Lucid Dreaming Part 7

It is probably emotional conflict rather than emotions in general that most often threatens lucid dreamers with premature awakening. What, for Fox, "the mere thought of was fatal" to his lucid dream has been taken much further by other, perhaps less inhibited, lucid dreamers. Garfield, for example, writes that in her early experiences with lucid dreaming she awoke immediately before, during, or just after o.r.g.a.s.m. Later, with practice, and as she became less s.e.xually inhibited in her waking life, she "began experiencing dream o.r.g.a.s.ms of profound intensity with a totality of self that is only sometimes felt in my waking state. I found myself bursting into soul-and-body-shaking experiences."17 Perceptual Quality

Just as in their cognitive and emotional aspects, lucid dreams vary tremendously in terms of the perceptual quality of the experience. In some the scene is dimly lit or vaguely delineated; others take the lucid dreamer's breath away with their intense beauty and extravagant detail. Some seem, indeed, "more real than real." In general, though, the lucid dream seems to be more perceptually vivid than the non-lucid dream. There are at least two sources of support for this contention. An indirect source is our psychophysiological research indicating that lucid dreams are characterized by relatively intense brain activation, which probably correlates with perceptual vividness.

Psychologist Jayne Gackenbach is one of the foremost authorities on lucid dreaming. She and her team at the University of Northern Iowa have undertaken extensive studies of personality factors influencing lucid dreaming ability, as well as the content differences of lucid and non-lucid dreams. Of relevance here, Gackenbach demonstrated that lucid dreams were indeed more vivid than ordinary dreams.18

We have completed our sketch of the dimensions of the world of lucid dreams. Having considered what it is like being in a lucid dream, now let us ask, How do dreamers get there?

Entry into the Lucid Dream State

Lucid dreaming can be conceptualized as the union of two separate elements, dreaming and consciousness. Lucid dreaming can therefore be initiated in two general ways: either from the dream state, while the person is dreaming and consciousness is added; or when the person is conscious and dreaming is added. In the second case, the initial state is waking consciousness, while in the first case, the initial state is ordinary, nonlucid dreaming.

The most common form of lucid dream initiation occurs when the dreamer realizes during a dream that he or she is dreaming. This realization can either be gradual or relatively sudden. When it is gradual, the realization sometimes shows two distinct phases. The lucid dream opening this chapter provides an ill.u.s.tration of this two-part process. In another example, I had been magically manipulating part of my dream environment when I had the thought that if I stepped through a door in front of me, then I would become lucid, and that is exactly what happened.

For the inexperienced dreamer, lucidity is perhaps most likely to arise from a nightmare or anxiety dream. We have already seen a number of examples of anxiety-initiated lucid dreams. Other intense emotions like embarra.s.sment or delight are also commonly a.s.sociated with the initiation of lucidity. But for most dreamers, the recognition of anomaly-inconsistency or bizarreness-is the factor most frequently leading to consciousness in dreams. In most cases, anomalous dream content is not fully recognized as such by the dreamer. Depending upon the degree to which reality is tested, the dreamer will attain a varying degree of lucidity. Oliver Fox believed critical thinking to be the key to lucid dreaming, and provided an unexcelled account of the progressive degrees of reality testing and increasing perception of anomaly:

Let us suppose, for example, that in my dream I am in a cafe. At a table near mine is a lady who would be very attractive-only, she has four eyes. Here are some ill.u.s.trations of those degrees of activity of the critical faculty.

In the dream it is practically dormant, but on waking I have the feeling that there was something peculiar about this lady. Suddenly I get it-"Why, of course, she had four eyes!"

In the dream I exhibit mild surprise and say, "How curious, that girl has four eyes! It spoils her." But only in the same way that I might remark, "What a pity she has broken her nose! I wonder how she did it."

The critical faculty is more awake and the four eyes are regarded as abnormal; but the phenomenon is not fully appreciated. I exclaim "Good Lord!" and then rea.s.sure myself by adding, "There must be a freak show or a circus in the town." Thus I hover on the brink of realization, but do not quite get there.

