How Can We Improve Our Out Of Body Memory And Recall?

Remembering clearly what happened in an out of body experience or lucid dream is something that I've been having issues with - falling asleep instead of immediately noting everything down in my journal probably has a lot to do with this! So; apart from telling myself to 'man up' and write everything down instead of lazily falling asleep- what can I do??

I've been thinking about this a lot, and the more I think about it the more I realise that my memory sucks in waking life too. Perhaps improving our day to day ability to remember things will improve our memory of what we get up to when we're not in our bodies?

So, I've set myself some homework and this what I've come up with:
I'm big on visualizing - so, I'm going to try and remember my shopping list (which I usually forget - go figure!). I'm going to try rehearsing my shopping trip in my imagination (this would work well if you usually go to the same shop and know where everything is). Sit quietly at home before your weekly shop with your list in hand and mentally see yourself walking through the entrance of the store and walking around picking up everything you need and putting it in your basket. It might take a few goes of doing this run through before you feel confidant you can go to the shop and put into practice what you've rehearsed. I'm giving this a go on my next shopping trip; either it'll work and I'll be a memory genius - or the kids will starve. Good luck kids!

In my quest for a better memory I found this great article called "7 tips to improve your memory" and I particularly like #3 which suggests giving greater awareness to your everyday life and weaning yourself off the habit of "continuous partial attention" - you can find the article here: http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20723699,00.html

William Buhlman (in his book Adventures Beyond the Body - it's brilliant I highly recommend it - you can visit his site at http://www.astralinfo.org) suggests that while you're in an out of body experience (or lucid dream) that you should say "I remember all". This feels like it would work to me, as it sends a very powerful message to your subconscious that remembering your experience is important and gives you an anchor with which to focus your mind. I haven't tried this yet - but it's on my 'to do' list! Another idea is to write down an affirmation along the lines of "I remember everything I experience" on a piece of paper and putting it under your pillow. Re-read this every night to remember your dreams or out of body experiences and increase your lucidity.

Turning a Lucid Dream into an Out of Body Experience?

Wednesday 9th April 2014
Where: In bed
Time: Not sure - early hours of the morning
Weather: Clear night
Techniques used: Mirror technique - looking into a mirror in a different room before bed and asking your subconscious to help you leave your body with awareness during the night and to remember everything. Sphere doorway technique - visualizing a blue sphere in front of you and moving it around your body before bringing it back in front of you and seeing the surface of the sphere becoming a doorway and allowing the energy from it to come through (both techniques are from Navigating the Out of Body Experience by Graham Nicholls - check it out for more info!). Feeling myself floating up and down and side to side. Asking to have an out of body experience after becoming lucid in a dream.

I realised I was dreaming - I'm not sure exactly when, but I think it was a little time before I really remember what happened (how can we improve our memory of out of body experiences??). My lucidity fluctuated during this experience. I was walking around a big building - like a college (a common theme in my dreams), I think that before I became fully lucid I was naked (eeek!) apart from a oversized shirt tied around my waist. I felt self conscious (unsurprisingly) until my awareness increased and I realised I didn't have to walk around like that - I could change things - so, I untied the shirt and put it on. There were quite a few other people walking around; it was quite busy - no wonder I felt self conscious :)
Then I remember being with someone - a man - but I don't know who it was. I became more lucid and aware as we walked into a cafeteria - there were only pizzas and baguettes available and I was worried about my low carb and dairy free diet (darn it - even in a dream!). I became more fully lucid and remembered that there had been someone out along the corridor in a vestibule type area that I had wanted to talk to, but I can't remember who. I asked the person I was with to excuse me for a minute and walked out of the cafe down the corridor to the vestibule. But, I couldn't see the person that I had wanted to talk to and walked back towards the cafeteria. While I was walking back to the cafe I felt myself drifting in terms of awareness - much as I would in waking life - and I managed to bring my attention back to where I was and what I was doing. I got back to the cafe and the other person I had been with had gone - although I looked for him.

I left the cafe and began walking down a stairwell and I remembered that if I found myself lucid in a dream that I should say "I am conscious I am dreaming and I wish to have an out of body experience" (also from Navigating the Out of Body Experience). I did and suddenly the dream dissolved around me. I started vibrating intensely; there was a loud buzzing sound and I started being drawn upwards at what felt like great speed. I started to panic and fight against it - and at that point I woke up.
I thought about writing it all down straightaway but fell asleep too quickly which means I may have forgotten some of the details (I'm not very disciplined am I!?).

Notes: When I wrote this down in my journal I put - "N.B Don't panic next time!" at the end :) What I think happened here is that the vibrations meant I was moving from a dream reality to a plane further away from the physical - if that makes sense? Whatever it was I was pretty cross with myself for a couple of days - I really wanted to see what would have happened next!