The Dream Revue #1 (Latest Lucid Dreaming/Dreaming News & Events from Around the World)

In this segment/series of posts, I round up the latest 'news' in dreaming and lucid dreaming from around the internet! I post links to all lucid dreaming/dreaming events (global) I can find during my own online research, but if you have an lucid dream/dream-related event you wish for me to promote, please contact me on Facebook or Twitter (click on the social media link) and I will be happy to help!

Lucid Dreaming Forum with Charlie Morley (Event)

Hello Love Studio

62 - 64 Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, Holborn, London

Sunday 12 March 2017, 19:00 - 21:00

Price: £10:00 (pre-booking via website or just turn up!)

This is a chance for experienced and novice lucid dreamers to meet up and share their experiences and ideas on lucidity, dreaming and life. Please note that this is not advertised as an instructional workshop.

Himbad Lucid Dreaming - London Solo Show (Arts & Culture/Event)

BSMT Space, 5 Stoke Newington Road, London, N16 8BH

10 March - 16 March 2017

Free Entry

This is a solo show of 24 miniature paintings by the street artist Himbad, who uses his unique 'Sprezzatura method' of secret martial arts techniques. Maintaining a mind state which enables him to access his subconscious, Himbad paints directly from the imagination, creating archetypal imagery inspired by the ancient wisdom schools, alchemy, world mythology and nature. Further information about this event can be found on the website.

Ashram de Yoga Sivananda (Event)

Ashram de Yoga Sivananda – 26 Impasse du Bignon, 45170 Neuville aux Bois, Loire Valley, Orleans, France

Healing, Sleep & Dreams (evening presentations) - 20 & 21 August 2017

Sleep & Dream Certification Course (22 hours) - 22 - 24 August 2017

For more information for this event please visit the website.

The Power of Lucid Dreaming: An Introduction to the Foundations of Lucid Dreaming & the Nocturnal Meditations with Andrew Holecek (Event)

The Garrison Institute, Garrison, New York, USA

19 October - 22 October 2017

Price: $225 ($175 reduced price until 1 June 2017)

Please see the website for full information on this event and how to book.

Princess Diana 'visits' former butler, Paul Burrell in his dreams (Celebrity News)

10 March 2017

Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell has made claims that she regularly visits him in his dreams, telling him she is 'still alive'. This claim comes just days after Burrell announced he is set to marry his partner, Graham Cooper in April this year, after ending his 32 year marriage to his ex-wife. He states that he yearns for Diana to 'approve' of his new relationship, given that she was the only woman he was able to confide in regarding his secret sexual orientation. Diana would refer to her loyal employee as 'her rock' and he describes the day she tragically died, in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997, as 'the saddest day of his life'.

Burrell told The Mirror: 'I want Diana to say to me 'it's OK Paul, live the life you've chosen'. But she's not here, so all I have got is her in my dreams'. 

Burrell elaborated on his dream visits from Diana, revealing: 'She tells me things. It's not scary or flaky, it just happens. She comes to me on a regular basis. It just happens. We have no control over our subconscious and I go to sleep sometimes, thinking 'please don't come into my dreams', but then she appears. She's asking 'can you help me?' It's a cry for help sometimes and then at other times we're sharing fun and laughter. She'll say 'when are you going to tell them, Paul, that I'm not actually dead?'

The Dreaming - Read-along Podcast (Arts & Culture)

This is a read-along podcast for Neil Gaiman's classic comic book series, The Sandman, hosted by Joe Fulgham and Sasja Smolders, who discuss each episode, revealing a whole treasure-trove of knowledge and facts about this classic masterpiece!

To access The Dreaming podcasts, please CLICK HERE or use the URL: https://thedreaming.moteofdust.com.

