Lucid Dreaming: The Start of Great Possibility
Baku, a dream eater in Japanese Legend, is a spirit animal that visits people’s homes and eats their nightmares. In Greek mythology, Morpheus is a messenger who has the ability to enter someone’s dream and deliver messages from the gods. His brother Phobetor, who is a shape shifter and is often found in the form of a snake, is the bringer of nightmares. The origin of the English word “nightmare,” is Mara, who is also an evil spirit that changes dreams to nightmares according to Germanic Folklore. There is a legend in the Scottish Lowlands of tiny men called brownies who, when you dream, do chores and housework for you. Dreams have been a topic of interest throughout history in legends, psychology, …show more content…
Lucid dreaming is paradoxical for it contains factors of both dream consciousness and waking consciousness. It is also a state of dissociation, the mental process of disconnection from thought, emotion, and sense of identity. (Hobson, 2009) Paul Tholey described the characteristics of lucid dreaming as: full awareness of the dream state, awareness of the possibility of making free decisions, full memory of waking life, and full memory of all lucid dreaming experiences in the waking state. When in a lucid dream one is self-reflective and aware of themselves, the past, and the future. (Holzinger et al, 2006) These traits are usually associated with a person who is awake. With some of the abilities of waking consciousness, one is able to take control over, manipulate, and actively participate in the events and occurrences in a dream. (Hobson, 2009) Just as the mind is able to imagine different scenarios and situations while awake, a lucid dreamer is able to do the same. For instance, if one was dreaming that a monster is hiding in their closet, and they became lucid, they are able to change the situation. The dreamer can make the monster in their closet a little bunny or they can start dreaming about something more pleasant. In lucid dreaming, the dreamer has the control. (Holzinger, …show more content…
They hypothesized that lucid dreams are associated with higher frequencies on the EEG spectrum. Eleven participants who were experienced lucid dreamers took part in a study they had conducted. The participants were recorded in a sleep study on two consecutive days. They had eight channels to collect data; EEG data was recorded on an analog recorder and all other data was recorded on polygraph paper. Later the EEG data was digitalized and placed in a computer program that read the data and analyzed its frequency bands (Beta, Theta, Alpha, and Delta). Light stimuli were used to induce the participants into lucid dreams using very bright red LEDs that flashed 8 times every 2 seconds. The participants were told to respond to the flashing lights while they slept if they were lucid by 2 left right movements of their eyes (LR2). They were told to do the same movements 4 times (LR4) if the light was waking them up. For a dream to qualify as a lucid dream, participants must give the LR2 signal and report their lucidity after waking. 6 of 11 participants, 55%, reported at least one lucid dream. All subjects had a total of 88 REM periods, 16 of which were lucid and 72 were nonlucid. The EEG data recorded shows that beta-1 waves were more common in lucid dreaming than in nonlucid dreaming. The ratio of frontal to parietal beta-1 activity was 1 to 1.16
Baku, a dream eater in Japanese Legend, is a spirit animal that visits people’s homes and eats their nightmares. In Greek mythology, Morpheus is a messenger who has the ability to enter someone’s dream and deliver messages from the gods. His brother Phobetor, who is a shape shifter and is often found in the form of a snake, is the bringer of nightmares. The origin of the English word “nightmare,” is Mara, who is also an evil spirit that changes dreams to nightmares according to Germanic Folklore. There is a legend in the Scottish Lowlands of tiny men called brownies who, when you dream, do chores and housework for you. Dreams have been a topic of interest throughout history in legends, psychology, …show more content…
Lucid dreaming is paradoxical for it contains factors of both dream consciousness and waking consciousness. It is also a state of dissociation, the mental process of disconnection from thought, emotion, and sense of identity. (Hobson, 2009) Paul Tholey described the characteristics of lucid dreaming as: full awareness of the dream state, awareness of the possibility of making free decisions, full memory of waking life, and full memory of all lucid dreaming experiences in the waking state. When in a lucid dream one is self-reflective and aware of themselves, the past, and the future. (Holzinger et al, 2006) These traits are usually associated with a person who is awake. With some of the abilities of waking consciousness, one is able to take control over, manipulate, and actively participate in the events and occurrences in a dream. (Hobson, 2009) Just as the mind is able to imagine different scenarios and situations while awake, a lucid dreamer is able to do the same. For instance, if one was dreaming that a monster is hiding in their closet, and they became lucid, they are able to change the situation. The dreamer can make the monster in their closet a little bunny or they can start dreaming about something more pleasant. In lucid dreaming, the dreamer has the control. (Holzinger, …show more content…
They hypothesized that lucid dreams are associated with higher frequencies on the EEG spectrum. Eleven participants who were experienced lucid dreamers took part in a study they had conducted. The participants were recorded in a sleep study on two consecutive days. They had eight channels to collect data; EEG data was recorded on an analog recorder and all other data was recorded on polygraph paper. Later the EEG data was digitalized and placed in a computer program that read the data and analyzed its frequency bands (Beta, Theta, Alpha, and Delta). Light stimuli were used to induce the participants into lucid dreams using very bright red LEDs that flashed 8 times every 2 seconds. The participants were told to respond to the flashing lights while they slept if they were lucid by 2 left right movements of their eyes (LR2). They were told to do the same movements 4 times (LR4) if the light was waking them up. For a dream to qualify as a lucid dream, participants must give the LR2 signal and report their lucidity after waking. 6 of 11 participants, 55%, reported at least one lucid dream. All subjects had a total of 88 REM periods, 16 of which were lucid and 72 were nonlucid. The EEG data recorded shows that beta-1 waves were more common in lucid dreaming than in nonlucid dreaming. The ratio of frontal to parietal beta-1 activity was 1 to 1.16