Phase Today (2025)

17/01/2025

Do Satanic Qualities Cause Sleep Paralysis?

Indonesian researchers Robiatul Adawiyah and Zainal Mukhlis examined sleep paralysis from the perspective of Sufism. They studied the works of al-Ghazālī, an eminent jurist, m***i, philosopher, theologian, and mystic in the history of Islam who was born in the 11th century in what is now Iran.

Al-Ghazālī believed that one could become so frightened in a dream that the pain would feel real. In such a state, dreams turn into chaos. He also believed that nightmares are caused by satanic qualities: the attraction to everything earthly, lust, and evil deeds. According to al-Ghazālī, the events in one’s dreams reflect what is in their heart.

However, the researchers add the perspective of modern psychology to al-Ghazālī’s viewpoints. They acknowledge that sleep paralysis is part of the rapid eye movement (REM) phase of sleep, and it occurs when a dream evokes ambivalent, contradictory feelings. When this happens, the sleeper’s emotions take the form of strange dream imagery.

Have you ever associated sleep paralysis with religion or mysticism?

The article was published in December 2024 in the Journal of Ushuluddin and Islamic Thought: https://jurnalfuf.uinsa.ac.id/index.php/juit/article/view/3102

16/01/2025

January 16 – Mark Blagrove’s Birthday

Mark Blagrove is a professor of psychology and director of the Swansea University Sleep Laboratory in the UK. He is a consulting editor for the journal Dreaming and a former president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. As an educator, Blagrove teaches a course dedicated to dreams.

Most of the scientist’s works are devoted to dreams in general, nightmares, and the psychology of dreams. In terms of lucid dreams (LD), he studied the possibility of stimulating LD with brief awakenings at night and in the morning. As his experiment showed, waking up probably activates the brain or promotes the onset of the REM phase after returning to sleep, which increases the chances of LD.

Blagrove also participated in a study on the induction of LD in one session of laboratory sleep. Cognitive training and REM-sleep stimulation were used for this purpose. The participants came to the laboratory in the morning, received instructions on LD, and then for 20 minutes the experimenter reproduced alternating audio and visual cues with an interval of 1 minute. Participants were instructed to practice a state of critical self-awareness by observing their thoughts and feelings every time they noticed a signal. Then they were allowed to take a nap, during which the stimulation by signals continued. As a result, half of the volunteers experienced LD, including those who had never encountered the phenomenon before.

Last year, the scientist published a study on lucid nightmares (which occur when a dreamer realizes they are dreaming but cannot wake up). Blagrove found that the frequency of lucid dreams is related to one’s internal locus of control, which relates to the inclination to look inward for the causes of behavior rather than outside. An internal locus of control also leads a person to attribute results to their efforts and abilities rather than external circumstances. But those who suffer from lucid nightmares do not have an internal locus of control, which explains why they cannot escape from terrifying dream plots.

Have you ever experienced lucid nightmares?

The researcher’s works can be found on his ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mark-Blagrove

15/01/2025

What Does a Near-Death Experience Sound Like?

Descriptions of near-death experiences typically include flying through a tunnel towards a light, encountering deceased friends or relatives, contacting angels or deities, engaging in telepathic communication, and reviewing one’s life, among other things. However, no two near-death experiences are identical, and none of them contain all of these scenarios. Kristen Blinne, a philosopher from the USA, attempted to imagine what such an adventure might sound like.

The author created an audio piece including all the popular stages of near-death experiences:

1. Leaving the body: it all starts with a heartbeat, then a voice appears—a cascade of thoughts and feelings.
2. Flying through a tunnel towards a light: hanging chimes, a singing bowl, gong strikes.
3. Journeying to another world: the sounds of cranes, guinea pigs, and beavers. In the background, there is a gong and a harp.
4. Encountering the deceased: the meowing of the author’s deceased cat is heard (from a recording made while it was alive), as can the sound of a chime that symbolizes a being of light.
5. Encountering spirits: the hum of children’s voices.
6. Returning to the body: the sounds of an organ convey a sense of movement, while gong strikes symbolize that the person has returned to their body. A heartbeat concludes the adventure.

