Opinions- is this appropriate

[Rie1960]

Im a 19 year veteran art teacher and have a "history" of teaching outre subjects...one of my favorites, the art of the Victorian cemetery. Now I'm going back to have a mentor assist me in developing a unit for my students on Lucid dreaming. Given that this is an age of having your imagination handed to you on an x-box, I want something that might help my kids think not just outside the box...but outside the realm. Am I, in your opinion, courting trouble? course, I've been in trouble before...but do you think my age group ( junior high 12-14) could assimilate this? Or are they not developed enough to focus on the goal.

[pyroguy305]

I think you will have a few students who will be mature enough to realize the gravity of what you are trying to teach them, but don't expect for miracles. I would think this is a fine thing to do however, I wish I had been introduced to Lucid Dreaming at an earlier age.

[horsebucket]

If it was up to me I'd force feed everyone DMT and salvia at young ages and blast them into other dimensions to get rid of the bullshit notion that this reality is the only one we have access to. The children might be opposed to it at the time but they'd thank me in years to come for giving them hands on proof of the afterlife and other worlds. Maybe one day by some weird twist of faith I'll become president and commander of the world and god help us all if that ever happens shits gonna go down.

[lagunagirl]

i'm sure it's not inappropriate, but when I first found out about lucid dreaming (only 2 years ago) I was barely out of middle school and going into high school. I thought it was great, but most my friends and people that I talked to really didn't understand. Some obviously didn't get it and I had 4 or 5 say "oh, I can do that!" When I asked - surprised - "really?" they said "yeah, once when I was 5 I knew I was dreaming" and they think that what they experienced was the extent of a lucid dream and otherwise didn't care. Other people thought it was a bunch of crap and it was impossible, or would probably classify the subject under "paranormal" rather than "scientific"... or whatever you want to call it, and didn't really understand that it's not that strange of a thing. It might be stranger than most hobbies, but it's not that unbelievably weird. There were probably 2... possibly 3 people that actually got it Now i'm not suggesting whether you should go through with it or not, I just thought I would let you know what people my age (the age group you're wanting to teach) actually think of the subject. sorry it was such a long comment, hope it helps though. good luck

[Moonbeam]

I think it would be great. The younger you are, the easier lucid dreaming is, I've heard, so they'll have that going for them. And one or two of them may really pick it up--and they'll remember you as their favorite teacher forever! Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

[Ayen]

I think that, as long as demonstrate very clearly that lucid dreaming is backed by good science and a fair bit of research, you'll probably have a decent reception from these students. I woudn't expect the entire class to become lifelong lucid dreamers, but you'll definitely have a few (if not many) people who really stick to it and use lucid dreaming to improve their lives. Just make sure you prove to them that this isn't some new-age self help cult or something (not that I consider new age and/or self help groups cults). I would think that most teenagers would jump at the chance of becoming essentially omnipotent for any amount of time, let alone the length of a good lucid dream (I'm in the age group, and I know I do!). Good luck!

[Citizen]

Yeah watch out for crazy parents lol or any parents for that matter... people just don't seem to take well to talking about dreams...

[Wavefunction]

I would think that most teenagers would jump at the chance of becoming essentially omnipotent for any amount of time, let alone the length of a good lucid dream (I'm in the age group, and I know I do!). That would be a great way to start the whole unit. "How would you like to have total control over the world for 5-20 minutes?" You'd sound like an idiot if you said no

[anthrax]

A lot of the kids will not take it seriously, and a lot of the kids just wont be persistent enough or intelligent enough to master it.

[Sleep Surfer]

Yeah watch out for crazy parents lol or any parents for that matter... people just don't seem to take well to talking about dreams... What Citizen said. How do you plan to broach the subject? Straight into LDing or are they working on something simple like Dream Journals to begin with?

[Wavefunction]

What Citizen said. How do you plan to broach the subject? Straight into LDing or are they working on something simple like Dream Journals to begin with? Yeah, walking in and saying "Our new topic is LDing, where you become aware that you're dreaming" in the beginning of an art class...

[Citizen]

Becoming lucid IS an art form, though. We are all artists

[Citizen]

I have yet to paint a picture though lol

[Wavefunction]

congrats to Citizen on 200 posts It is an art form, correct. I stand corrected

[xdtimoxd]

A lot of the kids will not take it seriously, and a lot of the kids just wont be persistent enough or intelligent enough to master it. i am 14 and i understand it. it prove that i am INTELLIGENT!!!