My critical faculty is now fully awake and fully refuses to be satisfied by this explanation. I continue my train of thought, "But there never was such a freak! An adult with four eyes-it's impossible. I am dreaming."19

Frequently a dreamer for whom the question of a situation's reality arises will decide that he or she is in fact awake and not dreaming. A dream in which the dreamer has at some point raised this question, without arriving at the correct conclusion, is commonly termed "pre-lucid." These pre-lucid dreams are generally the result of partial or inadequate reality testing, such as Fox's third stage. Dreamers who suspect they are dreaming may test their state in a variety of ways. However, few of these tests are reliably effective in distinguishing dreaming from waking. For example, pre-lucid dreamers too often conclude that they couldn't be dreaming because everything seems so solid and vividly real. Or they may pinch themselves, according to the cla.s.sical test. This most often has the result not of awakening the dreamer, but merely producing the convincing sensation of a pinch!

A better test used by many lucid dreamers seems to be trying to fly. I find this method most effective in the form of attempting merely to prolong a hop into the air. However, the most reliable test, in my experience, is the following: I find some writing and read it (if I can!) once, look away, and reread it, checking to see if it stays the same; in all my lucid dreams, writing has yet to do so. Dreams are more readily distinguishable from waking perceptions on the basis of their instability rather than their vividness. But the last word on reality testing has been suggested by Charles McCreery, who points out that while awake we never doubt whether we are awake or not. Therefore, if you wonder whether or not you are dreaming, you probably are!

With experience, the perception of anomaly can lead directly to lucidity, without further explicit reality testing. In my case, when a bizarre event takes place, I no longer ask "Am I dreaming?" I simply directly realize that I am, as the following dream ill.u.s.trates:

I was walking down a familiar street when I noticed what at first I took for a majestic new church. On closer examination, I realized this imposing structure was in fact a magnificent mosque. I reflected that as I had been on this very street only a week ago, there was only one way I could have missed such an impressive sight: I must be dreaming! As I approached this wonder with a mixture of curiosity and awe, its huge rose window blasted forth the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind in organ tones that shook the street beneath my feet. I was thrilled with the "realization" that I was in fact in the presence of a s.p.a.ceship in disguise. Still fully lucid and with great excitement (though not entirely without trepidation), I mounted the steps and stepped into brilliant light pouring through the open door. What happened next I cannot say, for when I awoke, all my attempts to retrieve the memory of this vision failed completely.

Memory can sometimes play an important role in the initiation of lucidity. Lucid dreamers sometimes realize they are dreaming as a seeming result of "deja reve"-an actual or apparent recollection that they have had a similar dream before. This is ill.u.s.trated by another of my own experiences: I was walking with M. when I recognized we were in a place I had dreamed of before-"the museum of uninvented inventions"-and that this, therefore, was a dream. I thought how M. would like to have lucid dreams, but I knew that this "M." was a dream character, not my actual friend. Nevertheless, I suggested to him that even though he was only a dream character, perhaps he could realize that he was dreaming. Perhaps he did, for I woke up!

Closely related are lucid dreams in which the dreamer realizes he or she is dreaming by means of a particular memory cue. In a dozen lucid dreams, I realized I was dreaming by noticing that my contact lenses seemed to be multiplying. After a non-lucid dream in which this multiplication had occurred, I reflected that I should have realized thereby that I was dreaming. Shortly thereafter, the imagery recurred and I said to myself, "If this were a dream, it would be a dream!" After a double take, I realized the implication of this and became lucid. In subsequent similar dreams-during that moment before the full realization I was dreaming-I have reflected, variously: "Too bad this isn't a dream, in which case it would be a dream"; "This proves this can happen in waking life as well as in dreaming"; and, quoting myself in jest, "If this were a dream, it would be a dream."

In most of my other lucid dreams, by the time I explicitly realize I am dreaming, I already seem to be implicitly aware of my state. But during the dreams in which lucidity is stimulated by a memory cue, I ordinarily haven't the slightest suspicion that I'm dreaming. So when I am compelled, by logic, to conclude that I must be dreaming, I am completely astonished. Readers can imagine my state by considering the shock and amazement they would feel if they were to discover, while reading this sentence, absolutely certain proof that they are dreaming now!

