How do I have a Lucid Dream?

I have had a few posts recently from some of my blog readers asking me “how do I have a Lucid dream?” I consider myself to be an expert on the subject as this is something I have been doing for a number of years.

For the sake of our discussion, Lucid dreaming is the ability to become aware while dreaming. While most dreams are a passive experience where events unfold on their own, similar to a movie or television show. In a lucid dream the dreamer is able to consciously interact with and manipulate the dream environment. An experienced lucid dreamer can manipulate their dream in almost any way making a whole world of experiences possible!

At this point you are probably asking, so how do I have a lucid dream?

Lucid dreaming is a learned skill, like anything else it takes a bit of time to master. For me when I first started it took only a few days to begin having lucid dreams. The thing you have to realize is, its one thing to have a lucid dream and a totally different thing to be able to “fully” control the dream environment the way you might imagine. Being able to fully control the dream environment 100% of the time is at best extremely difficult to achieve, even for a seasoned Lucid dreamer.

There are several techniques for successfully achieving lucid dreams. Probably the easiest to master and most effective lucid dreaming technique (in my opinion) is the “Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams”. Its the technique I originally used to learn lucid dreaming. This technique was created by Dr Stephen Labarge. Here are the steps.

1) You want to increase your dream recall by making a point of remembering and writing down your dreams when you wake up. Keeping a dream journal is an ideal way of doing this.

2) You need to conduct what are known as “reality checks”. Through out your day make a point of asking your self “am I dreaming?” or “is this real?” Doing Reality checks throughout the day will subconsciously train your mind to become aware, helping you to become lucid when you are dreaming.

3) Make affirmations to your self at night as you are falling to sleep. Say things to your self like “the next time Im dreaming I will remember Im dreaming” or “the next scene will be a dream”. Continue repeating these things for 5 to 10 minutes before you fall asleep. This will help you remember to notice when you are dreaming.

4) Finally after you have made your affirmations try to visualize your self in your dream. Imagine a dream you may have had recently and picture your self back in that same dream. Picture your dream with as much detail and clarity as possible. Now look for a dream sign like an unusual character, location, or object, something you wouldnt see in real life that reveals this to be a dream. When you see the dream sign say “I am dreaming”.

There you have it!

Follow these 4 steps every day and within a week or two you will be experiencing your first lucid dreams! Once of the most difficult things for beginners is keeping yourself from waking up once you become lucid. This takes a bit of practise to master so be patient.

One of the best ways to improve your chances of having a lucid dream according to Dr Labarge is to interject ‘wakefulness’ in your sleep. Simply set an alarm to wake your self up after about 5 to 6 hours of sleep. After sleeping for 5 or 6 hours you will be in the REM stage of sleep which is when most dreaming occurs. Stay awake for 20 minutes or so and then do your affirmations and dream visualizations before falling back to sleep. This will greatly increase your chances of having a lucid dream.

Good luck and sweet dreams!

Increase In Earth Quakes?

If you havent been under a rock you have heard about the Japan Earth Quake and Tsunami disaster. The massive earthquake measured an incredible 8.9 on the ricter scale and was centered several hundred kilometers off the east coast of Japan. To give you an idea of the power of an 8.9 earth quake, its roughly 100x more powerful than the North Ridge, California earth quake of 1994. The Japan quake was the 5th largest Earth Quake in recorded history and released as much energy as 336 million tons of TNT. Its truly an event of almost biblical proportions. The quake triggered a massive tsunami that has completely devastated cities and communities all up and down the coast, particularly in Northern Japan.

The government of Japan predicts that there will be a death toll in the thousands.