Why do we dream? (Science & Technology)

Medical News Today: 23 February 2017

An article by Hannah Nichols published online here, provides a comprehensive overview on the phenomenon of dreaming and nightmares. Much of the research cited in the article has been covered elsewhere on this Blog, but of particular interest was a list of 55 ranked dream themes which are stable across different sample populations, revealed through surveys and questionnaires:

1. School, teachers, studying
2. Being chased or pursued
3. Sexual experiences
4. Falling
5. Arriving too late
6. A person now alive being dead
7. Flying or soaring through the air
8. Failing an examination
9. Being on the verge of falling
10. Being frozen with fright
11. A person now dead being alive
12. Being physically attacked
13. Being nude
14. Eating delicious food
15. Swimming
16. Being locked up
17. Insects or spiders
18. Being killed
19. Your teeth falling out/losing your teeth
20. Being tied, unable to move
21. Being inappropriately dressed
22. Being a child again
23. Trying again and again to do something
24. Being unable to find, or embarrassed about using a toilet
25. Discovering a new room at home
26. Having superior knowledge or mental ability
27. Losing control of a vehicle
28. Fire
29. Wild, violent beasts
30. Seeing a face very close to you
31. Snakes
32. Having magical powers
33. Vividly sensing, but not necessarily seeing or hearing, a presence in the room
34. Finding money
35. Floods or tidal waves
36. Killing someone
37. Seeing yourself as dead
38. Being half awake and paralyzed in bed
39. Lunatics or insane people
40. Seeing yourself in a mirror
41. Being a member of the opposite sex
42. Being smothered, unable to breathe
43. Encountering god in some form
44. Seeing a flying object crash
45. Earthquakes
46. Seeing an angel
47. Creatures: part animal, part human
48. Tornadoes or strong winds
49. Being at a movie
50. Seeing extra-terrestrials
51. Traveling to another planet
52. Being an animal
53. Seeing a UFO
54. Someone having an abortion
55. Being an object

Lucid Dream (2017) (Arts & Culture)

On 22 February 2017, Lucid Dream, a Korean movie written and directed by Kim Joon-Sung was released. The movie is a science fiction thriller, starring Go Soo as Dae-Ho, an investigative journalist desperately seeking the whereabouts of his young son who was abducted 3 years prior. With the help of a detective and psychiatrist friend, Dae-Ho retraces his memory of the incident using the power of lucid dreaming. The movie is to be distributed via Netflix.

The healing power of lucid dreaming (Science & Technology)

New Scientist: 15 February 2017

An article published online by New Scientist has highlighted the ways in which lucid dreams may be triggered to enable them to be utilised in psychotherapy. 

The article states that new. consistent methods for inducing lucid dreams are being developed and new scientific innovations are enabling researchers to communicate with lucid dreamers during the dream state, which could lead to therapeutic benefits - people receiving treatment within their dreams.

Neuroscience has allowed sleep and dream researchers to confirm that brain activity occurring during the phenomenon of lucid dreaming displays similarities with higher cognitive functions associated with waking states, such as memory, behavioural control, planning and logic. 

Dreams have often been the focus of psychological therapy and it is well-established that recurrent nightmares can be symptomatic of anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions. Therapy which encourages clients to discuss dreams can provide what Michelle Carr describes as 'an insulated way' to address traumatic subjects and themes. Attempts to 'rewrite' these can help overcome phobias or grief using a strategy known as 'imagery rehearsal therapy' in which the client will rehearse the challenging dream scenarios and confront their nightmares with the aim of changing the outcome. 

Previous research by Doll, Gittler & Holzinger ('Dreaming, lucid dreaming & personality' (2009) 2(2) International Journal of Dream Research 52) found that lucid dreamers are better equipped at dealing with trauma and tend to experience fewer mental health problems than non-lucid dreamers. Research by Soffer-Dudek, Wertheim & Shahar ('Lucid dreaming & resilience in the face of exposure to terrorism' (2011) 24(1) Journal of Traumatic Stress 125), found that while the female participants in this study who had been exposed to the greatest levels of violence displayed the highest levels of distress, this was significantly lower in those who were able to lucid dream. 

