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Dear Dao Bums, I've already detailed my "journey" with lucid dreaming since I was a teenager here: Part 1: https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/53847-sleeping-qigong-and-lucid-dreaming/ Part 2: https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/55610-my-experience-with-tulku-lobsang-medicine-buddha-dream-yoga/ Today I want to share some more recent experiences and insights especially pertaining to the importance of the match between you as an individual and the particular practices, teacher and lineage you learn from. Since my last update this is what I've done lucid dreaming wise: 6 months of daily medicine buddha, tummo meditation and nightly lucid dreaming as taught by Tulku Lobsang Rinpoche. 6 months of "golden light dream travel skill" as taught in Maoshan. Buddhist Practice: Here my progress was very linear. I started with about 1-2 lucid dreams a week with low control, then it just slowly increased to 3-4 dreams with more control, then ending with about 5 dreams a week with some pretty good control and interesting insights. Daoist Practice: I got a formal initiation quite some time ago, and it had been about 1 year of daily recitation of the "golden light mantra" alongside its meditation, before I stopped everything else in order to go "all in" with Maoshan. I first intended to try just one 49 day cycle and see how it matched up against my former buddhist dreaming practice. In the entire 49 days I think I had only 1 lucid dream. I was quite surprised - I had formal initiation (something I didn't have at all with the buddhist practice), on top of that I had cultivated the mantra, meditation and talisman used for more than 1 year before starting the dream practice associated with it. After the 49 day cycle, I felt an inner kind of "discipline" arising, like I wouldn't quit before I reached success. So I went on for 6 months with continous daily golden light mantra recitation and meditation, and nightly golden light dream skill. However, in the entire 6 months, while I did feel the power of the golden light mantra recitation and meditation increasing, I never had any lucid dreams. In the entire 6 months I had only 3. Personal Insights Looking back I tried to understand what happened. Looking even further back, I saw that even though trying different dream practices for 12 months (6 months buddhist, 6 month daoist) I never reached the same success as I did with a Bön method I did for just 1-2 months. With the Bön practice, I just read it in a book. I never even met the teacher face to face, nor got a formal transmission or initiation. Just reading the book was the only "transmission". Yet to this day, it's the one thing that just works for me. This inspired me to do a kind of meta analysis of all the spiritual practices I've done. I've tried a lot of things, something I've also been critiqued for both publically here on the forum in threads as well as in personal messages here. I saw that of all the practices I've gone through since 2013 (when I made the commitment to daily dedicated spiritual practice for the rest of my life - before that I had been practicing a few things sporadically since about 2003), there was a really small "greatest hits" list that just "worked" for me. 1) Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY) First one was Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY) I started in 2017. Since the very first day, I just hit home, I found personal satisfaction, and felt like I found "what I had been looking for" spiritually all my life. Since then, this has been my main daily practice which I never stopped. 2) Talisman Healing Qigong Second was "talisman healing qigong" with Master Zhongxian Wu in 2018. I was super sceptical about healing, actually didn't believe in it, but just by chance there was a chance to attend a workshop. On the workshop I was quite surprised that it seemed to work. However, when I did the 49 day cycle at home, I practiced on family and friends, and to my great surprise - it just worked! The word spread, and random people started calling me for healing. After this first 49 day cycle (this was just 1 talisman), I've since learnt and practiced 5 talismans (one for each element). It feels like a solid, reliable support for me - it's just there, it just works, and it was from day one. Just the whole surprise and power of it has also made it a mainstay in my practice - use it daily to bless and energize food, drink, sometimes if I'm with family and friends and they ask. 3) Bön Lucid Dreaming Method Just by chance, I read a book on lucid dreaming in 2021. I tried the usual "red syllable" in the throat method, I tried since I was a teenager, it never worked for me. As I read on in the book, there was a very simple Bön method where you visualise a crystal. To my great surprise, it just worked! And it stabilised, I predictably had lucid dreams every single night from that day. I was blown away! It was huge for me, decades of reasearch, reading, studying, workshops and failed practice was a thing of the past, it just clicked. However, I felt I got progressively more tired during the daytime as the days went on, this made me fearful, as I remember Master Zhongxian Wu critiquing buddhist sleeping and dreaming practices during one of his retreats, saying night time is for rest. So I stopped the practice, and my energy returned. 4) Becoming a SKY Master This was in the late fall into early winter of 2021. I went to the temple in India to get my last initiation of activating all chakras and learning as well as blessing and training to become a master myself, to help others progressively open their chakras in the SKY way. Similarly, it just clicked. Since that day I've initiated about 70 people, about 30 family and friends and 40 strangers on workshops. Every single one felt the power of Vethathiri and SKY, it just works. I'm amazed each time, the power just generates and flows through me (I'm just a vessel). I cannot even imagine how powerful Vethathiri must have been while in the physical body. 5) Bodily Pleasure of the Goddess, Sri Vidya This was more of a surprise, I gave it a shot on the recommendation of a close family member. With Raja Shyamala I felt a bodily pleasure in meditation I had never felt before, it was so incredible. Then I reached the Sri Meru Navavarana Puja (worshipping the golden 3D pyramid version of the more commonly known 2D Sri Yantra), and was blown away. I was so blissed out I could barely lift my arm. It was however incredibly time-consuming (2 hours daily), so haven't done it since completing my first 41 day mandala. But it's nice to know it's there and available. 