Is it possible to control dreams? Exercise: 3D television. Practicing lucid dreaming

If you have already learned to understand in a dream that you are dreaming, do not miss new opportunities! Namely, the ability to control what you see in a dream, go to any place, become a participant in the desired events and receive answers to exciting questions.

Lucid Dreaming: How to Manage Your Sleep

Anyone who experiences lucid dreams has certainly wondered: how to control the dream? And is it even possible to control sleep in a dream? Otherwise, such a precious experience as self-awareness in a dream simply does not reach its potential. What is the point in all this if the self-aware person still submits to the events of the dream - suffers from a nightmare, sees and experiences an unpleasant event for the hundredth time?

The experiments and work of Patricia Garfield and Stephen LaBerge answer this question positively. the most important question: yes, dream control is possible - and even in some cases necessary (if a person is tormented by fears, is it wise not to try to cope with them?).

In the video, Youtube blogger Artur Sharifov talks about how he came up with the idea of ​​​​working with lucid dreams: where it all began:

How to learn to control dreams?

In a dream (conscious or not), we can act in four ways:

1. Reflex (we move calmly on two legs, use our hands, breathe).
2. Instinctive (when something threatens us, we run, hide, dodge).
3. A habitual person (a person who knows how to ride a horse in reality will calmly do the same thing in a dream - and someone who has no idea about horse riding will experience the same thing as in life: fear of getting on a horse, awkwardness... And these are not fully conscious actions - a person is habitually drives himself into a box, not realizing that in a dream he can ride a horse!).
4. Intentional (something scares us, but we intend to overcome the fear, and therefore we no longer run away or try to hide, but look our fear in the face and offer it candy).

Intentional actions in a lucid dream - highest level awareness, which gives extraordinary freedom of action and opens up an important opportunity: sleep control.

The question arises, how far can you go in dream control? LaBerge believes psychological factors play a role:

• previous experience - if a person has been watching OSes for a long time, most likely, he will be more effective in controlling them;
• psychological maturity of the individual in ordinary life(a person who prefers to shift responsibility to others and loves for someone to solve his problems may get “stuck” before having to make a decision even in a dream);
• expectations of the person himself regarding his behavior in the OS (“I will see my father again and will not be able to look him in the eye...”);
• psychological state at the time of the OS (depressed person, depressed, in reality experiencing depressive state, it will obviously be worse to control yourself in your sleep).

And yet - how to learn to control your dreams? First of all, you need to decide how you want to do this. According to LaBerge, there are two answers to the question of how to control dreams - that is, there are two types of control:

1. "Magical manipulation of characters" other than our ego. Not all lucid dreamers succeed in this. It looks like a magical action: a person’s consciousness in a dream transforms objects, furnishings, living beings into the desired form or creates them as if “out of nothing.”
2. Controlling not objects and “living” creatures, but exclusively oneself, that is, self-control. You make decisions and implement what you want.

LaBerge warns against being carried away by the first type of control, as it contributes to the formation of a false attitude that can influence you in reality.

Accustomed to the fact that in a dream everything changes according to your wishes, you may be disappointed when trying to act this way in life. If you can turn your humiliating boss into a little rat in a dream, how will this help you solve a problem in life? If in a dream you try to find an approach to him, to cause him to have a different attitude towards you, the chance that the problem will be solved in life increases significantly.

Dream management techniques

How to control sleep throughout its entire duration, from immersion in it to awakening? Several techniques have already been found and tested: you just need to familiarize yourself with each in detail and choose the one that suits you best.

Sleep management

Patricia Garfield offers techniques borrowed from ancient peoples, Indians, and the Senoi people from Malaysia.

• intentions (the main role is played by focusing on the intention to definitely see a lucid dream and working with this intention);
• mnemonic entry into lucid dream, or MVOS;
• self-hypnosis.

All the methods of managing falling asleep that he describes relate in one way or another to these three techniques. It is worth familiarizing yourself with each of the mentioned practices in the author’s presentation - this will help you choose your own.

