If you are serious about becoming a lucid dreamer, then this blog is a must for you. I will teach you everything you need to know. If you are diligent in following these free lucid dream lessons, then you can start having lucid dreams in a relatively short period of time.

Journeys Beyond Belief

Imagine flying above a winding road in an old country neighborhood just above the heights of the telephone poles, soaring above skyscrapers in a large, metropolitan city, gliding through the incredible geological formations of the Grand Canyon, propelling yourself throughout a surreal, enchanted forest filled with dangerous creatures just out of your reach, blasting into the far-reaches of the universe and exploring bizarre planets, breathtaking nebulae, and spectacular galaxies. Consider being a member of the crew of the Starship Enterprise or any other cast member of your favorite television program or movie? Would you like to have the power and satisfaction to thwart off a group of thugs that are threatening you or your family’s safety? Wouldn’t it be fantastic to obtain helpful insight for problems or issues you may have with your relationships, school, work, or anything else? How about having an unbridled relationship with any partner you desire? These fantasies and others are possible through lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming allows you to take full control of your dreams while remaining asleep. You can control and consciously communicate with your subconscious mind while you are sleeping.

Definition of Lucid Dreaming and Dream Control

A lucid dream is a dream in which a person is aware that they are dreaming while they are actually sleeping. This phenomenon is also known as conscious or self-aware dreaming. Dream control is actually the function that allows you to do what you want during a dream. The words “lucid dreaming” and “dream control” are often used synonymously, but dream control is what I am really discussing here and is where the fun, excitement and the learning happens. Lucid dreaming only means that you know that you are dreaming and dream control is when you are in control of what happens during your dream while you know you are dreaming. For the purpose of the lessons on this website, I will use the term “lucid dreaming” to mean that you know that you are dreaming and you are in control of what happens during your dream.

A lucid dream can seem extremely real and vivid. During a lucid dream, the dreamer can actively participate and control the entire dream. Lucid dreaming can truly be a fantastic experience. Just think how incredible it would be to do what ever you wish in a safe environment that feels as close to real as real can be, without the fear of consequences. On a more practical standpoint, a lucid dream is extremely therapeutic and psychologically helpful in many ways.

This blog website will provide you with free lucid dream lessons, which will show you exactly how to start having your own lucid dreams as quickly as possible. Later, more blogs will be posted on this website that will contain every aspect of lucid dreaming. Keep in mind that the more you know about lucid dreaming, the more lucid dreams you will have.

An Incredible Reality

About twenty-five years ago, I briefly witnessed a discussion on television about lucid dreaming. I only caught the end of the discussion and quickly wrote down the term “lucid dream.” It was the first time I ever heard the term, “lucid dream.” I had experienced lucid dreams prior to this television discussion, but not very often. This was during the mid-1980s when there weren’t many home computers around, let alone access to the Internet. As soon as I had the chance, I went to the book store and looked for a book about this intriguing subject. It took several trips to different book stores until I ran across a book named Lucid Dreaming, by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. I was thrilled to find this book. It was a treasure to me and read through it almost without stopping. This book and several others taught me what I needed to know to induce and increase the frequency of my lucid dreams. It only took me short amount of time to be much more successful. I now have lucid dreams on a very regular basis and as often as I want. I have been consistently experiencing lucid dreams for over twenty years. I consider myself an expert on the subject because of my extensive lucid dreaming experience and the massive amounts of research I have done on this subject. I can help you have your own lucid dreams, or if you are already having them, I can help you to have more.

In this blog website, www.luciddreamlessons.com I will provide you will free lucid dream lessons and share information I have learned with you so that you may have as may lucid dreams as you wish.

A lucid dream is like using a holodeck. For those not familiar with holodecks, they are facilities that simulate reality, generally located on starships like in the fictional Star Trek universe.

Lucid dreaming is not fiction my friends, it is a reality!

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

Research has proven that everyone dreams several times during a full sleeping period. The problem is that you may simply don’t remember what you dreamed about or if you had any dreams at all. You simply forget. In order to enjoy and learn from your lucid dreams when you are awake, you must remember your dreams.

Dreaming

Having a positive attitude and being optimistic is the first step in remembering your dreams. Getting plenty of sleep is also very important. Keeping a dream journal will help you to remember your dreams and the details of your dreams. Other techniques explained on this website will assist you in dream recall.

Keeping a Dream Journal

A dream journal must always be kept when you are learning to have lucid dreams. It is also a good practice to continue keeping a dream journal even after you are an expert lucid dreamer. I do. Keeping a dream journal will help you remember your dreams and the details of your dreams. When diligently maintaining a dream journal, you will be surprised how many dreams you have and the vividness and detail of your dreams. Be thorough in keeping a dream journal every day, and you will eventually start remembering your dreams on a regular basis. You will probably not remember all of your dreams, but just remembering and keeping notes on a few dreams or even just small parts of dreams is very important. It will train you to eventually have great success with having a detailed and organized dream journal.

