What is the Wake Back to Bed lucid dreaming technique (WBTB)?

Wake-Back-to-Bed, or WBTB for short, is perhaps the most reliable single technique for inducing lucid dreams. Wake-Back-to-Bed is practiced by setting an alarm to go off between sleep cycles, staying awake for 20 minutes or more to become fully conscious, and then going back to sleep with the strong intention of having a lucid dream.  

The ideal time for the WBTB alarm is personal. Try setting it for 2 hours before you normally wake up or use a sleep tracker or dream analysis tool to detect peak dreamtime. If you don't have access to a sleep tracker and you normally wake up at 7am, set your WBTB alarm for 5am.

Once awake, stay awake for at least 20 minutes. Do household chores, read from your dream journal, examine your dreamsigns, or meditate. As you fall asleep, commit to realizing that you are dreaming. For advanced practitioners, this is an opportunity to form intentions around performing targeted dream actions such as flying, meditating, shifting the environment, or asking a personal question.

In summary, follow these steps to perform WBTB:

1. Set an alarm to go off between sleep cycles (2 hours before normally waking up)
2. Stay awake for 20+ minutes to become fully conscious
3. Go back to sleep with the strong intention of realizing that you're dreaming

Wake-Back-to-Bed is compatible with other lucid dreaming techniques, including dreamworld  familiarity, state tests, MILD, and more. It might take a few tries for the alarm to coincide with your personal sleep pattern so like other techniques WBTB rewards patience and persistence.