Buddhist/Bon Dream Yoga Resources

[forestofclarity]

Resources related to Buddhist/Bon Dream Yoga. Feel free to recommend your own resources to be added. The resources here are made by members in their individual capacity and is not an endorsement by TheDaoBums.

 

Damdao:

This one is from the perspective of Tibetan medicine and has a concise practice of dream yoga and dream analysis.

The Tibetan Art of Dream Analysis by Dr. Nida

 

ForestofClarity:

Dream yoga is one of the most compelling practices I have come across. 

 

Andrew Holocek teaches a mix of modern and traditional styles, a syncretic teachers with a traditional Mahamudra background. 

https://nightclubcommunity.com

 

Dream Yoga: if you only want one dream yoga book, this is it

Dreams of Light: daytime illusory body practice

 

Tenzin Wangyal is a well respected Bon resource. 

https://www.glidewing.com/twr/dreamyoga_home.html

 

Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep:  a traditional presentation 

 

Lama Lena is always pragmatic and down to earth. 

https://lamalenateachings.com/dream-yoga-3-part-series/

 

B. Alan Wallace's course is a fairly comprehensive overview of Dudjom Lingpa style with a focus on strong shamatha (some say too strong). 

https://meridian-trust.org/video/333-dreaming-of-reality_d1s1_pm003517a/#:~:text=During this retreat organised by,nighttime practices of dream yoga.

 

Dreaming Yourself Awake

 

Lala Nila:

Has had success with: 

ttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/316781.Exploring_the_World_of_Lucid_Dreaming

[Lala Nila]

Great list, thanks for posting these. Often times during a lucid dream I don't quite know what I should be doing and I end up just travelling around, usually in my own neighbourhood. I'd like to actually accomplish something worth while (spiritually beneficial, problem solve, etc).

 

What is your opinion on the people that you meet during lucid dreaming? Some of them appear to be lucid dreaming as well, others sort of NPC type characters. I had one lucid dream in where I was being interrogated by someone. They knew I was lucid in the dream and began asking me who I was, why I was there, where I learned to lucid dream, etc. It was really weird and aggressive. My first foray into getting a taste for lucid dreaming was via the gateway tapes, but over time the recordings made me feel uneasy resulting in nightmare-ish type dreamscapes. I became extremely distrustful of the material after that and dropped it.

 

I have the Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep somewhere. I'm going to start reading it. 

 

Thanks again for this list!

 

Though neither of the links below pertain to Buddhist dream yogas I've had pretty good success with this:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/316781.Exploring_the_World_of_Lucid_Dreaming

 

 

Edited Thursday at 11:16 AM by Lala Nila
edited to removed a crazy person's method.

[forestofclarity]

3 hours ago, Lala Nila said:

What is your opinion on the people that you meet during lucid dreaming?

 

Usually, confronting dream characters shuts the dream down or takes it off script. However,  one time, I encountered some one who claimed I was a character in their dream. I told them no, they were a creation of MY dream. I demonstrated this by flying around. They then flew around also, and we both started to manipulate the dream. Who's to say? A lot of the dream world, like life generally, reacts according to beliefs and expectations. 

 

There ARE certain dreams that have a very unique flavor, what my old teacher would call a dream of clarity. In these dreams, it certainly feels like there are divine beings and divine realms. 

 

Stephen LaBerge's techniques have been incorporated into Dream Yoga. Nearly every modern dream yoga teacher teaches them because they are so effective. 

 

A lot of people like Michael Raduga, but I lost all interest once it came to light that he drilled a hole in his head to implant a "dream chip": 

 

https://www.newsweek.com/russian-implants-chip-brain-control-dreams-hospital-1814256

 

 

 

 

[Lala Nila]

8 hours ago, forestofclarity said:

A lot of people like Michael Raduga, but I lost all interest once it came to light that he drilled a hole in his head to implant a "dream chip": 

 

https://www.newsweek.com/russian-implants-chip-brain-control-dreams-hospital-1814256

 

 

 

Jeepers creepers! Ok...thanks for that. I will not recommend his work further. This is insanity, people can be so desperate for results but never want to put the real work in.

[Apech]

59 minutes ago, Lala Nila said:

 

Jeepers creepers! Ok...thanks for that. I will not recommend his work further. This is insanity, people can be so desperate for results but never want to put the real work in.

You need that like a hole in the head!

[Apech]

9 hours ago, forestofclarity said:

 

Usually, confronting dream characters shuts the dream down or takes it off script. However,  one time, I encountered some one who claimed I was a character in their dream. I told them no, they were a creation of MY dream. I demonstrated this by flying around. They then flew around also, and we both started to manipulate the dream. Who's to say? A lot of the dream world, like life generally, reacts according to beliefs and expectations. 

 

There ARE certain dreams that have a very unique flavor, what my old teacher would call a dream of clarity. In these dreams, it certainly feels like there are divine beings and divine realms. 

 

Stephen LaBerge's techniques have been incorporated into Dream Yoga. Nearly every modern dream yoga teacher teaches them because they are so effective. 

 

A lot of people like Michael Raduga, but I lost all interest once it came to light that he drilled a hole in his head to implant a "dream chip": 

 

https://www.newsweek.com/russian-implants-chip-brain-control-dreams-hospital-1814256

 

 

 

 

 
Are you an accomplished dreamer.  I’ve tried over the years with mixed results.  Mostly only spontaneous lucid dreams with little control.

 

 

[forestofclarity]

59 minutes ago, Apech said:

 
Are you an accomplished dreamer.  I’ve tried over the years with mixed results.  Mostly only spontaneous lucid dreams with little control.

 

 

 

I am not. If I work full bore, I may have 1-2 per month. 

