Index
Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep
“What we resist, persists.”
where you find ignorance, you will find fear.
Use your fear of the dark to lead you to the light, not into mere entertainment.
following your bliss can result in fear; following your fear can result in bliss. This applies to our fear of the dark. If you’re afraid of the darkness of your own mind as it manifests in the night, a map that shows you that bliss (the absolute unconscious mind) is what awaits you beyond the fear (the relative unconscious mind) can make all the difference, and inspire you to take the plunge.
Anything that heightens awareness is beneficial.
As brain waves settle from beta into alpha, we enter a pre-sleep stage called the “hypnagogic” phase, which is a kind of gap (bardo) between waking and sleeping (from the roots hypnos, “god of sleep,” and agogia, “leading to” — a lovely image).
Another common event during this pre-sleep stage is called the “myoclonic (or hypnic) jerk,” which is when you suddenly jerk awake for no obvious reason.
The word “intent” comes from roots that mean “to stretch toward” (in-, “toward,” and tendere, “stretch”). Lucid dreaming or dream yoga begins by stretching the mind with intention.
To actually practice intention, say to yourself throughout the day, “Tonight I will remember my dreams. I will have many dreams. I will have good dreams. I will wake up within my dreams.” Don’t just mouth the words. Mean it. You also strengthen the intention by saying it out loud and writing it down: taking it from mental to verbal to physical. As you’re lying down in bed, ramp up your intent, like a sprint to the finish line.
Robert Price and David Cohen write, “Lucid dreaming appears to be an experience widely available to the highly motivated.”
Patricia Keelin, an elite lucid dreamer, says that the more emotionally imbued the goal is, and the stronger the motivational charge, the greater the reach.
So extend your intent even further into the dream world, “stretch toward” more, by infusing your motivation with passion. It’s amazing how often you’ll get what you really ask for.
Value your dreams, and then plant the seeds for better recall. If you make your dreams important, they will come to you more frequently. As the dream researcher Patricia Garfield says in her book Creative Dreaming, “Those who do not ‘believe in’ dreams or who believe them to be nonsense do not remember their dreams or have only nonsensical ones. Dreams are what you make of them . . . Dream states respond to waking attitudes.”
When you wake up, ask yourself, “Was I dreaming?” Close your eyes and try to return to recapture any part of the dream. And don’t move. Moving engages waking consciousness and pulls you out of the dream world. If you’ve already moved and think you did have a dream, return to the position you were in when you first woke up. Memories are lodged in our bodies. I have often recaptured a dream by returning to the position I was in when I had it.
Finally, take advantage of prime-time dreaming by waking up about two hours before you normally would, staying up for fifteen minutes or so, then going back to sleep. With these tips it’s easy to start remembering your dreams.
When it signals, take a moment to recall your thoughts or actions from the past ten minutes. You can also adapt this type of mental backtracking to occasions
The next time you wake up in the dead of night, or are otherwise jolted awake, try to relate to this jarring transition in consciousness in a new way. Feel the initial openness, the rapidly ensuing bewilderment, and the scramble to reassemble yourself. This kind of exploration is part of the nighttime yogas, which as a family of practices are ways to relate to any nighttime experience with a meditative and inquisitive attitude. You can learn a great deal about yourself as you fall (apart) into sleep, and come back (together) to waking consciousness.
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge,”
as Mark Twain put it, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
Karl Popper said, “It is through the falsification of our suppositions that we actually get in touch with ‘reality.’”
Alvin Toffler said, “The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe put it, “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
Am I dead, dreaming, or alive and awake right now? I regularly work with these death signs. When I’m outside on a sunny day I’ll check to see if I’m casting a shadow. I’ll look for footprints when I walk in the snow. It may seem strange, but it helps me develop the habit of questioning the status of my reality.
- you cast no shadow, (2) you look into a mirror or other reflecting surface and see no reflection, (3) you walk on sand or snow and leave no footprints, (4) your body makes no sound, (5) people don’t respond to you, (6) you can move unimpeded through matter, (7) you manifest miraculous power, such as the ability to fly, read minds, or travel very quickly, (8) you cannot see the sun or moon.
Our desires and expectations prime us to see what we want to see. We see the world the way we do — as solid, lasting, and independent — because we’ve been primed to do so by our parents, teachers, and virtually everyone alive. It’s this continued reinforcement that continues into the dream state and primes us to see the dream as solid, lasting, and independent, and therefore non-lucid.