Ursula Voss states that lucid dreamers often wake with feelings of euphoria and accomplishment and are shown to be more effective at avoiding nightmares due to their enhanced control over their dreams. In a study conducted with colleagues at the JW Goethe University, Frankfurt, Voss was able to develop a technique for inducing lucid dreams - transcranial alternating current stimulation - whereby a low electrical current (gamma wave length) is applied to the frontal cortex of the brain during REM sleep. Results showed that this was successful on 2/3 occasions. 

More recent research by Holzinger, Klosch & Saletu of the Institute for Consciousness and Dream Research in Vienna ('Studies with lucid dreaming as add-on therapy to Gestalt therapy' (2015) 131(6) Acta Neurologica Scandinavica 355) has found evidence that lucid dreaming can assist in increasing the effectiveness of therapy for nightmares. Holzinger found that clients were able to stop fearing sleep and start to enjoy their dreams. One subject claimed that when they realised they were in a nightmare, they were able to return to an earlier point in their dream, before the threat materialised, and continue their dream in a different direction. This brings a sense of power and control which is at stark contrast with the typical feelings of helplessness and vulnerability experienced in nightmares. 

Chloe Blanchette-Carriere of the Dream and Nightmare Laboratory in Montreal, Canada, is interested in developing therapies which would trigger lucid dreaming instead of relying on clients having to learn techniques of self-induction; early preliminary studies have shown promising results. The next step is communicating with the lucid dreamer while they are within the lucid dream state, in order to provide 'external support'. It is possible for dreams to incorporate external stimuli from the physical world (such as noise or smells) into the dream content, so it is hoped that techniques enabling researchers to send messages to lucid dreamers will improve the therapeutic potential of lucid dreaming. 

Kristoffer Appel, a sleep and dream researcher at the Osnabruck University in Germany conducted a study in which he recruited experienced lucid dreamers and monitored their brain activity and eye movements during sleep. Appel instructed his subjects to communicate the fact that they were experiencing a lucid dream by moving their eyes in a left-right pattern which had been pre-agreed before sleep. Once he received this cue he attempted to 'send messages' to the lucid dreamers using audio tones and flashing lights. Out of the 10 subjects, 7 reported the sounds and lights being incorporated into their dream content. In some instances the stimuli were interpreted as occurrences within the dream narrative, whilst in others, the dreamer was aware that the stimuli was a message from the external world. Appel wanted to take this further and communicate in more complex ways with lucid dreamers and so requested that the subjects learn basic Morse code for numbers so that he was able to use a series of audio tones to send simple arithmetic problems to the lucid dreamers, who were instructed to 'answer' using pre-agreed eye signals. At least 3 of the subjects received the messages and were able to provide correct answers.

Reliance on eye signals limits the extent of information which can be communicate by lucid dreamers, so Remington Mallett, a researcher at the University of Missouri, St Louis, attempted to use a brain-computer interface which enables the brain to 'talk' directly with a computer. Mallett recruited 2 self-taught lucid dreamers to test the technology, using a headset known as an 'Emotiv Epoc' which is able to map brain activity and then uses these signals to direct different desired outcomes on the computer, for example, moving a virtual objects, such as a cursor. The subjects were first taught how to use the software when in waking state and this was practiced until they were able to attain a 75% success rate, after which the experiment was repeated during sleep. The subjects used eye movements to signal the fact they were lucid; one stated that during his dream he imagined a ninja character moving a block forward, an imaginary action which was replicated on the external computer screen.

Mallett describes this process as being like 'a Jedi mindtrick'. This research allows for the objective observation of a cognitive task. Mallett claims that '[i]t's the first step toward being able to convey the content of dreams to the outside world, in real time'.

This approach could assist in teaching people to use prosthetic limbs or an exoskeleton designed for those with lower-body paralysis. This has been pioneered by the Walk Again Project, an international collaboration which is led by Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Patients first learn to control an avatar using virtual reality before transferring these skills to send motor signals (from the brain) to an exoskeleton. Harnessing the skills of lucid dreaming would enable patients to exercise their 'mental muscles' every night within the dream world, which would speed their waking ability to control the exoskeleton. 