Here’s how it works. If you do recall a dream or even just a partial dream, write it down as quickly as possible. This includes lucid, non-lucid, partial dreams, dream fragments, and feelings you have about the dream. Sometimes feelings are the only thing you can remember about a dream. Dream fragments are tiny portions, feelings, or just a glimpse of the dream. They are usually vague, but can often be helpful. Include as much detail as you can, such as where you were, what you were doing, how you felt, people you encountered or talked to, music, animals, objects such as furniture, rooms, cars, airplanes, pencils, doors, clothing, etc., everything. If you recall part or most of your dream, I find it best to write it like a story. Give it a title and just write as much as you can remember. A title will help you remember the main idea of the dream. You will usually remember more detail when you write it down. You should even draw pictures, such as room layouts, paths or streets you traveled, etc. The key is to write about your dream as quickly as possible and everything you can remember. I keep a notebook and pencil right next to my bed. If I wake in the middle of the night, I’ll grab it and jot down a few key words that will help me remember when I wake up. I’ll then use my notes to enter a dream into my dream journal. The key words I write down in the middle of the night are a great tool to help me remember. Sometimes I even recall a dream or part of a dream several hours later, during the day. If I do, I write down what I remember and add it to my dream journal later.

A dream journal can simply be a notebook. Here are some suggestions of ways to keep a dream journal:

• Notebook or notepad
  
• Word processor or note-keeping software on your computer – Be sure to use titles, keywords, etc. Organize them in a fashion so you can easily reference them in the future.
• Dream diary software or personal diary software – Many are free, but some are not. Do a search on the internet. Some dream diary software can assist you in organization and help you with other key elements of lucid dreams. I’ll list some of these in another blog.
• An audio recording device – You can use a tape recorder, digital recorder or any other device to record your dreams
  
• A spreadsheet on your computer

Be creative and use whatever works for you.

Note: Dreams can be very personal, so you may want to protect your dream journal by locking it up or assigning a password to the files on your computer.

Having a Difficult Time Remembering Your Dreams?

Remember, getting plenty of sleep is the first step. Also, remember before going to sleep, put yourself into a very relaxed state. Think to yourself, “I will have a wonderful dream. When I awake, I will remember it.” Repeat this several times. If possible, keep thinking these words as you drift off to sleep. You can also repeat this to yourself throughout your waking hours, several times a day. The subconscious mind has much influence over you and your dreams because it is directly connected to your dreaming. It remembers what you think while you are awake and when you are asleep.

You may also recall dream fragments. You can remember dream fragments waking up in the middle of the night (or your normal sleep time), when you first wake up in the morning (or your regular waking time), or anytime throughout the day. You may vaguely remember you were at some location, talking to someone, being afraid or happy, or taking place in any activity. Sometimes a dream fragment is just a feeling you had. If you recall any dream fragments, you should ponder them immediately and write them down. Dream fragments are keys to dream recall. You will build your dream recall by using dream fragments, which includes anything you can remember, how ever small they may be. Make sure you are in a safe place while pondering and writing. I wouldn’t want you to have an accident while doing this.

One method that has worked very well for me when waking with a dream fragment in my mind is this: Quickly close your eyes and gently focus on the fragment to the best of your ability. Often, it will help you to remember the dream, including portions of the dream, or the entire dream in astonishing detail. You can be amazed on how focusing on dream fragments can help you recall the dream. You can also use this method if you remember a dream fragment during the day. Just close your eyes and ponder. It doesn’t always work, but it does for a good percentage of the time. Remember to write it down as soon as you recall any details. Also, remember that dream fragments can just be a feeling about the dream. Ponder the feeling of the dream and include it in your dream journal. Don’t forget to always be positive and optimistic!

Don’t Give Up!

Everyone is different. You may already recall great details of you dreams everyday or you may think that you never dream. For those that think that you never dream, you must be persistent. It may take a few days, weeks, or months before you recall your first dream or dream fragments. When you do, you will be pleasantly surprised!

Review:

1. Stay positive and optimistic.
2. Get plenty of sleep and think and believe that you will have a dream that you will remember before falling asleep and throughout your waking hours.
3. Keep an organized, detailed dream journal, including dream fragments and dream feelings.
4. Never give up. Think positive. It may take some time, but you will eventually recall your dreams!

The next lesson will explain how to induce a lucid dream!

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

By now, you should be very diligent in keeping a dream journal. Perhaps you are now recording full dreams or just dream fragments. I recommend that if you have been keeping a dream journal for three or four weeks and you are just remembering dream fragments or no dreams at all, then continue to focus on working on your dream journal for a couple of more weeks and then come back to this lesson. If you can’t recall any dreams, then there is not much reason to obtaining lucidity. In the near future, I will add an extra blog containing more techniques that should help you progress in remembering your dreams.

