Vergil's Big Ol' Lucid Dreaming Thread

[Vergil]

Okie doke, so after seeing Kommy's thread about the history of the victorian age, I thought I too would open up discussion of one of my favorite amateur sciences.

I've been dabbling in Amateur psychology for a while now; it started as mere research for Stigma, but along the way I found a really interesting topic that kinda pulled me in: Lucid Dreaming.

For those who don't know, Lucid Dreaming is the anomaly of dreaming while retaining waking consciousness, thus being able to control yourself, and effectively, the dream itself. The dream also becomes incredibly vivid and lifelike (many testimonials claim it to be MORE lifelike than life). Think of it as daydreaming on steroids.

Now I'm sure many here are skeptical, and I can't blame you. Being a heavy Cynic myself, my first instinct was to call BS. But, a friend was so kind to point out this wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_Dream

So, I became a little more intrigued by the concept when I discovered there was not only scientific evidence, but also that theories are being formulated around the physiology of it.

In this thread, I'm going to try to outline to the best of my modest ability the scientific background and physiology, principles and practice/induction techniques, and possible and current applications to life in sleep therapy, psychology, and learning.

More info inbound. Stay tuned. Also, feel free to post if you have any experience or knowledge on the subject (I'd love to hear Kommy's take on this, her being our resident genius). Let's get psychological in here.
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[Armadillon]

You're Lucid Dream sounds like the opposite of my

Delusional Nightmare

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia

I've suffered from anxiety attacks, hallucinations, I keep thinking I can see paranormal activity when people just tell me it's all in my head.

When dead bodies wink at you and wherever you go you hear people whispering to you.

Welcome to my world Verg
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Penguins have the same mate for life. That doesn't surprise me much because they all look alike. It's not like they're going to meet a really new, great looking penguin someday.

[Tadelesh]

I'm not sure if it's true lucid dreaming, but I have experienced dreams similar to that, where I could consciously control what was happening in my dream, and it did feel more real than reality. It tends to happen to me when I'm only half asleep, beginning to wake up, as I never seem to finish those dreams - I always wake up and wish I could go back to sleep and finish them.
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Wow, sarcasm! That's original.

[Vergil]

[Tadelesh]

Yeah, that's what pretty much happens every time the dream gets good.
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Wow, sarcasm! That's original.

[Vergil]

Okay, next lesson. So, I wouldn't be the proper cynic I am if I came here believing something like this without tangible proof, so we'll start with an overview of the Scientific Background of Lucid Dreaming, and what little physiological data there is.

History
Lucid Dreams have actually been around a long time; they've been mentioned in the writing of people such as William Shakespeare, Samuel Pepys in 1665, and even St. Augustine of Hippo (a philosopher and theologian, and one of the major figures in the Development of Western Christianity).

The first example of someone recognizing Lucid Dreams for their scientific potential, however, was in Celia Green's 1968 study, appropriately titled Lucid Dreams. She was the first to speculate that they were a different category of consciousness than normal dreams, correctly predicted that they would be associated with REM (rapid eye-movement) sleep, and was the first to link them to the phenomenon of False Awakenings.

The first scientific test proving the existence of Lucid Dreaming was produced by Keith Hearne, a British Parapsychologist, in 1970. His Volunteer, Alan Worsley, used specific conscious eye movement patterns to signal lucidity, which were recorded by a polysomnograph.

Though Hearne's results were not widely distributed, they were eventually reproduced, by Dr. Stephen Laberge of Stanford University, who had made the subject of Lucid Dreams his topic for his Doctoral Dissertation. In the 1980's, Laberge and volunteers reproduced Hearne's results, again using specific eye movement patterns.

Though still a fringe science in psychology and much is currently unknown about it, Research on Lucid dreaming is becoming more and more prevailant, with Universities and Dr. LaBerge's own Lucidity institute, producing more and more data and hypotheses.

