How to be a Onironaut
Andrés Felipe Betancur
Colegio Espíritu Santo
Proyecto en ingles I Trimestre
A person that is tell to imagine that he can be in any place he wants and decide anything to
happen, that person will be confused and thinking the person that told him that is crazy, but the
reality is that any person can experience that, like in Matrix. First of all, each person in the world
and history, has dreamed, no matter if in that moment was remembered, is interesting to see how
intelligent and capable is our brain to create an instant of any memory or thought haved recently.
A dream has a unique characteristic, meanwhile the dream is developing, in one moment a
person can be aware that he is dreaming, but he can’t do anything to change the actions of the
dream only “spectate”. Sometimes in that precise moment the person wakes up. Through the
history and in this moment “half of the population has experienced a lucid dream” (Kee, 2016)
but what is a lucid dream?
But to understand the lucid dreams, is pertinent the knowledge of the phases of sleep. There’s a
classification of dreams; REM (not the band) or not REM, REM means by Rapid Eye
Movement that is divided in 4 phases:
1. No REM it’s when the person is beginning to sleep
2. It’s the transition between vigil and dreams
3. This phase let the body rest completely and get energy back
4. Briefly, deep dreams
(NA, 2018)
The lucid dreams happen between phase 1 and 2. Already in mind the phases of dream, a lucid is
“The levels of lucidity cover a very wide range of experiences, from having a nightmare and
waking up when we realize it, to recognizing the dream as such, remaining conscious within it and
changing its content with the power of intention.” (Iñaki Martín-Subero) (Sanchez, 2017). Just
take a time and analyze how, when, where, and what will have your lucid dream, according to the
definition already said. Now, how do the lucid dreams where discovered if each person at least
one time in a life have one of these, who will believe a person that say “when I was sleeping, I
thought I was in real life, but no, instantly I saw that I was driving a car that was flying in the space
and I could decide where to go and what happen in the trip” it’s difficult to believe that honestly,
only by the fact that he can decide what to do in the dream and feel that he was in the real life, but
how the lucid dreams were proved?
There not an exact moment where the lucid dreams where discovered, but the first place it was
mentioned was in the ancient Greece with Aristotle and Homer, saying that the dreamer can be
coincident of what is dreaming. Scientifically, the lucid dreams where prove by William Dement
and H. P. Roffwarg “the direction of eye movements recorded during paradoxical sleep sometimes
coincided with gaze orientation in sleep, as recorded in the subjects' reports. This finding provided
the key to communication from the lucid dream state, as this made it possible to agree on a specific
sequence of eye movements that the subject would send during a lucid dream and that would be
recorded by means of a polysomnography test.” (Bulkeley, 2020) . Culturally, is very used in
cultures like Tibetan Buddhism or in the practice of Yoga, each one of those with a different
propose and intention.
In this article was told what, the history, phases in a lucid dream, so here are some useful methods
and techniques to have a lucid dream; every person that want to have a lucid need to know
that is not easy, it requires practice, patience and time. An important to have these types of
these is question the reality, I am really awake? Or I am dreaming? A useful technique is
to start the habit of cover your nose with your fingers and try to breathe, if the person can
breathe it mean you are in a dream if not is real life. Another method, is to declare before
take sleep “I’m going to remember what I dream”, these methods can be more effective if
the person set an alarm earlier he wakes up, when the alarm sounds wake up and start
sleeping again after saying “I’m going to remember what I dream”. All these methods used
together can become anyone into an onironaut (people who have lucid dreams). (NA, BBC,
2019)
Bibliografía
Bulkeley, K. (9 de Julio de 2020). psychologytoday. Obtenido de
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dreaming-in-the-digital-age/202007/thelegacy-william-dement
Kee, C. (16 de 4 de 2016). BuzzFeed. Obtenido de https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolinekee/datosde-sueuos-lucidos-que-te-haran-cuestionar
NA. (29 de Septiembre de 2018). EnFamilia. Obtenido de https://enfamilia.aeped.es/vidasana/fasessueno#:~:text=El%20sue%C3%B1o%20se%20puede%20dividir,cuerpo%20utiliza%20p
ara%20descansar%20f%C3%ADsicamente.
NA. (27 de Abril de 2019). BBC. Obtenido de https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-48017833
Sanchez, A. (2 de Febrero de 2017). La Vanguardia. Obtenido de
https://www.lavanguardia.com/vivo/psicologia/20170203/413795947470/que-son-lossuenos-lucidos-y-como-podemos-conseguirlos.html