Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
by Stephen LaBerge, Howard Rheingold
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Book Summary Information
Author: Howard Rheingold, Stephen LaBergeEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1991-11-13
ISBN: 034537410X
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
Book Review: Truly an Exploration- A Set of Profound and Novel Induction Techniques
Summary: 5 Stars
In Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, LaBerge provides a detailed, albeit borderline "how-to" manual on lucid dreaming, which encompasses a wide variety of techniques, so there is definitely at least one that will work for everyone. Furthermore, LaBerge goes into a thorough description of the applications of lucid dreaming to real life, which proves to be quite interesting and even motivational in a very scientific approach. However, despite this and the very goal-oriented aspects of the book, this scientific approach proves to be very reductionist, so while still inspirational, one should look towards other literature for inspiration as well as motivation is a key component of lucid dreaming. From my personal experience with the book, I highly recommend this book for people new to the concept of lucid dreaming that would like to try it out.
Through the incorporation of psychological studies, Tibetan dream yoga, other dream research and beliefs (such as that of Jung and Freud), and his own research at the Lucidity Institute in Stanford University, LaBerge has created a book capable of teaching even the most closed-minded of people to lucid dream. The book contains every main technique with clear instructions including a detailed description of the technique he pioneered, known as the Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams, or MILD.
From the very beginning of the book, Dr. LaBerge reveals many personal experiences of other people who have written to him, thus providing a fantastical background on lucid dreaming and the expectations which can be enjoyed from reading this book. Furthermore, LaBerge also provides a FAQ for many skeptics of lucid dreaming (such as myself) who were unsure of the "risks" of lucid dreaming or whether they would be able to. LaBerge also provides a series of tips and tricks for beginners, such as keeping a dream journal, focusing on the idea of dreaming before sleeping, and "reality checks". The next few chapters provide detailed techniques to induce a lucid dream, specifically the WILD and MILD techniques. By Chapter 6, most of the induction techniques will be exhausted, and LaBerge then focuses on showing readers how to improve their achieved lucidity- how to retain their lucidity, prevent premature awakenings, awaken when desiring to do so, and guide dreams intelligently. Towards the last few chapters of the book, Dr. LaBerge even goes through many of the applications of the book, such as enjoyment in action, adventure, romance, and pleasure, spiritual growth, relieving oneself/exploring the dark side of nightmares, and rehearsal of daily life. The applications tie in the greater scheme of why one is to try lucid dreaming in the first place.
After you have reached an advanced stage of lucid dreaming, the book invites you to take a new dimension with expansion of your ability regarding lucid dreaming to break all types of self-defined parameters. You can explore the dream stage to an even greater extent by constantly proving to yourself that you can go another step forward. Laberge discusses seeking out mutual dreams or trying to exercise precognition by getting a dream character to speak or write to you about a future incident. You may also try to alter the course of events of something happening in reality (LaBerge has a very fascinating personal experience with precognition involving his son and how he may have saved a life).
In a quote from the book, LaBerge states, "According to `The Doctrine of the Dream State' an ancient Tibetan manual of lucid dream yoga, the practice of certain dream control techniques lead to the capacity to dream anything imaginable. Tulku makes a similar claim, `Advanced yogis are able to do just about anything in their dreams. They can become larger or smaller or disappear, go back into childhood and relive experiences, or even fly through space". Despite the seemingly extravagant claim, this is all very possible. The Tibetans heavily influenced LaBerge and today's lucid dreamers as they have been lucid dreaming for more than a thousand years. Their experiences and techniques have influenced many of the applications we believe in today and add further credibility to the use of these applications.
Such applications proved to be extremely interesting, and all were further discussed with their own set of a "how-to", thus backed up by a good amount of fact. For example, in the idea of rehearsal of daily life, one could learn how to improve athleticism by learning dance moves or shooting a basketball over and over again. One could improve their confidence in these sports as well as other activities such as public speaking by having lucid dreams involving speaking in front of large crowds.
Other interesting applications were problem solving and healing. A lucid dream can be a stage for all your problem solving purposes. Lucid dreams can provide countless trial and error situations to determine what kind of solution would work in reality. The metaphysical aspect of healing is discussed thoroughly as well, with interesting probed ideas such as whether or not the physical body can be healed of disease if the dream body is healed and whether various avenues of healing can be used in an attempt to help a particular ailing person.
The metaphysical aspect I found most intriguing involved understanding the self. It was how LaBerge showed that lucid dreaming can have a deep spiritual effect toward understanding ourselves if we were to surrender our egos and allow our dream to take us somewhere rather than us trying to control it. Another quote taken from Tulku in this book, truly summed up the power of lucid dreaming; "Dreams are a reservoir of knowledge and experience, yet they are often overlooked as a vehicle for exploring reality." One of the greatest things I have garnered from reading this book is that we can learn so much from lucid dreams about life, death, and the time in between.
If you are new to the concept of lucid dreaming, and would like to try it out, then this book is for you. Before reading I could only rarely recall dreams, and although I am still unable to lucid dream, it has only been a month and I can now recall dreams almost every night and even choose what I dream about before I sleep. I have yet to even try most of the techniques in this book, and I'm still very excited. The applications of this book are outstanding and the how-to sections make lucid dreaming very much possible for everyone. I suggest reading the book before sleeping and with an open mind. If getting bogged down by the steps, take a break and come back to it later. Lucid dreaming should be fun to learn, and from what I can tell, motivation and relaxation are key.
Summary of Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
"[A] solid how-to book...For amateur dream researchers, this is a must."WHOLE EARTH REVIEW
This book goes far beyond the confines of pop dream psychology, establishing a scientifically researched framework for using lucid dreaming--that is, consciously influencing the outcome of your dreams. Based on Dr. Stephen LaBerge's extensive laboratory work at Stanford University mapping mind/body relationships during the dream state, as well as the teachings of Tibetan dream yogis and the work of other scientists, including German psycholgist Paul Tholey, this practical workbook will show you how to use your dreams to: Solve problems; Gain greater confidence; improve creativity, and more.
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