We cover a wide range of topics, from philosophy and consciousness, some of the reasons to study lucid dreams, the science and neural correlates of lucidity, dispelling common myths, and more.

Show notes:

• Ben’s website – benjaminbaird.org
• The lucidity institute Hawaiian retreat
• Allan Wallace
• The out of print Lucid Dreaming (Book & CD) by Stephen LaBerge
• The Citizen Philosophy Podcast
• Integrated information theory (IIT)
• Aphantasia
• Experiential metadata
• Tech for Dreaming Meetup
• Tech for Dreaming YouTube
• Ben’s Tech for Dreaming Presentation
• Voss studies – 2009 and 2014
• “Replication” stimulation induction study

The post Episode 32 – Benjamin Baird appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show notes:

• Tech for Dreaming Meetup
• Tech for Dreaming YouTube
• Karen’s publications
• Study: Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep
• Northwestern Cognitive Neuroscience Lab induction method – Website – Android App
• Neosensory
• Aphantasia
• Experiential metadata
• Karen’s Ted Talk
• Karen’s Tech for Dreaming Presentation

The post Episode 31 – Karen Konkoly appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show notes:

• Matt Walker on Joe Rogan
• Paracosm Labs
• The sleep promoting benefits of CBD Article
• Green Earth Medicinals CBD Oil
• Fischer Wallace Stimulator and Kortex
• Denholm’s Website
• Denholm’s Upcoming Workshop
• Mentioned Studies
• Support the podcast

The post Episode 30 – Dr. Denholm Aspy appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show notes:

• Jayne’s Website
• Jayne’s Podcast
• Control Your Dreams Book
• Lucid or Bust – Podcast, Website, My Write Up

The post Episode 29 – Jayne Gackenbach appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Aladdin Dreamer Kickstarter – Aladdin Website
• iBand Kickstarter
• The Lucid Dreamer Kickstarter

The post Episode 28 – Craig Weiss – Aladdin Dreamer appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Although unlike the hero of our story, I’ve had lucid dreams before starting my podcast, I in large part also started it for similar reasons, to keep the subject top of mind and to allow me to dive deeper into it.

Perhaps it was thinking that the title of the podcast sounded silly to my brain or perhaps being inundated with a bunch of people’s new lucid dreaming “things”, I didn’t check it out right away, but I finally got around to given it a listen, and not only the the podcast’s name made perfect sense, I absolutely loved it.

This is not your usual lucid dreaming podcast (not that there is such a thing, there’s barely a handful of them). It is not some instructional guides or interview type of podcast. It is a strange, absurd, crazy, awesome story we get to tag along for. Our hero, named Prodigal D, is a geek after my own heart and a captivating storyteller whose silliness is only matched by her charm. The whole thing is infinitely endearing and absolutely hilarious. I honestly don’t remember the last time I laughed so much listening to a podcast. I can’t get enough of it.

It is nothing like any lucid dreaming something or other out there, and it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is a journey worth going on. I encourage you to check it out: http://www.lucidorbust.com/asleep.html | on iTunes.

The post Lucid or Bust appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show notes:

• My interview on MeaningOfLife.tv with Nikita Petrov
• The Lucid Dreamer’s Guide to the Cosmos Kickstarter Project
• Daniel’s website – ExploringLucidDreams.com
• Daniel’s Twitter
• Are You Dreaming Book – On Amazon
• Cycle Adjustment Technique
• Anamnesis Short Film (series prologue)
• Anamnesis Series
• Podcast episode with Finite Films
• Dreams and the Ways to Direct Them: Practical Observations (free download)
• Support this podcast on Patreon (thank you!)

The post Episode 27 – Daniel Love appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show notes:

• Lucid Dreaming and the Snooze Button
• Ep 14 – Dream Yoga Teacher Andre Holecek
• Mike’s website – LucidScheming.com
• Mike on Twitter – @lcdschmng
• Mike on SoundCloud – Carport.fm
• Sunday, Feb 7th Event: Consciousness Hacking Santa Barbara

The post Episode 26 – Mike Lamberti appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

I wouldn’t discourage someone from taking it though. For those who fall asleep without issue and those who fall back asleep too quickly to work through an induction technique, Galantamine can be incredibly effective. Even if you do have trouble falling back asleep, Galantamine may not exacerbate that for you. Its capacity to boost lucidity certainly makes it worth trying at the very least.

The day could conceivably come when I, through meditation or other means, have developed the equanimity and mental detachment necessary to consistently fall asleep through the odd sensations and additional alertness that accompany Galantamine. However, until that day comes, I’ve found a compelling alternative for both lucid dream induction and enhancing the clarity and vividness of dreams: Calea zacatechichi. 

Calea zacatechichi (which I’ll be referring to as Calea Z for the rest of this post) is a species of flowering plant in the Asteraceae family. The USDA actually prefers the name Calea ternifolia for the plant, but it remains widely known in lucid dreaming circles as its former species name. In its native Mexico it’s used as an herbal remedy, as an oneirogen, and in shamanic practices by some indigenous peoples.

I am the proud owner of the bag of dried Calea Z pictured above. I’ve steeped it and drank Calea Z tea three times so far in a series of decreasing doses. The first night was memorable: I had a lucid dream, I woke up, wrote it down, fell back asleep, and had another lucid dream – my first that took place in outer space. I had a lucid dream the second night as well, but did not on the third night. Given the success I had, I wish had been more precise in recording the doses, but the results were definitely compelling.

There is an issue though: I didn’t set out to take it in a series of decreasing doses. My decreasing capacity to actually choke down the vile-tasting tea is what limited me to taking less and less of it the second and third times. I take a tremendous amount of pride in all the weird stuff I’ve consumed over the years, so I wanted to at least try it this way, but a review of other blog posts suggests that it’s also possible to obtain and consume Calea Z as a:

• Capsule
• Tincture
• Substance to be smoked or vaporized

Regardless of how you intend to ingest Calea Z, my recommendation would to wake yourself up approximately 4 and a half to 6 hours after falling asleep, take your Calea Z, and fall back asleep while performing a mental induction technique. Dream worker Amy Cope suggests that the traditional way to take Calea Z is to do so right before sleep. I haven’t tried it this way yet, so I can’t comment other than to note that some accounts of taking other onierogens without having gone through several REM cycles first sound highly unpleasant (scroll down to “My Personal Experiences”). We appear to disagree on Calea Z’s palatability, but Amy’s post is worth checking out. It has the detailed instructions on how to make Calea Z tea that I used and she is a much better photographer than I am.

