Meaning of a Dream

Sam dream blog: you said that Drybar seeds were planted when you were about six years old. How is it important to pay attention to the passions that you had when you were a kid in terms of continuation of a business idea?

Alli Webb: I have always believed that everything happens for a reason - the good and the bad. When I think back to be a little girl, I remember very clearly how strongly I felt on my hair looking for a way (smooth and straight). My hair curly, kinky was a major obstacle in my quest to research perfectly implemented. I could never have imagined that my obsession with hair would turn into a career, but I guess you could say that was the case.

You hear people say 'it is not working if you like what you're doing."  I saw proof. I feel incredibly lucky to have finally, after trying on many careers, discovered-or rather uncovered-what I had to do.

I warmly encourage my children and all who would listen, to absolutely follow your passion, but be prepared to take the long way to get there.

SDB: how much you need to understand before starting a business? How do you avoid being overwhelmed by the thousands of details and blind spots?

Alli Webb: I'm not sure that you can avoid being overwhelmed by thousands and thousands of details that come headlights at you when you start a new business. For me, it was important to be open to surrounding me with people who knew more than me. For example, my business partners, who happen to be my brother, Michael (Director-general) and husband, Cameron (Creative Director), have very different skills. I firmly believe that Drybar is not close to what it is today without their incredible talent and spirit.

Together, we found as much as we could before we opened our doors in 2010, but there are certainly errors, the blind spots, and many educational activities. To date, we are still learning more on how to make our best.

Never stop to ask the difficult questions, and always be willing listen to people around you, clients, friends, employees.

SDB: How do you know if something is a solid business idea or just wishful thinking?

Alli Webb:This is a great question. For Drybar, I knew that tons of women who, like me, have struggled with their hair and the price that you would have to pay to get a rash in most salons. I spent much time to anyone who wanted to listen to him talk about my idea, and comments have been extremely positive. There really is key to identify your target audience and ensure that the need for your company on a scale large enough to sustain the business for the long term. Then, the execution is the next hurdle... Be prepared to work tirelessly to really feed your idea.

Click here to find the location near Drybar and check back for the next Sam dream Blog post in two weeks on Tue., Oct. 1

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One of the 100 most creative Fast Company business in 2013, Dr. Ivan Poupyrev leads a group of interaction to find new ideas and concepts at Disney Research Pittsburgh. This research target interface design and interactive technologies.

Sam dream blog: how important is an attitude of hope for the process of the dream? How do you remain optimistic, especially since you're dealing with trial and error?

Dr. Ivan Poupyrev: always be patient with yourself, just like you (or should be) be patient with a small child trying to make the first step. More often than not, the success is simply a function of time, and almost everything can be done and accomplished, taking into account the time needed.

SDB: How do I know whether to continue or try something else?

Dr. Ivan Poupyrev: well, I actually never renounce what whatsoever. I just decide to do that later when I have more time. I have a giant log of things that I'll get back a day and finish. And sometimes I do go back to things and finish them when the time comes.

Thanks for reading the Blog of dream of Sam! Don't miss the next interview on Tuesday, October 15!  Learn more about Dr. Ivan Poupyrev here

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John Arrow is the CEO of mutual Mobile. Based in Austin, Texas, mutual Mobile creates mobile solutions for the brands Audi, Google, Xerox and Citi, among other clients. This week on the Blog of dream of Sam, arrow hand on start-up, by rotating your first profit and focusing on the present.

Sam dream blog: you wrote an eBook of 14 years. How important do you think it is for children or adolescents to reach into the technology from the beginning?

Arrow John:What is so amazing is, you walk into a coffee shop or an airport, and you see these little children using iPads, which is crazy to think. There are children starting today with the technology when they are literally one or two. Before you can speak or walk, they use the paradigm next technology. An early start on the means that the technology almost becomes an extension of yourself.

If you are familiar with Malcolm Gladwell and the rule of outlier of 10,000 hours, it is something that we certainly share. If you can get those 10,000 hours before you are 20, it certainly makes a huge difference if you want to make a career out of it.

SDB: When you thought turning your first profit, you focused on the contribution of $1, then $10. What is it you that allows you to be patient, instead of thinking, I have to do a whole bunch of money immediately?

SDB: Is the key to this approach to have a good test group?

Arrow John: I'd say the best way is following the scientific method. You could have a strong intuition that there is something, that there's a good chance of success, but you don't know yet. How can you make a hypothesis that can be quickly proven or permanent? How it is reduced and test it? Many times, you can do so simply by buying a few Google AdWords or some Facebook ads and see if your offer is compelling enough to get people to click on it. If this is the case, it is probably something out there. Why don't you try taking a few steps more away? You can perform the following steps which will help you to avoid making any large capital investment from the start. I'm really optimistic about people testing something for almost for free and then find how resize it.

SDB: Gaining difficult credibility from the beginning?

Arrow John: From the point of view of the new undertaking, I do not think it should be. As long as you sell not the bids of 10 million $ on the first day and you do more stepping stones, credibility is not a problem. If you look at mutual Mobile, we have worked with progressively larger and larger companies, and we have solved projects more complex and more difficult. There no need to be an objective to work with a company of the Fortune 100 on the first day. It should be a goal to say, 'how can I prove the model? "How can I deliver value to a customer from the beginning?" If you do this, it is only a small leap of faith to work with a bigger business on a more complex question. Fortunately, there are clients that exist at all stages. This means that you should not have a credibility problem if you can understand the appropriate starting point.

SDB: I read on your sailboat called the present Moment. How did you learn to balance your stay this vs thinking ahead?

Arrow John: [Recently], we had this horrible storm here in Austin. On the Lake, the wind hit particularly hard Marina. Half a dozen sailing ships sank, including the present moment. I think that the issue is still a very good question. I think [remain present] is the only way to operate and be happy. You cannot rely on being happy at a later date. It is just a mirage. It is good to have goals, but if you're waiting on these external objectives to determine your happiness, you lose your days now. It is extremely important to enjoy the journey.

Especially with a new company, when you spend 10 to 15 hours a day of work, if you are not happy to do that, you lose a huge part of your life and you should probably go do something else. There will be difficult times, but you should be able to by those. If you are really unhappy to do something, go find another this time.

Learn more about John Arrow and learn that mutual Mobile can do for your business

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Characteristics of this week dream Blog Sam Sophie Buhai, one-half of the vena design team (Lisa Mayock is the other half.) Vena Cava creates so-called "future heirlooms," clothes that can be transmitted through family and friends. Julien was featured on the list "The 100 most Creative People in Business" Fast Company, and the brand has been nominated twice for a Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund Award.

Sam dream blog: How can I find his personal style and authentic its self?

Sophie Buhai: I think that your style must match your daily life or interests. The best style I've seen on people usually just years to define what they feel most comfortable in. I'm a fan of wearing things that have stories behind them hand me-samples, carried out on a grand-parent, or treasures found during a trip. But, my father wears Costco from head to foot, and it looks great, so I do not think you need to spend much money or care about brands.

Bathroom: Fast Company had this to say about you and your co-founder: spiritual personal touch with fans has also stimulated the growth of the vena cava.
How is someone actually puts his distinct personality into a brand?

Sophie Buhai: I think that you need to stay true to who you are and know your customer. You cannot design for someone you don't know. Lisa and I create for our friends and our peer group. It is easy to keep personal things when you have the client. We just have fun, never taking us himself too seriously on fashion.

SDB: How did you decide who to include and exclude in your market target?

Sophie Buhai: we don't want to exclude anyone! We went upwards to a size 16, men dressed in 80 years and same. All those who appreciate our clothes should carry. We accept all!

Learn more about Sophie and the mark of the superior vena cava

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The NovaDreamer is probably the most famous of all lucid dream machines, namely because it was created by Dr Stephen LaBerge and his team at The Lucidity Institute.

