Becoming Your StellarSelf

Yoga in Your Sleep

Stanford psychophysiologist Stephen LaBerge studies how people can learn to control their dreams through the use of lucid dreaming, a state of dreaming in which you are actively aware that you are dreaming. Besides helping you to overcome nightmares, LaBerge believes that lucid dreaming can help with many waking issues, including self-confidence, and improving mental and physical health. LaBerge has developed a technique called MILD (Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams), which is described in his book Lucid Dreaming. Before going to sleep, tell yourself that you will remember your dreams, and that while you are dreaming you will be aware that you are dreaming. Think about recent dreams you’ve had and characteristics that made them uniquely “dreamlike,” as opposed to your day-to-day reality. Now imagine what you would like to be able to do in your dreams (I’ve always liked the idea of being able to fly).

While LaBerge is a pioneer in lucid dream research, the idea of controlling your dreams and using them to enhance awareness and well-being is not new. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, dream yoga focuses on developing one’s ability to be fully aware during sleep. Practiced for over 1000 years, dream yoga has used lucid dreaming to break down our illusions and help us to attain enlightenment. Buddhism posits that reality arises from our perception of it rather than existing as an separate, objective physical reality. Because of this, Buddhists feel that there should be no distinction between dreaming and waking reality, and when we can learn to control our dreams, we can learn to overcome our attachments and illusions in our waking lives.

There is an excellent book on this topic, The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, founder and president of Ligmincha Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. Here is a quote from it:

"Being distracted by a cloud of concepts is a habit and it can be replaced with a new habit: using bodily sensual experience to bring us to presence, to connect us to the beauty of the world, to the vivid and nourishing experience of life that lies under our distractions. This is the underpinning of successful dream yoga."

Cats, Closets and Dreams

Last night I had a strange and vivid dream. I usually remember my dreams upon waking, but they usually fade away by late morning. However, this one stayed with me all day, and I kept coming back to the imagery -- rich, obvious and very Jungian. I have been trying to figure out what it means all day...

In my dream, I was traveling on business, and was renting a small apartment in a town I'd never visited before. Upon my arrival, the realtor in charge of renting the apartment showed me around, then told me that something unpleasant had happened, and that I may not want to look in the closet. I didn't ask any questions as to the nature of the incident.

Throughout the dream, I spent time with various colleagues, whom I had not met before this trip, and all made references to the closet. I recall thinking that while these people were nice, and I didn't mind hanging around with them during my visit, they weren't people I would have chosen out of the whole pool of humanity to be my friends. There was nothing specific that I didn't like about them, it was just a feeling.

Upon arriving back at the apartment with a colleague after having been out and about, I came in through a side door, which opened onto a set of stairs leading up to the living area. On the stairs was a very friendly cat. My colleague commented that the cat wasn't usually so friendly toward strangers. When we got upstairs, she mentioned the closet.

I woke up soon after this portion of the dream. I never did look in the closet. I had this strong feeling that not knowing would be way better than seeing whatever might be in there. I knew that if whatever-it-was-in-the-closet was incredibly disturbing, I wouldn't be able to stay in the apartment.

My surface analysis was that it was obvious that the closet represented a part of myself or my life that I have not explored. The scary thing in the closet is some aspect of myself that I am afraid to confront, feeling that it is better to deny it than to confront it and not be able to live with it. As for the cat, in many cultures they are seen as messengers or conduits to the spirit world -- good or evil. According to the Dream Moods website, "for the cat lover, cats signifies an independent spirit, feminine sexuality, creativity, and power."

However, although I've been meditating on my dream's possible meanings, I have not come to any conclusions. Seeing things clearly for other people comes quite naturally for me. What is it that I can't see about myself?

Don't Lose Any Sleep

I had two interesting sleep-research related experiences this past week. First, I got to test the new website for the National Sleep Foundation at their headquarters in Washington, DC. I have been a fan of their website for a few years now, as it is a great resource for research, advice and anything else you want to know about sleep. So, it was a privilege to have a chance to browse the redesigned site and give my feedback about navigability and overall design. As an added bonus, in exchange for my volunteer time, I got a cool book of New Yorker Magazine sleep and health-related cartoons, plus an interactive educational CD, Cycles of Sleeping and Waking with the Doze Family, which they sell in their online shop. Their first round of feedback on the new website is being done in person, but soon they will be putting out a call for online feedback. I'll keep you posted.

The other interesting find was a discovery relating to the work of Stanford University's William Dement, MD, PhD, who, among other accomplishments, is the world's leading authority on sleep, sleep deprivation, and the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders, founder of the world's first sleep disorders center at Stanford University, and scientific advisor for Sleep Quest, a website dedicated to the field of sleep medicine. One of his lectures is available on iTunes, part of an initiative created by Stanford University that includes several interesting offerings in a wide variety of subjects. I downloaded his lecture on sleep disorders.

You're Getting Sleeeeeeepy...

During the holiday season, when our schedules get busier than usual, stress and tension can keep us from getting the sleep that we need. And when we are stressed, that's when we need our sleep the most. A recent study done at the Univesrity of California, San Diego, showed that sleep-deprived participants performed worse on memory tests than participants who received eight hours of sleep. Other studies have shown that inadqueate sleep hampers our ability to produce brain chemicals that regulate mood. So, it's important to get enough sleep -- the last thing we need during the holiday season is to be grumpy and forgetful!

So, here are some tips for getting a better night's sleep:

1) Drink plenty of water. Dehydration increases fatigue.

2) Cut back on caffeine and other stimulants.

2) Exercise helps to reduce stress hormones, so it calms your mind and relaxes you, making you feel less stressed and allowing you to sleep better at night.

3) If you're having trouble getting to sleep, taking a warm shower or bath before bedtime, stretching, and then reading something boring, may help. You can also try warm milk or herbal tea.

4) The LiteBook website offers information on fatigue and light therapy, which can be especially helpful during the winter months.

5) Visualize. Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and spend a couple of minutes picturing yourself in a favorite place, like the beach or mountains. Continue to breathe deeply while you imagine the details of the place – the sights, sounds and scents. Relax...