You may have noticed that there have been several major earth quakes over the last few years and especially in the last year. Since the begining of 2010 we have seen major quakes in Haiti, Chile, China, Indonesia, Mexico and most recently New Zealand. The 2010 quake in Haiti was one of the highest death tolls in history for an earth quake, with over 200 000 killed. We have also seen major volcanic eruptions in Iceland and Indonesia. I cant forget to mention the massive 9.0 indonesian quake that trigged the 2004 boxing day tsunami disaster. The boxing day tsunami killed over 220 000 people in Thailand, Indonesia, India and several other countries in the region.
The question is: Are there more earth quakes now than ten or twenty years ago? Could we be heading into some kind of era of increased seismic activity? Interestingly there were more major quakes in 2010 than any year in the last decade with roughly 26 significant quakes.
 

According to the US geological survey, there has not been any statistical increase in the total amount of ‘tremors’ in the last decade compared to the 1990s or the 1980s. Here is what is interesting though; in the 70s, 80s and 90s there were no quakes measuring more than 8.5 on the ricter scale. Since 2000 there have been at least 5 earth quakes measuring over an 8.5. Quakes measuring over 8.0 in the ricter scale are also more frequent over the past decade. Since 2000 there have been at least 14 quakes measuring over 8.0, in the 1970s, 80s and 90s there were a total of just 16.

So according to the data there seems to be a real trend of frequently stronger earth quakes. The increase is likely in part due to increased proliferation of seismic measurement equipment, as well as population growth. Its important to note that 10 years is a very small period of time for these types of events and things could very well even out over the next few decades.

I think an interesting postulation is that when a large earth quake takes place it can trigger quakes in other parts of the world. You can see examples of this when you look at the data, quakes often occur within days of one another. In one week in November of 2004 there were 3 major Earth Quakes between Japan and New Zealand.

Apollo 18, 19, 20: Did They Really Happen?

The movie Apollo 18 which was originally slated for release in March and then pushed back to April has officially been pushed all the way back to January of 2012. Why? Its hard to say exactly. The movie claiming to be lost footage of a secret Apollo mission gone bad looks to be very similar in style to the Blair witch project or paranormal state. Its pretty clear that the movie is scripted and studio produced, but there is a grain of apparent truth to this conspiracy.

The last 3 Apollo missions, Apollos 18, 19 and 20 were cancelled in 1970 according to NASA. A man named William Rutledge claims these 3 additional missions took place (partially) in secret and insists he was on Apollo 20. William Rutledge claims to be a 76 year old, former Navy test pilot and astronaut who now lives in Rwanda. Rutledge regularly posts content to YouTube under the user name “retiredafb”. There are all kinds of details online about the supposed Apollo 18 to 20 missions supplied by William Rutledge and others. Rutledge has posted several videos since 07 of what appear to be NASA mission briefings and technical overviews relating to these missions. He has also posted a variety of other information including pictures and documents.

What is interesting about his story is that he claims when Apollo 15 orbited the moon in the summer of 1971 it picked up images of what appeared to be a large almost cylindrical shaped craft, lodged in a crater on the far side of the moon. Take a look on YouTube by searching for “Apollo 20 William Rutledge”. Rutledge says that this cylindrical shaped craft was actually a 4 km long ancient alien spacecraft. In 1973 after the last official Apollo flight – Apollo 17, Rutledge says that NASA teamed up with the Soviets to complete these 3 secret missions, the purpose being to complete detailed surveys of this supposed alien craft.

An apparent close up of the cigar shaped craft on the lunar surface.

 

Indeed in 1975 there was a mission between NASA and the Soviet space program, popularly referred to as the Apollo-Soyuz test project. Many people refer to this mission from the American Standpoint as “Apollo 18″. The objective was to dock the two probes. The mission was successful and highly publicised. The teams shook hands, exchanged gifts, ate together and coversed in each others languages. Astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand, Donald K. “Deke” Slayton were all aboard the US probe.

