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Namaste Friends! I posted this on the AYP forum this morning and thought I would post here as well to get some more "well-rounded" advice. Thanks in advance! Last night I had one of those seemingly "all-nighter" dreams and it brought to the surface some issues for me that I believe need to be addressed. I had a difficult social life for a lot of my childhood....I grew up (for the most part) in a very small farming town (total pop. 3000) in which almost everyone living there had been born there. I moved there halfway through grade 1 and left halfway through grade 9. Because of this (moving into a new town halfway through the year) and the fact that everyone had been friends since birth, I was very much "the outsider" and spent most of my effort trying to "fit in" and feel "accepted". This never really happened for more then a few months at a time. I had "friends" who would plan together to hurt my feelings by doing things that took a co-operative effort and would very much make me continue to feel like the outsider. This pushed me in the direction of trying to fit in in whatever way I could....which ended up causing me to become a bit of a "bad boy" just so that others would not screw with me. I would get into really really violent fights, I became the town drug dealer (even to many of the adults), started having sex at a REALLY young age, etc etc etc..... But this "trauma" has never really been fully dealt with I don't think. It has left me with a near constant need for acceptance, even from those who don't have any influence in my life, and has left me with a predisposition towards being embarrassed. The other side of this is my disposition towards feelings of "inadaquacy". For the most part this is mainly sexually related, but not always. I was fully sexually active from the age of 4. This has caused (probably obviously) some trauma for me (and others as well). By about the age of 12 I had had sex with several different girls, some younger, some older, and I was beginning to get a bit of a reputation as being quite good in bed. This caused the most popular girl in school (at least to me) to decide she wanted to have sex with me. This was completely disasterous for me. I got so mentally excited over this that I ejaculated very very quickly and was unable to satisfy her. This obviously got around my school/town very quickly and from that point on I have had a problem with feelings of sexual (at least) inadaquacy. Well, last night as I said at the beginning, I had a disturbing all-night long dream. This basically was a dream that could be considered my "personal nightmare" combining all the "faults" I feel I have, into one big episode that left me feeling very troubled upon awakening. What I have realized from this is that these are the next two big issues I have to start dealing with. So, my question is this: Do you have any specific suggestions on ways to go about dealing with deeply imbedded childhood trauma? Love, Carson

As I was contemplating suffering the other day, and thinking about what part of us has actually never ever suffered. That is even incapable of suffering. And it is actually not a physical thing at all, which is also why it has never suffered. It is actually the part of us that actually knows all about our suffering, physically, mentally, emotionally. All that is of our physical life and body, can be suffering. But our consciousness can never ever become the suffering, just become conscious of it. We can be so conscious of our suffering that we can write entire books about it, and still be suffering. But as I begin to think about my own consciousness. As I begin to focus my consciousness more on itself, on myself. As I become more conscious about my own consciousness, I notice that it has got no aspect of suffering. It's just pure consciousness. Just pure existential awareness. It is almost like a non-physical field of pure permeable energy/awareness. Or pure awareness. I cannot draw a line in physical timespace reality, to define it, because it actually exists where physical reality ends. The line is drawn in between physical and non-physical. However, my physical body can become aware of the consciousness itself. It is simply pure awareness. And we are actually an extension of it, however, it is not an extension of us. We cannot change it or make it less, except for ourselves. It is so confusing to think about this relationship of physical and non-physical. Because we always are the consciousness, but we can as a consciousness, become so conscious of our own suffering of our own physical being, that we can actually guide the physical being to say that "I am suffering." even tho we are just consciousness being conscious about the physical being that is suffering. But our consciousness cannot ever become conscious of suffering, and then suddenly be diminished by it. The suffering doesn't affect our consciousness. Infact, some people have been conscious of suffering and then moments later conscious of the complete opposite. Because our consciousness is not limitted by anything that it can be conscious about. It is simply just consciousness being conscious about things, which may or may not actually be other consciousnesses. Or perhaps both our consciousness and not ours at the same time. So we cannot be conscious about going unconscious. I have tried, and what happened is conscious body paralysation, into deep dreamless sleep. What I experienced has profounded me. And it's that our consciousness has actually never experienced unconsciousness, and cannot do so. As my body paralyses, through the 7 hertz pulses of the brain, I lose physical awareness, but I am still conscious, and it feels very light... Just floating in a nothingness just pure beingness or rather awareness, thoughtless awareness. Aware without a mind or body or brain. And in what feels like just --- a few seconds ---, the dream begins. It formulates in my consciousness. When science says, as we go into unconsciousness at 7 hertz, we don't actually dream. There is a gap of time, before the dream begins, and because that gap of time is unconscious, my consciousness literally skips it straight into dreaming. It is literally not experienced nor even capable of being experienced. I skip that time in just a few seconds. The moment I become pure awareness, dream formulates very quickly. As sensations first and more clearly defined ongoingly. So unconsciousness, can never become experienced by us. Which is interesting. So we can never ever lose the consciousness. It feels almost as consistent as existence itself. But ofcourse its rather an extension of existance? Just like our suffering is not really existing unless we are conscious about it. But, even as we are being conscious about it, our consciousness itself, it doesn't suffer over our suffering. So it's so weird. To say, that on a certain level, we have actually never ever suffered. And that that aspect of our being which has never ever suffered, is simply our own consciousness. Or the awareness that is being aware of the suffering. So ofcourse we can suffer, as a physical human being we often suffer. But all that pain, that energy motional pain, it simply exist, because we are conscious of it. The pain doesn't change our consciousness, the pain may and often does change our body. But our consciousness, doesn't change no matter how violently our body changes. Just being conscious about the violent chaos and even conscious about the unwillingness of our physical body to experience this physical suffering. It's mind blowing, because as I am thinking, in my consciousness, expanding upon thoughts of my physical mind, I can experience so much pain, but it doesn't tear my consciousness appart as it tears my physical body appart. Sure I can tear my brain appart, but I wont actually be conscious about having a torn appart brain, because for some reason, maybe my consciousness will experience the torn appart brain as something that is not what it is. Maybe we can even feel some connection to the pain of the body, even while it is dead or even dying evermore. But again, we might even feel some non-physical awareness of pain, by being consciouss more about it. But it doesn't cause our consciousness to be painful. Our consciousness is simply being conscious about the pain. So what about our consciousness? What happens if we become more conscious about our own consciousness itself? Has anyone ever tried that? The awareness of the awareness. Being aware of your own awareness. Is that just a funny thing we can do, or is there some profound benefit to doing that? Or is the profound benefit in the actual fun of doing so.

