Lucid DreamingAustin director Richard Linklater recently released a film that is a dream. By this I mean both that it is a dream and that it is dreamlike. “Waking Life” received mixed reviews, but it also sparked new interest in an idea that has actually been around for a long time: lucid dreaming. In this article I intend to explore the concept of lucidity in dreams and focus on the research of Stephen LaBerge of Stanford University, who used lucid dreaming as a tool to better understand the biological phenomena of sleep and dreams. Basically, "lucid dreaming" is being aware that you are dreaming(1). In the late 19th century, Frederik van Eeden published his observations of his lucid dreams. He reported the feeling of "being able to freely remember the circumstances of waking life, thinking clearly, and acting deliberately on reflection, all while experiencing a dream world that feels vividly real (2) (3)." Lucid dreams are not often reported, although a 1988 study by Snyder and Gackenbach indicated that as many as 58% of people report having had at least one lucid dream in their life, with 21% having them regularly at least once a month (2). to provide scientific evidence to support the phenomenon in the early 1980s(4). His research demonstrated that several techniques are effective tools for helping an individual learn how to become lucid in a dream. Lucid Dreaming: Fact or Fiction? The scientific debate on the validity of lucid dreams has existed for some time. Some believed that so-called lucid dreams were not dreams at all, but brief awakenings from the sleep-like state of daydreaming. As recently as 1985, David Foulkes... halfway through the article... dream lucidity seems to be a valid phenomenon and many people hope to achieve it on their own. Whatever your interest in the topic, you will surely find an outlet in the plethora of Internet resources available on the topic. Internet Sources: 1) Lucidity For All http://www.ld4all.com/index.html 2) The Lucidity Institute website: "Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness During REM Sleep, by Stephen LaBerge, Ph. D .http://www.lucidity.com/SleepAndCognition.html3) The Lucidity Institute: "A Study of Dreams", by Frederik van Eedenhttp://www.lucidity.com/vanEeden.html4) "Waking the Dreamer", Levity .comhttp://www.levity.com/mavericks/lab-int.htm5) "Dreaming: Lucid and Non Lucid", by David Foulkes http://www.sawka.com/spiritwatch/dreaming.htm 6) The Lucid Dreaming Guild http://www.geocities.com/lucidguild/