Lucid Dreaming: What It Is and How It Works - Coursework Example

Lucid Dreaming Name Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Lucid Dreaming 3 Introduction 3 Definition of Lucid Dreaming 4 Background of lucid dreaming 6 How lucid dreams work 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 BBC News Magazine (2012). Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby, Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from 11 Green, C.E & McCreery, C. (2001). Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep. Psychology Press, Philadelphia 11 Hurd, R. (2009). EcoDreaming: How Nature Speaks in our Dreams. Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from: 11 Hurd, R. (2010). Lucid Dreaming as Shamanic Technology Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from: 11 The Lucidity Institute. (2014). Lucid Dreaming FAQ: The Lucidity Institute Answers Frequently Asked Questions about Lucid Dreaming. Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from: http://www.lucidity.com/LucidDreamingFAQ2.html 12 Turner, R. (2014). Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (The MILD Technique) Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from: 12 Vaughan, B. (2014). The mysteries of 'lucid' dreaming. Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from: 12 Wallace, B.A & Hodel, B. (2012). Dreaming Yourself Awake Lucid Dreaming and Tibetan Dream Yoga for Insight and Transformation. Boston Massachusetts: Shambhalass Publications, Boston Massachusetts. 12 Lucid Dreaming Introduction Dreaming is one of the intriguing and mysterious states of consciousness. Dreams occur after the shutdown of the conscious mind after one gets into a paralysis of sleep. The conscious mind is subsequently regained when indulges in series of deeper and most inner private experiences while a sleep. Basically, when people lie down to sleep the brain sends signals to the body in preparation for the sleep. Some of these signal often come in form of desire to blink, an itch or the need to change the body position. After some spending sometime lying down and trying to ignore these impulses, one gets into sleep land. At this state, the body becomes completely numb, totally asleep and the mind completely transforms out of the physical world. One may then begin to hear unusual noises or weird images and opening the eyes may generate hallucination, a state in which one dreams with the eyes open. The gap between the conscious and unconscious states of mind is scientifically known as lucid dreaming. This paper examines the phenomenon of lucid dreaming; its concepts and how it works. Definition of Lucid Dreaming Hurd (2010) observes that the definition of lucid dreaming may not be homogenous and may vary depending on culture and the degree of resistance to the concept of transpersonal state when the body falls asleep. Nonetheless, significant amount empirical studies point towards the same ideological thinking concerning lucid dreams. Some authors refer to lucid dreaming as the state of dreaming with complete awareness or being able to control one’s dream. Green and McCreery (2001) argue that lucid dreams are the types of dreams in which one becomes fully aware that he or she is dreaming. In addition, they explain that as the dreamer becomes ware that he is one of the participants in the dream, he or she alters the character. Wallace and Hodel (2001) assert that lucid dreaming is when a person is conscious that that he or she is dreaming. McElroy (2014) explains that lucid dreams are the ones in which the dreamer is conscious about the dream and obtains a level of control over the direction and the content of the dream. The above definitions elaborate certainty of two aspects of lucid dreaming. One is the fact that in lucid dreams, the dreamer becomes aware that he is dreaming. Secondly, once the dreamer realizes that he or she is experiencing a dream, the person is capable of changing the plot of the dream, the characters and the occurrence to match personal preferences. Furthermore, Laberge (2009) explains that once the lucid dreamers become aware that they are experiencing a world of their own creation, they consciously control the outcomes of their dreams. These aspects indicate that lucid dream differ significantly from the ordinary dream. Green and McCreery (2001) elaborate that lucid dreams may seem as a reality and may enable the dreamer to have a remarkable imitation of the real life. Unlike the ordinary dream lucid dreams often imitate the positive emotional tone of the waking life to the point of ecstasy. According McElroy (2014) lucid dreams are unusually intense, vivid and are easy to remember than the ordinary dreams. Therefore, this point of view affirms the argument that lucid dreams are easily memorable compared to the ordinary dreams. The principles that constitute the basis of the ordinary dreams differ significantly from those which control the contents of lucid dreams. In this case, it is easy to observe that in ordinary dreams the dreamer is merely a spectator of the unfolding events. This implies that the ordinary dreamer hardly feels the aspect of being in control of the drama which goes on in the dream. This is in total contrast to the ideology of lucid dreaming in which the dreamer, upon gaining incite that he or she is dreaming deliberately alters the content and the experiences in