The Dream Incubation Experiment

My purpose in researching, writing about and investigating dreams is to help you to become aware of and appreciate the power of your dreams, and to provide you with information on how to use those dreams in a variety of useful ways. I want to inspire you to move from perhaps being an unconscious dreamer to where you're using your dreams for intentional foresight that will lead to personal, psychological and spiritual growth and evolution.

The solution to perplexing and sometimes frustrating problems, as well as everyday solutions to mundane issues, can reliably be resolved in the dreaming mind. Historical records bear witness to humanity's attempts to seek (and receive) guidance, wisdom and solutions through their dreams.

The ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese, Indigenous cultures, and many, many more have dedicated sacred sites, writings and resources to the study and incubation of healing, problem solving, creative and guidance dreams. Even in modern times, dreams have helped solve problems in science, politics, literature, religion and almost every other industry, segment or part of society, as well as with everyday concerns such as health, finance, relationships and so forth.

Inventions as varied as Elias Howe's sewing machine needle-where he dreamt the solution to the problem with the needle to be the placement of the hole at the pointed end-- and J. B. Parkinson's computer-controlled antiaircraft gun, were conceived in dreams. Scholar Herman Hilprecht reported that he dreamt that an Assyrian priest revealed the accurate translation of the stone of Nebuchadnezzar.

Problem Solving

The most common use of dream incubation is to request a solution to a current or continuing problem in your work or home life. These may be along the lines of whether to ask for a raise or make a career change; whether to have a baby or marry your current beau; If now is the right time to take the plunge and buy that little house, or move to another part of the country.

Several research studies have examined different aspects of problem solving and dreams. Wile, in 1934, addressed the incubation issue when he measured how long it took children to self-induce a dream on a desired topic. In 1974, Dement tested 500 undergraduate students by giving them three "brain-teaser" problems to solve while they slept. Morton Schatzman, in the 1980s repeated the Dement experiment, giving brain-teasers to huge numbers of people in England via the mass media.

Dr. Deirdre Barrett, of the Harvard Medical School, Behavioral Medicine Program, conducted a study of dream incubation for problem solving. However, unlike the researchers before her, she explored how subjects would do if they could solve problems of their own choice, rather than predetermined puzzles or problems.

One of the more interesting results of the Barrett study revealed that a solution was usually arrived at by the start of the dream. It didn't appear that the problem was being struggled with throughout the experience. However, in some instances, the solution was presented through subtle hints which built toward more obvious ones until the conscious mind finally "got the message."

Inventive and Scientific Solutions

Inventors, by nature are dreamers; sometimes in a very literal sense. Nikola Tesla, famous inventor of the high-voltage transformer (Tesla coil), for example, often perceived his inventions in dreams and in dream-like mental visions. Tesla reported that he "saw" his inventions as if they were real on the screen of his mind's eye. He claimed that the power of his imagery was such that he could do "experiments in his mind."

Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz was the great chemist who revolutionized the study of chemistry with the discovery of the Benzene molecule. In a dream he was shown an image of a snake biting its own tail and realized that the molecule was a "closed chain."

In 1922, Niels Bohr received the Nobel Prize in physics due to a dream that enlightened him. He was trying to figure out what the structure of an atom was. One evening he fell asleep and in his dreams he saw the nucleus of the atom, with the electrons spinning around it, just like our solar system with the sun and planets. He knew immediately that this was the solution to his problem. Further testing and experiments proved it to be true.

Creative Solutions

Dreams can provide creative insights and solutions as well as practical and mundane ones.

Mary Shelley, who in the company of her famous husband Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and others had been reading aloud a collection of ghost stories, became part of a plan, suggested by Lord Byron, that they all write ghost stories of their own.

According to Mary Shelley's journal of April 1817, after listening to a long conversation between Byron and Shelley on the speculation that, "Perhaps a corpse would be reanimated," she retired to her bed well where, stimulated by the evening's conversation, was unable to sleep. When finally she did fall into blissful slumber her "imagination, unbidden, possessed and guided me, gifting the successive images that arose in my mind with a vividness far beyond the usual bounds of reverie," she wrote, and thus Frankenstein was born.

Robert Louis Stevenson was influenced by his dreams. He wrote an essay in which he called his dream helpers "the Brownies. Whenever he was stuck for a character, plot or story he'd make a request of his "Brownies" and in the morning he'd have what he needed.