Lucid dreaming is also a potential means of utilising creativity - many of us find inspiration or ideas in our dreams which assist or enrich our waking lives. New gadgets, such as the headset used in Mallett's research, could eventually allow us to record material from our lucid dreams. Appel is currently designing a sleep mask which will allow dreamers to use Morse code eye signalling to send messages, in addition to a project based on text messaging using eye signals to control keys. Other promising devices include the Aurora Dreamband and the iBand+, both of which are small headbands using EEG and other biosensors to detect when the sleeper is experiencing REM sleep, triggering LED signals to 'wake' them up and induce lucidity. These devices are paired with an app which tracks sleep patterns and sounds an alarm to wake the user up at the optimal point in their sleep cycle. 

LSD: Dream Emulator

I have recently become aware of a very odd video game called LSD: Dream Emulator. This is a 'surrealist' exploration game which was made for the Sony PlayStation by Asmik Ace Entertainment in October 1998. 

The game is based on the decade-long Dream Journal of Hiroko Nishikawa, an artist at the development company. It is 1 of 3 projects released which were themed around the Dream Journal, the others being a music album, LSD and Remixes and the Dream Journal itself, Lovely Sweet Dream. The game has garnered somewhat of a cult following, due to it's eccentric nature, and has spawned a number of urban legends and Creepypasta horror stories. From 2009 onwards, there have been many popular 'Let's Play' videos on YouTube dedicated to this game. 

Many people have assumed that the game is based on the psychedelic effects of LSD, the drug, but the game has no explicit reference to this connection, and instead uses acronyms such as 'In Life, the Sensuous Dream' and 'In Limbo, the Silent Dream'.

The game is in first-person mode, and the player is able to navigate a series of environments, with normal ability to reverse or turn, look up or run. The environment is a 'dreamworld' and the main objective is to explore. If the player bumps into anything or any object in the environment, they are transported to a new environment, through a process called 'linking'. Bumping into other characters, animals or special objects typically result in transportation to more surreal environments. 

Similar to the real life dream experience, a dream can last up to approximately 10 minutes, after which the player will wake up, If the player falls off a cliff or down a hole, they will wake up immediately. When the player wakes up, the dreamworld fades, returning them to the main menu, which gives an info-graph which records their progress. The chart also displays the players state of mind, with options of 'upper', 'downer', 'static' and 'dynamic'. These options relate to the player's experience of the prior dreamworld environment and its general feel. Previous dreams may influence subsequent dream environments. 

A dreamworld may suddenly change while the player is walking around - for example, eyes may appear in the wall, which stare at the player. Even when the player revisits the same place again, the environment may have changed - for example, the player may encounter new objects.

Various creatures roam around the dreamworlds. These include a celestial flying nymph; a wild prairie horse; a huge man who fills an entire room; a pterodactyl; and faces on legs. 

The player may occasionally encounter 'The Grey Man' (also known as 'The Shadow Man'), a character in a grey trenchcoat and hat, who glides in one direction. It is possible to walk around him, but if you get too close, the screen will flash, and the player will lose the ability to recall the dream in a 'Flashback'. Another character is the 'Abyss Demon', which lures the player to a wonderful sight, which is just out of reach, and then appears from a cliff-face, forcing you to a new dreamworld. In the house dreamworld, there is a huge man between 2 walls, or on the second floor, who headbutts the player, gain transporting them to a new dreamworld.

The gameplay is measured in days. After roughly 15 - 30 days of gameplay, the player will see an option on the main menu entitled 'Flashbacks'. These Flashbacks last 2 - 4 minutes, and allow the player to re-experience previously encountered dream characters, and access previous dreamscapes - like dream memories. Often the only way to see a dreamworld looking exactly the same, twice or more in the game, is by recalling it using 'Flashbacks'. If the player takes the same steps in the Flashback as he did in the original version of that dream, the dream will repeat. There are over 500 patterns of music in the game, some of which appear on an officially released soundtrack. 

