One of the common things people tell me when they find out I work with dreams professionally is that they don’t dream. I have to correct them, as that is a misconception. Everyone dreams, as dreaming is an important psychological function that allows us to process the events that take place in our waking lives.

What people really mean to say is that they don’t recall their dreams.

If you are one of the people who don’t readily recall dreams, and want to begin working with them, here are 6 tips that might help:

1. Show a sincere interest in your dreams and their messages for you.
Everything we want to accomplish in life begins with setting an intention. Have the intention that you will remember your dreams by having a sincere interest in how they are going to help you in your waking life.

2. Try to have a regular sleep schedule
Getting more hours of sleep helps to improve dream recall. Irregular sleeping patterns and habits can disrupt the cycles of sleep, which can impair the ability to recall dreams.

3. Keep a pen and paper by your bed to record any dreams you have
This is something I ask of my students and clients when making the commitment to work with their dreams. Getting into the habit of recording any and everything you recall from your dreams will help you recall more. You are training your conscious mind, telling it that the messages from your subconscious mind (dreams) are important to you.

4. Do not move when you wake up
Lie still and let the last dream image come into your mind as you slowly wake up. Moving suddenly or quickly can disrupt the ability to recall dreams. The last dream image can then build on itself, helping you to recall more of the dream. Even if you do not, that image may be enough to work with (provided you write it down!).

5. Begin with the dream’s ending
Play the dream backwards in your mind. If you remember how the dream ended, start there, and ask yourself, “What happened before that? And before that?” The dream will naturally replay itself, taking you to how it started.

6. Try taking vitamin B6
At least one preliminary study has found this vitamin may increase dream vividness or the ability to recall dreams. This effect is possibly due to the role this vitamin plays in the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin. Evidence suggests supplemental vitamin B6 may be associated with lucid dreaming (the ability to know you are dreaming while experiencing the dream).

(source: Ebben, M.; A Lequerica, and A Spielman (2002). “Effects of Pyridoxine on Dreaming: a Preliminary Study”. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 94(1), 135-40. PMID 11883552. Retrieved 2012-05-23. “The effect of pyridoxine (Vitamin B-6) on dreaming was investigated in a placebo, double-blind study to examine various claims that Vitamin B-6 increases dream vividness or the ability to recall dreams.”)

For more on my work with dreams, please check out my Dream Decoder Coaching page.

Sweet dreams!

Your Dream Decoder,