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Sue Yon Kim

B5 English
Ms. Oberg
03.28.14
Lucid Dream
What is lucid dreaming? How do you have lucid dream? What is the possible danger of
lucid dreaming? These are my questions. I asked myself these questions after I watched the
movie Inception which of story is related to lucid dreaming. I wanted to learn more about
dream, especially lucid dreaming. I already knew that the lucid dream is the ability to
consciously direct and control your dreams. I found my answers on three sites called lucidity,
dream views, and world of lucid dreaming.
A lucid dream can be a vivid and realistic dream in which you know you are dreaming. A
dream is not lucid unless you control it. The lucid dreaming makes possible anything you can
imagine in a completely safe and private environment. A significant difference between a normal
daydream and a lucid dream is that lucid dream is much more vivid than normal dream. Lucid
dreaming can realistically get you any waking experiences in awoken dreaming status.
Historically, Greek philosopher Aristotle (B.C. 384-322) described that often when one is
asleep, there is something/ in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a
dream (Wikipedia). The term lucid dream was coined by the most widely recognized Dutch
psychiatrist, Frederik (Willem) van Eeden (1860-1932).
Each and every night, your brain passes through four sleep stages. Passing through all
these stages takes about 90-110 minutes and marks one full sleep cycle. Your longest and most
memorable lucid dreams will usually occur in the fifth (REM, Rapid Eye Movement) sleep
cycles. The term lucid means expressed clearly. In normal dreams, extraordinary or impossible
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things may happen. Our normal, rational, and critical faculties are absent such that we simply
accept the extraordinary dream events and do not question or try to change them. But lucid
dreaming is different. Lucid dreamers try to change their dreams and their dreams are controlled
consciously. Each person has a different technique to have a lucid dreaming. But I want to
explain the general techniques that most people use.
To have a lucid dream, there are two categorized lucid dreams. They are DILD and
WILD. Dream Induced Lucid Dream (DILD) is, when you go to sleep normally, that you realize
naturally you are dreaming. When you realize you are in a dream, you have to teach your mind to
ask a question Am I dreaming? and examine surrounding in your dream. DILD is the good
method for the beginners. On the other hand, Wake-Induced Lucid Dream (WILD) is the
method that you are awake and lead yourself to the REM sleep. It means that you can realize all
of the sleeping stages. WILDs are performed by waking yourself up a night, then falling
controlled into sleep again as it occurs with your full consciousness. This method is not
recommendable because your brain keeps awake while sleeping. You should be tired enough to
easily fall asleep again.
There are many techniques help in having lucid dream; meditation and self- hypnosis are
other techniques. Two DILD techniques are introduced as following. To use DILD technique,
writing a dream journal is one good way to have lucid dream. Writing a dream journal increases
your dream intensity, dream recall, and imagination. It also increases your memorization of your
dream. Write down what you want to dream about in your notebook. Call this your target dream.
This advances your visualization skills to enter dreams consciously. You have to think that you
can do the lucid dreaming.
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Reality check is another way for necessary parts of the lucid dreaming learning. Reality
check provides a clear means of distinguish between the dream world and the waking world.
Look at your watch of a clock in your dream. Dream signs will make you be able to distinguish
between the dream world and the waking world. Colors and visual qualities are examples of
dream signs. Notice any dominant color in your dream, haziness, or blurriness. When you are
lucid dreaming, the part of your brain that is in charge of recognizing numbers and letters is still
asleep. Therefore, when you check the time, it should be completely random. If you look at your
watch and it is 12:25, check your time again in a few seconds, and the time is 2:23. Try to
check your memory. Ask yourself and try to think back as far as you can. What were you doing
10 or 20 minutes ago? How did you come here? You cant remember what happened a few
minutes ago and it means that you have blank periods because you are dreaming. Try to clamp
your nose with your fingers and try to breathe. Or try to push back your index finger with the
other hand towards the back of your fist. Of course these are not possible in reality. If you are
successful for both, then you are in a dream.
To use WILD method, lie down on your back and close your eyes. Take a few deep,
relaxing breathe and take a minute to notice the feeling of your body, releasing any tension you
can feel. Once your body feels relaxed, make sure you dont move it. Now slowly begin to think
that you are floating on the sea water. Then you will begin to see your imagination. It appears as
flashes and swirls of color, slowly coming together into patterns. Let your mind watch and
follow these images without getting too absorbed by them as they develop. As the imagery
develops, your dream is slowly taking shape. And just try to be aware of these without getting
too much involved. Your body and mind are now approaching to the threshold between being
awake and asleep. Your body will enter sleep paralysis. This stage can be a little frightening at
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first, as you will be unable to move your body and will likely feel a vibrating or tingling
sensation. Dont worry it is entirely natural. You go through this stage every night when you fall
asleep. You may now also begin to hear some sounds, like faint voices or buzzing sound. This is
the final stage as your mind switches over from receiving external stimuli to generate these
internally. Now you just entered your dream world. Be aware of your vision expanding and
imagine what you want!
The possible danger of lucid dream is that you can be addicted to dreaming because you
can accomplish whatever you want in your dream. Lucid dreaming is not a normal thing because
you are dreaming consciously and it disrupts your sleeping cycles. The purpose of sleeping is to
recover and organize the information that was saved during daytime. Sleeping time is the last
time that the brain can reorganize the information. But lucid dreaming disrupts these processes.
Also lucid dreaming can cause insomnia, depression, headaches, weak immune system, loss of
concentration, nausea, and weight loss or gain.If you find yourself thinking of nothing else but
lucid dreaming, or becoming obsessive about it, then it may be a good time to step back and take
a break.
In conclusion, the lucid dreaming is that you are able to access your dream consciously
during sleeping. The longest and most memorable lucid dreams usually occur in the fifth (REM)
sleep cycles. Lucid dreams are categorized into DILD and WILD. The DILD is one method that
you naturally realize that you are dreaming when you go to sleep normally, whereas the WILD is
another method that you are awake and you can naturally lead yourself to the REM sleep,
meaning that you can realize all of the sleeping stages with your full consciousness. The possible
danger of lucid dreaming is that your brain keeps awake and you will get tired due to the lack of
full sleep and it may harm you physically and/or psychologically if you try it frequently.
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Works Cited
http://www.transpersonalscience.org/lucid.aspx
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/the-stages-of-sleep.html
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/what-is-lucid-dreaming.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Have-a-Wake-Induced-Lucid-Dream-(WILD)
http://www.dreamviews.com/wiki/DILD-Tutorial
http://www.dreamviews.com/wiki/Reality-Checks
http://infiniteminds.info/Lucid-Dreaming/How-to-Lucid-Dream-Wake-Induced-Lucid
Dreams.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lucid-discussion/102671-possible-dangers-lucid-
dreaming.html
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=160
https://www.wikipedia.org