Dreams and Consciousness

[astralpwka]

I hope this makes sense, it seems kind of awkward to put into words. Anyone have any experiences with the following, and can answer the question below?

So I know its possible to gain consciousness while sleeping, and to remain in a dream. It's called lucid dreaming. No biggie.

So how does one put oneself into a state of sleep at the beginning of the night, but keep the mind awake? To me, there is awake, then asleep, and asleep means the mind is out, until dreams kick in about three hours later.

But! If the mind can be active consciously in dreams, removing all awareness of the physical body and having the dream be real, shouldn't there be a way to enter a state of putting the physical body asleep, when you actually fall asleep at the very beginning of the night, and have the mind enter a similar place, retaining consciousness? I've heard that there is a type of yoga or mediation that seeks to remain conscious 100% of the time, even while asleep. Anyone have experiences with such?

 

[Piratecat]

...until dreams kick in about three hours later.

Hour and a half, actually. One sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes, consisting of moving through the sleep stages and ending in REM sleep. The longer you sleep, the greater proportion of your sleep cycle in spent dreaming in REM.

Sorry I can't answer the other part. Interesting topic.

 

[hong]

By means of dogged devotion and long hours of hard training, I have learned how to play tetris and minesweeper while asleep. It's quite the mind-expanding experience.

 

[astralpwka]

By means of dogged devotion and long hours of hard training, I have learned how to play tetris and minesweeper while asleep. It's quite the mind-expanding experience.

I was able to apply that same dogged, hard training to learn how to play Diablo 2 in my sleep...

 

[Impeesa]

Well sometimes in class I start to nod off, and my stream of consciousness basically goes straight from whatever I was doing before, to dreaming, and back to conscious again when the prof stops talking for a moment and my subconscious goes "crap, is he looking at me?" - no interruptions. This also happened the other night when I went to sleep... I was tossing and turning all night, sleeping about an hour at a time, which may have had something to do with it. Next step on the way to what you're describing is to learn lucid dreaming techniques - once you had that down, it wouldn't be too tough to maintain awareness through that kind of thing.

--Impeesa--

 

[astralpwka]

Next step on the way to what you're describing is to learn lucid dreaming techniques - once you had that down, it wouldn't be too tough to maintain awareness through that kind of thing.

Impeesa - I've got lucid dreaming down already. I can stay in a lucid dream for several hours (as far as I can judge time). It's something I've been doing for roughly 5 years. Anyway, I'm really interested in taking it to another step. the closest thing I've come across is consciously induced astral projecting, which the techniques of sound very similar to maintaining consciousness through falling asleep.

 

[Tallok]

I just saw a movie: Waking Life... I think it'd be of interest to you if you haven't seen it already.

 

[RangerWickett]

Hunh. I always thought the whole 'lucid dreaming' think was a crock of lies, more along the lines of convincing your mind that you're in control of your dreams, when they're still just dreams as usual. But then again, it's not like dreams are very logical, so I won't doubt you.

And they make for cool plot points. Ooh, you so just gave me an idea for my next adventure! It works so well . . . I must go post about it in General!

Thanks!

 

[astralpwka]

Hunh. I always thought the whole 'lucid dreaming' think was a crock of lies, more along the lines of convincing your mind that you're in control of your dreams, when they're still just dreams as usual. But then again, it's not like dreams are very logical, so I won't doubt you.

Haven't you ever had a dream where you realize that you're dreaming? Lucid dreaming is just one step further, and its not that hard to learn.

 

[cybertalus]

Haven't you ever had a dream where you realize that you're dreaming? Lucid dreaming is just one step further, and its not that hard to learn.

Got any tips for someone trying to learn to lucid dream? In the fifteen years or so since I first heard about lucid dreams, I've managed exactly three. I often have moments in my dreams where I question if I'm dreaming (particularly if I'm having one of my recurring dreams), but I always conclude within the dream that I'm not dreaming, and so don't go lucid.