The original mask was discontinued in 2004, and is only available now second-hand (eg, eBay). The new model, The NovaDreamer II, is long overdue for release. (Update May 2012 from TLI: "After 5 years of testing, we are ready to release the NovaDreamer to the world. Stay tuned.")

The NovaDreamer lucid dream mask works by detecting Rapid Eye Movement (REM) while you are asleep and dreaming. The mask then flashes a series of lights through your closed eyelids; a stimulus which becomes incorporated into your dream.

You may see an ambulance appear with red flashing lights, or your whole dreamscape lights up inexplicably. One customer said: "I see a beautiful pattern of gold and yellow diamonds that fills my field of vision..." This is your cue to recognize that you are dreaming and become lucid.

This method works well when you are comfortable with reality checks, stimulating your conscious brain in the dream and giving you a clear signal that something is amiss. Therefore, lucid dream masks like the NovaDreamer offer an artificial lucidity trigger to increase your chance of having lucid dreams.

Having founded The Lucidity Institute, Dr Stephen LaBerge decided to create a machine that could induce lucid dreams on demand. First he launched the DreamLight and DreamLink. These were the first lucid dreaming masks on the market and sold for over US $1,000 because of their cutting-edge technology.

The machines were refined over the years and in 1993, LaBerge and his team released The NovaDreamer. The mask was eventually discontinued in 2004. However, you can still obtain a second-hand one at eBay for between US $300 and US $600, which is in line with the original retail price.

Fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of the next generation - The NovaDreamer II - for several years. It underwent beta testing in 2008 but there have been no further announcements since then. A number of competing masks have been released onto the market in recent years, such as The REM Dreamer, DreamMaker and Remee.

There are lots of gadgets that promise to induce altered states of consciousness, and not all have genuinely good success rates. Of all the lucid dream machines on the market, the NovaDreamer is probably the most reputable. Full marks there.

The instructions are easy to follow. You can set the brightness and duration of the flashing lights, as well as a time delay to give you a chance to get to sleep without being interrupted. The display also tells you how many light cues were given during the night - that is, how many chances you had to lucid dream.

The mask itself is reasonably comfortable once you adjust the straps to fit your head. The best position to lie is on your back, so the mask stays in place. You can lie on your side, although sometimes this moves the mask out of place and causes false positives. This is when the lights flash but you are not dreaming, which can waste battery power and even wake you up. I'm afraid that if you are a regular belly sleeper, you have little chance of success.

As with many lucid dream masks, some people report tearing it off in the middle of the night, just to sleep undisturbed by the weight of the mask. But usually the desire to have lucid dreams is enough motivation to stick with it - at least during lie-ins and afternoon cat naps (which are ideal times to lucid dream anyway).

The Lucidity Institute states clearly that the NovaDreamer does not guarantee lucid dreams - and you do need to pitch in your own effort relating to reality checks. This is what enables you to take action when you see the flashing lights in a dream. So I'd say the success rate of the NovaDreamer is dramatically increased if you follow the instructions on reality checking.

Occasionally, the flashing lights of the NovaDreamer can ruin a lucid dream in progress. Faced with the distraction of the bright lights invading your dreamscape, all you can do is sit and wait for it to end. However, at worst this is an annoying side-effect. At best, it can remind you to stay lucid and extend the lucid dream for much longer than normal. To correct this, the NovaDreamer II should feature a two-way feedback function - so you can tell your mask you are lucid by performing a series of pre-set eye movements.

Like any lucid dream mask, the NovaDreamer is very good for detecting false awakenings. When you wake up, take the mask off and press any button. If the mask is unresponsive then you are still dreaming! This is a neat reality check and can help induce one of the most vivid types of lucid dreams possible.

The original version of the NovaDreamer is sometimes available second-hand on eBay. Meanwhile, the new NovaDreamer II has been in testing for five years and has only so far been used for beta testing at The Lucidity Institute's Hawaii lucid dreaming workshops.

A January 2012 update from TLI said they hoped to release the NovaDreamer II as a consumer product soon, but first needed to have the investment and business structure in place to support such a venture, which has been tricky in these economic times. In May 2012, they said an announcement would be made in June.

One thing's for sure: NovaDreamer now has some real competition. Because TLI didn't (or couldn't) patent the original technology, the general concept of infra-red REM detection has now been replicated several times over, as seen with products like the REM Dreamer, DreamMaker and the latest release, Remee.

What's more, multiple lucid dreaming apps are emerging on smart phones which detect dream sleep (perhaps a little crudely) via mattress movement. This offers the major benefit of not needing to wear a circuit board-laden mask to sleep, while still receiving audio cues to help shape your dreams, as with Dream:ON.

However, if you want to hold out for the NovaDreamer II, it is said to have more interactive functions, including real-time response to eye movement signals, plus greater comfort, reliability and performance. Join The Lucidity Institute's mailing list to receive future updates on the NovaDreamer II.

There's no question that your first lucid dream will be the hardest to achieve. But that's not exactly helpful is it - hardest compared to what?

Until you start lucid dreaming, you have zero basis for comparison. And that's why, it seems, a lot of beginners flounder in this realm for a few weeks or months before deciding that lucidity is an impossible dream, and they give up.

I'm writing this article to help you over the brink from vague fuzzy dreams, to the heady world of lucid dreaming. I'm going to give you some specific advice and equip you with some advanced knowledge - so the next time you are on the verge of a lucid dream, you are automatically prepared to jump right in...

First, commit yourself to learning this incredible new skill. You'll be very lucky to start lucid dreaming the first day you hear about it (although it happens, thanks to the subconscious incubation technique). But most people will need to start with some background reading and mentally prepare themselves - this website is a good start. The most popular section of which is lucid dreaming techniques.

To summarize those links in a nutshell, you should be:

Writing at least one regular dream per night in your dream journal Performing at least 10 reality checks throughout the waking day Doing at least 20 minutes of meditation per day

Those are the bare minimum requirements to start lucid dreaming, in my mind. The links above also explain how to perform the famous MILD and WILD techniques, plus how to identify and manipulate your ideal REM periods for lucid dreaming. If you do all that and still don't have your first lucid dream, read on.

Lucid dreams are exceptionally vivid. When someone reports a vague lucid dream, where they sort-of knew they were dreaming, or sort-of had control, it is a form of subconscious lucidity, or semi-lucidity. These types of dreams can be quite disappointing because they undermine the brilliance of true lucid dreaming.

For beginners, we want to artificially stimulate that feeling of lucidity in a subconscious dream; to catch a glimpse of a realistic dream world where you will understand the power of the subconscious mind to create tangible landscapes - where everything you touch is real. The best way to do this is with dream herbs.

My favorite dream herb to date is Calea Zacatechichi. This is safe and natural herb discovered by Mexican shamans to induce vivid and meaningful dreams. These dreams may not be lucid (it takes conscious recognition to realize that you're dreaming) but they are leagues apart from regular dreams.

In my Calea Z dreams, I've lived alien lives that seemed to last for years, and followed complex and dramatic plots involving many characters. The dreams can be completely normal or out-of-this-world... and they are always exceptionally vivid. They may lead you to your first lucid dream; but if they don't, they will certainly give you a taste of what a meaningful dream is like.

Another excellent way to start lucid dreaming if you are on the brink is to increase your consciousness within a regular dream. The most famous method is called reality checking. But there are other ways to increase the clarity and focus of your dream so that is develops into a true lucid dream.

First of all, the opportunity must present itself within a regular dream. If you're reading lots about lucid dreaming during the day (and especially before sleep) then you're already putting your subconscious mind in the optimum state. When you have that vague inkling that you're dreaming, or you begin to will things to happen in the dream (but they just don't work), seize the moment by:

Quickly looking at the palms of your hands and studying the detailRubbing your hands together and feeling the frictionShout out "I'm lucid!" or "Clarity now!" to the dreamscapeSpin around and feel the sensation of movement

There is a method to this madness... Each of these techniques stir the higher conscious brain in one way or another. And that is the switch that will turn your regular-but-vaguely-lucid dream into a vivid lucid dream.