If you have been successful in dream recall let’s move ahead now and learn how to induce a lucid dream.

Techniques to Inducing Lucid Dreams

There are many methods that will induce lucid dreams. In this lesson, I will focus on a two very essential techniques that have worked for a countless number of people, including myself. In my next blog, I will provide you with several more techniques, in case you are still struggling with experiencing a lucid dream.

Lucid Dream Induction Techniques

Since lucid dreaming has been around for a while, there are several techniques that have been developed and are regularly used in the lucid dream community. It is essential that you fully understand these techniques in order to successfully induce a lucid dream. I am only going to address two extremely important techniques in this blog. In my experience, “reality testing” (or reality checking) and “dream signs” are the two techniques that can induce lucid dreams quickly and easily.

Reality Testing

Reality testing is a common technique used to determine whether or not you are dreaming. It involves performing tests to determine if you are dreaming or not. By performing these tests while you are awake, it can become a habit to perform such a test while dreaming. If the reality test fails, then you may realize that you are dreaming and start having a lucid dream. Remember, the goal is to do these tests on a regular basis so they become a habit. Eventually, you will perform reality tests while you are dreaming if you practice doing them while you are awake. When I was learning, I did the tests about eight to ten times a day. I didn’t do all of them, but maybe two or three random ones.

Here is a list of common reality tests that I have read about and tried:

• Simply asking yourself throughout your waking hours, “Is this a dream?” Then make the decision weather or not you are awake or dreaming. It’s really that simple. This is a reality test that I use the most.
  
• Look into a mirror. During a dream, reflections from a mirror often appear different from which you would normally expect. Reflections can be blurred, distorted, or even frightening.
• Open book and look inside. Often, the pages will be blank during a dream.
• Squeeze your nostrils shut and if you are able to breathe without using your mouth, you are dreaming.
• Try to stick your finger through the palm of your hand. Of course this wouldn’t work during a waking state unless the unlikely even that you really had a hole through your palm.
• Look at your watch or a clock (remembering the time), look away, and look back. The time will probably have changed to a different time and you may see strange letters and characters. (Digital watches and clocks have a tendency to work much better than analog watches or clocks.)
• Look towards the ground beneath your feet or at your hands. If you do this while dreaming, the difference in appearance of the ground or your hands from a waking state is usually enough to alert you that you are dreaming.
• Flip a light switch on or off. The light usually doesn’t change as it should in a waking state unless, of course, the light bulb really burned out.

Use your imagination and test other actions. With practice, I’ll bet you will notice things that you can test that prove you are dreaming.

You can build up a habit of periodically asking oneself throughout the day if you are dreaming by performing one or several of the tests above. These habits will eventually cause you to test them during a dream, which will lead to lucidity when you realize that your actions or behaviors are not real.

When I was a teenager, my friends and I used to jump up off the ground to see how many time we could click our feet together before returning to the ground. Even with much practice it is hard to click your feet together two or three times. I think three was all I was able to achieve. In one of my first lucid dreams, I was able to jump up in the air and click my feet together about nine or ten times. This was a reality test that carried from my waking state right into my dream. I suddenly realized that this couldn’t possibly be real and immediately knew that I was having a lucid dream. This lucid dream carried on what seemed to be about twenty minutes. I had complete control over everything in my dream. I simply thought what I wanted to happen during the dream and it happened. What a blast I had!

Dream Signs

Dream signs are clues that you are dreaming. They are things occurring in your dream that wouldn’t happen in a waking state. Before you recognize that they are dream signs, they will seem natural to you while you are dreaming. Once you recognize the dream sign, you will know you are dreaming and become lucid in your dream.

Dream signs may include things such as flying, a dog or cat talking to you, or several other abnormal events. Dream signs include out-of-the-ordinary actions or objects in your dream. They can also reflect wants, fears, hates, and embarrassing situations. They can manifest themselves in many different ways, depending on the dreamer. The key is that you recognize its abnormality. This is what makes you realize that you are dreaming.

There are many kinds of dream signs that will eventually become very evident to you. Here are some common examples that I have read about and experienced:

• You, another dream character, or an object does something unusual or impossible in waking life, such as walking through walls, flying, jumping extremely high, or breathing under water.
• You have a sensational loss of bodily strength. You are unable to move entirely or run away from something you are scared of.
• If you read a sign, book or any other document, look away, then look back, the words usually change.
• The place or situation in the dream is weird and includes fictional characters or places.
• You, another character, or an object changes shapes. This may include unusual clothing, hair, body parts, etc. You may even find yourself looking at your own self.
• During a dream, you may have a very unusual thought, a strong emotion, an abnormal sensation, a loss of normal logic, or an altered perception.
  