As always, please be careful when trying any substance for the first time, and get the opinion of a qualified health profession familiar with your conditions and any other substances or medications you are taking. I experienced no side effects, but you may. Reported side effects are rare, but include hallucinations, nausea, and vomiting. Reported allergic reactions are rare as well, but there have been a few.

Calea Z is not a federally controlled substance, but the state of Louisiana does place some restrictions on its cultivation. It is a controlled substance in Poland contained in the same list as opioids like heroin and hydrocodone. Erowid has some details and relevant links on the legal status of the plant.

I’ve come across one study from 1986 that suggested a pronounced in the subjective reports of dreams, but the study did not examine effects on lucidity. I hope the effects are rigorously studied in the near future, as my experiences and those of other lucid dreamers suggest it is a worthwhile substance to at least design experiments around. My subjective experience of the dreams I had after taking Calea Z was hugely positive. It felt like I considered a wider range of activities and visited a more diverse set of locations than I normally do in my lucid dreams. It felt like new possibilities were opened, and my skill at things like flying in my dreams was improved.

I’ve bought a jar of honey specifically so I can try taking Calea Z tea again soon.

The post A Potential Alternative to Galantamine: Calea Zacatechichi appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Kelly Bulkeley’s Website and Twitter.
• Palo Alto Dream Tech Panel with Kelly and Jennifer video
• Kelly’s Sleep and Dream Database (SDDb)
• Event on Feb 3rd: Consciousness Hacking San Diego – Dream Hacking
• Event on Feb 7th: Consciousness Hacking Santa Barbara – Lucid Dreaming
• Event starting Feb 10th: Jennifer Dumpert’s Evolver Learning Lab Course – Liminal Dreaming

The post Episode 25 – Dream Researcher Kelly Bulkeley appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Evan Thompson’s Website, Twitter and Facebook
• Waking, Dreaming, Being
• Sleeping, Dreaming and Dying by The Dalai Lama
• Evan’s article on the difference Lucid Dreaming and Dreaming about Dreaming
• Evan’s article on whether consciousness is consciousness or fragmented
• Sponsor: Get a Free Audiobook from Audible at www.audibletrial.com/LucidDreaming
• Audiobook recommendation: A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming: Mastering the Art of Oneironautics

The post Episode 24 – Philosopher Evan Thompson appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Mike now hosts a monthly lucid dreaming workshop in Toronto and writes on his blog at http://www.lucidscheming.com/.

He has fast become one of the few new clear voices writing about lucid dreaming and I’m delighted to announce that he will be joining me here in writing for lucidsage.com.

His first article is a fascinating interview with Benjamin Baird, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which he conducted while participating in a lucid dreaming study.

The post Introducing Mike Lamberti – New Writer on LucidSage.com appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

If you want to read more about Benjamin and his research you can visit his site at https://www.benjaminbaird.org/

The post Interview with Benjamin Baird, Lucid Dream Researcher appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Dr. Kristen LaMarca’s Website
• Kristen’s Blog
• Kristen on Twitter
• The Lucidity Institute
• Galantamine
• Sleeping, Dreaming and Dying by The Dalai Lama
• Waking, Dreaming, Being by Evan Thompson
• Sponsor: Get a Free Audiobook from Audible at www.audibletrial.com/LucidDreaming
• Audiobook recommendation: Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self

The post Episode 23 – Dr. Kristen LaMarca appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

The post Ursula Voss Presentation on Lucid Dreaming Research appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

The post Video of the Dream Tech Panel at Consciousness Hacking in Palo Alto appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

I am giving a presentation about The Future of Lucid Dreaming at the LA CH meetup on Dec 3rd in Pasadena. Info and registration here: http://www.meetup.com/Consciousness-Hacking-Los-Angeles/events/227044639/

I am also doing a panel on Dreams, Lucid Dreams and Technology for Dreaming at the CH Palo Alto meetup on Dec 8th together with Jennifer Dumpert and Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D.: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dream-tech-new-tools-to-awaken-your-dreams-tickets-16777495942

The post Speaking at the Consciousness Hacking meetups Dec 3rd & 8th appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• The OURA Ring Kickstarter
• What is Neurofeedback
• The Transformative Technology Conference
• Waking, Dreaming, Being by Evan Thompson
• Get a Free Audiobook from Audible at www.audibletrial.com/LucidDreaming
• Audiobook Recommendation: Dream Yoga: The Tibetan Path of Awakening Through Lucid Dreaming

The post Episode 22 – Sleepless in Los Angeles appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• My interview on the Entrepreneurs in Training Podcast
• My interview on BBC4’s Out of the Ordinary
• The most comprehensive article on the Best Sleep Trackers on the Wall Street Journal
• The Beddit Sleep Tracker – Website | Amazon
• The Hello Sense Sleep Tracker & Monitor
• The Jawbone Up 3 – Website | Amazon (looks like shipping is no longer delayed)
• The LU-Kit – Kickstarter | Indiegogo
• The NPT Lucid Dreamer using Nocturnal Penile Tumescence (from the maker of the Luci)
• Chrona Smart Pillow Kickstarter
• Wakē Over-Bed Smart Alarm Kickstarter
• Kokoon EEG Headphones Kickstarter
• Luna Luxury Sleep Mask Kickstarter
• One more reason to get a good night’s sleep – TED Talk

The post Episode 21 – Prerequisite for a Dream appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Finite Films Website
• Anamnesis Series Website
• Finite Films YouTube Channel
• Anamnesis on Facebook
• Anamnesis on Twitter
  Random Mentions:
• The book Are You Dreaming? by Daniel Love
• The Fountain
• Contact Mirror Scene

