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Did you know Stephen LaBerge has a patent on substances that cause Lucid Dreaming?

I found something really wild tonight.

I guess it’s old news since the patent is from 2003, but I see that Stephen LaBerge, the most famous lucid dream researcher and lucid dream author in the world, has a patent on “substances that enhance recall and lucidity during dreaming.”

Patent number 20040266659, to be exact.

Here’s a summary of his patent, in his own words:

“This invention relates to the field of Lucid Dreaming and the enhancement of dream recall and dream lucidity through memory enhancing drugs, including the class of substances that comprise Acetylcholine Esterase inhibitors (AChEls). Lucid dreaming involves dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming. AChE inhibitors (AchEl’s) inhibit the normal metabolic inactivation of Acetylcholine (ACh) by inhibiting the enzyme, Acetylcholine Esterase (AChE), leading to accumulation of Ach. AchEl’s are most commonly used to enhance memory, particularly in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Ach is also well known to be important in REM and thus is suggested herein to enhance dreaming and lucidity.”

Whoa! What did that just say?

(This makes me think of the movie Lawnmower Man, where the doctor gives Jobe drugs and then makes him a genius by combining it with virtual reality games.)

Pretty amazing stuff. If there’s anyone out there who could invent a lucid dreaming pill, I’d put my money on LaBerge.

You can read all the details of Stephen LaBerges lucid dreaming drugs patent here.

This got me curious - what other patents are there related to dreaming and lucid dreaming?

Quite a few actually.

We’ve got a patent for Equipment and methods used to induce lucid dreaming in sleeping persons, with LaBerges name attached to this one too.

This looks like a patent for the Nova Dreamer device, which detects REM and flashes a light with the idea that it will show up in the dream, and the dreamer will recognize this signal and know he or she is dreaming.

On a similiar but-this-probably-won’t-really-work idea, someone filed a patent titled Dream State Teaching Machine, which detects Rapid Eye Movement and then plays a prerecorded message in your ears via headphones, with the idea that you’ll hear it and become lucid.

There’s a not-too-exciting Dream Detection & Method System patent. Eh, next.

Ohhh - what’s this? Somehow someone got away with filing a patent for a Device that Records Dream Recollections ; also known as a tape recorder, or in this case, a digital recorder. What makes this different than a normal recording device? Not sure. Maybe because it looks like an alarm clock and sits by your bed?

Then this last one I found is pretty neat:

It’s called an “Apparatus for facilitating analysis of dream activity.” In more exciting terms, it detects your REM states, signals a sound to wake you when an REM period is over, and contains a voice activated recorder. The device is attached above your bed on the wall; the idea then is that it gently wakes you up once your dream is over and you can record your dream without even getting out of bed simply by using the voice-activated recorder.

I’d use it!

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Why We Dream: The Expectation Fulfilment Theory of Dreaming

Recently I discovered a new website called Why We Dream, which explains a new theory of dreaming known as The Expectation Fulfilment Theory of Dreaming.

This theory has been put together by psychologist Joe Griffin, co-author of the book Dreaming Reality, as well as the Director of Studies at MindsField college, and a big player in the field of psychotherapy in general, evidently.

I encourage you to take some time to read the entire theory as put forth on their website. I found it fascinating, well thought-out, and thought-provoking. I also appreciate that the theory specifically addresses lucid dreaming as a real phenomenon.

So What is the Expectatation Fulfilment Theory of Dreaming?

The website states 3 premises that summarize the theory:

• “Dreams are metaphorical translations of waking expectations”.

• “But only expectations that cause emotional arousals that are not acted upon during the day become dreams during sleep.”

• “Dreaming deactivates that emotional arousal by completing the expectation pattern metaphorically, freeing the brain to respond afresh to each new day.”

Below are the most interesting points I see in regards to this theory of dreaming.

Read up on the Why We Dream website and join in with what you think!

On Dream Interpretation and The Meaning of Dreams

“The key to identifying what the dream was about is its emotion.”

I think this is the most meaningful advice ever in regards to dream interpretation.

On Lucid Dreaming

“Theories of dreaming that do not allow for occasional lucidity are, necessarily, incorrect or incomplete, because lucid dreaming is an acknowledged phenomenon. Our view of the REM state and the function of dreaming does not exclude lucidity in dreams.”