• If you move your head from side to side, you notice a strange motion of an image you are looking at.
• If you look at a clock or watch, look away, then look back, the time is usually different, it may have changed in appearances, or the clock or watch may be gone.
• You seem to have an abnormal number of fingers or other body parts.

Be conscious of your surroundings during your waking state and think about dream signs. This habit will eventually cause you to become more aware of dream signs during a dream. This will eventually lead into a lucid dream when dream signs are recognized.

Analyze your dream journal to determine your own dream signs and highlight or make a note of them.

Differences Between Reality Testing and Dream Signs

Reality testing and dream signs may seem to be a lot alike, but there is a difference. Reality testing takes place during your waking state and then carries over to your dream state. Dream signs are merely things that should only occur during dreams.

I rely much on dream signs because I have been using them for a long time. I also still perform reality testing as well. For you, as a beginner, I would recommend using both of these tools to their most fullest extent as possible.

The next blog lesson will cover more ways to induce lucid dreams.

Sweet Dreams

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

I want to cover a few topics that closely relate to lucid dreaming. As I mentioned before, the more you know about lucid dreaming and related topics, the better chances you will have to refine your skills to achieve lucidity, longer and more often. You will also increase the control over your lucid dreams the more you know about this phenomenal skill.

The Stages of Sleep

Sleep is divided into five stages. It is driven by natural cycles of activity in the brain. Sleep consists of two basic states, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep (stages 1 – 4) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (stage 5).

During sleep, the body changes between non-REM and REM sleep. You will usually start the sleep cycle with a period of non-REM sleep followed by periods of REM sleep. Dreams and lucid dreams occur during the REM stage of sleep.

Non-Rapid-Eye-Movement (NREM) Sleep

Each stage of NREM sleep can last approximately 5 to 15 minutes. You will generally go through the four stages of NREM sleep before REM sleep occurs.

• Stage 1: Your eyes are closed and you can be awakened easily. Stage 1 may last for five to ten minutes. Many may notice a feeling of falling during this stage of sleep, which may cause you to wake with some degree of panic.
• Stage 2: This is a period of light sleep. Your heart rate slows and your body temperature decreases. At this point, your body prepares itself to enter a state of deep sleep.
• Stages 3 and 4: These are deep sleep stages. Stage four is a deeper sleep than stage three.
• Stage 5: This is the period of REM sleep and your opportunity to have lucid dreams.
  

Sleep does not progress through these stages in order. Sleep begins in stage 1 and progresses into stages 2, 3 and 4. After stage 4, stage 3 and then stage 2 are repeated before entering stage 5, REM sleep.

During the deep stages of NREM sleep, the body repairs and regenerates itself, which is obviously a very important benefit of sleeping.

Rapid-Eye-Movement (REM) Sleep

REM sleep can begin approximately 90 minutes after you first fall asleep. During this stage your eyes move rapidly in different directions. Intense dreaming occurs during REM sleep as a result of heightened brain activity. The first period of REM sleep normally is fairly short. Each recurring REM sleep period occupies a longer period of time. Your final REM sleep periods may last up to an hour or so. REM sleep periods can occupy 90-120 minutes of your night’s sleep. You will typically experience about five periods of REM sleep during a full sleep period. Your heart and breathing rate are irregular during REM sleep, similar to you waking state. REM sleep gives you your golden opportunity to become lucid.

Polysomnograms are used in sleep labs to show brainwave patterns while you are sleeping. While you are in REM sleep, your brainwaves are similar to what they are when you are awake. This is the relationship between REM sleep and lucid dreaming.

Sleep and dream well.

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

Even if you just live out your wildest fantasies during a lucid dream, it would probably be enough. However, I do encourage doing much more than just fulfilling fantasies during lucidity. I love to have pleasurable experiences like the next person, but there are much more productive endeavors you can take advantage of during a lucid dream. Let’s take a look at a few.

Fantasies

There are no social or physical consequences of your actions while acting out your lucid dream fantasies. You could do virtually anything at all without any apparent consequences. I would caution you with intimate fantasies. If you are married or have a significant other, it may not be appropriate to have intimate relationships with other partners even though they are not actually real. That’s up to you to make your own decision. Having said that, lucid dream fantasies are virtually endless, so enjoy your most pleasurable desires.