Dream management (dream plot)

Remember about two types of control! You can use both, keeping in mind that the first one is not the best solution serious problems. But it will work great if you need to change the environment or introduce new characters into the dream.

Steve LaBerge recommends the rotation technique to change the “scenery” and the plot of a dream: when you feel that the OS is fading, blurring, tactile sensations will be the last to disappear. Don’t allow this to happen - make the body you have in your dream rotate! It doesn’t matter what exactly it will remind you of - a child’s top, a spinning coin, or even a teenager raging in a slam at a rock concert, but this will help you feel the dream body again, but everything around will have time to become completely different!

Also suitable for changing the plot is your waking experience, even if it is read from a book or seen in a film. LaBerge talks about how he wanted to participate in the plot of a book he was reading. While in a lucid dream on the tower, he remembered that one of the characters in the book, a sorcerer, jumped from the tower and turned into a hawk. He did the same thing in his dream - and also turned into a bird. Experiment!

Wake Control

If you do not come out of sleep as a result of external influence (an alarm clock, a voice, any sounds that can wake you up), then a lucid dream:

• will fade away spontaneously when you naturally move into another - slow - phase of sleep;
• can be interrupted at your request.

Many oneironauts (people who see lucid dreams) find their own ways to control awakening: most often these are some actions that contradict the “logic” of the dream or simply have nothing to do with it (squeezing the eyes, blinking the eyes, jumping from a height and even shouting “Mom !"). Steve LaBerge also advises "switching off" from active OS events to wake up. He suggests focusing your gaze on some point that is not directly involved in the action of the dream. A active actions, in his opinion, on the contrary, they help prolong the dream - for example, the technique of rotating in place personally helped him change the environment of a lucid dream to another. But a single instruction for everyone here is, of course, impossible. Everything is individual.

How to repeat a dream

Is it possible to experience the same plot more than once in a dream? Yes. Sometimes this is actually done intentionally, wanting to somehow change the unsatisfactory plot of the dream. For example, they repeat a frightening dream in order to overcome fear in the end. Or they reproduce a creative dream in order to relive the inspiring sensations.

Here you can apply Stephen LaBerge's incubation method: only you do not incubate new dream, but already experienced, which makes the task much easier. Operate with intention, visualize the dream environment to which you want to return. Imagine everything you saw as vividly as possible. Describe everything that you consider necessary, step by step and in the present tense - and by combining this technique with MVOS, you can return to the desired dream.

If you have a desire not only to be aware of yourself in a dream, but also to control the world of dreams, try to do this. The main thing is to be confident that you can achieve this.

The one that was so close to reality that you wanted to pinch yourself to make sure you were awake? Many people experience exciting sensations after lucid dreams .

Lucid dreaming is a skill with which you can sleep, be aware that you are dreaming and control what happens in your sleep.

In addition, lucid dreaming can help combat nightmares, help solve problems, cope with anxiety and stress, can improve self-confidence, and promote creativity.

Although this opens up many possibilities, this skill requires a lot patience and practice. Here are some tips to help you become the master of your dreams.

REM sleep phase

When we sleep we pass different stages sleep, which are related to the frequency of brain waves.

Lucid dreams occur during the phase REM sleep. During REM sleep, our eyes make rapid movements, which are related to where we look in our dreams.

REM sleep takes up about 20-25 percent of all sleep and occurs approximately 90 minutes after falling asleep. During a standard 8-hour sleep, REM sleep occurs 3 to 5 times.

An EEG shows the active parts of the brain during wakefulness, lucid dreaming, and deep sleep.

Research has shown that people who are capable of lucid dreaming share certain personality traits, namely creative abilities, belief in personal responsibility and problem-solving orientation. However, every person can learn to control their dreams with practice and some tips.

Practicing lucid dreaming

1. Remember your dreams

For many beginners, this is one of the difficult tasks. Being able to remember your dream will help you become aware of the content of your dreams and identify recurring themes.

2. Keep a diary of your dreams

Before you go to bed, prepare a pen and notebook and place them next to your bed. As soon as you wake up, try to remember what you dreamed.