Once you have stabilized yourself within your conscious dream, stay calm and explore your environment. Don't try to do anything too fancy too soon, like teleport to the moon.

Initially just walk or float around, touching nearby objects, and soaking up the atmosphere. Relish the fact that your fuzzy internal dream has just been transformed into a living, tangible reality.

This will help you stay in your first lucid dream for as long as possible. For many people who start lucid dreaming, the early ones only last a few seconds - usually because they get too overwhelmed or excited, and jolt themselves awake. You now have the benefit of knowing that you must consciously make your first lucid dream last longer. Remember this - and build your lucid experience slowly.

For step-by-step tutorials in lucidity, check out The Lucid Dreaming Fast Track, my digital course that shows beginners the fastest way to lucid dreams.

I had a dream that night, for as long as I can remember. I still remember a dream, which took place in 1994. But the biggest dream is unexplained. I dream of the corpses of the ghosts and UFO alien attacks and odd or strange sequences. Why do these happen to me? If you do not have the answer, answer me according to the personal view. Thank You For The.

Rebecca says: Dreams are inspired by the real-life experiences as well as their own cultures and interpretations. Any your idea in real life is renewed, as the case may be, into the dream. Do not be afraid of dreaming about aliens or ghosts-these concepts of waking up to life-even if they are not real, you are still thinking of them before ... you see?

Aliens and strange things can be in there, you can build your own personal dream symbols. So the recurring symbol may relate to one of the concept in your life. The dream of keeping a journal will help you to figure out what it is. This article is my understanding of dream interpretation summed up what dreams mean.

I've been getting pretty good at remembering my dreams. I kept a dream journal for a while and it really helped. In the past month, I've had two semi-lucid dreams. I say semi, because even though I realize I'm dreaming, I'm not totally conscious. This is difficult to explain, but whenever I try to do something in my dream that's against the laws of physics, it usually doesn't work. I also still find myself going along with the dream, and not really even wanting to change it, when I know if I was totally conscious I would.

For example, last night I was having a strange dream, and I became lucid. I wanted to see if I could jump up to a high ledge, so I tried it. I would jump my normal height and then teleport the last few feet. I could tell it wasn't working how I wanted it to, but I couldn't change it.

So my question is how do I retain 100% consciousness during my dreams? I've heard you talk about flying, and I don't think that's possible at the stage I'm at right now. Thanks.

PS - Thanks for the site. It's helped me a ton recently when trying to have lucid dreams.

Rebecca says: If my experience is anything to go by, this is totally normal for a beginner lucid dreamer. My first dozen or so lucid dreams were a mixed bag of excitement (for actually becoming lucid) but also frustration, because I couldn't do all the stuff I wanted to!

Then something amazing happened. I started DEMANDING that my lucid dreams become clearer. As soon as I became lucid, I'd rub my hands together (one of LaBerge's techniques) to engage the conscious brain and then say out loud to the dream "Clarity Now!" This immediately turned up the intensity of my dream, and more importantly, my awareness within it. THIS is what will enable you to fly like superman.

Here's some recommended reading that should help you....

Why do we dream? Ancient civilizations saw dreams as portals for receiving wisdom from the gods. In modern psychology, Sigmund Freud famously theorized that dreams were the "royal road to the unconscious". Modern theories suggest it's not as complicated as that. Are we getting closer to understanding dreams?

Freud - aka the father of dream research - gave psychoanalysis as one explanation for why we dream. But Freud had little understanding of the REM and NREM sleep cycles - and modern day dream research has pointed us to a number of other theories of dreaming. But first, let's start with the original theory of dreaming.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind. The controversial psychoanalyst said that our brain protects us from disturbing thoughts and memories by repressing them. Freud also believed that we are almost entirely driven by unconscious sexual desire.

If you asked Sigmund Freud "why do we dream?" he would say our dreams are a secret outlet for these repressed desires. Freud used dream analysis to interpret the underlying language of dreams - which is very different from normal conscious thinking. I discuss this idea more in dream interpretation.

To support his dream research, Sigmund Freud split the human psyche into three parts: the Id, Ego and Super-Ego.

ID - Newborn babies are born with only an Id. The Id is a sense of mind that causes us to act on impulse: to follow our primary instincts and ignore the consequences. The Id runs on the "pleasure principle" - it doesn't care about anything but its own satisfaction. EGO - As they grow up, toddlers develop an Ego. This is the part of the psyche that allows us to understand that other people have needs, and that acting impulsively can hurt us. This "reality principle" makes sure we meet the needs of the Id without conflicting with the laws of the Ego.SUPER-EGO - By the age of five, we develop the Super-ego. This is our moral brain, that tells us the difference between right and wrong. However it doesn't make special allowances - it is up to the Ego to decide. This concept can be demonstrated with The Iceberg Metaphor...

Just like an iceberg, the conscious mind is only the tip. It is a small part of who we are. There is much more under the surface.

Way down below, we have little or no conscious awareness of the Id, which influences all our decisions.

The Ego is free floating in all three levels - both conscious and unconscious - monitoring our behaviors by day.

Every night when we sleep, we disconnect from our conscious tip of the iceberg. The lights go off and we are protected from external stimuli (like noise, temperature and pain) as well as internal stimuli (like emotions and fears). We do this by creating our own internal worlds - our dreams.

Freud said dreams are a way to express the unconscious emotions arising from the Id - otherwise we would be constantly disturbed by them in our sleep and soon wake up. So why do we dream? To protect our sleep.

Carl Jung (1875-1961) thought he could answer the riddle: why do we dream? Jung was a great follower of Freud and his dream analysis, but he eventually broke away to form very different theories.

"I want to keep my dreams, even bad ones,
because without them, I might have nothing all night long"

Joseph Heller

Jung claimed that the function of dreams is to compensate for parts of the personality that aren't properly developed in real life. However, this conflicts with the fact that our waking life and our dreams show consistent thoughts and behaviors. For instance, if we are aggressive in real life, we will have violent dreams.

John Allan Hobson (born 1933) Hobson emphasizes the role of neurochemicals in the brain and random electrical impulses originating in the brainstem. He does not say that dreams are the random firing of neurons - but rather the brain's cobbled attempt at making sense of them.

He later acknowledged the increased activity of the limbic system (a primeval part of the brain which produces emotions) during REM sleep. This served to give the meaning of dreams an emotional basis, rather than a random neurochemical one.

So, does this provide us with any psychological basis for dream interpretation? Was Sigmund Freud right to suggest that dreams symbolize our repressed fears and desires? Do our dreams contain our darkest secrets just waiting to be unlocked?

Actually, Hobson believes Freud had it wrong. He may even have impeded our scientific understanding of the nature of dreams by propagating such ominous theories. Hobson is all for a psychological meaning to dreams, but just that it needn't be locked away under layers of secretive subconscious meaning.

Instead, Hobson takes a Jungian approach: dreams reveal far more than they hide - and can actually be highly transparent. However, it's difficult to link this conclusion to Hobson's biological explanation for dreaming.

But the theory does make sense. Next time you dream of being chased, isn't it likely that you are - metaphorically - running away from something in real life that's causing you anxiety? And if you dream of being pregnant - for a woman at least - is this a natural expression of your desire to have babies?

With simple interpretive analysis, dreams may not be so mysterious after all.

There are many theories of dreaming - some overlap with others and some are just plain bizarre. Dream research has given us these core theories:

In 1977, Hobson & McCarley put forward some dream research that would seriously challenge Freud's dream understanding. They said that dreaming is the result of random impulses coming from the brain stem.

