Lucid dreaming. Awareness of dreams

Lucid Dreaming : Conscious Awareness of Your DreamsOne essential phase of sleep called the rapid-eye-movement (REM) phase is wheremost dreams occur. Humans and lab animals that have been deprived of REM sleepexhibit bizarre and often psychotic behavior. Researchers have found that your REMdream state is predominantly the alpha and theta brainwave states (4 to 7 cycles persecond and 7 to 14 cycles per second respectively).Dreams are ordinarily spontaneous and representative of subconscious meander-ings. They can also be a psychological release of tension. As far back as Biblicaltimes, dreams have symbolically carried meaning ("... and Pharaoh told them hisdream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh." Gen. 41:8).Since dreams are often veiled in symbolism, it's important to record your dreams andperiodically review them to acquaint yourself with any interpretive parallelshappening in your life. After interpreting your own subconscious symbolism,dreams can open themselves up to a personal enjoyment instead of a perplexingexperience.The term lucid dreaming describes the experience of consciously recognizingduring a dream that you are dreaming. By involving your conscious awareness in asubconscious activity, you can learn to control the content of your dream and itscourse of action. The more mindful and fully conscious you are in your normalwaking state, the easier it will be for you to master the lucid dreaming state. Review“Exercise -- Mindfulness: Improving Your Conscious Awareness” to sharpen yourlucid dreaming state.Dreams to a lucid dreamer are more vivid than simple visualizations. Objects andpeople appear to be and feel solid, and the dreamer is often able to converseintelligently with his own dream characters. Lucid dreamers can create or eliminatecharacters and items within the dream by simply wanting to do so. In dreams, youcan even levitate or fly. So if you're ever in doubt of your dream state, try flying as atest.A Malaysian tribe called the Senoi revolves much of its culture around dreams. Atan early age, parents question their children closely about their dreams. The childrenare taught early how to control their dreams and to bring about beneficial outcomes.By consciously manipulating their subconscious dreams, the Senoi manifest positiveresults in the waking world and resolve their daily problems more readily.One technique to achieving a lucid dream state is to ask yourself the question, "Is this a dream?" or "Am I dreaming?" 10 to 20 times just before falling asleep. Theconscious repetitiveness of the question will eventually be submerged into thesubconscious dream state. Reflecting cognitively upon such a question in the dreamstate will result in some form of conscious intervention and awareness, and hence alucid dream state will be achieved.As a variation of the former method, simply count and affirm just before retiring,"I am dreaming, One" -- "I am dreaming, Two" and so on. Attending to the countingprocess keeps your conscious awareness vigilant to what you intend to do. For thosepeople who tend to fall asleep rapidly, this method can have you counting straightinto dreamland.Another method is to reiterate over and over to yourself just before going to sleep,"I am going to sleep now. I know that I will be dreaming. I will recognize that I amdreaming when I am dreaming. Tonight, I will be consciously aware of my dream. Iwill remember what I dream in full conscious detail."You can also use a stimulus response link. For instance just before going tosleep, look at your hand while reiterating to yourself over and over, "When I see myhand in my dream, I will know I am dreaming." One researcher used with greatsuccess a mild electric shock to signal subject dreamers they were dreaming.Any of these techniques may initiate a flood of colors, images, sounds andthoughts. If you begin thinking in abstract ways, it usually indicates the right brain istaking over and the left brain is becoming idle. Just continue observing and thesounds and images will eventually evolve into a 3-dimensional dream that you canconsciously explore, change and learn from.For recurring nightmares or fearful dreams, intensely visualize yourself actively ina more preferred scenario just before falling asleep. Imagine yourself initiatingactions in the manner that is most beneficial to you so that the stage is set for thesubconscious to rerun the same play in your favor. Combine your visualization withthe suggestion that you are in control of your dream and that there is nothing to fear.Eventually your imagery process will merge into a dream process and positive resultswill be achieved.Using the above techniques will produce an ability to achieve lucid dreaming in 4to 5 weeks or less. After achieving a lucid dream state, act only as a casual observerat first or the condition might quickly dissipate into wakefulness. Slowly integrateinto your dreams volitional control and alterations, and soon full dream mastery willbe achieved. If you avoid whimsical notions, you can design purposeful meaning toyour dreams and achieve in the dream state that which you want in the real world. Ifyou want positive episodes to happen in the real world, you can now create dreamsabout them first.Since many remembered dreams are recollections of astral travel (esp. flyingdreams), learning lucid dreaming can also be important in learning how toconsciously remember and participate in astral journeys.There is a right to left brain shift during the night after 45 minutes; then a left toright shift after another 45 minutes. Consequently, every 90 minutes, there is a stormof neuronal activity in the right brain as it goes into its REM dream cycle for severalminutes. Not surprisingly, the same brain cycle follows throughout the day as well.Ever notice how sometimes you're more prone to daydreaming while reading thanat other times? Daydreaming often occurs spontaneously throughout the day and isalso subconsciously oriented. This “in the back of the mind” imaging sometimesguides your thought patterns toward a preoccupation into negative thinking. Sincedaydreams are more easily interrupted, practice observing them when they occur.Then interject your conscious influence over the flow and outcome of the daydreamsby directing them into a more positive result.If daydreams are too elusive to manage, begin with conjured up visualizations thatyou can create for yourself. Devise an imagined script and story and produce yourown inner plays. You can also take advantage of the 45-minute brain shift cycle bypracticing your visualization exercises during right brain period. Research has shownthat lucid dreamers are more likely than non-lucid dreamers to have dreams that arepositive, successful or filled with good fortune. It makes sense, doesn't it? If youcan control the flow and outcome of your dream, why would you want a negativedream?