3. Immediately write down what your dream was about.

Try to remember as many details as possible. What happened in the dream? How did you feel? Where did this happen? Was it a colorful dream? Do you remember any sounds?

4. Look for signs of sleep

After you have started keeping a sleep diary for 2-3 weeks, begin to analyze and identify events that keep recurring. It could be some character, object or place.

5. Reality check

A reality check allows you to determine whether you are actually dreaming when you encounter a dream sign. This makes it easier to enter a lucid dream.

- Checking numbers

Look at the clock face, turn away and look again. If you are asleep, it is more difficult for your brain to complete this sequence. If the time is significantly different the second time you look at your watch, you are dreaming.

- Superpowers

Try flying, walking through a wall, or breathing with your mouth and nose closed. If you succeed, you are in a dream.

- Change in appearance

Look in the mirror and see if you look different. Look at your hands to see if all the fingers are there, or some are missing, or, on the contrary, there are more of them.

Throughout the day, repeat to yourself the question: “Am I in a dream?” and perform a reality check. Over time, you will be able to perform these checks while you sleep.

Stephen LaBerge: Entering Lucid Dreams

Stephen Laberge, founder of the Institute of Lucid Dreaming, studied in detail the technique of lucid dreaming, which he called mnemonic entry into lucid dreaming. It consists of 4 main steps.

1. Set an alarm to wake you up 4.5, 6, or 7.5 hours after you fall asleep.

2. When your alarm clock wakes you up, try to remember your dream in as much detail as possible.

3. Then, returning to bed, imagine that you are in the same dream, repeat to yourself: “I am aware that I am dreaming.”

4. Repeat this until you fall asleep.

Using this technique, you will soon be able to experience a lucid dream.

Discoveries made in dreams

German chemist Friedrich Kekule, who discovered the structure of benzene, dreamed of snakes biting their tails, forming circles. When he woke up, he realized that, unlike other organic compounds, benzene has a ring structure.

Inventor of the sewing machine Elias Howe I didn’t know how to position the eye of the needle in the sewing machine. The idea came to him in a dream, where he saw how he was surrounded by savages with spears that had a hole at the tip.

English writer Mary Shelley The idea for a story about Frankenstein came to me.

The melody of the song "Yesterday" has arrived Paul McCartney in a dream.

- Larry Page– one of the founders of the Google system said that in 1996 he had a dream about how he downloaded the entire Web into a computer.

According to one version, Dmitriy Mendeleev tired from working on a table periodic table chemical elements, fell asleep and saw her in a dream.

It happens that after waking up we cannot remember whether we had dreams. Fully lucid dreams are quite rare. The ability to maintain consciousness during sleep and change the course of its course is not given to many. However, it allows you to get rid of nightmares and gain inspiration even at night. There are several simple rules, guided by which you will learn how to control dreams and even change their scenario.

1. After waking up, do not jump out of bed, but lie down for a few minutes and try to remember what you dreamed about. To do this, you can keep a diary in which you will write down all your dreams. It is important that you try to remember each of the elements of the dream and transfer them to paper.

2. Make it a rule to sometimes think during the day whether you are dreaming? Try to convince yourself that the reality around you is nothing more than another dream, and then suddenly cheer up, you might even pinch yourself. You will be surprised, but as a result, even at night you will get the feeling that you are quite consciously seeing dreams and dreams.

3. Before going to bed, convince yourself that you don’t forget to look at your palms at night. This one is simple but effective method gives amazing results.

4. Try to stop the random thoughts that are constantly spinning in your head! This will be a useful skill if you want to learn how to see OS.

5. Visualization of various geometric shapes before falling asleep is another method to control dreams. In the morning, after waking up, focus on the most important aspects sleep. Good results also gives physical activity. If your body falls asleep faster than your brain, it will be easier for you to control everything that happens in your sleep.

