Spiritual practice during sleep

[hervoyel]

Hi, considering that time for practice is limited and that we spent a lot of time sleeping, the silly question came to my mind whether it is possible to enhance sleep so that it becomes practice.

 

In one of Yogananda's lesson he says that sleep is the time when each of us unconsciously becomes a yogi. And he didn't rate it as particularly useful in spiritual practice because it's unconscious. But he didn't provide any method to enhance sleep to become practice. He only describes a method to induce dreams.

 

Anybody has ideas on how to use sleep as practice/meditation? Quiet practice/meditation of course, I wouldn't like to shake while sleeping...

 

Cheers

Edited November 21, 2008 by hervoyel

[sirius]

[Ya Mu]

Hi, considering that time for practice is limited and that we spent a lot of time sleeping, the silly question came to my mind whether it is possible to enhance sleep so that it becomes practice.

 

In one of Yogananda's lesson he says that sleep is the time when each of us unconsciously becomes a yogi. And he didn't rate it as particularly useful in spiritual practice because it's unconscious. But he didn't provide any method to enhance sleep to become practice. He only describes a method to induce dreams.

 

Anybody has ideas on how to use sleep as practice/meditation? Quiet practice/meditation of course, I wouldn't like to shake while sleeping...

 

Cheers

 

Sleeping Qigong is part of the system I practice and teach. This practice leads (remember time & effort) to Dreaming Qigong. In Dreaming Qigong one awakens to who they really are.

No, I can't post this practice on this forum simply because it is a path as much as it is a technique. I do talk about some of the experiences of Dreaming Qigong in the book A Light Warrior's Guide To High Level Energy Healing.

[adam mizner]

hi

there are many sleep practices, most not such a big deal, the thing is that lots of awake practice is the key...

 

metta

adam

 

Hi, considering that time for practice is limited and that we spent a lot of time sleeping, the silly question came to my mind whether it is possible to enhance sleep so that it becomes practice.

 

In one of Yogananda's lesson he says that sleep is the time when each of us unconsciously becomes a yogi. And he didn't rate it as particularly useful in spiritual practice because it's unconscious. But he didn't provide any method to enhance sleep to become practice. He only describes a method to induce dreams.

 

Anybody has ideas on how to use sleep as practice/meditation? Quiet practice/meditation of course, I wouldn't like to shake while sleeping...

 

Cheers

[rex]

Since we spend about a third of our life sleeping dream practices are held to be vitally important in the Vajrayana. Clarity, awareness and presence can all be increased in the various dream states and practice is said to be good training in helping to recognise the dawning of the Clear Light and bardo states at the time of death.

[Mak_Tin_Si]

Hi,

 

According to what I read from your topic is that you want to learn how to train in Taoism with sleeping. That is easy. What you could do now is to try how a Taoist sleep and then consider if you want to go on or not.

 

Learning how to sleep is very important as a Taoist because sleeping could affect your life and how you work for your whole day. It also controls the amount of Yin or Yang's energy in your body that balance your life out. So we must sleep properly and wisely.

 

The ideal sleeping time is sleep around 9-10 and then wake up around 4-5. No sleep in, cannot stay in the bed for a while or snooze with your alarm. When the alarm ring, you wake up instantly and get off your bed. This is important which could be read from my previous post.

 

With this practise, you must make it a nature for yourself and keep it the same everyday from day 1 and on to your rest of your life. This will then form a pattern for yourself to absorb the good energy from the sun and avoid yourself from absorbing too much of the Yin energy. Which brings you better life, better living and better health. People who live in a temple sleep around 8 and wake up at 3, that is the standard a long time ago because that is how farmers live, they go with the nature, because there is no light at night, so it is all about the sun. When we learn to cope with nature, the sun and moon, we are going into the flow of Tao.

 

Wish you all the best with your practise!

 

 

 

Hi, considering that time for practice is limited and that we spent a lot of time sleeping, the silly question came to my mind whether it is possible to enhance sleep so that it becomes practice.

 

In one of Yogananda's lesson he says that sleep is the time when each of us unconsciously becomes a yogi. And he didn't rate it as particularly useful in spiritual practice because it's unconscious. But he didn't provide any method to enhance sleep to become practice. He only describes a method to induce dreams.

 

Anybody has ideas on how to use sleep as practice/meditation? Quiet practice/meditation of course, I wouldn't like to shake while sleeping...

 

Cheers

[goldisheavy]

Hi, considering that time for practice is limited and that we spent a lot of time sleeping, the silly question came to my mind whether it is possible to enhance sleep so that it becomes practice.

 

In one of Yogananda's lesson he says that sleep is the time when each of us unconsciously becomes a yogi. And he didn't rate it as particularly useful in spiritual practice because it's unconscious. But he didn't provide any method to enhance sleep to become practice. He only describes a method to induce dreams.

 

Anybody has ideas on how to use sleep as practice/meditation? Quiet practice/meditation of course, I wouldn't like to shake while sleeping...

