How would you like to be able to recall things long lost in your memory? Languages, things you've read, things you've heard? All of those thing are still in your brain, the difficult part is trying to remember them. What if you could do that easily? What if the same techniques you used to remember things easily could be used to speed up your learning curves on new information as well? There is such a technique and it's called Lucid Dreaming.
A lucid dream is a dream in which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming. Once someone is consciously aware that they are dreaming it then becomes possible to control the dream... think of it as your all access pass to your own mind. You ever had a dream that was so real you almost couldn't believe it wasn't when you woke up? It's like that, except you can do whatever you want.
So lets explore how you can enter a lucid dream. Like any other skill you need to walk before you can run (or fly in this case). Before you can take control of your dreams you need to at least remember them. The first technique to use is keeping a sleep diary. As soon as you wake up, write down or record to the best of your recollection your dreams. The faster you do this upon waking the more you will remember. Do not go to the bathroom, do not put on your clothes, do not check your phone... open your eyes grab your paper and write it down. As you do this each morning you develop better memory of your dreams and once you can fully remember at least 1 dream per night, it is time to begin attempting Lucidity. (To get to this point ususally takes 1-4 weeks)
The most effective technique for inducing a lucid dream is a variation of a technique called MILD (Mnemonic induction of lucid dreams) which was developed by Stephen LaBerge. MILD has 2 very simple parts, first you must focus on the idea that you will realize that you are dreaming and you will remember to test your reality. The other part is testing your reality. There are a few ways to do this but the most common are either counting finger/toes or reading lines of text then looking away and checking to see if the text is the same... this text can be on signs, books, clocks etc. You train your mind to do these thing out of habit by doing themseveral times throughout the day while awake, therefore making you much more likely to do itwhen dreaming. If you are dreaming these things will often be abnormal and you will be able to realize that you are dreaming. The variation on this technique that has been shown to be 60% effective in producing a lucid dream, is to wake yourself after 5-6 hours of sleep, then use the MLID technique. REM cycles become longer as the nights sleep progresses, using this technique you will be focusing your efforts on the longest REM cycle and therefore maximizing your efforts.Also it has been shown that melatonin supplimentation can increase the likelyhood of lucid dreaming. (not to mention the other positive effects it can have on sleep.)
Now once you can achieve lucidity the next issue is keeping it. The excitement from getting into a lucid dream state will often break your REM pattern and wake you up the first several times you get there. Dr.LaBerge developed 2 techniques to increase the likelyhood that you will prolong your lucidity. First of course you must relax, but also either spin around once or twice (as in turning 360 degrees with your dream body) or rub your hands together... (96% increase and 90% increase respectively, in probability to extended lucidity)
So have fun using lucid dreaming to do whatever you want. Feel free to fly, drive Ferraris and sleep with models... but after a little while remember to use it on recall memory, learning and positive conditioning as well :-)
(Sources:
LaBerge, Stephen (1985). Lucid Dreaming. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher. ISBN 0-87477-342-3.
LaBerge, Stephen (1991). Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-37410-X.)
For further reading on Lucid Dreaming checkout these sites:
http://www.dreamviews.com/
http://www.lucidity.com/
http://www.mavericksofthemind.com/lab-int.htm
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