Neurobiological Model
Though it's still a hypothesis, John Allen Hobson, Doctor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, has hypothesized that Lucid Dreams are caused by the activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, where working memory occurs, and which is normally deactivated during REM sleep.

Once this area activates and recognition of the dream occurs, the dreamer has to allow the delusions of the dream to continue, while remaining conscious enough to recognize them (Hence the "balancing act" metaphor). It's expected that the Pons and Parietal Lobe remain active, to continue the intensity of dream hallucinations and senses.

Read up, folks. More coming soon.
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http://www.furaffinity.net/user/vergil - Home of Vergil's ranting and of would-be fantasy epic, Insontis Somnium. Go there, NOW.:E

[Vergil]

Another day, another lesson. Today, I'mma discuss the good stuff: Ways to induce, maintain, prolong, and control lucid dream activity.

Induction techniques

There are 2 common categories of Induction techniques, DILD (Dream Induced Lucid Dream, where the dreamer becomes conscious mid-dream), and WILD (Wake-Induced Lucid Dream, where the dreamer enters the dream state directly from the waking state by maintaining consciousness as they fall asleep).

A - Preparative Measures
A.1 - Keep a Journal
Keeping a Dream Journal is important for 2 reasons; 1: It helps improve dream recall by actively stimulating the memory function of your brain after sleep, and 2: It gives you insight into common dream signs.

A.2 - Keep a List of your common Dream Signs.
By gleaning Dream Signs (impossible things that are common to your dreams, like flying, meeting cartoon characters, etc.) from your journal, you will make yourself aware of them subconsciously, leading you in a "pavlov's dogs"-esque fashion to react instinctively via step A.3.

A.3 - Perform "Reality Checks".
Reality checks are specific actions meant to test if you are dreaming are awake, and work by using the dream's inconsistent nature against itself. Dreams are produced entirely by the brain and do not have consistent sensory input to go on, so things often appear odd or inconsistent.
Some reliable reality checks are:
Looking at your hands, looking away, and looking back,
Reading some text or numbers (Like a poster/clock), looking away, and looking back to see if the text/numbers have changed or have become nonsensical,
Pushing against the palm of your hand with your index finger, trying to make it go through your hand (It's important to expect this to happen, because Lucid Dreams are very reliant on expectations)
Trying to turn a light on and off (For some reason, dreams seem to have trouble emulating changes in light levels accurately).

By performing a reality check every time you encounter something related to one of your dream signs, you are in effect 'programming' yourself (Like Pavlov did with his dogs) to react instinctively in this way, which will carry over to your dreams, and result in dream recognition and activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

B - DILD
B.1 - MILD
MILD Stands for "Mnemonically Induced Lucid Dreaming", and is the most common form of DILD. It employs employs prospective memory, (remembering to do something in the future).

Step 1. Set your alarm clock
Before going to bed, set up your alarm clock to wake you up in the middle of a dream (about 4-6 hours from when you fall asleep is sufficient).

Step 2. Recall your dreams
No matter what time it is, try to recall as many and as much of your dreams as possible. Include feelings and upcoming thoughts; let your dream state flow into your waking state because you can use it as a recurrent dreamsign in the upcoming dream.

Step 3. Focus your intent
While returning to sleep, concentrate totally on your intention to remember to recognize that you are dreaming. Feel that you mean it. Motivation and belief are important aspects. Focus on your motivation on what you want to do when you become lucid.

Step 4. See yourself becoming lucid
Imagine that you become lucid in your future dream. See yourself become aware of the dreamsigns that you might dreamt of a couple of minutes ago. Feel the excitement of the fact that you will be dreaming soon and will recognize the dream. It also helps to remind yourself that you will remember that you are dreaming in about ten minutes or so.

Step 5. Repeat until your intention is set
Keep visualizing yourself attaining lucidity until you lose consciousness and fall asleep. Hopefully, the power of your visualizations remind you during dreaming that you must become lucid.