“However, lucid dreaming is a fairly volatile and rare phenomenon, even for those who have experienced it, and so such hopes have not been realised.”

“Lucid dreaming occurs in the REM state like any other phenomenon involving memory, metaphor and imagination. The same effects can be achieved through hypnosis, a focussed state of attention that artificially accesses the REM state. Knowledge of how to do this has been around for perhaps 40,000 thousand years.””

Ah! Finally - a theory that actually addresses lucid dreaming without dismissing it!

But wait! Doesn’t that last bit almost sound like a dig at lucid dreaming?” i.e. “The same effects can be achieved through hypnosis…” Huh?

On FLYING in Lucid Dreaming

This one caught me off guard!

The author implies that flying in a lucid dream is common because we are touching upon an ancient, pre-mammalian template in our brains for…swimming!

To quote:

“They describe their limbs as pulling or propelling them through the air, as though swimming. It’s as if an ancient premammalian template for swimming, left over from a time when our far distant ancestors lived in the oceans, is still able to be co-opted by the brain for a metaphor.”

On the Similarities Between Dreaming and Hypnosis

They state 3 similarities between the two states:

Amnesia - Time Distortion - Trance Logic

I love this last term, trance logic.

It aptly describes how when dreaming and when hypnotized, people accept whatever is going on. It’s as if there’s no backdrop of what’s normal to compare the experiences against, and thus everything is accepted as it is, without question, no matter how absurd.

Side note : Based on these three points, this list can also be expanded as similarities between dreaming, hypnosis, and tripping.

On The Relationship Between Dreams and Depression

This theory states that excessive dream sleep and “reduced slow-wave sleep” causes depression. Check out their video about dreaming and depression.

On Dreams Being Actually Not All That Bizarre

This one surprised me too. The author claims that dreams are actually overwhelmingly NOT bizarre; most dreams are dreams of our routine experiences. We simply tend to remember the incredibly strange dreams, and forget the rest.

Unless it’s just true that I forget most of my dreams because they’re boring, this one just doesn’t vibe with what’s in my dream journal, so I have am skeptical about this one.

On Dreaming and…(not) Going Insane?

One point that is actually pretty funny is that Joe Griffin claims that dreaming keeps us from going insane. By derousing the autonomic nervous system every night, our stress levels don’t overwhelm us to the point of insanity. Whew - That’s a relief.

Questions I have about this theory

If this theory is right, it would be possible to create a scenario to cause an unfulfilled emotion that would then, by default, be fulfilled within that night’s dreams.

So couldn’t we purposely create unfulfilled emotions to cause a certain metaphor in the dream? To in effect, pre-emptively control our dreams?

But then how can you create an emotion and not fulfill it, for certain, before going to bed?

And then how can you actively measure if an emotion is even fulfilled?

Questions I would like to ask Joe Griffin in an interview

1) Is there a relationship between the mechanism behind dreams and the mechanism behind individual psychedelic experiences? Could the content of the “trip” be determined in the same way our dreams are i.e. from the days un-fulfilled emotional arousals to the nervous system?

2) Is there a connection between having many dreams each night and then waking up with headaches? Could I actually be causing my headaches by intensifying or prolonging the REM state with my intention to have, remember, and control my dreams?

3) Can you explain what you mean when you equate the effects of lucid dreaming and hypnosis? Are you saying that the experience achieved through lucid dreaming can be achieved through hypnosis?

What do you think about this theory of dreaming?

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Is There a Link Between Dreaming, REM, and Depression?

This idea is related to the Expectation Fulfillment Theory of Dreaming.

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Using AudioStrobe Music With My Sound and Light Machine

I got my Sirius Sound and Light Machine for Christmas about 6 months ago. I’ve found some very pleasurable uses for it but now I love it even more as I’ve discovered just how freakin’ awesome AUDIOSTROBE technology is in combination with the Mind Machine!

What is Audiostrobe Technology? Well, simply put, an Audiostrobe CD is specially encoded to synchronize the LED lights with the music.

Imaging putting on your headphones and glasses, closing your eyes, focusing your breath, and finding yourself utterly relaxed listening to beautiful, trippy music with an amazing lightshow, all moving in sync together. It’s like the whole Mind Machine concept taken up to a new level!

