Question on qi gong and dreams

[Iskaral]

So about a week ago I started trying to follow the tien tao chi kung correspondance course. Before that I had been working on manipulating my dreams and almost reached the point where I could choose the subject. Also remembering usually 2 or more dreams every night. After I started the chi kung exercises however for some reason I either stopped remembering or stopped having my dreams (which is unlikely). While It's just a correlation I can't think of any other reasons that my dream memory would have changed.

 

Has anyone else had experienced something similar when starting practices? With dreams or other things?

Thanks in advance.

[Mal]

BTT

 

I don't have any answers but it's an interesting question

[Aetherous]

Do you practice in the evening? If so, try doing it just in the morning (if you really feel the need to play with dreaming).

 

I've noticed that if I do breathing practices in the evening, I have really deep sleep with no dreams.

[z00se]

So about a week ago I started trying to follow the tien tao chi kung correspondance course. Before that I had been working on manipulating my dreams and almost reached the point where I could choose the subject. Also remembering usually 2 or more dreams every night. After I started the chi kung exercises however for some reason I either stopped remembering or stopped having my dreams (which is unlikely). While It's just a correlation I can't think of any other reasons that my dream memory would have changed.

 

Has anyone else had experienced something similar when starting practices? With dreams or other things?

Thanks in advance.

 

Yeah i think thats interesting too. I've read that after practicing qigong lots some people say they don't dream and have deep sleeps. Not me though. I've been at a similar stage to you with my dreaming and i've practiced qigong alot in the recent years but i still dream. To me i have 3 different kinds of sleep, not relating this to any scientific REM or anything cos i haven't read up about it.

 

1. light sleep/dreamy sleep

Easiest time for this is when i wake up in the morning after a good sleep, then fall back asleep again in a light sleep. Here i can dream very easily. If i wake up again i can even just kind of hold that dream there for a little bit while going to the toilet or something, then lay back down and continue the dream off from where it left off.

 

2. deep sleep

Takes a while to get into but feel totally relaxed and since i'm not normaly a relaxed person when i wake up from this i feel so nice, refreshed and good. Usually don't remember these dreams, unless i've been practicing or i wake up in the middle of the night halfway through a dream. After a giant 14hr walk up and down a mountain or something it's easy to fall into this one.

 

3. light sleep

After i do qigong this is typical, yet not only after qigong. I sleep but am easily woken up, don't feel totally relaxed, like i have too much energy to go into a deep sleep. Don't dream.

 

Has your sleep quality changed apart from the dreaming since you've been doing qigong? Just something u can try doing in your dreams too. Flipping coins and making them land on the side that you want. When i could do that i knew i was really cooking with gas. Should have stuck with it but as i had less time to remember my dreams after waking the ability slowly dwindled.

[.broken.]

Quite the opposite happens to me. If I do my energy practices and meditations I will usually dream something. On the odd occasion I may even receive a teaching in my dreams.

 

Have you asked your instructor about this? (S)he may have some answers...

 

James

[Sloppy Zhang]

There are several different types of sleep. Dreams occur during the REM stage, which is typically the last stage that we enter during sleep. In the REM stage the brain is active and the body is still resting. In stages prior to REM sleep, the the brain is at different levels of functionality, but is pretty much at a lot lower activity than in REM sleep. The body and the mind are resting, so you don't really dream in these stages.

 

You need to get both kinds of sleep.

 

Now, if you are doing dream work, you are really aiming to get that good quality REM sleep, as that is where a lot of stuff is happening. But if you are pushing it for a while, your body is going to need to get those other kinds of sleep, and eventually you will catch up and just go right to a deep sleep, no dreams.

 

Also, as REM stage is the last stage you enter during sleep, the amount of time you spend sleeping is going to affect how many dreams you have/how clearly you remember them. Most people don't enter REM stage until about 3-4 hours after they start to sleep. And even then, not many people recall early REM stage dreams- your mind has just woken up, they are usually pretty fuzzy and not really coherent. Later REM stage dreams are easier to recall because your mind has been active for a while.

 

So examine how much you push yourself to dream, examine how much sleep you have been getting recently, and any sleep patterns.

 

 

 

Now in one of B.K. Frantzis' books he mentions that most of the time dreams represent stuff that creates blockages, or are otherwise things you need to let go of through the dissolving practice. What I take it to mean when I hear "high level masters don't dream" is that they have reached a point where they don't hold on to stuff that creates dreams, and their mind is still enough that it doesn't start generating things on its own. When their mind has rested and begins to wake, there is nothing to sort through, it has all been let go, so the master wakes, no need to dream. Needless to say, not a lot of people are at that point

Edited February 16, 2010 by Sloppy Zhang

[Birch]

Well if that's what it is then I'm still a long way off

 

I did however have an idea that some of my dreams aren't actually "mine" but other people's. The increase in dreaming for me seems to coincide with being around lots of different people and/or being with people who are having a rough time emotionally.

 

I unfortunately can't say for sure. It could still all be me

[gendao]

But if you are pushing it for a while, your body is going to need to get those other kinds of sleep, and eventually you will catch up and just go right to a deep sleep, no dreams.

 

Now in one of B.K. Frantzis' books he mentions that most of the time dreams represent stuff that creates blockages, or are otherwise things you need to let go of through the dissolving practice. What I take it to mean when I hear "high level masters don't dream" is that they have reached a point where they don't hold on to stuff that creates dreams, and their mind is still enough that it doesn't start generating things on its own. When their mind has rested and begins to wake, there is nothing to sort through, it has all been let go, so the master wakes, no need to dream. Needless to say, not a lot of people are at that point

I doubt the OP is really at this stage yet, but:

To be free from any ideas and thoughts for a long time can bring about no dream whatever emerging in your sleep, which indicates that the pre-Heaven mind-will is in the process of coming on the scene.

[NeiChuan]

You may notice sleeping in the day will make you dream more.. Or if you stay up and sleep in the morning.

 

 

It gets really whacky when people you dont expect show up in them