Thread: My Slow-Burn Strategy and Ongoing Progress

Hi, I'm new here! I've received a lot of benefit over the past year or so from discussions on this site so I thought I'd finally contribute myself. I've had short periods over the last several years of attempting to lucid dream, and usually it goes pretty well. The problem is that while lucid dreams start happening pretty quickly, the results are not ever 100% consistent or reliable, and usually involve methods that bring too much disruption to my day-to-day life. Nowadays I'm a 'The Mind Illuminated' meditation practitioner(Stage 5 on good days for those who are curious), and the ADA(All Day Awareness) method appeals to my priorities.

So I'd like to share my current simplified 'slow burn' strategy for something similar to ADA or Dream Yoga, and update with progress reports. I wanted to create a simple but thorough way to progress in ADA without burning out, as this is a practice you have to be consistent with to really see the results. I hope this is the right place for this thread, if not please tell me how to preserve it in a different location instead of just locking it or something haha. I also hope this will spark some discussion. And those with any experience, please give advice as to how this method could go wrong or be improved. Here is what I am starting:

1: Morning Practice
Spend a few minutes trying to remember as much as possible from the dreams you had the night before. Set the simple intention to pay detailed attention to your surroundings, and yourself, throughout the day.

2: Daytime Practice
Look for an oddity, anything that seems 'off', that could potentially tell you that you are dreaming. If you find something, genuinely consider that you could be dreaming for all you know, and in a quick and subtle way increase awareness to see if that is the case. If not, make a note in your phone of the oddity and number it. The goal is not to do this all day, as that would be too hard at first, but just to notice at least one more oddity than your 'high score' for any given day. So at first with a more limited and untrained awareness you'll only have to discover a couple oddities, but as time goes on you'll need to pay greater and greater detailed attention to your surroundings.

For example, maybe you look out your window twice one day and both times you see the same people drive through. Or you notice that it's a warm day in February. If you notice one of these when it happens, not in retrospect, and you respond by upping awareness to check if you are dreaming, then you can count it towards your daily record. Maybe give yourself a reward for beating your high score. This should be a simple and fun practice that does not overly strain the mind.

2: Nighttime Practice
While lying in bed, set the simple intention to remember your dreams and to know that you are dreaming when you are(anyone got a better way to word that?). Rest your attention on your body and everything you feel, and intend to maintain mindful awareness while watching the progression of dullness as you fall asleep. This technique of resting attention on the body while being aware of the progression of dullness comes from Culadasa, the author of The Mind Illuminated. When you wake in the night or morning, make an effort to remember what you were dreaming.

As far as dream recall goes, does anyone have a better way to review dreams that does not involve much intrusion into sleeping soundly through the night or getting going in the morning? Often if I try to record my dreams, even with just a voice recorder, I have trouble falling back asleep and I can't afford that with my schedule. It can also take a lot of willpower to make myself think through and record my dreams while half-asleep. I, however, have tried to design each part of the practice to support dream recall in some way. Even from the daytime practice my dream recall should be improved, as a result of building the mental habit of paying attention to the details of my surroundings.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Would anyone like to try this with me as I give updates on how it's going? And can someone tell me if it would be better for me to give updates in the comments or by editing the main post?