Night Rituals

**Tuckson** · 01-15-2015 10:02 PM

Hey dreamers!

I just have a simple question: do you perform any kind of ritual before going to sleep in order to facilitate the Lucidity in a dream? I know the basics of not using the computer/TV/smartphone just before going to bed and to do affirmations like "I'm going to become Lucid", but I wanted to ask you about something more elaborated.

For example, I stop using the computer and smartphone 30-60 minutes before going to bed. I then perform some breathing exercises, read some chapter of any spiritual book and just before going to bed, I read the last entries of my DJ and do some affirmations.

Do you guys do anything similar? And if you do, do you notice any difference in terms of lucidity, when you don't perform your night ritual?

EDIT: In case it is not clear, I'm talking about DILD techniques here

. I'm starting out with them, so the more I know about how others perform it, the better!

**AnotherDreamer** · 01-18-2015 11:25 AM

I haven't been doing my ritual as much lately, but here's what I used to do:

I would begin by outlining some basic goals of what I want to dream about, then I would write them down while visualizing and feeling myself doing them. I would repeat the cycle of writing down and feeling/visualizing my goals several times, until I felt like they had sunk in. Then I would do a simple mantra or affirmation for awhile until I felt confident and positive about dreaming, then sleep.

Doing it would usually help a lot in terms of how long I was lucid, how stable the dreams were, and my goal memory

**Tuckson** · 01-20-2015 08:16 PM

Thanks for sharing, AnotherDreamer

.
I like the "feeling/visualizing the goals" part, which I'll probably add to my ritual, hehe.

Thanks!

**Occipitalred** · 01-23-2015 01:11 AM

Just like AnotherDreamer, I have not been very disciplined with my own ritual.

I had started creating this "imagined world" in which I was supposed to go every night before going to bed. Just to set the intention. In this case, it was an underground cave with an upside down tree, the roots coming off the roof, the leaves purple and like those of a willow tree. The whole ground of the cave is covered with a purple substance that feels like blankets. So when I enter the cave, I just sort of lazily wade to below the tree, with the intention of drifting off to sleep in the calming waters. In the center of the tree, a branch forms a dream catcher. The stringy part is actually a spiderweb. I take the spider and put it on my forehead. In bites me and its venom is supposed to make me fall asleep. When I do this, I actually do feel like it's helping me fall asleep, and then, in the "daydream" I start fainting, and I just hold on the dream catcher, setting intentions to remember my dreams, to be self-aware, to wake up after my dreams to write them and so on... It worked well the one week I did this.

**Phased** · 01-23-2015 05:26 AM

Nothing special, set up my room so everything is where it usually is, means there is no scrambling for my dream journal after a nice dream. Then I chant whatever mantra I am currently using and off I hop to bed! Nothing special

**Tuckson** · 01-24-2015 09:20 AM

Thanks for sharing Occipitalred and Phased

.
I like your ritual, Occipitalred, about visualizing this "dream cave". I guess you have woken up "in the dream" inside this cave, sometimes, right?
And, Phased, I consider having a tidy room very important too. As they say, remove the mess in the outside world, to remove it in the inside world

.

Thanks!

**Occipitalred** · 01-24-2015 04:35 PM

Sadly, I have never "woken up" in one of the places that I have mentally created. I do create castles and such for memory temples. I can see them quite clearly in my mind's eye. But, I've never gotten there in dreams. I would definitely want to try though.

**Tuckson** · 01-25-2015 07:49 PM

In any case, your visualization skills must be amazing. Have you trained them in any way? I've always wanted to improve my visualization, but besides actually visualizing stuff, I don't know any other technique.

**Occipitalred** · 01-25-2015 08:55 PM

Maybe you'd want to read Sivason's visualisation tutorial:
http://www.dreamviews.com/dream-yoga/133302-dream-yoga-intermediate-skill-1-visualization-training.html

I, myself have been wanting to do it, but I was wondering whether his kind of visualisation refered to the actual colors and shapes we see when we close our eyes, or simple imaginations seen in our mind's eye.

I am not so good with the seeing colors and shapes on the back of my eyelid but I feel like I have improved. What I do is visualize things in my mind's eye. I have never really used a technique. I just think of things. To build a place up, you focus with every detail at a time. Like, you'll see the grass, then, a brick wall. You can adjust the windows, the layout. Don't expect it to look the way you want it to look. Just be patient. Sometimes, it's just like thinking back to a place you know from memory, but with practices, sometimes, I get those "awww!" moments, as if I'm actually there, seeing those beautiful sceneries. Not like a dream. It's not that vivid, but at the same time, enough for me to be amazed, and feel whole. I definitely encourage it. I have built many "metaphors", which are visualizations I use to trigger certain emotions in me.