Stephen LaBerge Quotes

“Dreams are a reservoir of knowledge and experience yet they are often overlooked as a vehicle for exploring reality. In the dream state our bodies are at rest, yet we see and hear, move about and are even able to learn.

When we make good use of the dream state it is almost as if our lives were doubled: instead of a hundred years we live to be two hundred.

– Tibetan Buddhist Tarthang Tulku”

“The fact that both ego and self say 'I' is a source of confusion and misidentification. The well-informed ego says truly, 'I am what I know myself to be'. The self says merely, 'I am'.”

“How often are you aware of your surroundings, really aware? And how often are you merely reacting in the same automatic way as you do in dreams?”

“A period of wakefulness interrupting the normal course of sleep increases the likelihood of lucidity. In fact, the 'morning nap' or 'sleep interruption' technique, refined through several experiments conducted by the Lucidity Institute, is an extremely powerful method of stimulating lucid dreams. The technique simply requires you to wake from sleep one hour earlier than usual, stay awake for thirty to sixty minutes, then go back to sleep.”

“According to various surveys, the average dream is unpleasant. That average, of course, is of nonlucid dreams. As for lucid dreams, the opposite appears to be the case, with the typical emotional valence being unmistakably positive. Many lucid dreamers have remarked on the emotionally rewarding nature of the experience. The lucid dreamer is free to act out impulses that might be impossible in the waking state.”

“Another benefit of getting plenty of sleep is that dream periods get longer and closer together as the night proceeds. The first dream of the night is the shortest, perhaps only five to ten minutes long, while after eight hours of sleep, dream periods can last forty to sixty minutes. We all dream every night, about one dream period every ninety minutes. People who say they never dream simply never remember their dreams. You may have more than one dream during a REM (dream) period, separated by short arousals that are most often forgotten.”

“Asking the question at bedtime and while falling asleep is also favorable. Following this technique, most people will have their first lucid dream within a month,”

“Be aware that the expectation of possible awakening sometimes leads to a false awakening in which you dream of waking.”

“Before feeling the sincere desire to “meet yourself,” you may find the fulfillment of your ego’s wants and wishes far more compelling. This is natural, and it would probably be counter-productive and frustrating for you to try to pursue more sublime aspects of yourself when part of you is still crying for the satisfaction of drives and passions unsatiated in waking life.”

“Children tend to have more nightmares than adults, but fortunately they appear to have little difficulty putting into practice the idea of facing their fears with lucid dreaming,”

“Dreams are real while they last. Can we say more of life?”

“Escaping from a nightmare by awakening only suppresses your conscious awareness of the anxiety-provoking imagery.”

“Fear is your worst enemy in dreams; if you allow it to persist, it will grow stronger and your self confidence as well as your lucidity will grow correspondingly weaker.”

“For optimal dream recall, do not move from the position in which you awaken. hold completely still, and focus your attention only on what was just going through your mind. Avoid the usual pattern of thinking of the day’s concerns immediately upon awakening.”

“Getting plenty of sleep is the first step toward good dream recall.”

“Given the fact that our laboratory studies have revealed a high correlation between dream behavior and physiological responses, it seems justifiable to hope that healing imagery during lucid dreaming might be even more effective. You could conceivably carry out actions in your lucid dreams specifically designed to accomplish whatever precise physiological consequences you desire.

That leaves some fascinating possibilities for future research to explore: Can you initiate self-healing processes by consciously envisioning your dream body as perfectly healthy? If in lucid dreams you “heal” your dream body, to what extent will you also heal your physical body?”

“I believe nightmares become recurrent by the following process: In the first place, the dreamer awakens from a nightmare in a state of intense anxiety and fear; naturally, he or she hopes that it will never happen again. The wish to avoid at all costs the events of the nightmare ensures that they will be remembered.

Later, something in the person’s waking life associated with the original dream causes the person to dream about a situation similar to the original nightmare. The dreamer recognizes, perhaps unconsciously, the similarity, and thus expects the same thing to happen.

Thus, expectation causes the dream to follow the first plot, and the more the dream recurs, the more likely it is to recur in the same form. Looking at recurrent nightmares in this way suggests a simple treatment: the dreamer can imagine a new conclusion for the dream to weaken the expectation that it has only one possible outcome.”

