Lucid dreaming is dreams in which a person is conscious that they are dreaming. In various studies, dreams are categorized with different evaluations such as their purpose, origin, and nature.
Lucid dreams are dreams in which the person is aware that they are dreaming. As in other dreams, what is experienced in a lucid dream is perceived as real by the seer. Lucid dreaming has been scientifically researched and authenticated. While lucid dreams can occur spontaneously, it is known that people who have been trained in this can see voluntarily or turn their dreams into lucid dreams.
A lucid dream is a type of dream in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming while dreaming. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of control over the dream characters, narrative, or environment. Lucid dreaming has been studied and reported for many years. Prominent figures from ancient to modern times have been fascinated by lucid dreams and have sought ways to better understand their causes and purpose.
The first systematic research on dream reporting and lucid dreams was made by Prof. It was made by the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys in 1867. However, the term lucid dream was first used by the Danish psychiatrist Williams van Eeden in 1913 when he was describing his dream as follows: “In these lucid dreams, the sleeping individual remembers his daily life and his situation and reaches an excellent level of awareness (wakefulness). He can direct his attention to the direction he wants, and attempt different behaviors of his own will“. In the 1980s, Stephen LaBerge and his colleagues built a scientifically controlled system and determined from the outside whether trained subjects entered lucidity in their dreams by watching eye movements during sleep. LaBerge's technique later allowed simultaneous EEG recordings of subjects experiencing lucid dreaming.
The term lucid dream was coined by Dutch author and psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in his 1913 article A Study of Dreams, though descriptions of dreamers being aware that they are dreaming predate the article. Van Eeden studied his own dreams between January 20, 1898, and December 26, 1912, recording the ones he deemed most important in a dream diary. 352 of these dreams are categorized as lucid.
The most comprehensive description of lucid dreams was made by Paul Tholey in 1985. According to Tholey, if a person experiences the following 7 conditions while dreaming, that person is lucid dreaming.
Having full awareness of dreaming
Having the opportunity to make free decisions,
Being conscious,
perception of all senses,
Having a memory of wakefulness,
Having a memory of lucid dreaming experience in wakefulness and dream states,
Be aware of the meanings of symbols.
Some or all of the above-mentioned factors do not occur in normal dream situations. In a normal dream, the dreamer is under the influence and direction of the dream scenario. Therefore, the state of consciousness is only to the extent permitted by the scenario. In the lucid dream, the dreamer is the ruler and founder of the scenario himself.
Lucid dreamers report that they dominate all their cognitive abilities during the dream. They stated that they could reason clearly, remember situations in normal life in dreams and act voluntarily or act on the plans they made before going to sleep.
There is evidence of the use of lucid dreams in Tibetan Buddhism, Sufism, and Indian Yoga. The dream yogis of Tibet defined dreams for the first time as the mental creation of the dreamer. In all ancient traditions, dreams are associated with divine inspiration. For them, lucid dreams offered an important opportunity to experience and comprehend the unique nature of dream experiences and thus the waking state. This point of view, which reflects almost all traditions, seems to have differentiated from Freud in the 20th century. Freud reported that dreams are directed by the subconscious and stated that dreams or psychological insight of the person affect his daily life.
One of the interesting features of lucid dreaming is that it can be learned through education. While 5% of the untrained normal population have lucid dreams once a week, 30% have a few lucid dreams per year, and 50% of the population do not experience lucid dreaming at all. To overcome these low rates, some techniques have been developed.
According to the cognitive technique developed by LaBerge, the subject rehearses before falling asleep, rehearsing the lucid dream several times. The subject thus conditions himself in a way to remember that he is dreaming when he dreams. In another technique called the "dream/reality test", the person regularly asks himself/herself during the day if he/she is dreaming. Thus, he finds the opportunity to evaluate possible conflicts around him. Making this evaluation in the dream facilitates the transition to lucid dreams.
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https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-lucid-dreaming-and-how-to-do-it/