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https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201212/lucid-dreaming-and-self-realization

Lucid Dreaming and Self-Realization

When I went to graduate school, lucid dreaming (link is external) was a concept
everyone knew of, yet knew nearly nothing about. Generation X missed the lucid
dreaming debates of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. After that, the debates faded out and
lucid dreaming became the geeky subject matter of a few liberal intellectuals hardly
anyone had heard of. Christopher Nolans movie Inception (link is external), perhaps
misleadingly, brought the concept back into the core of the minds of the masses.
Lucid dreaming is your chance to play around with the extraordinary abilities buried in
unused parts of your brain. Regardless of whether your are superhuman in real life or
not, lucid dreaming is a way for you to put the deepest areas of your brain to good use
while youre sleeping. You can be a Jane Doe while awake and superman while
sleeping. All the obstacles of reality can be set aside, as you make trips to the sun or
the interior of the earth or test your craziest science experiments on your worst
enemies.
Lucid dream researcher Beverly D'Urso (link is external) knows everything about lucid
dreaming: She has been a lucid dreamer since she was seven years old. She has
worked with psychophysiologist Stephen Laberge (link is external), the founder of the
Lucidity Institute. She was the first person to have a recorded orgasm during a dream.
During her lucid dreams, she has tasted fire, visited the sun and overcome a writer's
block. She has done it all. We recently conducted an interview with the lucid dream
expert.
What does "lucid dreaming" mean?
Even though the term "lucid" means clear, lucid dreaming is more than just having a
clear dream. To have a lucid dream you must know that its a dream while youre
dreaming. That's it. It doesn't require that you can control anything in your dream,
though control is what beginning lucid dreamers often aim at. People get attracted to
lucid dreaming because they want to be able to do things they could never do in waking
reality, for example, taste fire or fly to the sun. More and more experienced lucid
dreamers are realizing the benefits of lucid dreaming. You can use it to explore the
boundaries of your own agency and the limits of the universe.
What's the best technique for becoming lucid in dreams?
The best technique for becoming lucid is to actually become more aware and look and
listen and pay attention to details, because when you see things that dont fit, thats a

clue that youre dreaming. To facilitate the process you can form the habit of examining
the environment or your state of awareness during the day. Mental habits you practice
during the day tend to continue in dreams. So you examine your environment during the
day, you examine your awareness, and then you may notice that something is different
once you start dreaming. Someone who has become lucid has much higher levels of
awarenessand obviously, I think thats one of the biggest benefits of lucid dreaming.
What is the phenomenology of lucidity?
Here is an example. I was playing around in a lucid dream and happened to be at a
campsite. Since I knew I was dreaming, I thought I might as well jump into the camp
fire. I didn't get burned. I was kind of playing around with the flames. I then decided to
eat the flames. I actually put them in my mouth. And I remember having the sensation of
them being salty! I was already pushing limits. So I decided to fly to the sun. I started to
fly sort of superman stylefaster and faster and faster, almost exponentially faster. As I
got closer and closer to the sun I couldn't really see anything. I couldn't really feel my
body either. But I noticed a sense of vibration and sound and light. Obviously, there was
a lot of light coming from the sun, and I kind of stayed in this state which I cant really
describe. So the phenomenology of lucid dreaming really is very different from the
phenomenology of regular experiences.
As lucid dreamers you occasionally participate in dream psychic contents. What
happens at those contests?
We have an online conference once a year that lasts two weeks. It was founded by the
International Association for the Study of Dreams, which Ive been involved with almost
since the very beginning about 26 years ago. A friend of mine actually started it. We get
about 10 or 20 people who present either a short paper or lead a workshop.
During that two-week period we usually have three contests. A typical one is the picture
content. Prior to the conference an outsider collects thousands of images. During the
conference a random picture is picked, and a self-proclaimed psychic person will then
attempt to send that image to all the dreamers one particular night. The next day when
you wake up, you submit a report of what you dreamed, and the following day theyll
show you the picture and you can check what kind of connections your dream had to
the picture. We have a panel of judges, and we also allow people to look at other
people's dreams and say what they think matches. Finally, theres a first, second, and
third place winner.
Have you ever engaged in mutual dreaming?
Well, Ive had a lot of experiences with at least attempting mutual dreaming. You set it
up in advance. You agree to meet somewhere, for example the Bahamas. Then while
you both dream, you travel to that place. When you get there, you tell your partner a