B.2 - WILD
WILD (Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming) is the second most common way to induce a Lucid Dream. While it's considerably more difficult to master, doing so essentially allows you to induce Lucid Dreams at will. To do this, the dreamer must focus their mind on a simple, yet conscious task that will keep them conscious as they fall asleep. Before closing your eyes, make sure you are sufficiently relaxed; let go of all tension, and direct your thoughts away from any subjects that induce worry or tension.

Technique 1 - Counting
While going to sleep, start counting 1-100 (optionally adding "I am dreaming" or something similar in between each number, or counting your breaths), and either start over or count backwards back to one, repeating the process until you've entered the dream state (this is the point where it goes from hallucination to dream - when the brain integrates sensory emulation into it. Be sure to remind yourself that you are dreaming, through dreamsigns and reality checks).

Technique 2 - Focus on Hypnagogic Imagery
By focusing your mind on observing the Hypnagogic Imagery (the little, varied light patterns that appear when your eyes are closed), you can watch the transition to the dream state while not losing lucidity. Simply lie in bed and watch the patterns, being sure to not force your attention on any one for too long (just remain a passive observer, as if you're people watching). Once the dream becomes vivid, continue to passively observe as you are pulled in and your senses become active (it's important to not attempt to force this; doing so actually reverses the process, because it directs your attention to your outer senses).

Important notes:
1 - While attempting WILD, you may notice your body becoming numb and not able to move. This is called "Sleep Paralysis", and is your body preparing for the dream state by paralyzing itself for the time. This is so you don't move while asleep and act out your dreams, which could be dangerous.

2 - Accompanied with Sleep Paralysis, you may feel Hypnagogic sensations as well; these vary, and include, but aren't limited to: vividness, a falling/spinning sensation, fear, feelings of being unable to breathe, Auditory sensations, etc. It's important to remember that these, like sleep paralysis, are related to the transition to and from the dream state, and that you are perfectly safe.


B.3 - WBTB
WBTB (Wake-back-to-bed) is often used in its own right as an induction method, but actually produces better results as a supplement to the others. In this method, you wake yourself up via alarm clock or other method during an REM cycle (about 2-6 hours after falling asleep), and stay up for about 30 minutes (it helps to do something related to lucid dreaming to keep your mind focused). After that, you return to bed, and use the induction method of your choice.
The theory behind this method is that you awaken during the REM effects, and stay awake long enough to wake up consciously, but still maintain the effects of REM.

Next up - Ways to maintain, prolong, and use lucidity in dreams. Stay tuned.
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http://www.furaffinity.net/user/vergil - Home of Vergil's ranting and of would-be fantasy epic, Insontis Somnium. Go there, NOW.:E

[Drofgod969]

nice bit of info there peter.
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yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. that's why it is called the present.
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Some weep, some cry, some make couches fly. - Katmir
Let me stand behind you in times of peace, let me stand infront of you in times of war, let me stand beside you as a equall, as a friend.

[Poecilotheria_27]

This is interesting stuff...

Is this in any way related to astral projection?

[Vergil]

Sort of. A lot of pscyhologists believe it has a lot to do with reports of Astral Projection/Out of Body Experiences, since they are similar. They believe it's possible that people who have had those experiences have just experienced a lucid dream.

[peter_wolf]

don't know i don't think hes talking to me...

or he could be????
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you all saw it, the orphanage attacked me first.

[Onikage6925]

I was having a dream where i was falling and i could feel the wind blowing on my face, but then i felt this unbelieveable pain surge through my whole body. It felt like i had broken every bone in my body it hurt so bad, but then i woke up and came to i was glad it was just a dream.

[Vergil]

Alrighty. Time for another lesson. Today's is on things you can do to prolong, maintain, and control lucid dreams.

