Introduction to Dream Yoga
People who meditate tends to see more spontaneous lucid dreams. This is no accident since since the stability of mind or inner calm and presence that is required in meditation is exactly the same process of self realisation that happens in a lucid dream when you become conscious and present in a dream world. In a lucid dream you are no longer a victim of your subconscious thoughts, emotions and imagery but know that you are really not affected by the dream images any more because you know they are an illusion. They happen only in your mind. This same thing happens in meditation but you are actually awake but no longer controlled by your habitual thoughts and emotional reactions but fully present and conscious of what is happening inside and outside of you. You are free and awake.
The word ‘buddha’ means the one who is awake. In Tibetan tradition the practice of lucid dreaming have been used for centuries as a meditation method to find this awoken and fully present consciousness. The practice is called dream yoga. It is not a physical yoga of bodily movement but the yoga of the mind. Word ‘yoga’ means literally to connect. In a yoga you connect your mind and body as a unified whole. In dream yoga you connect your wake and dream states as unified whole.
In dream yoga lucid dreaming is used to rest in a peaceful, luminous and joyful inner presence day and night. When you find this presence, that you have not really ever lost because it is your own consciousness. When you find this presence you can share the calm and joy with other people and all sentient being. In this way you will become a better and more friendly and gentle person who no longer acts from primarily selfish motives but can take into account the view of others and common good in any situation. You will come spiritually more mature person. You will do this deep from your heart without intellectual pretence.
Dream yoga will help you to become more connected to your inner self and to serve others as a more calm and joyful from more awakened and free place inside of yourself. In this way lucid dreaming and dream yoga can become a powerful tool for a spiritual growth to become a better more gentle and empathetic person for close and more distant people.
In achieving this free inner presence you will need a calm and stable mind that is practiced in meditation and lucid dreaming in dream yoga. Becoming conscious of your dream is not an easy task for many but most can achieve it in two or three weeks of intense practice. In a dream yoga your lucid dreaming will have a more profound meaning for your life than just playing and flying in your dreams. You can still do magic and fly, no problem, but your motivation to do it is is to become a better more benign person towards yourself and other.
You will be doing the dream practice to free yourself from all attachment and aversion to rest in a fully present and awake consciousness and in the effortless peace and joy of being it offers for benefit of others. This will give you a more deeper purpose for your lucid dream practice and for your life.
If you don’t have enough time to meditate and develop your mind and emotions to find deep inner peace and joy during a day, in dream yoga you can do it the whole night in your dreams!
Below you will find different subjects of dream yoga practice to become conscious and present in your dreams and in your life.