Bismillah
as salam alykom brother Infoseeker, I will keep this handle according to your own wish that you expressed sometime back.
Let us take a more global look into the process of dhikr in order to cover it in more detail. Actually I would like to take this chance for everyone's benefit Insh aAllah.
What is dhikr?
dhikr is to remember Allah, not that we forget Allah at any moment supposedly of course.
How do we do dhikr? In Quran Allah Taught us as follows:
"Those who remember Allah (always, and in prayers) <b>standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides</b>, and think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth, (saying): "Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose, glory to You! (Exalted be You above all that they associate with You as partners). Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire." (3:191)
"When you have finished the (congregational) prayer, <b>remember Allah standing, sitting down, and lying down on your sides, </b>but when you are free from danger, perform the prayer. Verily, the prayer is enjoined on the believers at fixed hours." (Quran 4:103)
As you can see, the noble Ayah describes three positions a Muslim might take while making dhikr:
a. Standing up.
b. Sitting down.
c. Lying on the side.
Certainly Allah Didnt specify those positions haphazardly, if you think well, standing up includes Salat and many other positions such as going out of the house, you must say the dhikr we learnt for this, entering market you also say the relevant supplication, leaving after had been with friends you use the relevant supplication and so forth. Leave alone of course that you may just do dhikr while walking to and from anywhere, or more to say be a reason for Allah's remembrance just by striving to apply Quran and Sunnah, taking certain positions towards people, be in a stressful position or unjust position and still apply Quran that people would say O Sobhan Allah look how he/she behaves, look how does not speak ill of people, Allahu Akbar he was able to harm this person but he didnt. In a way, if a Muslim can maintain a proper attitude, he/she will be a cause of Allah's remembrance, which is classified as well as dhikr. Hope you are following brother.
Alright, let us carry on.
Sitting down, you may be among people and time has come for evening supplications, and thus you do them sitting down, you may also in case you are distressed, just sit facing Qiblah and keep saying for example: la ilaha ila anata Sobhanak inni kontu min zalemeen. You may recite Quran sitting down, yes of course reciting Quran is dhikr, even the best. You may be sitting down on your computer doing something for Allah on the Internet, designing an Islamic software, or doing Dawa on the board, and this is also dhikr.
Laying on your side, you repeat those supplications before sleeping and upon waking up, plus of course when you wake up at night and turn around the bed, you also say a certain supplication. Of course not to ignore late night Salat which is the honor of a Muslim.
As you can see from the above mentioned, Allah inscribed dhikr for us from the minute we wake up till we go back to bed. But actually, the deep meaning is that Allah Must be in our hearts day and night even while sleeping. It is a matter of having Allah as a Monitoror all the time, like for example, I m going to answer this person this way, with a quick thinking, will this please Allah, yes then say it, no then don’t say it. I m going to meet those people who want me to join them go this place today, will this please Allah, then yes otherwise no. This is the highest from of dhikr brother, to have Allah always in your mind when you are trying to determine how to live your life, to always put Quran and Sunna and try to recover the Ayah fits the situation and apply and so on.
This brings us to the core of interest, can you here set on a specific position/formula to only use while doing dhikr? on/ no. But rather it is multiple and they are all acceptable.
Again as sister Radiyah explained to you, at the time of the Messenger there was no electricity and he had no other choice, living in a very small house of one room only, unlike us now living in luxurious houses and places. It is up to you whether or not to switch lights on, specially if you are up late at night and might not want to disturb others. Although, of course a man is recommended to wake up his wife and children to also perform Salat at night.
Insh aAllah I helped brother and may Allah Accept.
You never answered my question, do they stand up hand and hand and swing from one side to another while doing the dhikr brother, or where they sitting down?