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the body is as important as the mind, and practitioners work with the body in order to work with the mind (as they do in Taoist dream yoga as well). In particular, dream yoga uses the subtle body to engage subtle aspects of mind. Dream yoga takes us deeply into ourselves mentally and physically.
It’s important to know that not everything physical is material. For example, fields and forces are physical but not material, and so is the subtle body. It’s just as real as physical fields and forces, and exerts the same level of influence on our lives.
The idea here is that where the mind goes in visualization, the pranas go. Where the pranas go, the bindus go. And where the bindus go, so goes consciousness.
As you gently hold the visualization at your throat, don’t allow yourself to get distracted. The practice is to keep your mind at your throat for as long as you can before finally letting go and dropping into sleep.
(The Russian philosopher P. D. Ouspensky famously practiced and wrote about this art of voluntarily entering a lucid dream from a waking state.)
For the throat chakra, the color is red and the sound is AH.
This sleeping lion technique also helps with insomnia.
Just before falling asleep there’s always a final thought. We can try to make that last thought a noble, benevolent thought. If we can do that, the quality of that thought can permeate our entire sleeping state
Grant your blessings so that my sleep may be one with the dharma. Grant your blessings so that dharma may be practiced in my dreams. Grant your blessings so that dreams may clarify confusion. Grant your blessings so that confusion is transformed in dreamless sleep.
Be awake now and you will be awake during sleep and dream. What is found then is found now.
visual perception is more than just photons hitting your eyes and activating your brain. To really see, you must pay attention.
So attention, and its training, is at the heart of lucidity. And mindfulness meditation is the heart of this training.
Distraction, as the expression of ignorance, is the sustenance of samsara. When we get lost in the sleep of ignorance — lost in thought, distraction, or dreams — our samsaric lives are fed.
the distractions in daily life and the unconsciousness of sleep are two faces of the same ignorance.
forgetfulness is another way to address this important topic. In this regard, mindlessness (with an emphasis on the “less”) is actually a form of primordial forgetfulness. We constantly forget to be present. Mindfulness (with an emphasis on the “full”) is the expression, or practice, of remembering.
In many ways, the essence of spiritual practice is remembrance: remembering to come back to the present moment (through the practice of mindfulness), remembering to be kind and compassionate (through practices like lojong and bodhichitta), remembering that you’re already a buddha (through practices like deity yoga, or the formless meditations like Mahamudra or Dzogchen).6 The basis of samsara is this: we just forgot.
all this effort to learn, when all we really have to do is remember.
Sogyal Rinpoche said, “To end distraction is to end samsara.” The Tibetan Book of the Dead says, “Do not be distracted. This is the dividing line where buddhas and sentient beings are separated. It is said: In an instant they are separated, in an instant complete enlightenment.” So by practicing non-distraction, we’re going to wake up and end samsara.
nonduality is something we can practice. Every time you come back to your breath in mindfulness practice, or to the present moment in daily life, you are practicing enlightenment, and healing the primordial dismemberment that continues to reverberate in the mini-dismemberments that we call mindlessness.
Longchenpa said, “Supreme primordial wisdom abides in the body.” Sri Aurobindo echoed this: “The work of transformation is about the descent of spirit into the flesh. Embodiment more than transcendence.”
When the meditative traditions talk about freedom, they’re not talking about freedom from thought, but freedom within thought. Thoughts are never the enemy.
if we become lucid to the contents of our mind now, we will begin to do so when we dream. It’s exactly the same process. We get hooked into non-lucid dreams in the same way we get hooked into thoughts. It’s just non-lucidity happening at two different levels.
Remember that to end distraction is to end samsara, and conversely, to amp distraction — to amp being seduced out — is to amp samsara.
Rumi is quoted as saying, “What comes into being gets lost in being and drunkenly forgets its way home.”
“The root of all phenomena is your mind. If unexamined, it rushes after experiences, ingenious in the games of deception. If you look right into it, it is free of any ground or origin.”
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche said, “Samsara is mind turned out, lost in its projections. Nirvana is mind turned in, recognizing its true nature.”
The only way to reason with an illusion is to stop believing it.
His gaze is set in contrast to the gaze of a dog. The teaching is that if you throw a stick out and away from a dog, the dog will chase after the stick. But if you throw a stick out and away from a lion, the lion will chase you. The lion’s gaze is set upon the thrower, not the thrown. We all have the gaze of a dog, forever chasing the sticks thrown out by our own minds. We’re constantly running after the thoughts and emotions that are endlessly tossed up from within.
If you look closely at anything, you will see that it arises in dependence on other things, so emptiness refers to the lack of (empty of) inherent existence.