The post Episode 20 – Finite Films Interview – Anamnesis appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Lucid Dreaming for Alpine Endurance Athletes
• More info about the University of Wisconsin Study
• To learn more or to apply to the study, email Ben at bbaird@wisc.edu
• Article & discussion about Lucid Dreaming Myths on Reddit
• r/LucidDreaming Subreddit

The post Episode 19 – Myths and Misconceptions appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• MIT Media Labs Conversation with B. Alan Wallace
• stlLD.com – USML Research
• stlLD.com – Meetup Group
• Awoken Android App
• Awoken Statistics Article
• Dreamboard App
• Shadow App

The post Episode 18 – Awoken appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Aurora latest updates
• Oneirics on Kickstarter
• Latest Wired Article
• Michio Kaku on the Science of Dreams (and lucid dreams)
• Medium Article on Stephen LaBerge
• My Interview with Ursula Voss

The post Episode 17 – Daniel Schoonover appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Your recent study on the Induction of self awareness in dreams is the latest in a series of studies you have published on various aspects of Lucid Dreaming and awareness in dreams going back several years. Where does your interest in Lucid Dreams come from?

To study lucid dreaming is a scientific challenge that I took on with a great deal of scepticism and which turned out to be so very fascinating that I continued searching for answers to the many many questions we generate with our research.

Have you had personal experience with Lucid Dreaming before conducting research on the subject? If so, would you mind sharing an interesting personal experience in lucid dreams you may have had?

I have had lucid dreams in childhood but thought nothing of it until Allan Hobson took me aside and told me “let’s do a study on lucid dreaming.” Then I thought he was joking. I did not want to go in that direction, scientifically, and didn’t think it could be done right meaning I did not believe we could actually collect objectifiable data.

What do you consider as some of the practical applications of being able to produce awareness in dreams that can come out of this research? Is there a potential to conduct “self therapy” (with guidance) by engaging with dream content, and perhaps the subconscious, directly?

Yes to self-therapy, and I receive many letters from traumatized individuals who have helped themselves successfully through ld (lucid dreams). As to the “subconscious”, this is deep water.

There has been some criticism or perhaps confusion in a couple of reports on the recent study (such as this Wired Article) in regards to the LuCiD Scale and how certain can we be of participants achieving lucidity via the low current stimulation. The questions was raised whether self reporting is accurate enough as well as a lack of clarity on the meaning of the numbers for INSIGHT for example. Would you mind clarifying that a bit? How would you describe in layman’s terms the confidence in whether subjects became aware and did EEG reading corroborate lucidity?

Did EEG reading corroborate lucidity? yes, actually the EEG was what we were interested in most of all. When we started we wanted to know if it was at all possible to force the brain to oscillate in a certain way. We found that yes, if you provide the brain with a certain frequency, it will resonate. If you use the wrong frequency for the state it is in at the time, it will not take up this oscillation or at least not notably. Our subjects were not asked “were you lucid?”. Instead, we read out the items of the LuCiD scale to them and let them answer those. Also, they provided a dream report. They often said things like “this was so strange”, “wow, what was that?” followed by a report on what was going on in the dream.

My understanding of what he is saying is that participants were asked about their “level of lucidity/awareness” (insight) on a scale of 0 to 5 but reported an average of 0.6 which seems low and to him indicates that it may mean that they did not become lucid. But then again, his last sentence indicates that he does not understand the content of the paper. 

The person (whoever it is) is right! On an absolute scale, ratings are low. Relatively speaking, they are high. This is perfectly in line with the results from factor analysis on consciousness in dreams (the paper on the LuCiD scale). It is how it is: the person having a lucid dream in our studies is still asleep while having this dream. Perhaps, if you ask someone who is studying dreams acquired through WILD or MILD, the scores might be different. In our REM sleep induced dreams, this is what we find.

From your answer it sounds like the EEG is the main component in corroborating the lucid state rather than the questions posed to the participants.

No, what I was saying is that we are apparently serving 2 different communities. For consciousness researchers, the EEG finding was what we were excited about, for the ld community, the subjective ratings were the most important thing.

What was the most surprising finding for you in your research so far?

That lucid dreaming is a real phenomenon and that it is so especially frequent in the young.

What is next for you and your team and where does research on lucid dreaming go from here?

Next is clinical work, applying what we learned to help patients in overcoming their problems.

The post Interview with Dr. Ursula Voss, PhD appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Oneirics on Kickstarter
• Oneirics comment section

The post Episode 16 – Your Two Lives appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Waking Up – Chapter One (Free) by Sam Harris
• Waking Up in Audiobook and Print Version
• How do you explain consciousness – TED talk by David Chalmers
• Overcast podcast client app

The post Episode 15 – Reflections appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• www.AndrewHolecek.com
• Dream Yoga – The Tibetan Path of Awakening Through Lucid Dreaming: on Sounds True, Amazon or Audible
• Meditation in the iGeneration: How to Meditate in a World of Speed and Stress
• The Power And The Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship Into Joy
• Global Dental Relief
• Ken Wilber Stops His Brainwaves Video

The post Episode 14 – Dream Yoga with Andrew Holecek appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• The Future of Lucid Dreaming Article
• Dream Yoga
• NovaDreamer & NovaDreamer2
• Remee
• Aurora
• NeuroOn
• Lucid Dreaming through Electric Stimulation Study
• Personal EEGs: Neurosky, Emotiv, Muse and OpenBCI
• Could future devices read images from our brains? – TED Video

The post Episode 13 – The Future of Lucid Dreaming appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

But it is what lies ahead for this movement that captures my imagination. I have very little doubt that, like in many other areas in life, it is technology that will bring the most change and the most advancement to lucid dreaming methods, induction techniques and practice & preparation for achieving lucidity. There is already fast growing interest both in practice by individuals who are discovering this phenomena for the first time as well as in development of gadgets and methods to induce lucidity by hobbyists and professionals. I also believe the advancement of lucid dreaming will come not only in the form of achieving this dream state, but in the use of that state as well. In this article I am going to try to layout the coming developments we should except in the near future as well as imagine what the farther future of lucid dreaming might look like. This is no more than an exercise of the futurist in me and is comprised of my own vision and predictions. What the future actually holds will show up in due time.

