Elaol's Dream Recall Tutorial

I have been trying to lucid dream for a bit more than a year right now. In that time, I’ve had 10 lucid dreams, so not enough to make a tutorial about it. But, I have made great progress in my dream recall, which is crucial in order to lucid dream.

I need to emphasize that 90% of this is based on my own and the experience of other people, so I am saying what works for me. This is not based on scientific facts.

So, without further ado, let’s begin with the tutorial.

1. Meditation

Meditating 10-15 minutes a day can greatly improve your dream recall. Choose meditation that relaxes you and makes you feel good. I have found this meditation to be very helpful. It is made by Joanne D’Amico, whose voice is very soothing and very relaxing. I enjoy many of hers meditations, so I am recommending you to check out her channel HERE

2. Autosuggestion

Before going to bed, tell yourself that you will remember your dreams. I use this mantra: “Tomorrow, I will remember all my dreams!”. It is the best to experiment with different mantras and find which one works the best for you.
I have found that my mantra works the best if I, on the in-breath, say: “Tomorrow, I will remember…” and on the out-breath I say “… all my dreams!”. I do this for about 5 minutes before going to bed.

3. No blue light

It has been scientifically proven that exposing yourself to blue light decreases your melatonin levels (link), and melatonin is sleep hormone. I recommend that you do not use your phone/tablet/computer/TV at least an hour before bed.
If you cannot manage to do that, at least install some blue light filter app, like f.lux for Windows or Twilight for Android. But again, I have found that although these apps work, it is the best to completely remove blue light an hour before bed.
There are also Uvex S1933X glasses that are blocking blue light, but I have not tested those.

4. Eat your dinner early

Buddha himself, told the monks: "Monks, please discontinue that evening meal at the wrong time." (link). I am not saying not to eat dinner at all, I am just recommending to eat your dinner at least two hours prior sleeping. You can have a snack later, some food that has some influence on dreams (i.e. cheese), but not in large quantities.

5. No masturbation/sex

I am again talking about Buddhist monks, since their prowess in lucid dreaming is amazing. They are in complete sexual abstinence. I have also noticed with myself that when I masturbate or have sex, my dream recall is worse than on days when I don’t masturbate/have sex.

6. Water

If I drink two glasses of water prior to sleeping, I tend to wake up after REM because I need to go to the bathroom. That is an excellent chance to record my dreams

7. Voice recording

I have also found physically writing my dreams right after waking up (especially, if I wake up at 2 AM) to be very tiring. That’s why I have prepared my phone with screen brightness reduced to minimum, and blue light filter set to 80%. When I wake up at night, I voice record my dreams and in the morning, I listen to those recordings and write them in my dream journal.

8. Write your dreams right after you wake up

I think most of you already know this, but I thought I should mention it anyway. Even if you think that you will remember your dreams few hours after waking up, most likely, you won’t. Even if you do, they will be less detailed than they would be if you wrote them immediately after waking up.

9. Don’t stress about remembering your dreams

If you go to sleep while thinking: “Will I remember any dreams in the morning?”, most likely, you won’t. I have experienced this man times. When I learned to relax, my dream recall improved significantly. So, just relax, your life won’t end if you can’t remember any dreams. When you relax, your dream recall will improve.

10. Wake Back To Bed for dream recall

This is the technique I have discovered few days ago. I have been familiar with WBTB for a long time, but I never thought I can use it for boosting dream recall (I don’t use WILD techniques for LD, but this technique can give you WILDs). My sleep schedule goes like this: I go to bed around 11 PM-12 AM. I set my alarm to wake me up at 8 AM. I also have one or two water-induced awakenings before 8 AM. When I wake up at 8 AM, I go to the bathroom, have a sip of water, reread my dream journal entries from day before (to wake myself up). Then I play Sleep Relaxation or Passive Muscle Relaxation, and I allow myself to go back to sleep. I wake up naturally between 9-10 AM. I immediately record my dreams on my phone and then listen to those recordings and write them down in my dream journal.

There you guys go, I hope you will find this helpful. You can use just a few of these tips or you can try them all. Please let me know if you liked this tutorial, I would love to get some feedback.

Sources:

1. Blue light has a dark side - Harvard Health

2. Latukikopama Sutta: The Quail Simile