The game is incredibly popular due to it's eccentric nature, and has gained cult fame, leading to a huge number of 'Let's Play' videos on Youtube since 2009. The game has also been the subject of a number of Creepypasta horror fiction stories. 

I wanted to review this game for my Blog, but unfortunately, my Playstation emulator wouldn't allow this to happen. I will try and find a console version of the game. I have found some Youtube 'Let's Play' videos which show you some gameplay with commentary, pending me being able to do my own! 

Michio Kaku: This is Your Brain on Dreams

Theoretical Physicist Dr Michio Kaku has recently applied his brilliant mind to the science of dreaming, and interestingly, affirmed the validity of Freudian theories, with evidence from neuroscience. What could be better than a contemporary luminary - in the theoretical fields of quantum mechanics and String Theory - explaining the science of dreaming (using evidence from empirical research at the cutting-edge of experimental neuroscience) and validating the world's most notoriously genius psychiatrist and dream theorist at the same time?

In his latest bestseller, The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance and Empower the Mind (2014), Michio explores the mysteries of the human consciousness in the hope of using credible scientific methodology to explain the wonders of the brain. This is particularly interesting for me as I am bemused  by amateur attempts made to align quantum physics with spiritualism in ways which undermine - and often dismiss without due consideration - theoretical perspectives which focus on topics such as consciousness and dreaming while maintaining the rigorous standards of modern academic discourse. The internet - and other forums of debate - are awash with apparently irrational beliefs justified by an 'obfuscatory reference' to quantum physics, using ill-defined and poorly-understood definitions out of context. This phenomena is known popularly as Quantum Woo or Quantum Mysticism.

I've had to leave many pleasant internet forums dedicated to lucid dreaming due to the sheer amount of space which is taken up with frustrating arguments which involve the mismatch of spiritualism or mysticism and theoretical science. Often those most deeply and passionately involved in the debate have little time for what they disparagingly refer to as 'traditional science' and scoff at notions such as 'high impact journals', 'peer-review', 'empirical data from double-blind tests', 'replicability', 'methodology', 'confirmation bias' etc etc, while maintaining that all they need do in order to win a petty disagreement over source material and credibility is cite someone else who shares the same world view as them and a cool, anti-establishment reputation. In seeking what is lumped together as 'truth', many choose to blind themselves to simple issues such as who is presenting the idea and what purpose have they got in communicating it. I'm someone who shies away from religion, belief or faith-based perspectives of human consciousness - i.e. all the main organised religions and spirituality/mysticism. Outside of dream research, I'm a doctoral researcher, schooled in the methodology of proving a theory with observable evidence which has been collected and analysed to the standards of my educational institution (which is ranked in the top 1% worldwide for research). I like to combine my academic experience with my love of popular, accessible articles for publication, hence the reason I decided to research dreams and write about them. I love Freudian Theory and the idea of psychoanalysis, but equally I spend a lot of my spare time watching documentaries on theoretical physics and getting both impressed and highly confused at the same time. I sometimes feel a little bit guilty being so neo-Freudian (my forthcoming theory of dreaming is a postmodernist theory), given my preference for empirical science. I worried whether some of the dream theory which has so influenced my own understanding of dreaming and psychology could ever be aligned with my more rational framework for critical thought.

This is why it is so exciting that someone like Michio Kaku has contributed to the discourse of consciousness and dreaming, perhaps successfully bridging a gap which others have attempted, but failed to do persuasively and coherently.

Michio explains that not all of Freud's wild claims were wrong. His multitudinous detractors' claims that his theories could not be scientifically proven with empirical data may in fact have been shortsighted. Michio states that neuroscience has indicated that much of the brain's activity is unconscious, just as Freud had predicted. Further, neuroscientists have been able to utilise brain scan technology to identify parts of the brain which correspond with Freud's ego, superego and id. Michio states that the ego is basically the prefrontal cortex - this is the seat of the consciousness - or who you are, the 'self'. The pleasure centre (the id) is right in the middle of the brain, while the conscience (the superego) is behind the eyes, in the orbital frontal cortex.