There are no official details on the Apollo 19 and 20 missions. According to NASA the intended missions were scrapped because of budget cuts. Rutledge says the Apollo-Soyuz test project was preparation for the 2 proceeding secret missions. Rutledge also claims that Apollo 19 was secretly launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California in July of 1975. There are indeed claims of a size able launch taking place at Vanderberg AFB at that time. Based on Rutledge’s accounts the Apollo 19 mission was met with near disaster due possibly to technical failure and/or some kind of collision that took place during a TLI maneuver. The astronauts apparently made it back to Earth safely after their ordeal.

Apollo 20 apparently took place in August of 1976 and also launched from California’s Vanderberg Air Force Base. The Apollo 20 mission objective according to Rutledge (who claims to have been on board) was to land in proximity to the cigar shaped alien craft spotted on Apollo 15 and then complete detailed surveys and exploration. The Americans used a Saturn V rocket to make the trip and apparently landed on the far side of the moon where they explored the large alien craft before returning to Earth.

This is a very interesting conspiracy theory to say the least and there seem to be some possible corroborations if you do your research.  I cant possibly cover all the details of the missions in this short article but I suggest looking up William Rutledge Apollo 20 on YouTube. There are some very interesting videos that seem to be quite authentic.

The Movie “Stay” An Explanation

The movie Stay with Ryan Gosling, Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts is an incredible movie in many respects. I just watched it for a second time yesterday. Its a vivid psychological thriller that keeps you thinking the entire way through. If you liked movies like the 6th sense or Shutter island you will like this. If you have ever seen the movie you might be looking for a reasonable explanation of the plot.

Stay

The idea behind the movie is quite interesting. It seems to leave the viewer to make his or her own

interpretation. From my view it plays on the concept of life, death and the nature of reality. The movie is riddled with philosophical references like “the world is an illusion” and “nothing is good or evil but thinking makes it so”. The idea that Stay seems to represent is that at its heart reality is an illusion and nothing more than a construct of mind and perception.

If you have never seen Stay don’t read this article, go out and rent the movie!

The movie starts out with the scene of what appears to be a horrific car accident along the Brooklyn bridge in New York. There are burning vehicles and you are introduced to the main character Henry Letham (Ryan Gosling) who is sitting next to the burning wreckage before he gets up and starts to walk across the bridge. The movie proceeds to follow psychiatrist Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) who is assigned to work with Henry. Henry tells Sam
that he is hearing voices and that he is going to kill himself this coming Saturday at midnight. Henry can also apparently predict the future. Sam is disturbed by Henry and begins to do everything in his power to try to help the troubled young man. Sam has a girlfriend Lila (Naomi Watts) who is an aspiring artist and a former suicidal patient of Sam’s, she feels she might be able to help Henry. Henry is also a brilliant art student and is obsessed with a 19th century New York artist who commit suicide on the Brooklyn bridge, on his 21st birthday.

As the movie progresses there seems to be a deepening interconnection between Sam and Henry on some fundamental level, almost like they are actually both the Same person. The movie starts to take on characteristics of a dream state with events repeating them selves and strange ghostly events. One of the most unnerving scenes is when Sam goes to see Henry’s mother who Henry said was dead. She is seemingly alive but seems to think Sam is Henry and that he did something horrible to her, but forgives him. She starts bleeding profusely from her head and then her dog “Olive” starts biting Sam’s arm, like something out of a nightmare. When Sam goes to the hospital for his wound a police officer tells him that “Mrs Letham” has been dead for several months. The movie seems to hint that Henry’s parents were killed in the car accident from the first scene. Long story short, Sam tries catching up with Henry before he can go ahead with his planned suicide and the movie culminates on the Brooklyn bridge. Henry tells Sam he is too late to save him and shoots himself, the movie reverts to the car accident from first scene.

At this point its revealed that the entire preceding film was some kind of parallel dream state. All the characters from throughout the movie are there at the scene of the accident as bystanders. Sam meets Lila for the first time as they try but fail to save Henry. The movie seems to end off hinting at a deeper connection
than just a dream in Henry’s mind alone. This movie is truly a work of art, I recommend watching it twice if you want to fully grasp it.