Self-reflection during dreams frequently leads to lucidity in experienced lucid dreamers. In my own case, I usually observe that I have been exhibiting wishful thinking, engaging in magic or "dream composition," and realize I must be dreaming. In one case I would have been dead had I not been dreaming as I drove my car too fast down a street that had a tanker truck blocking it. However, I was magically able to avoid the collision, and because I recalled other revisions of reality I had been doing, I realized that I must be dreaming.

The most common dream symbol involved in the initiation of lucidity seems to be light. Light is a very natural symbol for consciousness. Karl Scherner, one of the nineteenth century's three great pioneers of dream research wrote in 1861: "Light in dreams is the expression of clear thinking and of sharpness of will." Scott Sparrow gives several examples of lucid dreams apparently initiated by the appearance of light. In one he reported that while he was sitting outdoors composing a speech, he looked up at the eastern sky and saw "a large orb of white light many times the size of the moon."20 At this he realized he was dreaming.

The form of initiation of some lucid dreams is difficult to cla.s.sify. The following, for example, combines elements of both anomaly and symbolic representation: "In my dream I was crossing a large room, in which several people were gathered, when I saw a pure white dove fly down obliquely and alight on my forehead. Immediately I found myself in a state of conscious projection [lucidity] and profited by the occasion to go and visit some friends." The dreamer was especially impressed by the sudden initiation of lucidity, adding that "as soon as the dove had touched me, the transformation was instantaneous. As if under a magic spell I suddenly became as clear-headed as in the best moments of my physical life."21

Five years ago I had an interesting experience that may clarify the notion of symbolic stimulation of lucidity. A friend and I were riding a train alongside "the Ocean." I was carelessly leaning out the window taking in the sights, when the beautiful dark intensity of the sea moved me to admire it aloud. Just then, some sort of falcon or hawk landed on a nearby branch, and without thinking I immediately extended my hand in its direction. To my delight and surprise, the bird alighted on my outstretched hand, and I immediately remembered a Sufi saying:

When a bird will land in your outstretched hand, Then you will understand.

Remarkably enough, I did understand at once-that I was dreaming! As for my friend and the bird, they left the story, for the dream faded.

Since I have been using memory as a lucid-dream induction technique (see "MILD," Chapter 6), I have had increasingly frequent instances in which I became lucid without anything unusual in my dream content. In these I simply remember that I'm dreaming: "Oh yes! This is a dream!" One morning, as a result of practicing MILD, I had lucid dreams of this kind in each of three successive REM periods. Here is the relevant section of the third: I was in bed looking at a picture book ent.i.tled something like Russian Dance and Magic. As in the preceding two dreams, I suddenly simply remembered that I was now doing what I wanted to remember to recognize: dreaming. We have seen examples of three major ways that dreamers recognize they are dreaming: perception of inconsistencies, emotional arousal, and a sort of direct realization of the dream-like nature of the experience. These are the main triggers of consciousness during the dream state. But dream consciousness can also be initiated from the waking state.

It is possible to maintain continuous reflective consciousness while falling asleep, and hence to enter a lucid dream directly from the waking state. This form of initiation is relatively rare, for me, under ordinary conditions, accounting for about eight percent of my total sample of lucid dreams. But in circ.u.mstances of greatly increased motivation-characteristic of the nights I spent in the sleep lab-my proportion of lucid dreams initiated from the waking state increased five-fold, suggesting that this form of initiation is a skill that improves with motivation and practice. In fact, its cultivation has been described by Tibetan yogis, by the American psychiatrist Nathan Rapport, by the Russian philosopher Ouspensky, and-as the reader will discover in Chapter 6-by the author of this book.

In my typical induction of this sort, I am lying in bed in the early morning or afternoon after awakening from a dream; hypnogogic (sleep onset) imagery sometimes appears, and then suddenly I find myself fully in the dream scene, and lucid. Once I am in the dream state, this lucid dream continues exactly like the others. The following account is one of Ouspensky's lucid dreams initiated from the waking state:

