Image by Kevin Laminto
Remembering your dreams is easier than you think!
I always love going back to the basics, and Dream Recall is the absolute foundation of any dream practice (lucid or otherwise). It's easier than you think!
Anytime you wake up throughout the night, remain still in your bed and quietly think about what you may have been dreaming about. Many of us have little fragments swirling in our minds that can be "reeled" in. I like to think of this process like fishing. I might remember that I was dreaming of something specific like a horse or a person - that's my hook. I also might simply know that I was dreaming, which can be a hook in and of itself.
From there, I cycle through random questions like:
Was I talking to someone?
Was I eating?
What was I running from?
Was there an apple?
A cat? A train?
Was it Night? Day?
Was I scared? Was I happy? Mad?
What was I doing?
Who was there?
If I feel stuck, I go to my recurring and universal themes like:
Was I in school?
Taking a test?
Was I unable to control a car?
Was I late? Or lost?
And sometimes I'll just rapid fire random words, emotions, and themes that come to my head until I feel something resonate like: Red, blue, cat, cow, water, forest, childhood, winter, sad, cookie, books, trains, parents, work, house, raining, walking, crying, joyful, future, cosmos, library, etc.
Usually, I'll "catch" the memory based on these questions and can reel in the entire dream narrative from there based on one tiny spark. I seem to be able to “feel” that I’m on the right path based on a single word. Soon more words resonate and then the whole thing trickles back. It's incredibly effective even when it feels like there was no dream there to begin with. You'll be amazed by how easy this becomes in time.
And of course, write down whatever comes to you immediately. I like to scribble a few keywords on scrap paper all night and then review my papers in the morning to solidify the memory. After that I'll write the full narrative in my journal later in the day, when I have time. That way there's no rush to do it right when you get up.
You can also do this practice any time in the day! In the afternoon, quietly lay down and practice dream recall from last night, or several nights ago! There’s no reason to restrict this process to just last night. I have found that the more I do it, dreams of many years ago start to come to me. It’s a wild ride.
Give it a try!
zzxo,
Allison✨
