How to Program Your Dreams In Advance

June 28th, 2007

This article is part of the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.

A technique called dream incubation is the perfect approach to use whenever you would like to have a dream about a specific person, place, thing, or event. It also can be a useful method of getting in touch with your subconscious to find answers. Dream incubation requires that you predetermine what you will dream about and then set your intent to dream with full conscious awareness about that particular thing. It is essentially a way of programming your dreams in advance. You can't always program all the details, but you can select certain features to incorporate into a dream.

When you first begin to practice this technique, choose simple objects to work with. For example, make a decision to dream about an apple, a boat, or any other straightforward object that can be easily incorporated by the unconscious mind into your dream. As you become skilled at dream incubation, you can select more complex targets such as specific locations, people, or events.

How To Incubate a Dream:

At bedtime, begin by writing out the details of your desired dream as if you are planning the entire dream in advance. Write notes about the dream in the same manner in which you write entries in your dream journal each morning. I recommend using the dream journal method described here.

Write your description as if you're making a dream journal entry about a dream that has already occurred. By taking steps to convince your mind that the dream has already taken place in exactly the manner you described, you will greatly increase the chance of dreaming that same dream. Be sure to include a note indicating you achieved 100% lucidity within the dream.

After you've written the details of the dream, spend a few minutes creating a detailed mental image of the desired dream scene. Involve all your senses by including sounds, smells, and tactile sensations in your visualization. Fully visualize the dream as you would like to see it unfold. Use the visualization as a rehearsal for your dream, and make sure to imagine yourself becoming consciously aware within the desired dream scene.

If you plan to use the dream incubation technique to seek answers from your subconscious mind, you can be creative about how you'll receive those answers in the dream. Will you meet a person, a representative of your subconscious mind, and converse with him or her? Will you watch a situation in your dream unfold in a manner that provides the answers? Will you follow a winding path that leads directly to the information you seek?

You can even use a picture from a magazine to provide your mind with a ready-made visual image. Before going to bed, look at the picture and fix the image in your mind. Using the mental image of the picture, create sounds, smells, and tactile sensations to enhance the visualization. Temporarily immerse yourself in the dream scene until it is fully fixed in your mind, and again, don't forget to imagine yourself becoming lucid during the dream.

As you fall asleep, use affirmations to affirm your intent to dream about the desired object or scene. If you are drifting off to sleep at night use the affirmation, "Tonight I will dream about _________", filling in the blank with the object or event of your choice. Include a conscious dreaming affirmation. If you are drifting off to sleep for a mid-afternoon nap or after a wake-up interval, instead use the affirmation, "I am dreaming about _________." Fall asleep knowing you'll dream about precisely what you wanted to dream about.

Don't worry if it doesn't work the first night. Keep trying until you dream about the things you programmed in advance. The first time is always the hardest. After you succeed once, you'll find it gets easier and easier with each attempt.

Stay tuned for the next article in the series, which will describe techniques to help you use your dreams for problem solving.