Books by Ryan D Hurd
Praeger, Aug 2014
Co-edited with Kelly Bulkeley. The first set of its kind, Lucid Dreaming: New Perspectives on Con... more Co-edited with Kelly Bulkeley. The first set of its kind, Lucid Dreaming: New Perspectives on Consciousness in Sleep provides a comprehensive showcase of the theories, research, and direct experience that serve to illuminate how certain people can maintain conscious awareness while dreaming. The text is organized into two sections, covering science, psychology, and education; and religious traditions, creativity, and culture. Contributors to this two-volume work include top dream experts across the globe—scholars sharing knowledge gained from deep personal explorations and cutting-edge scientific investigations.
Topics covered include the neuroscience of lucid dreaming, clinical uses of lucid dreaming in treating trauma, the secret history of lucid dreaming in English philosophy, and spiritual practices of lucid dreaming in Islam, Buddhism, and shamanic traditions. The work also addresses lucid dreaming in movies including The Matrix and literature such as the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien and explains how modern video gaming enhances lucidity. This set serves as an ideal text and reference work for school libraries and academic courses in anthropology, psychology, religious studies, and cognitive science as well as for graduate-level study in holistic education—an increasingly popular specialization.
Hyena Press, 2010
Experienced by millions as supernatural assault, sleep paralysis (SP) often includes realistic, a... more Experienced by millions as supernatural assault, sleep paralysis (SP) often includes realistic, and often frightening, hallucinations that are projected into the waking world. In Sleep Paralysis: A Guide to Hypnagogic Visions and Visitors of the Night, these night visitations of ghosts, vampires-and even aliens-are honored afresh from the perspective of contemporary dream science. Although they can be terrifying, these visions can also be a reliable portal to other extraordinary states, including lucid dreaming, out-of-body experiences, and guided journeys to realms beyond our imagination. Sleep paralysis is the only print book that discusses sleep paralysis and its related dream visions from a how-to perspective -- a book for those who want to manage their SP or engage more confidently with this ancient lucid dreaming technique.
Book chapters by Ryan D Hurd
Folklore, People and Place: International perspectives on tourism and tradition in stories places, Jan 3, 2023
On the island of Maui, the petroglyph site at Olowalu is a storied place. Located along the trail... more On the island of Maui, the petroglyph site at Olowalu is a storied place. Located along the trail of a mountain pass, the rock art adorns large boulders along a steep cliffside below a 250 ft tall cinder cone. Spanning centuries of active use, the decorated boulders on this high pass lay beside a flowing stream and an ancient footpath, connecting the ocean shore to the Io valley in the interior where Maui’s kings and queens are interred. The rock art site is considered sacred ground by contemporary Hawaiians but has few protections and is mostly known as a quick tourist stop. In this chapter, Western historical accounts and folklore collected about Olowalu are complemented with perspectives from Hawaiian elders and Indigenous Cultural Practitioners. In particular, the folkloric ties to this storied place and the web of related sacred sites on Maui invite a deepening of visitors’ experiences, from merely observing artifacts of past lifeways to experiencing the living, spiritual depth of the island. By recognizing the sanctity of Olowalu, both tourists and locals may enter into a more respectful and embodied relationship with the cultural landscape.
Land of the shamans: Archaeology, cosmology and landscape, 2018
Increasingly, western scientific disciplines and indigenous ways of knowing and being, or Indigen... more Increasingly, western scientific disciplines and indigenous ways of knowing and being, or Indigenous science, are being brought together. Indigenous science refers to the place-based, holistic and spiritual knowledge system and wisdom traditions of indigenous peoples. Issues of climate change, sea rise, extreme weather events, food equity and global health challenges necessitate context-driven research that causal research cannot address on its own. The question is, how to consciously link the ways of knowing to ensure validity, reliability, ethical standards and vigor to both systems. Here, Indigenous Science perspectives are presented in a dynamic and reciprocal relationship of contextualisation with landscape archaeology, performance and community education with the goal being the potential transformation of all parties involved. Like an initiation, this article progresses through several deepening levels of contemporary shamanism, each connected with the honouring of prehistoric sacred sites including the Kurgans (burial mounds) of Karakol Valley, Altai Republic; and petroglyphs in southeastern Alaska. Our final aim is to present considerations for a shamanic-scientific research protocol.