I'm not too familiar with practicing humility or the other treasures, but where can there even be inequality? This whole existence is truly no more significant than a dream. Though seeming to be long, that does not change its dreamlike nature. Then who is the oppressor and who is the oppressed? Like the monsters in a nightmare, or the wealth gained in a dream; neither truly are. Even then, what were horrid deeds in the past are soon erased by time. Equally erased are the great boons pledged to even the mightiest emperors. Soon even traces of this understanding shall erase itself, then even the erasure itself will be gone. So let those who cry from injustice cry, and let those who smile with their ill gotten prosperity do the same. When all this is akin to a dream, where can there be good and evil? Suffering and prosperity? Merit and demerit? Let the ignorant illuminate this as false, and let the sages steadily know it. Let the animals and humans rest in their sentience, let plants rest in their idleness, and let rocks rest in endless slumber. Let all these things be, and know there be no difference between animals, plants, and objects. For all of these notions can only be compared in imagination, just as the taste of imaginary fruit can only be compared with the advent of imaginary tastes. Wise men know this fact. They who do not know this, are restless. For even if they attain quietude of the mind by great discipline, they easily lose it to distraction. Believing themselves to be related to gains and loss, they mourn, "Oh I have lost the self!" Lecture aside, it is by my understanding that all three treasures are really just equanimity. For compassion then shines through unconditional love, conservation then exists through all things being, and humility is rooted by the understanding that all things are equal.

I find it is not a matter of being distant vs being attached to person bounds but instead you can both have personal bounds with loved ones and still be 'unattached'. It is a sense of enjoying the moment with someone but understanding that like a dream this time won't last and being Okay with the dream ending. (Don't know if what I said makes sense or if I'm 'qualified' to talk about stuff being new to 'Buddhism'.)

Installing the dream state device on a person is illegal. A person usually gets a violation for installing it. After you die and go underground, throw the person in jail. Every path that involves dream state is a false path. Check with your clones. The dream state device hits the brain for 40% for it's performance. You have dream state installed if when you are awake, you see a black background. Dream state is not installed if you see veins in your eyelids when your eyes are closed.

There is a compulsive clinging to the ephemeral (phenomenal) world. That is part of the letting go/reduction that needs to happen. By not reinforcing the clinging, one can truly enjoy all the places to go to. It is like in a dream - if you are not lucid, you are subject to the dreams' ups and downs, pleasures, pains, horrors, and joys. If you are lucid, you can enjoy all of it without being affected by it. This spiel about " If you don't control nature, you are dominated by it." is a classic example of operating from a position of fear. So long as you are controlled by fear, you will remain compulsive and reactionary. What you consider to be tools of development are tools of deconstruction. You must deconstruct your personality and identity to get to the core of your True Nature. There is no other way. You can't become free of "nature" by fighting or forcefully vanquishing it. Nature cannot be vanquished, period. Each attempt to control and vanquish nature has only resulted in progressively greater entrapment. One of the stories my teacher told us about the nature of freedom is how monkeys used to be trapped. The trap would be a jar with a fruit or similar item, with a mouth wide enough to let monkeys slide their hands into it. So the monkey would see the item it desired and slide its hand into the jar. Then it would grasp the item in its fist. When it would try to withdraw its hand out, it would not be able to, as the closed fist would prevent it from doing so. But being a monkey, it would not let go of the thing it so desired and would fight, trying to "vanquish" nature, by yanking its arm out of the jar - object of desire in its closed fist. it would be so engrossed in this, it wouldn't realize that the trapper had sneaked up on it from behind, ready to bag it. Moral of the story? If monkey wants to be free, it must let go of its desire to control nature (i.e., hold on to the object it desires) - in other words, it needs to let go of its desire. Which is wiser? Having been given the truth and then rejecting it to wallow in the delusions of the phenomenal world? Or knowing and being stable in the realization of the ephemeral nature of the phenomenal world, truly enjoying it without succumbing to the compulsive clinging of the mind?

