Dreaming during his dream state

The individual soul does not know that he is dreaming during his dream state and is not conscious of himself as he is bound by the Gunas of Prakriti. He passively beholds the creations of his dream mind passing before him as an effect of the workings of the impressions (Samskaras) of his waking state. - Swami Sivananda

I always woke up from drunk dreams

During my first decade of sobriety I always woke up from drunk dreams with a feeling of gratitude that it was just a dream. But the feelings seemed so real. From the cold droplets on the brown beer bottle fresh out of the freezer where I used to chill them up, to the life giving rush of a blast of cocaine, the experiences were totally convincing. I always feel a little doubt about the commitment to recovery when this happens. But I'm normally relieved to wake up and realize I'm really still sober.
Darren Littlejohn

Touch the dreamers’ chest with the point of a pin

If you touch the dreamers’ chest with the point of a pin, he may dream that some one has given him a severe blow on his body or stabbed him with a dagger. - Swami Sivananda

Dreaming about an aspect

Nappers who reported dreaming about an aspect of the task later had a 10-fold improvement on their maze-navigating abilities  compared to their compatriots who did not dream about it or who remained awake.from:To sleep, perchance to dream--and learn; By Katherine Harmon

Very little sleep and sit upright

Buddhist monks or yogis sometimes participate in long retreats with very little sleep and sit upright in a meditation
posture for 24 hours a day for considerable periods of time. In that situation, the sleep is very light and one never
goes very deeply into unconscious states. Obviously these practices are very intense and not particularly designed for lay people like you and I. They may not really mesh with living fully in the "world" as we do.

from: A Buddhist Sleep Lesson: Awakening From The Day Dream; by: David Nichtern,Senior Shambhala Buddhist teacher

Dreams very confusing

In the treatment center in Fall 1984, our counselor told us not to be alarmed if we had dreams of drinking and/or using drugs. He referred to this necessary part of recovery as a "flushing of the psychic toilet." When I got my 30-day sobriety coin at a meeting I talked about my own drunk dreaming during the hospital stay. An old-timer shared that he'd been sober for decades and still had them too and that it was OK. What a relief! I'd worried it was because I wasn't serious about my recovery, as if these dreams revealed some secret desire to get loaded. But I really did want to stay sober, which made the dreams very confusing. - by: Darren Littlejohn; from:The 12-Step Buddhist: Why Do We Have Drinking Dreams?

Sounds cause very elaborate dreams.

Certain kinds of external sounds such as the ringing of a bell, the noise of alarm-clock, knocks on the door or the wall, the blowing of wind, the drizzling of rain, the rustling of leaves, the blowing of the horn of a motor car, the cracking of the window etc., may produce in the mind of the dreamer variety of imaginations. They generate certain sensations, which increase according to the power of imagination of the sleeper and the sensitiveness of his mind. These sounds cause very elaborate dreams.
 - Swami Sivananda

Dreams' roles in learning

To peek into dreams' roles in learning, researchers tested 99 college students with a three-dimensional computer maze task. The subjects were instructed to do their best to navigate through the maze as quickly as possible. After about an hour, the subjects spent the next 90 minutes either taking a nap or sitting quietly (watching videos or just relaxing). The sleep subjects, who were not allowed to go into REM sleep (which has previously been linked to learning and problem solving), reported if they had dreamed and what they had dreamed about, and the awake group periodically told researchers what they were thinking about. Five hours after the first test, all the subjects were tested again.
from:To sleep, perchance to dream--and learn; By Katherine Harmon

Experiencing the moment

Experiencing the moment in this way is in fact a glimpse of the Buddha nature or "awake" mind that so many people are writing about these days -- a simple moment of awareness unfettered by memories of the past and projections about the future. Recognizing this "moment'" -- recognizing and expanding that recognition -- was and still is the essence of the Buddha's teachings. The discovery of this kind of direct awareness is often described as finding a treasure hidden in plain sight or a jewel in a rubbish heap. - from: A Buddhist Sleep Lesson: Awakening From The Day Dream; by: David Nichtern,Senior Shambhala Buddhist teacher

This wasn't my first drinking using dream

This wasn't my first drinking/using dream and it won't be the last. They're quite common for people in recovery. Yet many of us feel shame, remorse when we have them. When I woke up from this one I felt the usual confusion. But thanks to deep work in the Dharma and in the 12 Steps, I have tools to understand that this is an expression of the addict brain and mind on different levels. One such tool is something I was taught many years ago: the notion of these being part of the process of recovery.by: Darren Littlejohn; from:The 12-Step Buddhist: Why Do We Have Drinking Dreams?

Waking, dream and deep sleep

Scientists and Western philosophers draw their conclusions from the observations of their waking experience. Whereas the Vedantins utilise the experiences of the three states viz., waking, dream and deep sleep and then draw their conclusions. Hence the latter’s conclusions are true, correct, perfect, full and integral, while those of the former are partial and one sided.- Swami Sivananda

Function of dreams

"After nearly 100 years of debate about the function of dreams, this study tells us that dreams are the brain's way of processing, integrating and really understanding new information," Robert Stickgold, director of the Center for Sleep and Cognition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School and senior author of the study, said in a prepared statement. - from:To sleep, perchance to dream--and learn; By Katherine Harmon

REM sleep begins

Vivid Dreams Help You Learn

REM sleep begins when signals are broadcasted from the base of the brain, an area called the pons. The pons distributes signals to the thalamus, which directs them towards the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is the area of the brain responsible for learning, thinking, and organizing information. The pons also sends signals that shut off the neurons in the spinal cord, causing temporary paralysis during REM sleep. REM sleep activates the area of the brain that we use for learning. This may be an extremely important factor in normal brain development during infancy. It may explain why small children spend much more time in REM sleep then adults. In addition, REM sleep is associated with increased protein in the brain. Studies have been conducted that correlate REM sleep and learning mental skills. Separate groups of people were taught the same skill and a larger percentage of individuals who fell into REM sleep during the night were able to recall the skill the next day. This theory is called the Ontogenetic Hypothesis of REM sleep. - By BryanJ ; Source: The List Universe