Thread: Dream Recall Initiation Method testing

Hello there,

I have a theory I'm going to test out and I thought I would share the process and results here. I've been researching lucid dreaming for a few years off and on. Ever since I have had no lucid dreams. Imagine that. As interesting as experiencing lucid dreams are --I've had several spontaneous experiences thru out my life-- I also have a desire to discover something that tickles the initiation nerve of the phenomenon it self. Perhaps that explains why I no longer have them; perhaps I'm delusional. Whatever the case is, this is my 2nd stab at experimenting with a new kind of lucid dreaming initiation aid. (the first was with another forum and was called "LTT" for "Lucid Thinking Technique")

Okay, the idea here is not so much an induction method (unless it is a variation of DILD), but more of an extended practice of dream recall that will initiate lucidity while aware in a dream. Thru practicing self-awareness techniques, mindfulness, and ADA-like activities, I've found my dream recall has become more vivid. Which is great, actually. However, I feel that the thing missing in my dreams to initiate a 'DILD' is that I just don't have that connection in my mind that a train jumping into the air is obviously a dream experience. It's sort of like a common sense thing that just evades my deductive powers while running around sappy in my dream world.

So, this morning I just started reviewing my dream as I woke up and thought to myself, "Well that was obviously a dream element. That is nothing like waking life. That's nothing like waking life. I don't even know that person. That person is three provinces away and would never act that way..." and so on until I realized I had turned a page in my mind. I wanted to try doing this every morning so that my brain would have more neural pathways that led to the discernment between 'this is normal' and 'this is obviously a dream'.

And here we are.

The technique I'll be trying goes like this:

1) Wake up
2) Vividly recall the most prominent dream actively in the imagination
3) Rationally point out elements in the dream that differ from waking reality
4) Feel the neural networking will aid in the success rate of a DILD

That's it.

An example of 3) would be like if a dream had: "I'm walking thru the snow talking to my brother and a jellyfish floats by.."
As I'm vividly re-experiencing this in my imagination, I can look at the snow and realize that in waking life it's summer so it's obviously a dream element. I can look at my brother and realize that he lives three provinces away...obviously a dream. I can look at a jellyfish...floating?...and remember jellyfish don't float in the air and it must be a dream.

So that's what I'm going to try for the next week to see if I get a lucid dream --finally . I'll post my progress here. Anyone who wants to try it out is welcome and can post their results, procedures, etc. here too.

Ah, hello there.
Nice ideas and reasoning. So what you're saying is that you think the key to DILD is to retrospectively relive a recent dream experience, with a rational frame of mind, in the hope that repeatedly doing so will condition the brain in some way to be overly more aware of what is going on.
Could prove beneficial I suppose. Just remember, that it may not be your fault that you cannot instinctively realise the bizarre elements in your dream. Neurological research has definitely shown a deactivation of certain brain regions during dreaming, which may contribute to the acceptance of the bizarre natures of dreams. I have had many missed experiences for lucidity; there was one time when I'd set myself the task of trying to fly in a lucid dream, and in one non-lucid dream leading up to that, I decided to try and get some practise in with varying degrees of success, and not even realising for a second that if I was hovering above the ground then this had to be a dream.
Anyway, good luck with your technique, and I would be eager to hear of your progress.

Yes, that is what I'm saying.
Though, a day after creating this thread I realize that I am splitting the force of my intention by trying to experiment/keep track of results. So, to go at it with more chance of fruition, I'm going to leave this thread for a while and not pester myself for data.

What was the LTT technique about?

It was an exercise I tried where I would meditate for a minute or so to clear my mind first. Then I would allowed visual thoughts/images to arise and take my attention. Once they took my attention I would recognize it, but would maintain my consciously awareness within the imagery and interact with situation/environment (as one would when in a lucid dream). Sort of like conscious day dreaming or lucid day dreaming I guess. The theory was if I did this over time, before bed, I would develop the habit of recognizing when my attention was lost in these visual thoughts, remain conscious within the thought, and develop that recognition in dreams.

The technique was tiresome though and made it harder for me to sleep at night because my mind was too active afterwards. It also produced no lucid dreams after a 5 days of effort, so I abandoned it for the purposes of initiating lucid dreaming. From time to time I use the technique to just explore my subconscious mind if I need to understand something better. I remembering seeing Jung had a similar technique and called in 'Active Imagination'.

Yes, I found the method elsewhere.

I tried the very same thing a while ago and had the same results. A slight difference - I would go to sleep normally but when HH started I would make myself a little and ask if I was dreaming. Then repeat process. Kept me awake too, and didn't increase number of LDs. LDing is so frustrating when something like this doesn't work.

Interesting. I wonder if it would have been more successful as a WBTB exercise.

Hmmm, I didn't try that. Maybe I should've. Can also be done while meditating I guess.

With the idea in the OP have you considered using dreamsigns rather than anomalies?

I suppose I could use both. I only have a couple dream signs, but keeping an eye out for them while reviewing the dream would definitely help. Good idea.

Some more thoughts on this and an alternative to the four steps. Let me know your thoughts:

1) Wake up
2) Try to remember as much as you can from the dream you just woke from
3) During stage 2, periodically switch your awareness to your body in bed briefly, then go back to step 2 and carry on trying to remember the dream. Keep switching between the two until you remember as much about the dream as you think you can.
4) Does this habit form a neural connection* that means that false awakenings are more likely?

*Not sure about my terminology there, but basically I mean that you associate dream memories with being-in-bed memories and thus your bed is more likely to become part of future dream content or you are more likely to experience false awakenings.

But these are my thoughts on why my four point plan probably won't work:

As lucid dreamers, we do something similar anyway, but involving memory. When we wake up we try to recall a dream. We dig into the memories until we build up a picture of the dream. All this time, we are trying to remember more and more. Yet that behaviour - trying to remember more and more - doesn't carry over into dreams; when I'm in a dream I'm usually in the present and not trying to remember the past.

Hmm, interesting variation. I wouldn't dismiss your variation before trying it, but I do see the merit to your doubts about it. My first thought was that it may become too much of a distraction since a crucial component to the method is being able to submerse one's consciousness in the vividness of the imagination. This may be what you're alluding to when you talk about being/feeling in the present with dreams as opposed to feeling in the past.

That being said, I liked your idea because it proposes a possible solution to one of the issues that comes up trying to carry out the method: falling back asleep. The one solution I'd worked with had me writing the dreams out first and then vividly imagining them so that I could pick out the absurdities. But I don't feel like I can make it as vivid once writing out the dream. I'm wandering into the idea of combining the method with a sort DEILD that forsakes the need to remain still --because I spasmodically dislike that part of the technique-- so that if I fall back to sleep I have a chance to apply the discernment method directly and successfully become lucid in a dream.