The intention at night

The teaching

As Stephen LaBerge's MILD method teaches it.

Remembering to remember

MILD stands for the mnemonic induction of lucid dreams. Its principle is a kind of memory everyone uses daily: remembering to do something later, such as posting a letter on the way to work. That memory works best when the intention is clear and tied to a cue: when I pass the post box, I will post the letter. LaBerge's insight was that becoming lucid is a task of the same kind. The intention is to notice that one is dreaming, and the cue is the dream sign.

The method therefore works best for those who already recall their dreams and know their own dream signs, which is why the journal comes first and MILD second.

Setting up recall

The first step is to set the mind to wake from dreams and to recall them. As you fall asleep, resolve that when you wake from a dream you will remember it. When you do wake from one, in the night or toward morning, recall it as fully as you can before doing anything else. The house keeps to natural waking: the method uses the wakings that come of themselves, and no alarm is set to make one.

Focusing the intent

As you settle back toward sleep, hold one intention and nothing else: next time I am dreaming, I will remember that I am dreaming. Say it inwardly and slowly, and try to feel that you really mean it. If the mind wanders, bring it back to the sentence, as one brings the attention back to the breath in meditation.

Seeing yourself become lucid

Then picture yourself back in the dream you have just recalled, or in a recent one, but this time recognising that it is a dream. Look in it for a dream sign, the moment where it was plainly not waking life. When you find it, say to yourself that you are dreaming, and continue the picture: imagine what you would then do, such as rising into the air and flying. The rehearsal joins the intention to a scene, so that the scene itself can bring the intention back.

Repeating until it is set

Repeat the sentence and the picture until the intention feels settled, then let yourself fall asleep with it as the last thing in mind. If thoughts drift elsewhere as you fall asleep, return to the sentence once more so that it is the last thing there. The aim is to fall asleep soon with the intention fresh, not to lie awake rehearsing: if a quarter of an hour passes and you are still awake, drop the rehearsal and simply sleep.

At bedtime

LaBerge teaches the method chiefly for the wakings of the early morning, when the next dream, the longest of the night, is near. The house asks no one to wake for it. At bedtime the method is the same, with a dream from an earlier night, or from the journal, as the scene. If you happen to wake toward morning of your own accord, that is the gentle moment to repeat it, and then to sleep.

When it works

When MILD works, the realisation often arrives just as it was rehearsed: the dream sign appears, the sentence comes back, and the dreamer knows. Sometimes it comes later in the dream, or as a faint suspicion that grows into certainty when a check is made. The first seconds of knowing are the hardest to keep, and the branch on staying in the dream takes up from there. When it does not work, nothing is lost: the journal gains a dream, and the intention is set again the next night.

The resolve in dream yoga

Tibetan dream yoga sets the evening intention inside a wider practice. Before sleep, Tenzin Wangyal teaches, review the day while resting in awareness, especially its hard moments, and see them as the memories of a dream; then form a strong intention to be lucid, as a prayer if one likes: may I have a lucid dream tonight, may I be aware in the dream. He suggests lying on the right side if it is comfortable, relaxing the throat, and holding the image of a luminous red lotus at the throat with a feeling of peace while falling asleep.

In the morning the practice closes. Review the night, write the dreams while they are fresh, and note whether you were lucid. Rejoice in any success; if there was none, do not be discouraged, since setbacks are counted as part of the path, but renew the intention for the coming day and night.

What the house leaves out

Many who teach MILD now pair it with an alarm in the small hours and a short time awake before returning to bed, and some add substances meant to bring lucid dreams on. The house leaves out both. No alarm is set, no night is broken, and nothing is taken. Practised at bedtime and on natural wakings, the method is slower, and sleep stays whole.