Dream Recall: How to Remember Your Dreams

In my line of work as a dream and nightmare interpreter, I come across people fairly often who say they don’t dream all or they rarely remember a dream. If you identify as one of these individuals (or you just want to recall more of your dreams) then you’re in the right place!

Let’s start by clearing up a major misconception: everyone dreams! Yes, even if you don’t remember your dreams, you are dreaming every night. It’s a part of your ability to learn, form memories, and psychologically evolve as you grow and age. Some people just aren’t used to recalling their dreams when they wake but anyone can learn!

Dream Recall Pathways

Successful dream recall doesn’t always happen overnight. In fact, it typically takes about 1-4 weeks of consistent, daily effort to begin regularly recalling your dreams. This is because your brain needs time to physically form your dream recall pathway.

A dream recall pathway is one example of a neural pathway or neural network. Neural pathways are the avenues that transport information from one part of the brain to the other. While we’re not diving into the science of neural pathways in this article, here are a few great online resources if you want to explore more:

• The Brain and Our Habits: Natural Pathways to Wellness by Dr. Susan Rieck

• Brain Architecture - Harvard University

• Brain Basics - NIH

Our habits are great examples of neural pathways. When you begin to develop a habit you start to link a thought or intention to an action. Let’s use beginning a fitness habit as an example.

The desire to feel physically fit drives the development of the habit. You understand that physical fitness takes time and action so you devise a plan to rework your routine to incorporate these actions. During these beginning stages, the brain is taking the thought of desired fitness and linking it to the action of exercise along a new neural pathway.

Developing the pathway (habit) is most difficult to navigate in the beginning because it isn’t being maintained with consistency or may never have existed in the first place. You carve and solidify the path each time you navigate upon it (from the desire part of your brain to the action part of your brain).

Eventually, the more effort you put into navigating the neural pathway, the easier it becomes. The more you try and put forth effort the easier it is to get up and exercise.

This is habit-forming at its base. This is also why it can take time to develop habits - you’re literally shaping a pathway through your brain over time!

Dream recall is just another neural pathway waiting to be built.

You build it through habit-forming practices that include a desire, intention, effort and consistent repetition.

Building Your Dream Recall Pathway

The simplest way to build your dream recall pathway is to start writing something down every single day in a dream journal.

Even if you don’t remember anything, write something down like how you think you slept or what emotions you feel upon waking.

What you’re doing each morning with this technique is telling your brain that you’d like to recall your dreams. You take the desire for dream recall and connect it to the physical action of recording something. Over time, your brain will put more effort into recalling your dreams the more you carve the pathway and value the result.

I cannot stress enough that the key to dream recall is to continue taking action (writing something every morning) even if you don’t receive the content you want (details of a dream). Form the dream pathway by following through the habit with consistency.

Note: I’ve coached many people on dream recall and the journey is completely unique for each individual. For some people it only takes a couple of days to begin recalling dream details but for others it can take a month or more of consistent daily journaling. Don’t give up right away - the payoff is worth it!

Create and Expand Your Bedtime Ritual

A ritual is a series of actions taken to fulfill an intended purpose… kind of like the habits we’ve been talking about! A bedtime ritual is a series of actions taken right before bed to increase the probability of dream recall. If you brush your teeth before bed then you already have a bedtime ritual!

Your bedtime ritual doesn’t need to be extensive and time consuming - my personal ritual is only about 5 minutes long!

To get started with a bedtime ritual ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I feel well rested when I wake up? Getting a good night’s sleep is incredibly supportive for dream recall! If you’re not feeling recharged in the morning it might be time to make some adjustments to your schedule or other factors.

2. Is my sleep environment supportive for my sleep needs? Your bedroom or sleep area doesn’t have to exactly match what sleep experts recommend. We all have our own life experiences and we should be honest with ourselves and our needs.

3. How long do I want to spend on my bedtime ritual? Again, be honest with yourself! There’s no right or wrong amount of time to prepare for bed. You can also add practices in over time and build your practice up slowly.

Let’s talk about some of the practices you might want to try out or incorporate.

Set Yourself Up For Sleep Success

This goes hand in hand with the first and second questions above. Sleep is the second most important need of the human body and sleep success is crucial not only to dream recall but every single facet of your life!

Sleep success indicates that you feel well rested upon waking, ready to start the day, and energized. If this isn’t how you usually feel when you wake then it’s time to make some changes.

Start by figuring out how many hours of sleep you need to feel well rested. 7 hours of sleep per night is a typical recommendation but everyone’s body and needs are different. While I only need 7.5 hours of sleep per night to feel good the next day my husband needs closer to 10. Adjust your bedtime or waking time as needed.