Here is a Western interpretation of Zhuangzi from philosopher John Gray….. Chuang-Tzu is as much a sceptic as a mystic. The sharp dichotomy between appearance and reality that is central in Buddhism is absent, and so is the attempt to transcend the illusions of everyday existence. Chuang-Tzu sees human life as a dream, but he does not seek to awaken from it. In a famous passage he writes of dreaming he was a butterfly, and not knowing on awakening whether he is a human being who has dreamt of being a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he is a human being. Unlike the Buddha, A.C. Graham explains, Chuang-Tzu did not seek to awaken from the dream. He dreamt of dreaming more lucidly: 'Buddhists awaken out of dreaming; ChuangTzu wakes up to dreaming.' Awakening to the truth that life is a dream need not mean turning away from it. It may mean embracing it: If 'Life is a dream' implies that no achievement is lasting, it also implies that life can be charged with the wonder of dreams, that we drift spontaneously through events that follow a logic different from that of everyday intelligence, that fears and regrets are as unreal as hopes and desires. Chuang-Tzu admits no idea of salvation. There is no self and no awakening from the dream of self: When we dream we do not know we are dreaming, and in the middle of a dream we interpret a dream within it; not until we wake do we know that we were dreaming. Only at the ultimate awakening shall we know that this is the ultimate dream. We cannot be rid of illusions. Illusion is our natural condition. Why not accept it?

A dream is a dream, reality is reality. The implications are that those who think reality is a dream are confused. Go to sleep, have a dream, you know it's a dream because you wake up and say 'I just had a dream'. If you wake up and think your dream was reality and reality is a dream you can test it. The things you do in a dream-flying, falling etc- try doing this when you are awake. Try leaping into the air and see how far you get :-)

