Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)

"Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming" by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. & Howard Rheingold, ISBN 0-345-37410-X, p. 73-79.

Copyright (c) 1990 by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. and Howard Rheingold. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Reprinted on PsiPog.net with permission from Keelin - thanks!

Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)

Ten years ago, I developed an effective method of lucid dream induction while investigating the feasibility of learning to have lucid dreams at will for my Ph.D. dissertation work.11

Before trying induction procedures, I remembered less than one lucid dream per month. While using autosuggestion during the first sixteen months of my study (the technique is presented below), I recalled an average of five lucid dreams per month with a range of one to thirteen. (The month in which I had thirteen lucid dreams using autosuggestion happened while I was doing my first laboratory studies of lucid dreaming, which incidentally illustrates the powerful effect of motivation on the frequency of lucid dreaming.) However, during the period I was using autosuggestion to induce lucid dreams, I had no understanding of how I was doing it! All I knew was that I was telling myself before bed: "Tonight, I will have a lucid dream." But how? I had no idea. And having no idea meant that there was little I could do to make it happen. Without understanding the process involved, I stood little chance of learning to have lucid dreams at will.

Nevertheless, I gradually observed a psychological factor that correlated with the occurrence of my lucid dreams: the presleep intention to remember to recognize I was dreaming. Once I knew how I was trying to induce lucid dreams, it became much easier to focus my efforts. This clarification of intention was followed by an immediate increase in the monthly frequency of my lucid dreams. Further practice and refinements led to a method whereby I could reliably induce lucid dreams. With this new method, I had as many as four lucid dreams in one night, and as many as twenty-six in one month. I now could have a lucid dream on any night I chose and had accomplished my goal of showing that it is possible to bring access to the lucid dream state under volitional control. For people who were willing and able to learn my method, it was now possible to enter the world of lucid dreaming almost at will.

Once I knew that I was trying to remember to do something (that is, become lucid) at a later time (that is, when next I'm dreaming), I was able to devise a technique to help me accomplish that. How can we manage to remember to do something in a dream? Perhaps we should start with a simpler question: How do we remember to do things in ordinary life?

In everyday life we remember most things we have to do by using some sort of external mnemonic or memory aid (a grocery list, phone pad, string around the finger, memo by the door, etc.). But how do we remember future intentions (this is called prospective memory) without relying on external reminders? Motivation plays an important role. You are less likely to forget to do something that you really want to do.

When you set yourself the goal to remember to do something, you have made the goal one of your current concerns and thereby have activated a goal-seeking brain system that will stay partially activated until you have achieved it. If the goal is very important to you, the system stays highly activated and you keep checking to see if it's time to do it, until it is time.12 It never becomes fully unconscious. But the more typical case is when, for example, you decide to buy some tacks the next time you go to the store. This is hardly important enough to keep on the front page of your mind, so you go to the store and forget about your intention. That is, unless while at the store you just happen to notice a box of tacks, or even a hammer which brings up tacks by association.

This reveals the other major factor involved in remembering to do things: association. When facing the challenge of remembering to do something, we can increase the likelihood of success by (1) being strongly motivated to remember and (2) forming mental associations between what we want to remember to do and the future circumstances in which we intend to do it. These associations are greatly strengthened by the mnemonic (memory aid) of visualizing yourself doing what you intend to remember.

Thinking of lucid dream induction as a problem of prospective memory, I developed a technique designed to increase my chances of remembering my intention to be lucid: the Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams procedure, (MILD).13 I have revised the procedure for this book in light of my experience, both using the technique myself to produce lucid dreams and teaching it to hundreds of others. Please take note of the prerequisites discussed below.
MILD prerequisites

To successfully induce lucid dreams with MILD, you need to have certain capacities. First of all, if you can't reliably remember to carry out future intentions while awake, there is little chance that you will remember to do anything while asleep. So before attempting MILD, you need to prove to yourself that you can indeed remember to do things while awake. If you are like most people, you are used to relying on external reminders and therefore need practice in remembering intentions using only your own mental power. The following is an exercise to help you acquire the necessary skill to perform the MILD technique.

EXERCISE:

PROSPECTIVE MEMORY TRAINING

1. Read the day's targets
This exercise is designed to be practiced over an entire week. Below is a set of four target events for each day of the week. When you get up in the morning, read only the targets for that day. (Do not read the targets before the proper day.) Memorize the day's targets.

