The Gist:
The conscious awareness that one is dreaming, accompanied with control of the dream, is what is known as Lucid Dreaming.
Unlike a regular dream, which is often vague, unrefined, and easily forgettable, a lucid dream is the opposite. The dreamer clearly understands what is happening, experiences vivid details, and easily remembers the dream after waking.
The details are so vivid that the dream world can almost be swapped for the waking world. The key difference, however, between a lucid dream and the waking world is that whilst lucid, the dreamer can change everything around them. The land can be engulfed by ocean, people can be replaced, buildings can be swapped with forests, driving a car can become flying a plane. Indeed, an infinite realm of possibilities can be realized by simply imagining them.
J. Allen Hobson, a neuroscientist, has proposed that the "dorsolateral prefrontal cortex," a region within the brain that is usually inactive during sleep, is responsible for recognition of the dream. Once the cortex helps the dreamer recognize he or she is dreaming, the dreamer is now lucid. But, the dreamer attempts to continue the dream while also remembering that it is a dream. To achieve this balance, the amygdala and parahippocampal cortex are slightly activated. The pons and parieto-occipital junction aid in intensifying the dream hallucinations.
Most dreams occur during REM (rapid-eye movement) sleep. As the name implies, the eyes are moving rapidly up and down. Lucid dreams also occur during this stage. However, researchers have realized that the direction the eyes are facing indicates the direction that the dreamer is facing in their dream world.
There is the modern, scientific history of lucid dreaming which starts in 1968 with Celia Green's book, Lucid Dreams. Here, Green analyzes lucid dreaming, incorporates data from her subjects, and reviews previous works to conclude that lucid dreaming is a distinct entity, different from regular dreaming.
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| Stephen LaBerge |
But, long before scientists researched the topic, lucid dreams were being recorded ever since the fifth century. The letter from St. Augustine in 415 A.D. offers the first record of a lucid dream. In it, Augustine describes the tale of Gennadius, a physician from Carthage who worried about the afterlife. Gennadius experienced two dreams. In the first, he encountered a youth who led him to a city with exquisite music. He awoke and disregarded it as a dream. The next night, however, he dreamed again of the youth. But, this time, the youth asked Gennadius whether he recalled him. The conversation led to Gennadius realizing that it was a dream.
Tibetan Buddhists are known for the ancient practice of dream yoga, which is described in their book, Tibetan Book of the Dead. The practice entails a discipline dedicated to achieving lucidity.
The nineteenth century marks Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys, a pioneer in the teaching of lucid dreams. Through his book, Dreams and How to Guide Them, Marquis shows that anyone can learn how to lucid dream. He writes his own experiences and attempts to devise techniques on achieving lucidity.
Now, lucid dreaming did not have a name until the 1880's. Frederick van Eeden is the man who coined the term. His first book about the subject, The Bride of Dreams, was written as fiction in order to prevent ridicule. This way, he could present his ideas peacefully. Soon, though, his ambitions grew. In 1913, he presented a paper titled A Study of Dreams, in which he recorded 352 of his lucid dreams.
But, it wasn't until Stephen LaBerge that massive interest in lucid dreaming occurred. His work sparked the modern scientific researchers to further investigate this wonderful phenomenon.