Nightmares

Lucid dreams may be a way to end nightmares. The fear you feel during a nightmare is real, but the danger is not. If you know you are dreaming, then you know that your nightmare cannot cause you any real physical harm. The best way to end your nightmare is to face the source of your fear. I mentioned in one of my earlier lessons, while I was lucid dreaming, I was being attacked by a group of thugs. Briefly, I did feel some fear, but knowing I was in a lucid dream the fear quickly vanished. I knew that I had nothing to worry about. I confronted all of the thugs and had fun doing it. After I defeated them all physically, I felt a sense of strength, bravery, but mostly, it was just fun because I knew that I really didn’t do any harm. The key to overcoming nightmares is to become lucid in your dream so you can realize there isn’t an actual danger. Then you can put an end to the  nightmare by confronting and defeating the source of fear.

Creativity and Problem Solving

While dreaming, our thought process can engage in a variety of ways of thinking that are rare during waking life. Our creativity and problem solving skills can be extremely enhanced while dreaming. Tapping into this advantageous way of thinking through lucid dreaming can help us to create, invent, discover, build, and solve a problem. Lucid dreaming taps into our subconscious mind to assist in this process. Many lucid dreamers report using dreams for problem solving, creativity and artistic inspiration.

Practice

Many people use lucid dreaming to practice a variety of events in order to be successful in waking life situations. You can use lucid dreaming to practice:

• Public speaking in front of an audience of millions or just a few people
• Confronting someone that you need to face up to in waking-life
• Talking to someone you are attracted to, but are too shy to do so during waking life
• Practicing your athletic skills
• Memorizing information for presentations or tests
• Planning for the future
• I’ll bet you can think of several more. Give it a try

Physical and Mental Healing

The vivid positive imagery of lucid dreaming may be used to alleviate physical pain and emotional disturbances. Study has shown that some people have utilized lucid dreaming to alleviate physical pain, overcome phobias, anguish, and social and sexual anxieties. Greater self-confidence can also be archived by lucid dreaming.

Spirituality

Lucid dreaming can assist us in looking past everyday experiences and tasks. It provokes spiritual questioning and the desire to learn more about our own spirituality. This can be a tremendous assistant in spiritual awakening and increasing our spiritual consciousness. It forces us to look beyond everyday experiences and explore the positive realm of spirituality.

Dream Guide

You can create your own dream guide that you visit during a lucid dream. A dream guide can be a person, a spirit, an animal, a tree, a rock, or anything you want it to be. It can be who ever you feel comfortable taking advice from. A dream guide can be a very powerful dream ally, advocate and adviser. Dream guides possess a vast amount of insight and wisdom. For many lucid dreamers, the primary advantage of mastering lucidity is the ability to summon and consult with their dream guide. Your father, mother or any other loved-one or friend can also regularly guide you, give you counsel and become your dream guide. Its totally up to you. You can even create a place to visit your dream guide to seek wisdom. Ask and listen for guidance from your dream guide. Your dream guide is your subconscious mind delivering you the ultimate personalized information and guidance that is custom-fit to you. After all, who knows yourself better than you! With that stated, perhaps your dream guide is more than just your subconscious mind!?

Dream guides will be discussed in more depth in a future lucid dream lesson.

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

Here are a list of a few:

Paul McCartney: In 1965, the melody for the song Yesterday came to Paul McCartney in a dream.

Mary Shelley: In 1816, the story Frankenstein was inspired by her dream and later written.

Otto Loewi: In 1920, Loewi dreamed of an experiment that led to the foundation of a theory of chemical transmission of the nervous impulse and led to a Nobel Prize.

President Abraham Lincoln: Dreamed of his assassination and described the dream to his wife just a few days prior to his assassination.

Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz: Two of his dreams led to major scientific discoveries: The Structure Theory and the discovery that Benzene molecule, unlike other known organic compounds, had a circular structure rather than a linear one,

Madame C.J. Walker: Walker was suffering from a scalp infection that caused her to loose most of her hair in the 1890’s. She had a dream that informed her of the ingredients needed to solve her problem. Madame Walker founded a successful African-American cosmetic company that made her a millionaire.

Elias Howe: In 1845 Elias Howe invented the sewing machine. He had a dream that helped him understand how the penetration of the needle would work in his invention.

Robert Louis Stevenson: In 1886, the book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was visualized in a dream. It was conceived and written in just 10 weeks following his dream.

Jack Nicklaus: In 1964 Jack Nicklaus discovered a new golf swing in a dream bringing him out of a bad golf slump.

Srinivasa Ramanujan: (1887-1920) One of India’s greatest mathematical geniuses made substantial contributions to analytical theory of numbers, worked on elliptical functions, continued fractions, and infinite series, and proved over mathematical 3,000 theorems in his lifetime. Ramanujan stated that inspiration and insight for his work came to him in his dreams on may occasions.

Louis Agassiz: (1807-1883) A Swiss born naturalist, zoologist, geologist, and teacher. While Agassiz was working on his vast work list of all known fossil fish, he came across a specimen that was not understood. He reports having a dream, three nights in a row in which he saw the fish in perfect original condition.

