Thread: How long did it take you or someone else you know to develop good dream recall and dream techniques?

It varies greatly from person to person. You'll never know until you try! The range of days to improve recall to a vivid level depends on how good your recall is now, and what your sleep schedule's like. Typically the range is a couple days to a week. Lucid dreaming techniques can be developed at full potency at any time (especially DILDing). Getting used to WILD, again, is something that varies. Give yourself a month.

It took me about a week to remember an average of 2 dreams per night, and that number is still expanding. As for dream control, I have only had 2 MILDs, but I can tell you that the second dream was far longer than the first, and I was able to spin within it. Dream control is something that varies greatly from person to person, as Abra said. It depends on your ability to disregard the laws of physics as you know them, among other factors.

I've been trying to build up dream recall for about a year or so and I'm still at usually just one dream per night and it's always the one I wake up from so that's why I started wondering how long it takes.

Hmm...okay, I've got a few suggestions to improve dream recall

Keep a dream journal. Honestly. Best thing you can do.
Try a dream recall mantra (I WILL remember my dreams). Repeat it throughout the day and to yourself before bed (in your head, of course. Otherwise, people kinda look at you funny).
Try B6 if all else fails...it's supposed to improve dream vividness.
Get a full 6-8 hours of sleep, minimum.
When you first wake up, hold perfectly still until you remember most or all of your dream(s). Then write them down immediately.

I don't know how many of these you're doing right now, but these tend to work wonders for most people. Good luck!

For me about a month.

To WILD, you just have to find the right technique for you. Recently I have had a lot of success with reverse blinking. I have been telling everyone about this method because I have tried it twice and both times I have had an LD.

As far as dream recall goes... its always been easy for me.

Originally Posted by Mario92

It took me about a week to remember an average of 2 dreams per night, and that number is still expanding. As for dream control, I have only had 2 MILDs, but I can tell you that the second dream was far longer than the first, and I was able to spin within it. Dream control is something that varies greatly from person to person, as Abra said. It depends on your ability to disregard the laws of physics as you know them, among other factors.

If you're interested in dream control I think you'll find Billy Bob's DC tutorial an informative read. BB points out how passive control lengthened his LDs, but forcing was counterproductive.

http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=38954

For me, if I don't write down a dream for a single day, my recall drops down to zero. But, the second I record one dream, it picks up where I left off and I remember at least one dream every night.

Starting a dream journal would be the best option I reckon. It did the trick for me, in just a few days I went from 0 dreams to 3-4 dreams a day.

When I started my dream journal I was remembering, and still remembering, about 2-3 dreams per night. I am a light sleeper however and get up naturally at least once per night so that may help. I have a friend right now that has been practicing lucid dreaming for about a month or so and still only recalls maybe 2-3 dreams per week. Like stated above always keep a dream journal. You may think you won't need it but it pays off in the long run. Good luck!

Hmm I've only started keeping a dream journal the last 3 days and I'm remembering about 3 dreams these last 2 nights. More than I have ever remembered before. Normally I only remember one. But the problem I have is that the 3 dreams I recall are pretty vague. I read other people's dream journals and they can remember everything they did and said, I just remember the main details and sometimes the smaller details. I guess my recall will get better over time. I mean its only been 2 nights

But anyways I can tell you for sure that keeping a dream journal and telling yourself before bed that you WILL remember your dreams helps A LOT.

When you wake up write down key words to summarize anything you remember and then later in the day write the full dream in your journal in as great of detail as you possibly can and within a week or two you will be having long intricate vivid dreams that you remember almost completely.

Yea i have been keeping a dream journal for about half a year now and I've done everything you guys have just recommended other than B6 vitamins and reverse blinking (which sounding interesting). I suppose when I think of recalling a dream I think of recalling every single detail while I only recall major details. I suppose remembering more things from a single dream takes more time. Thanks for the help though everyone .

Originally Posted by Devin1207

Yea i have been keeping a dream journal for about half a year now and I've done everything you guys have just recommended other than B6 vitamins and reverse blinking (which sounding interesting).

Ok, people seriously need to know more about this. Its the only thing that has really worked for me.

Originally Posted by Loaf

Ok, people seriously need to know more about this. Its the only thing that has really worked for me.

Yeah but everyone's different, what works for you might not work for someone else, and vise versa. But for sure reverse blinking is one technique that works for a lot of people.

Originally Posted by Conzo

Yeah but everyone's different, what works for you might not work for someone else, and vise versa. But for sure reverse blinking is one technique that works for a lot of people.

I agree with everything in that post.

Wow reverse blinking is amazing. I fell asleep within like 5 minutes of starting the technique and it usually takes me around an hour to fall asleep. That in itself is amazing, but I also had a LD that same night with good recall. Loaf thanks for telling me about that. I probably would have never found out about it without you telling me about it .

Originally Posted by Devin1207

Wow reverse blinking is amazing. I fell asleep within like 5 minutes of starting the technique and it usually takes me around an hour to fall asleep. That in itself is amazing, but I also had a LD that same night with good recall. Loaf thanks for telling me about that. I probably would have never found out about it without you telling me about it .

Yay, I did something useful!
I am just like you. It takes me so long to fall asleep usually - about an hour or more.

Well it took me only one night to recall my dreams. Upon awaking, just be still and with your eyes closed and just say to yourself mentally, "I wonder What I dreamed about" and all of a sudden they came out of nowhere. I was thrilled to see it happen so easily. I'm recalling about 2 to 3 dreams per night now and I started about 1 month ago

I still haven't. Not to once a night, at least. Maybe a few dreams per week.