Edgar Allen Poe's personal favourite work was The Lady Ligeia. He was particularly captivated by her eyes, which had met his in a dream. Her eyes were "far larger than the ordinary eyes of our race. They were even fuller than the fullest of the gazelle eyes of the tribe of the valley of the Nourjahad."

Healing Solutions

Like Edgar Cayce, though perhaps not to the same degree, we can all request health related information, advice and even diagnoses. In 2004, I was suffering with terrible headaches daily. I had visited the doctor but, after a cursory examination, he informed me that there was "nothing wrong." Frustrated with his evaluation and flippant attitude, I decided to diagnose the problem myself... with the help of my dreaming mind. The dream I received that night told me that my diet and my anger with a situation in my life at that time were the cause. A change in eating habits and attitude alleviated the headaches.

The Power Of The Mind

Anyone who's experienced a creative breakthrough or insight through their dreams knows that the dreaming mind has a power we don't experience while awake. This power is unfettered by time, space, or self-imposed limitations. It reaches into the endless, boundless and eternal universe of unmanifest potential, where unlimited ideas, inspirations and imaginings lay in wait.

When you incubate or request, a resolution, solution or guidance dream, your sub/unconscious and superconscious mind work in unison to bring you the best solution for you at the present time. In some instances you may have been thinking about a particularly troubling problem for days, weeks or even months, but hadn't been able to resolve the issue. Then, out of the blue, you have a dream that makes everything crystal clear. At other times, you might not have consciously been focused on any particular problem, but you have a dream that provides you with a big "fix" for your life in general. It may be that the issue was smouldering in the back of your mind for quite a while and your dreaming mind finally brought it to the forefront for you to deal with.

Incubation Method

There are tons of resources on how to incubate or request a specific dream. What I'm sharing here is my own personal method. Feel free to adjust it to your liking.

The most important part of dream incubation is setting an intention. The more clearly your intention is articulated, thought or written, the more likely it is that you'll dream the answer to your question, problem or issue.

Clearly define the issue in your conscious mind first. What do you want your dreams to work on? Are you seeking the answer to a technical question or a career decision? Are you inquiring into a health or physical concern? Are you debating a relationship issue? By clearly understanding the problem or concern, you'll better understand the solution given.

If you usually keep a dream journal, write out your question or query on a new page. If you don't have a dream journal, any piece of paper will do. If you can draw an image, add a photograph, sketch the problem, add the additional information.

Once you settle into bed for the night, start thinking about the issue you want your dreams to work on. Repeat the question or statement you wrote out, over and over while you drift off to sleep.

That's all there is to it. You may not get an answer, solution or response the first time you try dream incubation. If this is the case, don't be disheartened. If you keep with it, you will get the answers you need. The most common reason new dreamworkers feel that their efforts yield no results is that they don't recognize that the dream or dreams they receive relate to the problem at hand (or each other). However, what I've found is that once I begin investigating the dream story, I'm surprised to discover how much they do in fact relate to my concerns and that they do indeed offer practical and sound solutions.

Like any new skill, dream incubation takes a little bit of practice and some patients. Once you begin using your dreams to explore and resolve issues, problems and concerns, you'll discover how invaluable the information they offer really is and you'll wonder why you didn't start requesting guidance sooner.

The Experiment

The point of this entire article is to provide the background and reason for an experiment I'm conducting, and to invite you to take part in the research. From October 31, 2012 to December 31, 2012 I'll be requesting information from my dreams on a variety of topics. I will also be attempting to incubate information for others as well.

Every day (or once I receive an answer/response to a dream query) I'll post the pre-dream request or question on the blog at: http://terrygillisdreamanalyst.ca/blog/. I'll then post the dream I receive. If you would like to participate, either by incubating your own questions/queries or by requesting that I incubate an issue for you, post your question or incubation and dream on the blog.

At the end of the eight weeks, I'll write up a report and article on the experiment and our results.

For more information or details on The Dream Incubation Experiment click here.

Terry Gillis is a dream investigator, researcher and author and would like to invite you to participate in her ongoing research and become a part of the growing dream community by posting your dreams on her blog. Providing quality counselling articles, hynotherapy writings and other mind help resources online.