I am falling asleep. Golden dots, sparks and tiny stars appear and disappear before my eyes. ... From the first moment to the last I observed how pictures appeared and how they were transformed into a net with regular meshes. Then the golden net was transformed into the helmets of the Roman soldiers. The pulsation which I heard was transformed into the measured tread of the marching detachment. The sensation of this pulsation means the relaxation of many small muscles, which in its turn produces a sensation of slight giddiness. This sensation of slight giddiness was immediately manifested in my seeing the soldiers, while lying on the window-sill of a high house and looking down; and when this giddiness increased a little, I rose from the window and flew over the gulf. This at once brought with it by a.s.sociation the sensation of the sea, the wind and the sun, and if I had not awakened, probably at the next moment of the dream I should have seen myself in the open sea, on a ship, and so on.22

This method of initiating lucid dreams combines both self-reflection and memory. To observe successfully that dream images are images requires a balance between partic.i.p.ation and detachment. Methods for cultivating this mode of lucid dream initiation are also described in Chapter 6. Now, having seen how lucid dreams are initiated, let us turn to how they typically end.

Termination of the Dream State

Since the lucid dream is a compound of lucidity and the dream state, and there are in principle two modes of initiating it, there are also two general possibilities for terminating it: either lucidity is lost while the dream continues, or the dream ends with an awakening.

The first mode is probably the more common one for less-experienced lucid dreamers. Neophytes are more likely to lose their lucidity once they have gained it. Scott Sparrow remarks that "as lucid dreams begin to occur within the life of an individual, they are likely to be rare and short-lived." Accordingly, after having become at least momentarily lucid, the inexperienced dreamer will frequently become reabsorbed by the dream, forgetting that it is a dream and continuing to dream non-lucidly. Forgetfulness can be countered by repeating to oneself: "This is a dream." Later, however, such talk is unnecessary. In my own case, lucidity was lost in about twenty percent of the lucid dreams I recorded (and thus remembered) during the first year of my study; it was lost in one percent or less during the subsequent years.

For experienced lucid dreamers, termination of lucidity by awakening is more common than the loss of lucidity characteristic of beginners. Ordinarily there is a high degree of continuity of consciousness during this transition from dreaming to waking. In contrast, there is usually momentary confusion when we wake from a non-lucid dream, as we make the transition from the non-lucid dream ego to the waking ego. But when we wake from a lucid dream there is no such transition, since the lucid dreaming ego is identical to the waking ego.

There are two other possible ways in which lucid dreams can come to an end. One possibility is that the lucid dreamer might enter non-REM sleep and cease dreaming. Typically, if awakened at this point, the dreamer would recall nothing. In the other case in which lucidity is lost, the person dreams that he or she has awakened.

The latter dreams are usually called "false awakenings" and are very commonly reported adjuncts of lucid dreams. Sometimes false awakenings occur repeatedly, with the lucid dreamer seeming to awake again and again only to discover each time that he or she is still dreaming. In some cases, lucid dreamers have reported enduring literally dozens of false awakenings before finally waking up "for real." Here is an example of one of Delage's (see Chapter 2) multiple false awakenings:

One night, I was woken by urgent knocking at the door of my room. I got up and asked: 'Who is there?' 'Monsieur,' came the answer in the voice of Marty (the laboratory caretaker), 'it is Madame H____ (someone who was really living in the town at that time and was among my acquaintances), 'who is asking for you to come immediately to her house to see Mademoiselle P____' (someone who was really part of Madame H's household and who was also known to me), 'who has suddenly fallen ill.'

'Just give me time to dress,' I said, 'and I will run.' I dressed hurriedly, but before going out I went into my dressing-room to wipe my face with a damp sponge. The sensation of cold water woke me and I realized that I had dreamt all the foregoing events and that no one had come to ask for me. So I went back to sleep. But a little later, the same knocking came again at my door. 'What, Monsieur, aren't you coming then?'

'Good heavens! So it is really true, I thought I had dreamt it.'

'Not at all. Hurry up. They are all waiting for you.'

'All right, I will run.' Again I dressed myself, again in my dressing-room I wiped my face with cold water, and again the sensation of cold water woke me and made me understand that I had been deceived by a repet.i.tion of my dream. I went back to bed and went to sleep again.

The same scene re-enacted itself almost identically twice more.