The Near Future

Supplements – perfecting the ultimate combination and application

Supplements for lucid dreaming are gaining more and more traction, and as initially they used to be herbs or extracts that were used for another purpose but discovered to be useful for lucid dreaming, are now starting to be designed for and marketed very specifically for lucid dreaming (like Alpha Brain & Lucid Dream Leaf). Although it is still my belief that this is a very individual thing, and what works for one person might not work for another. With the particular intent of enhancing the REM phase of sleep, dream recall and dream awareness, LD supplements will be fine tuned both in components and quantity as well as method of application (like what is the optimal time to take it) to produce a supplement that will be the most conducive to achieving lucidity. You have to remember (as i elaborated on in episode 10 of the podcast) that supplements will not actually trigger lucidity but will increase and improve the conditions to achieving lucidity. Ultimately however, supplements can only go so far, and with improving methods and device for induction, supplements will eventually become obsolete as an aid for lucid dreaming.

Gadgets, sleep masks and headbands

The first lucid dreaming mask, the NovaDreamer, was introduced in March of 2000 by Stephen LaBerge, and had the ability to detect a dreaming state by sensing eye movement and alerting its user to the fact that they are dreaming. Although it was helpful in achieving lucidity to some degree, it was very expensive, not quite perfected yet and was discontinued after some time. A few imitations showed up but were still expensive and never garnered too much attention.

The landscape of lucid dreaming gadgets was quiet for years, until the Kickstarter campaign for the Remee, a new and more affordable lucid dreaming mask, launched on April 2012 and raised over half a million dollars as well as a lot of awareness and attention about lucid dreaming. The Remee was a more sophisticated design in some aspect but a more simple one in others. It was thinner, more comfortable and it’s lights were programmable, but it did not have a way to detect when the wearer was dreaming and could only be set via a timer, which reduced its usefulness tremendously. A lot of people were disappointed when the Remee finally came to market, and yet the launch of the Remee still felt like a renaissance for lucid dreaming. It reignited the hopes and dreams of many lucid dreamers that there might be a way to achieve lucidity faster and easier with an aid like a sleep mask.

Shortly after, Luci, a lucid dreaming headband (an EEG headband that will alert you when you are dreaming) launched on kickstarter and raised over $400K before getting canceled on it’s last day due to suspicion of being a fake campaign with no real prototype. After that, and almost simultaneously, the Neouron, a polyphesic sleep mask with EEG capabilities (although lucid dreaming is not it’s main purpose and function) and the Aurora, a lucid dreaming headband similar to the Luci concept launched on Kickstarter and both successfully funded. These 2 devices are now in developments and set to ship in 2014, while the new and anticipated NovaDreamer 2 (code name: N2D2) was teased by Stephen LaBerge to be beta tested and released this year as well. Not many details were revealed about the new Nova Dreamer 2.

When I started writing this article I was working on a proof of concept gadget that would utilize low current brain stimulation (such as tDCS) to induce lucidity and was intending to write this segment proposing that this is possibly the next big step in induction devices if it works. But to my surprise, before I finished writing this article, a study that was published on May 11th 2014 in Nature Journal of Science has shown that low current stimulation has achieved awareness in dreams in 77% of the subjects.

This study was based on the results from a previous study (the one that gave me the same idea in the first place) by the same group of scientist, where they discovered that the brain produces gamma waves during a lucid dream, and set out to test if applying a current with the same frequency to a sleeping subject in the same area of the brain that produces it naturally during a lucid dreaming will induce awareness in the dream. It did.

This has provided the proof of concept and created a roadmap for the device I started working on a few months before this study came out. I believe it will accelerate the creation and refinement of the device to make it a viable, safe and effective device anyone will be able to use. This will be a reality sooner than I had originally anticipated.

Brain training with personal EEG

There are two main aspects to the practice of lucid dreaming. While achieving lucidity may be the first and most crucial part, a high level of awareness and dream control are the other. The latter allows for some incredible experiences beyond just being aware that you are dreaming. I believe these two aspects are really different points or levels on the same spectrum of consciousness, but devices that may soon be perfected to induce lucidity might not give us higher levels of awareness or more dream control once in the lucid state.

This is where practice, training and accumulated experience make for better results. So far, methods of training are mostly within a lucid dream itself, although meditation is proving to be extremely effective in both increasing the chances for lucidity as well as increasing vividness and dream control. Soon, I believe, we will be able to train during the waking state with EEG devices and Neurofeedback.

The first affordable personal EEGs came in the form of DIY projects like the OpenEEG. Now a wide variety of high quality yet affordable consumer grade EEG devices (like Neurosky, Emotiv, Muse and OpenBCI) are coming out to the market with high precision and even applications for various mind and neurofeedback training.

I believe these devices will not only enhance existing training like various meditation practices (which in turn enhance lucidity) but will also allow for a more focused awareness training geared specifically for the practice of lucid dreams. It is my theory that by consciously replicating brain states that correlate to the brain state of a the lucid dream (such as theta and alpha or theta and gamma) we could train our minds for those conditions and the ability to achieve and maintain them while asleep. This remains to be seen, but I believe this would work for the same reason meditation works, increased awareness across the waking and dreaming states of consciousness. I definitely plan on testing this theory.

DIY Sleep Labs

Tying back to the last point, once you put such devices (which once were only accessible to the medical and academic community) in the hands of a large number of “amateur” enthusiasts, the amount of data and personal “homemade” research that would come out of this could take our understanding of sleeping, dreaming and consciousness to a whole new level. I am excited for those new insights I cannot even imagine that might come out of this new era of personal devices. (since we are talking about the future, imagine what will happen when we all have personal fMRIs)

The Not So Near Future

Mind, Body & Spirit

The ultimate lucid dreaming induction device will eventually be formulated. I have very little doubt that advancements in both technology and neuroscience will eventually reach a point where what we can build will be small enough and effective enough that an induction device will reliably be able to induce lucidity effectively 100% of the time.