I did due diligence by checking out your Ramana quote from Talk 177 and confirmed that you did indeed report it accurately. However, as for me saying that "the awareness IS the Light", I never said that. As a matter of fact, I specifically started my post by saying that I did not want to get bogged down regarding the exact meaning of the terms "awareness" and "consciousness" and "the Light but wanted to focus on the actual process of projection and the manifestation of the body (obviously including the ego) and the world. You are obviously intelligent and well-informed so I would like to pursue this even deeper in dialogue with you. The Ramana quote says that "the light is projected FROM Absolute Consciousness." Ultimately, the "light" is indeed obviously projected from a higher level whether we call it the Absolute, the Source, or anything else. In that quote, Ramana called it the Absolute and that is quite workable. However, what exactly is the Absolute? How many levels are there between us and the Absolute? Having directly interacted with sages who clearly demonstrate verifiable "remote viewing", they point out that from one level higher one can see from afar the events of this Universe. They add, however, that there is more than one level to be navigated to get back to the Source. My own teacher, who would slip about things that she verifiably saw from afar, stated that she could go back one level and get glimpses of the next level back. If you are familiar with the Yoga Vashistha, there are stories about worlds within worlds and time within time very similar to what we experience with the creation of the dream world within ourselves. The great Sufi Mystic, Hazrat Inayat Khan, talks about the levels back to the Source and it is well-documented in the book, "The Message of Our Time", which was written by his son Pir Vilayat Khan under whom I studied for over two years and discussed matters such as we are discussing now. I personally have had glimpses of merging with the Light from the next level to pick up verifiable "remotely viewable" happenings but cannot do it consciously and most certainly cannot sustain it for more than fleeting episodes. I could go on further but I feel that the above demonstrate the point that I am trying to make. In his Talks, Ramana states that "the light is projected FROM Absolute Consciousness". I don't disagree with that at all, but my sense is that Ramana did not want to overly complicate things by defining the Absolute/Source or going into the various vertical levels or horozontal parallels. (Regarding the horozontal, read the story of Lila and the King in the Yoga Vashistha which even Ramana Maharshi quotes.) I have also discussed Ramana's teachings on the "Absolute" and the Light with senior residents at the Arunachala Ashram in Queens, New York, so I have done my due diligence on this subject. I offered the dream analogy as the means by which I validated Ramana's statement on the microcosm-microcosm dream level. In conscious sleep, one can clearly verify Ramana's statement at the microcosm level and that gives one a better understanding of what happens at the higher level(s). If one is incapable of discussing the process at the dream level, which is totally within the scope of one's direct observations, how can one presume to speculate about what takes place at the higher level(s) and ultimately at the Absolute/Source level? Any discussion by us on the Light and the Absolute would be an example of the blind leading the blind. I am NOT at a level where I can validate anything projected from the Absolute/Source level. If you are, which I suspect not, then enlighten us all. When one's mind is thought-free, one becomes aware of the subtle vibrations at the crown which one can trace to the next level and merge with it eventually. (I've had glimpses but, as I've said, it's still a haphazard unrepeatable process for me that just happens spontaneously with me having no control over it like the sages whom I've encountered have.) What I can do , however, is observe the process of dream formation so that I can understand it better and thus how to understand how to proceed to different levels of the macrocosm. This is a fascinating discussion and I would love to hear your thoughts on this. However, let's not speculate on what the Absolute/Source is at this point since I am certainly not at that level and suspect that neither are you. Through glimpses, readings, and discussions with sages, I have an idea of the process though I cannot do it consciously. As far as the Absolute/Source is concerned, I love reading what Ramana says about it and the light projected from it, but I can't do anything about that at this point but theorize based on Ramana's words which I strongly suspect are a watered-down version of what really is so that he can communicate with us limited ones who would probably be overwhelmed if Ramana revealed it all exactly as it really is. As I said before, you're obviously intelligent and educated, so I would appreciate hearing more from you on this subject. P.S. There is an interesting though somewhat confusing movie called "Inception" which tries to depict worlds within worlds and various levels of consciousness. It's an interesting attempt to portray levels of consciousness though I would not see it again and wouldn't particularly recommend it. I think that the screenwriter has a sense of what is happening but, as with words, it's very difficult to communicate that aspect of the Reality.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this point. My own personal experience and that of sleep yoga practitioners in the Tibetan tantric tradition demonstrate otherwise. I don't want to get too bogged down in labels for different states of consciousness. Different traditions have different labels and paradigms. I'm far more drawn to discussing personal experience over conceptual frameworks. The intellect doesn't only seem to be active, it is active. I appreciate your opinion though don't share it. There are many benefits of lucid dream practice according to my personal experience and the Tibetan tantric tradition. Different strokes, I guess... OK... I guess I'll bite and make a bit of a case for the practices. Yes, you mention two of the benefits and I don't trivialize the value of the second benefit you mention. It can be very powerful for the right practitioner. Other benefits include: - cultivating a sense of flexibility in life. When we experience the power and freedom of changing the situations that arise in the dream state, that freedom from subconscious patterns carries over into waking life. It can be powerfully liberating. Life feels less solid and fixed. We see more options and tap into deeper creativity. We see more opportunity and develop the confidence and mindful awareness to break free of dysfunctional patterns. One doesn't need dream practices to accomplish this but the more tools there are, the more likely we, and others, will have success. - we spend 1/3 of our lives asleep (20-30 years) - imagine having the opportunity to engage in spiritual practice during some or much of this time while still getting just as much rest for the mind and body. - we have a far greater recollection of the dreams and whatever lessons they have to teach us about the relationship between our waking life and subconscious content and processes. Thoreau said, "Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake." - there is a powerful synergy between becoming lucid in our dreams and lucid in our day to day life. As you pointed out earlier, so much of waking life can be conditioned patterns, often dysfunctional. This is both a part of the method and a benefit of the practice. - when we experience or wake ourselves up from a nightmare, whatever issue gave birth to it is usually still present in our subconscious, unaddressed. If we are lucid, we have the opportunity to face and transform the nightmare rather than simply run from it, repress, or suppress it. This allows us to directly work with and liberate deep seated karmic traces. I've been able to end recurring dreams in this fashion and have seen changes in my life that reflect a release of some of those subconscious patterns. I've heard stories of other practitioners using this method to make profound changes in their waking lives. - we can ask for teachings in the dream state from great masters, from nature, from the elements, and receive some very powerful information from the deepest parts of (our) mind. The possibilities are limitless and, at least in my view, there is ample evidence that our dream state gives access to information that is generally otherwise unavailable. Information that can transcend time and space. There are other benefits but I think I've said enough. If you disagree, that is certainly your privilege but for those who are open to these practices, they can be powerful transformative tools and I'd like to provide an alternative perspective in this thread. Sometimes there may be untangling and release. More often these patterns return in similar or varied themes and forms throughout our lives until we deal with them in a conscious and intentional way. It certainly may be true that these practices are of no value to you but that doesn't necessarily mean they are of no value to others. I advocate being supportive of all reasonable practices and looking for their value, particularly when they are supported by generations of lineage masters in ancient wisdom traditions. I don't see much benefit to anyone in discouraging such practices. Different people respond to different things at different times in their lives. I think it's good to encourage people to be open to new paths, even those that may not appeal to or work for me. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss this topic that's near and dear to my heart and practice.