Using an EEG machine, the researchers were able to track the regular REM states of people during sleep. They used this data to form a predictable mathematical model and conclude that dreaming is a freak physiological (bodily) occurrence - rather than a psychological function.

According to them, the fact that we see images and hear sounds in our dreams is simply the brain's way of understanding noisy electrical signals. They said that dreams are random and meaningless.

However, many scientists point out that dreams often do make sense. In fact, they can follow very intricate plots, however illogical. This suggests that our higher brain is playing a role. Hobson's theory (above) attempts to reconcile this by having a neurochemcial and an emotional basis for dreaming.

We may dream to de-clutter our brains. Every day we are bombarded with new information, both consciously (eg learning) and unconsciously (eg advertising).

This modern dream theory suggests dreaming is a way to file away key information and discard meaningless data. It helps keep our brains organized and optimizes our learning. This theory hasn't been proven by dream research. If it were 100% correct, our entire day would be replayed to us during our REM sleep!

Critics of this theory also point out that our brains are not the same as computers, and to draw a comparison to filing, processing and storage space is likely to be inaccurate. They also point out that although some of our dreams relate back to the waking day (Freud called this day residue), the majority of our dreams are not about real events.

A number of researchers think that dreams are for problem solving.

One scientist in particular, named Fiss, claimed that our dreams help us to register very subtle hints that go unnoticed during the day. This explains why "sleeping on it" can provide a solution to a problem.

Unfortunately, there are also arguments against this theory of dreaming. For a start, most people only remember a very small number of their dreams. So if our dreams contain important answers - why don't we remember them better?

Dreams may be a way of coping with trauma. Based on the intensity of our emotions, we will generate dreams to cope with certain situations.

For instance, if you escape from a house fire and the experience shakes you up, chances are you will dream about it that night. The more traumatic the event, the more emotions are felt, and the more important it is to get over it. Dreaming about the fire will help you come to terms with what happened and prepare you for it ever happening again.

Of course, this doesn't explain why we dream of fantastic or mundane things - only that nightmares can be a kind of rehearsal for trauma.

Here are some more examples of how humans interpret dreams in different cultures around the world:

Shamans use dreams to diagnose illness. It is thought that the subconscious brain has an awareness of malfunctions in the body long before the conscious brain. In this sense, shamans are psychoanalysts, much like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. The ancient Egyptians used dreams to make predictions about the future. They thought dreams were messages from the gods, which contained vital wisdom and prophecies. Similarly, people in the Western world in the 1900s used dreams to find game, predict the weather, and tell the future.

Dream research offers many theories - but still no definitive answer to the question: why do we dream? Scientists generally seem to agree that dreaming is a form of thinking during sleep, even that is the knock-on result of random electrical impulses.

Dreams contain at least some psychological meaning, but this doesn't necessarily prove a purpose, such as problem solving. Overall, our understanding of dreams is still quite vague.

In a way, Freud gave dreams an unfortunate legacy. He taught us to associate them with psychological problems and anxieties. But in reality, most of our dreams are healthy and engaging - aren't they?

Dreams are a mixed bag. The truth is, science still doesn't have a definitive answer to the question: why do we dream? Most dream research shows that it is worthwhile to remember your dreams - at least, until we figure out what they are for! And if you plan to have lucid dreams, your dream recall is vital...

What happens when a dream is out of body experience? Did you really have it?

Rebecca says: According to people, who often feel out of body phenomena are the telltale signs of OBE from the dream:

Were you lucid when it started? Did you feel the awareness of the transition out of the body? Vision changes, when you were out of your body? With the help of the environment, real or dreamy?

Once asleep, lying on the living room sofa and suddenly floated out of the body. I thought it was out of body experience. But then, I concluded that my friend was standing in the room-that he is sure is a reality. So it occurred to me that dream became clear and actual just about anything paranormal.

Some people believe that all dreams are really a theoretical dimension which the Astral realm, OBEs, in the physical realm. Erin Pavlina gave a particularly good explanation theory of Lucid Dreaming in an interview.

The scientific aspect of the contest that OBEs and astral projection experiences are really different kinds of lucid dreams, so please keep this in mind too when you familiarize yourself with the out of the body. See if you can find ways to strengthen the experience, if it really happens in the physical world.

The REM Dreamer is Europe's answer to the NovaDreamer. It is similar in design and function, and costs much less at the REM Dreamer website. Like most lucid dreaming devices, it uses infra-red sensors to detect when you are in REM sleep. It then produces sound and light cues which are incorporated into your dream and help you become lucid.

You may interpret these dream signs as sunlight, camera flashes, car headlights or many other types of stimulus. It is your job to recognize the flashing lights as a dream sign and become consciously lucid via a pre-determined reality check.

An intelligent feature of the REM Dreamer is Two Way Communication (TWC) between the device and the dreamer.

Sleep experiments show that during REM sleep, dreamers move their eyes in the same direction as they do in their dreams. In fact, it was Dr Stephen LaBerge who famously did this to scientifically prove lucid dreaming in the 1980s. When lucid, he gave pre-determined eye signals to researchers in the outside world.

Here you can do the same. When the TWC feature is used on the REM Dreamer, it creates a series of light cues of increasing intensity. Once you become lucid, you can actually signal back to the lucid mask that you have become conscious. The infra-red sensors in the mask detect the pattern and stops giving lucidity cues.

This means that your lucid dreams won't be interrupted by ongoing flashing light cues, which is a common complaint among people who use other brands of lucid dreaming mask without the TWC feature.

The REM Dreamer is sold by Polish-based ELI Company, who offer a friendly and polite service and free international shipping which takes 3-12 days.

As with any lucid dreaming mask, it does take some getting used to. It depends on your threshold but some people may be too sensitive to wear a mask while they sleep because of the pressure it puts on the face. You can adjust the velcro straps to relieve the pressure - although the more snug the fit, the better the sensors will detect your Rapid Eye Movement when you dream.

The instructions have been translated into English and are a little broken but fairly easy to understand. All of the functions are in line with other lucid dreaming masks and it is easy to adjust the intensity, frequency and duration of the flashing lights and audio alerts that the REM Dreamer emits.

Some people find the lower setting (2) to be bright enough to penetrate the eyelids, while others preferred the highest setting (6) to be effective. You can also set the duration of the snooze mode, allowing you to fall asleep before the REM sensor activates.

In the morning, the REM Dreamer tells you how many times it was activated during the night, so you can see how well it worked for you. The target is 20-25 times per six hours of sleep. If it is outside that range you can simply adjust the sensitivity of the infra-red sensor depending on your room lighting conditions. Expect it to require a few night's calibration before you hit the sweet spot.

The REM Dreamer can enhance dream recall and shorten the time needed to learn lucid dreaming. However, it is not foolproof.

Like all lucid dreaming masks, it also relies on your ability to sleep normally wearing a mask (constantly disturbed sleep is very undesirable) and recognize the light cues as a sign you are dreaming. The latter is not difficult, but it does require practice. Assuming you quickly adapt to your new sleep buddy and do frequent reality checks in the daytime, you can expect to have lucid dreams within a few weeks.

One REM Dreamer user illustrated the importance of reality checks very well. In a dream, the flashing lights triggered, and the entire dreamscape flashed red. Instead of seeing it as a dream sign, he thought "oh, I should do reality checks more often so I can pick up on signals like that when I'm dreaming". This goes to show you shouldn't rely on dream logic to pick up on irregularities! It is essential that you link the flashing lights with the fact that you are surely dreaming.

Many people also report waking up in the night, pressing the reality check button on the REM Dreamer and finding it doesn't work. This triggers the realization that they are still dreaming. This is a neat feature of most lucid dreaming masks to help you identify false awakenings and turn them into lucid dreams.

