My introduction to the fascinating realm of the subconscious and the incredible study of dreams occurred in early 1978. At that time I was on vacation in Virginia Beach, VA and attended my first lecture on dreams. Fascinated by this presentation, I was totally surprised the next morning to remember my first long, complete dream in about ten years. It was highly intriguing, so I copied it into a notebook. In the past three decades, I have recorded over 20,000 dreams in my journals. They have provided incredible information for all aspects of life including career guidance, health, and investment activities.
Following this first dream recall experience, I assumed that future progress in this area would be easy. This was highly incorrect and I struggled with dream recall for a number of years. Two years later, I counted my dreams over a period of six months and found I was having exactly one dream per week. Over a period of years, my dream recall improved, and by 1990 I was averaging around 55-60 dreams per month. This was a painfully slow experience, and over time, I have evaluated many different methods to improve dream recall and incubate dreams on specific subjects.
The methods summarized here are those that I have found that will rapidly accelerate your dream recall and success with dream incubation. The final item summarizes my recent two years of studies using Psychic Attunement to enhance the overall dreaming response. It will be up to individuals to determine which methods work best in their own lives.
Repeat "Remember, Recall" to yourself on waking - This is a simple yet powerful method for recalling your dreams. When you first wake up, stay absolutely still, and see if there is a dream present. If there is no dream, repeat the phrase "Remember - remember - remember - Recall - recall - recall" in your mind several times. Then wait in silence for a minute or two and see if a dream appears. If no dream comes into mind, keep repeating this phrase for five or more cycles. This will typically bring up a dream about 30-50% of the time. On occasions, it may be possible to recall a second dream after the first one.
Change your bed position - If your bed is oriented in an east - west direction, turn it in a north - south direction for several weeks and see if that improves you dream recall. Also, sleep with your head toward the north position to see if that improves your dreaming results. Feel free to experiment with these sleep positions, as they do not work the same for all people. One lady dramatically improved her recall by simply moving from one side of the double bed to the other that was closer to a window.
Move to another room - If the room where you sleep causes problems, move to another room for a few nights and observe what happens. The main bedroom at my home in Virginia Beach faced east across the Chesapeake Bay. When strong winds or rain came from that direction, the room was excessively noisy and I had very few dreams. So I moved to a spare bedroom on the other side of the house, which was much calmer. This was very effective, and I even did this when there was no storm present. If I awoke early and there were no dreams occurring, I would switch bedrooms and typically start dreaming when I did this.
Use written affirmations - Another method to increase your dream recall frequency is by using written affirmation statements for a period of twenty-one days or more. This is done by composing a specific, short affirmation regarding the result you want, and then using it on a daily basis for an extended period of time. An excellent format for such an affirmation that I use is as follows: I am using his ever-present love to recall three psychic dreams every night now. In practice, this phrase is written on a tablet twenty times per day for twenty-one days or longer. I have used this method extensively for many years. In the fall of 2004 and early 2005, I found my dream recall had declined to a level of only 33 per month. Alarmed at this drastic reduction, I used this written affirmation procedure for one month, and my dream recall increased very quickly to 60 per month.
Try aromatherapy - Scents that are supposed to promote psychic dreams are angelica, lavender, chamomile, and lemon grass. Other scents recommended for lucid dreaming are anise, dill and clary. I began using chamomile and immediately received a dream telling me to use rosewood instead. I switched to rosewood and got good results. This is a clear-cut case of the rewards of remaining flexible in order to find out what works best for your own body.
Burn incense - will also improve dream recall. Some sources recommend jasmine and rose to increase dream frequency; and for spirituality content--sandalwood, frankincense and myrrh. For my own use, I have come to prefer lavender, jasmine and sandalwood. Many suppliers offer blends of incenses. Check out what works best for you. My dream/meditation messages have encouraged me to burn incense every other day in at least three locations in my home-most strongly pointing to my study where I write and use the computer.
Take a crystal to bed - Crystals, especially amethyst, rose quartz, citrine and the Herkimer Diamond can be extremely useful for promoting dreaming. I have found that an ordinary quartz crystal held in the left hand (kept in place with tape or by inserting in a glove) is highly effective - as well as kyanite and tiger-eye, my most recent discoveries. Crystals can be place under the pillow, on a nightstand, or suspended over the bed. It is strongly recommended that you evaluate a particular crystal or location for two weeks to ascertain its effectiveness. Consistency and intent are very important. I suggest you keep records of the results.
Put a Post-It note on yourself! - This method, which I first used while writing my thesis on dreams in 2001 at Atlanta University, is quite easy to put into practice. Simply write out a short dream request on a standard Post-It Note and stick it on your forehead. Keep it there as long as possible. I normally wear it for three consecutive nights (held firmly in place by Scotch tape). If I do not recall a dream on the desired subject, I deem the time to be inappropriate, and move on
Get more Vitamin B6 - Some books refer to B6 as the dream vitamin; one such resource named a possible side effect as causing overly vivid dreams. Indeed, the strongest result I get with any supplement is with B6. It is suggested that you start out with ingesting 25-100mg per day, at lunch, dinner or just before bedtime. Adjust the quantity up or down as required, but in no case take more than 200 mg per day.
Acupuncture - In mid 2007, I tested a variety of methods that culminated in a procedure I call Psychic Attunement, which has dramatically improved my dream recall and lucid dreaming frequency. These trials rapidly demonstrated that acupuncture treatments were the most effective way to generate psychic messages in my mind; it was like having a dream in the middle of the day while awake. The messages were temporary and stopped about twenty minutes after the treatment ended. Later in 2007, I began using an acupuncture needle in a psychic point located near the tip of the chin (Ren 24). The psychic nature of this point is based on ancient traditions of wisdom and is rarely mentioned in contemporary literature. This technique was also highly effective in creating messages, but they, too, ceased soon after the session terminated.
After many other tests, I began stimulating Ren 24 continuously through the night using tiny beads called acupuncture seeds, pasted on to the desired point with adhesive tape. They are readily available for purchase on the internet.
These seeds or beads did not create any immediate messages; however, when left in place overnight, they drastically altered my dream recall. During August 2009, my normal dream recall of 56 per month, jumped to 80. After three consecutive months (Aug.-Oct 2009), my overall recall averaged 95 dreams per month. For the entire two year period (Aug. 2009-Aug. 2011), I have averaged 91 dreams per month. My dreams with the seeds in place show a definite tendency to be more vivid, with lucid dreams occurring more frequently.
Testing with other participants
This Psychic Attunement method has been tested on four small groups in my local Phoenix, Arizona area. In the first group of eleven people who attended a spiritual conference in March 2010, two participants experienced very dramatic increases in dream recall. One lady who was only remembering three dreams per month, jumped up to ten per month when using the seeds. After a year, she reported 30 dreams per month. Another person went from one dream per night to four or five. Three other test subjects reported mild to moderate results with dream content, dream frequency or visions. Two dropped out due to sleep disorder problems, and four reported no changes in their dream patterns.
A second set of eight participants from a spiritual group in Gilbert, Arizona in August 2010 showed even stronger responses, with two reporting a 100% increase in recall. Two other small groups recruited at local spiritual conferences in late 2010 and early 2011 shared similar results with the first two groups. Overall, about 50 people have used the seeds, with half that number reporting positive effects on their dreaming, including increased frequency of recall, and more lucid dreams or visions.
