Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming

In Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, LaBerge provides a detailed, albeit borderline "how-to" manual on lucid dreaming, which encompasses a wide variety of techniques, so there is definitely at least one that will work for everyone. Furthermore, LaBerge goes into a thorough description of the applications of lucid dreaming to real life, which proves to be quite interesting and even motivational in a very scientific approach. However, despite this and the very goal-oriented aspects of the book, this scientific approach proves to be very reductionist, so while still inspirational, one should look towards other literature for inspiration as well as motivation is a key component of lucid dreaming. From my personal experience with the book, I highly recommend this book for people new to the concept of lucid dreaming that would like to try it out. Through the incorporation of psychological studies, Tibetan dream yoga, other dream research and beliefs (such as that of Jung and Freud), and his own research at the Lucidity Institute in Stanford University, LaBerge has created a book capable of teaching even the most closed-minded of people to lucid dream. The book contains every main technique with clear instructions including a detailed description of the technique he pioneered, known as the Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams, or MILD. From the very beginning of the book, Dr. LaBerge reveals many personal experiences of other people who have written to him, thus providing a fantastical background on lucid dreaming and the expectations which can be enjoyed from reading this book. Furthermore, LaBerge also provides a FAQ for many skeptics of lucid dreaming (such as myself) who were unsure of the "risks" of lucid dreaming or whether they would be able to. LaBerge also provides a series of tips and tricks for beginners, such as keeping a dream journal, focusing on the idea of dreaming before sleeping, and "reality checks". The next few chapters provide detailed techniques to induce a lucid dream, specifically the WILD and MILD techniques. By Chapter 6, most of the induction techniques will be exhausted, and LaBerge then focuses on showing readers how to improve their achieved lucidity- how to retain their lucidity, prevent premature awakenings, awaken when desiring to do so, and guide dreams intelligently. Towards the last few chapters of the book, Dr. LaBerge even goes through many of the applications of the book, such as enjoyment in action, adventure, romance, and pleasure, spiritual growth, relieving oneself/exploring the dark side of nightmares, and rehearsal of daily life. The applications tie in the greater scheme of why one is to try lucid dreaming in the first place. After you have reached an advanced stage of lucid dreaming, the book invites you to take a new dimension with expansion of your ability regarding lucid dreaming to break all types of self-defined parameters. You can explore the dream stage to an even greater extent by constantly proving to yourself that you can go another step forward. Laberge discusses seeking out mutual dreams or trying to exercise precognition by getting a dream character to speak or write to you about a future incident. You may also try to alter the course of events of something happening in reality (LaBerge has a very fascinating personal experience with precognition involving his son and how he may have saved a life). In a quote from the book, LaBerge states, "According to `The Doctrine of the Dream State' an ancient Tibetan manual of lucid dream yoga, the practice of certain dream control techniques lead to the capacity to dream anything imaginable. Tulku makes a similar claim, `Advanced yogis are able to do just about anything in their dreams. They can become larger or smaller or disappear, go back into childhood and relive experiences, or even fly through space". Despite the seemingly extravagant claim, this is all very possible. The Tibetans heavily influenced LaBerge and today's lucid dreamers as they have been lucid dreaming for more than a thousand years. Their experiences and techniques have influenced many of the applications we believe in today and add further credibility to the use of these applications. Such applications proved to be extremely interesting, and all were further discussed with their own set of a "how-to", thus backed up by a good amount of fact. For example, in the idea of rehearsal of daily life, one could learn how to improve athleticism by learning dance moves or shooting a basketball over and over again. One could improve their confidence in these sports as well as other activities such as public speaking by having lucid dreams involving speaking in front of large crowds. Other interesting applications were problem solving and healing. A lucid dream can be a stage for all your problem solving purposes. Lucid dreams can provide countless trial and error situations to determine what kind of solution would work in reality. The metaphysical aspect of healing is discussed thoroughly as well, with interesting probed ideas such as whether or not the physical body can be healed of disease if the dream body is healed and whether various avenues of healing can be used in an attempt to help a particular ailing person. The metaphysical aspect I found most intriguing involved understanding the self. It was how LaBerge showed that lucid dreaming can have a deep spiritual effect toward understanding ourselves if we were to surrender our egos and allow our dream to take us somewhere rather than us trying to control it. Another quote taken from Tulku in this book, truly summed up the power of lucid dreaming; "Dreams are a reservoir of knowledge and experience, yet they are often overlooked as a vehicle for exploring reality." One of the greatest things I have garnered from reading this book is that we can learn so much from lucid dreams about life, death, and the time in between. If you are new to the concept of lucid dreaming, and would like to try it out, then this book is for you. Before reading I could only rarely recall dreams, and although I am still unable to lucid dream, it has only been a month and I can now recall dreams almost every night and even choose what I dream about before I sleep. I have yet to even try most of the techniques in this book, and I'm still very excited. The applications of this book are outstanding and the how-to sections make lucid dreaming very much possible for everyone. I suggest reading the book before sleeping and with an open mind. If getting bogged down by the steps, take a break and come back to it later. Lucid dreaming should be fun to learn, and from what I can tell, motivation and relaxation are key.

