Recall and Awareness

[Naiya]

Recall and Awareness When Awakening

There is a very interesting technique in Dream Yoga for recalling dreams. It basically involves remembering things backwards. What's funny is, I did this myself for a very long time before I'd ever read about it. I believe that many of the techniques in dream yoga are what natural lucid dreamers do unconsciously.


Many people can remember at least the last moment of their dream, but nothing else. This best way to remember the rest of the dream is to simply go backwards, just like you would in remembering something in your childhood. Take your time in doing this. Ask yourself, "What happened right before then?" "How did I get to the train station?" Just keep slowly backtracking. Sometimes you may even be able to remember dreams that you had earlier in the night this way.

When you wake up in the morning, try to get out of the habit of immediately remembering what you have to do that day. Basically, your dream memories will fade instantly if you replace them with something else in your short-term memory. The best thing do to is to wake up with an empty mind and allow yourself to stay in bed, relaxed and without thought, for a few minutes before getting up.

If you're worried about falling back asleep, you may want to set yourself another alarm five minutes after the first one.

Task: Unless you already feel you have good enough recall, please try this in the morning when you wake up.

It's up to you guys to decide what you feel is good recall! For some people, one or two dreams a night is enough, and for others, the goal is to remember every dream of the night. Personally I feel that the first four hours or so don't give very long dreams so I don't try too hard to remember them or control them, but if and when I catch up with Lumi I'll be using my dream control skills in all my dreams.  

Again, these first three tasks are meant to go on for the duration of the workshop (as much as possible), because they're the foundation of creating a constant awareness of consciousness.

[annsie]

Is it possible to include a bit of background information as to the origin and history of this technique ? How was it originally started ? In which material ( book, CD, DVD ) can we read more about this technique? What do the Tibetan dream masters think of it ? Results and effectiveness noted so far ? etc.

Thanks heaps 

[Naiya]

Annsie,

Because the practice is literally thousands of years old, we do not know exactly who or how a specific technique was started. What we know is that present day practitioners specifically endorse this technique for dream recall. As for the rest of the general history, that'll be posted a bit later tonight, and more as we go on.

[annsie]

Thanks.

I have read the books  " The Tibetan Yogas of dream and sleep " by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and " Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light " by Namkhai Norbu and I didnt see this technique mentioned ?

[Naiya]

Ah...those were actually the ones I was going to recommend to you for more information...it seems like you already know a lot.

Since I've always done this technique myself with immense success, I included it. I just happened to stumble upon it while gathering info on the net on a website about dream yoga, and was surprised to see that it was taught. It's possible that only the more modern sects use this one.  In any case, I can vouch that it does work well. content:

[mu]

Any tips on how to make the dreams more easily remembered before having them?
Sometimes, they are so easy to recall with almost no effort. Other times, they seemed determined to disappear as quickly as possible.

[Naiya]

Aside from doing the dream prep, another thing you can try is some simple autosuggestion, i.e., "I am going to remember all of my dreams tonight."

Before bed and throughout the night (if you happen to wake up or do WBTBs), always keep your thoughts on your dreams. If you can't remember them, just be thinking about dreams or dreaming in general. It gives your mind a signal that you ARE paying attention, and eventually it should help you remember more. I know it sounds a bit lame, but the more attention you give your dreams, the more your dreams or subconscious mind "notice" and respond.

[annsie]

Since I've always done this technique myself with immense success, I included it. I just happened to stumble upon it while gathering info on the net on a website about dream yoga, and was surprised to see that it was taught. It's possible that only the more modern sects use this one.  In any case, I can vouch that it does work well. content:

Would you be able to share which website it was please ? I like to read up more on this.

Thanks

[Naiya]

Hmm, yeah I may have to look for a while, since it was buried among a lot of other suggested things and I don't remember which place I got it from. The only reason I included it was that I've done it myself so I knew for sure that this one works.

[mu]

Aside from doing the dream prep, another thing you can try is some simple autosuggestion, i.e., "I am going to remember all of my dreams tonight."

Before bed and throughout the night (if you happen to wake up or do WBTBs), always keep your thoughts on your dreams. If you can't remember them, just be thinking about dreams or dreaming in general. It gives your mind a signal that you ARE paying attention, and eventually it should help you remember more. I know it sounds a bit lame, but the more attention you give your dreams, the more your dreams or subconscious mind "notice" and respond.

Thanks! I think what you're saying is true. Now that I think of it, the times when I had excellent recall I was probably doing something along those lines. But then I seem to figure "Oh, my recall's improving," and I stop putting the effort into it.
I have not deliberately tried autosuggestion...

EDIT: I tried autosuggestion last night and had very good results. 

[Naiya]

Yay! I'm so glad it helped. 

[annsie]

yes, its a form of self hypnosis, it can be very powerful.

[mu]

It's very cool. I does actually feel like I'm hypnotizing myself. It's like I'm staying conscious much longer while I'm falling asleep.

Out of curiosity, do the techniques of dream yoga lead to a natural increase in recall? I get the impression that an advanced practitioner might be able to remember dreams as clearly as the past day.

[The Littlest Leaf Dragon]

I've read elsewhere that a good way to increase your recall immediately upon awakening is to breath properly - they recommended breathing in through your nose, and then breathing out with the "ah" sound, like you were trying to fog glass.  I tried it this morning and found that after I started breathing like that I could remember the dream clearer.  So I guess this would be a good thing to do in addition to the technique listed above.

[Clairity]

I've read elsewhere that a good way to increase your recall immediately upon awakening is to breath properly - they recommended breathing in through your nose, and then breathing out with the "ah" sound, like you were trying to fog glass.  I tried it this morning and found that after I started breathing like that I could remember the dream clearer.  So I guess this would be a good thing to do in addition to the technique listed above.

Now this is something interesting to try.. I'm adding this to my workbook!