Sleep Monsters and Super Heroes, 2015
When my daughter's sleep terrors first began, I made a few missteps. I did not realize what was h... more When my daughter's sleep terrors first began, I made a few missteps. I did not realize what was happening, so I dealt with her as if she was awake. One time, she was crying in her bed. I went in, curled up next to her, and asked her what was wrong over and over. I was terrified by the idea that my daughter would be filled with such anguish that she would wake in the middle of the night and cry. What could be wrong with her? I asked.
This chapter is a thought experiment about the potential for an evolutionary function, or functio... more This chapter is a thought experiment about the potential for an evolutionary function, or functions, for out-of-body experiences (OBEs). What do evolutionary theories have to add to the discussion of OBEs? Is it possible that OBEs arose to meet a specific need or needs that may be central to human survival? Is it possible that there were social benefits of OBEs in some evolutionary environments deep in the prehistoric past that played a role in sexual selection? Or are OBEs just one more cognitive spandrel, that is, a tendency that is neither beneficial nor counterproductive to survival? These are some of the questions this chapter will address. This chapter is published in "Consciousness Beyond the Body: Evidence and Reflections" (2016, pp. 56-69, Alexander De Foe [Editor], ISBN: 0646950223)
Lucid Dreaming: New Perspectives of Consciousness in Sleep
The central aim of this chapter is to review how lucid dreaming has been reframed in cognitive an... more The central aim of this chapter is to review how lucid dreaming has been reframed in cognitive anthropology as a state of consciousness that has a deep history of expression and is similar to many states that play with the threshold where consensual reality meets private experience. A secondary aim is to integrate this anthropological reframing with the detailed work of psychologists, neuroscientists, and phenomenologists whose studies of lucid dreaming showcase new (or merely forgotten or misunderstood) potentials.
Papers by Ryan D Hurd
Religions, 2024
The experience of inner light and ecstasy is widely accepted as a universal mystical experience, ... more The experience of inner light and ecstasy is widely accepted as a universal mystical experience, regardless of cultural or religious context. While one can read first-hand accounts in the historical record, the direct experience of light remains elusive for most people. This study analyzes a series of dream-based experiences of light provided by a single subject. In our analysis of 19 dreams, we pursue a process-oriented, relational analysis based on co-creative dream theory, which views the dream as an interactive experience in real time rather than a fixed product of the unconscious mind. By analyzing dreams as relational events, in which the metaphoric content emerges alongside the dreamer's responses, we see how the dream ego influences the outcome through feelings, choices, and reactions. Through this analysis, we identify an array of subjective antecedents to the experience of light and provide a potential avenue of access to the core mystical experience.
When my daughter's sleep terrors first began, I made a few missteps. I did not realize wh... more When my daughter's sleep terrors first began, I made a few missteps. I did not realize what was happening, so I dealt with her as if she was awake. One time, she was crying in her bed. I went in, curled up next to her, and asked her what was wrong over and over. I was terrified by the idea that my daughter would be filled with such anguish that she would wake in the middle of the night and cry. What could be wrong with her? I asked.
Routledge eBooks, Jan 3, 2023
Consciousness and Cognition
An experimental home study examined the impact of a pre-sleep protocol for enhancing self-awarene... more An experimental home study examined the impact of a pre-sleep protocol for enhancing self-awareness, lucidity, and responsiveness in dreams. It included ingesting the cholinesterase inhibitor galantamine––which is widely reported to increase the frequency of lucid dreaming–– prior to engaging in middle-of-the-night meditation and the imaginary reliving of a distressing dream while exercising new responses. Thirty-five participants completed an eight-night study, which included pre-and post-baseline nights and six conditions: waking for 40 minutes before returning to bed, called Wake-Back-to-Bed (WBTB); Wake-Back-to-Bed plus placebo (WBTB +P); Wake-Back-to-Bed plus galantamine (WBTB+G); meditation and dream reliving (MDR); meditation and dream reliving plus placebo (MDR+P); and meditation and dream reliving plus galantamine (MDR+G). The outcome measures included lucidity, reflectiveness, interactive behavior, role change, constructive action, and fear and threat, as measured by the participants' self-ratings. The results support the use of this protocol in further studies of lucid dream induction and nightmare/trauma resolution.
