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Dream within a dream

Are you curious and sometimes maybe a bit baffled by your dreams? Do you wake up with fragments of a dream fresh in your mind and wonder : why was it so real ? well, you are not alone. Sleep scientist wonder the same thing.

The sci-fi adventure hit movie,INCEPTION has sparked massive new interest in the concept of lucid dreaming. Lucidity means becoming conscious and self-aware in your dreams, turning the dreamscape into a vivid virtual reality where everything you see, hear, feel, taste and even smell will be just as authentic real life. Tibetan monks have used dream control for more than a thousand years in a philosophy called Dream Yoga. However the modern term ‘lucid dreaming’ was not coined until the 20th century by the Dutch psychiatrist Frederik Van Eeden, meaning ‘mental clarity in dreams’ . The concept of lucid dreams were popularized by Celia Green in the 1960 s. She was the first to point out the link that false awakenings make way to lucid dreams. False awakenings are essentially ultra vivid dreams in which you are convinced you have woken up in physical reality. Yet many such awakenings go unrecognized assumed to be waking reality as they involve things one does everyday on autopilot such as getting up, having breakfast, getting dressed and heading out for work. It thus reveals the remarkable capacity of the human brain to emulate reality.

But in normal dreams our self-awareness is shut down. That’s why we often feel fuzzy and distant. Lucidity occurs during altered states of consciousness when you realize you are dreaming and your brain switches into waking mode inside the dream. This is a safe and natural state. It is not a literal out of body experience because you are always asleep in bed the whole time. And if you want you can wake yourself up. When lucid, our senses become alive and we explore the inner workings of our sub-conscious with total freedom. This scientifically proven phenomenon of conscious dreaming enables one to control and manipulate the dream world and its characters in any way he/she likes. Having a lucid dream is not actually all that hard once you tap into the right mechanism. Research shows that everyone will have atleast one lucid dream in their lives, just by accident. And to have lucid dreams on demand, all one has to do is get into the habit of spotting the difference between a dreamstate and waking reality. This is possible if one has more self-awareness (conscious tuning with current reality) in everyday life. Regular meditation, self hyposis and visualizations help in achieving it.

Dreams rarely have a beginning; you are simply thrown right into the middle of the action. Asking how one got into a dream is what we call a reality check- a way of testing if you’re awake or dreaming for the subconscious will go to any extent to make a dream look convincingly real.

Reality checks for lucid dreamers- Can you push your hand through a solid surface? Can you read a clock face or digital watch? Can you will yourself to fly or hover above the ground? Does your reflection look normal in the mirror? Can you breath by holding your nose and mouth shut? When you jump do you float back down? Can you read a sentence twice without it changing, for numbers and letters are notoriously hard to read in dreams. an you add up two numbers for a correct answer? Is your vision clearer or blurrier than normal? Does your palms look normal close up?

If you like, use your own totem to remind you for a reality check. I prefer to look at the finer details of my palms. An ideal totem is a digital watch for it chimes on the hours which you can hear in your sleep . Never go for light switches in particular for some reason they often fail to function when you are dreaming. Place written reminders around the house which will prompt you to do a check on 'am i dreaming?' . By performing several simple reality checks throughout the day you are training your brain to become more self aware. Ultimately this mentality will filter into your dreamworld. For good measures, perform two checks each time as a failsafe. I had the fortune of doing a reality check and tried to push my hand through the glass window of my bedroom. Yet my dream was so real, my brain refused to accept the possibility of it passing through. Dumbstruck and being unable to rationalize what was happening, I clumsily explored the house knowing something was wrong as I couldn’t define it. Stuck in a limbo like dream world eventually I went to the kitchen and found my mother cooking biryani for dinner at 5 a.m! bingo, logic bomb! Jogged into critical thinking mode I instantly became lucid and flew away. For instance you might imagine a two-headed monkey and your subconscious will conjure up a false memory of a news story about the birth of such a monkey! Does it make sense? Lucid dreamers train themselves to question such logic.