It is worth remembering that near-death experiences are one of the phase states, along with lucid dreams and out-of-body experiences. One of the popular scenarios (flying through a tunnel towards a light) was intentionally induced by the REMspace team in lucid dreams.

What does a phase state sound like to you? What sounds and melodies would you include in a project like Kristen Blinne’s?

The article was published in December 2024 in Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies: http://liminalities.net/20-4/between-worlds.html
The audio is also available there.

14/01/2025

Do Parental Relationships Affect the Practice of Phase States?

According to attachment theory, we all develop one of three attachment strategies from childhood, depending on our relationships with our parents. These are secure (healthy relationships), anxious (a person constantly fears being abandoned), or avoidant (keeping everyone at a distance to avoid pain) attachment styles. Researchers from Iran, led by Alireza Shamsi, decided to investigate how people’s attachment strategies affect their sleep.

The authors recruited 232 volunteers, 98 of whom had depression and the rest of whom were healthy. The scientists found that patients with depression were significantly more likely than healthy individuals to have an anxious or avoidant attachment style, as well as the strangest and most unusual dreams, including episodes of sleep paralysis and false awakenings. But people without diagnoses also carry their attachment strategies from childhood. So, it is not depression that affects dreams but rather one’s attachment type.

It turns out that the more a person worries about relationships or avoids them, the stranger and more unusual their sleep becomes. States that we call phase states, such as false awakenings, sleep paralysis, and out-of-body experiences, occur more frequently among these individuals. However, the authors did not find any connection with lucid dreams.

Do your attachment type and phase experience confirm the authors’ conclusions?

The article was published in January 2025 in Current Psychology: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-07319-8

12/01/2025

An Overview of Lucid Dream Studies in 2024

Interest in phase states (lucid dreaming and out-of-body experiences) is steadily growing. In 2024 alone, 60 scientific papers on the topic were published—25% more than in 2023. The main area of investigation in 2024 was the search for an ideal technique for inducing lucid dreams. Popular methods include meditation, breathing exercises, intention setting, sleep interruption, external stimulation (mostly involving sounds), and even the use of electrical currents. New technologies, including mobile applications and smartwatches, are also being implemented.

The main trend in 2023 was the establishment of communication with lucid dreamers in real-time. This line of research was continued in 2024, primarily by the REMspace team, who published groundbreaking studies on controlling a car and a smart home from lucid dreams, as well as the first study confirming communication between two sleeping people.

In 2024, scientists also began to explore the personalities of lucid dreamers to determine what qualities influence the practice of lucid dreaming. Researchers identified several possible factors, including activity, flexibility, emotionality, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and even schizophrenia.

The discussion on the potential applications of this practice is ongoing. The main strand of this discussion remains the resolution of psychological problems. Various training methods also play a significant role, and while the primary focus was previously on athletes, the focus spread to other professions in 2024. For example, surgeons began learning to operate in lucid dreams, and educators have started talking about using the phase state to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

In 2024, the USA made the greatest contribution to the development of the topic (20 scientific papers / 6 preprints), followed by Australia (8/2). Germany takes 3rd place if preprints are included (7/3), and the UK takes this position if preprints are excluded (6/1). To clarify, a preprint is an article that has not undergone peer review and, thus, has not been entered into scientific databases. But this does not mean that preprints have no scientific merit—even highly renowned scientists have been known to publish their initial (and, often, their most daring) results in this way.

Martin Dresler was the leading author in 2024 (6 scientific papers), followed by Re*****on Mallett (5), while there was a multi-way tie between Michael Raduga, Andrey Shashkov, Michelle Carr, Karen Konkoly, and Ken Paller for 3rd place (4 articles each). However, almost all of the leader's works are preprints. If we only count published scientific articles, then all the authors listed above share 1st place, joined also by Daniel Erlacher and Emma Peters.