If you decide to buy any lucid dream induction device, you really have to commit to it to get results. You can wear it the whole night - or at least the second half of the night when you dream much more intensely. Especially wear it during daytime naps which are often riddled with REM sleep (commonly REM rebound). If you are persistent, you are likely to experience some very enjoyable lucid dreams.

You can buy The REM Dreamer online at the ELI Company website for 147 Euros including free international shipping. It is a good value mask with all the standard features plus the helpful Two Way Communication, and if you have an older version of The REM Dreamer you can upgrade to the latest version for 47 Euros.

There are five main types of dreams - daydreams, normal dreams, false awakenings, nightmares and lucid dreams. Take a look at the features of these hypnotic states and how each one can introduce you to the phenomenal world of lucid dreaming...

Scientific studies reveal that most people daydream for a whopping 70-120 minutes per day. During this time, you are only semi-awake - not asleep, but not fully checked-in with reality, either. It starts with a compelling thought, memory, or fantasy about the future, and your imagination runs away. The longer you daydream, the deeper you becomes immersed in your private fantasy land.

Contrary to popular belief, daydreaming is an important part of dream research. As with all types of dreams, you enter a kind of hypnotic trance and allow your subconscious thoughts to rise to the surface.

In daydreams, the right (creative) brain is dominant and you lose awareness of reality. Deeper worries or concerns will surface, usually by acting themselves out in the daydream. This only serves to reinforce negativity - so next time you are fantasizing about bad situations, turn it around and consciously create a positive outcome.

Similarly, many successful people use their daydreams to visualize their future. Athletes imagine winning their next big race. Business leaders mentally rehearse an important speech. They daydream about a positive outcome and in doing so, help make it happen. You can even look at the past and re-enact an upsetting event with a different outcome. These types of dreams are very healthy, helping you temporarily escape the demands of reality and release frustrations without physically acting them out.

I also use daydreams to initiate my next lucid dream by setting a lucid dream intention. I make a mental list of things I want to do in my next conscious dream, and visualize how I will get there. Let's say I want to: play the piano, fly to the moon, and meet an alien. First I'll visualize a concert hall (the place I expect to find a piano in my dream), then I'll imagine flying up and passing through the roof and into the night sky. I'll see myself landing on the moon (space rocket not required) and finding a super-intelligent bunch of aliens sitting around in a crater. These guys will give me very interesting conversation, offering insights directly from my unconscious.

The next time I become lucid, I will remember my daydream instinctively and begin to perform it all in the vivid detail of my lucid dream reality. Without this preparation, it's likely I'll just fly around and examine the dreamscape. This is great fun, but I prefer to follow goals to make the most of my lucid dreams.

I know "normal dreams" is a contradiction in terms, but let me assure you I simply mean your usual types of dreams, where you have no idea you're dreaming - at the time, anyway. In a typical dream, you could be having tea with the Pope and think nothing of it; you accept your dream reality as it is.

Everybody in the world has normal dreams every single night. These dreams that arise out of REM sleep are essential to our survival - we would die without them. Assuming you get eight hours of shuteye, you will dream for about 100 minutes, with longer and more vivid dreams occurring shortly before you wake up.

Normal dreams present us with important messages from the subconscious mind. They are based on your thoughts and experiences from the day before, and sometimes memories from long ago. The unconscious mind releases repressed fears, anxieties and desires through conceptual imagery - the coded language of the subconscious brain.

These typical types of dreams are also the gateway to lucid dreams. Anyone can become spontaneously lucid from within a normal dream. All it takes is to consciously recognize that you are dreaming. This awakens the conscious brain and the sensory system, so that the lucid dream looks, feels, sounds, smells and even tastes like anything you experience in reality.

Even bizarre experiences - like shape shifting into an atom - feel astonishingly real (or at least, what you expect that sensation to feel like). However, if you forget you are dreaming - it happens - your lucid dream will revert to a normal dream again and you will lose conscious control of your awareness within it.

Lucid dreams are the best types of dreams and I'm guessing the reason you are here reading this. Most lucid dreams arise spontaneously from normal dreams (called Dream Induced Lucid Dreams). All you need to do is teach yourself to constantly question your reality and you will become lucid much more often.

Alternatively, you can have lucid dreams by walking your brain from a conscious state directly into a dream state. This technique has been used by Tibetan Buddhists for over 1,000 years and is today known as Wake Induced Lucid Dreams. It involves a two-step process of meditation and inducing sleep paralysis. You will soon enter your very own lucid dream world.

Remember, a lucid dream is any dream in which you:

a) know that you're dreaming; and/orb) can control and direct your awareness in the dream

That's all! Lucid dreams don't have to involve 100% dream control - far from it! Most of the time I only control my own movements and simply follow the action going on around me. You can also be lucid and fully aware of the dream and assume zero control; just a silent observer of a miraculous dream world. Not surprisingly, most people use lucid types of dreams to fulfil desires they can't fulfil in reality. But once you look past this novelty feature, lucid dreams offer brilliant insights into the subconscious mind. Read Robert Waggoner's Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self for some extraordinary applications of lucid dreams.

Ever watched Groundhog Day with Bill Murray? False awakenings are a bit like that. You may wake up as normal and plod into the bathroom, get dressed, eat breakfast, and be half way to work before you realize "oh my God, I'm still dreaming!" It's a bizarre place to be.

False awakenings are basically very vivid types of dreams. They begin in your bedroom, with you waking up, and somehow your conscious brain mimics every detail of the room, exactly as it should be. Unless you question your reality on waking (like many lucid dreamers) you don't stand a chance...

It usually takes something quite obvious to shock you out of these types of dreams. Maybe you look in the bathroom mirror and see yourself 20 years from now. Or maybe you're driving down the road and realize there are no other cars. I once had a false awakening, where I did my reality check as I got out of bed - but that wasn't enough. I sat for about 5 minutes banging on the glass of my bedroom window, trying to figure out if I could push my hand through. I simply couldn't get the conscious part of my brain to wake up! In the end, the dream revealed itself when I walked into the kitchen and found my partner cooking a roast dinner at 7am. I immediately became lucid and flew away!

Some people even report multiple false awakenings, one after the other in quick succession. They get trapped in a seemingly never-ending cycle, tired of getting dressed for work for the seventh time that day. If this happens to you often, I strongly recommend getting into the habit of doing reality checks on waking - and give yourself a fighting chance! Truly recognizing a false awakening can go two ways: either you are shocked into waking up - or you enter a lucid dream.

Perhaps most importantly, false awakenings may be frustrating but aren't at all harmful. They are also extremely vivid but not nightmarish in content. And if nothing else, they provide a fascinating talking point the next day.

In the western world, nightmares are considered to be normal types of dreams with a very scary twist. In nightmares, you don't know you're dreaming so the subconscious mind takes everything on board as if it were really happening. Some nightmares can be so vivid that the sensory system is triggered and you can feel certain types of pain. It can be very unnerving.

According to dream analysis, being chased by a monster or dark character in a nightmare represents our evolutionary fear of being hunted. Children - who are arguably more vulnerable than most adults - report this type of dream the most. Studies show that nightmares are usually caused by sickness, stress, trauma, and drugs or alcohol.

One excellent way to stop nightmares and recurring types of dreams is lucidity. By questioning your reality, you stand a better chance of recognizing a nightmare when it occurs, particularly if you plant a monster (or whatever the common theme) as your dream symbol. Whenever you think of this symbol in waking life, do a reality check. The next time it appears in a dream, your habitual reality test will lead to lucidity. Then you will have the conscious courage to confront your monster in the lucid dream state - and reason with it!

For step-by-step tutorials in lucidity, check out The Lucid Dreaming Fast Track, my digital course that shows beginners the fastest way to lucid dreams.

