How Do You Lucid Dream? And Is Lucid Dreaming Real? by M. Brown 'MIND' - HTML preview

CHAPTER II

Possible Dangers of Lucid Dreaming

While there is no current evidence of lucid dreaming being abnormal or unhealthy in any way, there are a few things you should be aware of that could occur as a result of practicing lucid dreaming techniques. These possible side effects have been outlined for you below. Please don’t let this scare you away from this wonderful tool; rather, remember that with dreams you are dealing with your own subconscious mind, and recklessness is not recommended.

Alienation

Many people have never even heard of lucid dreaming, much less ever experienced it. Some people are also less than open-minded and receptive to new ideas. Don’t be surprised if someone considers this whole phenomenon “weird” or “crazy” (which it is not). Don’t preach, either; it’s not your job to absolutely convince everyone. Often people who spontaneously lucid dream, especially children, may find it surprising that not everyone does. They may even start thinking that they are the only person in the world who has lucid dreams. If they’re worried, the best support is to let them know that they’re not alone, and they’re not abnormal.

Addiction

Lucid dreaming can be used for different purposes. Some may want to try it just for fun, using it as a "safe drug", or a personal virtual reality machine. Having fun is a fully valid application of lucid dreaming. However, be careful not to be addicted to this way of escaping your waking life. If you find that you are spending more time asleep than actually needed, or that you are thinking more about lucid dreams than your real waking life, take a break.

Dissociation

Lucid dreaming may weaken the borders between waking and dreaming, the conscious and subconscious mind, reality and fantasy. This might lead to problems of a dissociative nature. Probably the most common form of dissociation involves having problems distinguishing your waking memories from dream memories. Everyone who recalls at least one dream will have to sort out their dreams from reality in the morning. This can really be a problem for those who have previously had zero recall and, due to lucid dreaming, have had a major uptick in recall. Now, suddenly, they have all these excess, illogical memories to sort out. This is unlikely to be a major problem, but may be a big annoyance. However, there are signs that you should watch for that indicate a bigger problem may be developing. Lucid dreaming in itself should not cause these to appear in a waking state:

 

• Ability to ignore extreme pain or what would normally cause extreme pain
• Absorption in a television program or movie
• Remembering the past so vividly one seems to be reliving it
• Finding evidence of having done things one can’t remember doing
• Not remembering important events in one’s life
• Being in a familiar place but finding it unfamiliar
• Seeing oneself as if looking at another person
• Other people and objects do not seem real
• Looking at the world through a fog
• Not recognizing friends or family members
• Finding unfamiliar things among one’s belongings
• Finding oneself in a place but unaware of how one got there
• Finding oneself dressed in clothes one doesn’t remember putting on

 

If this has happened, and there is no other cause (e.g. drugs), take a break from lucid dreaming for a while. In fact, take a break from anything fictional for a while, at least until symptoms stop.

Controversial: Creating Bad Habits or Becoming a Control Freak

When lucid dreaming, you have the option to control the dream world in ways that are impossible in the waking world. You can, for example, make objects appear or disappear, or make people act according to your will. Some people believe this may lead your subconscious to desire this kind of control in the waking world, where it’s highly inappropriate. Also, you might be tempted to apply dream-world solutions to waking-life problems instead of actually facing them; for example, just willing bad things to go away or escaping or destroying them by superpowers. Again, this is probably more of a problem if you are not mentally stable at the outset of your dreaming process.

Controversial: Accidentally Encountering

“Spiritual” Entities

This depends on your worldview. If dreams are a creation of your brain and nothing more, you don’t need to worry about spirits or anything similar. If you want to be on the safe side, treating objects in your dream decently and politely won’t do you any harm.

Similar Techniques “I Can Do Astral Projection, Should I Learn How To

Dream Lucidly?”

Possibly not. If you often enter a “dream world” after leaving your body, that is basically the same as the method called Wake-Initiation of Lucid Dreams. Keep in mind that many people believe that “astral projection” or “out-of-body experiences” are actually lucid dreams. Whether these PSI Phenomena are real or just the creative content of your dreams, learning to lucidly dream will expand the variety of your experiences.

“I Can Use Self-Hypnosis, Should I Learn How To Dream

Lucidly?”

Again, maybe not. If you often enter a “dream world”, that is basically the same as the method called Wake-Initiation of Lucid Dreams.

“If These Are So Similar, Why Learn Lucid Dreaming and

Not Self-Hypnosis or Astral Projection?”

Here are some reasons:

 

• Lucid dreaming is something that everybody can understand. Most people have already had a lucid dream. Self-hypnosis is not fully understood and no single theory about astral projection is accepted in the astral projection community.

 

• Hypnosis has many negative connotations for some people. This is mostly from myths in books and films, but some people remain afraid of hypnosis.

 

• In contrast with self-hypnosis, much material about lucid dreaming is available free.

 

• If you are prepared to spend money, there are some gadgets to help people dream lucidly. Usually, they will give a light or sound signal shortly after the REM state is detected. Hypnosis tapes usually focus more on self-improvement and you cannot decide what to do with your hypnotic trance.

 

• If you don’t believe in PSI Phenomena, you will likely be much more comfortable reading books about lucid dreaming or self-hypnosis than those on astral projection.

 

• You would be sleeping anyway, so it doesn't take up waking time.

 

• You'll be able to use this ebook to your advantage!