Dreamtime Magazine, 2022
This past fall our Worldwide Indigenous Science Network (WISN) Dream Team presented a workshop, a... more This past fall our Worldwide Indigenous Science Network (WISN) Dream Team presented a workshop, as part of an online conference, titled "Dancing with Uncertainty: How can trickster energies renew humanity and Earth?" Putting on a dream workshop over Zoom was no small feat as our dreamwork process is inherently place-based and rooted in ceremony. What happens when place-based dreamwork opens up to multiple locations simultaneously in the nonlocal landscape of the Internet?
Commentary on Sarah Janes' article "A Quest for a temple to sleep in," (Paranthropology, same vol... more Commentary on Sarah Janes' article "A Quest for a temple to sleep in," (Paranthropology, same volume). This article discusses how, in historical, archaeological and anthropological works, external means of altering consciousness are preferred as mechanisms of culture transformation over techniques of ecstasy that are endogenously sourced (particularly, the ritual use of sleep deprivation, dreams and hypnagogia).
A group of 19 experienced lucid dreamers responded to a 27-item online questionnaire pertaining t... more A group of 19 experienced lucid dreamers responded to a 27-item online questionnaire pertaining to their use of the supplement galantamine for the purpose of inducing dreams. The questionnaire included 14 items that assessed the perceived differences in dimensions of dream phenomenology between lucid dreams immediately preceded by the ingestion of galantamine, and lucid dreams that were not. These retrospective quantitative assessments, paired with narratives provided by the participants, suggested that the practice of ingesting galantamine signi cantly enhanced length and vividness, and decreased negative dimensions of lucid dreaming, including fear, violence, and the presence of threatening characters.
Paranthropology, 2015
Commentary on Stanley Krippner's and Mark Schroll's article "Sacred Places and Home Dream Reports... more Commentary on Stanley Krippner's and Mark Schroll's article "Sacred Places and Home Dream Reports: Methodological Reassessments and Reflections on Paul Devereux’s Experiment in Wales and England," published in same volume. Discusses the question: what can dreams tell us about sacred sites? What is transpersonal archaeology?
A process-based approach to archaeology combines traditional third-person data collection methods... more A process-based approach to archaeology combines traditional third-person data collection methods with first- and second-person inquiries. Drawing from the traditions of cognitive archaeology, transpersonal psychology, and ecopsychology, this mixed-methods approach can be thought of as a movement toward a more holistic or “integral” archaeology. By way of example, a prehistoric rock art site on Ometepe Island, Nicaragua is explored from the inside (through the researcher's lucid dreaming incubations) as well as in relationship with the researcher's embodied presence (an exploration of environmental hermeneutics). These multiple perspectives can be seen to situate the researcher's worldview and biases within the context of the study as well as perhaps lead to new questions about the significance of these cognitive artifacts.
This self-study of ten dreams focuses on the topic of emergence of self and lifeworld from the va... more This self-study of ten dreams focuses on the topic of emergence of self and lifeworld from the vantage of imageless lucid dreaming. By engaging in the practice of phenomenology from within these dreams, I was provided an opportunity to account for conscious expectation, and explore the dreams’ spontaneous dimensions. The resulting dream texts are analyzed with a
modified phenomenological-heuristic method, producing a creative synthesis based on textual and structural descriptions of this researcher’s experience of spontaneous emergence. Heuristic levels of participation include paintings and drawings that augment the phenomenological analysis.
