Lucid Dreaming (Pt. 2)

If you read "Lucid Dreaming (Pt. 1)" you are familiar with what a lucid dream is, and perhaps you have done some further research on your own. In this section I will describe the process that I have used to induce lucid dreams, sustaining and controlling lucid dreams, and a few frightening (but harmless) sleep phenomena that can occur as a result of lucid dream induction.

INDUCING LUCID DREAMS

As I said in the earlier post, there are about as many methods of inducing a lucid dream as there are people who claim to have them. This is what has worked for me, and I discovered it largely by accident.

It is important to understand at the outset that sleep occurs in cycles of various stages which can be measured by the amount and type of brain activity that is occurring at any particular point in the sleep cycle. The first stage of sleep generally lasts about 5 to 10 minutes and is characterized by the disappearance of alpha waves and the onset of theta waves. During stage one sleep, the eyes close, muscles relax, and eye movement slows. In stage two, or light sleep, the heart rate slows and respiration decreases. Brain activity at this time is characterized by wave-forms known as "sleep spindles" and "K-complexes." Stages three and four are the deep sleep stages, and they are associated with slow-wave, or delta-wave brain activity. Stage five is more commonly known as REM sleep. In REM sleep, the brain wave patterns are very similar to those of stage one, but the physiological changes are markedly different. In REM sleep, heart rate and respiration increases and becomes erratic, muscles are paralyzed, brain activity increases, and of course there are rapid eye movements. While dreaming does occur during REM sleep, it should be noted that dreams can (and do) occur in all stages of sleep.

The sleep cycle for the average person who does not suffer from any sleep disorder is, from waking: 1,2,3,4,3,2,REM. Note that the cycle reverses after stage four and repeats stages three and two before entering the REM stage. In an average night's sleep, this entire cycle can be completed up to five times, with each cycle slightly longer than the one previous. As well, the individual sleep stages tend to get longer as the night progresses.

It is pretty widely accepted that most nightmares occur during stages three and four, the delta-wave sleep stages. I believe that most, if not all, lucid dreams occur during late REM stage sleep, or in stage one. If lucid dreams occur in stage one sleep, they may be related to a phenomenon known as hypnagogia. To save space, I'll let you click on that and read about it. It is rather involved.

What I have found is that if I interrupt the sleep cycle, I am very likely to have a lucid dream. To do this, I will set an alarm clock to go off after I have slept four to six hours. When the alarm goes off, I get up and go do something for at least an hour, two if I can manage it. I've found that writing (even if it is only in a journal) gives me better results, followed by reading. Watching television doesn't seem to work at all, and I think it is because the human brain process television images much the same way that it does dreams. In effect, your brain "thinks" it's dreaming and doesn't achieve the proper level of alpha-wave activity required to induce a lucid dream later. The whole point of interrupting your sleep cycle is to "wake" your brain up.

After an hour or two, I go back to bed. While I lay there waiting to fall asleep, I plant the intention in my mind that I will have a lucid dream. Very simply, I mentally say to myself "I will have a lucid dream" ten or twenty times. That's it. The whole process. I have been able to induce lucid dreams in almost fifty percent of the instances where I have tried this simple method. After having practiced this technique for awhile, I've noticed that I can induce lucid dreams with much shorter interruptions in my sleep cycle, sometimes just getting up to use the restroom will work. It seems that the longer you practice lucid dreaming, the easier it becomes.

SUSTAINING LUCID DREAMS

The first time that you have a lucid dream, you will probably be so shocked to realize that you are "wide awake" inside of your dream that you will reflexively wake yourself up for real. I have learned that I can keep from waking myself up initially by telling myself "I'm lucid!" It sounds stupid, but it works. Your "anchor" could be anything. Perhaps you could tell yourself "Keep dreaming," or "Holy crap!" You might visualize an object in your hand...say a toy fire truck. Whatever you use, just make sure to get in the habit of saying or visualizing it at the start of every lucid dream, the very moment that you realize you are dreaming. Use the same phrase or object every time. This will clue your mind into the fact that you want to experience the lucid dream.