 

Another way to work with it is to lay in bed and drift in and out of sleep during the liminal phase. It won't necessarily be a lucid dream, but seeing different states of waking, sleeping and dreaming arising and passing is very helpful as well. 

[damdao]

This one is from the perspective of Tibetan medicine and has a concise practice of dream yoga and dream analysis.

The Tibetan Art of Dream Analysis

 

[Apech]

31 minutes ago, forestofclarity said:

 

I am not. If I work full bore, I may have 1-2 per month. 

 

Another way to work with it is to lay in bed and drift in and out of sleep during the liminal phase. It won't necessarily be a lucid dream, but seeing different states of waking, sleeping and dreaming arising and passing is very helpful as well. 

That’s quite good though.   I kept a dream diary for a couple of months which culminated in a lucid dream of standing at the edge of a forest looking out at what was essentially complete blackness.  I found that any techniques aimed at developing lucidity just ruined my sleep and gave me insomnia.  Quite frustrating really- I’d love to be more competent at it.

 

Do you have a good method?

[forestofclarity]

1 hour ago, Apech said:

Do you have a good method?

 

I have similar sleep issues. The methods I use are a combination of dream recall, daytime illusory body and reality checks, and mnemonic and dream induced lucid dreaming. So the first thing is to work on dream recall, by thinking about it first thing and/or using a dream diary. The second thing is to implant the suggestion as you are falling asleep. The third thing is doing "reality checks" through the day to test whether you are dreaming. A few common examples is jumping, looking at the hands; reading something, looking away, and rereading it; switching lights on and off; blinking too long; asking where you were before, etc. Finally, we should have a lot of confidence that it happen if possible, and refrain from dwelling on the negatives. 

 

Eventually, this will culminate in doing a reality check while you are dreaming. This is the basic pattern set out in the resources. 

 

Doing these things without any lucid dreams is also very helpful IME. It gets more difficult when the dreamlike nature of the waking state is more revealed, and the mind creates more solidified dream states. For instance, I used to use the reading one, but now I can read in my dreams. 

[Lala Nila]

Yes! I do the looking at the hands-making sure I have 5 fingers, looking in mirrors to see my reflection. the light switches are a good idea, I haven't tried that one. Random reality checks throughout the day and in dreamscape are good as well. I'm not at the point of reading long texts in my dreams, but I can make out stop signs and random words. I've also noticed that depending on where I am in my cycle has an effect of how successful I am, as well as celibacy. I'm highly successful during ovulation and it's nearly impossible when I'm on my period. Which is very interesting (in my opinion anyway). I've also recorded instances where there is a strong geomagnetic storm happening it just won't happen for me at all either. When I first started out I had almost like a filter on and my sight was a little burry at times, that was until I began to commanded myself "Clear sight" or "stabilize sight" and the filter disappears, I don't have that issue anymore. 

[Apech]

29 minutes ago, Lala Nila said:

Yes! I do the looking at the hands-making sure I have 5 fingers, looking in mirrors to see my reflection. the light switches are a good idea, I haven't tried that one. Random reality checks throughout the day and in dreamscape are good as well. I'm not at the point of reading long texts in my dreams, but I can make out stop signs and random words. I've also noticed that depending on where I am in my cycle has an effect of how successful I am, as well as celibacy. I'm highly successful during ovulation and it's nearly impossible when I'm on my period. Which is very interesting (in my opinion anyway). I've also recorded instances where there is a strong geomagnetic storm happening it just won't happen for me at all either. When I first started out I had almost like a filter on and my sight was a little burry at times, that was until I began to commanded myself "Clear sight" or "stabilize sight" and the filter disappears, I don't have that issue anymore. 

 

That sounds good.  Did you keep a dream diary? Are there any books which helped you work out what to do.

 

The menstrual cycle thing makes me think of the Egyptian red eye white eye thing.  Maybe there's a connection.

 

 

[Lala Nila]

1 minute ago, Apech said:

Did you keep a dream diary? Are there any books which helped you work out what to do.

 

yes, I keep a dream journal. Immediately after waking up I record any dreams I had, the associated emotions, anything that sticks out. I try to recall as much details as possible- everything I can recall, even silly details. I write them down and then later at night I type everything in my daily practice journal.

 

Hmmm, as in the Eye of Horus and the Eye of Ra? It's interesting to me that was immediately invoked within you, did you see those symbols in the minds eye? As in the womb shedding phase representing the red eye (Solar) and the luteal phase representing the white eye (lunar)- a microcosmic representation of shedding/oscillation from red to white, creating cosmic balance? Solar/lunar balance. Lunar having more connection to dreamscape and the unconscious. I'm not well versed in Egyptian lore, I should get on that. You might be on to something the more I think about it, especially the finer details about synching with the lunar phases (new moon, full moon, etc). Thanks

[Apech]

1 minute ago, Lala Nila said:

 

yes, I keep a dream journal. Immediately after waking up I record any dreams I had, the associated emotions, anything that sticks out. I try to recall as much details as possible- everything I can recall, even silly details. I write them down and then later at night I type everything in my daily practice journal.

 

Hmmm, as in the Eye of Horus and the Eye of Ra? It's interesting to me that was immediately invoked within you, did you see those symbols in the minds eye? As in the womb shedding phase representing the red eye (Solar) and the luteal phase representing the white eye (lunar)- a microcosmic representation of shedding/oscillation from red to white, creating cosmic balance? Solar/lunar balance. Lunar having more connection to dreamscape and the unconscious. I'm not well versed in Egyptian lore, I should get on that. You might be on to something the more I think about it, especially the finer details about synching with the lunar phases (new moon, full moon, etc). Thanks

I studied Egypt for so long that things often evoke its symbols for me.

 

I wonder how that works in men?  Same cycle but not so pronounced maybe or something else… hmmmm thinks.