Stephen King: Dreams have an affect his writings including the thriller book and movie Misery. “Dreams are just another part of life. To me, it’s like seeing something on the street you can use in your fiction.”

Hitler: Hitler had a dream during the First World War that caused him to jump out of his trench at a moment’s notice before a shell stuck and blew up his trench killing everyone.

Sitting Bull: In 1876 Sitting Bull dreamed that soldiers were falling upside down from the sky into the Indian camp. As they fell he heard a voice cry “I give you these because they have no ears.” Sitting bull took it as a sign that the battle would be won and prepared for war.

Nils Bohr: This Danish scientist dreamed about “atomic structure” and then came up with the theories we use today in chemistry about the atoms and their structure.

Carl Jung: A Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker, and the founder of analytical psychology had a lucid dream vision that Europe was engulfed in a great flood and the water came right up to the mountains of Switzerland. Thousands of people drowned and the water then turned to blood. This occurred just months before the Great War began in August 1914.

Caligula: This Roman Emperor dreamed on the night before his assassination that he was standing before Jupiter’s heavenly throne, only to be kicked back down to earth by the God. This was see as a sign of his death.

Albert Einstein: His theory of relativity was inspired by a dream whereby he was going down a mountainside ever faster and watching the appearance of the stars change as he approached the speed of light.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge: This writer’s dreams inspired Kubla Khan and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Edgar Allen Poe: He regularly used dreams as the basis of his stories.

Dr. Frederick Banting: The cure for diabetes came to him in a dream. He won the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

St. Patrick: Claimed that two dreams guided St. Patrick to become a missionary.

Carl Perkins: This American rockabilly musician came up with the lyrics to Blue Suede Shoes in a dream. It began when Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins were waiting in a line to eat and heard someone in line the line say, “don’t step on my blue suede shoes.” Cash told Perkins that that would make a great song title. He turned the song over to Elvis who made it famous

David Parkinson: An engineer at Bell Laboratories had a dream in the early 1940s that help developed a potentiometer, which was an essential part of the anti artillery guns resulting in the new M9 gun used on V-1 missiles. This help change the course in WW2.

As you can see, amazing dreams are threaded throughout history. These are only a very small sample of dreams that inspired famous people. I am sure there are a  plethora of dreams still occurring today on a regular basis that are influencing many people (famous or not) in a positive way. Just think about what the power of dreaming and the awesome power of lucid dreaming holds for you!

Have a lucid dream tonight!

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

Over the ages there have been several theories of why we must dream. I have read that dreaming has to do with fulfilling our wishes, problem solving, memory consolidation, increasing your overall brain efficiency, physiological benefits, assisting your brain’s neural functionality, or we dream for no reason at all.

Let’s take a closer look at what several prominent psychologists, doctors, scientists and other serious dream researchers believe about why we must dream.

• Sigmund Freud (Austrian neurologist, 1856–1939): Sigmund Freud presents his study of dreams with his publication The Interpretation Of Dreams. Freud analyzed dreams in order to understand aspects of one’s personality. He believed that everything people do is motivated by the subconscious portion of the brain and does not occur by chance. He believed that we all hold back our impulses and desires during waking life, but many of them are released through our dreams. Freud wrote that dreams are “…disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes…” Most of us heard of the term “Freudian slip”. Freud’s theory still adds to the popularity of dream interpretation today, however, research has failed to prove that his theory disguises the real psychological meaning of a dream.

• Carl Jung (Swiss psychiatrist, 1875–1961): Jung stated that dreams serve two functions. One function is to compensate for imbalances in the dreamer’s mind. Dreams produce subconscious contents that the conscious mind has either ignored or suppressed. For example, if a person is very timid, dreams will work to balance this conscious pattern by bringing forth images of the mind’s more aggressive-oriented contents. When the dreamer recognizes and accepts these subconscious contents, greater psychological stability is attained. Jung believed that the other function of dreaming is to provide possible images of the future. Jung does not believe that dreams predict the future, but that dreams can suggest what might happen and what potentials the future might hold for us. Jung believes that dreams look forward to anticipate what the dreamer’s future developments may be. Jung believed that dreams occur to promote the combining of the subconscious and the consciousness in a harmonious state of wholeness. He considered this process to be the most important development of life.

• Edgar Cayce (American psychic 1877–1945):  Cayce believed that the dream state is an experimental playground which gives you a chance to explore and express emotions without the usual inhibitions you may display in your waking life. Dreams are the presentations of the experiences necessary for your personal development. Dreams provide an avenue of expression for the part of yourself that knows both your history and your potential as a spiritual being. Dreams are another way the universe provides guidance about relationships, careers, and health problems. Through dreams you may find answers to your spiritual questions and even receive encouragement to some challenge in your life. While some dreams may allow you to release bottled-up emotions from your day’s activities, others can lead to profound insights in a psychological or spiritual way. While dreaming, we experience different levels of consciousness and receive input from the different realms of the spirit world. Through dreaming, we have special access to our spirit within. According to the Cayce, there is not a question we can ask which cannot be answered from our sub-consciousness. Cayce believed that dreams may include the health status of our bodies, telepathy, clairvoyance, prophecies, astral projection, memory of past lives, communication with those that have died, spirit guides, angels, Christ, and even the voice of God.

