Lucid dreaming
+ lucid dreaming has been known for centuries, but is very badly understood
+ lucid dreaming is an unusual state of consciousness
+ awareness is a function of the brain; it gathers information from the senses and builds a general picture of what is around. How does dream awareness differ from waking awareness?
(Kromoh intends to write an appendix for this)
+ the difference between passive sleep (NREM) and active sleep (REM)
+ dreaming is easily observable in small children and puppies, when they start twitching as if trying to move the body, or when the dog growls or barks silently
+ is LDing real? Is it scientifically observable? It's the question LaBerge had to face. He needed some sort of evidence that lucid dreams really occurred - reports or stories didn't serve for various reasons
+ LaBerge knew of many intriguing report of people reporting have looked in specific directions in their dreams and their REM behaving accordingly
+ he tried moving his eyes in a specific manner in a lucid dream, having his eye movements monitored through his sleep. He was able to locate the specific signal (left-right-left-right) in the middle of a REM period. He then realised it was a way lucid dreamers could signal researchers from inside their dreams, and used it for scientific research
+ dreamed action affects the sleeping body (excitement in a dream produces physiological excitement, for example), external sensorial experiences affect the dream (sounds or songs can be incorporated into the
dream content, for example)
=> leads us to conclude that the real world and the dream world aren't so distant
+ dreamed experiences are as real to the brain as waking-life ones
Dream Recall
+ dream recall is a fundamental skill for having and exploring lucid dreams - it would be useless if you had one and couldn't remember
+ dream recall is a practicable skill
+ for lucid dreaming, it is advised to build a dream recall of at least 1 dream per night
+ some researches believe that you will not remembers a dream if you don't wake up directly from it (even if for a few seconds)
+ women statistically have better dream recall and also have lighter sleep, which supports the theory
for recalling dreams:
+ forcing yourself to write your dreams down gives your mind the need to remember them
+ dreams are easily forgettable as you just wake up - make quick notes at first and avoid disturbances
+ set an alarm to wake you up around your REM periods if you are a heavy sleeper
+ motivate yourself to remember your dreams
+ self-suggestion and self-hypnosis work
(Kromoh intends to write a small appendix on self-hypnosis for the book)
+ building passive memory: the ability to recall things you didn't take time to memorize (what you ate yesterday, in what order you dressed yourself this morning, how was your way to work/school, etc)
+ the advantages of having a
dream journal: better memory in general, knowing your subconscious thoughts better, being able to analyse what troubles you in your dreams; and for lucid dreaming, increase of dream awareness and ability to find indicators of dreams
+ dream signs: they are indicators that you are dreaming, which your mind usually skips completely
(I think examples from people's dream journals could be very well placed for illustrating dream signs)
+ when awake, we are completely sure we are awake. When dreaming, we are completely sure we are
awake - so sure that our mind rarely questions if we could be dreaming!
+ natural lucid dreamers have the difference of a better awareness of reality, which also applies when they are dreaming
+ reality testing: a way to tell apart dreams from reality, by doing or finding things which could only happen in a dream
+ the great epiphany: I am dreaming!
+ dreams use the same parts of the waking brain to simulate a different reality - dreams can be not only as but much more vivid than waking experience, because they aren't limited by the bodily senses
+ how we usually miss dream signs due to rationalization
(example fits well)
Summary:
+ dream journalling, finding dream signs, and reality-testing
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