Dream Research and Lucid Dreaming Links
February 27, 2008 by Ryan Hurd
Filed under Dream & Sleep Research
The blogroll was getting a little long in the tooth so I moved all of my links over to this dream resources page. My analytics are telling me that few people are clicking away from the blogroll anyways, which confirms the opinions of many experts that blogrolls are not effective when clumped into a link block.
Meanwhiles, check out this great consciousness studies podcast blog. The podmaster interviews writers and researchers about a diversity of topics, from abundance to lucid dreaming to yoga. Highly recommended listening.
New Feature on Dream Studies: Book Reviews
February 23, 2008 by Ryan Hurd
Filed under Dreamy Book Reviews
I just published my first book review on Dream Studies, hopefully the first of many more to come. This expands one of my primary goals on this site, to provide readers with access to excellent consciousness studies and dream studies material that can be otherwise hard to find on the web.
After all, when you do a google search on dreams you are likely to find a number of cheap ad-sense optimized webpages with bad dream interpretations that have nothing to do with contemporary research. I find this intolerable and I”m here to help separate the wheat from the chaff.
Kierkegaard for 2008
February 22, 2008 by Ryan Hurd
Filed under Consciousness & Health
I try not to be political on this blog, but I am an American currently subjected to absurd campaign overdrive for the upcoming presidential election. I”m convinced: a vote for Kiekegaard is a vote for a sustainable metaphysical framework. Now that’s real change.
(and my apologies to the French.)
REM is not the Man Holding Us Down
February 19, 2008 by Ryan Hurd
Filed under Nightmares & Dream Terrors
It’s been roughly 54 years since a young graduate student discovered and named REM sleep, which is commonly known as the “dream state.” While it is true that dreaming can occur in all of the sleep states (as cognition, mental imagery, and uncanny kinesthetics), it is REM that grants us the long dramatic dreamy narratives that we usually remember in the mornings.
REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement, and was named by young E. Aserinsky because, in this sleep state, every voluntary muscle in the body is in motor paralysis, except for the eyes. They roll back and forth wildly while the rest of the body remains frozen.
Lucidipedia Looking for Bloggers
February 11, 2008 by Ryan Hurd
Filed under Lucid Dreaming
Just discovered a new lucid dreaming wiki called Lucidipedia. They provide some great resources for lucid dreaming beginners, as well as an opportunity for more experienced dreamers to edit articles and become a part of the conversation. They also are looking for beginner lucid dreamers to blog for them while they take Lucidipedia’s training. If you”re interested, check out this blog post. Lucidipedia also has some downloadable media like a podcast how-to guide. Great material for the democratization of dreaming!
Dreaming as Shamanic Archaeology
February 3, 2008 by Ryan Hurd
Filed under Visionary Dreams
Just found an interesting article by Dr. Ron Masa about his practice of shamanic dreamwork. He tells a story about a women who discovered through her dreams a generations-old trauma that has been passed down through her father’s lineage.
Many psychologists have suggested that deep family-of-origin issues can be seen to manifest in our dreams, but this pattern of dream interpretation is usually overlooked. Masa suggests that dream interpretation is multi-layered, and never a simple equation. However, our heritage is certainly part of the story. He writes:
