that it is dreaming. Self-doubt will raise the consciousness of the dreamer and increase recognition of dreaming. Other useful signs that are particularly prevalent in dreams are digital clocks and printed word. If one examines printed word in a dream, it will shift and mutate with each examination. For some reason, digital clocks are also particularly susceptible to this phenomenon.On a more sophisticated level, there are several techniques that have been extensively studied that will increase the potential of dream lucidity. The first of these is autosuggestion. This technique is nothing more than writing down on a piece of paper each night before sleeping a phrase similar to "Tonight, I will have a lucid dream." It is thought that by programming the brain before sleeping, participants in dream research are able to increase their lucid dreams to approximately 29% of all dreams. (Levitan, "1001 Nights Exploring Lucid Dreaming", 1992). The second technique, when used in conjunction with the autosuggestion has been known to achieve great results. The MILD (Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams), developed by Dr. Stephen LaBerge at the Lucidity Institute, is a process in which the subconscious is programmed to awaken and remember the dream as it is happening. MILD is a meditative technique that requires guidance and instruction in order to learn. Recently, MILD evolved into WILD (Wake Induction of Lucid Dreams). One of the most difficult techniques to master, WILD requires the instructed person to "focus on a visualized object while deeply relaxed. Then the person should open his mind to the unconscious by allowing whatever dream sounds or images fade into visualization. As the dreamscape begins to form, you should consciously allow yourself to be pulled into the dreamscape." (Thurnan, "How Can I Learn to Lucid Dream", 1997).
Electronic devices that are available to increase the chances of lucid dreaming include the NovaDreamer and DreamSpeaker. Both of these devices are activated when the dreamer enters REM sleep. This is done through sensors that are placed over the dreamers' eyes. These sensors detect patterns of eye movements that correspond to REM sleep. The NovaDreamer is a pair of goggles that flash a pre-selected pattern of lights. The light is a signal to the dreamer that he is in REM sleep. The DreamSpeaker works in a similar manner, but provides an auditory signal that when used in conjunction with a REM sensing device, plays a pre-recorded message. When used with the proper training, it has been reported that these devices can induce lucid dreaming roughly 50% of the time.
Prolonging Lucid Dreams and Optimizing Chances for Lucid Dreaming:
One of the major problems associated with lucid dreams is their brevity. This shortness often prevents novice lucid dreamers from enjoying dreams, and from using dreams to improve. There has been extensive investigation as how to increase the amount of time that is spent in lucid dream state. Currently, there are three ascribed methods for prolonging lucid dreams: spinning, rubbing, and focus awareness. Spinning, as the name describes, is a technique in which the lucid dreamer, when he realizes that the dream is beginning to fade, spins like a top in his dream. The key to this is to actually feel the motion of the spinning and repeating to himself "the next scene will be a dream" (Thurman, "Lucid Dreaming", 1997). Rubbing is a similar technique, but instead of spinning, the dreamer vigorously rubs his hands together, feeling the friction and heat produced. Repeating the aforementioned mantra is also advised. The third method is focus awareness. This is a technique that the lucid dreamer attempts to do as the dream fades by focusing on a fixed object in the dream and retaining that image. While the exact understanding as to the mechanism for these prolonging techniques is not well understood, they allow the dreamer to prolong the lucid dream without awakening.The studies of lucid dreams have shown that they are not evenly distributed throughout the night. The natural dream cycle lasts approximately ninety minutes as the body cycles between REM and NREM (Non-REM) sleep. "The first REM period normally happens after a period of delta sleep, approximately 90 minutes after sleep onset, and lasts from about 5 to 20 minutes. REM periods occur roughly every 90 minutes throughout the night, with later REM periods occurring at shorter intervals and often being longer, sometimes up to an hour in length." (LaBerge, "Lucid Dreaming Frequently Asked Questions and Answers", 1997) While initially dreams may only last for a few minutes they tend to increase with each cycle. In order to study this trend, researchers have explored the best time to induce lucid dreams. Recent investigations have shown that lucid dreams can be experienced approximately ten times more frequently during a nap, four to six hours after waking, than during the night. The condition for the experiment is that the sleepers were subjected to the same amount of sleep every night but instead of eight straight hours, they were woken after six hours and then allowed to nap for two hours at a later period. Whether these results were indications of the circadian cycle or the ultradian (nasal/brain) cycle is currently unknown, but the results confirmed the length of REM sleep during the later portions of the night and increase in dream lucidity.