Dwai wrote, " It is awareness. The Light in which objects are known " and you responded as above with a reference to Ramana Maharshi. Without getting bogged down regarding the exact meaning of the terms "awareness" and "consciousness" and "the Light", Ramana Maharshi (of whom I am a great admirer) did say the following as reported in his "Talks" (Talk 177): "...the body and all other objects are all contained in the brain. The Light is projected on the brain. The impressions in the brain become manifest as the body and the world. Because the ego identifies itself with limitations, the body is considered separate and the world separate". When one practices "conscious sleep" and watches dream formation intently from start to finish, one can see the Truth in Ramana's words as the dream world manifests and the dream-objects see virtually see the same dream world though obviously colored somewhat by the egos of the dream-objects. This is an interesting process to observe in meditative slow motion with far-ranging implications. ("As above, so below"; "Man is made in the image of God"; etc.). I would not be so quick to discount Dwai's position over terminology. It might be more beneficial to focus on the process whereby objects are known rather than getting bogged down in terminology. That is probably why the greatest masters whom I have met have communicated in silence as there are obvious difficulties that present themselves with the use of language. (Before you ask, I will add that I have indeed met masters who have communicated in silence for hours both at a Taoist monastery in Chengdu, China, as well as at the Haridwar Kumbha Mela in India, in addition to other instances of shorter duration. The problem of language and terminology is effectively eliminated for those who are receptive to such communication.)

I'm almost finsihed reading Dreamscape and have also been recording my dreams for the last couple of days. -Was wondering if anyone who records dreams would be willing to share their experiences and the benefits that they recieved from recording and interpreting their dreams?

I have retained awareness fully in my fully awakened body, from wake induced lucid dreaming, hallucinations, prior to dreaming, to dream induced lucid dreaming. Even the dream induced lucid dreaming into the end of the rem cycle to a no body awarenes, back into pre wake induced lucid dreaming hallucinations and the whole experience of wake initiated lucid dreaming. SO freaking many times. It's so freaking booooring... Who cares? rlly!? Dreams are stupid and meaningless and fake, unless your life is awesome, your dreams will also always be awesome. People are awake and thinking about dreams, can only be helpful if you dream about something scary, and then wake up and say yeah, I need to change that, focus my mind on a different outcome that I do prefer. Because often it just means you're focused in your waking daily life in a very negative way. And those nightmares are just reminding you of that. And an awesome dream is just telling you, you're focused positively all is well, keep on rocking. But to make such a big deal about dreaming as if it is a prediction of the future is stupid. Because there is no such thing as a prediction of a future. If there is really a prediction of the future, doesn't the fact that you know this future, also not give you the ability to change it?! OFcourse it does. So you make your own future. So stop making the future you don't like and make the future you do like. You create your dreams. And you create your life. You just have to be willing to focus on what feels good. That's it. You're gonna say I feel bad, that must mean something bad is going to happen. No bullsht! It is not a prediction, it is just an indication of your own energy. And you can change your own energy, redirect and shift your focus and energy towards something that is more beneficial and good, and thus will also be indicated by a good and better feeling energy in motion, emotion. And don't give me that shakra makra pakra nonsense. It's just dream language. And this is reality. There are others here aswell. You are not alone. They don't hate you, they just don't care that much. You will always be alone unless you do something that you enjoy that enjoyment can support you in keep doing and thus you'll then in no time be doing the things you enjoy with allot of other people who also enjoy doing the thing that you also enjoy doing. And then you're never lonely anymore. Why? Cause every single person in your lifeis just as important and meaningful to you and valued and loved as you loved your self when you decided to something that you enjoy? Why? Simply because you enjoy it. That's it. But if you think you have to first wait and see how the entire stars of the universe align and whatnot, and you need to find every single chakra of every chakra, and the chakras of chakras within the chakras within chakras of chakras within chakras? Goodie luki yo! I aint gonna mess with my own organs and glands. I trust they're all perfectly good! I'm healthy, are you healthy too? I hope so!

