Science
University Dally Kansan / Friday, February 23, 1990
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DREAM into REALITY
BART VIVIAN 1.2K
Method gives lucid dreamers a waking edge
Your step quickens.
A man dressed in black is following you. Every time you look back, he ducks into an alley or dodges behind a trash bin, blending into the night shadows. But you know he is there.
You look for help and see no one. You begin to run.
From the corner of your eye, you glimpse a swinging arm, a gloved fist clutching a crescent-shaped knife that catches angles of light from a nearby streetlight
In the blade, you see reflected your wide horror-stricken eyes and the deep wrinkles across your forehead.
At that moment, you know that you are going to die. But then, in the blade, you see something strange. A potted plant is sitting aton your head
You suddenly realize that you are dreaming. After all, potted plants rarely, if ever, are found upon one's head. This knowledge almost shocks you into a waking state but somehow you remain asleep and dreaming.
Story by Bryce J. Tache Illustration by Bart Vivian
You have entered the world of lucid dreams. A lucid dream, by definition, occurs when a person becomes aware that he or she is dreaming.
Dream researcher Stephen LaBerge said lucid dreams were a relatively rare phenomenon. In his recent book "Lucid Dreaming," he said only one out of ten people had lucid dreams.
LaBerge, who earned a doctorate from Stanford University, said a person could benefit physically and emotionally from lucid dreaming.
What one does in a lucid dream can affect one's waking life, he said. The average person spends one-third of his life asleep and will have had a half million dreams before he dies.
For most people, sleep is non-productive time. Dreams are easily forgotten, drifting away like wispes of smoke even as one awakens. Lucid dreamers, however, make good use of their sleep.
According to LaBerge, "The lucid dreamer can reason clearly, remember freely and act volitionally upon reflection, all while continuing to dream vividly."
Most people cannot distinguish dreams from reality, he said. But the lucid dreamer not only knows he is dreaming, but also can change the plot if he so chooses.
LaBerge said that lucid dreaming could be taught. In the mid-1970s, he recorded each of his lucid dreams in a journal. During the next 10 years, he developed a technique to trigger lucid dreams.
His method, called MILD for Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams, caused the number of lucid dreams he had a month to jump from five to more than 20.
Charles Hallenbeck, professor of psychology, teaches a class at the University of Kansas called "Psychology of Sleep and Dreaming." He said that although he admired LaBerge's work, the MILD technique had not increased his own lucid-dream frequency.
Hallenbeck said that he had had only occasional lucid dreams but that the benefits of such dreams were multifold.
Taking control of your dreams
The 4-step MILD technique for lucid dreaming:
1. In the early morning hours, after awakening from a dream, stay awake for 10 to 15 minutes and memorize the dream.
2. Repeatedly say that the next time you dream,you want to recognize that you are dreaming.
3. Visualize the previous dream as you are drifting back to sleep in the hope that you will re-enter that dream and realize that you have done so.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until lucidity is achieved.
"The quality of flexible control brings within reach a remarkable range of possibilities - from indulging your boldest fantasies to fulfilling your highest spiritual aspirations."
Stephen LaBerge Sleep researcher
Source: Stephen LaBerge, Ludd Dreaming
"I'm impressed by LaBerge's account of benefits," he said. "From a health standpoint, lucid dreams serve as healing experiences. They are mentally and physically beneficial, they're entertaining and just plain fun."
LaBerge said lucid dreamers were able to confront their fears and work on particular problems. When they know something is merely a dream, they are less likely to be frightened of it. Since most dream objects and people represent real-world experiences, being able to confront a fear while dreaming may help dreamers do the same while awake.
In addition, LaBerge said, lucid dreaming is immensely satisfying.
"The quality of flexible control brings within reach a remarkable range of possibilities — from indulging your boldest fantasies to fulfilling your highest spiritual aspirations," he said.
KANSAN graphic
Lucid dreamers often experience a euphoria the next day that can carry through the entire week, LaBerge said.
When developing MILD, he increased his dream awareness by training himself to notice lucidity cues. These are illogical events that most dreamers take for granted as reality.
For example, in one dream, LaBerge remembered sitting on a bus next to a woman whose nose fell off — "an excellent hint that I was not in the waking world," he said in his book.
"I had this dream that I was chain smoking," she said. "I used to be this heavy smoker, but I quit last year. But in this dream, I was taking one cigarette after another. All the while, I knew I was dreaming and while asleep, I was thinking I would never do this if I were awake."
Maureen Carroll, Lawrence junior, said she had lucid dreams all her life, usually once or twice a week. She had no control of the dreams.
She said she had heard of the MILD technique but had no success using it.
Ann Sommerlath, St. Louis junior, said she also had lucid dreams as long as she could remember. Like Carroll, she had no control of them, realizing only that she was dreaming.
Sommerlath said most of her lucid dreams were frightening. Three years ago, she had a recurring dream of pigs chasing her and biting her feet.
"It used to wake up in a cold sweat and screaming," she said. I knew I was dreaming, but I really couldn't do anything about it. Sometimes I could force myself to wake up. Sometimes I couldn't."
Hallenbeck said that although this lack of control was normal, he expected LaBerge's continuing research to unlock even more doors to the unconscious.
"I'm very excited about what is going to happen in the near future," he said. "LaBerge is headed in the right direction."
LaBerge foresees a time when everyone will be molding his or her own dreams. Few people can do so at will, but LaBerge wants to change that.
This would mean those who have some lucid dreams could learn how to better control and interpret them, and those who haven't had the lucid dream experience would enter a new world.
A world in which you snatch the potted palm from atop your head and smash it against your assailant's face. And with your enemy defeated, what's next? A solo flight over the city — minus the plane? An underwater adventure for sunken treasure — without an oxygen tank? A trip back in time for a front-row seat at the Beatles' last concert?
Whatever could be imagined could be.
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