In term of story design alone Dream Venturos represents an intense amount of time and energy.
I am performing a lot of research into various aspects of dreaming in order to increase the realistic and scientific appeal of the series.
I am chiefly interested in the subject of lucid dreaming.
Lucid dreams may sound implausible but this discipline is proven scientifically. It’s the result of pure scientific driven Stanford research with solid proof and probability of occurrences lead by Stephen Laberge, Ph.D, with the findings of other dream researchers around the world.
I recommend two great books by Stephen Laberge himself and Howard Rheingold:
_____Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
_____Lucid Dreaming: A Concise Guide to Awakening in Your Dreams and in Your Life
Laberge claims that sleepers can consciously influence the outcome of their dreams like in waking life. He teaches how to maintain a dream journal, build a catalog of dream signs and gradually induce lucid dreams. It’s possible to have lucid dreams at will! It’s absolutely fascinating! And it’s science! Woohoo!
Indeed Stephen is a scientist doing science; therefore his purpose in his books wasn’t to give a spiritual and philosophical meaning to his work – he did it a little though.
Other writers succeed very well with this approach:
_____The Art Of Dreaming, by Carlos Castaneda
_____The Dreaming Universe by Fred Alan Wolf
As for myself I haven’t succeeded to reach a lucid state in my dreams yet. I started to maintain a dream journal and I hope to have at least one lucid dream by the end of the year. If something positive happens I’m going to share it with you of course! However my primary goal behind this interest is to build a solid framework for Dream Venturos ^^
I would feel very honored to hear your stories if any of you, dear readers, have already experienced or still experience lucid dreams.
Thanks for reading!
- Tags: Dream Venturos, Lucid Dream, Science
Di di
July 15th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
I’ve had lucid dreams before. But they don’t happen often and by the time I realize I’m controlling my dream, I wake up. But it’s gonna be reallly neat to have lucid dreams at will. That means you can do anything you want, how you want to where you want to, anytime you want, by just going to bed! lol. I would like to reach that state
Andrzej
July 16th, 2010 at 3:28 am
Sounds interesting indeed, it surely would be great to reach that state, but probably most of us can only “dream” of it, not being capable of ever reaching the state. Even though I noticed on myself that when I sleep longer (e.g. till noon or something like that, you know, just take longer nap because of lazyness) I remember some of my dreams, and oftentimes their tematics are a little as if i control them xD
P.S. : I’m still following you, just not so regularly, as most of the time I’m not at home/pc. :)
P.S.2 : Enjoy the summer everyone!
Elder
July 16th, 2010 at 11:31 am
It’s not an easy task to remember dreams. For example I couldn’t remember mine this morning except for some flashes that didn’t worth to be scribbled.
In “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming” it is suggested to prolong your sleep in increase your chances to recall your dreams and have lucid dreams.
Here is a passage:
Kelly
July 16th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
I wanted to attempt lucid dreaming, unfortunately with my current schedule I have no time to keep a dream diary in the morning, and later in the day I can’t recall most of my dreams.
One tip I’ve heard of for lucid dreaming, is after you’ve gotten better at remembering your dreams (since that’s supposed to improve… I think…) when you’re going to bed, try to keep your eyes open for as long as possible, without jerking them open. I’ve heard its supposed to help you maintain consciousness even while you’re asleep. I have no idea if this is actually true or not, (or maybe you’ve already heard of this trick?) anyway, hope it helps. Good luck to you!
Techlord
July 16th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
When I was growing up I read everything I could get my hands on about lucid dreaming. I’ve always found dreams to be so interesting, especially the fact that all concept of daily life and identity is suspended when dreaming. You’re right, dream recall helps you to pay more attention when you dream. I started a dream journal, I did “self checks” throughout the day where I would stop what I was doing and ask myself if I was dreaming or not, I tried setting up audio cues in the middle of the night to hopefully coincide with REM sleep, and many other techniques. It took a few weeks before I had my first one, and it was brief. It’s funny, I became aware and got so excited I woke up and ruined the whole thing. I was never able to “will” myself to have them on any particular night, but as long as I kept the dream journal and did my self checks, I would have sporadic lucid dreams that unfortunately didn’t last that long. I would become aware, but I’d lose it within a few minutes and start going with the flow of the dream. Then I discovered brainwave synchronization, aka binaural beats! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats
With a little practice, binaural beats can get you down to a theta brain wave within 5-10 minutes. Of course, the more receptive you are to the technique the better it works. Anyway, once you hit theta you very easily hit the “mind awake, body asleep” state. I’ve found that I can stay concious and go into a dream state…and have much more success getting a lucid dream. It’s still by no means easy to do, though.