This may be a bit of a detour but I'd like to share about yogas of dream and sleep. In the Tibetan Bön tradition, they are part of the tantric teachings and are considered precious. There are two distinct stages - lucid dreaming and the clear light of sleep. Dreaming is practiced first. The benefits of lucid dreaming are multiple. As a tantric practice, it is a great opportunity to work with personal transformation. We are aware that we are dreaming and, with a little practice, able to act intentionally in the dream and change it at will. But we are dreaming - sights, sounds, trains of discursive thought... that is dream yoga. Cultivating the ability to transform the dreams leads to greater flexibility and freedom in waking life. It also helps understand illusory nature of all experience, asleep and awake. Sleep yoga bypasses dream or uses dream as a springboard. Reaching the clear light is a bit like samadhi - total clarity, openness... No visions, no images or arisings. A feeling of pure awareness floating in boundless space. Effortless and very stable, feels like there is an inertia of stability. The teachings say that reaching the clear light even a few times in life helps at the moment of death to recognize the Nature of Mind and self-liberate. Peace

we could say that all time, all space, all worlds, and all beings are "Gods" manifested "dream"...

From my point of view, objectively, people said all these postures work in their practice. Why do they work for all to accomplish the purpose of Qigong ? There must be a common denominator that no one have ever mentioned here. Have you ever asked why you are sitting in the half or full lotus position on the floor or a chair or whatever but still works? To meditate is like having a dream or just concentrate on the sitting postures or to concentrate on the breathing? Which one of that you think it will help to accomplish the purpose of Qigong?

Anyone out there does sleep time practise traditional/nontraditional,self-tailored?What is it? I want to start awaking in the sleep more ,as i feel it has so much potential and is annoying me to waste too much time in slumber . So if there is anything that works for you,something you found out and dont mind sharing? What about sleeping qigong ,whats that about?Anyone practises it? Thank you, Sun

Hahahahaha....I don't know what to say. Sometimes, a doctor prescribes medications for you to try to treat one issue but causing multiple ones. You later regretted following his advises and taking that medication. Currently, my mother is on 5 heart medications (coreg and some others to expand her blood vessels and to slow down her heart beats). And to reduce her blood pressure. She was on them for about a year. Today, she had her follow up after 1 year. She has irregular heat beats. The health of her heart is improving, better than last year. Now, the doctor prescribes an extra medication to treat her irregular heat beats. The medication is called amiodarone. This medication is so potent that can cause liver damage and blindness and mental confusion. Generally, make your life miserable so that your heart could beat normally. Irregular heart beats aren't something fatal. Some strange skin condition causing your skin to turn gray. It is supposed to treat the irregular heart beats. I am like really? Am I going to allow my mother to take this drug? Now, here is my point, I have been dreading this day because I had a dream/vision. In this dream, I was in the doctor office and we were discussing my mother's heart condition. In the vision, I remember that I was supposed to receive one additional medication. I insisted that my mother needed this new medication. Now, the doctor said that I didn't need it and showed me a heart inside a glass jar. There was some blood inside but the level was low. I was convinced that my mother didn't need this additional medication based on what I saw. I wasn't sure what I saw or what it meant. In the dream, I was reminded that my mother would need another endogram done maybe later in the year when she sorted out her insurance. Before ending the dream, I remembered that I was getting or receiving 5 medications. My mother wanted to see another female doctor instead. Same medications she was on for the year. Nothing new. Reading the FAQ on amiodarone, I realize that maybe this is the medication I should not allow my mother to take. Maybe this doctor in my dream was telling me my mother does not need to take this medication??? I have been receiving visions about the health of my mother ever since she was diagnosed with a congestive heart failure. Thank goodness...all the visions were favorable. Not like she was about to die or anything. And including the extra amiodarone medication I wasn't supposed to allow her to take because at the end of the dream, I remember only seeing 5 medications, not 6. If I count the extra amiodarone medication, she would be taking 6 medications. The doctor is Chinese but practicing western medicines. And he isn't attentive. Sometimes, he is somewhat incoherent and would repeat himself. I am grateful he is treating my mother but I have to consistently evaluate the medications he is prescribing for my mother and to cross reference with my dream visions. LOL. End of my rant..... Interesting info... http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/arrhythmias/a/amiodarone.htm