“I determined that what stabilized the dream state was not relaxation but movement, or rather the sensation of motion. The best way to create a feeling of movement, especially if the dream scene has vanished, leaving nowhere to move to, is to spin like a top.

You are not really spinning, but your brain is well familiar with the experience of spinning and duplicates the experience quite well. In the process, the vestibular and kinesthetic senses are engaged. Presumably, this sensory engagement with the dream inhibits the brain from changing state from dreaming to waking.”

“If you choose to stay in the nightmare rather than waking from it, you can resolve the conflict in a way that brings you increased self-confidence and improved mental health. Then, when you wake up, you will feel that you have freed some extra energy with which to begin your day with new confidence.”

“In essence, the idea is to let your body fall asleep while you keep your mind awake.”

“In the more common of the two ways that people experience lucid dreams, the dreamer somehow realizes that he or she is dreaming while in the midst of an ongoing dream in uninterrupted REM sleep. This is termed a Dream Initiated Lucid Dream, or DILD.”

“It is clear today that the ecological and political situation of this planet will force upon humanity enormous changes within this coming century. Among the future alternatives are such extremes as have been phrased, 'utopia or oblivion'.

Certainly the planetary situation is one of unprecedented complexity. And just as certainly, what is needed is unprecedented vision: both to avoid catastrophe and to find the path to a better future. And it is the dream that holds the key to this vision, allowing us, in Dement’s words, 'to experience a future alternative as if it were real, and thereby to provide a supremely enlightened motivation to act upon this knowledge'.”

“Lucid dreams occur 'almost exclusively' during the early morning hours. Our research at Stanford indicates that extended stable lucid dreams seem to occur exclusively during REM periods. Moreover, later REM periods are more conducive to lucidity than are earlier REM periods.

Although it is certainly possible to induce lucid dreams during the first REM period of the night using MILD, it is much easier when practiced later in the sleep cycle, say after four and a half hours (REM period 3), or six hours (REM period 4).”

“Mnemonic induction of lucid dreams exercise:

1) Set up dream recall. At bedtime, set your mind to awaken from and to remember dreams. When you awaken from a dream, recall it as completely as you can.

2) Focus your intent. While returning to sleep, concentrate single-mindedly on your intention to remember to recognize that you are dreaming. Tell yourself, 'next time I’m dreaming, I will remember I’m dreaming', repeatedly, like a mantra.”

“Most of the dreams you recall will contain at least one but more likely several dreamsigns. Until you have developed at least a moderate degree of lucidity, you will almost never recognize these dream oddities for what they are, and this leads to a pitfall which can block progress until it is understood and corrected.

The mistake (common among novice lucid dreamers) is to focus on how uncritical their minds are during dreaming, using each missed dreamsign as another example proving that they never recognize dreamsigns. This is a mistake! If you do this, you use missed dreamsigns to learn that you are too unreflective, stupid, or simply lacking in the capability to become lucid.”

“Most readers will probably have experienced instances of the rehearsal function of dreams. By dreaming about a significant, upcoming event in advance, we can try out various approaches, attitudes, and behaviors, perhaps arriving at a more effective course of action than we otherwise would have.

We may also be forewarned of certain potential aspects in a future situation that we otherwise would not have imagined or considered.”

“Possibly, all you will need to do to increase your dream recall is to remind yourself as you are falling asleep that you wish to awaken fully from your dreams and remember them.”

“See yourself becoming lucid. As you continue to focus on your intention to remember to recognize the next time you are dreaming, imagine that you are back in the dream from which you just awakened. Imagine that this time you recognize that you are dreaming.”

“So how does one go about accepting Shadow figures in dreams? There are many approaches, all of which involve entering into a more harmonious relationship with the darker aspects of oneself. One direct and effective approach is to engage Shadow figures in friendly dialogues.

This will make a difference with most people you encounter in dreams (or waking life) and might have surprising effects when you try it on threatening figures. do not slay your dream dragons; make friends with them.”

“Sometimes while dreaming, we consciously notice that we are dreaming. This clear-sighted state of consciousness is referred to as lucid dreaming.”