With generation stage practice, in addition to exercising your visualization muscle, you’re also exercising your mindfulness. So visualization is a double-barreled meditation for inducing lucidity.
With visualization in general, it’s easier to start with a larger image in your mind, and then make it smaller. Start with a lotus the size of figure 5, then shrink it down to the size of a silver dollar, a quarter, or even a dime.
Many generation stage practitioners think that visualization is exclusively a mental exercise, but it’s just as much a somatic one. Visualization comes to life when you feel
it. There’s no such word, but you get the
Many generation stage practitioners think that visualization is exclusively a mental exercise, but it’s just as much a somatic one. Visualization comes to life when you feel it.
Start by physically tracing out the lotus a few dozen times. Go slowly and feel your way into it. You want to plant the feeling of the red lotus into your body so that the somatic aspect of visualization takes over when the thinking (imagining) aspect fades.
Find your balance on the tightrope of the nighttime yogas. If you’re too tight or too loose, you’ll fall off. The biggest tripping point is discouragement and our passion for ignorance. Knowing this can help you identify these obstacles, keep you balanced, and therefore keep you going.
“Your perception is unchanged, but the spell is broken. Most of us spend every waking moment lost in the movie of our lives. Until we see that an alternative to this enchantment exists, we are entirely at the mercy of appearances.”
We confuse the satisfaction of want with its temporary transcendence. We think we’re happy when we get what we want, but if we look deeply, we’ll discover that we’re actually happy because we stopped wanting. “In other words, we ourselves [our desire] are the bigger problem,” as the Karmapa says. The Greek philosopher Epicurus said, “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
We don’t know that we don’t know. That’s a real blind spot — the ignorance, the sleep, of which we are unaware. This substrate mind is constantly whispering lies to us so silently that we don’t consciously hear it. That’s what makes it so dangerous.
synonym for the clear-light mind is the “great mother,” Prajnaparamita.
“Illusory form” is a practice that involves continually reminding yourself that everything you perceive is illusory, or not what it appears to be. As a daily practice, illusory form works to stop bad traffic from flowing down (we stop imprinting our unconscious mind with the false data of seeing this world as solid, lasting, and independent); and dream yoga, as a nighttime practice, works to direct more good traffic to come up (among other things, we start imprinting our conscious mind with the truth that this world is like a dream). Dream yoga works to plant good habits at the dream level that then impact our waking life; illusory form works to remove bad habits at the waking level that then impacts our dreams.
“Every night, the station is broadcasting.” We only need to tune in.
“When dreams are recognized as dreams, they are antidotes. When they are not recognized, they are simply confusion on top of confusion.”
Waking up from the dream of the day is the nature of the practice of illusory form.
Discovering emptiness, or the dreamlike nature of everything, is what shatters the frame.
dream yoga emphasizes the similarities between waking and dreaming — which brings us to the daytime practice of illusory form
Illusory form is closely allied to mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness is about being fully present with things as they are. Illusory form practice expands this mindful awareness so that not only do you continually come back to awareness of the present moment, but you continually come back to an awareness that what’s happening in the present moment is illusory.
the deeper you look into things the less you find. Conversely, the less you investigate, the “more” you find — the more things appear to be solid. Those who don’t bother to look closely at things continue to see the world as more solid, lasting, and independent.
Thoughts are never the problem. Believing everything we think or feel (reification) is the problem.
“Recognize them [thoughts] instead for what they truly are, merely experiences, illusory and dreamlike.” In this way, the mind gradually becomes transparent to itself, like a fog melting away from the rays of the morning sun. When you see the illusory nature of the contents of your mind, thoughts and emotions no longer have power over you.
A central theme of dream yoga is that people, things, or events do not have the inherent power to affect you, unless you solidify them and therefore give them that power.
External forms (people, things, events) aren’t the point. It’s the relatively formless states of mind they evoke that’s really the point.
The common denominator is the state of mind, not the state of any object. The teachings on dream yoga drive home the point: “Wake up! Can’t you see it’s all about working with your mind?” This is why engaging in the practice of illusory form, and especially the practice of illusory mind, is so valuable. This is why meditation is not some mystical thing. It’s the most realistic and practical thing possible.
Nothing has the power to make you happy or sad, unless you give it that power.
Where there is other, there is self. And the more solid the other, we surmise, the more solid the self.
