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Dream Yoga: Lucid Dreaming in Tibetan

Buddhism
By Rebecca Turner - take our free lucid dreaming course.
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Tibetan Dream Yoga and the ancient philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism.

Explore new depths to lucid dreaming and get a taste of some dream
yoga techniques.
Tibetan Dream Yoga is the original form of lucid dreaming documented for at least
1,000 years.

Also known as Milam - the yoga of the dream state - it's a suite of advanced tantric
techniques.

Just like our Westernized understanding of lucid dreams, the initial aim is to awaken
the consciousness in the dream state.

However, as for what happens next, Tibetan lamas have more esoteric goals in mind...

The Basis of Dream Yoga

Dream yoga is taught within the trance Bardos of Dream and Sleep. In the tradiditon
of tantra, it's usually passed on by a qualified teacher, once the student has passed an
initiation.

It's considered a passing on of enlightened experience rather than reading texts, and
requires the student to develop sufficient self awareness to achieve conscious
lucidity during sleep.

Their aim is to harness the power of the lucid dream state by "apprehending the
dream". Students are then required to complete set tasks to take them to the next
level. These tasks include:

Practice sadhana (a spiritual discipline)

Receive initiations, empowerments and transmissions

Visit different places, planes and lokas (worlds)

Communicate with yidam (an enlightened being)

Meet with other sentient beings

Fly and shape shift into other creatures

The ultimate goal in Tibetan dream yoga is to apprehend the dream - and then
dissolve the dream state.

When deprived of physical and conceptual stimulus from the dreaming mind, you can
observe the purest form of conscious awareness.

Dream Yoga Techniques

The philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism is complex, but you don't need to be an expert
to practice dream yoga techniques. However, you do need to show commitment; a
technique is only as good as you are prepared to work at it.

One very broad but basic rule is this: continually compare your dreams to waking
reality and know what it feels like to be conscious. This will increase your self
awareness and you will find it easier to induce lucidity in dreams.

Here's an example of a dream yoga technique. If you already practice lucid dreaming,
you'll find it familiar because dream recall is the key to lucid dreaming which ever
way you look at it.

Dream Recollection
Every time you wake up, reflect on all the dreams you can remember. In Tibetan
Buddhism, it's believed that the ego travels about during sleep - revisiting places we
have been to in real life, and repeating all our experiences.

So it's important to meditate upon your latest dreams and recollections. Stay
completely still while you do this, because the "dream body" is disturbed by physical
movement and the memories are lost.

As you meditate on your dreams, repeat the mantra: RAOM GAOM, accentuating
the O and splitting each word into two syllables. This will help focus your awareness
on memories from the unconscious.

Further Reading

To learn more about dream yoga, I recommend The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and
Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Unlike many other books on the subject, Tenzin is
clear and concise and offers lots of practical examples.

This book is aimed at beginners to dream yoga, starting with the nature of dreams
and their relationship with reality. He also emphasizes how you can incorporate
dream yoga into your daily life and reap the rewards of this profound lucid dreaming
practice.

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About the author
Rebecca Turner is the founder of World of Lucid Dreaming. She is
currently studying for a science degree in Auckland and becoming
famous as a science writer. Try our free lucid dreaming course and
connect with the team on Facebook and the lucid dream forum.

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6 Comments Sort by Oldest

Add a comment...

Linda Katz Garden City High School

When I lucid dream, and I decide I do not want to be where ever I find myself in my
dream, I know I can go somewhere else, but most of the times I {in my dream} just
shout out "my name" as loud as I can over and over so I will wake up. About three
or four shouts will do it, the funny thing is to remember to watch the faces of the
people in your dream when you , say are standing on a street corner in your dream
and start shouting your own name like a crazy person. They will react to you , back
up and look at you like you have lost your mind. Then as you wake your self up
from the shouting from inside your mind, "not really making any noise of course" ,
as you wake up you can have a smile about the scene you have just caused. If you
would like to talk about dreaming my email is lindakatz@me.com.
Like Reply 2 4 June 2014 23:14

n_inhursag
This is what I need.
Like Reply 22 June 2014 13:18

Nayima Archer Works at New York Yoga

According to Tibetan Dream Yoga, there are two ways of dreaming. One takes
place during our waking hours of daily life. The other occurs in our night dreams. In
passing through the Four Gateways, we come to fully realize that the two types of
dreams are really identical. With this realization comes true Oneness with our
Source and an end to the separation that causes all of our pain.

Nayima
Anamaya Resort and Retreat Center.
www.anamayaresort.com
Like Reply 5 19 August 2014 09:32

Bhavani Lee Works at I want to do something

If lucid dreaming is enlighten then how we can say that it is our last goal? May be
our enlightenment is any type of mental state nothing else like trance etc...and this
state is may be not reality only the mental state. How can we say that SAMADHI is
our last goal and reality?
Like Reply 22 August 2014 04:35

Utkarsh Sanjanwala Teacher Aide at Oaklynn Special School

Lucid Dreaming is a good experience, like a movie or a book. and some lessons
can be learnt from all films, boks, stories and dreams. But it will only take you so
far. Real experience comes from connecting to the higher self, in meditation and
most often in waking state, or even in dream, but it s not the same... In real
experiences, one meets real people, or beings or spirits, in real places or
dimensions on earth or beyond. And its purpose is to learn and develop spiritually.
These are things way beyond the Mind. Real experences seem even more real
than reality. They are not impressions of the mind, and when one comes out of it,
one is TRANSFORMED for good! a permanante ascent or Transformation of
Consciousness is attained by such experience.
Like Reply 1 21 September 2014 03:57

Andrzej Neo-Mahakala Wysocki - at Samsara

i've practiced Lucid Dreaming since a while, had one Lucid Dream already ... now
this repeated with a nightmare dream ...
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