139 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
139 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
Thu 19 Mar 1987 - Lucid Dreaming
|
||
|
||
From an article in Omni Magazine (April 1987 issue)
|
||
|
||
Text File by: Sir Tristram (Michael O'Brien), Sysop of:The Dark Forest
|
||
|
||
714/730-6248 (Irvine, Southern California)
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
THE OMNI EXPERIENCE
|
||
|
||
POWER TRIPS: CONTROLLING YOUR DREAMS
|
||
|
||
Release Date: Thursday, 19 March 1987
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
A number of techniques facilitate lucid dreaming. One of the simplest is
|
||
|
||
asking yourself many times during the day whether you are dreaming. Each time
|
||
|
||
you ask the question, you should look for evidence proving you are not
|
||
|
||
dreaming. The most reliable test: Read something, look away for a moment, and
|
||
|
||
then read it again. If it reads the same way twice, it is unlikely that you
|
||
|
||
are dreaming. After you have proved to yourself that you are not presently
|
||
|
||
dreaming, visualize yourself doing what it is you'd like. Also, tell yourself
|
||
|
||
that you want to recognize a nighttime dream the next time it occurs. The
|
||
|
||
mechanism at work here is simple; it's much the same as picking up milk at the
|
||
|
||
grocery store after reminding yourself to do so an hour before.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
At night people usually realize they are dreaming when they experience unusual
|
||
|
||
or bizarre occurrences. For instance, if you find yourself flying without
|
||
|
||
visible means of support, you should realize that this happens only in dreams
|
||
|
||
and that you must therefore be dreaming.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
If you awaken from a dream in the middle of the night, it is very helpful to
|
||
|
||
return to the dream immediately, in your imagination. Now envision yourself
|
||
|
||
recognizing the dream as such. Tell yoursel, "The next time I am dreaming, I
|
||
|
||
want to remember to recognize that I am dreaming." If your intention is strong
|
||
|
||
and clear enough, you may find yourself in a lucid dream when you return to
|
||
|
||
sleep.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Even if you're a frequent lucid dreamer, you may not be able to stop yourself
|
||
|
||
from waking up in mid-dream. And even if your dreams do reach a satisfying
|
||
|
||
end, you may not be able to focus them exactly as you please.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
During our years of research, however, we have found that spinning your dream
|
||
|
||
body can sustain the period of sleep and give you greater dream control. In
|
||
|
||
fact, many subjects at Stanford University have used the spinning technique as
|
||
|
||
an effective means of staying in a lucid dream. The task outlined below will
|
||
|
||
help you use spinning as a means of staying asleep and, more exciting, as a
|
||
|
||
means of traveling to whatever dream world you desire.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Before retiring, decide on a person, time, and place you would like to visit in
|
||
|
||
your lucid dream. The target person and place can be either real or imaginary,
|
||
|
||
past, present, or future. Write down and memorize your target person andplace,
|
||
|
||
then visualize yourself visiting your target and firmly resolve to do so in a
|
||
|
||
dream that night.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
To gain lucidity, repeat the phrase describing your target in your dream, and
|
||
|
||
spin your whole dream body in a standing position with your arms outstretched.
|
||
|
||
You can pirouette or spin like a top, as long as you vividly feel your body in
|
||
|
||
motion.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
The same spinning technique will help when, in the middle of a lucid dream, you
|
||
|
||
feel the dream imagery beginning to fade. To avoid waking up, spin as you
|
||
|
||
repeat your target phrase again and again. With practice, you'll return to
|
||
|
||
your target person, time, and place.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
When spinning, try to notice whether you're moving in a clockwise or counter-
|
||
|
||
clockwise direction.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
- Stephen LaBerge and Jayne Gackenbach
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D., of the Stanford University Sleep Research Center, is
|
||
|
||
also the author of LUCID DREAMING, Ballantine Books, New York, (C) 1985. LUCID
|
||
|
||
DREAMING is a 305 page book which costs $3.95 and is available in the
|
||
|
||
"Psychiatry" or "Self-Help" section of most major bookstores.
|
||
|
||
|