Annotated Contents to

Lucid Dreaming

By Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D.

Chapter 1: Awake In Your Dreams

Introduction to lucid dreaming. Why be lucid? The uses of consciousness. Lucid dreaming and the potential for promoting personal growth and self-development, enhancing self- confidence, improving mental and physical health, facilitating creative problem-solving, and helping you to progress on the path to self-mastery.

Chapter 2: The Origins And History Of Lucid Dreaming

Aristotle on lucid dreams. St. Augustine and the nature of the eyes with which we see in dreams. Tibetan dream yogis and comprehending the nature of form and mind. Spanish Sufi Ibn El-Arabi and the value of controlling thoughts in a dream. Nineteen Century dreamers: Hervey de Saint-Denys and learning to dream consciously, van Eeden and the re-integration of psychic functions, Freud and awareness during dreaming. Ouspensky and half-dream states, Moers-Messmer and the use of "key words" to remember one is dreaming, Rapport and the delights of lucid dreaming.

Chapter 3: The New World Of Lucid Dreaming

Scientific studies of sleep and dreaming. Dreaming and REM sleep. The psychophysiological approach to dream research. The stages of sleep. Laboratory studies of lucid dreaming: the impossible dream proved true.

Chapter 4: Exploring The Dream World: Lucid Dreamers In The Laboratory

Mapping out the dream world. Dream time. Breathing. Singing and counting. Sexual activity. Significance: dreams are real to the dreamer, and produce real effects on the brain and body.

Chapter 5: The Experience Of Lucid Dreaming

Who is the dreamer? Cognitive functions: differences between waking and dreaming. Motivation and expectation. Varieties of action: The question of control. Emotional quality. Perceptual quality. Entry into the lucid dream state. Termination of the dream state. The Spinning Technique. A coherent knowledge of sleep life?

Chapter 6: Learning Lucid Dreaming

Learning to dream. Potential for lucid dreaming. Dream recall. Learning lucid dreaming. Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD). Future access to the lucid dream state.

Chapter 7: The Practical Dreamer: Applications Of Lucid Dreaming

The healing dream. Nightmares and anxiety reduction. Decision making. Creative problem solving. Rehearsal. Wish fulfillment.

Chapter 8: Dreaming: Function And Meaning

The Interpretation of Dreams revisited. The activation-synthesis model of dreaming. Dreaming to forget? The functions of dreaming and the advantages of consciousness. The meaning of dreaming.

Chapter 9: Dreaming, Illusion, And Reality

Dreams: the origin of the "soul"? Dream telepathy. Being out-of-body is all in your mind. Dreams and their relationship to physical reality. Critically questioning anomalies occurring during dreams. "Out-of-body" sensation vs. "out-of body" experience. Tibetan Buddhism and the subjective nature of all our experiences. Development of the child's understanding of dreaming. Consciousness as a mental model of the world. Dream body as representation of our actual physical body. "Leaving the body" in mental space, not physical space. Mutual dreaming? Shared dream plots vs. shared dream worlds.

Chapter 10: Dreaming, Death, And Transcendence

Dreaming and death. The association between death and transformation. Near-Death Experiences. NDEs exhibit varying degrees of completeness. Ring's five-stage continuum of OBEs. Noyes' pattern of favorable attitude change resulting from NDEs. Tibetan dream yoga: recognizing the entire universe of forms as illusory experience. Dreams of transcendence help us detach from fixed ideas about ourselves. Essential being transcends space and time.

Epilogue: Alive In Your Life

Are we awake? The Precious Jewel. An invitation to become involved in exploring the world of lucid dreaming.

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Last modified January 4, 1999.