Lucid dreaming is an ancient art. One of the best sources is a 1000-year old text on Dream Yoga written by Tibetan Monks, which has recently become an area of great interest. The potential for developing personal goals or achieving "true consciousness" while asleep offers great promise for the future. At present, one of the most challenging aspects to researching dreams is determining whether the participants are actually experiencing an increase in dream lucidity versus an increase in dream recall. When learned, lucid dreaming offers powerful potential for both educational and personal applications. "Lucid dreaming could provide the handicapped and other disadvantaged people with the nearest thing to fulfilling their impossible dreams: paralytics could walk again in their dreams, to say nothing of dancing and flying" (LaBerge, "Lucidity Research, Past and Future", 1993). Lucid dreaming is more than just controlled dreams, it is a method of maximizing potential. It is the highest level lucid dreamer that is both the participant and the creator of the dream.
WWW Sources
Sleep and Consciousness
Functions of REM and NREM
Lucid Dreaming Proof
Individual Differences in Lucid Dreaming
How to Have a Lucid Dream
Lucid Dreaming: The Maximum Self-reflectiveness
Brain/Body Activity During Sleep and Dreams
Lucid Dreaming is Only the Beginning
Why is Dream Forgetting Common
Development of Pure Consciousness from Lucidity
Dreaming and Consciousness
Validity Established of Dreamlight Cues for Eliciting Lucid Dreaming
Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness during REM Sleep
1001 Nights Exploring Lucid Dreaming
A Fool's Guide to Lucid Dreaming
Lucidity Research, Past and Future
The Light and Mirror Experiment
A Study of Dreams
Prolonging Lucid Dreams
How Can I Remain Lucid?
What is a Lucid Dream?
How Can I Learn to Lucid Dream?
What Can I Use to Help Me?
Lucid Dreamer's Reference Guide
Mirror of Lucid Dreamer's Reference Guide
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01/17/2006, from a Reader on the Web Okay I'm kinda confused about the whole lucid dreaming thing. I'm really interested and would like to learn how, but one thing is it seems like if I were to lucid dream or realize that I'm dreaming-it would just wake me up. If you are lucid dreaming-isn't it the same as day-dreaming? Wouldn't you just be completly awake and only thinking. I can imagine being in some pretty weird places while im awake. wouldn't lucid dreaming not allow you to get enough sleep for your mind? I'm so confused! please help!
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Some dreams are about flying to another country (in an airplane!) not as a flying person! I travel, see places etc. I also work in my dreams! I actually had a nightmare of sorts and in the dream, I stopped a young man from stealing my car! He was breaking into it and I came to the car. He ended up sitting in the passenger seat but was threatening. I decided the only way to get him out of the car was to scare him. The only way I could scare him was to "sound" scary. I decided I had to make a very scary sound, like a lion roaring or an insane alien noise....so I actually did make a horrible noise. The noise woke me up and was like a growling ugly noise!! Luckily no one heard it as it was about 10:30 am. So strange, I don't really understand how this happens and why. More research I guess! ... MaryAnn, 8 April 2006
Greetings, You have a great lucid dreaming resource at /bb/neuro/neuro98/202s98-paper1/Holt.html. Please add Brilliant Dreams as an additional link resource. Brilliant Dreams is a dream enhancing supplement used by many lucid dreamers to enhance dream vividness and recall. Very vivid dreams can be more easily turned vivid. The site is at http://www.brilliantdreams.com ... Rick Hargett, 11 April 2006
The information was interesting. I am a lucid dreamer and have been since I was a child. I've just read a few internet sites that instruct people how to dream lucidly, and this is odd because lucid dreaming is a natural way to dream for me, is this normal? ... Adrienne, 14 March 2007
Luicid dreaming is while your asleep..Not while awake..You have to learn to be able to recognize signs in your dreams to become aware that it is not reality but a dream state...You must learn to be calm and not freak out that you are actually dreaming...Try looking at your hands during the day and ask yourself "Am I dreaming?" Look at the texture and contour of your hands and remember them what they look...Another way of becoming lucid during your sleep state is that as you dream look at signs or read something...After you read or look at a sign look back at it and you will see that it has changed..Hope this helps ... David, 30 March 2007
hi im a lucid dreamer the problem is that my family dosnt belive me how do u get them to understand when they have set there minds on not beliving me ... Crystal, 9 December 2007
I understand your confusions and am happy you are investigating dreaming and altered states of consciousness. I encourage you to look into new age books at local book stores on: Astral Projection, Meditation, and Lucid Dreams. However to answer your question about your mind not getting enough sleep in a lucid dream. Your mind is not what needs sleep. It is your body that needs sleep, your mind stays active whether you lucid dream or just sleep ... Bill Sanford, 13 December 2007
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| This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated. |
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Comments
controling the natural elements inside your lucid dreams
Does anyone want to know how?
