Activating the left brain hemisphere to attain lucidity

**mcwillis** · 04-25-2012 12:24 PM

I did a little experiment last night that is inconclusive but seems to have generated a good result. I have decided to make a thread about it and to post regular updates to see if my idea has any validity. Please join in and hopefully others will be able to replicate the results I achieved last night.

The idea is based on activating, or rather coaxing the left hemisphere of the brain into becoming more active during sleep. The point of this is that the part of our brain that deals with processing logical thought patterns is in this part of the brain and is dormant during sleep. Hence this is why we don't notice how illogical our dreams are and thus why we don't attain lucidity during these illogical dreams. For example when we have flying dreams we often don't notice that we are dreaming and we accept that it is perfectly normal to fly in life. This is because the logic centre in our brains is dormant when we dream and we don't 'compute' that we can't fly and therefore realise that we must be dreaming. My understanding is that the logic centre is in the left-hand side of our brains. If anyone can elaborate on this more then please join in.

I have discovered that consciously altering certain parts of our brain just by thought alone is actually very easy. To understand this more you can check out this thread of mine: http://www.dreamviews.com/f96/try-ac...-brain-127512/

I had the idea that could it be possible to instruct the left hemisphere of the brain to become more active during sleep, and thus hopefully the logic centre, to the point that when we experience something illogical in a dream we begin to question it and realise that we are dreaming or could be dreaming.

I decided to test my idea last night. I lay in bed and instead of concentrating on eyelid space I imagined moving my consciousness to the left hemisphere of my brain inside my head. I just imagined that the 'point' of my consciousness was in the middle of the left-hand side of my brain. I then simply instructed it to become more active when I'm asleep so that I can realise when I am dreaming. I kept doing this in a slow relaxed manner until I fell asleep.

Last night I had some of the strangest dreams I have ever had in my entire life. One was extremely vivid and it is unusual for me to have a dream of such vividness. After about five hours I had a dream where I started to question the nature of the dream. I didn't know it was a dream but I started to question ever so slightly the logic of what was happening. I started thinking about dreams and how hard achieving natural lucidity was. I then started to wonder if I could actually be in a dream and not awake. I even pinched the skin on my hand to see if I was dreaming. Of course this is a diabolical reality check and it didn't work and I said to myself that I was awake instead of dreaming. I have no idea why I used this instead of one of the more well known successful reality checks. This is the first time ever I have ever done a reality check in a dream to test if I am dreaming or awake even though I have tried very hard to cultivate the reality check process in the past. In the end I gave up the reality check process because it was an unsuccessful induction method for me.

I am excited that my apparent ability to be able to question the logic of a dream seems to have increased because of my little experiment, even if it was to a slight degree. I am hoping that my experiment will have a cumulative effect and will definately be doing it again to see if it does have a cumulative effect.

**Ctharlhie** · 04-25-2012 03:50 PM

While this is a nice idea I'm afraid I highly doubt the validity of 'activation' of the left hemisphere during dreams to become lucid. The left hemisphere is already very much active during non-lucid dreams, the left hemisphere deals with more logical aspects of the dream, like taking care of linguistic aspects, such as dialogue with dream characters.

Also I'm dubious that attempts at stimulating the amygdala could do anything for lucid dreaming, as it's actually the 'fear centre' of the brain located in the deeper, more primitive mammalian brain, quite far away from the frontal cortex which is responsible for the higher functions of reasoning such as self-awareness that plays a role in lucid dreaming.

**mcwillis** · 04-25-2012 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

While this is a nice idea I'm afraid I highly doubt the validity of 'activation' of the left hemisphere during dreams to become lucid. The left hemisphere is already very much active during non-lucid dreams, the left hemisphere deals with more logical aspects of the dream, like taking care of linguistic aspects, such as dialogue with dream characters.

Thank you for your input. From the research I have done the left hemisphere including the logic centre is virtually dormant when we dream and language skills aren't controlled by the logic centre. Perhaps people here who do have a good understanding of the brain can elaborate more on this. I'm not saying you don't have a good understanding of the brain, just more about the left hemisphere and dreaming. As I have pointed out this isn't really 'activation' but more in coaxing the left hemisphere to become more active during sleep.

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

Also I'm dubious that attempts at stimulating the amygdala could do anything for lucid dreaming, as it's actually the 'fear centre' of the brain located in the deeper, more primitive mammalian brain, quite far away from the frontal cortex which is responsible for the higher functions of reasoning such as self-awareness that plays a role in lucid dreaming.