What task would you like to see researchers tackle in 2025?

The full list of scientific articles on lucid dreams from 2024 can be found on our website: https://phasetoday.com/an-overview-of-lucid-dream-studies-in-2024/

11/01/2025

Does Sleep Paralysis Become More Pleasant Over Time?

Sleep paralysis is often accompanied by hallucinations, and though it can be a frightening experience, this is not always the case. Israeli researcher Yair Lavi surveyed 216 people to find out if people’s experiences with sleep paralysis change over time and if they become more positive or negative. Sleep paralysis became more pleasant for 41.7% of respondents, while the opposite was true for 11.6%. Meanwhile, 46.8% reported no change in the pleasantness of their experiences.

According to these results, if changes occur in one’s experience of sleep paralysis, such changes are usually for the better. To a large extent, this is because people gain the ability to control episodes over time. Specifically, they learn to stop episodes or prevent them before they happen. Some people who experience positive emotions from sleep paralysis even learn to intentionally induce episodes. Conversely, an inability to influence the situation leads to negative experiences.

Therefore, it is imperative that patients suffering from sleep paralysis learn to overcome their feelings of helplessness and gain control over the situation. Breathing exercises, meditation, and the practice of other phase states (lucid dreams and out-of-body experiences) may be suitable for this purpose. If a person can turn sleep paralysis episodes into lucid dreams or out-of-body experiences, they usually enjoy the experience.

Can you intentionally induce sleep paralysis?

The master’s thesis is available on ExLibris: https://haifa.userservices.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/delivery/972HAI_MAIN:HAU/12340464860002791

10/01/2025

A Recipe for Sleep Paralysis: Yoga, Mantras, and Vitamin D

Indian doctors Dattaprasad Sawant and Neha Kamble have presented a treatment plan for sleep paralysis. Although they remind us that it is a harmless condition, it can cause fear. A 30-year-old woman approached them because she regularly experienced sleep paralysis with auditory hallucinations, which resulted in nightmares, stress, and depression.

The patient was prescribed vitamin D. Though vitamin D deficiency is not directly linked to sleep paralysis, it is known to cause fatigue, low mood, and sleep disruptions, which can exacerbate the situation. The doctors also recommended a diet enriched with more nutrients, and they advised her to practice yoga, meditate, perform breathing exercises, and repeat mantras. Beyond this, she was encouraged to read motivational books and listen to calming music in her free time to maintain a positive attitude. She was also advised to consult a psychologist, but she declined.

Her symptoms resolved within three years. The authors emphasize that such an outcome can be accomplished only through a comprehensive approach: one must change their overall lifestyle and work with both the body and the psyche. It should also be noted that sleep paralysis is one of the phase states and can be a gateway to lucid dreaming.

If you’ve experienced sleep paralysis, what do you do about it?

The article was published in December 2024 in Cureus: https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.76626

09/01/2025

Does Prayer Help Protect Against Sleep Paralysis?

“Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on people, fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.” This quote from the Book of Job (4:13–15) could be describing sleep paralysis, according to authors of the religious journal Christian Pure. However, this phenomenon is not directly mentioned in the Bible.

While some Christians perceive sleep paralysis as a type of spiritual attack, the authors of the article adhere to a more modern approach, noting that this condition has purely physiological causes and one should not hesitate to see a doctor if they experience it. Nevertheless, they also propose prayer as the main method of treatment—again, relying on quotes from the Bible.

Interestingly, a scientific article on the power of prayer was published at the same time by American scientists Schille-Hudson, Weisman, and Luhrmann, who reviewed three studies on this topic. They found that the more time a person spends in prayer, the more frequently they experience events characterized by a spiritual presence. However, prayer does not affect sleep paralysis or out-of-body experiences (i.e., phase states).

Additionally, in 2011, the REMspace team conducted an experiment in California in which they invoked a biblical miracle—the vision of the prophet Elijah. A group of people have had similar visions in the phase state.

Have you used prayer to enter or exit a phase state?

The article was published in December 2024 in Cognitive Science: https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.70029

29/12/2024

How to Achieve Out-of-Body Experiences Using Virtual Reality

Canadian researcher Gratiana Chen conducted an experiment in which she stimulated out-of-body experiences in 70 university students using virtual reality. The participants were shown virtual reality videos that created the illusion of leaving the body and floating in the air. At the same time, their EEG data were recorded in both normal and "out-of-body" states.

Predictably, the participants' subjective accounts resembled classic out-of-body experiences. For example, they described feelings of awe, separation from the body, and floating, noting that everything felt dreamlike. Moreover, the EEG data showed changes in all five frequency bands (especially in alpha oscillations).

The author concluded that virtual reality can induce out-of-body experiences and that could be used, for instance, in the treatment of neurological, psychological, and dissociative disorders. Further, healthy individuals could use virtual reality simply to have a positive experience and feel uplifting emotions.

Do you have any experience with virtual reality? How similar is it to phase states (lucid dreaming, out-of-body experiences, etc.)?

The Master's thesis was published in December 2024 on the website of the University of Western Ontario: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/10538/

25/12/2024

December 25 – Carlos Castaneda’s Birthday

Carlos Castaneda was a famous twentieth-century American writer, anthropologist, and mystic. He was born in South America, but spent most of his life in the USA. As The New York Times wrote after his death, his bestsellers “helped to define the psychological landscape of the 1960s.”

He left a legacy of twelve books, one of which – The Art of Dreaming – is dedicated to lucid dreams (LD), although the author himself does not use this term. Castaneda adhered to the esoteric, mystical side of the phenomenon. The story revolves around Don Juan, a shaman and Yaqui Indian from northern Mexico. According to Castaneda’s work, the art of dreaming is the gateway to infinity and the way for magicians to manipulate ordinary dreams.

Castaneda claimed that there are seven gates of dreaming (and the dreamer must open them all, in turn), but described only four of them:

1. The purpose of the first gate is to control the general course of events in the dream. Method: to see your hands in a dream (or any other object chosen in advance). The first gate is reached when you realize you are falling asleep or see a fantastically vivid dream.
2. The second gate is reached when you wake up from one dream in another dream.
3. The third gate is reached when you watch yourself sleeping within a dream. This requires you to be in your real room, see your real physical body, and then start moving.
4. In the fourth gate, you travel through the dream to specific places.

In his last book, Magical Passes, Castaneda emphasized the role of dreaming attention. Without it, as the author wrote, “practitioners could aspire at best, to have lucid dreams about phantasmagorical worlds.”

Are you closer to the mystical or scientific view of the LD phenomenon?

Carlos Castaneda’s books are available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Carlos+Castaneda

23/12/2024

Dream Cage – A New Horror Game Exploring Sleep Paralysis

Robert, a 50-year-old man, suffers from insomnia and sleep paralysis. Over five terrifying nights, he must confront his fears. You can join him on this journey in the new game, Dream Cage.

The developers have created 25 supernatural anomalies for players to encounter, all inspired by real accounts of individuals who have experienced sleep paralysis. Five demons haunt the player, and clues are scattered throughout the protagonist's apartment. Memory lapses occur, requiring the player to search for pills to restore their recollection.

As reported by IGN, the game has three different endings, and the ending a player gets is influenced by their actions. However, only one reveals all the secrets. While a precise release date hasn't been announced, the game is already on Steam's wishlist and will be launched in the first quarter of 2025.

What do you think: do such games alleviate or provoke episodes of sleep paralysis?

