Lucid Dreaming

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What is lucid dreaming?

Ever have a dream in which you say to yourself "I'm dreaming"? Once you are aware within your dream that you are dreaming, you are experiencing a lucid dream. This isn't the same as controlling your dream, but it makes it easier to have some control over the dream.

Why bother?

• Fantasy -- use your own imagination, you don't need me
• Overcoming nightmares -- recurring dream you are being chased by a lion? Prime yourself to remember that lions aren't running loose in Maryland so if the dream re-occurs, you're more likely to realize you are dreaming, turn around and roar back. Odds are the dream won't return.
• Rehearsal -- visualization at its best, practice for that speech at work or skiiing for the first time
• Creativity and problem solving -- Let your dream mind run wild on a particular problem
• Healing -- visualization again
• Transcendence -- animal guides, spirits, etc.

How to promote lucid dreaming?

• Dream recall -- practice recalling your dreams when you wake up, keep a journal
• Reality testing --
  
  1. Do a reality test,
  2. Imagine that your surroundings are a dream,
  3. Visualize yourself enjoying a dream activity
• Dreamsigns -- look for clues that you are dreaming, things which can't really be occurring, like purple cats, flying, etc.
• Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD) -- This uses the idea that you can set yourself up to remember to do something in the future. The proper time to practice MILD is after awakening from a dream, before returning to sleep.
  
  1. Setup dream recall;
  2. Focus your intent;
  3. See yourself becoming lucid;
  4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 until your intention is set (or you fall asleep)
• Napping -- wakefulness interjected during sleep increases the likelihood of lucidity, that is, it's easier to experience a lucid dream after a short period of wakefulness after sleeping.

Websites to check:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~pasquale/mirror/more/index.html

http://www.lucidity.com/LucidDreamingFAQ2.html (this is where I pulled some of this info from)

http://www.metro.net/anvil/lucid.html

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/8515/

Books:

LUCID DREAMING

By Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D., (Ballantine, 1986; ISBN 0-345-33355-1)

EXPLORING THE WORLD OF LUCID DREAMING

By Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. and Howard Rheingold (Ballantine, 1990)

LUCID DREAMS

By Celia E. Green (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1968)

DREAMS AND HOW TO GUIDE THEM

By The Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys, edited by Morton Schatzman, M.D. (Duckworth, London, 1982)

THE LUCID DREAMER

By Malcolm Godwin (Simon & Schuster, 1994)