awareness that what is happening is a dream. Lucid dreaming has
long been known within traditions and cultures that place value on
dreams. And many people have had the experience of becoming lucid
in a dream now and again in the course of their life. For some people,
lucidity is a regular feature of their dream life. Here again, it is known
that practice can lead to an increased likelihood of experiencing lucid
dreams. Practice means first working on dream recall generally and
then cultivating the intention to become aware of one’s dream while
dreaming.
Some spiritual traditions that place high value on the practice of
meditation—such as Hinduism and Buddhism—have dream yoga
practices with the goal of becoming regularly lucid during dream and
even nondream sleep. All of our daily activities influence our dream
experiences, and our dream experiences build and reinforce neural
circuits that affect our waking behavior. In dream yoga practice, at-
taining a continuous state of lucidity during both waking and sleep
hours allows the practitioner at every moment to incline the mind
toward the thoughts, feelings, and actions that honor the ethical
framework of their tradition. Generally this means cultivation of love
and compassion, for oneself and others.
Some phenomena associated with sleep are considered problematic
and labeled as sleep disorders. One is insomnia: difficulty with sleep,
often with falling asleep. It’s not really a specific disorder but, rather,
a symptom that could be associated with any number of different
things. If someone is excited or hyperaroused during the day, that
might amp up the body physiologically, creating difficulty falling
asleep. Caffeine, especially when it is consumed late in the day, may
contribute to insomnia. Jet lag often produces insomnia. A noisy or
uncomfortable sleep environment may contribute to insomnia. Stress