Thread: Please read my 15 minute-ish speech on Lucid dreaming! (for my ELA class)

Lucid Dreaming
A 15 Minute Presentation by _______

I’m here to let everyone here in on my secret. Some of you might not believe me when I explain it. Either way, I’m going to be talking about dreaming, but more specifically, lucid dreaming. Some of you may have experienced this phenomenon before and didn’t know to label it as a ‘lucid’ dream. Some of you probably can’t even remember your dreams from night to night. But I chose to do my speech on dreams because it’s something we can all relate to. Everyone has had a dream. They can be realistic, intense, happy, sad, or even nightmarish experiences. Sometimes they can have a huge impact on us, or like most of them, they are forgotten as soon as we wake up. My favorite thing about them though, and the thing that fascinates me about them is how little we know about them. The mystery behind them. Why do we dream? Do dreams have any meaning? Why do some dreams feel so real? By the time my presentation is over, I hope to let you know the possibilities of lucid dreaming, and get everyone a little more curious about their own dreams.
Before we can delve into lucid dreaming, let’s start with regular old dreams. What is a dream? According to Merriam Webster, a dream is, “a series of thoughts, visions, or feelings that happen during sleep”. Now I mentioned earlier the fact that, a percentage of people do not remember their dreams. This could be a result of multiple different things, or many at once. The one I fall prey to most of the time is, not giving any thought to the dream after you’ve had it, because you simply don’t care. It could also be that you are not getting enough sleep. Most memorable dreams occur in the R.E.M., or (rapid eye movement) cycle of sleep which first occurs around 90 minutes after falling asleep, and then recurs about every 90 minutes, getting longer each time. By getting very little sleep, you won’t experience the longer R.E.M. stages, therefore, no vivid dreams. Sleeping is vital to humans if we want to function properly each and every day, but what’s the purpose of dreaming? There have been many studies and experiments that have been conducted to find a reason. Some theories include; our bodies will dream as a way of acting out different situations, primarily so that if we encounter them in real life we can execute them safely, like practicing. Also, some believe that dreams are related to how we form memories. Studies show that, individuals that were studying in a language course during the day, had increased dream activity at night. But in the end, all we have are theories.
I haven’t always been fascinated with this topic though. I can still remember the day when I was introduced to Lucid Dreaming, through a website called Flipnote Hatena in early 2011. Hatena was a place where you were able to upload stories, drawings, comics, or animations, all referred to as ‘flipnotes’ that you had created on the Flipnote Studio app. I was really into this website, I would visit every day to catch up on my favorite creators’ animations, and then eventually go make my own. I spent hundreds of hours watching, creating, and sharing techniques with other artists. One day I was browsing the most popular section, when I saw a thumbnail that read the words, “How to create your own worlds”. It caught my eye. When I clicked on it, I guess I was expecting a tutorial on how to design a place where stories could take place, where characters could live and interact. In a way, I did find this. I’ll introduce you the same way I was to lucid dreaming, by reading the flipnote. “Have you ever wished that you could fly? Or have magical powers? Or create your own fantasy world? Or do something that’s in no way possible in real life? Well there is a way to make this come true. You might say, yeah, in your dreams buddy. But that is the answer. In your dreams you can do anything. You can control your dreams. Now, to control your dreams, you have to remain conscious in your dreams. This, is called lucid dreaming.” The flipnote doesn’t go into much detail. A lucid dream is simply, a dream, in which, you know you are dreaming. This is a clip from one of my favorite movies, Inception.
( -INCEPTION CLIP- ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bsGUOVTA84
In the movie, there’s a team that comes together to perform an ‘extraction’, a method used to draw information from a person/subject. The extraction consists of going within somebody’s mind by using a machine for shared dreaming. Everyone is hooked up to the device, then by the touch of a button, they are asleep and in the subject’s dream instantly. In the clip, Cobb, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character brings up an interesting point. You never really know you’re in a dream, until you’ve woken up. In the movie, they didn’t question whether or not they were in waking life or the dream because the machine that they used made the transition instantaneous. Obviously, the machine doesn’t exist in real life. However, if they were in the dream for too long, they’d pull out what they called a ‘totem’, a small object such as a die, or spinning top. They use them in different ways to tell if they are dreaming or not. When I read up on different methods, the first thing I thought was, “why didn’t I think of that?” Here are a few of what are known as “reality checks”:
- Count your fingers. In your dream, you might have more or less than 5 fingers on your hand. If you have the wrong amount, you’re dreaming.