6) Maoshan Black Magic Very recently some parts of the "black book" of Southern Maoshan has been posted as an online class. I've tried a few of the methods (even though I must admit I was quite scared and of course directly opposed to all forms of black magic), but realised it honestly wasn't that different from all the mantras, talismans and qigong methods I've tried before. It just depends on your intention: if you wish to help alleviate the suffering of yourself and others, while avoiding hurting yourself and others, there's not really anything to oppose (from my usual religious/spiritual perspective that's against black magic) about the method. Usually black magic is done using "impermissible" means (e.g. filthy and blasphemous objects and despicable acts with the intention of selfish gain to the detriment of "the greater good" (other living beings, nature, the universe, your fellow man)). However none of these are in the methods I've tried. There's been 1 particular practice in there (using mantra and talisman) that's honestly blown my socks off. This has also been a game changer for me, and opened up my mind and perspective about what magic is and what it can do, instead of just being "against it" in a very black/white way. Conclusion After these 12 years of daily comitted spiritual practice, there are just 6 items on my list. These are things that are reliable, secure, available and just works. When I compare that to ALL the teachers, teachings, practices, workshops and lineages I've been through, my God, those particular practices are simply precious pearls, so hard to find, so hard to come by and exceptionally rare. The list with all the things I've tried that just flat out doesn't work, or didn't work for me, or didn't really impact me or my life in any way - it would have a LOT on it. When I philosophize over the reason behind it, the only thing I feel arise in my heart is just the feeling of the importance of "the personal connection". Your soul is very particular and unique, just like a custom made lock. Only a very specific key can unlock it. You can insert 1000s and 1000s of keys, but no one will fit and open your soul, UNLESS it's one of these rare and precious pearls, gems hidden across this Earth for your soul to search out, earn through effort and ethical living, and finally receive to transform yourself and your life forever. I needed to roam, to explore, to cultivate adventure, to sample, but having now sampled so much, I feel that I now value these few practices much more. I think I will shift my focus to going further and deeper with these few precious pearls at least 80% of the time, then staying 20% open for new practices. If I had just "shut down" shop when I found SKY, I wouldn't have found these other precious gemstones, but on the other hand I can also see how over the past 4 years I've probably divided my attention 40/60% in favor of adventure and trying new things. With what I've learnt now, I feel it will be better to go to 80/20. I feel like I need to stay open, because you never know when a new blessing will emerge and change your life for ever, but on the other hand, the depth and power you get from cultivating just a few things ALL the way is incredible. That's the whole basis of gong fu - master just ONE thing, and everyone will bow their heads in honor of your achievement and you will use it to better lives of yourself, your family, your loved ones and society, alleviating the suffering of others while being a blessing to all living beings. So I guess my invitation to you now is: 1) What's the best thing you tried spiritually, that just clicked, that just worked? Did you stay with it? 2) Why do you think it matched you so well? How is it nourishing your unique soul in incredible ways? 3) Are you holding on to practices "just to stay disciplined, loyal and comitted", even though they're not really doing it for you? What stops you from letting go and trying new things? I pray all our souls will enjoy their adventure to the full, sampling, enjoying and adventuring, while also staying true to our unique course on the long term, and that we all may find the precious pearl of our personal soul, journeying in the mystery of the all-encompassing Absolute God bless you

Dear Dao Bums, Here's my experience with Tulku Lobsang (known for doing Tummo in -5 degrees celsius on "Story of God With Morgan Freeman" on NGC). I'll share in 4 parts: 1) Intro and Background 2) Medicine Buddha 3) Dream Yoga 4) Wrap Up - To Be Continued 1) Intro and Background I heard about Tummo when I was a child from my dad. He learnt about yoga on a hippie island camp full of naked women burning bras when he was a child, forced to go with my hippie grandmother in the 60s. He had a life changing experience as a child with yoga and mantras, while on this naked women camp. So in his late teens when small yoga and meditation workshops started in the West, he started attending. Buddhism was super famous in my country on the spiritual scene, as it still is in much of Europe with the New Age crowd I would say. While I grew up, my dad told me of naked monks in the snow-clad Himalayas drying wet sheets with their body temperature through magical yoga practices. So now the family saga continues; as an adult, I've also pursued further what my dad exposed me to as a child. This time, I saw Tulku Lobsang with Morgan Freeman. Being able to be comfortable in a t-shirt in -5 degrees on television I took as a "good enough" show of Tummo skill, that maybe I could finally pursue this magical practice myself. However, I still had some doubts. So, when I saw he was coming to my country, I decided to go check him out. If he "checked out" I would be willing to give it a go and fork over my hard earned cash to flight, hotel and the Tummo workshop (when the time comes). With the intro out of the way, let me share how it went! The first day he taught Medicine Buddha. The following 2 days it was one long workshop on Dream Yoga. 2) Medicine Buddha He gave us the mantra and we all chanted together for maybe 5-15 minutes. Then he instructed us step-by-step in the visualisation. After having stabilised the visualisation, we resumed chanting together (we were maybe 20-30 people). During his transmission, I felt a special kind of energy coming into my head center. I felt like it made it easier for me to visualise. I also felt the energy from each of the lights we visualised in all of my body, and felt pleasantly relaxed. Since this day, I've been doing a minimum of 108 reps of the mantra and then the visualisation meditation procedure he explained. Already on the second day of the practice, it's like the energy had increased in power. Now it's growing day by day with my daily practice. So far so good! He's definitely legit. 