the dream. Another compelling distinction between the two types of dreams is the ability to draw mental imaginary figures of what was dreamt while in waking state. Non lucid dreamers cannot imagine other things which are not related to the content of the dream while dreaming. On the contrary, the lucid dreamers have the capability to exercise imagination as they take control of events in lucid dreams (McElroy 2014). Background of lucid dreaming Mckinley (2014) observes that the concept lucid dreaming was brought into limelight in 1867 by Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys. Saint-Denys’ book, a French publication titled ‘Les Reves et Les Moyens de Les Diriger’ which was literally translated as ‘Dreams and the way to Direct them: Practical Observation’ paved way for extensive research of the phenomenon of lucid dreaming. The term lucid dream was first crafted by in 1913 by Frederik van Eeden in his article ‘Study of Dreams’. Mckinley (2014) explains that van Eeden used the term lucid to provide an insight to persons in temporary remission of psychosis. In 1968 Celia Green conducted a research to establish the characteristics of lucid dreams. According to Wallace and Hodel (2001), the concept lucid dreaming is a theoretical mindset and studied within the context of psychology. In this instance, Stephen Laberge, a PhD degree holder in psychology from Stanford University, is the first person to establish a scientific proof that people can actually be aware that they are dreaming. Wallace and Hodel (2001), argue that despite the fact that many had studied lucid dreaming, psychologist claim that these ideologies were false memories assuming that lucid dreamers wake up in the middle of the night and mistakenly believe that they were aware they were dreaming when they wake up in the morning. Stephen Laberge is naturally a gifted lucid dreamer with ability to have lucid dreams whenever he feels like. While conducting his research, he developed a mechanism of making particular eye movements when dreaming thereby intriguing his fellow researchers to believe that he had woken up while dreaming. This technique affirmed the existence lucid dreaming. In addition, while studying at the Stanford University, Laberge devised advanced methods of awakening in his dreams while sustaining them to make vivid (Wallace & Hodel 2001). Laberge’s research led to publication of several books on lucid dreaming. Therefore, Laberge’s efforts led to the acceptance of the phenomenon of lucid dreaming in the realm of psychology. In early Buddhism lucid dreaming was commonly practiced among the people in Monastic communities (Mckinley 2014). Similarly, lucid dreaming explored in the traditions of the Tibetan Buddhists in a form of yoga of dreaming and sleep. In essence, yoga dream is a form of spiritual tradition practiced mainly for the purpose of total awakening often referred to as enlightenment. Dream yoga is made up of a set of improved of practices which are spiritual in nature and cat as strong aid to awakening from ‘samsara’. According to Wallace and Hodel (2001), ‘samsara’ is a Tibetan term of Buddhism culture which describes a dream like experience of life after death. In Hinduism, the concept of lucid dreaming bears the same resemblance as the ancient Indian traditional ideology of yoga nidra. Rajaiah (2007) describes yoga nidra as state that one is awake but not awake, a sleep but not a sleep. The definition is paradoxical and a bit confusing. However, the core ideology is that yoga nidra gives one a complete relaxation of the mind and the body thereby creating a state of being where one is slightly a sleep but the conscious mind is still awake and capable of interpreting sounds in the actual world. Generally, yoga nidra meditation is dynamic state of being between sleep and wakefulness allows ones to change relationship with his or her thoughts. Hurd (2010) argues that lucid dreaming is a shamanic technology and does not require modern technologies such VR goggles, dream machines, pills and headsets. This implies that it is an invention that had occurred several years ago. Shamanism is an ancient healing tradition and a way of life. The term shaman originated from Siberia among the tribe of Tungus. The word has since been crafted by anthropologist to mean ancient spiritual practices among the indigenous cultures. In addition the word shaman has also been coined to mean spiritual or ceremonial leader. Hurd (2010) explains that lucid dreaming was considered as a prerequisite for undertaking terrific dream experiences. Such dreams, popularly referred to as big dreams, were characterized by emotion, intense imagery, and clarity that were embedded in most indigenous cultures (BBC News Magazine, 2012). Orang Asli one of the indigenous cultures inhabiting peninsular Malaysia that exhibit lucid dreaming culture. Hurd (2010) notes that shamans in this culture utilize their visions and dream states to transform themselves into animals so as to gather information about the environments they dwell in. Additionally, while in the transformed states, the shamans gain power, protect members of their communities and communicate with the forests. In this case, anthropologists such as Diane Riboli refer to them as a contemporary ecodreaming society. According to Hurd (2009), other contemporary ecodreaming societies include the Beaver Indians