April 23, 2024

Lucid Dreaming Facts

Although science does still not fully understand the role that sleep has a lot of research into the sleeping state has been conducted over the years.

Lucid Dreaming, Sleep & The Dream State

Particular attention has been given to the dream state with a lot of studies focusing on a particular form of consciously controlled dreaming known as lucid dreaming.

Researchers found that it is possible to learn to lucid dream.

Weird Facts about Dreams

Many modern inventions and scientific breakthroughs owe their very existence to dreams.

Here are a few examples.

  • Google was literally dreamed up by Larry Page.
  • Tesla inventions.
  • The DNA double helix was inspired by a dream James Watson had.
  • Dimitri Mendeleyev dreamed up the sewing machine.
  • You cannot read or decipher numbers in your dreams.
  • Einstein’s dream about electricity and cows inspired his Special Theory of Relativity

garfield dream sleepingEven the ideas for the novels such as Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde and even Twilight were dreamed up in the sleep state.

While films such as The Terminator and Christopher Nolan’s Inception all got their ideas from dreams with the latter being based on Nolan’s own lucid dreams (see below for explanation of lucid dreaming).

 

Strange Dreams & Their Meanings

Then there are those recurring dreams that we all have.

flying dream meaningMany common dreams are easy to interpret but you should remember that any dream meanings given here, or anywhere else, are generic in nature.

Every human being is an individual.

Although there are common threads that run through people’s lives you should bear in mind something that has a symbolic meaning for one person, or culture, may have a completely or opposite meaning to another person or group.

There is some common ground when it comes to dream symbols.

Common dreams include:

  • Being Naked in Public.
    This dream is usually uncomfortable as the dreamer discovers that they are completely naked, usually in full view of a crowd of people.It represents feelings of vulnerability and a sense of being exposed in real life.
  • These feelings can usually be easily traced to a current situation in the waking world such as leaving home for the first time, attending a new school or job or entering into a new life experience of some kind.
  • Being Chased.
    This type of dream is usually upsetting as a feeling of fear or threat is accompanied with it.It can symbolize some aspect of your life that you are trying to fix or get away from but that you are finding difficult to resolve.
  • Losing Teeth.Losing teeth in real life can negatively affect a person’s confidence and self image.When teeth begin to wobble and loosen in dreams it is usually a sign that the dreamer is feeling vulnerable.The dreamer is likely lacking confidence in connection to change that is occurring in their waking world.They are feeling self-conscious and lacking confidence in their abilities to deal with change.
  • Falling.
    Dreams that involve a fall are often an indication that the dreamer has encountered a real life situation where they feel that they do not have full control overAlthough it is a common misperception that you will die if you do not wake before you hit the ground this is nor true – many people have done it.It is just that the subconscious mind cannot differentiate between what is imagined and what is real (which is why lucid dreams are so powerful and life-like).

    Its primary drive for survival usually causes it to wake the conscious mind before you hit the ground.

Lucid Dreaming and Sleep Paralysis

Imagine being able to control reality and bend it, shape it or completely rearrange it to suit your every whim.

Imagine being able to write your own story and live it like a Hollywood blockbuster.

With lucid dreaming you can do all this and much much more.

All things are possible when you can waken inside a dream and take full control of it.

The latest craze in the world of wannabe lucid dreamers is the act of trying turn sleep paralysis into a lucid dream.

Although there are techniques to do this is completely unnecessary.

Sleep paralysis is best explained with a quote from wikipedia.

Sleep paralysis is a phenomenon in which a person, either falling asleep or awakening, temporarily experiences an inability to move, speak or react.

It is a transitional state between wakefulness and sleep characterized by complete muscle atonia (muscle weakness). [Source: wikipedia]

There are a myriad of more effective techniques for inducing lucid dreams that we will actively explore on this website.

What Are Lucid Dreams?

What is lucid dreaming really?

Lucid dreams are inner experiences that, although experienced in the R.E.M. sleep state, are as far removed from a dreaming experience as a real world event is from a dream.

In fact a lucid dream is closer to a real world experience than a standard dream is.

The only difference in experience between a lucid dream and a real world event is that the lucid dreamer has 100% control over every aspect of the lucid dream experience.

This includes scenarios, events, situations, people, environments and even universal laws.

The lucid dreamer is omnipotent within the lucid dream world. He or she can do anything and everything for the mere thought of it.

The Lucid Dreaming Experience

Inception gives you a glimpse into the possibilities of lucid dreaming
Inception gives you a glimpse into the possibilities of lucid dreaming

How can the lucid dreaming experience be explained?

Well it is difficult. It really is one of those things that must be experienced personally in order to be fully understood.

However, the closest way to describe the state of lucidity within the dream world is to think of real life and amply it by 10.

In a fully consciously controlled lucid dream the images are sharper, the colors are more pronounced and electric and many lucid dreamers claim that it feels more real than the real world.

This is a sentiment that is often shared by people who experience astral projection.

The simplest way to understand what a lucid dream is like is to imagine the real world in all its vibrant color, fully animated and filled with people but with you at its center.

It is the real world and you are not only the king or queen of it, you are the creator and master of it. It is reality only better.

You can do anything. Have anything. Be with anyone or anything. Hell, you can even BE anyone or anything.

The only rules that exist within the lucid dreaming world are the rules that you make!

Lucid Dreaming Benefits

The benefits of lucid dreaming are numerous. Here is a short list of the most obvious ones:

  • Decipher the meaning of recurring dreams (even with the help of Freud or another famous psychiatrist).
  • Combat nightmares by taking control of them and/or asking dream characters what they represent or what they are trying to teach you.
  • Live out your fantasies.
  • Meet your heroes.
  • Experience sexual intimacy with anyone you want.
  • Real world rehearsal. Train for competitions, improve athletic/sport performance. Develop or improve real life skills.
  • Re-study and remember what you have previously read/listen to.
  • Relive past experiences.
  • Solve problems.
  • Overcome fears & phobias.
  • Better sleep.
  • Spiritual development.
  • Meditation like experiences.
  • …and much more.

The following short lucid dreaming movie explains the benefits of learning to lucid dream.

It discusses how those controlled dreams can be used to live out your fantasies using your dreams like a real-life simulator.

Learn to lucid dream easily and an entire world of possibilities and fantasies opens up to you.