 

Cheers

 

There are some advantages and disadvantages to dream practice. First, the mind is a lot more open during the dream, so you can practice things you couldn't do in the waking state for a while yet. This is important, because it gives you a taste of how the life might be. You can get a taste of it in your dream, and if you like it, and the blocking beliefs are purified through contemplation, it eventually manifests during waking as well. That's pretty advantageous. The disadvantage is that you can't just crush into bed when tired, which can be a pain in the ass disruption to your natural rhythm of life.

 

The first step to doing dream practice is to learn how to become lucid. Before learning how to become lucid one has to learn dream recall. Both dream recall and lucidity are explained in detail in many other places, but the keys are very simple and intuitive. If you direct your mind to it you should know naturally and intuitively what is to be done. Briefly, to recall, simply make an attempt at recall every time you wake up. Make it consistent. This should be enough. If that's not enough for you, then keep a dream journal as well. Write down your dreams as soon as you wake up. The point of this is to show yourself that you are serious about dream recall. Doing this solidifies your intent. However, if you are in tune with your intent and you know what you want, you can skip all that and instantly intend to recall all your dreams and instantly get it without practice. The practice is necessary for people who are not 100% in touch with their intent and don't quite know what they want, because they have many conflicting beliefs operating in their minds.

 

To be lucid in a dream, again, intent is the key. You simply intend to be lucid and you will be. If this doesn't do it for you, add a little ritual to it. You can say three times, "I will be lucid easily and naturally when I dream." Or you can do something else. Make this practice your own. Make it mean something to you, and keep it sacred to keep it working best. "Sacred" just means you don't mentally piss on or degrade your practice. It doesn't mean you have to worship it or become a zealot, and nor does it mean you are stuck to that practice or anything like that. If you know your intent though, you don't need any of this. You just intend to become lucid and it is done, and there are no intermediate steps involved to cajole and convince your mind (yourself) that you really mean it.

 

Once you realize you are dreaming from inside the dream, the sky is the limit.

 

What I suggest is that you challenge yourself with this question: "Are dreams different from waking?" Run many tests. Run them many times. See what happens. Good luck.

[mwight]

In my opinion the most powerful time to do neigong is during a lucid dream, some of the experiences I have had have been nothing short of amazing.

[deci belle]

[adam mizner]

you got it.

 

 

 

There are some advantages and disadvantages to dream practice. First, the mind is a lot more open during the dream, so you can practice things you couldn't do in the waking state for a while yet. This is important, because it gives you a taste of how the life might be. You can get a taste of it in your dream, and if you like it, and the blocking beliefs are purified through contemplation, it eventually manifests during waking as well. That's pretty advantageous. The disadvantage is that you can't just crush into bed when tired, which can be a pain in the ass disruption to your natural rhythm of life.

 

The first step to doing dream practice is to learn how to become lucid. Before learning how to become lucid one has to learn dream recall. Both dream recall and lucidity are explained in detail in many other places, but the keys are very simple and intuitive. If you direct your mind to it you should know naturally and intuitively what is to be done. Briefly, to recall, simply make an attempt at recall every time you wake up. Make it consistent. This should be enough. If that's not enough for you, then keep a dream journal as well. Write down your dreams as soon as you wake up. The point of this is to show yourself that you are serious about dream recall. Doing this solidifies your intent. However, if you are in tune with your intent and you know what you want, you can skip all that and instantly intend to recall all your dreams and instantly get it without practice. The practice is necessary for people who are not 100% in touch with their intent and don't quite know what they want, because they have many conflicting beliefs operating in their minds.

 

To be lucid in a dream, again, intent is the key. You simply intend to be lucid and you will be. If this doesn't do it for you, add a little ritual to it. You can say three times, "I will be lucid easily and naturally when I dream." Or you can do something else. Make this practice your own. Make it mean something to you, and keep it sacred to keep it working best. "Sacred" just means you don't mentally piss on or degrade your practice. It doesn't mean you have to worship it or become a zealot, and nor does it mean you are stuck to that practice or anything like that. If you know your intent though, you don't need any of this. You just intend to become lucid and it is done, and there are no intermediate steps involved to cajole and convince your mind (yourself) that you really mean it.

 

Once you realize you are dreaming from inside the dream, the sky is the limit.

 

What I suggest is that you challenge yourself with this question: "Are dreams different from waking?" Run many tests. Run them many times. See what happens. Good luck.

[seadog]

Well there is plenty of good advice here.

One simple method I know of is to repeatedly say

Wake up! during the day.

Then ask yourself

Am I dreaming now

Is this a dream?

I have found this good for not only the night

but also the day.

 

If you do have a lucid deam I have found it beneficial

to have a point of reference in your dream.

Like your hand or a ring on your finger.

Pulling your attention back to your chosen point

of referrence helps to enhance the clarity of the dream

Also returning to your point of referrence stops you from getting to embroiled in the dream.

[orb]

Hi, considering that time for practice is limited and that we spent a lot of time sleeping, the silly question came to my mind whether it is possible to enhance sleep so that it becomes practice.