The trailer is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aN-v0AAUflE?si=1ViU5XHrMWOnWKEC

21/12/2024

December 21 – Phase Day

The first time we celebrated Phase Day was in 2013. Shortly before the 9th anniversary of the site aing.ru, phase state researcher Michael Raduga proposed to create a holiday when all the practitioners of lucid dreams, out-of-body experiences, as well as astral projections, and even people suffering from sleep paralysis could celebrate what really unites them, and remind themselves that they are a community.

When it came to selecting the date, Michael immediately suggested the winter solstice (December 21 or 22, depending on the year), because this is the longest night, which is conducive to more experiences of awareness in dreams, leaving the body, or entering the astral – that is, the phase states. Each practitioner was invited to offer their own suggestion but, on average, 90% of voters across all social networks opted for December 21.

In addition to it being the longest night of the year, many people also noted the symbolism of the date 21.12: “If you add up the numbers, we get a six, which is the number of power. In the phase state, you can do incredible things that didn’t work out before”; “Such a sensational date in 2012. We were predicted the end of the world, a quantum leap, and the beginning of a new era. Let it be Phase Day.”

The winter solstice is celebrated by almost all cultures around the world. For example, in China, the Dongzhi festival is held on the longest night of the year to celebrate the birth of a new cycle. In ancient Greece, it was believed that on this day the god of the underworld, Hades, climbed up to Olympus to show his face. And in Russia it is the day that marks the national holiday Kolyada.

This date should not be confused with Lucid Dreaming Day, which is celebrated on April 12 and is dedicated specifically to lucid dreams – just one of the phase states.

We sincerely wish you a successful phase experience tonight! Long sleep is the key to success. Do a reality check during the day, form an intention to become conscious in a dream before going to bed, do indirect practices in the morning, and then remember your goals in the phase state! Happy holiday!

20/12/2024

Out-of-Body Experiences via Hypnosis

Italian researchers Patrizio Tressoldi and Luciano Pederzoli conducted an experiment on out-of-body experiences using hypnosis. They recruited five volunteers with varying levels of prior knowledge about this phenomenon and prepared them for the experiment with four preliminary hypnosis sessions.

On the day of the experiment, some participants were in the laboratory, while others were at home (for these participants, the hypnosis session was conducted over the phone). The researchers placed six photographs in university buildings located 190 km or more from the participants. The participants were instructed to attempt to have an out-of-body experience, locate the room where a photograph was placed, and identify the subject of the photograph.

The authors assessed the results positively, as approximately half of the responses (47.6%) were correct. However, the researchers acknowledged the need for equipment to provide objective data on the participants' brain states. Moreover, it should be noted that the authors did not comment on the accuracy of the responses—for example, they did not state whether the general idea of the photograph was guessed or whether minute details were accurately described.

The researchers published the verbatim text of all steps of the hypnosis procedure. Do you think you’ll try it?

The preprint of the article was published in December 2024 on Academia: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/112857265/download-libre.pdf?1711727519=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DOut_of_Body_Experience_induced_by_hypnot.pdf&Expires=1734616220&Signature=ONOWjWvz-nDJuJTEzl2v~0s-D58AVvyJfbDTQbFx8lFMRCalCJNhGw7XdSBNNvyhhXx5ZYnYxK2OkaAkFF74Znkrd-2UHZcpHui8bnWjCrov4b-hyNVvqr0YzANXRYBThxLKDBcpZbajczc4XKvA3ttmb6IunhzRS8kY9O~R7uYWRnEk1ANZPq0ZW-KGm393yREWr1sqz5kOtNqcV06hcAstGWcTSj8KY3NNC3VFipPcZUCsSMzDmFH3JCANbAV5Bnq76qPZSUt2ovQx3WSNIBLcy5H~uVyXbhRsEklhfrw8LxzH9rmvo~KL7kWqZl8LdXm2ZJlCnfOPqACdIP0VGA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

18/12/2024

December 18 – Lynne Levitan’s Birthday

Lynne Levitan is a doctor of medicine, anesthesiologist, lucid dreamer, and wife of Stephen LaBerge (one of the most prominent researchers on the subject of lucid dreams), his colleague at the Lucidity Institute, and co-author of many papers.