Next, take a look at your bedroom or sleep environment:

• Is your mattress supportive and comfortable or old and slouched in?

• Are there sounds that wake you up in the middle of the night? Maybe its time to incorporate white noise or soft music.

• Do you feel safe where you sleep? I always sleep better after checking that the doors are locked.

• Is the temperature cool, hot, or too cold? Research suggests sleeping in a comfortably cool environment.

Before you go to bed tonight, take a good look at your sleep environment and set yourself up for physical sleep success!

Note: To learn more about your needs and the science of sleep check out my article on the topic: Get Started with Dreamwork by Exploring Sleep Science.

Brain Dump and a Gratitude Practice

There are many functions and purposes of dreams. Mainly, our dreams help us to distill the experiences we’ve had, memories we’ve formed, and all of the new pieces of information that we’ve learned throughout our day.

You can help these natural psychological processes along and create more capacity for dream recall by incorporating a brain dump and gratitude practice into your bedtime ritual.

A brain dump is quite literal in that you’re dumping all of the racing thoughts, to-do items, and moments of self doubt from the day out of your head! You can do this through journaling or even just talking it out to the universe (my personal method).

I’m already laying in bed when I brain dump and call it my “daily review” with the universe. I speak out loud and begin by saying, “Are you there Universe? It’s me, Meg.” (Judy Blume flashbacks, anyone?) I continue on to verbally review my day to the Universe, acknowledging anything I’m holding onto and finding the grace to let it go.

Your brain dump is a way to consciously begin the brain’s daily review process before you even start dreaming. This helps to expand your psychological capacity for dream recall.

A gratitude practice is another great tool, especially for individuals who want to bring more self-love or loving awareness into their lives. After my brain dump I list a few things that I was grateful for that day and ease into sleep feeling a little lighter.

Bedtime Ritual Extras

There are a ton of other practices and tools you can play around with and explore. The following is not an exhaustive list:

• Enjoy a warm cup of tea (there are teas for dreaming out there as well but really any warm cup of non-caffeinated liquid is wonderful)

• Take a warm shower or bath

• Do some light exercise, stretching or yoga

• Bring in a calming scent with essential oils

• Lay on a shakti Mat (we really, really enjoy ours!)

• Place some crystals in your sleep space (there are many to support dreaming - my favorites are blue kyanite and amethyst)

• Herbs (again, there are many out there for dreaming and many ways to use them - my favorites are blue lotus and tulsi as teas)

• Perform some energetic clearing and/or protection practices

Note: I personally suggest removing mirrors from the bedroom or at least cleansing your mirrors regularly. It is my personal belief that mirrors in the sleep space can act as reflectors of thoughts and feelings. In the dream space, mirrors can bounce our thoughts around in repetitive patterns that lead to nowhere. I prefer to let my dreams flow.

Any intentional addition to your bedtime ritual can be beneficial for dream recall. Have fun exploring, trying new things, and finding what works for you!

Waking with Intention

Just as sleep success and bedtime rituals support dream recall, so too does your waking routine. Instead of just getting out of bed and immediately jumping into your day, an intentional approach to waking can bring more dream content forward.

When waking with intention it’s important to BE STILL as you wake. Start your day by welcoming your awareness consciously, not with physical movement. Just lie there for a few minutes without moving. When you avoid opening your eyes or moving your limbs you limit the amount of physical stimulus that can detract resources from your mental focus and dream recall.

Once you have consciously acknowledged your waking awareness, continue to lie still and replay what you can from your dreams. After you’ve remembered what you can then you can start to get up for the day and record your dreams. This method of intentional waking brings a greater sense of connection to self which is what dreamwork is all about at its core.

Note: When just getting started with dream journaling and recording I suggest using pen and paper for an additional physical component that assists in habit-building. However, if that doesn’t fit into your lifestyle recording your dreams in a voice app or other device can be just as beneficial. The key is that you’re recording them!

Easing Into Dream Recall

The benefits of dream recall are so much more than just remembering your dreams. Dream recall can help you get to know yourself on a deeper level, connect with your intuition, and step into your life with greater awareness and intention.

There are so many points to get started with in this article but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Pick one thing that you’d like to try out or incorporate into your life today and stick with it for a good week or two. Then add another piece and then another. Mix and match and find what works for your unique resonance!

Your methods of dream recall may change over time as you yourself change and grow. Get curious about what does and does not support you, get excited to dream again, and discover yourself along the way!

- Meg 🐝