Here are my top 5 lucid dream challenges for beginners. Everyone has their own agenda when it comes to conscious guided dreams - but here are some cool tricks that I hope will inspire you and develop your dream control skills...

Everyone loves to have flying dreams - it provides us with the ultimate freedom from our real-world physical limitations. Learning how to fly in a lucid dream comes completely naturally for some people. For others, it takes a little practice.

I came in the latter group. When I first learned lucid dreaming, I found it difficult to fly because my logical brain kept holding me back. I would often get 10 or 15 feet in the air then falter and fall to the ground. Whatever the cause, this became a learned behavior, so eventually I had to consciously "unlearn" it in my dreams.

First I began by bouncing over the landscape, knowing each time I would bounce gently off the ground, light as a feather, then return safely with no harm done. This made me feel in control of my flying dreams and gave me more confidence of my ability to be weightless.

Soon, bouncing turned to hovering and floating everywhere around the dreamscape at a reasonably safe height, and as I had more flying experiences, I got rapidly better. Within a few lucid dreams I was able to fly up around the tops of sky scrapers, above the clouds, into space and around the moon. Like everything in my lucid dreams, it was a steep learning curve. I then went into hyperspace mode, flying through the universe at impossible speeds, watching the stars whoosh by. Flying dreams are the best!

Like flying dreams, here is another exhilarating lucid dream challenge for beginners. Walking or pushing your body through the wall is not only a great reality check - it's also a great learning experience. By passing your body through physical objects, you will quickly write a new rule book for the unreality of the dreamworld. It will rapidly improve your ability to take control of your guided dreams and get exactly what you want, without any futile mucking around.

First, gently push your hand against the wall and imagine it going right through. Don't think of the wall as a solid object. Focus on how your hand might feel if it simply pushed right through. Your expectation is key.

Once you get the hang of this, it will become easier and easier. The next step is to walk your entire body through a wall or other solid object. Think of yourself as a ghost passing through matter from another dimension. If you keep your eyes open you should be able to see the wall interior.

Sometimes, I find that moving at the wall too slowly causes me to overthink it and I bounce off it in disbelief. So it pays to be bold and go for it: run directly at a wall really fast, thinking about how great it will feel when you pass through the other side. You definitely aren't going to smack into it at that speed. Ok?

Once in a lucid dream, I was running through walls in an apartment building on the top floor of a skyscraper. I knew I was near the exterior wall and just as I thought about it I flew out into the night sky, the ground falling away at my feet. Of course, I was the architect of that moment and it was my expectation that caused me to run right out of the building in mid-air. Equally, it was my confidence in my new abilities that enabled me to fly off into the night, rather than fall to the ground with a splat. So always remember that having confidence and bold expectations will enable you to achieve anything you want in your lucid dreams.

Sometimes it pays to simply explore your dreamscape in its natural form - something I call following the subconscious thread, or passive lucid dreaming. While maintaining your lucidity (or self-awareness) in the dream, you give up your active control of the dream to your subconscious mind. You are now an observer in your virtual reality world, but not a controller.

Look around your dreamscape and explore the scenery. Pick up souvenirs and talk to dream characters, without consciously influencing any outcomes. Allow your subconscious inner self the opportunity to show you whatever it wants and engage in some live dream interpretation.

I like to find an observation platform - perhaps a cloud or a tall building - and observe a busy cityscape below. It is quite breathtaking to observe this complex scene knowing it is all taking place effortlessly inside your own head.

Another neat trick suggested by Robert Waggoner in his book, Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self, is to ask your lucid dream a question. Start by saying "Show me something really amazing!" and wait to see what happens. Your subconscious will react to your request and present a new twist in the dream. Robert's method of connecting with the inner self is an excellent one and I highly recommend his book if you are a beginner lucid dreamer and want to know where to go next.

I stumbled onto this lucid dream challenge purely by accident but it was a great visual experience. It's better for beginners who feel more confident about manipulating the dreamscape so wait until you're feeling highly lucid in the dream before trying this. Also remember that your expectation is key.

Probably the easiest way to turn a day-time scene into a night-time scene is to turn around or look away from the main attraction and visualize how the new night sky will look before you turn back. This visualization creates an expectation in your mind, and your dreaming subconscious (who ultimately creates all the scenery) will see to the rest. You are merely giving your subconscious the idea.

Another way to approach this challenge is to paint the sky with the sweep of your hand, or literally breathe color into the atmosphere. Find a creative method that works for you, and be rewarded with a new guided dream scene in seconds. Turning day to night also gives you the perfect opportunity to gaze up into the night sky and get lost in the stars - or zoom up there in an instant. It can be a magnificent experience and I have had numerous star-gazing dreams that I will never forget.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy! I love to eat food in lucid dreams... It has the potential to be the best gastronomic experience of your life :)

Lucid dream food is very realistic and very delicious. The reason it's often better than real life because it's as perfect as you can imagine it to be. And your dream taste buds don't become accustomed to the flavor - so each bite can be more mouthwateringly delicious than the last. There is also the nice bonus that dream calories don't add fat to your physical body, so you can eat all you want.

Once you become lucid, seek out a place that you would expect to find food in the real world: restaurants, cafes and kitchens. In the right location, you should have no problem finding some really delicious food.

Alternatively, manifest food from out of nowhere - just follow the expectation rule. For instance, you might expect to find a large Black Forest cake hiding behind the next rock in the forest. Feel free to throw logic out the window and work with the dream scene, rather than against it. As a beginner I always found it easier to discover new objects behind something already there, rather than making it materialize from nowhere.

As you become accustomed to using the power of expectation, try this: grab a pen and draw your desired food in the air in front of you, however crudely. Then imagine it popping into life and becoming 3-dimensional so that you can pick it up and eat it. You'll soon see that when it comes to the dreaming mind, there are no limitations and no logical outcomes. Use that principle to your advantage!

I hope you enjoy these lucid dream challenges; for me they represent the beginning of a very exciting journey into the subconscious dreamscape. There are many more challenges to try out and I always recommend setting a lucid dream intention before you settle down to sleep. Try these challenges tonight and develop your own twists as you explore your personal lucid dream world...

Is it possible for everyone to lucid dream? Because I have been trying since the beginning of last summer and all that has happened is I got like a 5 second lucid dream. What am I doing wrong?

Rebecca says: Anyone who dreams can also lucid dream. It is a matter of bringing waking consciousness to the dreamworld.

Children can spontaneously lucid dream; one guy I spoke to remembers lucid dreams when he was three years old. And even unhealthy people, like sufferers of Parkinson's Disease can have lucid dreams as a side effect of their medication.

Lucidity is a state of awareness where the conscious meets the unconscious mind. Like people who practice OBEs, hypnosis and meditation. These are all different states of mind that come with practice and the right techniques.

The only way to guarantee lucid dreams is consistency of practice. Write down at least one regular dream every day. Question your reality as often as possible, because this self awareness is how you become lucid in a normal dream.

The WILD method will create instant results once you master it. It's also very empowering as you learn how to teleport your awareness anywhere you can possibly imagine! Check out Lucidology's excellent video for complete instructions and troubleshooting tips. The MILD method is really easy and, with patience, will create spontaneous lucidity within a normal dream. Just be persistent at it! The Wake Back To Bed method works for most people. Although it is bothersome to get up early, it gives very good results. I have most of my lucid dreams in the morning, after waking up, then I fall back to sleep again and go lucid. It helps if you give yourself 30 minutes to lie in, so set your alarm early and then do some lucid dream methods.

Keep the idea of lucid dreaming on your mind during the day. I have more lucid dreams when I read books on the subject, so see what you can get at the library or online (even this website!) All this information filters through to the subconscious at night, and can help you realize when you are dreaming. Your first one was the hardest to achieve, so congratulations! Don't be put off because it only lasted 5 seconds - that happened to me at first too. It's the act of becoming lucid that counts. The next few may come quickly in succession, then you may not lucid dream again for weeks. As long as you are consistent and rack up more lucid experiences, it will get easier and easier, and soon you will have really long lucid dreams with amazing dream control.

