| re five main types of dreams besides lucid dreams - | | | | dream |
| daydreams, normal dreams, false awakenings, | | | | That's all. Lucid dreams don't have to involve 100% |
| nightmares and psychic dreams. Take a look at the | | | | dream control - far from it! Most of the time I only |
| features of these hypnotic states and how each one | | | | control my own movements and simply follow the |
| can introduce you to the phenomenal world of lucid | | | | action going on around me. You can also be lucid and |
| dreaming... | | | | fully aware of the dream and assume zero control; |
| Type of Dream #1 - Daydreams | | | | just a silent observer of a miraculous dreamworld. Not |
| Scientific studies reveal that most people daydream | | | | surprisingly, most people use lucid dreams to fulfil |
| for a whopping 70-120 minutes per day. During this | | | | desires they can't fulfil in reality. But once you look past |
| time, you are only semi-awake - not asleep, but not | | | | this novelty feature, lucid dreams offer brilliant insights |
| fully checked-in with reality, either. It starts with a | | | | into the subconscious mind. Read Robert Waggoner's |
| compelling thought, memory, or fantasy about the | | | | Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self for some |
| future, and your imagination runs away. The longer you | | | | extraordinary applications of lucid dreams. |
| daydream, the deeper you becomes immersed in your | | | | Type of Dream #4 - False Awakenings |
| private fantasy land. | | | | Ever watched Groundhog Day with Bill Murray? False |
| Contrary to popular belief, daydreaming is an important | | | | awakenings are a bit like that. You may wake up as |
| part of dream research. As with all types of dreams, | | | | normal and plod into the bathroom, get dressed, eat |
| you enter a kind of hypnotic trance and allow your | | | | breakfast, and be half way to work before you realize |
| subconscious thoughts to rise to the surface. | | | | "oh my God, I'm still dreaming!" It's a bizarre place to be. |
| In daydreams, the right (creative) brain is dominant and | | | | False awakenings are basically very vivid types of |
| you lose awareness of reality. Deeper worries or | | | | dreams. They begin in your bedroom, with you waking |
| concerns will surface, usually by acting themselves out | | | | up, and somehow your conscious brain mimics every |
| in the daydream. This only serves to reinforce | | | | detail of the room, exactly as it should be. Unless you |
| negativity - so next time you are fantasizing about bad | | | | question your reality on waking (like many lucid |
| situations, turn it around and consciously create a | | | | dreamers) you don't stand a chance... |
| positive outcome. | | | | How To Shake a False Awakening |
| Rehearsing The Future | | | | It usually takes something quite obvious to shock you |
| Similarly, many successful people use their daydreams | | | | out of a false awakening. Maybe you look in the |
| to visualize their future success. Athletes imagine | | | | bathroom mirror and see yourself 20 years from now. |
| winning their next big race. Business leaders mentally | | | | Or maybe you're driving down the road and realize |
| rehearse an important speech. They daydream about | | | | there are no other cars. The last time I had a false |
| a positive outcome and in doing so, help make it | | | | awakening, I did my reality check as I got out of bed - |
| happen in reality. You can even look at the past and | | | | and even that wasn't enough. I sat for about 5 minutes |
| re-enact an upsetting event with a different outcome. | | | | banging on the glass of my bedroom window, trying to |
| This kind of daydreaming is very healthy, helping you | | | | figure out if I could push my hand through. I simply |
| temporarily escape the demands of reality and release | | | | couldn't get the conscious part of my brain to wake |
| frustrations without physically acting them out. | | | | up! In the end, the dream revealed itself when I walked |
| Setting a Lucid Dream Intention | | | | into the kitchen and found my partner cooking a roast |
| I also use daydreams to initiate my next lucid dream. I | | | | dinner at 7am. I immediately became lucid and flew |
| make a mental list of three things I want to do in my | | | | away. |
| next conscious dream, and visualize how I will get | | | | Multiple False Awakenings |
| there. Let's say I want to: play the piano, fly to the | | | | Some people even report multiple false awakenings, |
| moon, and meet an alien. First I'll visualize a concert hall | | | | one after the other in quick succession. They get |
| (the place I expect to find a piano in my dream), then I'll | | | | trapped in a seemingly never-ending cycle, tired of |
| imagine flying up and passing through the roof and into | | | | getting dressed for work for the seventh time that |
| the night sky. I'll see myself landing on the moon (space | | | | day. If this happens to you often, I strongly recommend |
| rocket not required) and finding a super-intelligent bunch | | | | getting into the habit of doing reality checks on waking |
| of aliens sitting around in a crater. These guys will give | | | | - and give yourself a fighting chance! Truly recognizing |
| me very interesting conversation, offering insights | | | | a false awakening can go two ways: either you are |
| directly from my unconscious. | | | | shocked into waking up - or you enter a lucid dream. |
| The next time I become lucid, I will remember my | | | | Perhaps most importantly, false awakenings may be |
| daydream instinctively and begin to perform it all again | | | | frustrating but aren't at all harmful. They are also |
| in the vivid detail of my lucid dream reality. Without this | | | | extremely vivid but not nightmarish in content. And if |
