Have you ever fallen asleep and been fully aware that you were dreaming? If so you have experienced a lucid dream. In a lucid dream, the dreamer remains fast asleep, yet fully aware of what he is dreaming. In some cases, a lucid dreamer can even guide the course of the dreams, controlling their random direction.
Ordinary dreams are products of the unconscious mind, and are prone to ambiguity. A lucid dream invites the reasoning eye of your consiousness to help organize the confusion. This unity of unconscious and conscious awareness creates the lucid dream.
Some cultures have practiced lucid dreaming in order to gain spiritual insight, inluding Hindus, Buddhists and many of the tribal culture, such as the Australian Aborigines. In some parts of the world, spiritual practitioners "incubate" lucid dreams, suggesting that with discipline and practice dreams can indeed be altered and controlled by anyone.
When desiring to control dreams try these easy exercises:
Control your breathing and relax your mind. During the day, do some jogging in the park or running on the spot and then mentally make an effort to master and reduce your heart rate. When preparing to sleep, breathe in and hold your breath, then breathe out and hold. Repeat this process five or six times until you feel a definate reduction in your heart rate.
As you drift off to sleep, continue to restate what you hope to experience in your mind. Try to remain spontaneous and accept any imagery that your unconscious mind offers up. Enjoy and pick up on all the dream details and then start your mental note taking it all in all over again.
Try to capture the vitality of your dream as closely as possible. Use any method that you find comfortable with and convenient for recording details; write, draw or annotate.(I keep a notepad beside my bed for those middle of the night odd dreams that wake you up) Make note on how you felt, and the people that you met. Where were you in the scene, were you central to the dream or peripheral to the action? Take note of the symbols and objects, particularly if they differed from what you set for yourself prior to sleeping. The dream may be drawing your attention to something you completely overlooked.
Wondering what it means? Just send me a few key elements of your dream and I will send you back a possible meaning to your dream(s). Email to me please.
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Comments: 39
Sometimes when I wake up I cannot move. I struggle to move just my finger but I can't. When this happens I try to kick my feet over and over until I'm able to snap out of it.
What is going on?
As for controling your dreams, that seems like it would be great. I love to dream and there have been many I would like to control.
Are you able to pick the dream up where you stopped the next night when you sleep?
When you begin having dreams of interest, force yourself to wake up and make notes. It does work. Takes time to adjust.
I used to decide which dreams I wanted as a kid too, and rub my eyes to change channels if I didn't like what I was getting. These days I forget too fast to record what I dream, but I know I still choose to continue dreams if I like them, and stop them if I don't.
My latest is a series of dreams about spiders. The spiders were falling on me and were flesh colored. I can only assume these are the enemies in my life, but I don'tknow who they are. The only people I dislike are my next door neighbors, and they are insignificant.
Glad I stopped in to read.
http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/paralysis.html
Yes, it can be freaky, Thomas. I have experienced it myself; thank heavens not too often. You really feel like you have no control and that "some thing" has control over you.
Esther, I hope you'll write some more on dreams.
I'll try this. If it works Heather Locklear and I will be spending a lot of nights together.
Thomas, you are going to be really busy during your sleeptime aren't you?
Tanya, I plan on writing another couple of articles on dreaming and did I mention to you that I was doing dream interpretations? Send me your dreams at my email address.
Thanks for commenting on my article Bret. Hope you and Heather have a good time...;0)
It has been going on for 40 od years. This life used to be about 6 months in advance of the daytime one, now it is about 100 years in front of it and I see things that aren't even invented yet. whole cities that are yet to be built and buildings where others used to be. I love this life at night and it is just a great way to be able to be in two worlds.
very interesting comments - I too sometimes awaken wondering whether what I have just experienced has actually transpired or whether it was just a dream; sometimes I go for days actually looking for signs in my life to confirm whether the dream actually happened? Does this make sense to anyone other than myself?
The other dream I dreamed that I was saying stuff and it was like the people around me couldn't hear me. In the dream I kept coming to the conclusion I had lost it. I woke up three times sweating and in a panic. Each time I went back to the same dream. On the third dream I woke up prayed to God to stop it and he did.
The problem I have is controlling the emotional feelings that stay there when I wake up. I dreamed my husband cheated on me and it was hard not to be mad at him
Good article, hop there is more like these!
Thanks for commenting!
Thanks to all on your comments and please email me with your requests on interpretations if desired.
After reading everyone's experiences, I'm thinking that if I can learn to do this, maybe I can keep myself in REM long enough to be rested. If that works Esther, I'll be forever indebted to you. I'm going to try to find some websites on lucid dreaming tonight. It's funny - I've heard of lucid dreaming many times, but never made the connection that it might help me with my sleep disorder.
<3 Krystal