bad lucid dreaming
hello, im maricris. i think im a lucid dreamer. im just 14 years old but i experience such thing since i was 13. i always dream the same thing, but i know what's happening to me that i even can control myself. when i was 13, i dream everyday and i know that it is happening to me.. my dream was always like this,, i will wake up between 2 to 4 p.m (im really awake on those times) ofcourse after you woke up, you'll go and return to your sleep right? then this is where my lucid dream come starts.ill return to my sleep. i 'm already sleeping but in my dreams, i will hear a girl, shouting. my position in my dreams was the last position and what the last thing i did before i return to my sleep. when i hear this girl shouting, my body will be paralized, i think she is a ghost in my dreams, then i will feel like she's trying to get me in a way that a wind was like trying to swallow me.. then i'll pray, I know what i'll pray, then i'll wake up after that, very tired, sweat comes out of my body.. my last position in my dreams will be the position when i wake up.. i dont want to be a lucid dreamer because of this and i have fear of sleeping because of this :(((
sleep paralysis
What was happening to you is called sleep paralysis. It is very common. Lucid Dreaming if you practice it will help you alter that terrifying experience of the ghost trying to harm you into an exciting experience. This will take a long time to accomplish.
You shouldn't fear sleeping
You shouldn't fear sleeping because of your dream, next time that you have this experience (assuming you still are) try and control your response, try and speak to her, or ask her what her problem is, and dont' feel afraid. It is only a dream - your dream - a play between facets of your subconscious mind. If you acheive lucidity, play around with it and confront your troubles so they will no longer manifest as nightmares.
Sir I want to do some
Sir I want to do some research in relation to dream . Will u plz sugguest me something?
The Best Way to Induce Lucid Dreams
I have been lucid dreaming on and off for 14 years and the best way to lucid dream I have found is to plant the seed in your subconscious while awake. This means willing yourself to be able to recognize when you're dreaming. That's why reality checks, self hypnosis, mediation, and the mnemonic induction method all work so well - they all plant the seed of lucidity. I have documented my lucid dreams and my favorite techniques at - please take a look for more info.
about lucid dreaming
It's completely out of body experience to know that you are dreaming. I guess everyone in their life must have undergone lucid dreaming.
it is amazing
It is quite amazing that we can all connect like this with all these wires in 2011 and share our experiences. However, I am beginning to think that history was not as linear as those who write our history wish us to believe. We must always remember that the bulk of history is written by the controlling force of the day, and I feel that we are in an incredibly dark period of humanity right now. I feel that in the past lucid dreaming was one of the methods used to keep balance on this plant of male and female energies. We are being suppressed amazingly well right now. Explore your dreams to seek answers to these problems of the modern day. Intention is key. Look to solve a problem before the dream state. I think there are answers there. Great discoveries in science have been made by Einstein, Tesla, and even Crick when not necessarily conscious. That is, the scientific process of the waking mind was not entirely responsible for some of their largest discoveries. I had trouble with going lucid, and often use secret sounds of our past to help me get there faster. I use many pieces of music of harmonics to help. I am always looking for new pieces of sound/music to help. I use binaural beats and they actually were responsible for spontaneous out of body experiences when researchers were studying them. I got some sounds at that help prepare the brain to go lucid fast. I solve problems in dreams this way, as someone else mentioned I try not to make the dream world more fun than the material world. Set the intention and solve the problem. Good luck all.
happy!
Yay i'm glad there are all these lucid dreamers out there! I have sometimes found it scary - once i shot into space and was afraid i wouldn't be able to find my way back to earth, another time, also in space i could conceptually understand eternity around me in all directions and it freaked the hell out of me - so i made a warm brightly lit wooden box to go around me but i could still 'see' it all with my minds eye, it was terrifying. I've also seen my doppleganger - but who knows, i was lucid but maybe that bit was just dream imagery.
but mostly i use it as an opportunity to fly or to talk to people i'm no longer in contact with - often to say things i've always wanted to say to them tho i generally end up telling them that there's no point because i'm just dreaming them and they're not real - but after reading some of these comments - who knows? perhaps i've genuinely set some things right with people, i hope so =)
the mystery of all of this gets me a bit over excited tho, kind of feverish. i start to care more about dream life than waking life. after all its generally far more interesting! but i don't like the down side which is being pretty crazy i suppose.
happy dreaming fellow oneironauts! hope we meet!