After you have stabilized yourself in the lucid dream, you will want to sustain the dream-state for as long as possible. Many of the lucid dream websites suggest "spinning" as a way to maintain both the dream-state and the lucidity, and it actually works. I don't know why. Basically, the moment that you sense that the dream, your control, or your sense of lucidity is beginning to fade or slip away, start spinning, like we did as children when we wanted to make ourselves dizzy. Oddly enough, you will regain control and lucidity, at least for a little while longer. Some people claim to be able to sustain a lucid dream for upwards of thirty minutes. I've never come close to that. My average lucid dream lasts a few minutes, and occasionally I have been able to sustain them for as long as five minutes. I should note that these durations are approximations only; I don't actually try to time them by anything other than my own internal clock.

CONTROLLING LUCID DREAMS

This is a bit trickier. Your first few lucid dreams may amount to nothing more than a vague awareness that you are dreaming. With time and practice, you should be able to exert some control over your dreams. Start out with simple things. Flying and floating seem easy enough. I've never been able to make an object appear in my hand, but I have noticed that I can tell myself that a certain object will be somewhere (behind a couch, around the corner, under a potted plant, whatever) and when I go to look, there it is. The power of "suggestion" seems to be at work here. In a typical lucid dream, I might become lucid and aware that I am dreaming that I am in a park. I might then suggest something to myself like "around the corner of that building there is a playground full of circus clowns," then, when I go to look, there is indeed a playground full of circus clowns. I have noticed over time that I am able to exert greater control over my dreams, but it is a process of fits and starts. Practice, and patience, are the keys here.

THE DARK SIDE

There are a few things that you might want to watch out for as you explore the phenomenon of lucid dreaming. You will notice an increase in the amount of dreams that you remember, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but you will also notice an increase in the realism of your dreams, even the non-lucid ones. This can be a good or bad thing, depending on the dream (or nightmare) in question.

If you pursue lucid dreaming long enough, you will eventually encounter a phenomenon known as "false waking." False waking can be particularly unpleasant because you become "hyper-lucid," not dreaming and aware that you are dreaming, but dreaming and convinced that you are in fact awake. In a typical false waking I will wake up (or so it seems) and lay in my bed, maybe leaning up to check the clock. I may lay there for several minutes, pondering the lucid dream that I just had, rearranging my pillows and such. Then something will happen. It could be a scary voice calling my name from somewhere in the room behind me, or a door opening that should not be opening, or, in one particularly terrifying instance, a huge demonic face appearing in the air right above my bed. Suddenly I realize that I am NOT awake, I am still dreaming, and the dream is not particularly pleasant. It is very difficult to will myself awake in a situation like that, and I have begun to wonder if what I am experiencing is a stage four lucid dream.

Related to false waking is another phenomenon known as "Old Hag" syndrome. In an old hag episode, you believe that you have awakened in your bed only to realize that there is someone else in the room with you. As they approach (and they always do) you are terrified to realize that you are paralyzed, and cannot move. In extreme cases, the "old hag" actually reaches the dreamer and tries to smother or suffocate them. The "old hag" isn't always some old crone, it can be anything including just a dark shape or an evil, but invisible, presence. As with false waking, it is a bit difficult to wake yourself from an "old hag" experience, but the sensation of paralysis would seem to suggest that it occurs during REM stage sleep, which is actually not that far from a waking state.

Finally, there are people who claim to have had an OBE, or out of body experience either just prior to a lucid dream, or while in the hypnagogic state of stage one sleep. I'm not sure that I believe much of what is written about OBE's--if they occur at all I suppose they are more likely to be some sort of intense lucid dream state--however, it is reported that most OBE's begin with an odd vibrating feeling, and I have experienced this phenomenon. It is not very pleasant, frankly, and I have always awakened myself immediately whenever it has occurred.

As frightening as these experiences can be initially, over time they become less so. If you are the sort of person prone to nightmares or night terrors, or if you are at an emotionally difficult point in your life, you might reconsider delving too far into the world of lucid dreaming. You might also consult a doctor.

Happy lucid dreaming!