I’ve read about a lot of different methods to increase the number of lucid dreams you have. Most of them require serious commitment, though, and before I take one up I want to know if it actually works. Is there a method that really helps you have lucid dreams? –Derek Murphy, via e-mail
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No, dolt. Lucid dreaming is a paradoxical state in which the window of consciousness is seemingly closed to the outside world but open to an inner one. Lucid dreamers know they’re dreaming, and if truly adept can return to the same dream night after night and manipulate the content, all without waking up. Sounds like a nifty skill, and life-changing benefits are ascribed to it. But many people, like Anthony, have a more basic concern: far from having enough on the ball to dream-surf, they barely remember their dreams at all.
The best-known guru of lucid dreaming is Stephen LaBerge, author of several books on the subject and founder of the Lucidity Institute in Palo Alto, California. LaBerge’s qualifications are twofold: first, he’s a PhD in psychophysiology who conducted dream research for many years at Stanford University, and second, he’s a veteran lucid dreamer who over a seven-year stretch recorded nearly 900 lucid dreams.
If you ask me, therefore, the first step in lucid dreaming is deciding whether you’re a likely candidate. LaBerge says you need two things: high motivation and good dream recall, not good news for us Anthonys. To improve in the latter department, the Lucidity Institute recommends setting your alarm for some multiple of 90 minutes after bedtime in hopes of waking yourself up during a REM interlude. I don’t claim it’s pointless to try; on a purely practical level, research indicates lucid dreaming can help control chronic nightmares. I merely suggest that a knack for lucid dreaming seems a lot like perfect pitch–cool if you’ve got it, but not the end of the world if you don’t.
