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Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
A step-by-step guide to Lucid Dreaming
Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (1990) presents a step-by-step guide to the fascinating world of lucid dreams. It introduces various techniques on how to evoke lucidity and how lucid dreaming can be used to enrich your waking life.
- Psychologists studying the complex relationship of sleep and dreaming
- People who suffer from nightmares
- Students of cognitive science
Stephen LaBerge holds a Ph.D. in psychophysiology from Stanford University, where he conducts research on lucid dreaming. He is the author of the bestselling book Lucid Dreaming, and the founder of the Lucidity Institute, which works to further knowledge on consciousness.
Howard Rheingold has studied and written on the augmentation of the human mind. His books include Excursions to the Far Side of the Mind, Higher Creativity and The Cognitive Connection.
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Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
- Read in 15 minutes
- Audio & text available
- Contains 9 key ideas
Synopsis
Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (1990) presents a step-by-step guide to the fascinating world of lucid dreams. It introduces various techniques on how to evoke lucidity and how lucid dreaming can be used to enrich your waking life.
Key idea 1 of 9
What you see, touch or smell when you are awake is stored for use later in your dream state.
We all dream. Yet few people are able to dream lucidly, or consciously “wake up” within a dream.
Lucid dreaming may seem strange, yet anyone can do it!
It can actually be beneficial, too. In fact, those who can dream lucidly report that doing so has made a positive difference in their waking life.
But let’s start our exploration with dreaming in general, and specifically how our dream state differs from our waking state.
The world you experience when you are awake is communicated through your senses: sight, touch, taste, sound. Through your senses, your brain perceives your environment.
When you take a walk, for example, your brain collects sensory input such as listening to birds, seeing people lounging around and smelling the grass. Your brain then processes this external information and informs you that you’re walking through a park.
In dreams, however, it’s a different story. The information that your brain uses to generate a dream originates internally because as you dream, external sensory input – like smells or sounds – is limited.
A dream brings together the same process of perception that your brain uses to perceive the outside world when you are awake. The only difference is that in the dream state, there are no external factors to limit what you experience in your (dream) world.
Dreams are created solely by information already in your head, such as memories, desires and expectations. The possibilities of what can happen in your dreams then are endless!
Key ideas in this title
- What you see, touch or smell when you are awake is stored for use later in your dream state.
- Keep a dream journal to help you remember your dreams, and better identify your dream signs.
- Ask yourself, “Am I dreaming?” when awake, and you’ll ask the same question when you’re asleep.
- If you can keep your mind active while you fall asleep, you can dream lucidly without losing consciousness.
- To control your lucid dreams, you have to learn to stay asleep, retain lucidity and to wake up at will.
- Lucid dreams can help improve psychological health by integrating “imbalanced” personalities.
- Lucid dreams can inspire problem-solving creativity and solve issues in your waking life.
- Nightmares are created by fear. When you face your fears while dreaming, they’ll disappear.
- Final summary
