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I come in peace and I hope to learn as much as I hope to share my own view on this subject.
Furthermore, I hope to learn as much as I share on this post and honestly am looking froward to your insights on this topic as I can see we've got some genuinely very clever contributors on this forum so please, with the utmost respect I will ask you to join in and lets have a good knock around on this one.

As for the relevance to martial arts, please bear with me on this and I hope, for those of you who do not instantly make the connection that this will be unfolded in appropriate time.

Lets Begin.....,
When we dream, for most of us mere mortals it is in effect an experience that we are only aware of subsequent to the event itself. That is to say, during the dream we are not consciously engaging the event but merely observing it in an autopilot like fashion. We do not make conscious decisions parse and we do not typically intentionally exercise control over the events of the dream.
A lucid dream occurs when we become aware during the dream experience that we are dreaming. We consciously become self aware in the dream and with experience we can learn to exert a degree of control on the dream events.
We have all experienced levels of consciousness but a full on lucid dream when experienced will not leave you guessing as to what just happened. It is a profound experience and for many people quite life changing.

At this point one may ask how can such an event be proved, firstly to oneself that this is in fact a lucid dream and secondly to the empirical evaluator as to whether or not such a state of consciousness can be achieved.

The answer to both is a thankful yes. It is possible to know you are definitely in a lucid dream and yes you can prove it to an evaluator!

Lets look at these concepts the way I encountered them in my experience. I first read about lucid dreaming a number of years ago when I was studying hypnosis and I came accross a most interesting article on an American scientist named Steve LaBerge and how he was able to prove to cynical scientists that it was possible to enter a state of consciousness whereby one could actually be awake in a dream and could experience the dream as a kind of mental virtual reality which with experience could be manipulated to create an almost infinite experience with full conscious engagement.
Let me be frank, I'm a sceptic but something about the article really caught my eye - he showed how he proved it and I just thought wow - this is real - I've got to get involved.

Proof - When we are sleeping it is possible to monitor brain wave function by using what is known as a electroencephalograph (EEG). With this apparatus it is possible to determine what stage of sleep someone is in.
By using this the sleep state and moreover likely dream state can be determined without the subject faking it.
During certain type dream sleep (type 2 or procedural dreams (the ones we normally consider dreams) the body is paralysed apart from the smooth or involuntary muscles need to pump the heart, breath and so forth. However there is also an amount of control available to the eyes. That is to say, the eyes can move under a degree of voluntary control under our influence if one was to consciously do so.
Knowing this LaBerge, on becoming lucid in the dream was able to signal prearranged movements of the eyes to let the observers know he had become lucid.These eye movements in turn can be monitored by using various types of retinal monitoring techniques
It turned out that LaBerge wasn't the only scientist using this method at this time but he was the one who really brought the subject to public attention.

I realise this is a little ABC for a number of you but I would appreciate any feedback at this point to make sure we're on the same song sheet as I would propose to open up the notion of how we become lucid and show you my model of this event which though not ground breaking should certainly be a bit of food for thought even for those of you who already practice.

So in short a lucid dream is a dream where you become or are aware that you are dreaming.

I’ve had several different types of lucid dream, a) where I can control what goes on (happened once and lasted briefly, everything went fuzzy and I woke up) b) where I realised I was either dreaming or astral projecting (decided to look at myself to see which it was and woke up before I could) c) on the verge of a night terror I can sometimes tell myself this is a dream and wake myself up and lastly d) where my mind wakes up and my body doesn’t (it’s not really a dream, I can sense everything around me but cannot move).

In scenario A, I realised I was in a dream when I was carrying out a project I was working on but it was slightly different in the dream to reality. I realised then that I must be in a dream.

That in short sums up my knowledge and experience of lucid dreaming.

Hi and thanks again – I would say Loki that you have experienced some real textbook lucid dream scenarios there so consider yourself having firmly taken the Red Pill!
I will work through your experiences as they are classic in their context and I can gratefully use them to outline the fundamental definitions of the experience.

Lucid dreaming by definition (and of course it varies) is knowing you are dreaming while you are dreaming. Control is not always implied though is often experienced. I personally would say that a degree of control is pretty much always present even if its just the ability to turn left or right in the dream though some people do experience a kind of autopilot like observation of the dream that they are aware that it is a dream but they don’t quite have control. I think this latter scenario is more akin to your night terror.

The dream fading you experienced in your first scenario is classic and is referred to as “Dream Collapse” and it is always good evidence of a real experience so well observed, that was a classic lucid dream motif. Check out Christopher (Dark Knight) Nolan’s new movie trailer and listen carefully (you might see something familiar)


The night terror incidentally is a good method to hijack a dream to become lucid so def look into that if you experience it again. I will come back to this in inductions later.

On the subject of looking at yourself - this is really one of the most interesting queries. In the dream, the body we occupy is in effect a mental construct known as the dream ego. It is similar to the waking ego as both are essentially mental constructs though the latter is layered on to a physical construct. The dream ego can be manipulated in the most fascinating way. One simply has to intend for it to happen. On the simplest level, this could mean intending to have 6 fingers on the left hand and then looking to see this. With more experience and training it is possible to enter into all sorts of shapes and sizes. The Native Americans train to shape shift and occupy animal egos – Eagles, cats and so forth. The Tibetan Monks train to become more abstract creatures like dragons and even pure energy. There is so much to address here in terms of technique and so forth and I will gladly get back into this again.

