by Eve Frances Lorgen
1998
from
AlienLoveBite Website
Imagine experiencing your ultimate
fantasy without undesirable risks or consequences. Think about
communicating with your own unconscious mind, spiritual beings, or
God for valuable clues to your most sought after question.
Enlightenment itself.
For those who have an unrelenting quest for understanding dreams -
and especially lucid dreaming - a phychophysiological model is a
welcome approach. But first, let me define what a lucid dream is:
The conscious awareness that one is dreaming while in the sleeping,
dreaming state.
Lucid dreams are experienced by approximately 20 percent of the
population, the majority are spontaneous occurrences. Fewer people
practice lucid dreaming at will on a consistent basis. The
percentage of lucid dreamers may be greater in various cultures and
groups who practice spiritual traditions such as
shamanism - a form
of American Indian Medicine, Taoism, Buddhism, Tibetan dream yoga
and specific disciplines aimed at developing the 'witnessing
consciousness' of enlightenment.
As a biochemist, psychologist and lucid dreamer myself, I often
wondered what biochemical and neurophysiological processes are
responsible for the lucid dream state of consciousness, as well as
the psychological and spiritual significance of lucid dreams.
Until relatively recently , sleep and dream researchers did not
believe lucid dreams were possible. During the seventies, however,
Stanford University Lucid Dream Researcher Stephen La Berge, Ph.D.
proved under laboratory conditions that lucid dreams are not only
possible, but repeatable occurrences in certain individuals. La
Berge and his lucid dream associates developed mental techniques and
exercises to enhance dream recall and activate lucid dreams, which
were demonstrated to be successful. The team determined that with
sufficient intent and mental discipline anyone can learn to lucid
dream.
The physiological explanation of sleep and dreams has been largely
defined through the study and interpretation of the EEG or
electroencephalogram, an instrument which measures brain wave
activity, or specifically, the electrical bursts of neuronal
activity, muscle tone, and eye movement.
There are five distinct phases of brain activity in sleep: Stages 1,
2, 3, 4, and REM or rapid eye movement phase, the latter also
referred to as paradoxical sleep, in which dreaming occurs.
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The
first stage of sleep is light and usually lasts no more than 10
minutes. In this stage one may experience visual hypnogagic imagery.
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Stage 2 follows, lasting another 10 minutes characterized by slower
and more rhythmic theta brain waves of light sleep.
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As stages 3 and
4 progress, slow
delta waves replace the theta waves. Deep sleep
takes place in stages 3 and 4. If subjects are awakened during this
stage, they are disoriented and report mental activity as being more
thought-like rather than dreamlike.
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The next phase of sleep, REM - where dreaming occurs - is considered
paradoxical because brain wave activity resembles waking
consciousness except for relaxed, paralyzed muscle tone. Some
believe that the simultaneous muscle paralysis of REM sleep is
natures way of protecting sleepers from acting out their dreams
which could be harmful - even fatal.
Sleepwalking and night terrors
do not occur in REM sleep, instead they occur in stages 3 and 4.
Both sleepwalking and night terrors are considered a sleep arousal
problem occurring mostly in young children. They run in families,
suggesting an heredity factor.
Throughout the night, the normal human sleep cycle repeats itself 4
to 5 times, each cycle (stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM) lasting
approximately 90 minutes. As each sleep cycle progresses, REM time
increases and stages 3 and 4 decrease. In some cases, the sleeper
alternates between stage 2 and REM, omitting stages 3 and 4. In rare
cases of narcoleptic sleep paralysis (and even sleep deprivation),
the sleeper may enter REM sleep almost immediately, often
consciously and with hallucinations. Some lucid dreamers can enter
the REM state consciously, usually right after an awakening while
still very relaxed, or during a daytime nap.
This, however, is different from
narcoleptic sleep paralysis. (A similar state occurs in some
alien
encounters, and may be a deliberate neurological state the aliens
externally impose on their "experiencers.") The last two hours of
sleep contain the largest amounts of REM dream-time, and it is
usually these dreams that we can recall most readily upon awakening.
So what is the biological or evolutionary significance and function
of REM sleep? It is known that the theta brain wave rhythm is
associated with REM sleep. The hippocampus portion of the inner
brain is the source of theta and appears to be generated in all
mammals during periods which are crucial to learning. All placental
and marsupial mammals share theta rhythm during REM sleep. An
interesting observation is also the inordinate amount of time spent
in the REM cycle of sleep in newborns and very young children,
suggesting that dreaming is intimately connected to learning and
memory storage.
Lucid dreaming takes place in REM sleep. It is characterized by a
higher amount of CNS (central nervous system) activity than normal,
non-lucid REM sleep. Normally in REM sleep the critical faculty of
the brain is switched off. More specifically, the aminergic neurons
in the brainstem are at their lowest levels in REM sleep.
The neurotransmitters responsible for
activating the aminergic neurons in the brainstem are somehow
inhibited, or more accurately, being conserved for the following
day. These neurotransmitters are specifically related to the
critical attentional and learning tasks. The absence, rest, or
inhibition of their function perfectly fits the pattern one finds in
non-lucid dreams of a non-critical consciousness, which blindly
accepts bizarre events, and loss of contextual and referencing
faculties.
Normally, when the aminergic neurons are inhibited in REM sleep, the
muscle tone is also inhibited or paralyzed. But somehow, in lucid
dreaming the aminergic neurons - hence the critical faculty - is
switched on, while muscle paralysis is still maintained. Only when,
for some mysterious, accidental, or evolutionary reason, the self
referencing faculty suddenly awakens, do we find ourselves in a
lucid dream.
As humans, our reflective consciousness or creative attentiveness,
is the self same function that we find in lucidity. Dr. Stephen La
Berge has insightfully pointed out that lucid dreamers are able to
act reflectively, freeing themselves from the compulsion of habit.
Seen in this light, lucid dreaming does not appear at all to be a
mere abnormality, but perhaps represents a highly adaptive function,
the most advanced product of millions of years of biological
evolution.
In light of the currently available research on the various aspects
of lucid dreaming, I would surmise that the human will alone can
alter our own biochemistry and perhaps even change the genetic
blueprint for our level of consciousness - and who we are yet to
become.
Bibliography
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La Berge, Stephen, Ph.D., "Lucid
Dreaming" ,Tarcher Inc. L.A., 1985
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La Berge, Stephen, Ph.D.,
"Exploring the World of Lucid Dreams", Ballantine Books, New
York, 1990
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Goodwin, Malcolm, "The Lucid
Dreamer", Simon & Schuster, 1994
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Hishikawa, Y., "Sleep Paralysis,
Narcolepsy", Advances in Sleep Research, (1976) Vol. 3;
97-124
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La Berge, Stephen, Ph.D., "Lucid
Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness
during REM Sleep." Amer. Psychological Association, 1990
(pp. 109-126)
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