Dream Recall Method (Anecdotal Evidence?)

[ElijahJones]

Recently I have been trying to master a technique that is practiced by some bhuddists and hindus but that I understand requires a great deal of practice. Relaxation Induced Lucid Dreaming is a good name for it because one starts from waking and using a series of relaxation excercies moves directly into an LD state. I have not had an LD so far but every night that I have done a simple relaxation excercise I have rembered at least one of my dreams. The string is going on a week now. I am thinking of puttiong together a control group experiment to test the correlation at some point but for now I will just give instructions if others also want to try it.

RILD opening - variation 1

1) Lay on your back with your head and neck properly supported and your arms and legs in a comfortable position.

2) Starting with your feet and moving upward systematically tense and then relax each muscle group. As you do this allow your breathing to slow as you become more relaxed.

3) Repeat step 2 until you are on the verge of sleep. If you fall asleep you have not failed.

I have been doing this everynight before bed and have had very interesting experiences. Once I bagan to float (or so it seemed) just about a foot out of my body, I was completely engulfed in thick a blanket of peace and warmth, noone could touch me or harm me, there it was a feeling of complete safety. Typically the body begins to feel heavy and the hypnogogic imagery begins to play. I have been to the verge of SP, begun to hear noises but have not hummed or hagged.

The reason I post this is that RILD is a meditative technique. A friend of mine raised in India was trained in this as part of his religious upbringing. The technique is also common among New Agers who frequently call entering a dream this way astral travel or astral projection (I suspect this is because you often think you have left your body).

The advantage of mastering RILD is you could go into an LD at anytime. You obtain the keys to your dream world which you could use at anytime.

[LucidDreamer8806]

hey guy! nice method imma try this one out tonight and hopefully I get some success :)

[ElijahJones]

Update: I am now at day 7 out of 8 with a dream remembered in the morning. I have also observed that doing this too quikly or starting new cycle too soon significantly raises the heart rate and it becomes more like calisthenic excercise.

[Ev]

Hmm, I've achieved similar state in a slightly different way. The sensation of peace is awesome, but I also experience a certain deal of dissociation from both HI I see and the outside world... Pretty much like i'm hanging in between... Do you experience something similar during RILD method?

[ElijahJones]

Yes, it is a stuck in between feeling. You know when I used to study New Age stuff like Eckankar they talked about that feeling. It was as if I was a balloon tethered to my body. They always say there is a silver chord. Being more science biased I guess now I just think it is a perception, not real leaving the body.

What has your experience been with it?

[ElijahJones]

Update: 8/9 days with a dream recalled. I added some old yogic stuff called the knot to the initial relaxation and called it Opening Version 2. That was yesterday the excercise left me with many sore muscles that I apparently do not use very often so I took a break today. Its hard for me to explain the state of mind that has come over me after doing this 9 days in a row. Its almost like I am tired but not, my mind seems to wander quite easily into contemplation of things I am less able it seems to be upset about things. The thing I would always tell my self did not matter and so I should not get upset about them I now see really don't matter. I feel as if at any moment the sky might crack open and a hand reach down for me, or a voice call out to me. Perhaps a long journey is finally nearing a rest stop. Whatever, it may just be that these efforts have disrupted my sleep patterns so that I am sort of in a state of sleep deprivation. This is an avenue of attack that I have not seen mentioned here. Sleep deprivation can cause hallucinations because the mind is so depserately trying to get its needed alpha sleep, or is it beta sleep. The deep sleep we need to stay sane lets just put it that way. I will keep up with the experiment as long as I can.

I now realize that the dark dream state that has been a part of my lucids in the past is only one of many. Last night I experienced a state that was quite bright. Whether these are due to ambient lighting or not is something that can be controlled for later. Either way the thing I witnessed last night cannot really be put into words it was like 3D wallpaper made out of peacock feathers and dragon scales.

[OnLife'sJourney]

Last Night I was getting ready to go to sleep and decided to try this for the heck of it. After awhile I decided to stop and just drift off into sleep. I woke up the next morning and remembered a dream that took up three pages in my dream journal, that's a lot as compared to the usual one page. I was still a bit tired and decided to fall back asleep. I did RILD a few times to relax.