On the subject of mind awake, body asleep – this is referred to as the classic MABA state of consciousness and is in effect due to the REM paralysis outlined in the last post. This again is a very good place to hijack and enter lucid state. There is a lot of technique to explore here again and I will return to this.
I would now propose to go over some basic definitions Astral Projection vs Out of Body Experience vs Lucid Dream and so forth so fire on any qs before moving on.
Thanks again

That looks like a good film ("dream collapsing") - got ya.

Fire away for round two.

Actually I have another very disturbing night terror which is a whole different catagory (this might be getting a bit of track). I realise it is a night terror and wake myself up. I wake up in my dream and the night terror begins again. It's a bit like ground hog day but with a lot of death. It takes something extreemly abstract in the dream to kick myself out of the cycle.

You definitely exhibit a great deal of awareness in the dream. I am currently putting an article together on awareness in the dream being akin to awareness in the fight.

The first thing we need to reaslise about dreams is that they feel real. We only realise how strange it was after the event. The exception seems to be when the level of threat in the dream becomes so real that our dreaming mind seems to somehow invite our waking conscious into the eqauation as a kind of pyschological back up manouevre.
This is an opportunity for non trained lucid dreamers to become lucid as the tightrope state of consciousness (MABA) is now entered and one has the opportunity to take control. This of course might not be desired as the fear is still experienced even though one is aware that it is a dream. The notion that knowing it is a dream is enough to absolve any fear is simply not true. It is very possible to experience fear in a lucid dream though with experience this can be used to invite in some very exiting adventures.

The notion of getting away from the dream is natural but I might offer a rather bold idea to you here. When one is adequately lucid and though scared is able to observe this event as non threatening to the phsical self, it is possible to engage the foe with some negotiation. Break the cycle and ask the foe "What do you want?" or "Who are you really?"
Man you will be suprised at the answers (and they will answer).

This is a subject I have spent some time researching myself and I have a method I employ to specifically induce crazy action dreams which can get a little nightmarish from time to time if the mix is wrong. Crazy as this sounds I get stuck in and use my dream powers - fire balls, flight and so forth and mix it up. This reuires some experience and training but it is esaily learned.

On this matter I would also say that one of the best lucid dreams I ever had was when I woke up in the dream after going back into the same dream and recognising the room. This sparked lucidity and I was off. So the Groundhog Day motif is a good oppertunity to hijack and maybe keep this in mind.

Cool guy - any qs- fire away

No questions - bat on!

Nice one, only got a few mins here.

Right - basically there arew two types of LD - we can enter indirectly by falling asleep and becoming aware in the dream as you have done - this is called a Dream Induced Lucid Dream or a DILD. We may also transition directly - this is called a Wake Induced Lucid Dream or WILD. The latter is often experienced as a feeling of coming out of your body and is often referred to as an Out of Body Experience or OBE. This is often referred to as Astral Projection too. There is a lot of debate about whether these terms are interchangable but I would refer to Dr Steve LaBerge of the Lucidity Institute in the USA and his research in contrasting these subjective states as to whether or not one can distinguish. I teach the state as a dream though these really are just words and the experience is for you to have.

The WILD is no doubt the more generous of the two states in terms of what you can experience and this is ultimately what one should be aiming for though it can be pretty intense as I have documented in my own training manual. Furtermore it does often require a lot more training. Statistically speaking people normally have a 90% DILD to 10% WILD transition but the good news is you can cheat and pretty much 90% if you know how;I will outline this at a later stage.

Both can be experienced spontaneously and both can be trained and I would suggest a litle DILD experience before moving on. I refer to them as Direct or Indirect Transitions so as to be sympathetic to the word Dream which I feel is not entirely impartial and often alludes to something simple which it very much is not.

An indirect transition tends to be relatively short lived (from 10 seconds to 10 minutes) and they can also be a little unstable as you have witnessed. Control can be pretty good however and this will normally need a little reading and some experience to engineer.
Direct transitions open up a whole new world of adventure. With adequate training it is possible to be lucid fro up to an hour or more and if one is willing to cheat, clarity, control, memory and so forth can be increased dramatically in this state.

There is a great deal of info on indirect transitions on the net as it is a little more accessible and the net stuff is good - Dreamviews.com is a good place to start. WILDs are a little more elusive and will often best be sought out as Astral Projection and OBEs but DO NOT buy into the gimmicks on line esp BINAURAL BEATS - there is a whole lot of this fast pace model on sale and it simplyt does not add up scientifically despite the theory they will be showing you Theta Brain Wave Frequency. It can inducea certain sense of relaxation, possibly close to mild mediation but trust me its a cheap shot. There is an almost guarantted method out there that is pretty hushed up on the net so hold on for mo.

Right - food for thought I hope - anyone else got a q - fire away
R

I've got an article on this subject next issue and I am exploring a little induction technique that is worth a look - its called Intention Reflection, originally conceptualised by a Dr Paul Tholey from Germany. His work is rather interesting as he has worked a lot with sports pysychology so check him out (if you can foind any English articles on him).

The technique described is pretty simple and has a reasonable success rate in inducing indirect LDs so check it out and I will look to expand to more effective methods in future discussion

Check out my own HIT model on

www.wakeupinyourdreams.com

Live out your martial arts fantasies for real!
Wake up in the dream!



R

Just to say I am happy to explore this subject with anyone off post as you may have seen from the cover story of this month's issue that this is a rather peculiar topic and is something that can be rather personal for a lot of people so don't hesitate to get in touch either here or through my own site

www.wakeupinyourdreams.com

Regards
R