“The universe will not blink when you die
eight mental prisons that confine our lives: praise and blame, fame and shame, loss and gain, pleasure and pain
“The secret to happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”
Until all the unconscious elements are brought into the light of consciousness, it’s still the “night” (the unconscious) that rules the day. These unconscious habits run very deep.
TRALEG RINPOCHE, Dream Yoga, an audio course by Traleg Rinpoche
Meditation is perfected only when you’re able to meditate during dreams just as you meditate during the day
The “sun and its rays” is a classic image in Buddhism, and suggests how infinite rays radiate from a single source but remain in constant contact with it, even in their apparent separation from it.
Reality is not a dream. It is completely ineffable. Whatever we can say about it, it isn’t. Emptiness is the antidote to seeing things as truly existent, but emptiness itself is also empty. This is called the “emptiness of emptiness.” You can’t hang your hat on anything, not even emptiness. Don’t shrink reality into any concept, analogy, metaphor, doctrine, or philosophy.
Reality is not an illusion. It is illusory. As the masters warn, “Self-liberate even the antidote.” Saying that reality is like a dream is the antidote to saying that it’s solid, lasting, and independent. Now release that antidote.
Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung says, “Always remember that illusion itself is an illusion.”
This is the devastating message of the Prasangika Madhyamaka, which will destroy anything you try to say about reality. If you can put it into words, the Prasangikas will annihilate those words—and leave you with nothing. And no-thingness is as close as you can get to the truth. This is called a “non-affirming negation.” You negate, but you don’t affirm, which leaves you empty-handed and therefore holding the truth. Saying that reality is a dream is a non-affirming negation.
The mark can only be hit with direct experience, not with any doctrine.
Give your mind a push toward lucidity every night, and that will eventually push open the door to the world of lucid dreams. But like any endeavor, if you stop accumulating momentum, it will fade, and the door can close.
Persevere at dream yoga with the idea that this is not just for you; you’re fundamentally doing this practice for the benefit of others.
The beginning of lucidity is also a good time to remember your goals for the dream — for instance, what stage of dream yoga you want to practice.
LaBerge offers another trick to sustain lucidity when dreams start to fall apart: spin your dream body (like a whirling dervish) or move your arms around like pinwheels. You will be loading the perceptual system so it doesn’t switch states from dreaming to waking.
If the dream dissolves and you find yourself awake, don’t toss and turn in bed, or otherwise move your body. Movement will engage the waking state and draw you into it. Instead, vividly imagine spinning or rubbing the hands together of the dream body you just left. It’s also important to add the resolute reminder that you’ll soon be dreaming and that the dream will be lucid. Otherwise you may end up reestablishing the dream, but not recognize it as such.
remind yourself, “This is a dream. I’m lucid in this dream. I know I’m dreaming.” In the world of lucid dreaming, rationality and objectivity trumps emotionality. Continue to convince yourself that you’re dreaming by doing things you couldn’t do in waking life. This is where the practices of dream yoga come in. Not only do these practices transform lucid dreaming into dream yoga, but they also help you stay lucid in the dream because you’re actively working with it, and doing things that are impossible in waking reality, things that remind you it’s just a dream.
The Dalai Lama offers this general tip: “If your sleep is too deep, your dreams will not be very clear. In order to bring about clearer dreams and lighter sleep, you should eat somewhat less. On the other hand, if your sleep is too light . . . you should take heavier, oilier food.”
I’ve found that to keep my dreams clearer, and my sleep lighter, there’s nothing better than to sleep sitting up.
“How does light look when left entirely to itself? . . . Absolute darkness! . . . without an object on which the light can fall, one sees only darkness. Light itself is always invisible
Start by paying attention to twenty-one breaths, or however long it takes to settle your mind. Then move your attention to the contents of your mind without getting drawn into them. Watch thoughts and images float by like clouds in the sky-like nature of your mind. After a few minutes, settle your awareness into the state of being aware. Drop the clouds and dissolve into the sky. At this point your awareness is directed nowhere, but simply rests within itself. If a thought arises, or something external distracts you, let it go and return to awareness itself. Release anything that interrupts the clarity of your open awareness. It’s called “non-referential shamatha” because you’re not returning to any referent, any object, any thing. You’re coming back to formless (thingless) awareness itself. At this point, in one sense, there is no such thing as distraction because distraction becomes your meditation. In other words, when something captures your awareness, you briefly rest on that. It only becomes a distraction when you don’t release it for the next “distraction” (anything that grabs your attention), and instead allow yourself to spin off on it.
The key is to let your mind naturally recognize whatever sensation arises, but without letting yourself drift into any mental story about that sensation.
Good references
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