There are several programs out there that you can try this with. http://gnaural.sourceforge.net/ or http://uazu.net/sbagen/ I’ve found a sweet spot for me is to aim for around the 5 hz brain wave frequency.
Good luck on your lucid dreaming adventures!
Elder
July 16th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
The only thing I’m able to do at this moment is paying attention to dream signs within my dreams with a a semi-state of consciousness. Example: “A pink elephant, what a strange thing, I’m going to note it when I awaken.”
Once I realize I’m dreaming I awake immediately without attaining a lucid state.
Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone!
Eclipse
July 17th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I almost never remember my dreams which makes it hard to know if I have every had a lucid dream, haha. But the concept is pretty cool.
rinku726
July 18th, 2010 at 7:17 am
I have a friend who experiences lucid dreams quite often. Imma pester him out to share it with you. It’d be kinda gory though. Hmm. Come to think of it, pestering might not be needed eventually, I think he’ll gladly oblige to blabber about it. XD
I haven’t really delved into what exactly lucid dreaming is, and how it works, but all I know is that I also experience a fair control in some of my dreams, even before I’ve heard of the term. Like when I smack the hell out of a zombie, or outrun a battalion of them (how they manage to run escapes me), or how I often turn the situation in my favor (like suddenly being first on the ticketing line).
So far, the most unforgettable lucid dream I’ve had is the one that gave me sleep paralysis right after.
65hi
July 19th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
rinku I get sleep paralysis about twice a week. the dreams are always frightening but the worst part is actually trying to wake up before I feel as if I am going to suffocate while falling back into a nightmare (and being concious myself suffocate in the dream too)
Takes so much effort to raise a finger with the paralyze chems your body has you pumped with but the moment you can physically move something your body realizes the glitch and hits you with some adrenaline to allow you to wake.
To lessen the frequency cut out all stims (caffeine,nicotine) and try something called melatonin. Also do not go back to sleep for at least 30 minutes if you manage to wake up as your mind will go right back to it.
On the positive side every dream it doesn’t happen is intense,custom and I remember them very well. (and when it does happen – you have amazing control but the state of panic you get in from being concious,unable to breathe and move does not make you want to stick around and play around)
Elder
July 20th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
I experienced sleep paralysis on a regular basis five years ago, I woke up from nightmares in the middle of the night totally unable to raise a finger. Only my eyes could move.
If you experience it for the first time the feeling is quite frightening especially when you don’t understand the physiological explanation.
Our physical motions are locked during REM sleep, it’s some kind of security mode to prevent to hurt ourselves with sudden moves, and sometimes this mode doesn’t return to normal instantly when waking up.
There’s apparently a technique to go in lucid dream using sleep paralysis.
65hi
July 22nd, 2010 at 12:23 am
your body releases chemicals to paralyze your body in sleep from my understanding. and the prob is your conciousness returns while paralyzed and still in dream state.
as for trying to control it – I have heard of that too. although to be quite honest I have never really tried to as everytime it happens I stay in panic mode and all efforts go into waking up. it would help if the dreams themselves were pleasant but they always seem to be nightmares and helplessly falling/giving into a nightmare is easier said than done.
it takes so much fighting to even sit up in the bed as the sleepy chemicals are still pulling you down and you really do have to exert yourself to awaken.
I would relate them to potent pyschotropical stuff – sure it can be a awesome trip but if you can’t control the car the logical goal is to get out of the car (wake up!) because it is very easy to wind up somewhere you do not want to be and with yourself in panic mode- the odds of going there are almost certain. only a few isles of heaven in the ocean of hell.
coromoro
July 23rd, 2010 at 10:16 pm
I have lucid dreams too. It was a bit crazy that I can my own dream the first time but it’s really possible.