After thinking it over, I figured that this would go best in Theory of Lucidity; you may have noticed it in the Quest, but it has seemed to mysteriously disappear before any sightings were reported…
And now it’s in the newest forum, General Lucidness! </BB edit>
On several occasions, I’ve read how meditation is related to lucid dreaming, and yet I haven’t questioned just how they were related until today. As someone who meditates, I have also noticed an increase in lucid dream frequency when I do start to meditate consistently. For the most part, I never gave it much thought, but instead I was simply thankful that I had found a sure way to have plenty of lucid dreams, and improve my life while I’m at it.
Finally, while I was relaxing on my couch earlier this evening, a thought suddenly hit me. Mindfulness. One of the main goals of meditation (there are several, but now isn’t the time to elaborate) is to achieve mindfulness and concentration in your daily life. Out of habit, most of us spend our lives immersed in out own thoughts without even realizing it. Rather than being mindful of our current situation, we’re normally distracted by all kinds of thoughts, that we didn’t even have direct control of in the first place! During Mindfulness of Breathing meditation, for example, the main goal is to remain focused on our breathing throughout the session. To any meditators out there, it’s no surprise that this isn’t as easy as it looks. We often end up getting distracted and heading away on a train of thought, and completely forgetting about the practice, until we suddenly remind ourselves what we should be focusing on.
The same goes for our habits in daily life. Just now I have wasted some time by becoming distracted while typing this—it’s true! Rather than focus completely on the situation at hand, most of the time we find ourselves getting caught up with all kinds of thoughts. Either we’re fantasizing about something we would like to happen, or we’re putting ourselves down, or perhaps thinking back to a past situation that didn’t go so well. Those are just some examples; the list goes on and on! Rarely do we completely focus on the situation around us.
So, what does this long winded post have anything to do with lucid dreaming? One could say that becoming mindful of your current situation is similar to becoming lucid. Normal dreams are analogous to distraction. We aren’t completely mindful of the current situation, in the least! Why is that? In the current situation, you’re dreaming, but you don’t even know it! That sudden moment that one becomes lucid is just like that moment during meditation that you suddenly realized that you have just spent the last few minutes in a state of distraction, and suddenly decide to become mindful of the situation. It’s just like the real life situation in which you’re supposed to be doing your work, and yet you’re daydreaming, but suddenly snap back into the real situation.
In this sense, lucidity is the same as mindfulness; you simply become aware of the situation, and that you are, in fact, dreaming.
Any thoughts?
Oh, I also nearly forgot to mention that during meditation we train ourselves to become more mindful and aware, which improves the odds of having lucid dreams. That is my possible explanation as to why meditation increases lucid dreaming frequency.
Any objections? Any actual scientific proof that shows that I’m onto something, or that I’m a complete idiot? Speak now, or forever hold your peace. :josh: