Theory: Prepping the Mind to Prioritize Internal Stimulus

Hey there, dreamers - I've developed a theory, and I think it might be an important strategy for developing good recall and rates of lucidity.

I've noticed in several methods for achieving dream recall and lucidity, that creating and focusing on internal stimulus, through visualization or something similar, is a major part of the technique.

The thought came to me when I was reflecting on a particular method for increasing dream recall that has the dreamer create a journal of the events that occurred in waking life, just before going to bed. This method is very effective. On wondering why this technique was effective, I realized that it shared a common thread with pre-sleep visualization; the dreamer is examining/creating/exploring internal stimulus, and thus perhaps prepping the mind to prioritize the examination, exploration, and storage of such internal stimulus.

So I'd like any curious dreamers out there to join me in testing this theory.

I don't have any clear guidelines for this, but such a 'prepping' session might go as follows:

* After getting ready for bed, relax sitting upright and concentrate on dreaming. Affirm that you will remember your dreams, and realize when you are dreaming.

* With your eyes closed, begin a session of unstructured visualization; start simple, let's say just imagining yourself in a cave with a wooden door. Imagine every sensory input with the utmost concentration. The cool dampness of the surroundings on your skin, the dimensions of the cave, the sounds, etc. Now walk out that door and see what your mind comes up with.

* At the end of your session, visualize some common house-hold items in your head. Remember to exercise all of your sensory inputs. Imagine what it would be like to see, hold, taste, touch, break, do whatever to this object. Imagine all this as intently as you can.

* Visualize yourself in your last dream. Imagine recognizing the dream state, and becoming lucid. Imagine what you would do when you become lucid.

* Relax, clear your mind, lay down in bed and gently focus your concentration on your will to lucid dream. Let lucid dreaming be the last thought on your mind as you drift off.


If my theory is correct, you should be falling asleep with your mind 'prepped' for dream recall, and perhaps even lucid dreaming; if my theory is correct, a successful session should leave the mind in a very attentive and remembering state towards internal phenomena.

Let's try this out!

- Bob

I've found that if I imagine moving my arms, touching objects while going back to sleep, I can slip into a dream consciously.
That's sort of like what you're talking about.

That's a really neat idea, and it seems logical to me. I will try it out tonight, and let you know how it goes! I'm not a strong lucid dreamer yet though, so if it doesn't work for me that shouldn't influence you too much, hahaha

I will be trying this tonight. I'm new to all this and your exercise seems like it might help me get into the swing of things. Will let you know what results a newbie can come up with using your theory.

Thanks for the feedback everybody. You don't need to be an experienced LD'er to help me test the efficacy of this technique. In fact, I'm just as curious to see how it fares for improving dream recall and vividness.

Good luck :)

These are some great tips! I've done similar actions before, such as focusing on senses and imagining myself lucid in past dreams and they've all really helped. It really helps you get into that right mind-set. I'll definitely practice some more with these ideals.

Sounds like a pretty good technique.

Anything that involves visualization is on the right path as we humans use the secondary visual cortices in our occipital lobe for visualization and dreaming. I have been saying this for years and yet some people still believe eating goat's cheese will help them become lucid. (okay, I made up the goat's cheese thing, but you get my drift)

I can't quite place where I have read this, but I'm pretty sure that this is an old old old technique. Maybe in Toltec philosophy. I think they do something a bit different, but I'm pretty sure this is a close to one of their techniques. It's not their recapitulation, but is kind of close, as you are re-writing the memory into a more aware one. In any case, I hope this helps people. With all techniques, it should be done for two weeks daily for a good test. Im doing my own thing for a month or so, every day( consistency).

So, I'm not sure if this is helpful or not as I've only done it for two nights so far, but my recall has been about average. I DID, however, have my first lucid dream last night! I'll update again a little later as to how this affects my recall.