Michio then claims that Freud's unique vision of dreaming may be capable of scientific verification after all. Brain scans make it possible for neuroscientists to track the activity of the 'control centre' during sleep. Activity can be detected in the back of the brain, which is a very 'primitive' part of the brain, while the prefrontal cortex is shut off - deactivated. The same happens in the orbital frontal cortex. So basically, rational thought and conscience are silenced during the dream state. The orbital frontal cortex also acts as a 'fact checker' - so this explains why we seem to accept bizarre and odd dream narratives without questioning (unless of course, you are learned in the art of 'reality checks'!) Michio explains that the main brain activity occurs in the part of the brain known as the amygdala - which governs fear and emotions. So the rational part of your brain is dormant during the dream state, but this does not mean that there are no methods of breaking through the 'analytical paralysis'. This is something that all lucid dream enthusiasts know. Michio cites the groundbreaking research carried out at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, which has revealed that lucid dreaming is testable, reproducable and scientifically legitimate. This sort of credible scientific discourse is likely to influence the direction of research and experimental science and Michio predicts that lucid dreaming may become a major focus of neuroscience in the near future, He suggests that one day it will be possible to scan the brain during the dream state and play the dream on a screen for others to watch. Scientists in Japan are already finding innovative new ways to 'photograph dreams'. In his book, Michio outlines exciting futurist technologies which when developed and refined could completely change our lives and the way we use our brains.

Here is the video of Michio Kaku discussing neuroscience, dreams and Sigmund Freud:

#scanners - The cinematic experience which allows the viewer's subconscious to project their dreams onto the screen

One of the most frustrating aspects of dream exploration is the brevity of dream memories - often, after waking from a vivid dream we can recall it for a short period before the memories quickly fade and we lose the intricate detail. One answer to this problem would be a device which enables us to record our dreams. While it may be a few years before this technology becomes available to the consumer market, researchers have announced that developments are under way, following the invention of a system which utilises a bio-sensor headset which enables the editing and manipulation of moving images shown on a screen, which responds to the wearer's brain activity. The individualised film is created is a visual record of the wearer's subconscious mind, enabling a glimpse into their 'dream world'. Manchester-based animator, Richard Ramchurn came up with the idea for the #scanners cinema experience which allows each person to see the same film differently from other viewers, in a unique, personalised way. 

Using Kickstarter to fund the project, Ramchurn wrote: 'Narratives and layers can be built that are all governed by the user's concentration and meditation levels. Edit points can be created by monitoring the users blinking...The audience can project their feelings onto the film that they are seeing, the film that they watch will have a series of overlapping structures that they can interact with and/or disregard. 

He states that the aim of the project is to enable individuals to physically see and hear their dreams. The device was tested at Manchester University last year and many of the test subjects compared the experience to lucid dreaming. 

The technique relies on MindWave Mobile headsets, developed by technology company, NeuroSky, and available at a cost of £100 ($159). In the Manchester University trials, subjects were asked to wear the headset whilst watching a short film. The rhythms of the editing and how the movie jumps from scene to scene depends on the mind state of the viewer. Much like a dream, it is impossible to completely control what happens on the screen, but the brain chooses the particular sights and sounds the viewer experiences. Below is the MindWave Mobile headset and a still image taken from the test screening of the #scanners cinematic experience:

Ramchurn was inspired to develop his idea after reading Walter Murch's book, The Blink of an Eye, which compares dreams to movies. While it is easy to remember a film, because you are consciously aware when you watch it, dreams are problematic, because they occur in a subconscious mind and therefore are difficult to recall once conscious. The headset is perfect for exploring dreams as it brings the subconscious mind to the forefront and allows the wearer to experience their unconscious thoughts and emotions, projected onto a screen, whilst in a conscious state. Ramchurn predicts that technological advancement in this area will enable scientists to make detailed dream recording possible in the near future, perhaps even within the next 10 - 15 years. 