This, in my view, will lead to the ubiquity of lucid dreaming as a common and widespread practice. Lucid dreaming will become not only mainstream but perhaps a prominent part of a health regimen just like meditation is becoming these days. More and more research is coming out on the effects the content of our dreams (in addition to the quality of our sleep) has on our health, memory, state of mind and even our ability for self growth and personal evolution.

Psychotherapy will gain a whole new arena to engage with. Where once a therapist would ask you to write down your dreams to be able to analyze some glimpses from your subconscious, they will now send you home with assignments to take to your dreams and to interact with your subconscious directly. Things like treating and dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are at the top of the list of therapeutic applications for scientists researching lucid dreaming.

And in much the same way, I think this will bring lucid dreaming to western societies as a spiritual practice as well. Practices like dream yoga in combination with western methods are already becoming more known by teachers like Charlie Morely and will become even more common when induction of lucid dreams is no longer a barrier for so many people.

Training Grounds

Although lucid dreaming is already used by many who practice it for anything from overcoming social fears to martial arts training, the dream state might end up being the ultimate training ground for a multitude of practices and disciplines. The military, for example, has been investing heavily in virtual reality to train soldiers in custom environments and scenarios where they can’t get hurt. Imagine the potential of putting someone in a truly immersive, experientially realistic space where the possibilities are endless.

The Far Future

Filmmaking

My last prediction has to do with another little passion of mine, and although it may seem surprising as much as it may sound far fetched, I’d like to try and make the case for why the future lucid dreamer might one day become a one man movie studio and the ultimate filmmaker.

Mind reading is still considered science fiction, but brain imaging is rapidly evolving, so much so that a recent study was able to reproduce images remarkably accurately to those viewed by the subject by scanning their brain while they were viewing a video. You can see these amazing results in this video (starting at minute 8):

But if you watch the whole video you will see that the researchers working on this believe that sooner or later brain imaging reach a high enough resolution to produce a “pixel perfect” image of what is going on in your mind. The implications of this are tremendous, for many areas of life, and any creative endeavor will be able to pour directly from our minds onto digital media, be it a piece of music, a drawing or a motion picture.

But despite accurate projections of our mental visions, no one will be able to produce imagery as realistic, in high resolution, with full blown landscapes, scenarios and a thousand moving parts as a lucid dreamer could create while in a vivid lucid dream. When we can project our mental content directly onto media, a creative and prolific lucid dreamer could create cinematic movies in one night, at zero cost, that no studio could produce for any budget and no CGI could create (perhaps until, if and when, Artificial Intelligence will surpass our true brain capacity).

Listen to the companion podcast episode here.

The post The Future of Lucid Dreaming appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• The Dream Leaf (Website – Amazon)
• Article in The Guardian
• The study in Nature.com
• Dr. Steven Novella’s Article about tDCS on Science Based Medicine

The post Episode 12 – Electric Dreams appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Translating Dreams Kickstarter
• The Way of the Lucid Dreamer Kickstarter
• Dr. Steven Novella’s Article about Supplements on Science Based Medicine

The post Episode 11 – Dream Tours appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Lucid Dreaming Day – Message from Keith Herne
• Gateways of The Mind – Ireland 2014 Event
• Galantamine: Wikipedia – Amazon
• Huperzine A: Wikipedia
• Acetylcholine: Wikipedia
• Onnit’s Alpha Brain: Product Overview – Lucid Dreaming Page
• LD Supplement Combo

The post Episode 10 – Supplemental Material appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Multiple False Awakening reddit discussion
• The Mutual Dream Experiment new video
• The Ultimate Lucid Dreaming Movie List
• The Lucidity Festival – April 11 – 13 in Santa Barbara CA

The post Episode 9 – Total Recall appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

I wanted to add links to where these are available to view online but that keeps changing and it depends where you are in the world. For now, I am linking to IMDB.

Here we go…

Fiction: 

• Waking Life – Perhaps one of the most know lucid dreaming movies, and a hybrid of filmed animation and partially documentary style film.
• Inception – One of my favorite movies and one whose images are used in nearly every lucid dreaming article these days.
• Vanilla Sky (which is an american remake of Abre los ojos (Open your eyes))
• Lucid Dream – A Korean film on netflix
• Falling Water – TV Show
• Paprika – A spectacular Japanese animated film
• The Science of Sleep
• The Matrix – Where do I even start about this one? I might have to write whole separate post in this case.
• Nightmare on Elm Street
• The Cell
• The Good Night
• Dreamscape
• Alice in Wonderland
• When a Man Falls (in the Forest)
• Stay

Movies Experientially  about Lucid Dreams:

• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Total Recall
• Source Code
• The Thirteenth Floor
• What Dreams May Come
• eXistenZ

Documentaries:

• Wake Up! Exploring the Potential of Lucid Dreaming
• Conscious Dreaming
• The Lucid Dreamer

Did I miss any lucid dreaming movies? Let me know.
There are also a ton of short films, what do you think, should I include those?