3) Dream Yoga My dad took me to a dream yoga weekend workshop when I was about 18-19 years old with a Rinpoche visiting my country. I thought the whole idea of lucid dreams and using them for spiritual practice was extremely fascinating, and even at that young age I practiced quite consistently for about 3 months (while also reading his book). However, I had no results whatsoever. Then again when I was in my mid 20s, I picked up the book again and decided to give it a go. I practiced again for about 2 months, but zero results. In my late 20s, I again read yet another book by a tibetan teacher on dream yoga. I tried it again. No results after 1 month. All of the above practices were the usual "visualise a red drop in your throat chakra, surrounded by a white lotus flower with 4 leaves". In this book there was also a tibetan letter on each leaf, and you said them one by one as a kind of mantra for a while, then proceeded to only visualise until falling asleep. However, at the end of this particular book was also a shamanistic bön practice for lucid dreaming. After 1 month of failing with the vajrayana buddhist practice, I tried the shamanic practice. After about 7-14 days, it happened! I was super excited. Then it would happen every single day like clockwork for about a week. However, with each day I felt like I got more and more tired. Like I used up energy while sleeping, instead of regaining it. I remembered a warning from a daoist qigong teacher who had (as usually) dissed buddhist practices, especially their dream practices. He said "night is for sleeping and resting, that's what nature intended". So I thought maybe my bön lucid dreaming practice was sapping my energy and discontinued it. Lo and behold, now I'm in my early 30s, and I was faced with yet another tibetan vajrayana buddhist practice of visualising a red drop in my throat. "Here we go again!" I found myself thinking, however I still had an open mind during the workshop. During the workshop I felt Tulku Lobsang transmitted different states as well as different energies. I also found him to be extremely grounded in Being, never losing connection to himself, even if some of the people were weird or asked weird questions etc. He remained in Being, very relaxed, very present and extremely grounded and Embodied. I was quite impressed! However, no succes with lucid dreaming, neither during the nights between the workshop days, nor during the workshops when we actually slept for 10-30 minutes under his guidance and blessing. I really felt he transmitted a lot of energy during these sleeping sessions on the workshop, but still no lucid dreams. However, now after the workshop, I have actually had 3-4 lucid dreams so far using the typical tibetan buddhist vajrayana practice with the red drop! Something that's never worked for me, even though I've tried it on/off since I was 19. So that also tells me that his transmission is legit! 4) Wrap Up - To Be Continued So to wrap up, Tulku Lobsang is legit! He's extremely grounded in Being, in Presence and in his body, and he really does transmit states and energies. There's no more doubt in my mind - I will glady fork over my time and cash to learn Tummo from him when the time comes

The Bon Tradition is a very rich tradition who's practices I find great value in, for those of you who practice in the Bon tradition which are your favorite practices and why? I find the following essential and indispensable 1.The nine breaths of purification: This can of course be done for many many rounds and in my experience is very refreshing and does help clear the Lung and the mind and the emotions making them more stable. 2. Tsa Lung: This practice helps circulate the lung in the body and really helps re-energize and clear blockages as well as clear out stagnated lung. This also further clears and calms the mind 3.Guru Yoga: Guru Yoga is such a beautiful loving heart experience and even though I learned of Tapihritsa and Shenla Odkar almost at the same time I favor the connection with Tapihritsa. Tapihritsa resonates best with me as a closely felt heart love connection that brings tears of joy and deep gratitude to my eyes that goes beyond just respect. In this practice Ah, OM, Hung, White, Red & Blue lights connect at Crown, Throat & Heart Chakras. Body, Speech & Mind we connect to the lineage through the guru of the lineage. This to me is very important because the guru introduces us to Buddha so the guru is very important. We connect to the attributes of the guru and not only get purification but our mind via induction aligns and become more like the mind of the guru thereby helping us to perceive the Buddha. I have some experience of tummo described in another thread but find the basic first version I learned to be best as the book learning just added complexity to what I was gifted and without direct teaching not as good. Due to years of Lucid dreaming and it growing ever stronger I have begun learning dream yoga of the Bon Tradition. I welcome a constructive dialogue and am eager to learn from the more experienced in this tradition thank you for taking the time to read these words.

Hello, i have been practicing Dream Yoga for over thirty years, i just found this forum and would like to know members that share this practice, i live in Mexico City and love to share experiences with other practitioners. blessings, Drakpa.