Lucid dreaming

In a dream a man is powerless; we can only go with the flow, without any effect on events and without realizing that what is happening to us only dreams. Can I somehow force myself to realize that you see a dream, and to some extent manage its content? Yes, it is this opportunity that we are provided with lucid dreams.

This term was introduced Frederick van Eden, a Dutch writer and a psychiatrist. Under the conscious dream is meant an altered state of consciousness in which a person realizes that he is asleep and is able to control the content of his sleep.

The conscious dreams begin either during theordinary sleep - then the sleeper eventually realizes that he is asleep - or the person passes into a conscious dream directly from the waking state, without losing awareness. Usually such a state is achieved spontaneously with a very sensitive dream.

Sensible dreams have found their application inpsychological and psychotherapeutic practice. Thanks to lucid dreams, a person can survive situations that are impossible in normal life. Finding ways out of such situations, he can evaluate his own reactions and use this information for self-knowledge and introspection.

Also, lucid dreams can be used to combat insecurity in oneself and even various phobias. Faced with a phobia "nose to nose" in a dream anddefeating it, it is much easier then to get rid of fear in real life. For example, if you are afraid of heights, and fly in a dream, then after awakening fear can become dull: you will not be afraid to fall any more.

Repeated dreams will help fight self-doubt. Usually in life this uncertainty is manifested insimilar situations: we are afraid to call by phone to unfamiliar people or the first to start a conversation in companies. Conscious dreams with similar, typical stories allow us to change the story lines, adjusting the situation "for themselves." Then this experience can be transferred to real life.

Is it possible to learn lucid dreams? Yes, there are special practices,allowing you to learn how to keep a sense of awareness in a dream and control it, but it will take a long time. There are special exercises that either increase the probability of "waking up in a dream", i.e. awareness, or they help to keep consciousness at the moment of falling asleep.

Can also help keeping a diary of dreams: every day you need to describe in as much detail everything that you dreamed. This will help develop a good memory of dreams. To help enter into a conscious dream can and hypnosis (including self-hypnosis). The dreamer comes up with a conventional sign. When this sign appears in a dream, a person realizes that he is asleep. From this moment begins a conscious dream.

How to understand that you have entered into a conscious dream? Stephen Laberge, the leader in the study of lucid dreaming, offers simple techniques that allow to distinguish a conscious dream from reality:

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  close your mouth and pinch your nose with your fingers - if you sleep, you can safely continue to breathe;
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  try twice to read some inscription - in a dream it can change;
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  try to scroll the previous minute in your head - in a dream this is most likely not going to be done;
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  turn on or off the light with a switch - in a dream it may not work;
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  long look at their hands - in a dream their appearance begins to change.

Unlike reality, in a lucid dream can do not work a cause-effect relationship - a feeling is created that "something goes wrong". But all these methods do not guarantee a 100% result: if a person wants to be convinced that this is a reality, he will not understand what is in a dream.

Conscious dreams have not yet been studied thoroughly, but are already used in psychotherapy. The main thing - do not get carried away and not to make lucid dreams into a cult,trying to replace them with real life, as do some fans of esoteric teachings. And do you have experience of lucid dreaming? If so, share it with our readers!