• Deirdre Barrett Ph.D. (Author and psychologist who teaches at Harvard Medical School): Barrett believed that dreams are for problem-solving. Since dreams can be very visual and illogical it makes them the perfect state of mind for “out-of-the-box” thinking for solving problems and resolving confusing thoughts we may have while we are awake. Barrett stated, “Whatever the state we’re put in, we’re still working on the same problems.” Barrett has also conducted research on lucid dreams.
• Matthew Wilson (Neuroscientist at the Picower Institute at M.I.T.) In the early 1990’s, Wilson was recording neuron activity in the brains of rats with a sound recording device as they tried to find their way through a difficult maze. He left the rats connected to the sound recording device after they completed the task. After becoming tired, the rats fell asleep. Wilson then heard something extremely unanticipated. Although the rats were asleep, the sound produced by their brain activity was almost exactly the same as it was when they were in the maze. The rats were dreaming what they just had done in the maze. After more research it was concluded that the dreaming rats are consolidating their new memories, embedding these memory traces into their neural network. While we are asleep, the mind is filtering through the disorganized thoughts of the day and trying to figure out what we need to remember and what we can forget. Dreaming may be part of the process that changes important bits and pieces of the day’s experiences into long-term memories.

• Francis Crick (English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist 1916-2004) and Graeme Mitchison (Quantum computing researcher and computational biologist):  Crick and Mitchinson proposed that a reverse learning mechanism in REM sleep sifts through information gathered throughout the day and throws out all unwanted material in our brain. It removes certain undesirable modes of interaction in neural networks within the cerebral cortex of our brain. The cortex is made up of connected neural networks that have the ability to stimulate other neural networks.  It is believed that memories are encoded in these neural networks. When one point of the network is stimulated, a pulse travels through the network which prompts recall. If there is an overload of incoming information the network can malfunction. They believe that too many memories in one network can produce fantasies, obsessions, and hallucinations. To deal with information overload, the brain needs a mechanism to debug and tune the network. This method is REM sleep that is needed for the daily cleanup of the neural network. They claim that this is why if you don’t write down your dreams you will forget them because your brain is still working to clear these memories out.

• Jan Born (PhD in Neuroscience, of the University of Lübeck in Germany), Through a very tedious mathematical experiment with a group of students, Born discovered that participants that were allowed to sleep were more likely to resolve the math experiment. A well-designed shortcut was built into the math problem.  Less than 25 percent solved the problem with no sleep and 59 percent were able to solve the problem with sleep. Born argues that deep sleep and dreaming “…set the stage for the emergence of insight…” by allowing us to mentally represent old ideas in new ways.

Summary

As we can see, there is much research being done on sleep and dreaming. Several different ideas have been presented here and there are plenty more. This is only a sample of my research. I personally believe that sleep and dreaming are extremely important to our health and development, both mentally and physically. Since lucid dreaming is also directly tied into the brain during sleeping and dreaming it is most definitely worth the research it deserves.

Dream Lucid My Friends.

© 2010 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

Yoga of the Dream State
“Milam,” the Yoga of the Dream State is one of many different types of Yogas practiced by Tibetan Buddhists. The intention of this form of Yoga is to help to attain spiritual power and enlightenment or “awakening.” The word “Buddha” means “one who has awakened.”

The Yoga of the Dream State or Tibetan dream Yoga is a philosophical practice that includes lucid dreaming. Just like lucid dreaming in the Western world, the objective of Tibetan dream Yoga is to awaken the consciousness in the dream state, however Buddhist monks have a more secret and deeper knowledge of the power of dream consciousness that is possessed or understood only by a few.

The goal of the Yoga of the Dream State is to control the power of the lucid dream and then complete tasks to enter into a higher level of consciousness. These tasks include:

• Practice a spiritual discipline
• Receive initiations, empowerments and transmissions
• Visit different places, planes and worlds
• Communicate with an enlightened being
• Meet with other sentient beings
• Fly and shape-shift into other creatures

The Practice of Yoga of the Dream State
A common element in Eastern and Western lucid dreaming preparedness is to compare your dreams to waking reality and understand what it feels like to be conscious. This will increase your self awareness and you will find it easier to induce dream lucidity.

Another common element of ancient lucid dreaming and lucid dreaming today is dream recollection. As soon as you awaken, reflect on all the dreams you can remember. Remain stationary and meditate on you dreams. Physical movement disturbs the astral body and can cause you to forget your dreams.

