Pioneering lucid dream researcher at Stanford University and Montreal’s Sacré-Coeur Hospital, Craig Sim Webb discussed the experience and benefits of lucid dreaming, as well as precognitive dreams, shared dreams, "inception," and nightmares. He listed three classes of nightmares:

• physiological-- could be related to medicines, fevers or diet
• warnings-- could tune into actual futures or be more symbolic or thematic
• recurring-- usually deals with life lessons, could be a repeated action such as being chased.

Regarding lucidity, he said "we have to free up our identity from just being a waking self," and realize that part of ourselves exists on "another station of the dial" during dreaming, and we can join that self in real time during the dream. While lucidity is defined as realizing that one is dreaming during a dream, there are a number of related steps or states before or after the realization, he explained. Intriguingly, some people have used lucid dreaming for healing. Webb cited a case where a woman learned within a lucid dream that her severe headaches were related to eating eggs and bananas.

While pleasurable activities like flying can be engaged in during lucid dreams, Webb suggested that at times it can be useful to lessen control and be open to what the unconscious wants to reveal. For instance, a dreamer could place a general request for whatever knowledge or experience they need right now. One method to increase lucid dreams is to split up sleep periods. By interrupting your sleep and staying awake for a bit, and then going back for a nap, you are five times more likely to lucid dream, according to the research. Webb also shared studies of "inception" dreams, which involve people visiting each other in their dream states, as well as how material from past lives can sometimes be accessed in dreams.

Climate & Cooling

First hour guest, researcher Robert Felix spoke about climate change and a possible ice age. Just recently it was announced that Arctic sea ice has grown to a record breaking amount, and some 250,000 alpaca froze to death in southern Peru, while some 70,000 animals died in Bolivia. Even though we're told that we're experiencing global warming, "I keep insisting that we're heading into an ice age. And I think we're headed there faster than anyone realizes," he cautioned.

News segment guests: Robert Young Pelton, John Lott

Illustration above: Getty Images