The professor shares his observations Harvard University Sleep control techniques by Deirdre Barrett. He identifies the so-called fast phase eye movements (or GMOs), and argues that this is practically the only time when brain activity is the same as during wakefulness. It is during this period that rhythmic outbreaks occur in the cerebral cortex, which are transformed into dreams. When asked how to control dreams, the professor claims that this can only be learned through daily memory training. Before falling asleep, we need to set ourselves that we want to look at ourselves from the outside, like in a movie. And that we are the directors of this film, and can change any scenery and characters. This way you can easily get rid of nightmares - realize that sleep is a partially controlled process.

However, not all so simple. Some psychologists believe that those people who know how to control dreams are detrimental to their health. irreparable harm. In their opinion, they interfere good sleep, because when using such techniques, the brain works at its peak of activity. We can say that a person is trying to interfere with natural process, which has been formed over millions of years. But still be able to wake up and get away from unpleasant dream or a nightmare by force of will is a useful skill, and with constant training it will not be difficult to master it.

Controlling dreams is one of the most fascinating things a person can imagine. Have you ever wanted to re-experience your most amazing dreams or simply control your sleeping subconscious? Most dreams are the consequences of your actions and noticed factors during an active state of mind. Some of this is reflected during sleep. Read these tips to learn how to manage your dreams.

Steps

Record your dreams

Buy a small notebook. This will be a journal or diary of your dreams. In this journal, you will write down everything you hope to see in your dreams and what you remember from past dreams.

• Keep a journal and pen close to your bed so you can quickly write down your dream as soon as you wake up, while you remember it. Don't leave this for later, as memories of dreams fade quickly.
• You could write down your dreams using a computer, but it is recommended that you do this by hand. You will spend more effort, and therefore the dream will be better remembered in your head.

1. Write down in your journal what you want to see in your dream. Name it target sleep. Do this every night before bed. You must imagine what you want to see in your dream.

   • Draw pictures and write down directions, using as many details as possible. Describe the dream in as much detail as possible, get to the point where you feel that you have written down the dream in too much detail. Every little detail is important.
   • The trick is to convince yourself that you will dream, so you will be aware of the dreams while you sleep.
   • Avoid watching TV and movies before bed, otherwise you may dream elements of what you saw rather than your target dream.

2. Every morning, as soon as you wake up, write down your dreams. Even if your dream wasn't what you expected, write it down. See the Tips at the bottom of the article for more details on what exactly to write down.

   • Just as an athlete trains his body, you train your mind to recreate dreams. The more consistent your training, the clearer and more sublime your dreams will be.
   • Write down any parallels between your target dream (the one you wanted to see) and what you actually saw. Be as specific as possible. Think about the similarities and differences. When interpreting a dream, keep in mind that your mind answers questions differently than it does when you are awake. The mind communicates with you through metaphors.

   Practice while awake

   1. Reread your target dream. Every evening, before going to bed, reread your dream as many times as possible so that it is deposited in your head.

      • After one or two readings, your brain thinks it knows the meaning of the words and becomes lazy; he begins to process the words themselves, rather than their meaning. Focus on the meaning of the target dream; you must study it thoroughly from all sides before you go to bed.

   2. Lie down, close your eyes and think about your goal dream. Relax. Think about specific details.

      • Dream about the images from your target dream as they appear in your subconscious. The subconscious mind will generate many images that have nothing to do with your target dream, so sort out unnecessary images and concentrate on the target ones.
      • Imagine sounds and dialogue in the background of your target dream; try to really hear them in your mind. Try to get into the feelings, mood, etc.
      • If you cannot clearly imagine the sounds or pictures, re-read your target dream.

   3. Walk through your target dream. Do this from a first-person point of view, from start to finish. Imagine how everything looks through your eyes.

      • Try to go through your target dream in the same order that you want the dream to occur.
      • You must think hard, but your body must be relaxed.
      • Go to bed with these images and sounds in your head. Don't forget to write down all your dreams as soon as you wake up.

   Start controlling your dreams

   1. Try doing a reality check throughout the day. A reality check is when you ask yourself, “Am I awake or am I dreaming?” This will ultimately help you differentiate between reality and dreams while you sleep.

