WBTB Tutorial

Written by ninja9578

WBTB

WBTB stands for Wake Back to Bed and is exactly what it sounds like. Because dreams are made of what is on our mind, waking up before a dream and thinking about lucid dreaming has proven to be an effective method of increasing chances of having one. WBTB, in itself, is not a lucid dream induction technique, more of a lucid aid. It is usually coupled with another type of induction technique. Because REM cycles get longer and more vivid as the night goes on, this takes advantage of the longer ones by injecting the thought of lucid dreaming into the brain right before a long dream, increasing the chances that thoughts of lucidity will come out in the dream. .

Background

Dr. LaBerge invented this technique while doing work for his doctorate. He found that among experiences lucid dreamers the addition of a WBTB resulted in 60% more lucid dreams.

Preparation.

You must learn to wake yourself up before a REM cycle. This can be difficult since the common way to wake up is after a REM cycle. During the later parts of sleep the REM cycles are very close to each other, so waking up after one should suffice. .

How to Wake Up

The obvious way to wake up will be to use an alarm clock. You'd have to know about when your REM cycles occur to time it correctly, but at best, it would be an estimate. Another common way to wake up is to drink a large amount of water or juice before bed. You will wake up in the middle of the night and have to go to the bathroom. Your body will not wake up you for that (you could easily hold it all night), however, if you are already up because you just finished a dream, your body will signal you to go to the bathroom. At this time you have just finished a REM cycle. This may also prove inexact because you may wake up too early in the night to be effective.

How to WBTB.

After waking up the next step is to inject thoughts of lucid dreaming into your mind. It is also usually beneficial to determine goals for your lucid dream at this time so that you don't waste time thinking about it while lucid. .

What to Do

You need to get lucid dreaming on your mind and keep it there. There are many ways to do this, these are the more common ones:

• Meditating-Meditating is a common one, although it should be done as more of a chanting meditation, not a "free your mind" meditation. You don't want your mind empty, you want it filled with thoughts of lucid dreams. It may prove beneficial to listen to relaxing music while you meditate to keep you from waking up too much. Listening to relaxing music with lucid dreaming related subliminal messages has also shown itself to be very useful. .
• Mantras - Many people chat or repeat mantras while performing a WBTB. This helps put thoughts of lucid dreaming into the brain and works as autosuggestion. Common mantras include:
  • I will know when I'm dreaming
  • I will lucid dream
  • I will do a reality check
  .
• Dream Journaling - Writing down your last dream and reading through your more recent or most exciting lucid dreams from the past is another common technique. .
• Materials - Reading books, articles, or watching movies related to lucid dreaming is one of the most common techniques. Popular choices are Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Dr. Stephen LaBerge, Creative Dreaming by Pamela Ball, and the Tutorials Section here at Dreamviews. Usually reading about what you are interested in is the best choice; as in either the technique that you will be coupling WBTB with or types of dream control that you wish to exert. .
• Dreamviews - That's right, simply coming to Dreamviews during your WBTB will help you get lucid. It is suggested that you sticks to the Lucid Dreaming section of the forum and reading and answering questions. Chatting with other lucid dreamers also proves effective.

Whatever you choose to do while you are awake, it is important to be constantly be doing reality checks. This will help you do a reality check during the dream and therefore will help get you lucid. .

How Long to Stay Up

The lucid dreamer will have to fine tune how long to stay awake for. Getting too awake is not a good idea, but if you aren't up long enough, then your thoughts will not have been on lucid dreaming long enough to be effective. There is a large range of how long individuals stay awake. Some members only stay up for a few minutes, some just long enough to go to the bathroom and get a drink, other stay up for over an hour. Dr. Stephen Laberge's research indicated that the ideal amount of time was sixty minutes, but cautioned that some people had a hard time getting back to sleep after that long. For using with the WILD technique, it is recommended not to stay up as long because the time it takes to get to sleep paralysis and into the dream works as part of your WBTB since you are basically meditating during that time. .

Dream

After you've stayed up and thought about lucid dreaming for the appropriate amount of time, now it's time to dream. Most dreamers choose to couple this with a DILD and simply go back to bed, but any technique can work with WBTB (except for DEILD of course.) Some find it useful to imagine the dream that they want to have. This seeds the brain and also gives you a goal for your lucid dream so you don't waste time thinking about it while you are dreaming.

Pros.

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Reliable

One the timing is fine tuned, WBTB has proven to be a very reliable method of inducing a lucid dream. Dr. Laberge's research indicated a 60% increase in lucid dreams with WBTB as opposed to without. .

Logical

Whenever you wake up, the logic centre of the brain turns on. This makes any type of technique where you wake up first far more logical and detailed than a DILD by itself. .

Recall

Getting up in the middle of the night allows you to remember the dream that you were having previous to that. This can give you memory of a dream that you may have otherwise forgotten.

Cons.

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Loss of Sleep

Because you are waking up in the middle of the night and staying up, you are losing sleep. Because of this it is recommended that you not WBTB when you have to wake up early. It makes it difficult for students as well as those with 9-5 jobs.

Other Useful Links.

◦WBTB - Wake Back to Bed - Lucid83