Now that I’ve discovered this technology, a Sound and Light machine WITHOUT Audiostrobe capabalities seems to be missing something really important.

Right now all I’ve got is an Audiostrobe sample CD with 4 songs on it; once I get some cash, I’ll be buying either 1 cd or a boxed set.

Have you had any experiences with AudioStrobe music and your Mind Machine?

What’s the best Audiostrobe CD out there?

Please leave a comment with your experiences.

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Bi-Weekly Dream Report: B6 Dreams, Teeth Falling Out, People Dying, and I’m Back in School. Again, and Again.

Since my last dream report roughly a month ago, I’ve been good and written down my dreams nearly every night, had some fun with B6, and paid attention to two themes that just kept coming up in my dreams: work and school, the latter of which is strange since I finished high school in 1999 and attented a tech school for just 18 months in 2004.

Work.

Lots of dreams where I’m at work or interacting in non-work situations with the people I work with. Some of the dreams are stressful, surely a metaphor for the stress of work, but others are just casually strange with little emotion attached to them. Weird. Kinda boring too! I already work 40 hours a day - must I dream about it too?

School.

I have so many dreams where I’m back in school again!

Usually I’ll find myself back in high school, although people I know from both middle and high school make appearances. Even a random girl from third grade showed up in a dream. I don’t recall thinking of her in years nor was she anyone I thought much of back then, just a classmate. Amazing how the mind pulls up such memories!

These dreams about school are starting to run into one another - after waking up I have the distinct feeling that the dream I’ve just had was part of a dream about school from before, and looking back in my dream journal, I can see I did have two dreams a few weeks a part about failing a class and wanting to just start over from scratch rather try and catch up. I’ve not noticed any continuity in my dreams before - and these dreams weren’t exactly like one long storyline, but they were very familiar and similiar in both content and location, so this is very strange to me.

I counted - since June, I’ve had 7 dreams that took place back in school, and 2 dreams taking place elsewhere but had people from school in them.

More Vitamin B6 Dream Experiments

I also did some B6 dream experiments for 3 nights in a row.

B6 definitely can have a crazy effect on my dreams, especially that first night.

(Click here for a more detailed B6 experiment I did last year.)

Here’s a short summary of a 3 day experiment :

• Night One: 250MG B6

I had so so many long, detailed dreams, it’s hard to say where one dream ends and another begins.

So, I counted locations instead and found I was in 8 different locations throughout my dreams.

This was one of the nights I dreamt about school. The dream was extremely long and detailed and featured an abnormally large amount of dream characters.

Ultimately it was a metaphor for getting out of my old bad neighborhood, and the sympathy I feel for those still living there. I cannot emphasize how much in the dream I understood what it was like to be oppressed and trapped, but not even know it; it’s just something you’re a part of. It’s just your life.

This was one of those rare and amazing dreams where, upon waking and remembering it, you know you really truly felt something in the dream, something tangible and real, even if it was just emotion.

• Night Two: 300MG B6

5 scenes. More dreams about class and a snake that was hundreds of feet long.

• Night Three: 350 MG

Went to bed with a bloated stomach and was also very upset about something. Hardly recalled any dreams but damn can you believe it - had another dream with people from my high school. They were both people I see on myspace but don’t talk to their nor in real life.

Dreams of Note

• I had the classic dream of MY TEETH FALLING OUT.

My two front teeth simply fell out. I was so so distraught over this and kept running my tongue over my empty gums, telling myself this can’t be real, this can’t be happening, over and over.

Then I partially woke up and could feel my real teeth, and what a wonderful sigh of relief this was to know they were still attached to my gums.

• I dreamed that MY WIFE DIED.

It was a horrible, horrible dream. She had died and the agony was brutal. I lost it - animalistic sobbing, primal pain and suffering.

I find it fascinating that I can experience such horrible emotional agony in dream, and I don’t understand the reason for consciously making your dreams pain-free.

• I dreamed about a shamanic ritual to the Gods.

It was beautiful, almost like a movie; wonderful cinematography, angles constantly changing, wide views of natural landscapes, timed sequencing of bow and arrows shooting, a Shaman singing a sacred song - perhaps this was the Shaman’s Icaro?

Overall, a beautiful and peaceful dream.

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