      • Reality check draws attention to fundamental differences dream and reality: in dreams the state is liquid, but in reality it does not change. In dreams, the text can change, trees change color and shape, clocks count down time. In reality, the text does not change, the trees still grow in the ground, and the clock counts time clockwise.
      • A good reality check is text. Let's say you have a poster in your room that says "Jimmy Hendrix." Turn away for a minute and then look at the poster again. If the inscription is still "Jimmy Hendrix", then you are in reality, but if the inscription has changed, say, to "Uncle Vanya", then you are in a dream.

   2. Practice your reality check. When you are dreaming and aware of it, you will be able to control almost everything that happens in your sleep.

      • If you take a jump and realize that it is happening in a dream, try to calm down. If you get overly excited about finally being able to control your dreams, you may accidentally wake up from your excitement.
      • Try small actions first. Again, remember to control your excitement. Even simple things like cooking or walking up the stairs can be fun when you realize you can control it.

   3. Gradually make your actions more difficult. Many people like to fly, swim in the ocean and travel through time. Try moving huge objects, walking through walls, or even telekinesis. Your dreams are limited only by your imagination!

   • Always think about the positive and good things before bedtime. This will help make your dreams good.
   • Think repeatedly about what exactly you want to see in your dream, and also count down from a large number before going to bed. Repeat every night.
   • Think carefully about your dreams.
   • Dream manipulation is not the same as lucid dreaming, although there are similarities between the two. Search more detailed information about lucid dreaming on the Internet.
   • You can sing a song about your dream before going to bed.
   • Sleep in a quiet and peaceful environment without distractions (no laptop or iPad). Focus completely on your target sleep.
   • If you think you are in a dream, look at your hands and try to count your fingers. If you are unable to do this, then you are dreaming.
   • Try not to dream about upcoming events (competitions, tests, etc.), as this can cause anxiety in your mind. real life, especially if your sleep is not good.
   • If you try to concentrate while falling asleep, you may not fall asleep. The purpose of recording a target dream and thinking about it is to put it into the subconscious.
   • Make the following entries in your dream journal:
     • Date of.
     • Was the dream in the past, present or future?
     • Who was in the dream (acquaintances and strangers)?
     • Your feelings, mood.
     • The events that unfolded.
     • Was anything visually striking, such as colors, shapes, numbers, shapes?
     • Was there conflict involved?
     • Have you ever had to solve problems?
     • Was there anything you dreamed about before?
     • Ending.

   Warnings

   • You may not be able to control your dreams right away. Beginners usually need a couple of tries or even a couple of months. If you are too impatient, you may not succeed at all, so relax!
   • If you don't move for a long time, you may experience sleep paralysis. This is normal, people have it every night. Sleep paralysis may cause wake-induced, lucid dreams, but you don't need to be afraid of it.

On average, a person spends about 25-30% of his life sleeping. That is, if you live 80 years, you will sleep for about 24 years. Just think - 24 years!!! It is simply unforgivable to waste this time in vain. That's why everything related to sleep still causes so much controversy, and research on this topic never stops.

Accordingly, a huge number of myths have gathered around this area. Do we really need to sleep at least 8 hours a night and can we control our dreams? The first is not necessary and not in the way we are used to. Secondly, we can. Want to know how?

Before we understand whether we are able to control our dreams, let's briefly go through the main myths about the dream process itself.

Myths and other folklore about dreams

Myth No. 1. A person needs 7-8 hours of continuous sleep. It is believed that a person should sleep at least 7-8 hours a day - this is exactly how much our brain and body need to restore strength and prepare for a new full working day. But... Hundreds of historical records dating back to the 17th century indicate that people used to have slightly different sleep rhythms. It consisted of two sessions and was broken up by several hours of wakefulness at night. Many sleep experts believe that this rhythm is more natural to humans. I think many of us have more than once woken up energized and ready to work in the middle of the night after just a few hours of sleep. This has happened to me more than once.

The only thing I can advise based on personal experience: Don’t try to fall asleep in this state, because you won’t succeed anyway. You will only exhaust yourself and those around you with your anxiety. The best thing you can do is go and do a little... work or read. The most interesting thing is that it is at this time that the most interesting ideas. After several hours of such activity, you will want to sleep again and wake up in the morning in your standard state, as if these night vigils had never happened.

