Lucid Dreaming
OK so it's been years since I've piddled with lucid dreaming. Once I found my wife and had kids, I'm lucky to remember my dreams, much less become lucid in them. However I dug something out of the closet last night that just might fix all of that...
My good old 2001 NovaDreamer!
If you don't know much about the product, it's no longer available, although with a quick Google I found the next generation version which does appear to be available (same price as my NovaDreamer ran me 6 years ago).
Click here to look at the product and watch a video of a news clip about it. I haven't kept up with what today's lucid dreaming technology is, but I know that the Novadreamer, aside from being a bit uncomfortable at first, was wonderful. I adjusted my program for high intensity light and sound, as I'm not sure where exactly on the scale of light to heavy sleeper I am (I assume more on the heavy side), put them on, and found out to my delight that for the first time since I became a side-sleeper (2 years ago), I actually had an advantage. The Novadreamer used to become incredibly uncomfortable to me when I slept on my back, due to where the straps velcro in the back of the head. Sleeping on my side, there was no pressure, and the mask was actually very comfortable. I set my program, set the wake-up alarm, and went to sleep.
Now the wake-up alarm is an interesting feature. Developing dream recall is important for learning lucidity. However, it's difficult to start remembering dreams when you already don't. One way is to take a moment to remember them as you wake up each morning, but if you have a family and a job, this is very unlikely. When the alarm goes off, by the time you slap the snooze button, you lose the dream. So the wake-up alarm is a great way to develop dream recall. As you sleep, the mask detects when you enter REM. It then gives you the signal you tell it - lights, sound, whatever intensity, for however long. This signals you within the dream, once conditioned, to become aware of the fact that you're dreaming. What the dream alarm does is to wait five minutes after you are given a lucidity signal, then go off in an obnoxious manner guaranteed to wake you up. Now, you've just been awoken from your dream, which is the very best state in which to remember what you were dreaming. Think about if for a moment, jot it down if you feel inclined. Boom, you are developing dream recall.
One more really cool feature, probably my favorite now, is the reality test button on the front of the mask. You press it, your lights/sound combo goes off. The trick to this is that electronics are notorious for failing in dreams. Also, you will often awaken in your bed with your Novadreamer on, roll over and go back to sleep. The thing is, many times THAT is a dream, and you just don't know it. So when you wake up wearing your mask, hit the reality test button. The first time I tried this back in 2001, I was so irritated. I was already irritated that I was awakened and didn't have any memory of a dream and hadn't become lucid. So I hit the reality test button and nothing happened. This further irritated me, until I realized that the reality test button had just served it's purpose. I pulled off the mask and flew up through the ceiling.
See, when you awaken in a dream, it can feel as real as everyday waking life. If you are dreaming that you just woke up in bed, wearing your mask, and everything seems like normal, you won't even know you're dreaming. The reality test button allows you to catch these cognitive glitches and allow you to take advantage of a lucid dream that you thought was real. Instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, you can do all the things you wanted to. Ever since that incident (and several more like it), the reality button has been my favorite part of the mask.
If you're interested, look at that link I provided. You can also scan ebay for NovaDreamer, although they are kind of hard to come by. There's one right now going for $250 (regular price). I think on closer inspection that it's actually the newer model though. Of course, that's probably preferrable, but I'm going to stick with my old NovaDreamer. I still have to play with the sensitivity and lucid-signalling settings, as I woke up this morning to find the mask neatly folded and placed behind me on the table. I have no memory of taking the mask off during the night, and usually I would have just dropped them off the bed onto the floor to pick up. So something happened in the middle of last night that caused me to take them off, fold them neatly and place them behind me, all without waking up. At least SOMETHING happened. Tonight I'll tweak the settings and try again.
Happy Dreaming!
