People who are asleep and having a lucid dream—aware that they are dreaming—can perceive questions from an experimenter and answer them in real time using eye movements and facial muscle contractions. In a study of 36 individuals during REM sleep, including frequent lucid dreamers, a novice, and a patient with narcolepsy, participants performed perceptual analysis of new information, held information in working memory, computed simple answers, and gave volitional replies. Correct answers occurred on 29 occasions across 6 individuals, documented by four independent laboratories. This two-way communication channel allows real-time interrogation of dream cognition and characteristics.
A single session of Tsa Lung, a Tibetan Bön breathwork practice, performed by a Tibetan Bön Rinpoche between two Cold Pressor Stress trials, was associated with increased high-frequency heart rate variability and a reduced LF/HF ratio, indicating enhanced parasympathetic activity and autonomic resilience. Scalp and ear electroencephalography showed increased alpha power and reduced beta/gamma activity during the post-breathwork stress trial, suggesting improved cortical stability. The findings, contextualized with a small untrained control cohort, support breath-centered practices for rapid neurophysiological modulation relevant to stress regulation and neural rehabilitation.