So I went to this talk at a biological museum at the University - this was 20 years ago. The talk was on the need to protect the rainforest - someone had been to the Amazon. At the end I asked if he knew it was international day against McDonald's destroying the Amazon. He said he didn't. As I was leaving, a young man ran up to me to ask me about what I had said. We went to a local cafe for a chat. In our talk he offered for me to move into his house where he rented a room with other students - mainly international students, as I needed a place to move to. So after I moved in, then this young female entered the house and I thought she was very pretty. We ended up meeting and she shared how she was indigenous, from the Andes. I happened to have a video documentary on VHS - of the Kogi - and she was shocked as her tribe was related to the Kogi but she knew the Kogi were very secretive. At this time I began practicing Yan Xin qigong with the Chinese immigrant community at the University and my new friend told me she had meditated with a Chinese qigong master named Chunyi Lin - just him and a philosophy professor at the local community college. I didn't think much of it until in my "spiritual healing" class for my "liberal studies" master's degree Chunyi Lin was invited to do a presentation so I sat right up front. I had studied up on qigong and as soon as I saw him, I knew he was the real deal. Meanwhile I fell in love with my friend and we traveled back to her country together but we remained just friends. But in the Andes my heart was very hot from my love feeling and I could not sleep. So I sang softly in the middle of the night and suddenly I had this vision I could not stop - my whole life flashed before me in a review. But it was not linear - instead revealed to me were secret connections from years apart - where subtle energy blockages had been resolved, years later - and I had not realized how my whole life had been synchronized through spirit light. After I did the intensive qigong training with Chunyi Lin I began having precognitive visions a lot. The skeptic materialists say that statistically we are bound to have "coincidences" in our dreams - but when reality is exactly matched - and the vision or dream is more real than being awake - we realize that our waking self is a type of dream as well, and even time itself is a type of dream. When I was living in a house of my friend from the Andes - she had invited me to move to a house she newly acquired - with other international students - and then I was looking at this photocopy of a newspaper photo. It was of my environmental activist friends with Native indigenous activists, standing on the roof of a house, holding a banner, to protect a forest. Suddenly I got this uncanny sensation and I drove to my parents to look up my old journal. Sure enough in 1995 I had a dream that was more real than being awake - before I had even practiced qigong but after I had met qigong master Effie P. Chow and experienced her energy. At 2:30 a.m. I wrote the dream down and said it was more real than being awake and I thought the dream would come true. I had long forgotten the dream but three years later it had come true exactly.

I personally can remember dreams without much trouble. If I wake up while dreaming I always remember the dream. If I wake up after the dream already finished I normally find when I relax in the bathroom or read and relax my mind, one word or thought that pops into my mind usually does the trick of remembering the dream. I find I rarely dream with my usual optimal 7.5 hours of sleep unless im stressed or excited. When I sleep for more than 7.5 hours I usually dream. The more I sleep ie 10 hours the more likely I will dream. I have also found through trial and error that if I sleep say 7.5 hours and then wake up and then go back to sleep for another couple of hours I always dream. The most realistic dream I had recently was after I had been doing some night Yoga and meditation I was completely relaxed and went to bed. In my dream I could see myself lying on the bed, so I tried to reach my hand down from near the ceiling to touch my head that was sleeping. As I got closer to touching my sleeping head I had a feeling/thought not to touch my head otherwise if I did I would not wake up from my sleep ie die. So I pulled my hand back and didnt touch my sleeping head. I knew that I was dreaming in my dream, but when I woke up I remembered it straight away and it felt so real. The reason I couldn't touch my sleeping head in my dream because I would die seems to be connected with what I had previously heard my mother say about dreams that if you die in your dream it means that in real life you have died. For some reason the touching of my sleeping head reminded me of what I heard about dieing in my dream and it confused my dreaming mind/consciousness. After thinking about it now I wish I had of touched my head from the third person view that I had while dreaming just to see what, if anything would have happened. My experiences Peace

This is something that has resonated in me for as long as I have been aware. One of my earliest memories is not of waking life, but of a dream, which transitioned to an out of body experience as a child of 3-4. The dreamscape and that level of consciousness has always been a dominant force in my life experience, a constant living presence with an ability to impact my entire awareness just as intensely as the physical. My earliest memories of life are equally weighted be it waking or dreaming. Neither seems particularly more real, when immersed within them and in memory, each level of consciousness has demonstrated an equal impact on my ability to learn about myself through experience and to carry truth, benefit and merit, as well as sorrow and loss. So in that manner, each has an equal value to me as valid experience and always has, although the characteristics of awareness within each may vary. I become lucid in my dreams nightly and have learned so many truths about myself in those realms, just as I do in my waking life. In fact, I recall many of my experiences in the dreamscape, more vividly than I recall many moments of waking life. Which has more value? Which is more real? They both have impacted my awareness, taught me more depth of understanding of my own awareness and to me, they mirror each other so completely, it's like my perception of the surface of water and how it appears when looking at it from above and below. They are two varied expressions of one process. There is one key aspect of waking life which mirrors dream lucidity and resonates particularly potently of late though, I can't shake the abiding sense of it, even in my body there is the living sense of it... and that is how my earliest waking conscious memories of life mirror the way I wake up within the dream state. When I become lucid in the dream state, the dream has already begun. It was the same for my waking consciousness and my physical form. My first memories of conscious awareness of my life came after the process of life began. The dream world is flowing, is already unfolding, the dream is in process and then "i" suddenly become aware within the process and then begin to interact consciously instead of reactionarily. This is how my conscious life started, at some point, around the age of 3-4 I began to become aware within the waking world. Which one is more relevant? More intrinsically real? Especially when viewed and recalled in memory. It is a common sensation now in my waking life to also have a sense of 'waking up' while in the middle of an action. Walking down the street, suddenly, I turn and look at a tree and there is the vivid sense of waking up into the present moment. This sensation sometimes feels like I've been sleeping for days or weeks. It's also very common when I first go outside after being sick and indoors for some time. There's the sense of seeing things on my familiar street in a much more lucid manner. In my experience, I am constantly slipping between lucidity and non-lucidity in my waking life and my dream life, oscillating between auto-pilot and interactive awareness much the way waves and tides ebb and flow along the shore. There is an abiding sense in my very body, that one day, I will inevitably wake up fully in both, equally.