Ah, the amygdala link isn't included in this thread as a means of attaining lucidity but is purely an example to show that it is very easy to manipulate the functioning of the brain by thought alone.

**Avalanche** · 04-25-2012 06:27 PM

I'll give this a shot for you tonight, sounds simple enough. I'll report back over a number for days to rule out placebo as well.

**mcwillis** · 04-25-2012 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by Avalanche

I'll give this a shot for you tonight, sounds simple enough. I'll report back over a number for days to rule out placebo as well.

Great!

I would like to point out how I worded my instructions to my 'left brain'. So my instructions on the first attempt were, 'My left brain during sleep tonight become active enough so that when I dream I will realise that I'm dreaming.'

**Avalanche** · 04-25-2012 08:42 PM

Alright, I'll report back in about 24 hours.

**Ctharlhie** · 04-25-2012 10:06 PM

Originally Posted by mcwillis

Great!

I would like to point out how I worded my instructions to my 'left brain'. So my instructions on the first attempt were, 'My left brain during sleep tonight become active enough so that when I dream I will realise that I'm dreaming.'

Sounds like a good MILD affirmation

**Avalanche** · 04-25-2012 10:08 PM

Don't hate until it works or doesn't. It's similar to MILD, but everyone is different so different takes on what works is a good thing.

Unless it doesn't work.

**Ctharlhie** · 04-25-2012 10:45 PM

Originally Posted by Avalanche

Don't hate until it works or doesn't. It's similar to MILD, but everyone is different so different takes on what works is a good thing.

Unless it doesn't work.

...What?

**Sydney** · 04-26-2012 02:27 AM

I'll try this, seems interesting.

I wonder if left handed people have an advantage or something? (I heard that from somewhere...)

But anyways, is it okay to use it when you first go to bed?

**mcwillis** · 04-26-2012 02:31 AM

Originally Posted by Sydney

I'll try this, seems interesting.

Great!

Originally Posted by Sydney

I wonder if left handed people have an advantage or something? (I heard that from somewhere...)

I don't think so as everyones left brain hemisphere will operate the same.

Originally Posted by Sydney

But anyways, is it okay to use it when you first go to bed?

Yes before bed at the end of the day is fine. I've always preferred night time lucids anyway as WBTB is so time consuming.

**MBA42** · 04-26-2012 02:35 AM

I'm thinking about this. Could be a great way to step back into lucid dreaming!

**RationalMystic** · 04-26-2012 08:12 AM

Sounds like a cool idea but could you clarify if you did this before going to bed or as part of a WBTB routine?
I'm pretty convinced that you can activate regions of the brain by thought alone but I doubt that verbal affirmations are any help. Then again I've never been a fan of verbal affirmations.

**Sam1r** · 04-26-2012 02:29 PM

Im open minded to anything to break my dryspell at the moment,
will report after i tried

**XxLHYxX** · 04-26-2012 02:44 PM

THANK YOU!!! I tried this last night, and I had my first lucid dream!

**Ctharlhie** · 04-26-2012 03:24 PM

Lateralisation between the hemispheres of the brain is no where near as significant as is often portrayed by those who would tell you you can 'hemi-sync' (usually so they can sell you something)

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Broad generalizations are often made in popular psychology about one side or the other having characteristic labels such as "logical" for the left side or "creative" for the right. These labels need to be treated carefully; although a lateral dominance is measurable, these characteristics are in fact existent in both sides,[1] and experimental evidence provides little support for correlating the structural differences between the sides with functional differences.

Lateralization of brain function - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The truth is that throughout your life the hemispheres of your brain work in tandem but interdependently of each other, and statements of 'logical left' and 'creative right' are largely generalisations, remember that each hemisphere is a mirror image of the other with the exact same neuroanatomy on each side.

It would be silly to suggest that your brain would sacrifice half of its processing power for something so intensive as dreaming by shutting down the left hemisphere. In fact MRI scans show that the two hemispheres show roughly equal activity:

However it is generally accepted in sleep research circles that the higher reasoning centres of the forebrain responsible for things like operative memory and self-awareness are suppressed.
So if you really are stimulating anything then it would be the forebrain.

Maybe the stimulation of the forebrain becomes associated with the realisation that you are dreaming so that when it finds itself in an inhibited state it triggers the realisation you are dreaming. I which case this technique could hold implications for WILD and recognising the transition without having to remain conscious through the whole WILD. In a way it's similar to the 'third eye' and Nina's technique of WILDing.

