Lucid dreaming through the history
Even though it has only come to the attention of the general
public in the last few decades, lucid dreaming is not a modern
discovery. Lucid dreaming is the western term used to denote a
practice similar to Yoga
nidra. The distinguishing difference is the degree to which one
remains cognizant of the actual physical environment as opposed to a
dream environment. In lucid dreaming, we are only (or mainly)
cognizant of the dream environment, and have little or no awareness
of our actual environment. The concept of Yoga nidra is very ancient
in Indian traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Krishna
is often associated with Yoga nidra in epic Mahabharata.
Similarly, many yogis and rishis are supposed to have experienced
Yoga nidra throughout their life. In modern times, Yoga nidra was
experienced by Swami
Satyananda Saraswati[citation
needed] when he was living with his guru Swami
Sivananda in Rishikesh. He began studying the tantric scriptures
and, after practice, constructed a system of relaxation, which he
began popularizing in the mid 20th century. He explained yoga nidra
as a state of mind between wakefulness and sleep that opened deep
phases of the mind, suggesting a connection with the ancient tantric
practice called nyasa, whereby Sanskrit
mantras are
mentally placed within specific body parts, while meditating on each
part (of the bodymind).
The form of practice taught by Swami Satyananda includes eight stages
(Internalisation, Sankalpa, Rotation of Consciousness, Breath
Awareness, Manifestation of Opposites, Creative Visualization,
Sankalpa and Externalisation).
Also, in early Buddhism
it was a common practice among people in the monastic community. As
preserved in the ancient Sarvastivada
school's Sutra on Mindfulness
of the Body in the Madhayama agama (equivalent of Pali Kayagatasati)
it states that monks and nuns under practice should be 'Understanding
(having awareness in) the four postures and states of being asleep or
awake'. Documented since the 8th century, Tibetan
Buddhists and Bonpo
were practicing a form of dream
yoga held to maintain full waking consciousness while in the
dream state. One important message of the book is the distinction
between the Dzogchen
meditation of awareness and dream yoga. The Dzogchen
awareness meditation has also been referred to by the terms
rigpa awareness, contemplation, and presence.
Awareness during the sleep and dream states is associated with
the Dzogchen practice of natural light. This practice only
achieves lucid dreams as a secondary effect—in contrast to dream
yoga, which aims primarily at lucid dreaming. According to Buddhist
teachers, the experience of lucidity helps us understand the
unreality of phenomena, which would otherwise be overwhelming during
dream or the death experience.
In Western culture, the phenomenon had been referred to by Greek
philosopher Aristotle
who had written: "often when one is asleep, there is something
in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but
a dream". Also in a letter written by St.
Augustine of Hippo in 415 AD about a story of a dreamer, Doctor
Gennadius, refers to lucid dreaming. The dreamer reported that he
didn't realize he was in the dream world but the man whom he met in
his dream reminded him about this and pointed out that his experience
was a proof of life after death.
An early recorded lucid dreamer was the philosopher and physician
Sir Thomas
Browne (1605–1682). Browne was fascinated by the world of
dreams and described his own ability to lucid dream in his Religio
Medici: "...yet in one dream I can compose a whole
Comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests and laugh my self
awake at the conceits thereof". Similarly, Samuel
Pepys in his diary entry for 15
August 1665 records a dream "that I had my Lady Castlemayne
in my arms and was admitted to use all the dalliance I desired with
her, and then dreamt that this could not be awake, but that it was
only a dream". Marquis
d'Hervey de Saint-Denys argued that it is possible for anyone to
learn to dream consciously. In 1867, he published his book Les
Rêves et les moyens de les diriger; observations pratiques
("Dreams and How to Guide them; Practical Observations"),
in which he documented more than twenty years of his own research
into dreams.
The term lucid dreaming was coined by Dutch
author and psychiatrist
Frederik
van Eeden in his 1913 article "A Study of Dreams".
This paper was highly anecdotal and not embraced by the scientific
community. Some consider this a misnomer because it means much more
than just "clear or vivid" dreaming. The alternative term
conscious dreaming avoids this confusion. However, the term
lucid was used by van Eeden in its sense of "having
insight", as in the phrase a lucid interval applied to
someone in temporary remission from a psychosis,
rather than as a reference to the perceptual quality of the
experience, which may or may not be clear and vivid.
In the 1950s, the Senoi
hunter-gatherers of Malaysia
were reported to make extensive use of lucid dreaming to ensure
mental health, although later studies refuted these claims.
A 2012 report by the BBC
claimed that "interest in lucid dreaming has grown in recent
years", and corroborated this with examples of the many
smartphone apps
that exist to help people experience the phenomenon. One such app was
downloaded half a million times in six weeks, the report says.