Dream Analyst, David Rivinus, Publishes Magazine Article On Lucid Dreaming

An article on lucid dreaming, written by dream analyst David Rivinus, appeared this week in OM-times Magazine online. The link is: http://www.editions.omtimes.com/magazine/2015-09-D/

The article deals with a type of dream in which the dreamer knows that he or she is dreaming even while the dream is going on. This is called lucid dreaming. Over time and usually with considerable practice, the dreamer can learn to control the dream and to manipulate the dream events.

“At first, learning to control lucid dreams can be a little bit like trying to find your way through a fog,” says Rivinus, “but the more you practice, the more you learn how to tailor these dreams to your wishes.” According to Rivinus, that can be useful and can even help assist in emotional healing. But there are pitfalls.

The OM-Times article—entitled “Lucid Dreaming: A Powerful Tool or a Distraction?”—deals with those potential problems and tries to steer the dreamer toward a balance between the constructive aspects of lucid dreams and their possible traps. “The biggest issue,” he says, “is that it is so easy to become engrossed in the dream experience and forget that dreams are metaphoric communications.”

Rivinus says that when the dreamer becomes adept at guiding dreams, the exhilaration of the experience can be so great that controlling dreams becomes an end in itself. “Online lucid dreaming chat groups are full of questions about technique, but not much else.”

Rivinus gives the example of a dreamer who is flying in a lucid dream. During the course of the flight, the dreamer starts to lose altitude and consciously struggles to stay aloft. “There are two ways of looking at that experience,” he says. “One is to be disappointed that you were unable to control the dream and stay in the air.” According to Rivinus, that is where most dreamers put their attention. “But the other is to understand that the experience of losing altitude is a metaphor for something going on in the dreamer’s life.” Ideally, a lucid dream is experienced as both an exciting adventure and one with an important message. “That’s when the dreamer really maximizes on the experience.”

David Rivinus is the author of the book “Always Dreaming” published by Ozark Mountain Publishing. He has lectured and facilitated workshops on dreams internationally for over three decades. For more information, see www.teacherofdreams.com.