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Thursday, October 9th, 2008Lucid Nightmares & Frightening Near Death Experiences
Today I want to talk about lucid nightmares using the metaphor of frightening Near Death Experiences (fNDEs). Both of these states of consciousness are under-reported, most likely due to the taboos I explored in Part I of this series.
In general, Near Death Experiences have been compared to lucid dreams for decades. In both of these [...]
Delving into the Cause of Nightmares
This is part two of my series on lucid nightmares. But first we need to take a sweeping look at how the nightmare in general is discussed and treated in contemporary psychology.
Technically, a nightmare is a dream that the sleeper finds disturbing, and is responsible for waking up the sleeper. Nightmares are scary, but biologically [...]
Lucid Nightmares - Participate in Dream Research
Want to participate in dream research? I’m now officially collecting dream reports for lucid nightmares, a type of lucid dreams that is often not discussed in the field of dream studies. I will present my findings next summer at the annual conference for the International Association for the Study of Dreams in Chicago.
This is the [...]
Calling All Dream Warriors
I had a really unsettling moment this week when I realized I’ve been unconsciously living out my life according to the plot of A Nightmare on Elm Street III: Dream Warriors.
As I was reminded in this hilarious post about the 1987 horror movie, the main character Kristen leaves her hometown to study dream research after [...]
Why do Nightmares Happen?
I missed this excellent podcast about contemporary nightmare research when it was released last fall. NPR interviews New York Times science journalist Natalie Angier and dream researcher Kelly Bulkeley about the whole mess: theories about the cause of nightmares, common nightmares, as well as how to deal.
Here’s the link for NPR’s Anatomy of your Nightmare.
Also, [...]
Babies and Nightmares: New Research Findings
Canadian dream researchers have confirmed a link between babies’ personalities and their nightmare frequency later in childhood, as reported in the January 1, 2008 issue of the journal Sleep. In general, anxious babies are more likely to continue having bad dreams and nightmares as they reach preschool age.
This study backs up Ernest Hartmann’s [...]
Solstice dreams
With the approaching solstice, the dreaming is stronger, if for no other reason than the nights are long. In pre-electric times, and traditional societies today, this is nature’s ways of saying go ahead and sleep in.
Meanwhile, hundreds of folks in Brittany will converge on the major megalithic sites for a time-honored solstice celebration. [...]
Free nightmare hotline still active
Halloween in the USA: basically it’s a nationwide sugar rush and an good excuse to dress up in a sexy costume. But don’t forget the origins of the holiday - that’s some scary stuff. Turn on the tube tonight and you’re likely to see more than your fair share of slasher flicks too. [...]
Monday, October 22nd, 2007Night terrors aka Sleep Paralysis
Gyrus from Dreamflesh made this connection between false awakenings and sleep paralysis: in both of these altered states, we feel like we are “awake” and aware of our surroundings. In a false awakening, this certainty of “awakeness” turns out to be a lucid dream about where we are actually sleeping. In sleep paralysis, [...]