 

In one of Yogananda's lesson he says that sleep is the time when each of us unconsciously becomes a yogi. And he didn't rate it as particularly useful in spiritual practice because it's unconscious. But he didn't provide any method to enhance sleep to become practice. He only describes a method to induce dreams.

 

Anybody has ideas on how to use sleep as practice/meditation? Quiet practice/meditation of course, I wouldn't like to shake while sleeping...

 

Cheers

 

The are many levels of sleep.

In my spiritual path - practice during sleep is an advanced practice - because first you have to understand how your body works and how the dreams are formed. When I say understand it doesn't mean that you can read it somewhere and then know it but it's more like a developed mussle that takes time to build thorough knowledge and practice. Once you reach that level you can control your body in the sense that you disconnect certain circuits and then you won't have dreams which take a lot of your energy. In this state your body recharges twice as fast and you need only 3-5 hours of sleep at most. Any other type of meditation/exercise practiced at a lower level will work only for a short period of time after which it will just wear you out and usually ends up being a waste of time. Sleep is meant to recharge the body.

Edited November 23, 2008 by orb

[rain]

Well there is plenty of good advice here.

One simple method I know of is to repeatedly say

Wake up! during the day.

Then ask yourself

Am I dreaming now

Is this a dream?

I have found this good for not only the night

but also the day.

 

If you do have a lucid deam I have found it beneficial

to have a point of reference in your dream.

Like your hand or a ring on your finger.

Pulling your attention back to your chosen point

of referrence helps to enhance the clarity of the dream

Also returning to your point of referrence stops you from getting to embroiled in the dream.

 

 

thanks for useful methods, obviously useful experience, not just ideas.

[sheng zhen]

I used to lucid dream a lot some years ago. The best technique I found was to meditate before sleep. To fall asleep while in meditation. That made it a lot easier to stay aware in the transition between waking and sleeping and actually wake up within the dream.

 

I had so many lucid dreams doing whatever I wanted. Sex, flying, changing and manipulating the dream in any way I wanted. It got boring after a while and I started just being lucid but observing the dream and its natural progression. I believe Ken Wilber calls this Pellucid dreaming. After a while with pellucid dreaming and not bothering with doing anything with the dream other than observing, I came pretty much back to normal dreaming with lucid dreams only occationally.

 

But to meditate and fall asleep while in a meditative state has been the best technique Ive used for lucid dreaming. In addition to the other techiques mentioned here ofcource.

[Mal]

[sirius]

maybe this is a stupid question, but i`d like to know if you all who practice this "dream yoga" don`t suffer from a lack of sleep/lack of energy during day time.

for me this is real problem - which made it so difficult for me that i stopped to work with these methods soon after the first lessons. i have to add that i work at night, too - which doesn`t mean that i can`t sleep at my place of work. but my time for sleep there is very limited - and depending upon the circumstances. and when i go to bed after work my head is full of thoughts and worries and ususally i am really tired. then i am happy when i manage to meditate for a short time. i just don`t have the energy to do more exercises.

[sheng zhen]

maybe this is a stupid question, but i`d like to know if you all who practice this "dream yoga" don`t suffer from a lack of sleep/lack of energy during day time.

I never had that problem when I did these things. But I did a lot of meditation during the day aswell and got all the rest I needed. It probably isnt a practice suited for people with a stressful life.

[benny]

Hi, considering that time for practice is limited and that we spent a lot of time sleeping, the silly question came to my mind whether it is possible to enhance sleep so that it becomes practice.

 

In one of Yogananda's lesson he says that sleep is the time when each of us unconsciously becomes a yogi. And he didn't rate it as particularly useful in spiritual practice because it's unconscious. But he didn't provide any method to enhance sleep to become practice. He only describes a method to induce dreams.

 

Anybody has ideas on how to use sleep as practice/meditation? Quiet practice/meditation of course, I wouldn't like to shake while sleeping...

 

Cheers

 

 

This book may interest you hervoyel: http://www.scribd.com/doc/2535738/The-Tibe...Dream-and-Sleep

[Gerard]

hi

there are many sleep practices, most not such a big deal, [color=#FF0000]the thing is that lots of awake practice is the key[/color]...

 

metta

adam

 

Wise words of a Theravadin Buddhist.

 

 

That's the Buddha's recipe for enlightenment: mindful living. Use Vipassana in your waking time. Watch mind wanderings and how the 5 aggregates work.

 

Better leave sleep for recovery, Yin time is sleeping time.

 

 

[h.uriahr]

If you become aware of the fact you are dreaming you can meditate in your dreams which is pretty fuckin cool

[mwight]

If you become aware of the fact you are dreaming you can meditate in your dreams which is pretty fuckin cool

 

BAD ASS, someone else does this too

haha yeah... omg the energy sensations are amazing aren't they? its like the floodgates are open.

[h.uriahr]

BAD ASS, someone else does this too

haha yeah... omg the energy sensations are amazing aren't they? its like the floodgates are open.

 

Long before I even began meditating I used to fly when I was aware I was dreaming but it's alot more fun to do my practice in my dreams if I become aware.