As per the World of Lucid Dreaming, ‘the history of sleep and dreaming goes back to the BC era when ancient Greeks and Egyptians were the leading technological force.

The Egyptians analyzed the meaning behind dreams and they analyzed dream symbols, searching for prophecies from the gods. They believed in three bodies: Shat (the corpse body), Ka (the living physical body), and Ba (the soul)’ 

The Dream Studies Organisation further observes that, The first known textual description of lucid dreaming dates to before 1000 BCE from the Upanishads, the Hindu oral tradition of spiritual lessons, philosophy, and proverbs. The Vigyan Bhairav Tantra is another ancient Hindu tract that describes how best to direct consciousness within the dream and vision states of sleep’ 

Lucid Dreaming in the ancient world 

The ancient Hindu practice of Yoga Nidra which dates before 1000 BCE,  advocates the concept of being aware of the fact that an individual is in a state of dream. Cultivation of this very ability in order to ‘heal’ a yogi’s mental and physical health was/is at the very core of Yoga Nidra. Soon enough, this practice of cultivating the ability to be awake while dreaming found its way into ancient Buddhist literature and the Tibetian practice of ‘Dream Yoga’ which roughly translates to Yoga Nidra itself! 

Tibetian Buddhists learned to control dreams, which is now wildly popular as WILD (Wake Induces Lucid Dreaming) WILD helps you slip into a dream state with a continued sense of being fully conscious. 

Lucid Dreaming In The 17th Century 

In the 17th Century, the world witnessed the acceptance of the idea of being able to control one’s dreams amongst physicians, scientists, and a few psychologists as well. Sir Thomas Browne, a philosopher, and physician studied the reasonings behind dreaming and was already making a record of his ability to be awake whilst dreaming. 

Lucid Dreaming in the 20th Century 

Fredrik Van Eaden, a dutch psychiatrist coined the term ‘Lucid Dreaming’ He is also known to be one of the pioneers in dream study, thanks to his treatise named, ‘A Study Of Dreams’ 

The World Of Lucid Dreaming.com further puts forth an excerpt that from this very book published in the year 1913 : 

“The seventh type of dreams, which I call lucid dreams, seems to be the most interesting and worthy of the most careful observation and study. Of this type, I experienced and wrote down 352 cases in the period between January 20, 1898, and December 26, 1912.

In these lucid dreams, the reintegration of the psychic functions is so complete that the sleeper remembers day-life and his own condition, reaches a state of perfect awareness, and is able to direct his attention and to attempt different acts of free volition. 

Yet the sleep, as I am able confidently to state, is undisturbed, deep, and refreshing. I obtained my first glimpse of this lucidity during sleep in June 1897, in the following way. I dreamt that I was floating through a landscape with bare trees, knowing that it was April, and I remarked that the perspective of the branches and twigs changed quite naturally. 

Then I made the reflection, during sleep, that my fancy would never be able to invent or to make an image as intricate as the perspective movement of little twigs seen in floating by.”

Lucid Dreaming in recent times

In the late 1960s, Celia Green successfully classified this phenomenon scientifically. Then came the historic year of 1975. The year 1975 is extremely significant for lucid dreaming as it was the first time, lucid dreamer Alan Worsley and researcher Stephen LaBerge successfully proved the phenomenon in a laboratory setting. FYI, LaBerge continues to be a pioneer in the study of lucid dreaming! 

Dream analysis – be it lucid or non-lucid is a vast universe in itself and many researchers, scientists, dream analysts are slowly discovering the significance of being able to lucid dream and its mental health benefits. Technology also plays a vital role when it comes to increasing awareness around lucid dreaming. It is a well-known, proven fact that lucid dreaming can help overcome minor sleeping disorders. As a result, a great number of people invest in sleep aid devices that help induce lucid dreaming via audio-visual cues that can customized as per your convenience. 

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Dreams.co.uk states that ‘Lucid dreaming, also referred to as ‘conscious dreaming’, is the practice of becoming conscious within your dreams. A lucid dream is one in which you realize you’re dreaming and can still remain asleep. Once you become conscious within a dream, you can then interact with it and direct it at will, communicating directly with your unconscious. These are often particularly vivid dreams that you can remember the following day’ 

Research and data suggest that 50% of our population has had a lucid dream at least once in their lifetimes. Even so, some studies suggest that some individuals experience lucid dreaming more often than others. Lucid dreaming has roots in ancient civilizations, dating back to as far as 471 AD. Traces of the practice of lucid dreaming have also been found in ancient Hindu and Tibetian civilizations. Although, the area of lucid dreaming is yet to be explored all the more and there are certain aspects of lucid dreaming that still remain a mystery. 

So if that is the case, then where do you begin? 

