Tibetan dream yoga is possibly the first form of lucid dreaming ever practiced. The aim is to gain control over dreams and carry out certain tasks while sleeping. Learning how to master your dream state is thought to enhance your awareness and take you closer to enlightenment.
Defining dream vs reality.
According to the ancient practice of dream yoga, we can dream during the day when we usually imagine ourselves awake. When you daydream, while carrying out your daily tasks, you’re not sleeping, but you’re not really awake either.
While some believe that the world, the entire universe and beyond, are simply an illusion created as a matrix of thought-forms, based on the law of attraction, we magnetize what we focus on and our thoughts accumulate to form our experiences.
Now that you have begun considering the possibility that wakefulness might not be all that it seems, think about whether a dreaming state is really non-wakefulness at times. After all, people report that they are fully aware during lucid dreaming. In fact, some claim that they feel more awake during lucid dreaming than during the day when they are not sleeping.
Questioning what reality in this manner can help greater awareness to flow. Additionally, you can begin detaching from the thought that wakefulness during the day and night are substantially different. In short, believing that you can move about with purpose in your dreams is the key to achieving your goal.
Become a lucid dreamer.
As you prepare for bedtime and just before you close your eyes to sleep, tell yourself that you are going to have a dream in which you are fully conscious. You can also remind yourself of this intention during the day in order to prepare your mind for a dream yoga experience. If you do not experience lucid dreaming at first, do not despair. Increase your intention to master your dream state by visualizing yourself being in a lucid dream when you are in a relaxed, dreamy state.
Whether you’re imagining that you’re having a lucid dream, or whether you actually experience one, start controlling actions and to make things happen, rather than drifting along the dream and waiting for something to happen. For instance, turn on a tap and see and feel water coming out of it, and practice opening doors, walking up and down steps, and running. When you’ve mastered purposeful movement in your dreams, recognize the powers this dream state gives you. For example, you can fly, walk through walls and teleport. Use your power and enjoy lucid dreaming.
Travel to other planes.
Once you have harnessed your dream powers, develop the intention to meet enlightened beings while you sleep. Ask that they bestow you with important knowledge and help your growth toward higher consciousness. You can also intend to travel to different planets and planes of existence, and take on the body of a creature such as an eagle or bear, experiencing what it is like to be them. Ultimately, dream yoga can help you recognize your limitations and blockages to growth and provide opportunities to overcome them. You can gain confidence, and even heal from your past when you become proficient at this ancient art.
This article was originally published on Ipnos’ blog, associated partner of Expo Yoga 2018.