The post The Ultimate Lucid Dreaming Movie List appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• An fMRI study of Out of Body Experience
• The Mutual Dream Experiment by Dr Rory Mac Sweeney

The post Episode 8 – Paranormal Activity appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Dreams of Awakening by Charlie Morley
• Lucid Dream On Command by Jaime Alexander
• Rhythm Induced Lucid Dreaming by Harionago
• The Podcast on SoundCloud – plus the SoundCloud Feed

The post Episode 7 – DIY Methods appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Dreams of Awakening by Charlie Morley
• Misconception Cleaner by TheModernNinja
• Lucidity Institute Update and Survey
• Nidra Dreaming
• NeuroOn – Polyphasic Sleep Mask
• Lucid Dream Ultimate App
• Lucid Dreamer App on Andriod & iOS
• Dream Views Forums

Charlie Morley on TEDx – Embracing Nightmares:

The post Episode 6 – Levels of Lucidity appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• LucidAbility.com
• The Tibetan Yogas Of Dream And Sleep
• Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light
• Ken Wilber Stops His Brain Waves

The post Episode 5 – Going WILD appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Video Games Change the Way You Dream – The Verge
• Brain Waves Graph
• Open BCI
• The Muse – Personal EEG
• Flux – Automatic Screen Light Adjuster

Sleep Stages:

Brain Waves Graph:

Ken Wilber Stops His Brainwaves:

The post Episode 4 – Brain Waves appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Another Lucid Dreaming Headband Launched on Kickstarter (DreamNet)
• Interview with Daniel Schoonover & Jack Payne from iWinks
• The Aurora Headband on Kickstarter
• Bone conduction products by Cynaps
• Intro Music is Lucid Dream Machine by Something Fiction

The post Episode 3 – iWinks Interview appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Show Notes:

• Quick follow up on Episode 1
• The Aurora Headband by iWinks successfully funded on Kickstarter
• A breakdown of my favorite Dream Journal app – Dreamboard – (app store link)
• Dream signs and custom reality checks

The post Episode 2 – A Good Sign appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

As someone who loves listening to podcasts and does so on a daily basis, I searched for a podcast about Lucid Dreaming and when I didn’t find one (Update: this didn’t come up the first time, but I now discovered the Dream Views podcast – check it out), the idea started brewing that perhaps I should try to record one. This is that attempt.

I consider this an experiment, just like the blog, in diving further into my own Lucid Dreaming practice as well as my desire to share it with others and basically open up my experience so others might benefit from it and that I may benefit from them when these efforts turn into a discussion and a conversion. That is the main idea behind it.

I will do my best to make this a quality podcast as well as an entertaining one. Lucid Dreams is a fascinating topic and should be talk about in a such a way. I hope you enjoy it and find it interesting.

Feedback, of all sorts, is always welcome!

Sweet & Lucid Dreams…

Show notes:

• Introduction, intention and future plan/hopes for the podcast
• Dream Journal as a core base of Lucid Dreaming podcast
• My article about Dream Journals

The post Episode 1 – Introduction appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Another Kickstarter Campaign for a Lucid Dreaming device has been launched.

This device is a simple head band with an EEG sensor that is intended to detect brain waves while you sleep and alert you via earphones while you are dreaming, when your brain is producing theta waves, indicating REM sleep.

Watch their video (which happens to include a piece of my Remee Review video) and read my thought below it:

This concept is a great one, as it tries to rely on detecting brain waves to indicate REM sleep (as opposed to trying to time it or detect actual eye movement during sleep). However my concern is that an auditory cue for attaining lucidity might wake you up just as often as a visual cue (like in the remee). This can work but will likely take practice and adjusting to, like any other device.

This is also not the first of this kind of devices. And these experimenters are saying that with an even more accurate, multi-sensor band, it is still very difficult to trigger lucidity reliably, which makes me question the Luci’s claimed success rate.

However, I like to remain hopeful. These efforts, assuming they are not purposefully misleading, should be applauded and encouraged. At the very least these successful crowdfunding campaigns show the high demand for a reliable Lucid Dreaming device. I have very little doubt that sooner or later someone will be able to create one.

The post Luci – A New Lucid Dreaming Device Based on Brainwaves appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Luckily enough my second lucid dream during childhood came at the perfect moment to save me from a monster and at the same time add to the realization of how powerful lucidity can be.

In my dream I was running down a hallway at the top of a dark castle and behind me is some undefined monster chasing me. I cannot see it yet but in my dream I know it is there and it is catching up soon. I ran all the way down the hall to the wooden door at the end and opened it to find that it leads to the outside, only at the top of the castle, with nothing but a giant drop all the way down. As jumping was not something that my mind would even considered at that moment, closing the door and staying inside was my only option.

With the door behind me, facing back into the hall, I knew I cannot go back as the monster was approaching. This increased my fear into absolute panic and probably out of the sheer terror I snapped into lucidity and suddenly knew I was dreaming. Knowing that I immediately tried to wake up. I remember trying to open my eyes in the waking world with no success. This was only the second time I became lucid and did not know anything about how it works and what to do. I could not wake myself up.

Even though I knew this was a dream now, the dream was still going on, and as a kid i was still afraid. A thought came through my mind to try to find something that will wake me up, to find a connection between dreaming and waking. I then saw on the floor a sort of crisscrossing spring like in a toy fist gun. In my mind I knew this was somehow my way out (as it felt as if my mind created it after the previous thought). I picked it up and started twisting the spring until a spark came up out its corner, it’s light blinded me and in doing so woke me up.

I sat up in bed, breathing in relief. It was then obvious that becoming aware that a dream is a dream can be an amazing weapon against nightmare, even if only to help me wake up from them and stop the bad dream. Later in life I discover that lucidity in nightmares is much far more than a tool to escape your nightly fears, it is a key to face and overcome your daily fears as well.

The post My First Lucid Nightmare appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

Update 10/5/2014

The Remee Lucid Dreaming Mask (who’s achronim is the “REM Enhancing Eyemask”) took the world by storm when Bitbanger Labs launched their Kickstarter Campaign in April of 2012. They sailed through their goal of $35K to eventually raise more than half a million dollars, and for good reason. The world of lucid dreaming was ready for a new lucid dreaming aid as there was little new in the last ten years with very few exceptions.

The Remee is a sleep mask that flashes in various sequences of six red LED lights to signal and help alert you that you are dreaming. The following is my initial review and thoughts about the Remee, addressed to those who are considering getting one and wish to get a better sense of how it works as well as to the thousands of people who already have those and could benefit from a few tips on how to use it.

