Thread: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

Such a technique is called a 'VILD', it's really just a WILD where you visualize something to keep yourself awake, so it's not one of the ones DV 'recognizes' per se.

That rhyme is awesome though. I wrote it into the dream stabilization tutorial just because it's so awesome.

Oh, great. Now you've got it stuck in my head. I'm sure this will pop up in my dreams now that you mentioned it. I've always been a little creeped out by this rhyme for some reason

I've loved this little song, since I was a child.
I think there is a lot of deeper interpretations to it,

In the case of lucid dreaming, here are a few ideas off the top of my head. I think it could be considered a very useful little WILD induction technique, hidden in the simplicity of a song...

Row, row, row your boat
Your boat could be considered your ego as it is the "container" for your identity. Rowing could be seen as applying enough mental energy to stay in control of its direction.


Gently down the stream.
The stream could be seen as your "stream of consciousness", so you gently (don't push too hard, just enough energy to keep it moving and aware) control your egos awareness through your stream of consciousness.


Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Keep, the experience enjoyable and merry. Don't stress out, don't worry, it's all just for fun remember.

Life is but a dream.
If you can do all that correctly... maybe you'll discover, that life suddenly has become a dream, and a lucid one at that.

I agree.

The song is such a great metaphor.

With the "gently down the stream" part. The word down stands out to me. As in the stream/dream is already flowing in a direction and to go with it.

I'm still trying to do this when I become lucid. I want to go with the story of the dream before I just abruptly take the dream into "my" direction.

This.... is GENIUS!

This will make a VILD easy if people cant visualize and now I have it stuck in my head.

Well...if anyone tries it let me know how it works.

I am trying something else right now and don't want to stop and try this.

An audio based V-WILD...

I love it =)

That sing gives me nightmares if I repeat it too many times. So yeah, that could easily be used for general dream induction.

I'll try that tonight if I remember, see if it does anything good if I set it to repeat automatically at the back of my mind while thinking of my lucid tasks for the night.

Originally Posted by JET73L

That sing gives me nightmares if I repeat it too many times. So yeah, that could easily be used for general dream induction.

I'll try that tonight if I remember, see if it does anything good if I set it to repeat automatically at the back of my mind while thinking of my lucid tasks for the night.

If you WILD it would be a good focus

I can't wait to try it.
Visualization List



1. a river
2. A Boat
3. Me in the boat
4. Me rowing the boat
5. Me singing


I could use all my senses in the picture.

Cool..this is indeed a very good idea for dream induction, maybe that was the original purpose of this song

^I highly doubt that. LDing wan't very well-known until LaBerge, and the song is from way earlier than that.

It was known before him by select groups of people, in some cases well known, and naturals. LaBerge was just one of the first guys to study it.

I said WELL known, not known. Besides, do you really think Buddhist monks wrote Row Row Row Your Boat?

Lmao it's still not well known. And they weren't the only people to lucid dream. It could've been some natural who never told anyone because they would have burned him at the stake. We have no way of knowing.

Indeed, just like native american shamans, european witches probably also used lucid dreaming as their magic. Lucid dreaming has been around for a long long time, the purpose of the piramides for example is to make lucid dreaming easier. Sounds ubelievable, but if you do some research on the web you'll see it's true. The egyptians believed it was astral projection tho.

So yeah who knows, if lucid dreaming is around for such a long time, maybe the song is a lucid dream induction, to sing it before going to sleep? It sure is catchy, and if you have it in your head all the time it will be easier to do reality checks during waking life too! I'm sure gonna try it out :p

Please give me one piece of evidence that building massive pyramids helps people lucid dream. Until then, I think almost all pyramid theories are crap.

do u sing the tune in the back of ur mind or are you just chanting the words? i find singing a bit distracting, or music playing in ur mind. anyone else distracted by melody?

I personally think that the melody is not invasive. (I, however, am a musician, and I like to reverse compose songs to see the meaning.)

I wonder if this would work with "The Arachnid of Diminutive Stature"? (Itsy Bitsy Spider for normal folks)

Originally Posted by Sesquipedalian

I wonder if this would work with "The Arachnid of Diminutive Stature"? (Itsy Bitsy Spider for normal folks)

<3

Originally Posted by spaceexplorer

I've loved this little song, since I was a child.
I think there is a lot of deeper interpretations to it,

In the case of lucid dreaming, here are a few ideas off the top of my head. I think it could be considered a very useful little WILD induction technique, hidden in the simplicity of a song...

Row, row, row your boat
Your boat could be considered your ego as it is the "container" for your identity. Rowing could be seen as applying enough mental energy to stay in control of its direction.


Gently down the stream.
The stream could be seen as your "stream of consciousness", so you gently (don't push too hard, just enough energy to keep it moving and aware) control your egos awareness through your stream of consciousness.


Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Keep, the experience enjoyable and merry. Don't stress out, don't worry, it's all just for fun remember.

Life is but a dream.
If you can do all that correctly... maybe you'll discover, that life suddenly has become a dream, and a lucid one at that.

<3

Seriously, guys. That was awesome.

I could not focus on the lyrics to the song. One night was the cover of Wayward Son by The Blanks featuring Kate Micucci, and one was Fristy the Snowman, and one night was silence and I couldn;t play any music in my head without focusing on it.

Frosty let me think of a nightmare fuel video, wayward son sent me into a dream about House MD (or rather, Scrubs sent me into a dream about House MD) and the silence had a cool series of lucid and semilucid dreams.

Originally Posted by spaceexplorer

I've loved this little song, since I was a child.
I think there is a lot of deeper interpretations to it,

In the case of lucid dreaming, here are a few ideas off the top of my head. I think it could be considered a very useful little WILD induction technique, hidden in the simplicity of a song...

Row, row, row your boat
Your boat could be considered your ego as it is the "container" for your identity. Rowing could be seen as applying enough mental energy to stay in control of its direction.


Gently down the stream.
The stream could be seen as your "stream of consciousness", so you gently (don't push too hard, just enough energy to keep it moving and aware) control your egos awareness through your stream of consciousness.


Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Keep, the experience enjoyable and merry. Don't stress out, don't worry, it's all just for fun remember.

Life is but a dream.
If you can do all that correctly... maybe you'll discover, that life suddenly has become a dream, and a lucid one at that.

are you analysing this to aid with lucidity? to create a sort of autosuggestion within the song?

i get the distinct impression that this is a song for children with no deep hidden meanings haha. "im rowing my boat merrily down the stream, ah, isn't life brill" is my take on it. haha.

Originally Posted by treblig

are you analysing this to aid with lucidity? to create a sort of autosuggestion within the song?

i get the distinct impression that this is a song for children with no deep hidden meanings haha. "im rowing my boat merrily down the stream, ah, isn't life brill" is my take on it. haha.

Yes of course it's a song for children ,
But, like a Zen koan, sometimes the simplest things can contain, or ignite wisdom that you may otherwise overlook.

Just like blake said:
"To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour."

Simplicity can be a wonderful thing.

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomly simple, that's creativity." - Charles Mingus. Bassist, Composer, Genius.