Levitan first heard about lucid dreaming (LD) in April 1982, when she attended Stephen LaBerge’s course at Stanford University, even though she had already had her first lucid dream in adolescence. Nevertheless, she was interested in developing the ability to remember dreams. As a student, she didn’t sleep much, yet she still learned to have three-to-four lucid dreams a week.

Lynne Levitan tested the first LD stimulation devices created at the Lucidity Institute. During the first two years when the researchers developed DreamLight, she experienced LD every other night on average. With colleagues, she also studied the similarities and differences between dream and reality in terms of cognition, noting that the differences are quantitative rather than qualitative, and that the types of cognition experienced in dreaming and waking are much more similar than previously assumed.

Levitan was also a participant in research on sleep interruption technique (which requires getting up an hour earlier than usual and staying awake for 30–60 minutes, after which the subject can go back to sleep with the intention of becoming aware) and the benefits of daytime sleep. The results of this research showed that awareness during daytime sleep occurs ten times more often than at night. With colleagues, she also conducted the first experiments to confirm lucidity in a dream with the help of pre-agreed eye movements.

In her work with Stephen LaBerge, she also pointed out the similarities between lucid dreams, sleep paralysis, and out-of-body experiences (i.e. the phase states), noting that these conditions may be aspects of the same phenomenon.

Links to the researcher’s Facebook and Twitter pages:
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000380288696
https://twitter.com/lxlevitanmd

17/12/2024

Guided Dreaming as Psychotherapy

Lucid dreaming gives people a safe environment for addressing psychological issues. Canadian researcher Bei Linda Tang, whose work focuses on both ordinary dreams and controlled dreams, suggests expanding these methods. The author lists notable figures who have found answers to their questions in dreams, including Dmitri Mendeleev, René Descartes, Mahatma Gandhi, Salvador Dalí, and Paul McCartney, to name just a few.

Tang has identified four contexts in which people can cope if they are facing a psychological problem, such as trauma or a phobia:

1. In their waking lives, through conscious, rational, and logical means.
2. In regular dreams, where the subconscious processes emotions.
3. In lucid dreams, where the dreamer intentionally creates the necessary narrative.
4. In guided dreams, which are regular dreams whose plots are programmed in advance.

The author induces guided dreams using breathing exercises and visualization techniques. She also supports related practices such as yoga nidra, shamanic rituals, and hypnosis. In one of her experiments, nine of ten participants reported that they better understood their problems after a single group session, and tests showed a 31% improvement in the group's overall psychological state.

Have you ever programmed a regular (non-lucid) dream?

The preprint of the article was published in December 2024 on SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5038554

16/12/2024

Jamie Foxx Saw the Devil at the End of the Tunnel

Jamie Foxx is an American actor known for roles in over 300 films, including Law Abiding Citizen, Django Unchained, White House Down, and Horrible Bosses. He received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ray Charles in Ray and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Last year, he nearly died from a brain bleed and stroke.

The Mirror is publishing the actor's recollections, which he has only now decided to share with the public. According to these recollections, he saw a tunnel, but no light. "S--t, am I going to the wrong place?" he quipped. Ultimately, it seemed to him that he saw the devil at the end of the tunnel. "Or is that Puffy [Sean Combs]?" Foxx joked again, recounting his ordeal.

Flying through a tunnel towards a light is one of the most common scenarios reported by people who have had near-death experiences. In an experiment conducted by REMspace, a group of lucid dreamers intentionally replicated this plot in another phase state—lucid dreaming. While in a coma, people subconsciously expect the manifestation of the story they've heard most often, which explains why so many people see a light and the end of a tunnel.

What do you think you would see if you had a near-death experience?

Link to the source: https://www.themirror.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/jamie-foxx-reveals-eight-word-851624

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