A Sleep Mask

Remee is first and formost a sleep mask and as such it needs to be comfortable to sleep in. As compared to a regular sleep mask it is a little thicker and slightly heavier than most and yet still comfortable and you can sleep with it throughout the night. I had to get used to it but that didn’t take very long. Now compared to other lucid dreaming masks the Remee is unparalleled. It contains a thin flexible circuit board (with the exception of 2 small areas where hard components like the battery) with a thin battery (that should last about 5-6 months) and six red LED lights all snugly covered in a fairly thin foam. It is lighter, thiner and more comfortable than any other LD mask I have tried. Unlike other masks, there are no exposed parts but the components are accessible through a velcro opening at the top.

Lucidity

Remee works by trying to time its signals to flash while you are in REM sleep (the cycle of sleep in which dreaming occurs). This is done by the device starting a few hours after going to sleep, where REM cycles are longer, and flash additional times after certain intervals. You can program how long before it first flashes, how long between the intervals and the flash patterns as well as the brightness intensity. It will probably take a few attempts before you fine tune it’s setting to better match your sleep cycles but if you go to sleep at the site time every night you have a good chance of adjusting it fairly quickly.

Remee’s flashing lights are intended to be a lucidity trigger. They are meant to show up as artifacts and effects in your dreams that you might notice, wonder about and even recognize which will help you realize you are dreaming. When you set a particular pattern, try to memorize it, tell yourself that when you’ll see that pattern next that you will recognize you are dreaming and become lucid. If you see flashing red light in any scenario in your daily life, do a reality check and ask yourself, “Am I Dreaming?”.

Remee has another neat little feature called Nap Mode in which it will be set to flash a short time after being activated. This is perfect for, well, naps. It helps prevent having to reprogram it from several hours to several minutes and back. Nap Mode is great for those “going back to sleep” moments on weekend mornings or days where there is no rush to get up.

Video Review

I have put together a quick video going over some of the aspects of the Remee and my thoughts about it as well as quick comparison to a mask that has a REM Detection feature:

Music Credit: Song used in the video is Lucid Dream Machine by Something Fiction

Tips & Tricks

For those who have a Remee, I wanted to share a little of my experience with it so far and some of the issues & solutions i’ve discovered in using Remee.

• If you are trying to program Remee, but the lights in the back do not flash along with the programing screen as shown in the video below, there might be either too much light or too little light in the room. I found that both a lot of or too little light can interfere with the programing. Also make sure the light sensors are properly exposed and aligned with the squares on the screen.
• Before trying to program the Remee differently each night to figure out what brightness level will be best for you, double click the front button to activate the pattern that will be displayed during sleep and put the mask on with your eyes closed. If you can’t notice the light pattern when you are awake, you probably won’t notice it when you are asleep. Increase the brightness until you see it slightly through your closed eyelids and try that brightness level first.
• If you find the mask slipping off of your head at night (has not happend to me actually), try putting the back head band under your ears instead of above them.
• For those of you who don’t have a steady and constant sleep throughout the night (like myself), use Nap Mode every time you wake up and go to sleep. This will increase your chances of seeing the pattern more times during REM sleep as most times we wake up from sleep is during dreaming.

Programing Remee

The way you program the Remee is nothing short of brilliant. Using 2 light sensors on the circuit board, the programming page on their website flashes a sequence of light and dark squares in fornt of the sensors and reprograms the device according to the settings sliders on the page. This removed having to put additional buttons or switches on the mask itself (something that is a pain in other masks).

Here is the video by Bitbanger Labs showing what comes in the box with the Remee and how to use it.

I highly recommend you log in to your account and save your settings so you can remember what you’ve tried and adjust it from there until you find your optimal settings.

Overall the Remee is an excellent Lucid Dreaming Mask for its price, design and usability.
If you are looking for a Lucid Dreaming Mask with REM detection, check out this version of the REM Dreamer.

To get yourself a Remee, go to SleepWithRemee.com

Yes, I would love to see some improvements made to the Remee in future iterations such as bluetooth connectivity for easier programing and perhaps interactivity with smartphone apps and other devices that can detect REM. Reinventing the Lucid Dreaming Mask had to start somewhere and I admire and applaud its creators for the work the’ve done, I have no doubt it was not an easy task.

Sweet and Lucid Dreams…

The post Remee Lucid Dreaming Mask Review appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

This dream was unique in more than just becoming aware that I was dreaming for the first time, it also had an element I rarely have in my dreams…. Music!
This was a short dream and I was about 6 or 7 years old at the time so my dream recall was not so good yet, but this brief but powerful dream stayed in my memory to this day.

I was dreaming I was in the playground in school. The sort of jungle gym play structure we had was now on the area where we usually play soccer on and my cousin was swinging on the swing, and I was suddenly flying in between the posts, ladders and slides of the structure, around and around while in the background was playing an old song I knew. I then realized that everything I am seeing is a dream, I knew I am in my bed sleeping and that everything that is happening is all in my dream.

I was filled with instant exhilaration and wonder. I was amazed that this could happen. I only ever consciously reflected  on my dreams after waking up from them, looking back and trying to make out the fuzzy details of a faint memory. and here I was, seeing it live in living color (and sound) while it was all going on. I didn’t control the dream, I was just observing while my body is still flying around, though I couldn’t stop smiling. I very quickly got so excited by this occurrence that I woke up.

I would note that in many dreams to follow where lucidity would occur naturally, it would be in dreams where I am flying and lucidity would trigger while I’m in mid flight. I do not believe that this is a coincidence, nor is it that the first thing most people do right after becoming lucid is take off and soar right away. I think flying in a dream is related to freedom and expansion of  our consciousness.

I didn’t have my next lucid dream until a few years later but knowing this can happen made going to sleep a much more alluring proposition.

The post My First Lucid Dream appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

I am a big proponent of the 80/20 rule (emphasized by the likes of Tim Ferris) which states that 80% of the results are most often caused by 20% of the efforts. In applying this to the practice of Lucid Dreaming, trying all the methods right off the bat might not increase your chances by all that much but will increase the amount of effort you’ll make by a lot, often to a degree that will feel overwhelming and will likely stop many from really trying to begin with.