The freedom to perceive
Lucid dreaming is actually a very natural way of dreaming. And I thing we should not only use it for entertainment. The dream world is like the waking world a place where one could develop skills. The shamans of the ancient Mexico have a really sophisticated view about dreaming lucid. They are saying that becoming lucid in your dreams is only the first stage of seven. Where human beings all seeking freedom. Total freedom! The freedom to perceive and act without any obstacles like our ego's. We live in a world of objects but in fact we don't. All there is is energy and that also counts in our dreams. I read an article "http://hubpages.com/hub/Dreaming-The-Door-to-your-Other-Self" that really describes this depth.
Visual quality of dreams
I was in a two story house and instantly realized I was fully awake and in the dream. I knew instantly what was going on and I had to take advantage of the opportunity. I looked around frantically for something interesting to interact with and at first the best thing I could find was some pottery, so I smashed the clay pots which was strange but admittedly pretty boring. When I looked at my arms moving they did not look as they do in real life, they were sort of two dimensional, almost a simplistic rendering from a primitive video game or something, sort of smoothed surfaces. I realized, wow, so that is the extend of the visualization of a dream - when I am dreaming normally, I must overlook that. I wish I could say that I did some more exciting things, but besides yelling out a window to the people below and putting my arm through a wall and kissing a woman that I summoned (who did not seem real at all, more like a video game, again) I mostly struggled to stay in the lucid state and not fall asleep again or wake up while I frantically looked for things to do. Now. when I remember my regular dreams, I can also remember same "poor" visual quality, instead of only the emotions and events of the dreams. It is like my brain does not really need to fill in the details.
Learning Lucid Dreaming At A Very Young Age
I learned to lucid dream sometime while in elementary school. I used to have a recurring nightmare that I would wake up and my legs would be numb, then a dark shadow figure would come at me and thrash me around the room. One day I got fed up with the fear and defended myself against it, I broke the paralysis that bound me in the dream and wiped the floor of the shadow creature. Ever since that night I never had another nightmare. What really helped also was playing video games like Streetfighter. Then I moved onto Final Fantasy and then got really into cartoons like DragonBall Z and Naruto. Nothing makes a dream fun like being able to imagine weilding a giant sword or having incredible strength, speed, the ability to fly at superspeeds and destroy things with an energy blast! Im so proficient at Lucid dreaming it can take me only seconds to realize im dreaming sometimes. Unfortunately though my body is horrible at letting me sleep so alot of times my alarm clock wakes me up just as I begin to shape my dreams.
Thanks for sharing your
Thanks for sharing your story. I have kinda different experience. I remember I was flying in my childhood dreams and I could control the direction of my flight, wow it was amazing. I felt almighty and this feeling gave me so much confidence and enjoyment. Even though I knew I was flying I didn't want to wake up. I realized that this is called lucid dreaming a few months ago. I'm super grateful that I have encountered this article which helps me to keep on with my lucid dreaming practice. Sweet dreams :)
Lucid Dream "Window"
I hope someone can help me. I've been having Lucid dreams for about eight years. Sometimes they are just lucid dreams, but other times I actually do feel like I leave my body, or come into it.
My main question is this: For the last month I have had two dreams that were different -- I have a "window" kind of like a TV screen I guess, where I am looking into it to see something. It is very real and lucid. In both dreams I have seen rooms in a house (but it is not a house that I have been to). The first dream, I can only remember one or two of the rooms. The last dream I had only showed one room, but I can remember it pretty well.
Any ideas of what this "window" is? It's like a rectangle and I am looking into it. Thanks, please reply to the reply button so I can get your comments to my email.
Lucid dreaming, commonplace to me.
Lucid dreaming is commonplace with me. I dream in color, sound and smell almost every night. I can't remember a night that I didn't dream in bright vivid color and I can remember a dream where I wasn't in control.
My question to eveyone is this: Have you ever gone from a lucid dream to an out of body experience?
Many times I have gone from a lucid dream to an out of body experience. It is a wonderful feeling and I think you would all benefit greatly from the experience.
I lucid dream all the damn time.
I ALWAYS lucid dream, I no I'm awake but I'm dreaming. Sometimes I really struggle to open my eyes durning a lucid dream but I've found that waking up first and going to sleep again makes my lucid dreams stronger and I can actually open my eyes and still dream like I was before. I have them almost every night. It gets anoying when somones shouting me or something and I can't actually wake myself up unless I hit or pinch myself. I've had astral projection dreams two where you travel elsewhere, me and my friend had a full blown convo in a dream, I pinched her and she even remembered I did and showed me the mark on her arm the next day. We where no where near each other or anything it was all through dreaming. Magic? I don't know, dreams are very mysterious. I've had dreams come to life & I've even warned someone who wanted to go swimming the day after I had a dream he drowned he knew nothing about my dream and I later found out he couldnt swim! There is more to dreams than you or I know.
