Von Braschler, the author of Conversations with the Dream Mentor(1), was the guest on Tuesday night. "You feel like you're totally awake for the first time; ironically it's when you're asleep," Braschler said about lucid dreaming. He suggested this kind of controlled dreaming could be induced by conscious intent and self hypnosis.

Becoming lucid or aware that he's dreaming while in the dream state was just a first step for Braschler. Even though he could attain the lucid state, he felt directionless while in it. It was at this point he sought out a dream teacher who could guide him through new experiences. Interestingly, his teacher is a non-physical being who inhabits the dreamscape. To invite a dream mentor into your life, Braschler suggested a meditation where you "visualize a clean white slate," and then use symbolic pictures to convey what you are looking to explore.

"I've certainly gone to places that aren't of this world," Braschler said of his adventures in the dream world, where there are "realms within realms." In one such journey, he told of visiting "heaven," but it wasn't what one would expect. It was a "frightening place," he said, where angelic beings and overlords were pushing carts in a "kind of enslaved" manner underneath a huge waterfall of light.

1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0738702501/ctoc

Bumper Music

Bumper music from Tuesday July 01, 2003