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Lucid Dreaming 

Training in the Oneiric Life: A Psychophysiological and Humanistic Study of Tibetan Buddhist Lucid Dreaming Practices

This study investigates neurophysiological, phenomenological, and text critical approaches to dream yoga, a Tibetan Buddhist contemplative lucid dreaming practice. By comparing prescriptions of techniques from historical dream yoga manuals with neurobiological measures of expert dream yoga practitioners in the sleep lab and micro-phenomenological reports of dream experiences, the study seeks to understand its procedures and effects. Classical accounts of dream yoga describe perceptual shifts in waking life among practitioners while lucid in a dream, conducive to psychological flexibility, creative imagination, somatic awareness, and overall wellbeing. 

In the sleep lab, our collaborators at Northwestern University monitor brainwaves, heartbeats, and respiration signals of adept dream yoga practitioners. Auditory sounds are played to queue moments of lucidity for the dreamer, in which they perform a contemplative task. The dreamer is further trained to signal completion of the task by moving their eyes left and right while their eyelids remain closed. This protocol enables real-time two-way communication during dream experiences. Dream sessions are followed by in-depth micro-phenomenological interviews to detail the subjective accounts. Participants report a battery of measures related to enhanced cognitive pliancy, emotional resilience, heightened creativity, and other plausible effects. The neurophysiological and phenomenological data is mapped to analogs in historical Tibetan language dream yoga manuals in translation to characterize a profile of this contemplative sleep practice. 

Collaborators

 

VR Meditation - Lucid Dreaming

Transformative Benefits of Contemplative Sleep Practices: Novel Pathways to Deliver Benefits to the General Public

Inspired by historical dream yoga practices, this study investigates a Virtual Reality meditation designed to simulate lucid dreaming. It seeks to understand how dreaming may hold a key to overcoming the many assumptions that tacitly guide people’s waking lives. We leverage VR technologies to induce embodied and experiential openings of lucidity within one’s waking life to support the transformation of ordinary habits of perception and cognition. The VR experience is designed to cultivate contemplative life skills by performing specific contemplative tasks while lucid in a dream-like, interactive, immersive virtual environment. We measure the effects this intervention has on participants’ ability to cultivate associated skills, including psychological flexibility, creative imagination, somatic awareness, and overall wellbeing.

Collaborators