I don’t see why there would have been any change to the subtle body between now and a few Millenia ago, how messed up it is might have increased if anything, but it’s fundamental nature is almost certainly the same, as is it’s potential. Yes my dream was specific to what I was doing, I had started charging for healing work, and I stopped charging overnight. For me personally charging was not the way to go. Each to their own I guess. I know that I personally would be suspect of anyone asking for money. I think my defining feature of growth is how far I can personally progress, and then how I would use it. To be trapped into materialism before I have progressed far would have been a very silly choice for myself, how that progress is used follows on from the earlier decision. The amount of spiritual teachers who use that argument whilst collecting millions is quite sickening. Cynics and critics of wealthy spiritual teachers are silenced by this sentence, and the wealthy teachers remain wealthy. Better to actively divest oneself of wealth than defend it, because the defence can all too easily disguise attachment.

Yes much has changed in the external world, but I’d hazard a guess nothing has changed in terms of inner spiritual realities, in which case this holds as true today as it did then. I kind of agree with you, I didn’t take the faith road myself, I prefer inner work, but swapping faith for cultivation and relying on that to organise the basic needs is tentatively possible. I had a dream once, a few years back, in which I was told if I wanted to go further I had to promise I would never ask to be paid for anything to do with the ‘spiritual’, there was a document to be signed and all, and after less than a days thought about this I was willing to sign the document figuratively, as payment was a poor second to going further, and a hopeless limitation. So I have a pretty defined view of the whole topic. Yes, but it might be better for the soul??? edit to add: The lure of wealth might be too great to risk it, there’s only so much I can eat or so many clothes that I need, maybe it’s a way of staying safe from monetary greed to just be provided for.

I just posted this on another site but would be interesting in discussing this statement from Ramana Maharshi on this site. Talk 177 from "Talks with Ramana Maharshi" (this goes deep into the process of creation): Ramana: "...the body and all other objects are contained in the brain. The LIGHT (my caps) is projected on the brain. The impressions in the brain become manifest as the body and the world. Because the ego identifies itself with limitations, the body is considered separate and the world separate." I've practiced conscious sleep for years with the understanding that "Man is made in the image of God" and "As above so below". When one watches dream formation from start to finish, one can see how the light (of the dreamer in this case) projects on the brain of the dream-objects and how the impressions in the brain of the dream-object project the dream-body and the entire dream-world. It was Ramana's words, as noted above, that moved me to explore in this direction. When one can still the mind ("Be still and know ... that ... I AM ... God"), one can sense alluring vibrations that are more subtle than thoughts. These vibrations, as many sages will affirm, pull one from the crown chakra (sahasrara) towards the LIGHT of the Source. The sounds are as alluring as the sounds of the sirens luring sailors to the distant shore in the Homeric epic, the Odyssey. This would be an very interesting subject for further discussion. (Edgar Cayce, the American Christian mystic who was reportedly able to read the Akashic Records of the Cosmic mind, talks about a dot --- possibly the OM point in Hindu terminology --- which he becomes as he travels towards the LIGHT drawing him to the Source. The "dot" --- bindu --- in OM is generally considered to be the symbolic representation of the seed from which the universe springs into existence.)

I read varjahdiya saying that his teacher entered the jhanas when doing dream yoga and I have recently read that one can stay "awake"/aware not only during dreams but also dreamless sleep. Does meditating during sleep give the same benefits as during waking hours? Say that I have already mastered the first jhana awake could I then master the rest only through sleep practice and be able to enter them when awake? If so then that would be amazing because I could add about 7 hours of daily practice. Is it also possible, and if so not unhealthy, to do other stuff when awake in dreamless sleep, like say thinking through what my lecturer said in class that day and repeat french verbs or stuff like that. If so mylearning abilities would undergo a revolution. Just for fun I would then "write" an essay in my head and then write it down the next day. When awake I have sometimes more or less done that with speeches and op-ed pieces and it would be hilarious to have "written" essays in their entirety during sleep just as an experiment. I have noticed that practioners like Santiago and JA MU only sleep about three hours a day and I have seen others here that have cut sleep time by many hours because of cultivation. Is this safe and healthy? Is it like you just don`t sleep anymore if you practice this much or is it like you actually kinda feel like sleeping but if you do some extra rounds of qigong or spend half an hour in Damos Cave you can still manage well? I plan on doing KAP at some point in the future. What normaly happens to sleep time when you practice KAP over several years?