In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that you travel during sleep, revisiting places you have been to in real life, and repeating all of your experiences.

Dreams are mirrors of our spirit. Our dreams are a reflection of ourselves. We meet ourselves in our dreams. They can help us to better understand ourselves and reality. Dreams can show us other dimensions, worlds, other lives and our afterlife.

In Tibetan dream Yoga, the spiritual practice goes deeper than that of Western lucid dreaming. It helps us to better understand life and death. Tibetan dream Yoga teaches us how to find our way through the seemingly meaninglessness state of our existence. When we reach this deep level of consciousness, we can “see” through the deceptive nature of our mind and correctly experience the spectacular human existence. You learn the true nature of reality.

During waking life, we are like sleepwalkers or dream characters semi-consciously making our way through life in a chaotic fashion. We need to be awakened. Spiritual life is awakening from the dream of unreality. All of our spiritual practices are designed to awaken us from the daydream of illusion and uncertainty. Buddhists teach us to awaken to who and what we truly are. We can then recognize the difference between the real and the unreal in our daily life.

Tibetan Buddhism teaches how to reach lucidity and how to practice it spiritually. This is the core of Tibetan dream Yoga, and the center of all the practices associated with it.

Once you master the control of your lucid dreams, it is possible to dissociate your dream body from your physical body. During the normal dream state, dream­ing occurs within the body. As you become a master lucid dreamer, the dream body can separate and journey to other unimaginable places.

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

I must admit I am skeptical when it comes to astral projection, astral travel or out-of-body experiences. I never experienced one and they seem rather unbelievable, but I am open to discover and research almost anything. I have mentioned throughout my lessons, that I have lucid dreams on a regular basis. So, it is easy for me to believe in lucid dreaming. I have a solid testimony that lucid dreaming is real. Just because I don’t have any personal experience with astral travel, I can’t just dismiss them as myths. I’ll share with you what I have discovered so far.

Definition

Wikipedia.org describes astral projection (or astral travel) as an interpretation of out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of an “astral body” separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside it. Astral projection or travel denotes the astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the astral plane.

I’ll refer to this phenomena as “astral travel” throughout this blog.

People claim that all senses are utilized during astral travel. Some people claim that they saw or heard things which they could not possibly have seen or heard from the actual positions of their bodies such as being in bed sleeping.

History

The term out-of-the-body experience was introduced in 1943 by G.N.M Tyrrell in his book Apparitions. Astral travel is recorded in history as early as ancient Egypt, 5,000 years ago. The Egyptian priests had knowledge of the existence of the astral body that they referred to as Kha. There are ancient Egyptians inscriptions and drawings on rock walls of many temples and buildings representing the abandonment the physical body during sleep.

Scientific Study of Astral Travel

From my research, the vast majority of scientists don’t believe that astral travel really exists. They believe that astral travel is simply a recreation of sensory feelings that our minds just make up. Through the use of virtual reality goggles, cameras, poking or touching a person, etc., scientists can recreate what it is like to experience real astral travel, if they do indeed exist.

Real Astral Travel?

Surveys show that about up to 35% of the population have experienced astral travel at some time during their life. One explanation of the astral travel is that consciousness or one’s spirit is a separate entity from the body and can exist without the body.

There are thousands of claims of astral travel and many Websites dedicated to people sharing their personal astral travel with the world. Those that claim to have experienced astral travel totally believe that they real and not something that is simply made up in their minds. They are truly convinced that there consciousness or spirit is temporarily leaving there bodies. I was truly amazed at the number of believable astral travel stories I have read. Just do a search on the Internet and you will see what I am talking about.

Lucid Dreaming and Astral Travel

Some believe that astral travel begins when a person loses contact with sensory input from the body while remaining conscious.

From Blackmore, 1988; LaBerge – Lucidity Letter; Levitan – Lucidity Letter: The person retains the feeling of having a body, but that feeling is no longer derived from data provided by the senses. The “out-of-body” person also perceives a world that resembles the world he or she generally inhabits while awake, but this perception does not come from the senses either. The vivid body and world of the OBE is made possible by our brain’s marvelous ability to create fully convincing images of the world, even in the absence of sensory information. This process is witnessed by each of us every night in our dreams. Indeed, all dreams could be called OBEs in that in them we experience events and places quite apart from the real location and activity of our bodies.

Conclusion

This is only the beginning of my research on astral travel. I will continue to research and share my findings with you. It is really much too early for me to draw any conclusions on astral travel other than there are just too many people that claim to be experiencing them. It makes no sense to me to simply dismiss them just because scientists can’t prove in a laboratory that they really exist.

Please feel free to share any experiences with astral travel that you may have had!

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved