How to distinguish a dream from reality. Strange ways dreams and reality intersect Dreams are therapeutic

When you are in a dream, it is difficult to understand that what is happening is illusory, the world created by the imagination looks so real. However, if you take a closer look, the signs of fantasy reveal a dream. To understand how to distinguish a dream from reality, you need to use numerous recommendations from experts. Over time, the fictional and real worlds will no longer confuse you.

The first thing that allows us to distinguish the fictional world from the real one is self-awareness. If a person realizes that he is dreaming, he can modify his own dreams. Recognizing a dream is not easy. As soon as you are overwhelmed by the feeling of the illusory nature of what is happening, ask yourself the question: are you dreaming? Remember what happened a few minutes, seconds ago. During dreams, there are no memories; a person is only in the present.

Don't try to pinch yourself. On an intuitive level, you remember the feelings associated with it. The brain will send signals that can deceive the senses of touch, smell, etc. Therefore, trying to take off will not help you understand your dreams. The person knows that this is impossible in the real world. The subconscious will not allow flying in a dream.

The problem with lucid dreaming is a decrease in concentration. The senses that allow us to analyze the situation become dull. A person does not think about whether he is sleeping or not, even if he dreams of something impossible. Therefore, it is difficult to carry out dream tests.

The method of unique beacons is popular. Think in advance about which objects should evoke a clear association with sleep. It could be a thing, a color or a person. As soon as you see this, your brain will send a signal to analyze what is happening. Then try to use one of the ways to understand the real and fictional world.

How to distinguish a dream from reality

Numerous experiments with dreams have discovered general laws that operate while the body is resting. Night fantasies cannot go beyond certain physical laws. Remember them if you want to understand how to distinguish a dream from reality:

• Perform a breath test by pinching your nose and closing your mouth. If there are no problems and air enters the lungs, you are sleeping;
• find a mirror and look at the reflection. In reality, it remains clear, without changing. In a dream, the reflection is blurred, blurred, and constantly deformed;
• remember how you remember the place you are in. In a dream, furnishings and the arrangement of rooms will differ from the present;
• pay attention to your hands. In the illusory world, they will float like an image in a mirror, or pass through each other. You won't be able to count your fingers either;
• An easy way is to look at the nose while closing one eye. In reality this is simple, but in a dream it is impossible;
• find the clock, look at the hands. They will behave incorrectly - they will either start spinning wildly or stop;
• It will not be possible to read one inscription more than once. The next time you try to look at it, the letters will change, the meaning of the phrase or word will be distorted.

Reality Check Practice

The practice of checking in the real world will help to separate fiction and reality. Start working by being awake. For example, from checking inscriptions. Read any phrases or words that come your way. Do this several times in a row, bringing the habit to automaticity. If you see an inscription in a dream, you will read it a couple of times without thinking. When you realize that the letters have changed, you will think about the unreality of what is happening.

Another way to train is to try to take off. Stand on the floor and jump, setting yourself up for the possibility of flight. The more often you carry out such tests, the greater your chances of taking off in your dreams.

Determine what reality you are in using several tests simultaneously. Combine reading the inscriptions with viewing a mirror image, trying to remember the previous scene. It will be impossible to distinguish fiction from reality the first time. Frequent and regular training is required. Also in a dream, pay attention to the following points:

• distant objects cannot be seen, they begin to elude the eye;
• try to run fast. In dreams, two scenarios are possible. Either you will not budge, or you will instantly move to any, even distant, point;
• in a dream it is easy to walk through walls, breathe under water, look at the bright daytime sun without pain in the eyes;
• flip the light switch. Most likely it won't work.

Although other people are most often present in dreams, the dreamer notes the asymmetry of their faces.

Lucid dreaming, scientific research

Scientists have been developing a method for immersion for several centuries lucid dream. People have tried to control the imagination since the 18th century. Then the Italian Luigi Galvani conducted an experiment that discovered “animal electricity” to the world. The scientist found that the body of a living creature produces electricity, and its source is nerve endings.

In the 19th century, the development of technology allowed us to take a step forward. Scientists were able to measure the electrical activity of neurons in any area nervous system. Already in the 50s of the 20th century, developments were used in the discovery of sleep phases. After this, attempts to find out what controls dreams were made repeatedly.

The real breakthrough in lucid dreaming occurred only in the mid-70s. English university scientist Ket Hearn conducted an experiment in which he studied pre-planned eye movements while in a state of sleep. Subsequently, the experiment was repeated by another English experimenter.

Trying to understand the origin lucid dreams, researchers have repeatedly conducted various experiments involving sleeping people. In Frankfurt, experiments demonstrated that the states of wakefulness and sleep are recorded in the range of 40 Hz in frontal lobes brain At this time the subject was in borderline state between wakefulness and sleep. During moments of lucid vision, areas of the brain responsible for consciousness show greater activity.

Parapsychologists were interested in the practice of lucid dreams. Several authors have published books describing own experience immersion in controlled visions. The works of Celia Green, Anne Faraday, Patricia Garfield and even Carlos Castaneda had a great influence.

The American mystic claimed to have presented in his books an account of the field of mysticism and occultism. He published his work on lucid dreaming in 1993. It describes in detail the practices that should be performed in sleep. Castaneda considers his method a way of going beyond the perception of familiar reality in order to understand how things work true peace. In this, his opinion differs from the opinions of parapsychologists who consider lucid dreaming as a closed area of ​​mental activity.

The practice of lucid dreaming has much to do with countless attempts by scientists to combine the conscious and subconscious. Many researchers are making ambitious plans according to which a person will sooner or later be able to live simultaneously in two worlds - fictional and real. Conscious visions are the first step towards realizing this vision.

A lucid dream (LD) is a special altered state of consciousness, which is radically different from ordinary sleep. In a lucid dream, the reality and clarity of perception of the surrounding space is not inferior to the objective one, and sometimes even seems even brighter than in the physical world. At the same time, the sleeper remembers that he is sleeping.

Remembering or entering the OS from an ordinary dream feels like passing through a pipe: as if something is being sucked into another, a parallel world. This world is impermanent and changeable, unlike the earthly world, and therefore awareness can be maintained here only with full concentration of attention.

Attention management and lucid dreaming practice

Lack of concentration turns the OS into an ordinary dream, therefore many dreaming techniques are aimed at developing the ability to control one’s attention: through contemplating objects or stopping internal dialogue. These techniques develop the habit of bringing yourself back to your goal, which increases awareness, which works both in reality and in dreams. One of the methods of entering a lucid dream is to develop the habit of checking reality for authenticity, asking yourself the question “am I dreaming?” or returning oneself to the state of presence - “I am.” This habit increases the chances of remembering yourself in a dream and going into the OS.

Concentration in a lucid dream: capturing reality

Fixing attention on the hands is one of the effective methods, used by practitioners to maintain their attention in a lucid dream. After all, logging into the OS is only the first step. And it is also important to be able to not fall back into sleep immediately after entering. For these purposes, touching dream objects or examining them in detail will help.

Concentrating on the objects of a lucid dream helps maintain the relative stability of the dream reality, preventing it from constantly floating. The surrounding space in a lucid dream is held by consciousness, but it can also be a clue to which consciousness holds on, maintaining its awareness. Although, in the second case, hands are still a more universal object for fixation, because they are always with us. However, in OS it can also happen that there are no objects for fixing attention, although these are isolated cases.

From personal experience

One day I seemed to be in a very unusual lucid dream. Everything around was absolutely white. At first my consciousness decided that the space around was limited by white walls, but when I tried to feel for at least some solid foundation, it turned out that there was none: there were no walls, no floor, not even my own body.

If we draw parallels with the esoteric systems of the hierarchy of the cosmos, we can assume that I found myself at the zero point of Alva, which the ancients called the ultimate depth of the universe. There are no divisions or manifestations in this world. The walls, originally outlined by my consciousness, were probably the product of a mind that was not immediately able to accept such an unusual state. In that reality, the only thing I could cling to to maintain awareness was just the memory of my existence “I am,” because no other objects to fixate on simply existed there. Having mastered this state, the practice of lucid dreaming will no longer require fixation on visual objects, which significantly expands the horizons of possible experience.

Scientific view

The phenomenon of lucid dreams has been scientifically confirmed experimentally. During the experiment, dreamers were able to prove their awareness in a dream by transmitting a signal with a certain eye movement. At the same time, it turned out that entering OS is most likely during the rapid phase of sleep, lasting from 5 to 15 minutes. This stage is on the threshold of wakefulness, and it is during this period that a person dreams.

The rapid phase of sleep occurs approximately 90 minutes after falling asleep, after the main and longest phase of slow sleep has passed. Slow phase or deep sleep associated with restoration processes. During this phase, all processes in the body slow down, muscle activity, breathing and heart rate decrease.

Per night human body goes through several such sleep cycles - from slow to fast sleep. And with each new repetition, the duration of the slow-wave sleep phase becomes shorter, and the REM sleep phase, accordingly, becomes longer.

Severe energy depletion can lead to complete exclusion from the REM sleep cycle, because key point in the practice of lucid dreaming is to ensure good rest. Lack of sleep and chronic fatigue sharply reduce not only the possibility of entering the OS, but also the likelihood of seeing and remembering even unconscious dreams.

Lucid dreaming techniques

In fact, dreams visit us at threshold states of consciousness - the period of falling asleep or waking up. Based on this, there are two options for entering the OS:

Technique for directly entering a lucid dream

This option is most suitable for daytime practices. Sleep in the middle of the day, as a rule, is superficial and light, at the level of drowsiness, without immersing in a deep phase, which makes direct access to OS more likely.

This technique of directly entering a lucid dream involves preserving the memory of the presence of your consciousness while maintaining complete stillness of the body. In this method, the main problem is precisely maintaining stillness, since the brain, checking consciousness for shutdown, can send various impulses to the body. You may suddenly feel a tingling, itching somewhere or a desire to change position. However, it turns out that the brain can be deceived: stopping internal dialogue and physical movements leads to falling asleep in about 15 minutes.

This method is also used in morning practice, when the body has already managed to fully recover during the night, but has not yet fully awakened. This method will help with a short sound signal set at a certain time, earlier than the usual wake-up time. The most favorable time is considered to be starting from 5 am.

A short sound signal for consciousness will be enough to bring it out of unconscious sleep, but not enough for it to move into full wakefulness. Thus, you will find yourself in that very threshold state, which some practitioners call a phase. Next, your task will remain to maintain awareness of your stay in the OS, which will be helped by the concentration practices suggested at the beginning of the article.

Technique for exiting into the OS from normal sleep

This technique of lucid dreaming involves remembering yourself directly in a dream. To do this, it is recommended that you perform a reality check from time to time while you are awake.

Reality check examples:

• Time check. If you look at the clock in a dream, look away, and look again, the time will be different. The same goes for inscriptions;
• Try flying, walking through a wall, or plunging your hand into a solid object. True, sometimes even in a dream this turns out to be impossible;
• Look at your hands. In the dream, the lines on the hands will be different;
• Thoughts about the past. Think about where you were before you got here or try to remember yesterday;
• Count your fingers. In a dream, their number may be more or less than ten;
• Try breathing with your nose closed;
• Reach for the ceiling;

There are still a whole host of options for testing reality for objectivity. You can use accessories: for example, wear a ring or bracelet without removing it, checking it tactilely or visually from time to time. You can set yourself sound signals for the period of sleep and wakefulness, associate awareness of yourself here and now with some action: for example, passing through doorways, or with checking Email, or reading SMS. For better effect worth using different methods, it’s even better to create your own.

An alternative technique for inducing lucid dreaming

Another, alternative technique for indirectly entering OS is setting an intention before falling asleep. Conventionally, this can be tied to the phrase “this night I will have a lucid dream.” However, the main point here is not in the words, but in the strong-willed message that is embedded in them. After the message has been formed, you should turn off the internal dialogue and fall asleep. Get rid of obsessive thoughts A preliminary recapitulation of the day and focusing your attention before going to bed, for example, on the heart chakra or on a pleasant image that you would like to meet during your upcoming dream practice will help.

In my opinion, one of the main tricks of psychological counseling is to see the client's problem as a type of dream- caused by confusion, which a third-party specialist helps to dispel. In this sense, the work of an intelligent psychologist is such an activity that “enlightens” the mind. It, by reducing the dope of illusions, sobers up, or in another sense, awakens from psychic sleep. I already started talking about what kind of dream this is in, and today I continue to reveal the topic from a slightly different angle. If your mind is confused by doubts about the real, you can perceive everything described below as an allegory.

Have you ever thought about the criteria of the real? What exactly distinguishes reality from illusion? How does reality become real in our eyes?

We can say that the reality of a dream is illusory because it is not what it seems. Unsteady and unstable, it seems to fool us, pretending to be the solid reality of the day, encouraging us to take a serious attitude with the entire arsenal of “adult” emotions, as long as we believe in it. In dreams we confuse reality physical world with a fragile dream picture.

And yet, while we sleep, the reality of the dream does not arouse suspicion; its image absorbs as all-encompassingly as the images of everyday life. And only upon awakening, the darkness dissipates - and all the problems that arose in the dream go away with it. But as long as the dream lasts, it seems real and is taken seriously.

The point that I want to emphasize here is the dreamer’s deep confidence in what is happening. Being in a dream, he seems to “know” that he is in the real world. And here we have to admit that all his solid knowledge is nothing more than strong faith.

At night we believe in the reality of dreams, during the day - in the reality of everyday life. And this faith is essentially identical. We simply take what is happening for granted, as if everything is a priori clear with this world. Neither at night nor during the day do we have any questions about reality. Right up to awakening there is a similar drama and intensity of passions. One remains uncritically and selflessly absorbed in dreams.

That is, we “know” that the reality of the day is real in exactly the same way as we “know” that the reality of a dream is real while it is being dreamed. We have no objective criteria for what is “real.” We simply believe in this world. Deeply, unconsciously, with conviction. And we call our strong faith knowledge.

About ropes and snakes

In fact, sleep differs from everyday life only in its instability. Dreams are temporary. But our life in the context of cosmic time frames is no more stable. Everything we know will pass. And if the stability of the world speaks of its authenticity, then our world is real in the same way relative degree, like the world of dreams.

