A Dream Shift is when a Therian or Otherkin has a dream in which they are their Theriotype. Some therians have them every night, while others may use techniques, such as Lucid Dreaming or Meditation to induce them.
This usualy covers a variety of experiences, although generally speaking if a person accepts oneself as an animal while dreaming, it can be qualified as a dream-shift. This, in turn, can sometimes lead to emotional stress strong enough to interrupt a dream (person wakes up unexpectedly). To avoid this, different techniques can be used, such as mentioned above.
Technically, a number of events and states will fall into the category of dream-shifting, like:
- An act of shifting into an animal or back into human
- Observing own body shifted
- Overall self-perception as an animal (a 'solid knowledge' without any factual hints to that; somewhat similar to be slightly Mental Shifted in reality)
while some more events and states can still be considered controversal:
- Walking on all fours
- Experiencing a change in senses and/or body perfomance (i.e. better vision, reaction, muscular power etc.)
- Howling or making other animal noises while acting as if sleeping person is an animal, but perceives oneself as a human still
Some therians known to perform a voluntary shift at any point while sleeping, while others will walk through different scenarios, which usually involve shifting while being in danger or openly attacked. Interestingly, this fear-triggered shift will be processed by consciousness as a usual measure of defence, i.e. person decides to shift into an animal for self-protection.
Claims that dream-shift is the most common type of shift among therians has very little proof to date. And in complex, serious studies of dream-shifting are yet to be performed.