This blog I want to talk about a few things, the origin of dreams, the levels of lucidity, preparing for lucidity and a certain sleep rhythm. Lucid dreaming might come easier after this. It will certainly help.

Origin of dreams

Why do we dream? It is a question not really answered, there are certain ideas about why we dream but it will always stay a little mysterious. We all know Sigmund Freud, he also had interesting ideas about the consciousness, and dreaming. He saw dreaming as a “royal road to the unconscious.” In the modern world dreaming isn’t seen as complicated. Nevertheless, we are coming closer to understanding dreams. A lot of people might say that dreams are a outlet for your desires. Freud also said that. Freud also claimed that you are almost totally controlled by your unconscious sexual desire. Freud made a division of the human soul/psyche. The Id, the ego and the super-ego.

• The Id

The Id is a sense of mind that we have since our birth. The Id follows the pleasure principle, this tells us to satisfy just ourselves. The Id also follows the instincts and ignores further consequences.

• The Ego

The Ego is created when you are a toddler, this is based on the reality principle. This means that acting impulsively and ignoring consequences hurts other people. The reality principle tries to satisfy the Id without conflicting the rules of the Ego.

• The Super-ego

The super-ego is the moral brain. The difference between good and bad, right and wrong. The super-ego doesn’t makes any choices, the ego does that. The ego tries to satisfy the Id, without conflicting with the Ego. The Ego is based on the super-ego, so if you think that everything bad is good, your ego will make a “wrong” choice.
Freud said that dreams are there to work as a outlet for the Ego and super-ego. That dreams are a way to express our unconscious emotions coming from the Id. So Freud said that we dream to protect our sleep.
Many other dream theories have come and gone, a lot based on the idea of Freud. But there is no definite answer. It certainly is worth the effort to remember them, especially when you want to become a lucid dreamer.

Levels of lucidity

Beginners often question whether they became lucid or not. This is because they couldn’t control their dream. This is because there are several levels of lucidity.

• Non-lucid dreams

This are the dreams as we know them, the ones that happen all the time, if you want it or not. You don’t realize anything and they are entirely created by the unconscious.

• Semi-lucid dreams

This are dreams with realization, you know you are dreaming, your consciousness is inside the dream. This lucid dream is called semi-lucid because you can’t control your dream, the realization is there but you can’t control anything, sometimes you can’t even control your own step. I experienced a lot of semi-lucid dreams. They can be quite frustrating.

• Fully lucid dreams

This is the fully lucid dream, the dream with realization and the dream control, the lucid dream that we all desire to have consistently. The dream that we are aiming for on this site, we practice them a lot and this is because they are worth the effort. Having only one border and that is your fantasy. The beauties of lucid dreaming almost can’t be comprehended.

• Highest level of lucidity

This is a level that in the ancient Buddhism has been sought. The dream yoga focuses on this particular concept. The idea of a higher Self. The full consciousness. Being fully aware of everything. This also means uninterrupted lucidity. Falling asleep aware and waking up aware, with the ability to stop this. Setting their own borders in the whole sleeping process. A very interesting goal.

Quick relaxation

Falling asleep without being relaxed can be really bothersome. Imagine trying to WILD while being tensed. Almost impossible. This is why relaxation techniques are thought up. Now studies have shown that 90% of the body tension are in 10% of the muscles. If you can tackle this certain areas, relaxation can be much easier. The most important part of this tension lays in the jaws. Jaws are immensely strong. The strongest muscle in the body. They are most of the time tensed. Some people don’t consciously think about relaxing their jaws and this might result in:

• Headaches
• Tooth aches
• Earaches
• Dizziness

So to relax your jaws you can massage your jaws. The closest part of the jaw to the ear can be massaged the best. Do this for a while. Then you can squeeze your palms to your jaws, push them firmly. You can also stretch your jaws. This is very strange. Try to take off all the tension of your jaws. Then try to pull your jaws open with your fingers. You will probably feel a lot of resistance. This shows how much tension the jaws have.
This is are the most important jaw relaxation techniques. The body tensing techniques can also be used when laying in bed, but make sure to relax your jaws. You will probably never succeed a 100% but you should try to relax as much as possible. Wearing socks also makes it possible to relax better. Your feet always have a lot colder temperature than the rest of your body. Wearing socks makes it possible to stop this change in temperature.

The Cycle Adjustment Technique

This technique is making a change in your sleep rhythm. I will call it CAT for now. This is an technique made by Daniel Love. It is a variation on the WBTB technique. It’s a very handy technique that involves some very easy concepts. For one week, you have to set your alarm clock 90 minutes earlier than your normal waking time. As you might have noticed, 90 minutes is also one REM cycle. You have to do this for one week long. On the 8th day you have to make a change in your alarm clock system. You have to put your alarm on normal, the day afterwards 90 minutes earlier. So it should go like: normal, early, normal, early and so on. When you are on your “normal” day, set your intentions at waking up 90 minutes earlier. Even while you know that you wake up on a normal time, you have to prepare for a early start. On this normal days, your mind will prepare for a early start, so on this moment, your mind will be stimulated to become conscious at this early time. You are likely to become conscious in the dream you are in at this particular moment. You are very likely to become lucid in this time after. The hardest part is to wake up 90 minutes earlier. But this won’t be a problem for a motivated lucid dreamer!

Now you know a lot more about the whole dreaming idea, the levels of lucidity, relaxation, and a variant of WBTB. The lucid dreaming might come easier for you. It will certainly help won’t it?

Good luck!