Orgasms...While You Sleep!

Ever have a dream where you’re engaged in an activity and suddenly realize you’re capable of shifting the trajectory of your dream state? If so, you'll be happy to learn that lucid dreamers may be better at problem solving during their waking-lives, reports The Science of Us. A new study suggests that lucid dreamers are better equipped for “the types of problems that require one of those lightbulb-flashing-on bursts of insight.” It’s an incredibly fascinating phenomenon, and one that can actually be self-taught. Unfortunately, as the study reports, self-taught lucid dreaming will not necessarily mean that the same waking-life causation will be afforded as to those who lucid dream naturally. However lucidity, when engaged frequently, has the power to yield some pretty extraordinary results.

One researcher of lucid dreaming, Beverly D'Urso, has experienced the phenomenon all her life and is somewhat of a poster child for the benefits of dream-state self-realization. She worked closely with psychophysiologist Dr. Stephen LaBerge at Stanford University to study the occurrence and — get this — D’Urso is the first recorded person to have an orgasm while lucid dreaming. So while self-taught lucid dreamers may not have the same "aha!" moments during their waking lives as those who experience it naturally, the benefits are undeniable.

In an interview with We Dream Now, D’Urso describes lucidity as the ability to expand “one’s sense of self and potential in life.” And lucid dreaming, she says, can have profound physical effects on the body as well (as evidenced by the controlled orgasm, which I personally think is enough of a reason to exercise lucidity as frequently as possible). “I practice ‘healing’ in lucid dreams all the time because I learned from my laboratory research and my own experience that what I happens in my dreams, especially my lucid dreams, affects my physical body,” she says. In her interview, D’Urso provided a list of her top 10 lucid dreams:

1. I met myself at a much younger age and she told me that, “Everything is perfect as it is!” and I finally believed it.

2. I got my childhood nightmare ‘witches,’ now seen as my creative power, to help me get pregnant.

3. I walked inside my uterus while pregnant and found twins, later verified by ultrasound.

4. I overcame writer’s block by writing my Ph.D. proposal and soon finished my degree.

5. I gave a ‘healing’ to a friend’s child and he got better.

6. I nursed my ‘baby-self’ when I felt sad when my mom had to stay in the hospital.

7. I made love to the guru, whose ashram I escaped from out of fear.

8. I introduced my husband to my deceased father, who had died before my husband and I met.

9. I intentionally looked for the contents of target pictures and won first place in a number of dream contests.

10. I flew to ‘infinity and beyond’ using a mathematical method that I didn’t know about.

Pretty incredible, no? So, you're probably wondering now, how does one go about lucid dreaming? D’Urso provides some suggestions:

Don’t ever assume that you are not dreaming. Record your dreams and discuss them. Pick a simple task that you can try in a lucid dream. Look for clues, such as meeting someone whom you remember has ‘died’ or feeling yourself floating in air. Ask yourself often, “Am I dreaming right now?” Remain open to the possibility without acting upon it until you know for sure that you are dreaming.

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