I already voiced this idea on the site in an article about: “You can confidently “know” anything. But this belief itself has a mental structure. We really don’t know anything, because our confidence in anything is only a strong, unconditional faith.”

I often give clients a well-known analogy, where a person sees a rope, mistakes it for a snake and experiences genuine fear. He “knows” as firmly as he can that he is in mortal danger. She is real to him.

The role of the psychologist is precisely to remove the client from his restless dreams awaken. This task is not easy, because most dreams are shown to us in the “cinema” of the unconscious, from where only a certain background mood, some vague pain for oneself and one’s life “echoes” to the surface of consciousness.

And here almost everything comes down to being able to see the root of the problem. If you have experience in exploring personal mental depths and are sensitive enough to listen to your own gut, you can be your own psychologist. In a sense, this is tantamount to becoming the object of your own research.

To focus attention on the source of experiences, questions such as “What am I feeling now?”, “What am I thinking about?”, “What do I now “know” about my life) may be appropriate? Projections dissipate with their direct awareness, and reality is freed from the drama with which it was covered by dreams inspired by the mind.

Where are all these “real” events?

There are plenty of examples of the dispersal of psychic dreams in everyone’s life. In such a dream-inspired “reality,” separations become the end of the world, or an empty, meaningless future. Someone else's death is mistaken for one's own. Behind someone's uninvolved calm one dreams of cold, treacherous indifference. Small victories bring dreams of your own greatness. The fleeting encourages one to believe in hallucinations of personal inferiority. Etc.

In this vein, our entire everyday life is still the same illusion, because, like a dream, it is not what it seems. We mistake the chimeras of our mind for real events. We can make a reservation and say that only our attitude towards life is illusory, and life itself is real. But the fact is that we do not know life beyond our own relationship to it.

Upon awakening, we realize that the dream is an illusion, because we brought it to ourselves. What is different about everyday life? Where are all these “real” events? Here and now in this currently all our confidence in the events of current reality is still the same dreams. We sleep in reality and we dream about our lives - we dream about events, relationships, we dream about ourselves.

No one is obliged to expose life, as Buddhist monks and yogi hermits do, up to the stage of enlightenment. Everyone is free to choose the intensity of practice independently. Some people are destined to rush ahead of the locomotive, while others find it easier to “not bother” at all. But, as I see it, the current stage of elaboration for everyone is those very everyday events and experiences that are perceived as problematic.

And even a thousand sobering reliefs from hacked illusions are not enough for most of us to feel this glaring instability of personal conviction about what is real and what is not. We just change one dream for another - in best case scenario more or less realistic. Somehow this is how the “local” earthly path of spiritual maturation apparently runs. From childhood illusions we move to sophisticated ones, and then to “lucid dreams.”

Dreams give a person information that is already sitting somewhere in the depths of his subconscious. They often indicate what that person needs to grow, achieve psychological harmony, healthy relationships with other people, etc. They help you choose the right path and remind you of unfinished business. Dreams are real factories for the production of meaning. And they never lie.

Writer Tom Robbins once said that dreams don't come true - they are reality. And when we talk about dreams come true, we usually mean the fulfillment of our ambitious plans or desires.

Sleep is most directly related to the moment of awakening. When the “soap bubble” of our sleep bursts, we momentarily have the opportunity to look inside our own subconscious and extract from there some images relating to what we should be. Our brains seem to work tirelessly to realize our potential, day and night.

There are things that cannot be seen during the day in bright light - stars, for example. Some things require darkness in order to see. We can rack our brains over a solution to a problem for a very long time, and then it comes in a dream – on a silver platter. It turns out that trying to solve a problem without the information that is stored in our dreams is the same as if a judge made his verdict, ignoring half the facts in the case.

Many of our dreams are worthy of being called “masterpieces of metaphorical communication.” Once, for example, I dreamed that I received a plump wad of hundred-dollar bills, and then discovered a deception - only the first bill was real. In another dream, I lost my wallet with all my ID cards. In the third I found a golden calf, badly dented and chained to the ground with a thick chain. In the fourth, my boss invited me to an extravagant pool party at his estate, but the pool was empty.

The meaning of all these dreams was quite clear to me.

Dreams carry real information, real impulses, real emotions. And if you ignore them, the consequences will also be quite real.

The Senoi people live in Malaysia, where there is a real cult of sleep. Every morning these people get together to tell each other what they dreamed about the previous night and discuss the meaning of those dreams. All important decisions are made taking into account dreams. The Senoi believe that when something or someone is chasing a person in a dream, it is an ally rather than an enemy. Therefore, you need not to run away, but to turn your face to the pursuer and find out why you are being pursued, what they want to tell/warn/remind.

And, by the way, the Senoi do not even know what depression, neuroses or psychoses are.