Calea Zacatechichi is widely known as THE lucid dreaming herb for it's ability to induce amazingly vivid dreams.

It can significantly raise your level of self-awareness and promote lucidity, besides providing a thrilling dream experience even if you don't become lucid.

This legal herb has been used by Mexican shamans for thousands of years. It's also known as The Dream Herb, Calea Z, the Leaf of God and Bitter Grass. You can smoke it, drink it in a tea, or swallow it in capsules to induce highly vivid and meaningful dreams.

More on that in a moment...

The shamans who made the Leaf of God famous are the Chontal Medicine Men of Mexico. Whenever they want to know the cause of an illness, or the location of a distant person, they ingest these dream inducing herbs. The answers come to them in spectacularly vivid dreams...

This article is a brief overview of my own experiences with Calea Zacatechichi and where to buy it online for mind-blowing realistic dreams.

I first tried Calea Z capsules a few years ago. They have a fascinating effect - producing highly meaningful and vivid dreams; the kind that you wake up thinking "WOW." They were like no other dreams I'd had before.

As dream herbs go, Calea Z is a good one to start off with, because the effect on waking consciousness is minimal - yet it intensifies your dream content and recall upon waking. These all push you towards lucid dreaming.

I've had lucid and non-lucid dreams with Calea Z; each amazing and memorable in their own right. I've never had any nightmares or negative experiences with it. I always take it in capsule form and take it after 4-6 hours of sleep. This is the ideal time because your REM (dream) sleep is extended in the early morning.

Some of my Calea Z dreams have been far removed from this world, conjuring up alien planets and futuristic cities. My favorite experience was when I dreamed I was another person living in an advanced alien civilization. I can still remember how I felt to live in a world of the future - it was reminiscent of an Iain Banks Culture novel - and that feeling still runs through me like I have lived another life.

In the dream, time seemed to stretch, and I perceived a great deal in what must have only been 30-60 minutes of dreaming. It was a bit like watching an epic movie that spans 200 years in the space of two hours, yet you feel like it lasted longer because so much happens. That's about as close as I can explain it; it was like flashing through someone's life while instantly understanding all that they had felt and been through during the course of many years.

When I woke up, I was mildly stunned to be in this reality. My normal life - without flying cars, or skyscrapers that ran into the clouds, or alien people, or the sense of adventure - seemed quite boring in comparison. But I was euphoric at the memory and wanted to write it all down before it drained away. Now, many details of the dream are lost, even after writing it down, but the emotional content stays with me, a feeling I can't redefine.

Others have reported incredibly realistic Calea Zacatechichi dreams, sometimes with complex plots and gripping drama, others with more trivial content but profound intensity nonetheless. That includes people who don't normally remember any dreams at all... In fact, this dream herb is scientifically found to improve your dream recall, so it's ideal for beginner lucid dreamers who want to get closer to their dream worlds.

You can buy Calea Z online from a few stores, such as Arena Ethnobotanicals. Either buy and grow your own plant, or just get the packaged dry leaf extract to smoke, drink as a tea, or pack into gel capsules and swallow like a pill.

How to ingest this vivid dream inducing herb:

Tea: Yuck! Many people agree that drinking Calea Z tea tastes godawful so if you do go down this route, add plenty of honey and drink it slowly. This might just take the edge off. I am told it tastes like Mate, a popular tea in Argentina and Uruguay, but don't let this fool you - Calea Z tea is extremely bitter and hard to get down.

Smoke: If you choose to smoke, inhale the dry leaf extract before bed. You may feel a little buzzy, but the majority of effects occur in dreamland.

Capsules: This is the easiest way to go. Grab some empty gel capsules and then pack your dry leaf extract into them and swallow 1-2 pills after 4-5 hours sleep. That way you will get sufficient deep sleep before embarking on longer REM cycles so that Calea Zacatechichi can really work its magic.

And of course, it helps if you incubate your chosen lucid dream as you fall asleep. This means visualizing your desired dreamscape, telling yourself (in your mind) that you will lucid dream tonight, and relaxing sleepily into the experience... ;)

This section is for beginner lucid dreamers who understand how to become lucid - but find themselves flung into a crazy, unpredictable dreamscape. You may feel you have very little dream control and this is totally normal for beginners. That's because the dreamworld obeys very different laws compared to physical reality.

In the waking world, if you want something to happen (like walk forward three steps) you simply will it to happen and your body does the rest. As long as it's within the realm of physical possibility, control of your waking reality is easy.

In a lucid dream, the rules are changed. You are suddenly in possession of a ghostly, ethereal body that can run through walls and travel through time. The dreamworld cares little for Einstein and Newton. The dreamworld is governed by your subconscious mind, and it is your task to work with it - not against it.

The following articles may sound utterly bizarre to non-lucid dreamers, but if you have any lucid dreams under your belt you will begin to understand the language of the subconscious mind. You'll learn how to tame its logic and most importantly control your lucid dreams exactly how you want to.

How to prolong lucid dreams and enhance the clarity and consciousness of your guided dream. Includes a range of very easy dream stabilizing techniques.

How to control your dreams with clarity. My own first-hand lucid dream research with advice on how to actively control and manipulate your lucid dreams.

How to Maintain Dream Control

Three ways to maintain dream control when you start to lose lucidity. Plus, why dream control isn't always what your subconscious dreaming self wants most.

Learn how to create dream characters in your lucid dreams. These six ways of summoning new characters will help you understand the nature of dream control.

Setting a lucid dream intention means consciously planning an objective to fulfill to make your lucid dreams more rewarding. Find inspiration here...

Five lucid dream challenges for beginners: have flying dreams, taste delicious foods, run through walls, go star-gazing and talk to your subconscious mind...

Tibetan Dream Yoga is a similar practice to lucid dreaming in the ancient philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism. Explore new depths to lucidity.

Many people want to have lucid dreaming sex... but can beginners have erotic dreams? And is it ethical to pursue sexual fantasies while lucid dreaming?

Find out what happens when you look at your reflection in a lucid dream mirror... And how to use dream mirrors as portals to alternate dimensions.

Ever wanted to master flying in your lucid dreams? Here's your step-by-step flight training - from bouncing in meadows to rocketing through outer space!

Flying Dreams Infographic

Many beginners want to have flying dreams - but flying in lucid dreams isn't always so intuitive. Here's how to soar like a superhero on your lucid quest.

Keeping a dream journal is an important part of lucid dreaming. Fortunately, it's easy and fun - and ultimately improves your awareness of the dream state, making it easier to wake up in dreams.

The average person has five sleep cycles per night. At the end of each cycle, there is a period of REM sleep. Most people dream for 100 minutes each night. The closer it is to morning, the longer your REM sleep becomes.

So you are more likely to remember dreams as you wake up in the morning - the best time to write in your dream diary...

If you have trouble remembering dreams, you can use a lucid anchor. Anchoring comes from the fascinating branch of psychology called Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Just before you go to sleep, choose an object that you can see clearly from your bed. This is going to be your anchor.

My anchor is a picture of a big grizzly bear stuck on the wall. I look at this picture when I go to sleep, wake up during the night, and first thing in the morning. When I look at it I think "I will remember my dreams".

The phrase acts as a trigger for my subconscious brain to relate to. It reminds me to focus on my dreams and plants a subconscious intention: to associate the bear with remembering dreams. And I look at that bear multiple times each night.

How to keep a dream journal may seem obvious. But there are a few things worth remembering. So here we go...

Step One

Find a notebook or journal specifically to record your dreams in. Keep it within arm's reach of the bed. Dreams fade quickly on awakening so you need to write them down as soon as you wake.