When Delage "really" awoke the next morning, he could see the "whole series of actions, reasonings and thoughts had been nothing but a dream repeated four times in succession with no break in my sleep and without my having stirred from my bed."23

Although false awakenings are also reported following non-lucid dreams, they appear to be more often a.s.sociated with lucid dreams, probably because only in these does the question of being awake or asleep normally arise. Moreover, false awakenings seem to occur more frequently in experienced lucid dreamers than in inexperienced ones. (I had them in about fifteen percent of my first year's record, and in about a third of my lucid dreams in the next five years.) The difference is probably accounted for by the fact that the more lucid dreams you have had, the more you a.s.sociate waking up with the lucid dream fading, and thus more strongly expect to awaken when a dream fades.

Very occasionally, a dreamer may recognize a false awakening as a dream. However, this is often difficult because the dreamer already believes himself to be awake and never thinks to question the a.s.sumption. During my earlier lucid dream experiences, I had about forty false awakenings without recognizing them as dreams. Considering how bizarre some of these dreams were, I began to feel rather embarra.s.sed about constantly fooling myself with them! Finally my self-esteem required me to attempt to master these false awakenings, and with surprisingly little effort I succeeded, discovering that it was my expectation of waking up that was deluding me. All I had to do was change my expectation of what was going to happen at the apparent end of a lucid dream. Simply by expecting a "false" rather than an actual awakening, I was able to maintain lucidity during most subsequent dreams.

The Spinning Technique

I have recently developed a technique for preventing awakening and producing new lucid dream scenes at will. I had been concerned with the problem that the discovery of lucidity often leads to immediate awakening, cutting short what otherwise might be a rewarding lucid dream. Since dream actions have corresponding physical effects, I reasoned that relaxing my dream body might inhibit awakening by lowering muscle tension in my physical body. The next time I was dreaming lucidly, I tested the idea. As the dream began to fade, I relaxed completely, dropping to the dream floor. However, contrary to my intention, I seemed to awaken. But as I discovered a few minutes later, it had actually been a false awakening. Further lucid dream experiments repeating the procedure confirmed this effect, and suggested that the essential element was apparently not the attempted relaxation but the sensation of movement. In subsequent lucid dreams, I tested a variety of dream movements and found both falling backward and spinning to be especially effective in producing lucid dreams of awakening.

The technique is very simple. As soon as my vision begins to fade in the lucid dream, I either fall backward or spin like a top (with my dream body, of course!). For the method to work, it is important to experience a vivid sense of movement. Usually this procedure generates a new dream scene, which often represents the bedroom I am sleeping in. By repeatedly reminding myself that I'm dreaming during this transition, I can continue dreaming lucidly in the new scene. Without this special effort of attention, I will usually mistake the new dream for an actual awakening-and this in spite of frequent manifest absurdities of dream content!

The method is quite effective. Out of the one hundred lucid dreams in the last six months of the three year record reported in my doctoral dissertation, I used this technique forty percent of the time, and new dreams were generated in eighty-five percent of these cases. Lucid consciousness was retained in ninety-seven percent of the new dreams. When spinning led to another dream, the new dream scene almost always closely resembled the bed I was sleeping in, or some other bedroom.

The experience of other lucid dreamers who have employed this method was very similar to mine, but suggests that the new lucid dream need not necessarily be a bedroom scene. One of these lucid dreamers, for instance, found herself arriving at a dream scene other than her bedroom in five out of the eleven times she used the spinning method.

These results suggest that spinning could be used to produce transitions to any dream scene the lucid dreamer expects. In my own case, it appears that my almost exclusive production of bedroom dreams may be an accident of the circ.u.mstances in which I discovered the technique. Upon occasion I have tried, with very little success, to produce transitions to other dream scenes with this method. But although I definitely intended to arrive elsewhere than my dream bedroom, I cannot say that I fully expected to. Although I believe I will someday be able to unlearn this accidental a.s.sociation (if that's what it is), I am meanwhile impressed by the power of expectation to determine what happens in my lucid dreams. Verily-in dreams, at least- faith can move mountains!

Why should the hallucinated movement of spinning have any effect upon dreaming? There may be a neurophysiological explanation. Information about head and body movement, as monitored by the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear (which helps you to keep your balance) is closely integrated by the brain with visual information in order to produce an optimally stable picture of the world-so that, for instance, you know the world has not moved when you tilt your head.