Dream Spinning Some years ago I had the good fortune to discover a highly effective technique to prevent awakenings and produce new lucid dream scenes. I started by reasoning that since dream actions have corresponding physical effects, relaxing my dream body might inhibit awakening by lowering muscle tension in my physical body. The next time I was dreaming lucidly, I tested the idea. As the dream began to fade, I relaxed completely, dropping to the dream floor. However, contrary to my intention, I seemed to awaken. But, a few minutes later I discovered I had actually only dreamed of awakening. I repeated the experiment many times and the effect was consistent--I would remain in the dream state by dreaming of waking up. However, my experiences suggested that the essential element was not the attempted relaxation but the sensation of movement. In subsequent lucid dreams, I tested a variety of dream movements and found both falling backward and spinning in the dream to be especially effective in producing lucid dreams of awakening. Here is a method for spinning to remain in the dream state:
The Spinning Technique
1. Notice when the dream begins to fade When a dream ends, the visual sense fades first. Other senses may persist longer, with touch being among the last to go. The first sign that a lucid dream is about to end is usually a loss of color and realism in your visual imagery. The dream may lose visual detail and begin to take on a cartoon-like or washed-out appearance. You may find the light growing very dim, or your vision becoming progressively weaker.
2. Spin as soon as the dream begins to fade As soon as the visual imagery of your lucid dream begins to fade, quickly, before the feel of your dream body evaporates, stretch out your arms and spin like a top (with your dream body, of course). It doesn't matter whether you pirouette, or spin like a top, dervish, child, or bottle, as long as you vividly feel your dream body in motion. This is not the same as imagining you are spinning; for the technique to work, you must feel the vivid sensation of spinning.
3. While spinning, remind yourself that the next thing you see will probably be a dream Continue to spin, constantly reminding yourself that the next thing you see, touch or hear will very probably be a dream.
4. Test your state wherever you seem to arrive Continue spinning until you find yourself in a stable world. You will either still be dreaming or have awakened. Therefore, carefully and critically test which state you are in (see Chapter 3). Commentary
If I think I have awakened, I always check the time on the digital clock beside my bed. This usually provides a foolproof reality test.
Frequently, the spinning procedure generates a new dream scene, which may represent the bedroom you are sleeping in, or some more unusual place. Sometimes the just-faded dream scene is regenerated in all its vivid glory.
By repeatedly reminding yourself that you're dreaming during the spinning transition, you can continue to be lucid in the new dream scene. Without this special effort of attention, you will usually mistake the new dream for an actual awakening--in spite of manifest absurdities of dream content!
A typical false awakening would occur if, while spinning, you felt your hands hit the bed and you thought: "Well, I must be awake, since my hand just hit the bed. I guess spinning didn't work this time." What you should think, of course, is "Since the spinning hand that hit the bed is a dream hand, it must have hit a dream bed. Therefore, I'm still dreaming!" Don't fail to critically check your state after using the Spinning Technique. From: S. LaBerge & H. Rheingold, (1990). EXPLORING THE WORLD OF LUCID DREAMING. New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-37410-X |
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