They say that lucid dreams only have those people who have a self-reflective character. That is one of the reasons why not everyone can experience them, resulting for some, something practically impossible.
Therefore, inducing oneself to have lucid dreams requires a series of methods, such as meditation and other techniques that must be carried out by specialists. You must be aware of this type of dreams, because if you have them and you cannot control them, they could generate negative effects.
What are lucid dreams?
Controlling dreams is, without a doubt, a skill that is often out of reach for most people. However, it is not a fiction, but a reality that has a name: they are known as lucid dreams. In this type of dream, the person is aware that what he is experiencing is a dream and also has the ability to control it.
Although it may seem that lucid dreaming is a modern practice, it is quite the opposite. This type of dreams has been practiced since ancient times, in fact, it is possible to find many references. Especially in ancient cultures such as Tibetan Buddhism and Taoism.
Keep in mind that lucid dreams have nothing to do with ordinary dreams. Since the latter, normally, are forgotten once the person wakes up, but with the lucid it does not happen this way.
While it is true that having lucid dreams is quite complex to achieve, there are various methods such as meditation and others to induce them. It is the best way to develop this incredible ability and be able to experience dreams fully consciously and without any limits.
Who is capable of having lucid dreams?
People who have lucid dreams can play a very active role in their dreams, even being able to control them with their own will. It goes beyond daydreaming, it is as if they were shooting a movie of which they are directors and can modify the script at will.
This occurs because the frontal lobe is not completely asleep, allowing the development of this type of dream. Now, people who are capable of having lucid dreams are known as oneironauts.
These people can completely dominate everything that happens in their dreams without even waking up. Skills as incredible and complex as lucid dreaming can be difficult to develop. However, there are several quite useful methods for anyone to become an onironaut and thus control their dreams.
According to their characteristics, there are at least two different types of onironauts, these are:
Authentic Onironaut
They are those people who were born with the “gift”, so they never had to learn to develop it. In some cases, authentic onironauts do not know when they started having lucid dreams, but still have the ability to maintain control of them.
From the time they are very young, true oneironauts master lucid dreams without even realizing they are doing it. So they can live many experiences within their dreams, above all, doing things that they have always wanted and that in the real world would be impossible.
Onironaut by apprenticeship
Unlike a true onironaut, those who do it for learning lack the gift of lucid dreaming. For this reason, they carry out different practices such as meditation or others, in order to develop the ability to be 100% aware within their dreams.
In principle, this type of onironauts initiate these practices, just out of curiosity or to experience different paths from those they have lived until now.
How do lucid dreams occur?
A group of neuroscientists from the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin conducted some tests on these dreams. The goal of this collaboration was to compare the brain structures of people who can have these dreams at will and those who rarely experience them.
The results obtained from these tests have been published in “The Journal of Neuroscience”. The brain area where the self-reflection process occurs is larger in people who have lucid dreaming.
Implying that it is possible that lucid dreamers are more self-reflective during the day, when they are awake. In addition, there is a high probability that lucid dreaming is linked to the self-reflective capacity of the human being, also known as metacognition.
In the case of people who dream lucidly, their anterior prefrontal cortex is larger compared to those who do not usually have such dreams. The anterior prefrontal cortex is responsible for controlling all conscious cognitive processes. In the same way, it is a key piece in the self-reflective capacity of people.
What is the peculiarity of those who have lucid dreams?
The evidence suggests that there is a significant difference in the volumes of the anterior prefrontal cortex between the two types of dreamers. Throwing as a result, a relationship between metacognition and lucid dreams.
These hypotheses are based on the images obtained from the volunteers when they performed certain tests. In the images, the neuroscientists were able to notice that the prefrontal brain activity of people who have lucid dreams is greater.
The specialists indicated that the results show that self-reflection in daily life is usually more extensive in those with the ability to control their dreams.
Now, the next task for the researchers will be to discover if the metacognitive capacity can be trained at will. To achieve this, they will need to perform various tests on volunteers who have lucid dreams. The objective is to analyze if they obtain any improvement regarding the capacity for self-reflection.
How can you have a lucid dream?
As explained above, having lucid dreams is something that only very few people can achieve. It requires a lot of discipline, meditation and above all, dedication, but even so, not everyone gets it. The reason is very simple, currently, there are no safe methods with which you can access these types of dreams.
However, it is possible to try it through the application of various techniques that can help you increase the chances of having a lucid dream. But first, it is very important to carry out these methods in a space that, in addition to being comfortable, is quiet for sleeping and inducing this kind of dreams.
reality test
It is a method that is aimed at distinguishing between what is a dream and reality. In all dreams, there is almost always some element that allows us to differentiate it from reality, even if the environment is familiar.
If you want to achieve being conscious in the dream, through the implementation of reality testing, you must make sure that you are awake in the day. It may sound a bit strange, but what you should do is ask yourself if you are awake or asleep. The ideal is to try to find any reference that indicates that you are awake. If you don’t get it, then look for items that may seem abnormal to you and that are more like what you would find in a dream.
The purpose of this technique is to check reality daily and then do it while you sleep. Performing it every day can help you identify signs that may indicate that it is a dream. Once the technique is mastered, it will be easier to know when you are awake or asleep.
MLIB or mnemonic induction of lucid dreams
It is a method developed by LaBerge, in order to remember certain things in the future, through the induction of dreams. It is based on taking advantage of the memories of past dreams, to discover if there are any anomalies in the dreams after that one.
In this sense, this technique uses prospective memory, which is responsible for storing memories of actions that are to come. To achieve the induction it is necessary to repeat a specific phrase, over and over again, to reach the goal. For example, “tonight I will be aware that it is a dream, therefore, I will be able to remember what I am dreaming.”
Lucid dreams can be beneficial for people who can have them, it improves concentration, creativity, among others. They can also be very helpful in dealing with a nightmare that has become very recurrent.
However, when they are not controlled correctly, the person can become lost in the belief of what is a dream and reality. Causing mental health complications and significantly reducing the quality of sleep.
Sources: ABC blogs, Awen psychology, The mind is wonderful.