Occasionally a reality check fails though no fault of one's own. The most likely explanation is that you are not performing them with enough mindfulness. Achieving a good level of self-awareness will not come overnight. But its a fast learning curve. So pay attention to your surroundings and study them in detail. And most importantly question their nature. How it would look if you had 12 fingers? Can you imagine them melting into the furniture?

Have fun with visualizations and tricks of the mind. You are aiming to short circuit your brain and edit programming that has been in place for centuries.

Learning exactly how to control your dreams is a crucial part of lucid dreaming. You need to learn the laws of the dream world which is really the fun part...Most people go flying when they first learn to have lucid dreams .Since its not normal to fly in real life, the conscious brain can have trouble believing it. Start by bouncing or hopping along the dreamscape, gradually allowing yourself to get [pic]

higher untill you soar above the clouds. Remember its a dream and you can't get hurt. If you want, you can use a flying aid. This can be anything from a jet pack to giant wings or even sitting on the back of a dragon. Making a dream scene morph in front of your eyes can be difficult largely because you dont expect it to happen. Once i wanted to eat in the middle of a desert. So i applied some lucid logic and imagined a restaurant behind me and there it was a second later. I went it and ordered a delicious meal for free. Sometimes i find a dream door and step through it by visualizing my destination. Mirrors also serve as portals or step into your own personal time machine for instant time travel to a new country or a planet. Find dream objects in your pocket, under a rock, in a drawer, or in a box. You can pretty much improvise as you dream on. Communicate with your subconscious by creating a dream figure that you're happy to talk to and then ask open and direct questions. You might be surprised by some of the answers that come right from the horses mouth. The most important thing is to truly believe that the dream scenary will change. Otherwise you might end up in a battle of logic with the conscious brain. Make it a habit to say to yourself every now and then 'this is a dream' so you don't lose lucidity.

So what is the best way to have a lucid dream tonight?

To begin, your body must be relaxed and loose. Lie on your back or whatever position you can lie in for a while without moving. Empty your mind and gaze into the blankness of your closed eyelids. If any thoughts pop up just observe them don't interact - then send them on their way. If you dont want to meditate or you're failing to enter the state of calmness try listening to music that produces a soothing effect of deep relaxation. Once relaxed and dreamy, lead your mind into the half asleep hypnagogic state. Sometimes you'll wake up in the middle of the night and already be in this dreamy state- your body will be soft and your mind will drift to the dream world without any effort at all. You'll start seeing patterns and colours that take over your vision in the darkness. It may also produce sounds like music and voices, or physical sensations like floating or tipping. The internal dream world will start to evolve now and you should fully embrace it.

Stay calm to prolong your lucid dreams. Don't run around or shout I'm dreaming. Rub your hands together, for movement appears to engage the conscious brain preventing it from changing to a waking state. Demand 'clarity now' by saying it outloud and your dream scene will instantly snap into focus. If you notice the dream slipping away (losing colour and detail) do a simple arithmetic sum in your head such as 4+4 which engages the logical part of your brain.

Certain myths rule lucid dreaming. Like you have to kill yourself in the dream to wake up or if you die in a level 2 dream( a dream within a dream) you'll be trapped in your own personal dream for eternity. None of this is true in the real world of dreaming. At first many people are drawn to the idea of lucid dreaming for the escapism it offers. For it is way more realistic than day dreaming or playing your favourite video game. You can realistically fly over cities, breathe under water, teleport to the edge of the universe or become a ninja assassin. But once you get over the novelty value, you'll understand that lucid dreaming has many personal development applications. Such as problem solving, increasing your creativity, facing your fears, improving self confidence, practicing new skills , developing your sense of self and exploring your own subconscious. Lucid dreaming is a powerful psychological tool with an enlightening experience. These dreams are a personal quest to understand your inner-self and can change the way you view yourself and the world around you.

Dreaming permits each and everyone of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.

Sweet dreams