2. Look for your targets during the day
Your goal is to notice the next occurrence of each event, at which time you will perform a state test: "Am I dreaming?" So, if your target is, "The next time I hear a dog bark," when you hear this next, note it and do a state test. You are aiming to notice the target once-the next time it happens.

3. Keep track of how many target events you hit
At the end of the day, write down how many of the four targets you succeeded in noticing (you can make a space in your dream journal to record your progress with this exercise). If you realize during the day that you missed your first chance to notice one of your targets, then you have failed to hit that target, even though you may notice its occurrence later in the day. If you are certain that one or more of the targets did not occur at all during the day, say so with a note in your dream journal.

4. Continue the exercise for at least one week
Practice the exercise until you have tried all of the daily targets given below. If at the end of the week, you are still missing most of the targets, continue until you can hit most of them. Make up your own list of targets, keep track of your success rate, and observe how your memory develops.
Daily Targets

SUNDAY:
The next time I see a pet or animal
The next time I look at my face in a mirror
The next time I turn on a light
The next time I see a flower

MONDAY:
The next time I write anything down
The next time I feel pain
The next time I hear someone say my name
The next time I drink something

TUESDAY:
The next time I see a traffic light
The next time I hear music
The next time I throw something in the garbage
The next time I hear laughter

WEDNESDAY:
The next time I turn on a television or radio
The next time I see a vegetable
The next time I see a red car
The next time I handle money

THURSDAY:
The next time I read something other than this list
The next time I check the time
The next time I notice myself daydreaming
The next time I hear the telephone ringing

FRIDAY:
The next time I open a door
The next time I see a bird
The next time I use the toilet after noon
The next time I see the stars

SATURDAY:
The next time I put a key in a lock
The next time I see an advertisement
The next time I eat anything after breakfast
The next time I see a bicycle

MILD TECHNIQUE

1. Set up dream recall
Before going to bed resolve to wake up and recall dreams during each dream period throughout the night (or the first dream period after dawn, or after 6 a.m. or whenever you find convenient).

2. Recall your dream
When you awaken from a dream period, no matter what time it is, try to recall as many details as possible from your dream. If you find yourself so drowsy that you are drifting back to sleep, do something to arouse yourself.

3. Focus your intent
While returning to sleep, concentrate singlemindedly on your intention to remember to recognize that you're dreaming. Tell yourself: "Next time I'm dreaming, I want to remember I'm dreaming." Really try to feel that you mean it. Narrow your thoughts to this idea alone. If you find yourself thinking about anything else, just let go of these thoughts and bring your mind back to your intention to remember.

4. See yourself becoming lucid
At the same time, imagine that you are back in the dream from which you have just awakened, but this time you recognize that it is a dream. Find a dreamsign in the experience; when you see it say to yourself: "I'm dreaming!" and continue your fantasy. For example, you might decide that when you are lucid you want to fly. In that case, imagine yourself taking off and flying as soon as you come to the point in your fantasy that you "realize" you are dreaming.

5. Repeat
Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until your intention is set, then let yourself fall asleep. If, while falling asleep, you find yourself thinking of anything else, repeat the procedure so that the last thing in your mind before falling asleep is your intention to remember to recognize the next time you are dreaming.

Commentary:

If all goes well, you'll fall asleep and find yourself in a dream, at which point you'll remember to notice that you are dreaming.

If it takes you a long time to fall asleep while practicing this method, don't worry: The longer you're awake, the more likely you are to have a lucid dreamwhen you eventually return to sleep. This is because the longer you are awake, the more times you will repeat the MILD procedure, reinforcing your intention to have a lucid dream. Furthermore, the wakefulness may activate your brain, making lucidity easier to attain.

In fact, if you are a very deep sleeper, you should get up after memorizing your dream and engage in ten to fifteen minutes of any activity requiring full wakefulness. Turn on the light and read a book. Get out of bed and go into another room. One of the best things to do is to write out your dream and read it over, noting all dreamsigns, in preparation for the MILD visualization.

Many people meet with success after only one or two nights of MILD; others take longer. Continued practice of MILD can lead to greater proficiency at lucid dreaming. Many of our advanced oneironauts have used it to cultivate the ability to have several lucid dreams any night they choose.

11 S. LaBerge, Lucid Dreaming: An Exploratory Study of Consciousness During Sleep (Ph.D. diss., Stanford University, 1980). (University Microfilms International No. 80-24, 691)

12 J. Harris, "Remembering to Do Things: A forgotten Topic," in Everyday Memory, eds. J. Harris and P. Morris (London: Academic Press, 1984).

13 LaBerge, op. cit.