{"id":47813,"date":"2022-03-07T17:00:06","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T17:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/?p=47813"},"modified":"2025-08-28T16:19:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T16:19:38","slug":"berrak-ruya-lucid-dreaming-spirituel-pratik-mi-modern-dunyada-gelisim-yolu-mu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/berrak-ruya-lucid-dreaming-spirituel-pratik-mi-modern-dunyada-gelisim-yolu-mu\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucid Dreaming as a Spiritual Practice and Path for Growth in a Contemporary Secular World"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Can lucid dreaming be used as a spiritual practice and\/or a path for growth in a contemporary secular world?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

When I was in college, I read about the Sufi Saint Bayazid Bastami, who claimed to communicate with the Creator in his dreams. In one of his dreams, he approached the Divine Presence and \u201cknocked on the gate\u201d. He was asked, \u201cWho is there?\u201d \u201cI have come, Oh my Lord\u201d, replied Bastami. He was told: \u201cThere isn\u2019t any place here for two. Leave your ego behind and come\u201d. When Bastami once again approached the Divine Presence and was asked who it was, he said: \u201cYou, oh Lord\u201d.<\/span><\/p>

At the time, I thought this was just a story about annihilating the self while remaining physically alive which is the highest goal of every major enlightenment teaching in the world. Now, I believe Bastami was Lucid Dreaming. He might have used LD as a means for salvation, liberation, and union with the Divine. Bogzaran (1990) highlights that it is possible to experience the Divine (the Divine in which we believe in) through incubating LD.\u00a0<\/span>Tibetan Buddhists<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>have believed that it is possible to maintain full waking consciousness during sleep with a sophisticated set of LD techniques known as the Doctrine of Dreams (Evans-Wentz 1958; Norbu 1992). I understand that the aim of Dream Yoga is spiritual advancement and reduction of attachment to earthly pleasures, which differs from LD, which aims to realize earthly pleasures and maintain attachment to them. However, I agree with Young (1999) that LD can be used for spiritual practice.<\/span><\/p>

On the other hand, Western scientific tradition focuses on improving one\u2019s life. A large body of research highlights the benefits of LD. The majority of lucid dreamers do perceive the benefits of LD on their physical and especially mental health (Erlacher et al., 2020). About 40% of lucid dreamers report using their lucid dreams specifically for physical and mental healing (Stumbrys & Erlacher, 2016). LD has been associated with creativity (Blagrove and Hartnell, 2000) and with psychological resilience in the face of traumatic stress (Soffer-Dudek et al., 2011). LD also facilitates awareness of depressive thought patterns, deepening meditation practice, and cultivating a more mindful attitude in both dreams and waking life (Kuyken et al., 2016; Segal et al., 2002). LD provides a similarly empowering altered state of consciousness marked by increased perception, uplifting mood and transformative transpersonal experiences (Griffiths et al., 2021; Kolp et al., 2014).<\/span><\/p>

Doniger writes, \u201cLaBerge attempts to apply the Oriental dream-control techniques of yogis and shamans to Western goals of improving one\u2019s life, or even, indeed, one\u2019s lifestyle. But this cannot be done\u201d (1996, 172). However, LaBerge (2003) believes this can be done because humans and human experience are similar even though we may differ widely in cultural heritage. He concludes that Western and Eastern traditions may differ in their use of LD but both highly value careful observation and lucid discrimination. These traditions can have fruitful cooperation to enhance human condition. So I believe LD can be used as a spiritual practice as well as a path for growth in a contemporary secular world.<\/span><\/p>

References<\/strong><\/h3>

  • Bogzaran, F. (1990). Experiencing the Divine in the lucid dreamstate. Lucidity Letter<\/em>.<\/p><\/li>

  • Erlacher, D., Schredl, M., & Stumbrys, T. (2020). Self-perceived effects of lucid dreaming on mental and physical health. International Journal of Dream Research, 13<\/em>(2), 309\u2013313.<\/p><\/li>

  • Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (1958). Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines<\/em>. London: Oxford University.<\/p><\/li>

  • Kolp, E., Friedman, H. L., Krupitsky, E., Jansen, K., Young, M. S., & Kolp, A. (2014). Ketamine psychedelic psychotherapy. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 33<\/em>(2), 84\u2013140.<\/p><\/li>

  • Kuyken, W. ve ark. (2016). Efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in prevention of depressive relapse. JAMA Psychiatry, 73<\/em>(6), 565\u2013574.<\/p><\/li>

  • LaBerge, S. (2003). Lucid dreaming and the yoga of the dream state. In B. A. Wallace (Ed.), Buddhism & Science<\/em> (pp. 233\u2013258). Columbia University Press.<\/p><\/li>

  • Norbu, N. (1992). Dream Yoga and the Practice of the Natural Light<\/em>. Ithaca: Snow Lion Press.<\/p><\/li>

  • Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., & Teasdale, J. D. (2002). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression<\/em>. Guilford Press.<\/p><\/li>

  • Stumbrys, T., & Erlacher, D. (2016). Applications of lucid dreams and their effects on the mood upon awakening. International Journal of Dream Research, 9<\/em>(2), 146\u2013150.<\/p><\/li>

  • Soffer-Dudek, N. (2020). Are Lucid Dreams Good for Us? Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13<\/em>, 1423.<\/p><\/li>

  • Young, S. (1999). Dreaming in the Lotus<\/em>. Boston: Wisdom.<\/p><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Explore how lucid dreaming (LD) can be used as a spiritual practice and a tool for personal growth. Learn about its roots in Eastern traditions, scientific research, and its applications in mental health, mindfulness, and spiritual awakening.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[108,134,127,128,113,137,133,132,131,124,130,135,125,138,136,126,129,116],"class_list":["post-47813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-berrak-ruya","tag-bilincli-ruya","tag-bogzaran-lucid-dream","tag-laberge-lucid-dreaming","tag-lucid-dream","tag-lucid-dream-bilimsel-arastirmalar","tag-lucid-dream-faydalari","tag-lucid-dream-meditasyon","tag-lucid-dream-terapisi","tag-lucid-dreaming","tag-mindfulness-ve-lucid-dream","tag-ruya-kontrolu","tag-ruya-yogasi","tag-ruya-yogasi-teknikleri","tag-spirituel-ruya-teknikleri","tag-tibet-ruya-yogasi","tag-transpersonal-deneyimler","tag-ziyaret-ruyalari"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47813"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48613,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47813\/revisions\/48613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeluna.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}