If we cannot carry our practice into sleep, if we lose ourselves every night, what chance do we have to be aware when death comes? Look to your experience in dreams to know how you will fare in death. Look to your experience of sleep to discover whether or not you are truly awake.
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in his book, “The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep”
Lucid dreaming is the doorway to a more profound affirmation that the body and soul are definitely two different entities merged into one. This is one among the first steps to understand and confirm that it is possible to separate these entities at will and use this process to achieve enlightenment. Here are a few things that you should know about lucid dreaming, but probably do not.
Lucid dreaming Is Not A Rare or Unknown Occurence
Children seem to have a natural ability to control their dreams. According to an often quoted study by Snyder and Gackenback, 1 in 5 people experience lucid dreaming every month or more often. Why children? It is because children are more prone to nightmares and when do have nightmares, their brain experiences intense emotions, which in turn awakes them in their dream. The child, who then realizes while he is still asleep that what he is experiencing is just a nightmare, uses his mind to induce a more pleasant turn to his dream. This very soon becomes a regular practice, and the child will be able to control his dreams effortlessly and naturally.
Meditation Is An Excellent Link To Lucid Dreaming
Science has long since dissected and analyzed meditation. There have been pioneering studies on Dalai Lama and Tibetan monks conducted by Dr Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) that have showed beyond doubt that the brain changes during meditation to project electromagnetic waves associated with perception, awareness and consciousness. This answers to the question on why people who are adept at meditation can experience lucid dreaming easily and vice-versa.
Lucid Dreaming Can Be And Is Used As A Tool Towards Enlightenment
Tibetan monks practice dream yoga, which is the original form of lucid dreaming. This is a practice that is more than 1000 years old. Tibetan Buddhism uses lucid dreams as a gateway to the ultimate goal – enlightenment. The process here involves apprehending the dream and dissolving it completely to achieve a most pure state of consciousness that leads to enlightenment.
The Concept of Lucid Dreaming Could Have Been Practices in Egypt
While lucid dreaming is well documented among the Tibetan Bon Buddhists, the earliest records point to the fact that the Egyptians were aware and practiced the concept as well. In his book, “Temple of the Cosmos – The Ancient Egyptian Experience of the Sacred” author Jeremy Naydler points to the fact the Egyptians referred to three entities that formed the body – Ba the Soul, Shat the dead body, and Ka the living body. When picturizing Ba, the Egyptians drawing show it as a bird with the head of a human hovering above the sleeping body. This shows the body in another form – just as your soul fleets out from the body in OBE.
Lucid Dreaming Allow For Communication Outside Dreams
During lucid dreams, the body is completely paralyzed (a phase of sleep during REM) for which it was difficult initially to gather proof about the ability of the person who experiences a lucid dream to communicate with the world outside. Keith Hearne, a British psychologist was the first scientist who worked out a method to provide that this is possible. He and his colleague Alan Worsley worked out a method whereby they could communicate with one another through eye movements – which is one part of the body not paralyzed during REM. This proved beyond doubt that a lucid dreamer can communicate during the dream with the outside world.