Dionne age: 16
if you want to learn how
if you want to learn how just google lucid dreaming techniques lucid dreaming isnt like daydreaming at all it an be as realistic as real life sometimes knowing your in a dream can wake you up if you get too excited but for me it hasnt, lucid dreaming will not affect how much sleep you get
i also have weird dreams and
i also have weird dreams and have had a couple lucid dreams if people dont believe you tell them what they could do if they tried if they dont care quit trying i do not know why my dreams are weird but it doesnt bother me. if you have questions email me
Lucid Dream Goggles?
Has anyone on here ever tried Dream Goggles? Do they work, etc? I am interested in getting a pair (if I can find them). I first saw them on the TV series Northern Exposure! They are supposed to help get the Lucid Dreams started and help one's ability to lucid dream.
Thanks,
Nate
i have experienced lucid
i have experienced lucid dreams on very rare occasions but when i do i feel like im in some form of virtual reality. i would very much enjoy achieving the ability to dream lucidly on call because the way i see it this is the world's greatest video game:your own imagination. if anyone else shares my opinion of it and knows how to truly utilize their own imagination in sleep then please contact me via e-mail and share your methods. it would be greatly appreciated!!!
Conscious volition plays an
Conscious volition plays an important role in lucid dreams, but that role is more accurately described as “willful intention.” Mastering intention is the first of many challenges for lucid dreamers, but it’s just the beginning. Danny DeVito’s character ruminates that his best moment is bedding Cleopatra in a bathtub. To me, this is the mark of an intermediate lucid dreamer at best, because his conscious mind is still dictating the fantasies.
pretty crazy!!
hey i'm 15. i'm keeping a dream journal i just started. I also heard it about from an aunite who's a Psychologist. I heard about some people who can communicate through their dreams using lucid dreaming is this true???? i think i'm a sort of half lucid dreamer becasue i often (a couple of times a months, of which i can remember) have dreams where i can't control the setting or place but i know that i'm dreaming and i'm just in bed. Once i was running away from some one with a gun chasing me but i wasnt scared cos i knew that i could just wake up if he came to close.Thats just an example but i have stuff like that often Same question as the one above: How do you recognise meanings from dreams or, if i have a really really wierd one why is it so strange??? i've had some pretty strange dreams.
i'm just young but it
i'm just young but it interests me so much. I first hheard about it from my Auntie who is a psychologist. So i read up on it because lately my dreaming has been so utterly obsurd. Many people say that there are meanings in all dreams but out of mine i dont know why and what they mean. Help on how to recognise this would be great!!!! Lucid dreaming interests me becasue it means i'd be able to stop having such strange dreams and more time to think. The comment in the article about some athletes etc who use it for sleeping rehearsals is something i'd love to achieve.
more than a dream
I began having these kind of dreams about seven years ago give or take a year. I can control my actions but not the dream itself, for instance my last dream i was at my present home but small details were vastily different. my back yard has a white fence but it was like a normal silver wire fence,bedrooms had different fixtures but the house and even my neighborhood was the same. I have done no studies on the matter and like crystal who wrote above i have tried talking to people about it but no one i have met has done it. This is the first time i have got online to find out about it. I saw a commercial where a guy wakes up and say oh i have heard about this its called lucid dreaming so i got on today to check it out. It really is a great feeling and i belive its purpose is for more than pleasure i feel GOD gave me this gift and i want to learn how to use to do his will.
re: Lucid Deaming
I too have had lucid dreaming since I was a child. (I thought everyone did.) I have always enjoyed them and perceived them as "plays" where I can interchange the characters in the play as well as the dialogue if I don't like the plot or how the dream is progressing. However,at times I have a small window that appears during a lucid dream and have learned through concentration that I can enlarge this window and step through to the other side. The scene on the other side of this window cannot be changed as I become more of an observer to what is going on. Sometimes these are mundane scenes, unknown faces, and at times they are scenes where I am anxious but never afraid. These scenarios are brief but very vivid and I have come to recognize them as images of my future. The most difficult part is to be able to interpret them. Usually, it is only after the scenario has actually happened that I then understand what the dream meant. I have lucid dreams frequently, but the window (the snapshot of the future) that softly enters into the lucid dream and pushes the lucid dream away comes less frequently.