If you get up, walk around and start talking about other things, it will cause motor neurons to fire in your brain. This is what "overwrites" the memory of the dream. So be ready to jot down a few details first thing.

Step Two

Note down the date of your dream. Then write down everything you can remember. Write everything in the present tense (eg "I am walking down the street when a frog jumps out of the bushes"). This helps with remembering dreams by putting you in the moment.

Step Three

Identify dream themes. Think about the location, characters, sensations, sounds, objects and emotions of the dream. Underline key themes that may help with interpreting dreams (eg, "the frog is sad because he knows a drought is coming").

You may want to analyze the themes and fully interpret your dream. Otherwise, continue to write down all the memorable details in your dream journal.

Anything that you can associate with established neural patterns is also important (eg, you feel protective over a puppy). This may be a dream symbol or concept that represents a real life issue.

Step Four

Don't worry about spelling, punctuation and grammar. As long as you can read it back later and it still makes sense, you are fine.

Step Five

Sketch any strong images from the dream. It doesn't matter if you're not an artist. A sketch is just to help you visualize the dream later on.

Step Six

When you have finished, jot down any major life issues that are going on right now. For instance, you may be suffering from a broken heart. Over time, you will be able to link your subconscious dream symbols with real life issues.

Step Seven

Give the dream an appropriate title. Nothing flashy, just something to remember it by. If you became lucid at any point in the dream, write "L" for lucid in a circle by the title. Identify what caused you to become lucid (unless it was a WILD).

How often should I write in my dream journal?

Write down your dreams whenever you get the urge. It doesn't have to be every day - a few times a week is usually enough. (But obviously, the more you remember, the better.) Sometimes you won't feel bothered because real life just seems more important. A wise choice! In fact, I would be worried if you did put your dreams before real life.

How can I improve my awareness of dreams?

If you have difficulty remembering dreams, your journal may look a little bare. Don't worry. Start by writing down little snippets - anything at all - and watch your dream recall improve over time. Try listening to self hypnosis recordings which remind you to remember your dreams. It may help to sleep in for an extra half hour on weekends. Just before you wake up, you are flirting on the border of consciousness and REM sleep. This is the best time for remembering dreams... and having lucid dreams!

How can dream themes help me become lucid?

Finding common themes and symbols will also help you create lucid dream triggers. Over time, see if you can find any recurring themes, such as running away from something. Remind yourself to become lucid every time this happens. The next time you are running away from something in a dream, you may be pleasantly surprised by a conscious realization!

You may have seen some websites offering online dream journals. Beware - these could be red herrings. There are three reasons why I don't use them:

First, you have to get out of bed and log on to your computer before you can record your dreams. This isn't me being lazy. Remember what I said earlier about neurons firing away in the brain? That neuron activity will increase when you get side-tracked checking your emails too. By the time you get down to writing, key elements of the dream will be lost forever.

Second, if you don't regularly save a back up, you risk losing your entire dream history. All computers give up the ghost eventually. But your dream journal is meant to last for years. Don't risk losing it! Make sure your journals are all hard copy - books and notepads are cheap and reliable.

"Dreams digest the meals that are our days"

Astrid Alauda

Third, I checked out a few public dream journals before writing this - and you know what? There is nothing quite as tedious as reading about other people's dreams! (Of course, lucid dreams are another matter.) But as for your average dream from your average Joe - it is really not worth your precious time. Focus on your own dreams. Those are the most important dreams of all.

Let's not forget that the main reason for keeping a dream journal is to have lucid dreams! These can be recorded the same way in your normal journal.

Make sure you mark them as lucid dreams and describe the moment you became lucid (if it was a Dream Induced Lucid Dream, or DILD). Decide what it was that made you realize you were dreaming. This could be a useful trigger for having lucid dreams in future.

Then go on to describe your lucid dreams in as much detail as possible. How you felt, how you achieved greater clarity, and how long you thought the experience lasted for in real time.

For step-by-step tutorials in lucidity, check out The Lucid Dreaming Fast Track, my digital course that shows beginners the fastest way to lucid dreams.

Copyright © Pete Casale of NLP Secrets

Do video games affect your ability to lucid dream? Can lucid dreaming be inspired by video games? Is there any correlation between the two?

I believe there is a relationship; that whatever you do during the day can become the kindling for dreams you have at night. Have you ever spent a lot of the day doing a particular activity, and then found yourself doing the same thing in your dream? What if that activity was a type of virtual reality? Would that virtual reality become your dream reality?

When I was a child, I used to get nightmares. During the climax of terror, the only option was to run or hide. Part of me knew I was just dreaming, and sometimes I would attempt to abort the dream by thinking "wake up!"

However this rarely worked at all, let alone in the moment before getting stabbed, impaled or killed by whatever monster was attacking me. Nightmares were those things that happened every now and then that were just an unfortunate part of life. I would avoid watching horror films, in case they brought on a nightmare that night. But I did not avoid violent video games...

I have always been a fan of video games, and have been playing games since I was five years old (back then on my Commodore 64). One day, when I was about ten years old, I discovered a game called Wolfenstein 3D. This game was different from the others, because it was in first-person perspective. This means that instead of the usual way of controlling a hero, car or spaceship in the third person perspective, I got to look through the eyes of the protagonist:

Needless to say, I spent all day that day playing Wolfenstein 3D. The object of the game was to shoot your way through a Nazi castle and kill Hitler himself.

That night I went to bed, and I had a dream. The dream was that I was being chased by Hitler through an old dusty mansion. It didn't look like Wolfenstein, it looked like real life. I was not the hero with guns and knives, I was myself, ten years old and scared of being captured. I found myself running into a room, closing the door, and hiding in a fireplace. I hoped that Hitler wouldn't find me, but sure enough, the door on the far side of the room opened. Hitler walked in.

I stayed as still and quiet as I could but he kept walking slowly in my direction. I crouched there quietly in the fireplace hoping that he hadn't seen me, but he kept walking closer and closer. I wondered what he might do if he caught me. Stab me? Shoot me? Slowly he kept walking until he was standing right next to the fireplace in which I was hiding. My fear was at a peak.

I snapped. This is MY dream! I jumped out of the fireplace and roared at Hitler. Suddenly I knew I was all-powerful. I glared at Hitler as he stood agape, held up my left arm and suddenly there was a massive machine gun on my arm. My right arm followed, another massive machine gun. I leveled them both directly at Hitler. As I pulled the triggers, he turned and ran. I shot after him, laughing.

That was the last nightmare I've ever had.

Since then, any time a dream has become frightening, the fear has triggered a lucid state. It always follows the same pattern:

Something in the dream causes fearThe fear makes me lucidI shout "this is my dream!"My lucidity allows me to overcome the fear

These days, there are many realistic first-person perspective video games that will allow you to deal with most kinds of fear. For instance, if your nightmares present you with a fear of falling from great heights, I recommend the video games of Prototype or B.A.S.E. Jumping.

If you have nightmares about zombies, Left 4 Dead is fantastic. These first-person video games teach us that the real power is in our own hands. When we die in the game, we just start the level again. Not unlike a lucid dream. And when we get hit in a game, we feel no pain.

No matter what we do in the game, we're still sitting in a comfortable couch in a warm house. The reinforcement that nothing can actually hurt us can transfer into our dream world - transforming our nightmares into lucid dreams.

Pete Casale is a graphic designer and a lucid dreamer. He is also the author of the website NLP Secrets, about using the psychological technique of Neuro-Linguistic Programming to upgrade your mind. His website contains free advice on NLP - from reading other people's body language, to hypnotizing yourself and others, to curing phobias, increasing confidence, and much more.

For more information on Jayne Gackenbach's research into the link between video games and lucid dreaming, see The Science of Lucid Dreaming: The Electronic Media Effect published by The Lucid Dream Exchange.