As someone well into their senior years I have been a voracious reader for more than 7 decades. My reading passions have included hardcore scientific subjects to the often-weird esoteric topics. One of my numerous interests have been astral mind travel and lucid dreaming. This is why while browsing on Amazon when I saw this 337-page paperback edition (Exploring the world of lucid dreaming by Stephen LaBerge, PhD. And Howard Rheingold) I decided to purchase it. I had read several other books on this subject, but I found this book to be one of the most detailed books I have ever read on this topic. It covers a wide range of topics that will keep you turning the pages. It also includes numerous practical exercises to achieve lucid dreaming. Some of the many topics i covered in this volume include: “The world of lucid dreaming, preparation for learning lucid dreaming, waking up in a dream world, adventures and explorations, the healing dream and many other interesting chapters. If you are seeking a good basic book on learning about lucid dreaming, you may want to check out this very informative book. Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Martial art and Warrior Haiku and Senryu).

This is THE essential purchase for the seeker of nighttime lucidity. LaBerge has traveled to the other side and beyond, and come back to tell the tale. What is more, he has the info to make not just a few hand-picked, sorcerer's apprentices lucid--he came to free us all! And the techniques work. Whether you are using Tholey's critical reflective attitude, practicing MILD, or falling asleep consciously with a Buddhist breath technique and meditation, you are moving towards lucidity. Two chapters are devoted entirely to induction techniques. TWO CHAPTERS. You're not finding that kind of depth in any other book (at least not the ones I have read). Furthermore, LaBerge supports his arguments from studies performed in the Stanford sleep lab, which adds a bit of scientific, empiricist ha-bla-bla, if that sort of stuff interests you. I like it that so many people manage to develop the techniques into a workable program. And you will enjoy LaBerge's eternally optimistic authorial voice. Any bad to this book? Not to my mind. I think we will all be a little happier when we are spending more time in the chapters following 3 and 4 (as opposed to living in 3 and 4 and honing the techniques) but that is hardly the fault of the book. Lucid dreaming does have a learning curve, and to my mind, this "curve" is one of the many areas of the practice that needs a chapter of its own (such as information on the pre-lucid and semi-lucid state-- the I-"know"-that-I'm-dreaming-but-never-realize-the-significance-of-the-fact situation). I do not recommend ONLY reading this book, though it is certainly possible that this might be your only book--especially if you pick things up quickly. Other books will certainly supplement your studies, but this is the only book you really need. If you want to have lucid dreams, buy this today.

Amazing book. Would recommend to others.

Imagine having a large toolbox with a lot of tools that are new to you. In it are a lot of useful tools for your job at hand, but so many look similar to other ones to where it can be confusing to know when to use what one. That's how this book works. Overall, this book is a really good tool box with a lot of explanation, but it's hard to fully understand how/when/if to use all of the "tools", or methods, in it. This book is kind of a catch-all to lucid dreaming. I believe that I have had quite a few lucid dreams before reading this book, but now I am certainly increasing my proportion of lucid dreaming, and my remembrance of dreams is increasing. This book will give you a lot, and I mean a lot, of different strategies and methods for many things regarding lucid dreaming. It can be a bit overwhelming trying to figure out what methods to use because this book provides so many; it seems to place an almost equal importance on many methods, making it hard to decide what to do for a lucid-dreaming strategy. However, I recommend looking up methods online as well, as many of the ones he goes through are explained on sites like reddit by others trying to lucid dream.

This is really well laid out, written in a way that keeps you interested, and best of all, it works! And it's all so simple! I used to have lucid dreams a lot as a child, and I wish that someone had taught me more about them. It's a wonderful adventure and escape from reality. Since reading this book I've had some hilarious things happen when I've become lucid. Things that shouldn't! For example, in one dream, once I realised that I was dreaming, I thought "This railing should become malleable now if I want it to." It didn't. I was a little outraged, but it happened again in another dream with a window frame. It remained completely solid. I wonder if it might be because I was flying in a plane both times and my sub-conscious wasn't willing to let me play like that. Must ask the author some day. My success came in a dream where for some reason I was with a group of people riding around in shopping carts. Go figure. I suddenly realised that I was lucid and called out to them that this was a dream, and if we wanted the shopping carts could fly. And off we went! Very funny to remember in the morning, and a good way to get one of 'those' looks from my husband ;) If you're interested in Lucid dreaming I thoroughly recommend this one. If you're toying with the idea of Astral Projection, but your fears prevent you from getting 'out there' this might be extremely helpful. I read in an Astral Projection book that lucid dreaming is another way of taking that next step. Sweet Dreams!