The world of lucid dreaming can consume you to no extent, leaving one utterly clueless. But if it is treated just like any other phenomenon, then there is no other way but to – practice. Yup, just like any form of meditation! Training your mind is of the utmost importance when it comes to reaping the benefits of lucid dreaming. Regulated sleep hygiene is essential to practicing lucid dreaming on a regular basis. The easiest way to begin is, by mindfully paying attention to the frequency of remembering your dreams – whether they are new, old, or even recurring. One must always remember that lucid dreaming is nothing but being conscious and aware of the fact that you are dreaming. Once we train our mind to believe that very fact, controlling self in one’s dream surrounding becomes extremely easy. 

Dreams.co.uk puts that very fact quite succinctly – ‘Scientific research shows that lucid dreams occur in the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage of sleep, which is one of the deepest stages of sleep. The Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry discovered that during lucid dreaming, part of the brain reactivates allowing you to experience the dream state consciously with self-reflective awareness. Therefore, despite common belief, you’re not half awake while lucid dreaming. You’re completely out for the count, except for the part of your brain that has become reactivated’ 

Tried and tested techniques tell us that keeping a dream journal is the stepping stone into the world of lucid dreaming. It simplifies remembering your dream, the frequency of those dreams and even gives great insight into your subconscious mind, thus making it easier to keep a track of what is going on in your dream world, literally! The easiest way to do this is by keeping a small notebook next to your bed, so it gets easier to journal. Scientifically put, this helps your mind create a ‘dream recall’ 

Investing in a device that aids lucid dreaming is also quite popular in today’s times. As, these devices are equipped with sleep trackers/monitors, customization of audio-visual cues to induce lucid dreaming, and other such features that help regulate your sleeping patterns, thus maintaining automatic sleep hygiene! 

The most common techniques that have the ability to trigger lucid dreams on a frequent basis: 

• A healthy sleeping schedule in comfortable, dark surroundings to boost REM sleep state, wherein most lucid dreaming can occur. 
• Use accessories like a sleeping mask, blackout curtains, and earplugs to block any unwanted noises in the background. 
• Research on the MILD and WBTB that have proven to be highly effective. These techniques rely on our ability to ‘remember’ things and have seen high success rates. 
• Maintain a dream journal. Revisit the journal on a regular basis to get accustomed to what you are dreaming about and identify common patterns. 
• Play video games! Studies have shown that it affects the frequency and control over dreaming in general. 

It is always better to adopt methods that suit you the best. Each individual has a different psyche and that is what matters the most when you are a novice in the world of lucid dreaming! 

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A brief history of lucid dreaming

The study of lucid dreaming has been conducted for a long, long time. Traces of the origin of the knowledge of lucid dreaming dates back to as long as 415 AD. It is widely believed and accepted that the ‘art of lucid dreaming’ was central to the Hindu religion based practice of ‘Yoga Nidra’ as well as the Tibetian Buddhist practice of ‘dream Yoga’ 

Ancient Greek writings and philosophies also point towards the acknowledgment of inducing lucid dreaming practices. In fact physician, Galen of Pergamon is known to have used lucid dreaming as a form of therapy. 

The 20th century witnessed the coining of the term ‘lucid dreaming’ by dutch writer and psychiatrist Frederik Van Eaden. As scientific research delved deeper into the study of dreams, Celia Green concluded the difference between an ordinary and a lucid dream. That conclusion paved the way for modern, alternative theories of the induction and benefits of lucid dreaming in treating various mental and physical challenges. Currently, the biggest challenge faced by lucid dreaming researchers and technicians is to find an effective, simple way to induce lucid dreams. 

Popular techniques that induce lucid dreaming 

23% of people experience lucid dreaming at least once or more in a span of 30 days. Some may experience a high frequency of lucid dreaming, while some may experience a relatively low frequency of lucid dreaming. As reported in the National Institute of Biotechnology, lucid dreams stem from non-lucid dreams. Here are a few tried and tested methods that have known to induce lucid dreaming more often than without: 

• Ground reality testing 
• Keeping a Dream Journal 
• Maintaining a regulated sleep hygiene 
• Wake-back-to-bed 
• MILD technique 
• Devices 

ResearchGate suggests that ‘LD also has potential clinical applications, such as the treatment of recurrent nightmares in post-traumatic stress disorder (Aurora et al., 2010; Mota-Rolim and Araujo, 2013; Morgenthaler et al., 2018). This has attracted the attention of high-tech companies, which have been launching portable LD induction devices commercially available to the general public’ 

For most of the population, the phenomenon of lucid dreaming can prove to be pleasurable, but it is also quite rare. This essentially captured the attention of tech companies as the only loophole wherein they could most possibly act upon and help consumers reach the level of an avid lucid dreamer. The most commonly found features of any lucid dreaming devices are:

• Audio-visual stimuli 
• EEG detectors
• Self-timers and alarms 
• Brainwave entrainment 

The primary goal of these devices is training your mind and then moving on to the induction of lucid dreaming as a part of your sleep cycle. Take, for example, the iBand+ This device is an active sleep inducer. It plays music through pillow speakers that calm the mind and induces sleep. As soon as you fall asleep, it introduces white noise for you to achieve an optimum level of sleep. iBand + improves the quality of your sleep thus extending the REM phase. The better you sleep, the easier you can lucid dream! 

