Lucid Dreaming

It’s interesting how the thought about Lucid dreaming got triggered. Two days back I had a really vivid and intense dream experience, and that's pretty usual for any of us, but what followed is what triggered thought. The same evening three friends, who’d all also had extreme dream experiences that night called to talk about their dreams. Each disconnected, but with each call I was just getting more and more amazed. Interesting, right? Don’t throw coincidence at me, not part of my vocabulary anymore :)

In fact some dream experiences are so intense that it makes me wonder why we don’t experience the same level of intensity in real life, as in waking life. Then you realize that in waking life our sensory interpretations interfere with the essence of the experience and could potentially actually take away from it. And this is where lucid dreams could actually enable a higher level of lucid in real. A higher level of self awareness.

Now what is Lucid Dreaming? Lucid dreams are dreams in which you KNOW that you're dreaming. And what's more, they can be controlled.

I’m sure a lot of us have experienced the knowing we're dreaming bit. But what could be new to many is the fact that lucid dreams can be actually controlled, and that this is an acquired skill. Once you're lucid, you can consciously dream about anything you desire. Lucid dreaming is your chance to play around with the extraordinary abilities buried in unused parts of your brain.

                                     

Dream expert Beverly D'Urso says 'someone who has become lucid has much higher levels of awareness, and that’s one of the biggest benefits of lucid dreaming.' 

The first scientific proof of lucid dreaming emerged in 1975 from the British parapsychologist Dr Keith Hearne. He recorded a set of pre-determined eye movements from his lucid volunteer, Alan Worsley, via an electro-oculogram (EOG). It was a basic communication between the dreamer and the outside world. 

More recently, this 2009 study by the Neurological Laboratory in Frankfurt revealed significantly increased brain activity during lucid dreams.

With techniques perfected during Stephen LaBerge's 20 years of pioneering research at Stanford University, now anyone can learn to consciously explore and use their dreams for self-discovery, creativity, fantasy fulfillment, emotional healing, and profound spiritual insight.

Indeed, some argue that it supports the need to classify lucid dreams as a new and separate state of consciousness.

You could also watch this Ted Talk if you want to know more.

And it's apparently not new, Tibetan dream yoga is the original form of lucid dreaming. It is a philosophical practice created in Tibetan Buddhism at least 1,000 years ago. Just like lucid dreams, the aim of this is to awaken the consciousness in the dream state.

Fascinating stuff beyond the real :)