secret. After you both wake up you can check whether you really succeeded in meeting
by asking each other about the secrets you told each other in the dream. I havent
succeeded in this particular exercise.
A lot of people live out their fantasies in dreams. Does that ever seem to suffice
as a replacement for the same fantasies in real life?
Yeah, dream fantasies are usually much more exciting. There are so many things you
can do in dreams that you cannot do in waking life. You cannot taste fire or fly to the sun
or have sex with strangers without potential serious consequences. But you can do all
that in your dreams.
Have you ever experimented with sex in your lucid dreams?
Yeah, many times. At one point we were attempting to record sexual activity during lucid
dreaming in the Stanford Sleep Lab (link is external). I was hooked up to electrodes and
vaginal probes. My goal was to have sex in a dream and experience an orgasm. I
dreamed that I flew across Stanford campus and saw a group of tourists down below. I
swooped down and tapped one dream guy, wearing a blue suit, on the shoulder. He
responded right there on the walkway. We made love, and I signaled the onset of sex
and the orgasm to the experimenter. We later published this experiment in Journal of
Psychophysiology as the first recorded female orgasm in a dream.
How is lucid dreaming used as therapy?
Let me give you an example. Back in the early 80s I was working on my Ph.D.
dissertation. Id done all my class work and I already had a topic, but I wasnt actually
writing it all up. I wasnt actually completing the degree. My friend suggesteded, Well,
why dont you work on your writer's block in your dreams?
I decided to give it a try. In one dream I dreamed I was in my bedroom, but my
computer was in the wrong place, instead of being on the left it was on the right, so I
knew it was a dream. The first thing that happened was that I became totally paralyzed.
Even though I knew I was dreaming I couldnt move my body. All I wanted to do was get
to the computer to start writing, and I kept telling myself, This is my dream. Im in a
dream. I should be able to this. And slowlylike in slow motionI got to the computer.
The seat had a hole leading down to hell. It was very scary but I sat down and let myself
fall into this pit in helland then I woke up. Since then I have had no trouble writing.
What are the spiritual benefits of lucid dreaming?
Well, it certainly makes you a more enlightened person. You learn to be in the present
moment and to notice your surroundings and take in things without being sidetracked by
random thoughts or the past or the future. Thats what all big spiritual teachers teach

you now: The importance of being in the present moment. Thats what lucid dreamer
have been doing all along. They are aware of the present moment with more than just
their physical body, because their agency is expanded to include a higher self.
Have there been any studies attempting to measure personality changes before
and after regular lucid dreaming?
Sure. There are people who have looked at the characteristics of lucid dreamers. One
study which I remember reviewing for a journal was about lucid dreamers noticing
things in change blindness and inattentional blindness paradigms faster than most
people.
Lucid dreamers are typically better at noticing things because of the heightened
awareness I mentioned before.
Could lucid dreaming be dangerous? Suppose people mistakenly think they are
dreaming and start doing crazy things.
No, it's not a potential problem for lucid dreamers. By definition, lucid dreamers know
they are dreaming, so they are not confused about when they dream and when they are
awake. However, non-lucid dreamers that could become confused between dreaming
and being awake. People who are just starting out might want to take it easy and not
stuff fire in their mouth or jump out from a cliff to see what happens. I dont think an
experienced lucid dreamer would ever jump off a cliff without first testing whether they
could float in the air.
Does lucid dreaming ever make you tired? Do you ever feel being lucid in your
dreams doesnt let you rest as much?
People often say that, but I think its almost the exact opposite. I think there is some
value in non-lucid dreams, but those are the ones that are tiring. I mean, who wants to
be breaking up with a high school boyfriend all over again and be feeling all miserable?
Who wants to take that test and worry about some test result when youre not even in
school anymore? Its the lucid dreams that are refreshing and fun. Lucid dreams, not
regular dreams, give me energy and make me wake up feeling refreshed. You should
try it!