Text Box: Lunchtime Lecture: Lucid Dreaming Text Box: Chris Allen is a Technical Author and writer. Lucid dreaming is one of the main themes of his forthcoming novel: Hypnos and Thanatos: Sleep and His Half- Brother Death. He is also a professional Hypnotherapist and a full member of the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis for many years. For further details, visit:- Web site: www.cach.co.uk Text Box: Talk Description Lucid dreaming is perhaps the strangest of sleep phenomena. It has baffled man for centuries. Aristotle said of it: “Often when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.” As opposed to an ordinary dream, a lucid dream may be defined as one in which the dreamer becomes AWARE that he or she is dreaming. The experience may be empowering as the dreaming mind realises that it can control and manipulate the environment. Recent research has shown that there can be the following four characteristics to the lucidity: The dreamer is aware Objects disappear after waking Physical laws need not apply The dreamer has a CLEAR memory of the waking world. Although there will be some coverage of associated brain activity, the talk will focus on how lucid dreaming may be understood in terms of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. The emphasis will be on the way in which the psychological states of waking, dreaming, dreaming and the transcendental fourth of illumination are depicted in the Mandukya Upanishad. The talk will be supported with a Powerpoint presentation including audio and video clips. It is scheduled to last for 40 minutes after which there will be a short question and answer session. Text Box: The Location and time of the next talk are TBA