C. Prolonging and Maintaining Lucid Dreams

Basic Tips:
1. Always make sure to keep in mind that you're dreaming, especially if you're still new to it. If you don't, you will lose consciousness of that fact, because you're allowing the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to shut back down. In time, you won't have to do this as much, since you'll eventually start doing it subconsciously.
2. Don't focus on one particular point too long. Focusing on the same spot with your eyesight causes your brain to switch to your waking vision, and hence, the rest of it follows suit.
3. You can tell when your dream is fading by changes in the dream. These vary, but the first sign of losing Lucidity or waking up is a loss of color or clarity. Vision is the first of your 'dream senses' to fade, with touch and hearing being last.
4. After you wake up, be sure to do a reality check, especially if you use spinning. Sometimes, dreams cause "False awakenings", where you dream you wake up, but are actually still dreaming.
5. If you wake up and find you really are awake, remain still and relaxed. By doing this, you can often re-induce REM sleep within minutes.

Technique One: Spinning
If you feel your dream starting to fade, just spin around in place.

Technique Two: Look At The Ground
The ground is bound to be one of the most stable aspects of your dream, unlike most other dream images. By looking at it, you're in essence doing a 'screen refresh' of your dream senses.

Technique Two: Go Limp and Drop to the Floor.
Self-explanatory, really.

All of these techniques share one thing: They're forcing your brain to re-focus on your dream senses, either via motion (1 and 3), or re-stabilizing vision (2).

(Important note: While it's possible to continue dreaming longer than the average REM cycle, it's kind of pointless; you aren't going to remember much of what occured after REM ends. It's far better to allow for the brief 1-5 second awakening that always occurs (But is seldom remembered) between sleep cycles, and just entering a fresh REM cycle and continuing your activities from where you left off.)

E. Controlling Lucid Dreams

This might be a bit disappointing for some, but you aren't going to be able to exercise omnipotence over your dreams right away; that comes with practice. Dreams are products of the brain, and are only limited as such. But this also means that our expectations, doubts, beliefs, morals, etc. all come into play. Therefore, you aren't going to be able to wield super powers or control dream characters right off the bat, because you don't expect it to work.
The techniques I'm listing here are minimal effort; they're just ways that you can entertain yourself until you've managed to overcome aforementioned subconscious barriers. They typically work by working with the inconsistencies common in dreams.

Travel:
Spinning is an easy way to go to places you couldn't otherwise access (such as the setting of a book/anime/cartoon/whatever). In addition to re-stabilizing your dream, it also provides a way to change the dream's setting to whatever you want. Just start spinning, and try to visualize the place you want to go. By doing this, your brain will be forced to recreate the setting, and will draw on what happens to be going through your mind at the time (ie: The place you're focusing on).

Conjuring Dream characters:
Again, rather simple. This is done by imagining the person/creature you want to see as being somewhere you can't see at the moment (Examples include imagining them behind you, finding a door and expecting them to be behind it). Then, simply access the area you can't see.

Conjuring Items or objects:
Same thing as above. Simply reach into your pocket, a box, closet, etc, and expect what you want to be there.

Flying:
Even those who haven't been able to do any other form of dream control have reported flying to be immediately accessible in dreams. There's no real set technique for making it happen; people have flown superman style, flapped their arms, conjured helicopters, flying carpets, jetpacks, and various other flying items... there's a wide berth of options.

(I should note here that this is the area I'm not as experienced at; I've had a total of 2 lucid dreams that I can recall, and both of them ended shortly after lucidity hit. It makes me kind of sad; I've been trying WILD for a while now, but the problem is that I snore, which tends to cause me to wake back up.:S)

Next up: Possible applications in real life.
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http://www.furaffinity.net/user/vergil - Home of Vergil's ranting and of would-be fantasy epic, Insontis Somnium. Go there, NOW.:E

[Tadelesh]

What's it called when you know you're dreaming, and you know what's going to happen in the dream, but you're not actually part of the dream and it's more like you're watching a movie? 'Cause that's what I had Sunday night.
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Wow, sarcasm! That's original.

[Vergil]

If you aren't able to control your actions or anything, then while you have the notion that you're dreaming, you're still having a normal, nonlucid dream. Though you may be getting closer to having a lucid dream.
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