I could hardly believe it I was in front of my old home and I realised I was dreaming! I jumped a few times trying to fly but it wouldn't work, so I tried a running start and when I jumped I took off. It was one of the coolest feelings I ever had. I landed and I guess I started to wake up because everything was getting blury, so I concentrated as hard as I could to stay asleep and I fell back into the dream. I went to scratch the back of my head in relief and my hand hit something. I was feeling my hands touching my pillow in the waking world. there was a resistance there. I could not put my hands behind my back. It was interesting. I wanted to fly again but sadly my First lucid was cut short because my dogs woke me up barking at someone.

I want to thank you for posting this, whether this was a coinsidence I had such a vivid dream and my first lucid I'm not sure. I'll be trying this again tonight.


Update: Last night I had no luck, no recalled dreams.

[ElijahJones]

Disclaimer: If you are not used to isometric excercise be careful and move slow. There is enough force in your muscles to break blood vessels and strain ligaments and other muscles.

Update: I am now on day 9 of 10 with a dream recalled. To try and sum up this method. I am continuing with this personal experiment because it is working, but it should be noted that I carry out these relaxation techniques with the intent of having an LD. One size does not fit all and the same size does not fit all the time when it comes to LD. If you read around the site you will see that even the experts have dry spells.

If this method is useful to you or gets something going don't be afraid to alter it and grow towards your own personal LD techniques.

As it stands I will continue this experiment until 30 dayas are up. I noticed last night that as I was relaxing I started to think about things the day, events the past etc. During this time I had little mock conversations with people who are part of my real world. During some of these conversations I became angry or judgmental etc. Whever this happened I felt my self moving away from the type of peace that the relaxation had brought and that I am rather confident is part of the recall success. My estimation of it was that it simply is not healthy for me to become enraged. The place of peace was a place of hope, from which place I could encourage even challenge but I could not condemn and stay in that place of peace. I also noticed a different sort of imagery in front of my eyes that once I started paying attention to it was a vivid as a technocolor film. Great broad sceneries seemed to move in front of my eyes many of which I did not seem to recognize. I have always ignored that imagery before but for a few brief instances it seemed like I could almost walk right into it.

Good luck!

Public Service Announcement: Oh just a thought for the general public. If you find yourself tuning out of the real world and becoming more and more distant to the people who love you while seeking your dreams, you might want to consider that while you are dreaming someone is paying the bills so your body can lie in its tranquil state. If that someone is you, good job. Finding the power of dreams can empower you to overcome hardship in real life and give you hope for the future or it can be a way to escape. An escape that can be no less addicting than drugs or sex. STROBE! Moderation keeps virtue from becoming vice.

[Razorback]

I have had trouble recently recalling dreams, and I must say, this technique is great!

[LucidDreamer8806]

i tried this method and no success...like how am I supposed to tense my muscles and stuff because I dont know how to do it? do I just like relax really deeply then ill have success or what?

[Anonymous]

my mom used to tell me to do that to help me fall asleep like 3 years or so ago.. thats weird re-reading it. it makes me miss her . :cry:

but i never thought it had to deal with recalling dreams.. i was beginning to read that thinking oh great another long thing that wont work that ill have to try.. but then i read it, and realized hey! i used to do that yay! i shall start up again! :D

thnx - great technique!

[PlayWithFire]

i am totally trying that tonight
my dream recall is lousy

[jarrell]

i tried it once and it totaly worked. i rembered like six dreams. but i havent tried it again its too much of a hassle and its hard to fall asleep doing that. also im scarred of breaking a blood vessel. so i just relax.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by ElijahJones

3) Repeat step 2 until you are on the verge of sleep. If you fall asleep you have not failed.


does that mean if you dont fall asleep that you did fail!?

:rolllaugh: :tongue:

[themindsi]

Hmm..sounds like a really promising idea! So many are having success with this method. You really should put together a study! If you have trouble creating the right conditions for the study, let me know, I'm really good at putting things like that together.

[Delmara]

I do that all the time to self hypnotize myself. It helps me to relax. I heard about it from a relaxation tape I tried out once. I never noticed more dream recall though...