So I propose to start with the most basic component (and the most crucial one) of cultivating lucidity, writing down your dreams.
A dream journal is used most often to increase dream recall in order to remember your dreams better and find cues that can be used for reality checks and lucidity triggers. But I would like to suggest that done consistently, writing down your dreams in and of itself is the single most effective method to achieve lucidity as well as turn it into a regular occurrence. This may sounds like a big or perhaps strange claim but I will soon explain why I believe this works better than anything else and the evidence that supports it. It might not be easy but I promise it will be simple, all it takes is consistency.

First and formost, how can you know you are dreaming if you can barely remember your dreams? People’s dream recall (how well they remember their dreams) varies wildly whether they write their dreams or not. There are many things that affect dream recall such as the quality of sleep, your nutrition or diet, and many other factors. But writing down your dreams over a period of time always increases dream recall. Now for those of you who are thinking “I don’t dream at all” or “I can’t remember any dream so how can I write them down?”, the answer is simple. Plan to write down your dreams, put a paper and pen next to your bed and say to yourself before going to sleep “When I wake up and I am going to remember my dreams and write them down” and this alone in most cases will suddenly cause you to remember even a little piece of a dream. Intention is a strong thing, especially when it comes to the mind. Try to write down anything, even if it is a fraction of an image or a feeling. In the second or third night you’ll remember a little more and eventually start recalling entire dreams and multiple dreams.

I went from remembering a couple of “scenes” from one dream to remembering 6 – 7 dreams per night in just a couple of months. If you write down as much as you remember every morning, this will inevitably happen to you, as long as you keep at it. Now if you have read about any other techniques you may wonder “how is this going to make me achieve lucidity? I’m going to remember my dreams really, great, but at what point do I become lucid?”.

Writing down your dreams every morning, will sooner or later cause you to spontaneously become lucid. Lucidity is the inevitable progression of dream recall, and here is why. Intending to and writing down your dreams brings conscious awareness to your dreams, it does so in an exponentially increasing way as you continue to do it. It is your conscious awareness, your daily awake awareness that remembers your dreams when you wake up. This is why you go from remembering very little to a little more to much more to a lot more of your dreams. It happens progressively because you practice and increase your conscious attention and awareness to your dream’s content. As you increase conscious awareness in your dreams it reaches a level where you become, well, conscious while dreaming.

My first Accidental Case Study

The way this concept first came to me was by accident, as I myself started actively practicing lucid dreaming by trying ALL methods at once hoping that doing every method known to men would get me there faster, so I didn’t just write down my dreams and suddenly started lucid dreaming. But many years after I started my practice I had a random conversation with my mother and told her about lucid dreaming and to my surprise she not only said this happens to her but she went on to very nonchalantly say that this happens to her every night. “Are you sure you are lucid dreaming?” I asked again. “Yes, I know that I am dreaming and I am still dreaming. I can even control the dream if i wanted to”. I started asking her a series of endless questions to try and figure out how come she was blessed with such a natural ability to lucid dream daily, while I had to work so hard for maybe one lucid dream per month! Did she not pass along the lucid dreaming gene??

After many questions it turns out she started to write down her dreams on a daily basis as part of her study of psychotherapy years ago. Writing and analyzing your dreams in an integral part of the course she was taking. Only she felt such a benefit from doing this that she decided to continue to write down her dreams longer after her course was over. In fact she continued to write them down to this day. And according to her, quickly after picking up this habit her dream recall increased tremendously all the way to remembering full 8 – 9 dreams per night, way more than she had the time to write down before work in the morning. But more importantly, she one day realized she was dreaming while she was dreaming, and as she continued to write down her dreams this started happening more and more often until eventually it started happening practically every night. From doing nothing more than writing down her dreams. She never heard of luci dreaming or of any of the methods to try to bring it about.

After hearing this I’ve realize that even though I was trying different methods on a regular basis, I have been neglecting my dream journal at that time, as I was already remembering enough of my dreams as well as feeling I was making plenty of effort and didn’t feel like writing my dreams every morning. In addition to that, when telling this discovery to some people who share my passion for lucid dreaming, it started to become obvious that others experience might indicate that a stronger dream recall is somehow key to lucidity.

I’ve continued to research more about this and found that those who are “natural” lucid dreamers have either a natural strong dream recall or have been writing their dreams on a regular basis just out of their fascination or curiosity regarding the content of their dreams, something that is fascinating to many.

If you are just starting out and want to try all of the methods right away, I will not tell you not to, but if you wanted to do it in the most simple way that would be the most efficient, Start A Dream Journal. If out of all the known ways to induce lucid dreams you could only do one, Write Down Your Dreams. Do it as much and as often as you can. If you wake up in the middle of the night and can remember and write your dream even then, do it, but at the very least write as much as you can every morning on a daily basis. If you don’t have the time or energy to write them down, pick up your smartphone and record your dream into the voice recorder app. All you need to do is spend 5 – 10 minutes per day to do this. And if you do this consistently, you will sooner or later start lucid dreaming spontaneously.

Sweet & Lucid Dreams,

The Lucid Sage

The post The Simplest Way to Start Lucid Dreaming appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.

This, if you have never experienced it before, is an astounding experience to say the least and no words can describe it if you had not had the exquisite pleasure of dream lucidity.

So why learn to lucid dream? There are many reasons, and beyond just the exhilarating experience itself it is a practice with tremendous benefits. The dream world is the ultimate virtual reality where you can literally create and do anything your imagination can invision. Ever wanted to fly? walk through walls? travel the galaxy? create a galaxy? I am barely scratching the surface here and the list is infinite. But dreams can also be the stage on which you face and overcome fears, learn about yourself and perhaps even about the nature of reality. Sounds fantastical? Find out for yourself, it is a personal journey after all.

Let me repeat something many who came before me pointed out which is the fact that we spend about a third of our lives sleeping. Now you can spend a large part of this time in the grandest adventures of your life…

Want to give it a try? Here is the simplest way to start lucid dreaming.

The post What is Lucid Dreaming? appeared first on Lucid Dreaming.