However, it may just be a simple matter of mnemonic/auto-suggestion induction, in which case it would be effective as a MILD and may be increased even further in effectiveness if coupled with visualisation.

**mcwillis** · 04-26-2012 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by XxLHYxX

THANK YOU!!! I tried this last night, and I had my first lucid dream!

Awesome! Can you describe the dream and how you realised that you were dreaming. Thanks

Originally Posted by RationalMystic

Sounds like a cool idea but could you clarify if you did this before going to bed or as part of a WBTB routine?
I'm pretty convinced that you can activate regions of the brain by thought alone but I doubt that verbal affirmations are any help. Then again I've never been a fan of verbal affirmations.

You can do this before bed. It would probably be more effective with WBTB though.

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

Lateralisation between the hemispheres of the brain is no where near as significant as is often portrayed by those who would tell you you can 'hemi-sync' (usually so they can sell you something)

Lateralization of brain function - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The truth is that throughout your life the hemispheres of your brain work in tandem but interdependently of each other, and statements of 'logical left' and 'creative right' are largely generalisations, remember that each hemisphere is a mirror image of the other with the exact same neuroanatomy on each side.

It would be silly to suggest that your brain would sacrifice half of its processing power for something so intensive as dreaming by shutting down the left hemisphere. In fact MRI scans show that the two hemispheres show roughly equal activity:

However it is generally accepted in sleep research circles that the higher reasoning centres of the forebrain responsible for things like operative memory and self-awareness are suppressed.
So if you really are stimulating anything then it would be the forebrain.

Maybe the stimulation of the forebrain becomes associated with the realisation that you are dreaming so that when it finds itself in an inhibited state it triggers the realisation you are dreaming. I which case this technique could hold implications for WILD and recognising the transition without having to remain conscious through the whole WILD. In a way it's similar to the 'third eye' and Nina's technique of WILDing.

However, it may just be a simple matter of mnemonic/auto-suggestion induction, in which case it would be effective as a MILD and may be increased even further in effectiveness if coupled with visualisation.

Good work Ctharlhie. I haven't had much time to do some proper research but going back to what I have researched the above is not entirely correct. Thank you though for your efforts. I shall update new information once I have looked properly.

**mcwillis** · 04-26-2012 05:22 PM

No lucids for me last night. Its only day two. Lets see what tonight brings...

**Avalanche** · 04-27-2012 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

...What?

I honestly have no idea what I was trying to say there. It was 3am.

And nothing happened. Both nights.

**n00bf0rlyf3** · 04-28-2012 04:24 PM

I don't know if it was from this or I got lucky but when I tried this the first night I got a lucid.
Edit: Did this 2 days later and got another lucid.

**mcwillis** · 04-29-2012 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by n00bf0rlyf3

I don't know if it was from this or I got lucky but when I tried this the first night I got a lucid.
Edit: Did this 2 days later and got another lucid.

Fantatstic, two lucids in three days, that's a great result.

For myself:

Day 3: Nothing
Day 4: False Awakening, a rare occurence for me.

**n00bf0rlyf3** · 04-29-2012 11:09 PM

Hell yeah it is, I also imagine like gripping it like a wooden handle. I'm gonna try it again tonight

**XxLHYxX** · 04-30-2012 02:37 AM

Originally Posted by mcwillis

Awesome! Can you describe the dream and how you realised that you were dreaming. Thanks

.

Unfortunately, I was barely lucid and the dream was very blurry. All I can recall is doing a reality check. I don't know why or where or when I did it. Also, I can't really remember anything about the dream. All I recall is doing a reality check and flying around.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I did the nose plug RC. Not sure if that matters or not.

**Vortaix** · 04-30-2012 03:50 PM

OH MY GOD !!

I tried it only once, last night.

At first i was like "thafuq is this -.-", then i tried it, and then i kept laughing at the wall for 15 minutes.. until my stomach started hurting..
Then i went to sleep.. (without any mantras/preparation)..

I almost had 3 lucids !! (one reality check failed)
But i had 2 lucids, 1 nose plug reality check that failed .. and awesome recall, and all of the dreams were extremely vivid o_o ..

Wow.. just wow..
Thank you so much !

**Sam1r** · 04-30-2012 05:27 PM

I mixed this with SSILD and it did wonders for me,
I managed to kill off my dryspell,
finally having a real, long ass lucid dream that was stable and vivid.
not sure which technique helped, or whether it was the combination, but Im doing this everynight from now on.. great work mcwillis