Lucid dream refers to the act of having a dream while already dreaming (Allan Hobson et al. 64) The proponents of lucid dreaming argue that it entails having clear cognition about a dream and being able to manipulate how they can dream. These parties believe that lucid dreaming the best means of doing things that one cannot do in ordinary life such as tasting fire or flying to the sun. Lucid dream feels real in its exact nature. In this case, lucid dreaming also considers the position in which the dreamer is dreaming, and they are aware of the act. The first exposition regarding lucid dreaming was first featured in the treatise “On Dreams” by the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (Allan Hobson et al. 69). In this narrative, he describes the manner of dreaming in which a person is aware that they dream and find pleasure in it.
There are different instances at which lucid dreaming occurs. One of the occurs during rapid eye movement sleep (Allan Hobson et al. 94). This is a period in which the brain moves while a person is asleep. During this stage, the eye moves rapidly in various directions. A person gets to experience lucid dreaming during the first 90 minutes of falling asleep. However, the cycle of rapid eye movement occurs severally during the
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night. In other occasions, lucid dreaming occurs spontaneously throughout a person’s dream. This can occur an hour later after dreaming, within the middle of the sleep, or at the end of the sleeping period almost to when a person will be waking up. In other instances, a person can train themselves to start dreaming lucidly. Once they train themselves to dream in this manner, they incline themselves to get better at it. However, this varies to a great extent. Some people who can influence their dream immediately wake up when they learn they are in another dream. Interestingly, lucid dreamers can influence their actions in the dream (Allan Hobson et al. 104). Similarly, they can also influence parts of the dream; it is like they are the authors of their dream. This is a discourse undertaken by this parties as they may want to create a pleasant experience for themselves.
Being able to control and influence once a dream is an attractive and fascinating prospect. This is because the immediate effect is based on how a person can be able to explore their world themselves in which they hypothesize and are cognizant of it which makes it a rather intriguing aspect of dreaming (Gackenbach & Jane 73). One of the beneficial effects of lucid dreaming is that the experience is therapeutic. For example, people who have phobias can create visionary situations in the dream in which they become heroes and try to overcome them. For example, a person who is afraid of heights can pursue to jump from a plane. This is because they know they are dreaming
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and there will be no harm. In this case, not only is the person safe while in the dream as they are jumping from the plane, but they can also have the opportunity of tailoring the
situation such as slowing down time in the dream or control their fall and float gently to the ground. Thus, lucid dreaming is a path for a person to manage real-life fearful situations. Lucid dreaming is also practical to a person who normally has nightmares (Gackenbach & Jane 82). As such, a person can address this situation by tailoring their dream to what they would want. This then has an impact on a person’s quality of life.
There are many techniques for lucid dreaming. The first technique is known as reality testing in which a person verifies whether they are dreaming in both the real life or in a dream (Gackenbach & Jane 62). For example, during the day, a person can ask themselves if they are in real life situations or they are dreaming as they try to pass their hand through a solid object. This technique relies on intention and in real life, the hand would go through the solid and would conversely pass through easily in a dream. A person can also consider hypnagogia whereby they experience colorful swirling patterns that appear on the back of their eyelids (Allan Hobson et al. 111). This usually happens when a person is dozing off. In this case, a person is usually half asleep and half awake. At this point is where lucid dreams are often born. As such, a person with half cognition at the point can consider entering into a lucid dream (Allan Hobson et al. 112). Further, a person can consider using sleep paralysis as a springboard for achieving a lucid dream (Gackenbach & Jane 80). In essence, sleep paralysis occurs when a person’s body falls
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asleep and enter the rapid eye movement. This is the point at which the body is kept still at night and from physically acting while in a dream. However, there are those situations when the body misfires a little, and a person wakes up early due to nightmares or terrifying situations in the dream. As such, a person can take advantage of the situation and convert the sudden sleep paralysis into a lucid dream. As this point, a person can take control of the dream and convert it into something wonderful as they wish.
Conclusively, a lucid dream is a skill that can be harnessed by anyone. It takes time for a person to be a pro in lucid learning. The idea herein is not to limit oneself in the conventional natural dreaming. This is because lucid dreaming offers varying benefits that improve a person’s well-being.
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