How many people have flown to outer space, made a trip to the Cheesecake factory with Drake, rode dragons with Khaleesi, and still managed to make it to work on time? That is, not under the effects of drugs, or any other hallucinogen, but through the mind’s mysterious manifestation of a fictionalized world of interactivity. With the marvels of Lucid Dreaming, the world is your oyster.
A bridge between realities, a lucid dream is any dream in which the dreamer realizes they are in fact, dreaming and utilizes some measure of control in manipulating the dream. Through the practice and employment of several learned exercises into your daily routine, you too can master conscious dreaming and dive into the depths of your subconscious. This fantastical experience often occurs in unusual moments as one grows conscious of his or her dream state of mind.
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Artwork by Eugenia Loli[/caption]
You may ask yourself, why lucid dream? The benefits are far-fetched and may even impact your waking life by allowing the average individual to experience an otherwise impossible, “out of this world” adventure in a safe environment. With each dream, you embark on an opportunistic journey comprised of endless possibilities, uninhibited by any social or judicial system to dictate one’s behavior.
Through lucid dreaming, an individual may even discover an inspirational source of information for a piece of writing, a musical composition, or a painting. More than a handful of renowned artists have been inspired through lucid dreams, including James Cameron, director of the award winning film Avatar, as well as Inception Director Chris Nolan. If you want to find yourself fighting off a demogorgon, shooting pool with Morgan Freeman or sharing a grain of rice with Gandhi, consider incorporating a few of these techniques to attain the benefits of lucid dreaming. One night of sleep may have the ability to change your life.
- Lucid dreaming may be triggered through the practice and recognition of certain dream controlling factors. By growing into the habit of conducting daily reality checks, one can further entice his or her abilities to lucid dream. By habitually asking yourself whether you are dreaming or awake, this habit may carry into your dream and lead you to realize you are in fact, dreaming. The periodic acts of reading texts such as newspaper headlines and billboards to checking the time on a watch also subconsciously creates an essence of the real world. In dream state, time is also often distorted and texts can quickly change.
- Dream Diaries train your brain to retain memories from dreams and bring awareness to dream states of mind.
- Affirmation is key. Another popular method of dream induction was discovered by Stephen Lebarge, renowned author of Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain and Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, dubbed MILD (Mnemonically Induced Lucid Dream). This method requires one to spend a short amount of time each night affirming you will have a lucid dream as you are falling asleep.
- In addition to these methods, there are also many dream eliciting devices referred to as EILDS (externally induced lucid dreams)- the most famous being, the Novadreamer, a device worn around your head which emits soft blinking lights that you see in your sleep. Other devices such as vibrating alarms may also be successfully employed however they are more costly and reacquire a more in depth familiarity with your own particular sleep cycles.
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Artwork by Eugenia Loli[/caption]
By using the ability to induce lucid dreams in productive ways, inventors could discover new breakthrough inventions, artists may stumble upon subconsciously inspired works, and scientists could solve advanced problems that once left them perplexed. That being the case, Lucid Dreaming benefits the individual by opening doors of opportunity, inspiration, and insight into the subconscious mind, while advancing the human race in all future endeavors.