Here is a preview of the #scanners innovation from Youtube:

New Dream Technology

Recent reports of new technology, designed specifically to enable us to maximise our dreaming experience, suggest a new wave of gadgets will soon be available to the mass market. Cutting- edge scientific developments have increasingly been utilised by the health and fitness industries in modern times, but innovations in sleep/dream technology are especially exciting as this is an area of human experience which is rarely focused on by manufacturers. Apple have announced the launch of the iWatch, a device which measures heart rate and allegedly tracks sleep patterns, having been designed with the assistance of sleep researcher and former Philips scientist, Roy J E M Raymann. Rumours as to the precise functions of the iWatch are as yet unconfirmed, although some reports have suggested that the Healthbook app (thought to be released with iOS 8) will have a similar ability to monitor sleep patterns. Initial information about Apple's innovations into sleep technology will no doubt please their legion of advocates, as well as potentially tempting new fans who may have already experimented with sleep/dream technology available on the market, such as Fitbit Force or Nike FuelBand SE, although these latter products have been criticised for either producing inaccurate results in the case of the former, or only having  manual functionality in the case of the latter.

There has been growing interest in sleep monitoring, as evidenced by reviews of the Jawbone Up, a device which supposedly uses proprietary algorithms which enable it to communicate how well the user slept, based on movements differentiating between deep and REM sleep patterns and the stage of sleep during which the user awoke. Data collected by the Jawbone Up is synched with your smartphone via an ingenious app, and is presented in both daily charts and more complex graphs.By monitoring the quality and patterns of sleep, the user will be able to better understand and embrace their sleeping routine and discover when dreaming tends to occur, enabling more successful dream experimentation or exploration. 

It is unsurprisingly that devices and products aimed at improving the quality of our sleep are making their technological debut, and certainly the public interest in dreams has piqued with many more of us taking a more active interest in our dreaming. During the past few years, growing numbers of consumers have utilised digital innovations - particularly in smartphone form - to access and make sense of what happens to us during sleep. Thanks to the considerable advancements in technology we are now able to closely monitor the universal phenomenon of dreaming within our own homes at the mere touch of a button. The beauty of such products is the simplicity and ease at which they can be used - making sure the device is switched on is all that is required of the user - other than enjoying a sleep! New mobile tools for dream tracking, analysis and self-reflection are gaining evermore traction in mainstream society, allowing users to determine exactly how dreams influence our waking life.

Lucid dreaming is often a difficult, somewhat abstract concept for many to grasp, but this is changing, especially with new technologies which make lucid dreaming a reality for many more persons who might otherwise be uninterested in learning the time-consuming mental and psychical techniques traditionally used to harness this dreaming phenomenon. One particular example of new technology which enhances the lucid dreaming experience is the iWinks Aurora headband which supposedly allows users to access and control lucid dreaming in an unprecedented way, by prompting lucidity during sleep. The device is marketed as the 'dream-enhancing headband' and advertises digital features such as lights and sounds which are triggered during REM sleep to invoke lucidity in the user, as well as a smart alarm which enables better, healthier sleep. The Aurora headband measures brainwave and eye movement activity in the user, while tracking bodily movements to figure out when the user is in a dream state. Bluetooth technology is then used to transfer personal dream data to an accompanying mobile app, allowing the user to analyse sleep patterns over time. More excitingly, the online advertising blurb states that the user can set the Aurora headband to either produce 'daring dream-signs' for an immediate lucidity trigger, or softer alerts for a more subtle modulation of the dreamscape. The Aurora headband, although subject to extensive research, has not yet been made available to the mass market.

It is very possible that greater technological input into healthy sleep patterns will broaden the scope of research and develop into more niche areas, for example, making it possible for us to accurately monitor and interact with our dreams, discover and share their meanings and take greater advantage of them in our waking lives. The conversation of dreams will only continue and technological innovation will offer additional opportunities for us to explore dream trends and patterns on both a global and individual scale.