Sleep meditation and lucid dreaming 

Many lucid dreaming devices sideline the fact that the main factor of lucid dreaming induction is formed in the minds of the sleepers themselves. Sleep meditation can prove to be highly beneficial in the process of introducing lucid dreaming on a regular basis. Thus, always keep an eye out for devices that support sleep meditation techniques. As not only will they speed up lucid dreaming induction, but also help you maintain adept sleep hygiene practices, thus making it a lot more reliable. For example, the iBand+ lets you define the dream cues, set the dream intention, and increase self-awareness in your dreams – crucial preparation tactics to become and stay lucid in your dreams. 

To conclude, the ability of an individual to lucid dream depends entirely on the individual’s ability to train their mind. Just like any other tech device, a lucid dreaming device can have a list of pros as well as cons. For such a device to work, the consumer has to be fully aware of the world of lucid dreaming and how it works. After all, practice, patience, and perseverance can also work wonders, when it comes to inducing lucid dreaming. A lucid dreaming device can most definitely boost your induction practices, but only if you choose the one that in turn helps you train, hone and sharpen your mind through achieving an optimum level of great sleep hygiene! 

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The above queries, worries, and questions have plagued lucid dreaming since the concept was discovered. But, did you know the very practice of lucid dreaming aka the ability of the dreamer to be aware that they are dreaming is ingrained in the most ancient Hindu and Tibetian Buddhist practices of ‘Yoga Nidra’ and ‘Dream Yoga?’ 

History depicts lucid dreaming in a very different light from what we know of today. Various research papers in present times suggest that – ‘ the philosopher Aristotle wrote: ‘’often when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream’’ Meanwhile, the physician Galen of Pergamon used lucid dreams as a form of therapy. In addition, a letter written by Saint Augustine of Hippo in 415 AD tells the story of a dreamer, Doctor Gennadius, and refers to lucid dreaming’ 

The 20th century was witness to the slow and steady rise of lucid dreaming as a wholesome, applicable concept. A Dutch psychiatrist and writer, Frederik Van Eaden coined the term ‘lucid dream’ in a newspaper article titled ‘Study of Dreams’ Since then, many researchers and scientists and dream/sleep analysts have dedicated their lifetimes to let this phenomenon gain momentum in the mainstream medical media. So, what exactly is preventing lucid dreaming from becoming a regular practice like Yoga or Pilates in today’s global scenario? Let’s find out! 

• Lucid Dreaming is the ‘leading cause’ of sleep paralysis

Even today, researchers and analysts are not entirely aware of what causes sleep paralysis. The Sleep Foundation Org. states that ‘sleep disorders and other sleeping problems have shown some of the strongest correlations with isolated sleep paralysis. Higher rates of sleep paralysis — 38% in one study; are reported by people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a sleep disorder of repeated lapses in breathing’ 

• Pills work best to induce lucid dreaming

Popularised by cinema and pop culture altogether, we are used to the habit of ‘popping a pill’ Yes, the internet is full of anecdotal reports of them working, some of the best minds in psychology credit the placebo effect for the effectiveness of the pill taken. Years of practicing, maintaining great sleep hygiene, and dream a journal regularly is some of the proven methods known to induce lucid dreaming. 

• Lucid dreaming disturbs mental health and peace

It is in fact, quite the opposite! If regulated thoroughly, using the right techniques to induce lucid dreaming can help you overcome fears, anxieties. Thus, making a positive impact on your mental AND physical well-being. 

• Lucid Dreaming can be exhausting

Any form of practice/exercise if done in excess has the ability to take a toll on your physical and mental health. Lucid Dream Society suggests and succinctly points out the following fact, ‘natural lucid dreamers, also called “perma lucid dreamers,” sometimes report that since they lucid dream every night, they can’t dream normally. They are not able to simply not remember their dreams, and “turn off” their lucid dreams. That makes them feel overwhelmed and perhaps mentally exhausted. However, if you are not a natural lucid dreamer, you shouldn’t worry about that. While it is possible to feel mentally exhausted by a lucid dream, the chances are meager’

• You can be a part of someone else’s lucid dream and vice versa

With many thanks to the hugely popular movie, Inception this myth has somehow reached far and wide, believed by many. The only way this can be made possible is by inventing a technology that can make this phenomenon possible. But for now, consider this myth busted. (Sorry, conspiracy theory enthusiasts!) 

•  Lucid dreaming can help cure illnesses

Lucid dreaming induced by various proven techniques can prove to be extremely beneficial for overall mental health, thus subsequently a part of physical health connected to mental well being. Chronic illnesses or continued severe physical pain needs immediate medical attention and can no way be expected to get cured by way of lucid dreaming. As put forth by Lucid Dream Society, ‘some people may feel they can heal themselves through with the help of lucid dreaming. However, one can only address his emotional issues in a lucid dream and not fully fix severe diseases’

Lucid dreaming is still an unexplored phenomenon. There are various tips, tricks, techniques, and even devices that can safely induce lucid dreaming, thus making it highly beneficial for your mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. 

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