[Jansch]

Yeah watch out for crazy parents lol or any parents for that matter... people just don't seem to take well to talking about dreams... I think, it depends on where you live. I know many people which talk about dreams. Sure I also know many people which don't care, but no one thinking that anything would be wrong with talking about it. I actually got into reading about dreams because people kept talking about it in the first place.

[horsebucket]

Its weird loads of people here read about lucid dreams and learned the techniques before they ever had one. I've been realizing im dreaming in dreams since I was about 7 and still do to this day and I never once learned any techniques to do it. Might be just because I have naturally weird dreams about all sorts of crazy shit. Dreams that always make me lucid are ones where I'm getting attacked by dogs or wild animals. Whenever I get bitten by a dog in a dream it doesn't hurt half as much as it should so I realize its a dream. 1 reoccuring dream I had for about 2 months was I was on my way to school and I was getting chased by a T-rex so I hid in the video shop and when i thought of the fact t-rexes are extinct I became lucid. Dreams where I get shot or stabbed and don't die I realize its a dream. A few weeks ago I was dreaming I was crossing this bridge that was on water level of some pond in the jungle and a bunch of alligators started swimming towards me. I turned around but I had big flippers on for some reason and they got stuck in the bridge. At some point when I was getting my leg chewed off by an alligator I realized it was a dream. The fucked up thing is by examining dreams I've came to the conclusion they're no less real than the world I wake up in every morning. It seems dead real and serious until you realize its a dream. You can wake up from this world just like you do from a dream by smoking a big hit of salvia or DMT. Last night I was half lucid in a dream where I was in the film police academy and we were on a golf course and I half knew it was a dream so I pulled out my gun and started unloading clips on all the people playing golf. I thought it was hilarious but the golfers werent laughing. At one point I shot an old lady in the leg and I was laughing my ass off but my conscience got the better of me and I started feeling bad about it. Then the seargent came up and fired me.

[Oneiro]

Rie1960.. just read the previous post carefully to realise what you may be unleashing on your unsuspecting students.. ..and anyway.. how is LDing going to improve their artistic standards? What are your plans for that?

[Rie1960]

Well, I can tell you that most (although not all like the young person who replied here)cannot handle the simplest task where they are asked to imagine something original on their own....example: one of my pre instruction drawing topics is "draw a person from memory". You have no idea how many times I've had to say "no. Bart Simpson is not a REAL person".Many of these kids don't have memories of real life events- but they can tell you every second of their last session playing doom- its very sad. I'm hoping that by teaching them how to recall their dreams in more detail, I may be able to lead them to a place where everything in their lives doesnt revolve around a remote or a controller. Im betting anyone here over say 35 has very vivid memories of that bike they had- or playing kick the can- or being able to be outside, down the street and away from Moms eyesight until well after dark-unfortunately, we can't really do that anymore. So if they can't have the freedom while awake- maybe they can learn to have it while asleep? p.s. Im in Cali--more than our share of nuts...but probably would be more accepted than say in alabama.... thanks for all the great replies- what a community you have here

[pj]

Hey - a thought here from a parent of kids in the age range you teach. I'm a lucid dreamer, and have no issues at all with my kids lucid dreaming, which they really don't have an interest in anyway. If one of their teachers wanted to teach them about it, however, I would expect (demand!) to be notified in advance and to have an idea of what techniques you would be using to teach them. The reason for this is I am very wary of anything spiritual creeping into this. Lucid Dreaming has quite a history in mysticism and religion... and the last thing I want you or any other teacher doing is taking one of my kids and introducing them to a "dream guide" or some such thing. The point is that the teaching of borderline (or not so borderline) spiritual matters is not going to sit well with a lot of parents unless an understanding is reached with them first. And with as esoteric and misunderstood a practice as Lucid Dreaming, I think you are asking for BIG trouble unless you handle it very cautiously and respectfully.

[Oneiro]

Rie1960.. I just think that if you teach a bunch of kids LDing, you're gonna get an horrendous mish-mash of kids using it to fulfil their immature fantasies of murder and mayhem a la video gaming. Witness this forum as evidence for that. Headless chickens with no guidance.

[27]

I wouldn't spend alot of time teaching it. Just introduce it as something that can help to give you inspiration.