of the British Colombia who dwell in Canada and the indigenous people found in the mountain villages of Peru. How lucid dreams work There are several instances where the concept of dreams is both scientifically and culturally appropriate. In this case, both the ancient lucid dream yoga practices of the Tibetan Buddhism culture or the trauma victims employ lucid dream to reshape the destructive experiences that impede mental vigor. Similarly, there is significant relationship between lucid dreams and the body impulses. For instance, blinking quickly often known as rapid eye movement (REM) is an activity that may happen during lucid dreaming. REM is activated by lateral prefrontal cortex, the parts of the brain that is responsible for forming mental pictures thus creating images for lucid dream contents. In addition, REM is associated with short term and long term memory as well as activation of limbic system which brings which generates strong emotions. Therefore, dreams are outcomes of a combination of emotion, memory and visual metaphors that connect experiences and deep memories (Vaughan 2014). Some of the techniques invented by psych-physiologist Stephen Laberge in pursuit of understanding of how lucid dream works include mnemonic induction of lucid drams (MILD). Essentially, the term mnemonic refers to learning techniques that aid development of memories (Turner 2014). Therefore, this implies that that dreamer deliberately plants cues into unconscious mind to help in prompting lucid dreams as one remembers the intentions before going to sleep. The essence of MILD technique is to increase self awareness during lucid dreams. It entails streamlining the contents of lucid dreaming according to predetermined triggers through incubation of lucid dream. This technique follows that when one wakes from a dream, he or she should remember the content of that dream and when going back to sleep the dreamer tells him or herself that they are going to remember that they are dreaming in the next one. Subsequently, the dreamer pictures themselves in the previous dream and look for dream signs, such as swimming in the middle of the ocean or flying in the air without wings, which suggesting that it was a dream but not a reality. Thereafter, the dreamer pictures that he is dreaming until he or she fall asleep (Irwin 2008). Lucid dreams work mysteriously through compelling sensation of out of body (OBE) experience. OBE is a fascinating phenomenon that occurs when one lies in bed then suddenly feel a wide sense of impulses such as vibration and heaviness. Thereafter, the dreamer feels a vivid sensation that they are transforming from their physical bodies to a state that feels like the second body which feels like floating above the bed (The Lucidity Institute 2014). Conclusion Almost everyone has experienced the phenomenon of lucid dreaming at least once in a life time. The sense of felling in control of the events in the dreamlands after gaining enlightenment that one is dreaming is arguably on the rise among individuals in the contemporary societies. Lucid dreaming is currently on the rise as nocturnal hobby. This seemingly emerging trend is largely attributed to the onset of digital devices such mobile applications and specialist eye masks which tend to reshape the content and direction of dreams. This paper has explored the concept of lucidity in dreams in which has been widely researched by Stephen Laberge in the resent years. Similarly, the paper has indicated that the ideology of lucid dreaming has been in existence since ancient times and was brought to limelight in around eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. References BBC News Magazine (2012). Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby, Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from Green, C.E & McCreery, C. (2001). Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep. Psychology Press, Philadelphia Hurd, R. (2009). EcoDreaming: How Nature Speaks in our Dreams. Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from: Hurd, R. (2010). Lucid Dreaming as Shamanic Technology Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from: Irwin, L. (2008). Coming down from above: prophecy, resistance, and renewal in Native American religions. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, USA. Laberge, S. (2009). Lucid Dreaming: A Concise Guide to Awakening in Your Dreams and in Your Life ReadHowYouWant.com, USA McElroy, M. (2014). Lucid Dreaming for Beginners: Simple Techniques for Creating Interactive Dreams, USA: Llewellyn Worldwide. Mckinley, F. (2014). How to Start a Hobby in Lucid Dreaming United Kingdom: MicJames. Rajaiah, B. (2007). Yoga Nidra, New Delhi: Sunburn Publishers. The Lucidity Institute. (2014). Lucid Dreaming FAQ: The Lucidity Institute Answers Frequently Asked Questions about Lucid Dreaming. Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from: http://www.lucidity.com/LucidDreamingFAQ2.html Turner, R. (2014). Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (The MILD Technique) Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from: Vaughan, B. (2014). The mysteries of 'lucid' dreaming. Retrieved on 14th November, 2014, from: Wallace, B.A & Hodel, B. (2012). Dreaming Yourself Awake Lucid Dreaming and Tibetan Dream Yoga for Insight and Transformation. 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