Reality checks are a useful tool in learning how to have lucid dreams. Performing a reality check is simple: ask yourself a question, such as "Am I dreaming?" or "Is this a dream?", and then use a specific action to test whether you are awake or dreaming. In previous posts, I've described a handful of simple and effective reality checks, such as attempting to levitate yourself a few feet above the ground or to use your mind to change the color of the walls.
But, there are some reality checks that don't work. There are even a few that will have the opposite effect, working to convince you that you're not dreaming even when you really are. Because of this, it's important to know ahead of time which reality checks will help you and which will only hinder you instead.
Here is a list of reality checks to avoid:
Pinching yourself
How many times have you heard the expression "I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming"? You've probably come across this so-called reality check often in novels, but it's woefully unreliable. The idea that we don't feel physical sensations in our dreams is a myth. Many people don't just feel physical sensations, they also feel physical pain within their dreams.
Two years ago I first wrote about the EPOC, a neuroheadset developed by a company called Emotiv. The EPOC uses EEG sensors and motion detection to read your brain activity and facial expressions. You can map specific thoughts to specific actions or events. For example, the EPOC can translate your thoughts into actions in a video game. You think about jumping and your video game character will jump.
You can use the EPOC to translate your brain activity into art or music. You can connect the EPOC to an electric wheelchair and use your thoughts to control the chair. You can use your thoughts to sort and categorize photos and videos on your computer. The potential applications are endless.
Tan Le, the CEO of Emotiv, demonstrated the EPOC at a recent TED conference. Check out the video below to see the neuroheadset in action.
In this powerfully moving video, brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor recounts what it felt like to have massive stroke. She describes with intense passion the experience of watching her brain functions shut down one by one, losing speech and motor functions, and ultimately losing self-awareness, culminating in a feeling of oneness with everything.
Her experience brings to mind the stories of enlightenment and transcendence found in many mystical and spiritual traditions.
Have you ever felt physical pain while in a dream? Many people have the luxury of never experiencing pain in their dreams. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people. I feel pain in my dreams just as vividly as I feel it in waking life.
If you don't feel physical pain in your dreams, you can use the lack of pain as a trigger for lucidity. If you are injured and suddenly realize you're not feeling any pain, perform a reality check to determine whether or not you're dreaming.
Have you ever been injured in a dream and woken later to find yourself experiencing pain in the same part of your body that was hurt in the dream? Or how about the reverse -- have you ever injured yourself in waking life only to have the pain seep into your dreams?
In my own experience, physical pain is fully capable of crossing the border between waking and dreaming. I recently injured my foot and a few days later dreamed of hobbling along a wooded path, stumbling a few times due to pain in that same foot. In my dream, the pain in my foot felt just as intense as the pain I was feeling while awake.
I recently read Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self by Robert Waggoner, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone with an interest in lucid dreams. I've read nearly every book about lucid dreaming and I can say without hesitation this book is one of the best.
There are plenty of how-to books geared toward readers who seek to experience lucid dreams for the first time. While Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self contains some techniques for that purpose, it offers so much more than that.
Waggoner takes lucid dreaming to a whole new level. Through his investigation of the profound inner awareness ever-present in our dreams, he demonstrates the vast potential for exploration and personal growth available to us lucid dreaming. This aspect of the book resonated deeply with me because it echoes my current approach to dreaming.
In my early lucid dreams, I tried to control the dream and all its contents. Often, I focused solely on the entertainment value. Over the years, I learned there was much more to lucid dreaming and I began to ...Read more about Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self
I just came across this great Calvin & Hobbes comic today. In it, Calvin experiences a classic false awakening. He dreams of being woken up, having breakfast, and going through his usual morning routine, only to discover it was all a dream. I've had false awakenings like this one many times.
Click on the image on the right to see the comic in full size.
While it's well known that various prescription medications can affect sleep quality or mental clarity, far less attention is paid to how they can adversely affect your dreams.
Some medications dampen REM activity, dull your dreams, and interfere with dream recall. Others stimulate vivid dream activity, though not always in a good way. Through a couple of recent experiences, I've also discovered prescription meds can impede your lucid dreaming efforts.
Muscle Relaxers and Hyperdreaming
A few years ago, I hurt my lower back and was left with a chronic ache punctuated by frequent sharp, stabbing pains. After an MRI and weeks of physical therapy, the problem got worse instead of better. Acupuncture and massage therapy had no effect either. I couldn't sit or stand for more than twenty minutes without pain, and I couldn't find a position comfortable enough to sleep in.
My doctor prescribed Flexaril, a muscle relaxer that was supposed to dull the pain. I don't like taking medication of any kind, and I was resistant to the idea of taking a muscle relaxer but gave in because at that point the prospect of being without pain overrode any misgivings I had. The prescribed dosage was one 10mg tablet three times per day, but the doctor recommended starting with only half a tablet before bedtime so I could get a better idea of how the medication would affect me.
If you're looking for a quick way to relax, either for meditation purposes or simply to release stress and tension, this 10-minute brainwave audio track will do the trick. This is a track I designed for my company a few months ago as a free gift for our customers, and now I'm making it available to visitors of this site as well.
Instructions for using this track:
1. Do not listen to this audio track while driving.
2. Listening without headphones will provide light relaxation. Listening with headphones will give you access to [click to continue…]
Reality checks are a useful tool in learning how to have lucid dreams. Performing a reality check is simple: ask yourself a question, such as "Am I dreaming?" or "Is this a dream?", and then use a specific action to test whether you are awake or dreaming. In previous posts, I've described a handful of simple and effective reality checks, such as attempting to levitate yourself a few feet above the ground or to use your mind to change the color of the walls.
While it's well known that various prescription medications can affect sleep quality or mental clarity, far less attention is paid to how they can adversely affect your dreams.