Conference Presentations by Ryan D Hurd
Archaeoacoustics III - More on the Archaeology of Sound: Publication of Papers from the Third International Multi-Disciplinary Conference, 2018
In 2016, the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network (WISN) brought an inter-discipli- nary team of ... more In 2016, the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network (WISN) brought an inter-discipli- nary team of scholars and indigenous practitioners to several Paleolithic painted caves in the south of France. We engaged in an evolving and collaborative methodology that incorporates archaeoacoustics, indigenous practices and narrative research to "hear" and "see" and "feel" what these Paleolithic spaces have to say to modern people. Specifically, impulse response (IR) technology was used to locate strong resonant frequencies, overtones and harmonics for each cave, creating 3D "maps" of the acoustic landscape. We engaged the caves with prayer, song, and classic Paleolithic instrumentation conch, drum and bullroarer. Finally, we used narrative methods to document experiences as well as identifyqualita- tive themes of researcher participation.
Galantamine is a cholinesterase inhibitor and a widely-believed catalyst for lucid dreaming, or d... more Galantamine is a cholinesterase inhibitor and a widely-believed catalyst for lucid dreaming, or dreaming while knowing that one is dreaming. This retrospective survey examined the subjective differences between lucid dreams preceded by the ingestion of galantamine using a repeated measures analysis of 14 Likert scale items that were formulated to ascertain the subjective phenomenological differences between these two categories of dreams. Some results for galantamine-associated dreams include increased length and vividness (p<.05), and decreased violence, fear and threatening dream figures (p<.001).
Worlds of Lucid Dreaming Conference , 2020
There isn’t a single "world of lucid dreaming" (apologies to Stephen LaBerge), but a multitude of... more There isn’t a single "world of lucid dreaming" (apologies to Stephen LaBerge), but a multitude of worlds. For myself, a helpful frame for the plethora of these multidimensional lucid realms is the tiered cosmos that is acknowledged in traditional cultures around the world as well as the deep Paleolithic past: the Middle World, and the Upper and Lower Worlds [1]. While I am using the metaphor of “landscapes” or “worlds,” I am describing styles of thinking and acting within the dream. They are cognitive lifeworlds which are available at any time.
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Books by Ryan D Hurd
Topics covered include the neuroscience of lucid dreaming, clinical uses of lucid dreaming in treating trauma, the secret history of lucid dreaming in English philosophy, and spiritual practices of lucid dreaming in Islam, Buddhism, and shamanic traditions. The work also addresses lucid dreaming in movies including The Matrix and literature such as the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien and explains how modern video gaming enhances lucidity. This set serves as an ideal text and reference work for school libraries and academic courses in anthropology, psychology, religious studies, and cognitive science as well as for graduate-level study in holistic education—an increasingly popular specialization.
Book chapters by Ryan D Hurd
Papers by Ryan D Hurd
modified phenomenological-heuristic method, producing a creative synthesis based on textual and structural descriptions of this researcher’s experience of spontaneous emergence. Heuristic levels of participation include paintings and drawings that augment the phenomenological analysis.
Conference Presentations by Ryan D Hurd
Topics covered include the neuroscience of lucid dreaming, clinical uses of lucid dreaming in treating trauma, the secret history of lucid dreaming in English philosophy, and spiritual practices of lucid dreaming in Islam, Buddhism, and shamanic traditions. The work also addresses lucid dreaming in movies including The Matrix and literature such as the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien and explains how modern video gaming enhances lucidity. This set serves as an ideal text and reference work for school libraries and academic courses in anthropology, psychology, religious studies, and cognitive science as well as for graduate-level study in holistic education—an increasingly popular specialization.
modified phenomenological-heuristic method, producing a creative synthesis based on textual and structural descriptions of this researcher’s experience of spontaneous emergence. Heuristic levels of participation include paintings and drawings that augment the phenomenological analysis.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic upended our lives this past spring, the topic of vivid dreaming has exploded into public consciousness. This is easily the most popular time for dreaming and nightmares in the press and in our conversations at home in over a quarter century. Dream researchers have been collecting dream reports since the first outbreaks began. What’s striking about their discoveries is how plainly the novel dream content reveals our waking life attempts to live with this new unpredictable X factor.
This is a time like no others for dreamers to learn about what makes them tick as well as harness the creative mind to cultivate new solutions to our greatest fears and concerns.