Night-Time Routine Guide for Dream Recall and Lucidity
RareCola's Night-Time Routine Guide for Dream Recall and Lucidity
It seems night-time routines are severely overlooked and I've been getting a lot of questions since mentioning in the Dream View Academy class about what I do before bed, so I figured I would go ahead and write a guide. I'm still fairly new to lucid dreaming myself and I don't claim that this guide will be 100% accurate, but I've had success with this method and other people have too, so I figured I would share it!
This guide is quite a long one, but I've tried to include everything I find important so I would highly suggest giving it a chance and reading the entire thing.
From my research, I've found that preparing your mind for lucid dreaming and dream recall is one of the most important steps. You can't expect to have much luck if, when going to bed, you lay down in bed, repeat a few mantras and fall asleep. Properly preparing your mind and relaxing your body, as well as having a good sleep pattern is essential.
So, where do you begin?
I think the first basic thing is to make your bedroom a sanctuary. You sleep so much better when you have a clean, quiet and fresh-smelling bedroom, I find it even helps to have a window slightly open at night time to have a constant source of fresh air, though some people can't deal with the sound. I also think it's important to keep your bed entirely for sleeping, when you use your bed for sleeping and sleeping alone your mind subconsciously associates your bed with sleep and you automatically become tired when you're in it.
Preparation
If you're one of those people who immediately go to sleep when you get in bed, I suggest starting by going to bed 15-30 minutes earlier than usual.
After completing all your usual routine, begin by opening up your dream journal to a clean page and noting the date for tomorrow as well as the current time and leave a space for the time when you wake up.
If you'd like, you can even prepare a space on the page to list keywords for the dream so that it's easier to pick out dream signs. It may also be helpful to read over your dreams from the night before just so the dream state is fresh in your memory.
Relaxation
Next, you can begin relaxation techniques. I think one of the best ways to improve dream recall and lucidity frequency is to shorten the time it takes to get to sleep, by shortening the time you keep all your intent in your head without letting your mind to wander as you attempt to fall asleep. Relaxation techniques are a great way to shorten the time it takes to fall asleep. Everyone is different so you need to find one that works for you, some prefer simple meditation or reading a fictional book, others the complex 61-point relaxation technique or stretches. There are plenty of other people who know far more about relaxation techniques than me, so I suggest you do your own research into what you think would work for you. Only things I would say to avoid are TV, computer or any other screens as well as anything that engages your brain too heavily. I would also suggest to have dim lighting during this time to make your mind realise that it is night time and you'll soon be sleeping.
Dream Incubation
Once you're sufficiently relaxed, I usually move on to dream incubation. While the usual intention of dream incubation is to actually incubate a dream, and it does a great job at that, when I do it the incubation isn't my goal. I simply dream incubate to prepare my mind, the dream state is quite unique and I think it does wonders to get your mind into the dream state of being before you even go to sleep.
Sit up in bed in a comfortable position. I suggest sitting up as I find after my relaxation techniques I can fall asleep within minutes if I lay down while doing this, and while falling asleep is the goal here I think it's good to allow yourself to stay awake for 5-10 minutes purely dream incubating before you sleep.
Once you're comfortable, but not comfortable enough that you think you could easily fall asleep, close your eyes and begin dream incubating. You can either pull a dream scene from a previous dream, create an entirely new one or use a scene from a TV show or movie. I suggest starting out from a non-lucid perspective. See yourself in the dream following out the story, how would the place smell? How would it feel? How would you feel? What can you hear? Make sure to pick a scene that engages all of your senses and truly picture how it would feel to be in this dream. If you're doing it well you can get to a point where you are imagining the dream so clearly it can feel like controlled hypnagogic imagery.
When you feel you're fully immersed in the scene, imagine what it would be like to become lucid. Think about how your awareness would pick up on the inconsistencies in the dream and see yourself performing reality checks and getting that "Wow! I'm dreaming!" notion. From there start imagining obviously lucid scenes, like taking off and flying over the landscape, or using magical powers. Anything that you would want to do in a lucid dream.
After 5-10 minutes of incubating, hopefully you're still awake, from here you can lay down in your favourite sleeping position and start drifting off. If you're relaxed enough and in the perfect mindset for sleep, it should take you no more than 5-10 more minutes before you're asleep. During this time you can continue practicing your dream incubation, only this time swapping between that and your chosen mantra or even combining the two and saying the mantra while you're incubating. The last thing you want in your head before you fall asleep is the mantra and/or the dream scene, any other thoughts should just drift by and not be focused on while falling asleep.
WBTB Implementation
You can implement this routine with your WBTB for increased effectiveness. The relaxation portion isn't as needed here, maybe perform something quick if you've done a lot during your WBTB session and feel any kind of tension. Though you can implement the dream incubation before you return to sleep, only this time with a really focused intent that you will recognise that you are dreaming and you will become lucid, don't doubt this at all, don't even hope that you'll become lucid as there is no need to hope for something that you are sure will happen. Get it into your mind that when you next wake up, you will be recalling your lucid dream.
Final Notes
The key with making a night-time routine is to find something that works for you. It helps to have a completely unique routine specific to you, as long as it involves the fundamentals of preparing mind and body.
If you have any success with this technique, please let me know! I'd love to hear your stories.
