Lucid dreaming: Our path to the unconscious
Simone Webber
Deutschsprachiges Realgymnasium Bozen, Dezember 2013
The aim of my project was in first place to inform others and myself about lucid dreaming, an
exhilarating experience. So I red some books and wrote the theoretical part of this schoolwork.
Furthermore, I wanted to research on my own. I did a little and unpretentious study concerning
three topics of my own interest: the effects of a dream diary, relation between memory and
dreams and the construction of our dreams. The empirical annex is the fruit of these efforts.
In this abstract, I want to introduce the theoretical schoolwork.
Definition:
Lucid Dreaming is defined as conscious awareness during the dream state. The lucid dreamer
knows that he is dreaming and that the world he is experiencing is one of his own creation. In
addition, the lucid dreamer is able to interact with his own inner world and explore the vast realm
of his unconscious.
Proving the existence of lucid dreams:
Stephen LaBerge (born 1947) gave first evidence for the existence of lucid dreams. Based on the
fact, that some of the eye movements of REM-sleep correspond to the direction of the dreamer's
real eye movements, LaBerge asked a team of professional lucid-dreamers to carry out distinctive
patterns of voluntary eye movements (left-right-left-right) as soon as their lucid dream begun. The
polygraph-record during REM-sleep indeed showed that the subjects carried out the prearranged
eye movements (left-right-left-right), proving that they had been lucid during REM-sleep.
Techniques to acquire lucidity:
There are several techniques to learn lucid dreaming. We distinguish between techniques, where
we preserve lucidity as we fall asleep and techniques, where we acquire lucidity during REM-sleep.
In addition, a dream diary is also of big importance to learn lucid dreaming.
How to act in a lucid dream and what lucid dreams are good for:
Immature acting in lucid dreams: examples  flying around, eating, sex. Good for: relax,
creativity, libido.
Mature acting in lucid dreams: speaking with own dream-figures, trying to understand the own
unconscious. Good for: new insights and perception of the own inner-world.
Areas of application: psychoanalysts use lucid dreams to cure people from returning nightmares,
some athletes train in lucid dreams.
The construction of dreams and the dream-perception:
The following two illustrations reveal:
1) How dreams are constructed.
2) How and what we perceive in our dreams.
Dream
Awake
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