Myth No. 2. During sleep, the brain is at rest. Since serious research into sleep and conditions began brain activity During this period, scientists have proven that during sleep the brain does not turn off completely and continues to work. But many still believe that during sleep their brain completely switches off, as if a switch was turned from the “On” position. to the "Off" position. During sleep, our brain is in four phases, which replace each other every 90 minutes. Each stage of sleep consists of three phases good sleep, which is also known as " slow sleep" or "traditional sleep", which generally accounts for about 80% of the total time of the 90-minute cycle, and from the REM phase, which is characterized by rapid eye movement. It is during this phase that we dream.

Myth No. 3. Teenagers are just lazy and like to sleep longer. Most teenagers sleep late and even after waking up are in no hurry to get out of bed. They can lie there all morning without showing any signs of life. Many parents argue and think that they are simply too lazy to get up. In fact, The biological clock teenagers' clocks work a little differently than adults'.

Research has shown that up to approximately 20 years of age human body more of the hormone melatonin is released (at the age of 20 there is a peak), so adolescents experience increased drowsiness V daytime, if they are forced to adhere to a standard 8-hour sleep schedule. And if we add here practically complete absence serious social obligations, in addition to passing exams and cleaning their room, it turns out that their sleep is much more restful and healthier than the sleep of adults.

Myth No. 4. Dreams are filled with symbolism. And here we can say hello to grandfather Freud, who believed that dreams (especially nightmares) are filled with symbolism and are “the royal road to the unconscious.” They are a mirror reflection of our life and their detailed analysis can reveal all our subconscious fears, problems and secret desires.

In fact, the truth is that no one yet fully knows how true this theory is. One of the most influential neurobiological theories is that dreams are sporadic neural activity in the brain stem and random activation of memories stored in our consciousness. According to the same theory, dreams are the consequence of processes in the higher layers of our brain, which try to translate this random activity into at least some consistent subjective experience.

A survey was recently conducted among 15 people with lower body paralysis. In their dreams, they quite often see themselves back on their feet, but at the same time they see such dreams much less often than those who are able to move on their own. If Freud's theory were 100% correct, then people with paralysis would have such dreams much more often, since this is their only cherished dream - to walk again.

Inception or dream control

In the film "Inception," director Chris Nolan used the idea that dreams can be controlled and "seed" certain thoughts into a person's mind using controlled dreams. In fact, this is not such a fiction, because the idea for the film was based on scientific research, which prove that lucid dreaming is very real.

Lucid dreaming is an often pleasant state of partially awake consciousness that is simultaneously dreaming and can control it. This condition most often occurs towards the end of sleep, somewhere between awakening and daydreaming.

If you have never experienced a lucid dream before, there are several techniques that can help you achieve this amazing state.

In the book Control Your Dreams, psychologist Tom Stafford and Katherine Bardsley, a lucid dreamer, advise starting to practice awareness of your state when you are no longer asleep, but not yet fully awake. This may sound quite strange for now, but when you learn to notice to yourself that you are already awake, that is, to be aware of this state, you will learn to realize that in this moment you are in a dream.

Sudden turning off of the light is good test to determine whether you are fully awake or still asleep. Because if you are still sleeping, the light level in your dream has not changed. The option of pinching yourself is not very suitable, because you can do this both in reality and in a dream. If you realize that you are still dreaming, try not to worry, otherwise you will quickly wake up. You need to calm down and remember this state. And every time you catch yourself realizing that you are still in a dream, you will be one step closer to completely learning to control the events that occur in your dream.

I had the experience of lucid dreaming. And more than once. And this is a very interesting, exciting state. When you realize that you are all dreaming, but you are still not awake, it becomes very curious and fun. Because when you really realize this, you are able to influence the events that happen and what previously scared the hell out of you now looks stupid. By the way, this is a great way to fight your fears, both far-fetched and very real. It seems to me that it is in this state that the most interesting ideas, solutions to problems and insights come to us (Bingo!), because we can remember them clearly enough so that we don’t forget when we finally wake up.