I purchased this book at a vunerable time in my life. I had never heard of Lucid dreaming but it sounded interesting when I accidently stumbled upon it so I thought'why not?" Well half way through the book I had my first lucid dream. AMAZING! I began writing down my dreams in the morning. Even a sentence or just a word I could remember from them at first. After a few days I started rememberng more details. I wrote them down for a week. Then I wrote a page of common links I kept seeing in my dreams (ie: rejection) It was always common. And a page of things I wanted to do if I ever became lucid. I re-read all of these things often and would say to myself outload many times a day " Am I dreaming?" If I was not, I would follow up with " are you sure?" So I layed in bed one night and tried the W.I.L.D technique. I started seeing vortex swirls and colours with my eyes closed but still awake. I was then thrust into a very life like dream. I asked myself if I was dreaming. I replied to myself that 'no! Of course I wasn't" I asked myself Are you sure? And suddenly I looked around and said "Oh my god, I am dreaming". Everything suddenly changed!!! I felt like I was not in the dream but in real life. I was lucid!! Immediatley as I looked around, the room I was 'standing in' fell away like it dismantled itself and the floor dropped away from under my feet. I was falling in pitch blackness and I could see a red light. I was yelling in my dream that I was awake, and I was so excited and then I woke up. So dissapointed but I felt euphoric for days afterwards. I have only had 1 other lucid dream. I realized I was dreaming, became lucid and woke up instantly from the excitement. I became busy and stopped puttting in effort to write down my dreams and so I've not had another, but I'm getting back into it now and this book is definitley a 'how to' guide. I would recommend it to everyone. Lucid dreaming is not scary, it is an overwelming sense of joy. Good luck to all.

within three days of implementing just a few of the exercises from this book, I began lucid dreaming! thank you, thank you, thank you...

The only thing I regret about purchasing this book is not purchasing it in the hardcover version, because it is definitely a keeper, one that's earned a place on my 'Absolute All-time Favourites' bookshelf. As someone with a fervent interest in dream psychology, particularly the concept of lucid dreaming, I've come across a LOT of hocus pocus New Age bogus type of writings on the subject. This book is NOT among those. LaBerge takes a practical and experiential—in contrast to the oft-encountered 'mystical'—approach on the subject. If you have any doubts as to whether lucid dreaming is achievable, be it in general or for you in particular, you need only practice the techniques and heed the advice. Personally, I found the 'reality tests' and the keeping of a dream journal to be the most critical exercises to getting you on the right track. All in all, patience, practice, and a regular sleep schedule will get you there! The other thing I loved about this book, perhaps even moreso than being able to achieve control over my dreams, is what it did for my general anxiety. As a high-stress individual, I’ve dealt with all manner of anxiety problems throughout my life. As such, I’ve also gone through all manner of self-help books. I don't know if it was the act or outcome of achieving lucidity in my dreams, or the process by which I got there, but something about it made me a far less anxious person and far more resilient to the stresses of my daily life.

Great book you learn how to get a lucid dream step by step it's worth every cent of my money normally I don't like books but I like this one🔥 If you want to know how to lucid dream then this book is a great option. If you still haven't hath a lucid dream don't give up keep trying and you will succeed!

I give this book 5 stars as it has an effect on you and helps your lucid dreaming journeys during reading its contents. Its short and sweet, and to the point. Some stuff can seem repetitive but it doesn't get irritating. A great balance of exercises, dream cycle and psychological explanations of dream patters e.c.t and first hand accounts of peoples experiences. I would recommend this read to anyone serious about exploring the world of lucid dreaming, though it's the only book I've read on the subject, it still works. Why fix it if it ain't broke, eh? I was having successful lucid dreaming experiences following its instructions and even half way through the book itself. Interesting and exciting subject to delve in, and you'd regret life without exploring it at some point.

この分野の第一人者、スティーブン・ラバージ氏による著作。「明晰夢-夢見の技法」で見られた学術・研究的な部分を簡略化し、実際に明晰夢を見るためのテクニックの紹介により重点を置いた実践マニュアルとなっている。 特に、ラバージ氏が開発したMILD(記憶による明晰夢誘導法)についての解説は上記の本より詳細であり、私もこの方法で何度も明晰夢を見ることができた。難しい単語が少ないので読みやすく、価格が安いのもポイント。ただし、「明晰夢-夢見の技法」と内容的に重複する部分もあるので注意。

Complete book. It has an practical approach. More experimental than "Lucid Dreaming". Here you will find techniques for living your dreams more vividly and free for explore!