| preparation, it's likely I'll just fly around and examine the | | | | nothing else, they provide a fascinating talking point the |
| dreamscape. This is great fun, but I prefer to follow | | | | next day. |
| goals to make the most of my lucid dreams. | | | | Type of Dream #5 - Psychic Dreams |
| Type of Dream #2 - Normal Dreams | | | | Psychic dreams may be daydreams, normal dreams, |
| I know "normal dreams" is a contradiction in terms, but | | | | lucid dreams and even nightmares if they predict |
| let me assure you I simply mean your usual types of | | | | disaster. They are types of dreams that foretell the |
| dreams, where you have no idea you're dreaming - at | | | | future. Rationally, we can say that our subconscious |
| the time, anyway. In a typical dream, you could be | | | | mind is piecing together bits of information and making |
| having tea with the Pope and think nothing of it; you | | | | an intuitive decision about the future. Alternatively, we |
| accept your dream reality as it is. | | | | could be tuning into a receptive state and receiving |
| Everybody in the world has normal dreams every | | | | messages from elsewhere. |
| single night. These dreams that arise out of REM sleep | | | | Some believe that in psychic dreams (or any dreams, |
| are essential to our survival - we would die without | | | | for that matter) our spirit leaves our body and we go |
| them. Assuming you get eight hours of shuteye, you | | | | exploring alternate planes of reality. It could be that |
| will dream for about 100 minutes, with longer and more | | | | psychic dreams are a result of viewing the future in |
| vivid dreams occurring shortly before you wake up. | | | | these realities. |
| Interpreting Dreams | | | | Finding Experiential Evidence |
| Normal dreams present us with important messages | | | | Although people report psychic dreams all the time, it is |
| from the subconscious mind. They are based on your | | | | very difficult to draw the line between coincidental |
| thoughts and experiences from the day before, and | | | | events, and potentially genuine prophetic dreams. And |
| sometimes memories from long ago. The unconscious | | | | due to the random nature of psychic dreams, |
| mind releases repressed fears, anxieties and desires | | | | experiments in the lab aren't yielding any clear results. |
| through conceptual imagery - the coded language of | | | | Nonetheless, you can still gather your own experiential |
| the subconscious brain. | | | | evidence. Next time you are lucid, ask your dream to |
| Spontaneous Lucidity | | | | show you a future event. If nothing happens, ask again. |
| These typical types of dreams are also the gateway | | | | You may be surprised what happens! Record the |
| to lucid dreams. Anyone can become spontaneously | | | | details on waking and watch out for your lucid dream |
| lucid from within a normal dream. All it takes is to | | | | coming true. |
| consciously recognize that you are dreaming. This | | | | Type of Dream #6 - Nightmares |
| awakens the conscious brain and the sensory system, | | | | In the western world, nightmares are considered to be |
| so that the lucid dream looks, feels, sounds, smells and | | | | normal types of dreams with a very scary twist. In |
| even tastes like anything you experience in reality. | | | | nightmares, you don't know you're dreaming so the |
| Even bizarre experiences - like shape shifting into an | | | | subconscious mind takes everything on board as if it |
| atom - feel astonishingly real (or at least, what you | | | | were really happening. Some nightmares can be so |
| expect that sensation to feel like). However, if you | | | | vivid that the sensory system is triggered and you can |
| forget you are dreaming - it happens - your lucid | | | | feel certain types of pain. It can be very unnerving. |
| dream will revert to a normal dream again and you will | | | | According to dream analysis, being chased by a |
| lose conscious control of your awareness within it. | | | | monster or dark character in a nightmare represents |
| Type of Dream #3 - Lucid Dreams | | | | our evolutionary fear of being hunted. Children - who |
| Lucid dreams are the best types of dreams and I'm | | | | are arguably more vulnerable than most adults - report |
| guessing the reason you are here reading this. Most | | | | this type of dream the most. Studies show that |
| lucid dreams arise spontaneously from normal dreams | | | | nightmares are usually caused by sickness, stress, |
| (called Dream Induced Lucid Dreams). All you need to | | | | trauma, and drugs or alcohol. |
| do is teach yourself to constantly question your reality | | | | How To Stop Nightmares |
| and you will become lucid much more often. | | | | One excellent way to deal with nightmares and |
| Alternatively, you can have lucid dreams by walking | | | | recurring types of dreams is lucidity. By questioning |
| your brain from a conscious state directly into a dream | | | | your reality, you stand a better chance of recognizing |
| state. This technique has been used by Tibetan | | | | a nightmare when it occurs, particularly if you plant a |
| Buddhists for over 1,000 years and is today known as | | | | monster (or whatever the common theme) as your |
| Wake Induced Lucid Dreams. It involves a two-step | | | | dream symbol. Whenever you think of this symbol in |
| process of meditation and inducing sleep paralysis. You | | | | waking life, do a reality check. The next time it appears |
| will soon enter your very own lucid dreamworld. | | | | in a dream, your reality test will lead to lucidity. Then it is |
| What Defines a Lucid Dream? | | | | a matter of having the courage to confront your |
| Remember, a lucid dream is any dream in which you: | | | | monster in the lucid dream state - and defeat them |
| * a) know that you're dreaming; and/or | | | | once and for all. |
| * b) can control and direct your awareness in the | | | | |