- Try to read something. Does the context of where what you’re reading make sense? For example, if you read: “20% battery remaining” and it was on your shampoo bottle, you’re probably asleep. It might not be the context, the letters might change, or it could appear blurry.
- Try to push your finger through your hand. If it goes through, you’re dreaming.
- Similar to reading something, pull out your phone or watch and check what time it is. Look away and then look back. It will most likely change if you’re asleep.
- The most popular one is pinching your nose and trying to breathe through it. If you can breathe, you’re dreaming.
If you do these techniques, not thinking about the purpose, they won’t work. When done successfully and with focus, you will suddenly feel a rush of consciousness and clarity, and become lucid in your dream. The only problem is, you’re unconscious when you’re asleep meaning you have no ability to think to do a reality check. In everyday waking life you must practice so that it becomes habit. If you are always questioning whether or not your surroundings are part of your imagination, you will do so in the dream. This is a lot to take in, and with all the problems and distractions in life, these will seem like an unnecessary chore. That’s why most people who attempt it, fail.
The flipnote I had found also suggested VERY strongly to do another method, to go hand in hand with reality checking. To gain even more awareness and attention to detail, you should record your dreams when you wake up. Why does this help? By writing down all of these dreams, you program the brain and let it know that remembering dreams is important to you. When you finally arrive in your lucid dream, the experience will be all the more vivid and memorable. Always set your alarm about 10 minutes early because the tough part about recording dreams is actually waking up and getting out of bed to write them. That’s why getting into a healthy sleep schedule is so important. If you get enough sleep every night, you’ll feel refreshed and motivated enough to get out of bed. The best way to remember dreams is this: When you wake up, don’t move at all. Close your eyes, having it dark helps to focus. Lie still and don’t think about what the day ahead of you will be like, just think about what you dreamt about. It might take a minute or two, but as long as you don’t get distracted, something will come. If nothing comes to mind, you probably woke up and started the process too late, the dream was probably lost. It can be difficult at first, but with lots of practice, and the right amount of sleep, it becomes second nature. I think one night I recorded 5 dreams actually, so it definitely works.
After writing for about 2-3 weeks or so, you should have a pretty good catalog of dreams to read. Instead of just recording them and forgetting they happened afterwards, the main point of the journal is so you can go back and read them. Dull, exciting, or weird, every dream can reflect what might be happening in your everyday life. You might have a friend that just won’t leave you alone in your dreams. You might be constantly stressed about a test or an exam in your dream because you really are freaking out about that one that’s coming up the next day. If you notice a pattern in common recurring themes or aspects in your dreams, you’ve discovered a dream sign. Go back and find as many dream signs you can. Whenever you see that friend in real life, do a reality check and ask yourself, “am I dreaming?” It makes so much sense when you think about it.
The dream journal/reality check combo is the most common technique used among lucid dreamers because of the high success rate for getting your first lucid dream with it. It is known as the ‘Dream Induced Lucid Dream’ or D.I.L.D. However, there is no guarantee you will have a lucid dream every night with this method. That’s why, some people, after they get a few lucids, they will start attempting trickier and riskier techniques. The internet has assigned most of the techniques names, such as: D.I.L.D., W.I.L.D., M.I.L.D., and F.I.L.D. Also, if you thought the first technique was strange, don’t even try these. The Dream journal is used to enhance every method, and reality checking is key to keeping the dream going once it’s been induced. I won’t bore you with more step by steps, so I’ll fast forward past them.
You might be wondering, why the heck would I even try this? Just to have some cool dreams? Lucid dreams are used for more than doing whatever you want, for fun’s sake. When traumatized war veterans return home, they often have trouble sleeping. Haunted by night terrors, (extreme nightmares,) their doctors sometimes turn to lucid dreaming as medicine, and hopefully a cure. If they can harness their nightmare and turn it into a calm regular dream, some of the stress is relieved and they can go on living without the fear of falling asleep. Aside from having adventures and doing whatever you want in the dream, other uses for lucid dreams include: Problem solving, expressing yourself artistically/creatively (lots of the world’s most famous paintings were started because of a dream), personal/spiritual exploration, or maybe you just want to try something new. Whatever the use, they are insanely cool experiences. How do you start? Just ask yourself this question, “Are you dreaming?”
Thanks for listening.