# Lucid Dreaming > Attaining Lucidity > Induction Techniques >  >  tibetan yogas of dream...

## sleepyzac

hello i read "the tibetan yogas of dream and sleep" by tenzin wangyal rinpoche a few years ago but found it to be to rigourous to practice. however since then i have started meditating every day for a half hour, i quit drinking/smoking, etc. and now, having read the book again, i am practicing whole heartedly! i have had many lucid dreams before using MILD and some other techniques from stephen laberge but whenever i stop practicing i stop having them. i'm quite confident the tibetan method will work and am going to update here. the method is CONSTANTLY reminding yourself that you are dreaming, ALL DAY. really feeling it not just saying, or thinking it. in theory if you are always thinking this then it will manifest in your dreams as well which will help you attain lucidity. i have been doing it since the start of march. it is tough because i work at a bank and have to think about lots of math but i feel that with the presence of mind i've acheived through meditation i am suited for this technique now more than ever. wish me luck! if anyone has any questions let me know and i'll be glad to answer. there's a lot more i could say about the yogas and buddhism in general (i've spent some time with chan monks at the temple in missouri).

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## beachgirl

that's it? just reminding yourself all day that you're dreaming? are you getting DILDs then? to what extent do you think the meditation also helps, if you could guess?

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## Darkmatters

Hey Zac, I'll be following your progress. I read the book recently, along with ETWOLD. And I've been meditating twice a day for a couple weeks now, and working on chakras. 

The only thing I didn't like from the book was the idea that, once you attain the level of clear light you no longer have dreams.   :Eek: 


Say what??!! 

Sorry, but I *like* dreams! It's the reason Im here after all. Though now Im reading Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self by Robert Waggoner, and apparently he reached the level of clear light without knowing what it is, just from many years of being an accomplished LDer. And from what he said it isn't the entire time you're sleeping (which is what the book led me to believe), but only at times, and he still has lucids in between.

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## lacerup808

Yeah, so I've started doing this, but it's more than just saying "I'm dreaming" I've been recalling that feeling of "I'm dreaming" that you get when you become lucid. Kinda like when you recall the feeling of a pain pill and it relaxes you (a feeling I used to recall when swallowing any kind of pill, kind of a "pavlov's dog" thing)

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## Xaqaria

The real key is actually realizing that your waking life is no different than you dream life. Not just telling yourself you are dreaming or even trying to believe it, but realizing that being awake is in fact just another dream.

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## sleepyzac

beach girl,
um there's also a bunch of other stuff :wink2:  for example you are supposed to let go of emotional issues. like if someone makes you angry you are supposed to relax (not force it away) and then generate compassion, which is the antidote for anger. there are antidotes for all the emotions. the meditation helps you to learn to be in a state of non-dual awareness. this is where you aren't loving or hating, you just are. if you can go into this state emotions self liberate. there are also practices to be done just before bed that involve complicated breathing and visualizations. if you really want those let me know and i'll explain. then there are visualizations to be done at three wakings in the night that take place in different chakras to cultivate awareness. also you need to write your dreams down obviously. then as you're falling asleep you try to remember the days events as if they were just a dream. and no i've had none yet! i did have a dream that i was becoming paralyzed and i thought about calling for help but then said "i'm just dreaming." and let myself fall and then i woke up. the funny part is I DIDN'T KNOW I WAS DREAMING! so while the practice may be slow going it is doing wonders for my mental state. i had one lucid the last week of february using MILD and just started using this one march first. the guy doesn't say how long it takes to work but in laberges book he says that all day state testing can take up to three months to work but that after this point the dreamer will have a lucid dream every night whether he/she plans to or not. that is what is driving me! super cool!

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## sleepyzac

lacer,
awesome then you're doing it right! tenzin also says that if you become less worried or angry (ie less grasping and aversion) when you say i'm dreaming in a stressful situation then you know you're on the right track.

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## sleepyzac

dark matters, yeah i thought the same thing!!!!!! no dreams?????? wtf??? yeah for that reason i'm not going to go into the depths of this practice and just stick with some lucid applications and meditation during the day! also i'm skipping the end section on how to be aware in sleep. again WTF??? i like sleeping to ha ha! have you had any success? how long have you been doing it?

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## sleepyzac

xangria,
yeah thanx i got that :smiley:  emotional states and the way you percieve the world are in no way real but only signals from your brain and in that sense very much a dream.

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## Baron Samedi

I've practiced some dream yoga, primarily pondering on the illusory nature of reality. It works.

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## sleepyzac

waking nomad,
awesome, how did you transfer awareness to the dream state?

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## sleepyzac

*OK EVERYBODY*, i summed up for beach girl but here's the full update: its been six days and i've had this happen: i'm dreaming i'm standing in my kitchen and i hear a dial up internet tone. i look for the source and follow it to my laundry room where, instead of my phone jack, there is water spattered on the wall. the dial up tone starts to sound like loud white noise static (sh2 noise effect). i start to feel paralyzed and things get dim. i think about yelling for help but then say to myself "i'm just dreaming." and i then felt relaxed and let myself fall. i then woke up. obviously the dream was ending and the dimmness was the sign and the paralysis was my brain linking with my sleep paralyzed real REM body. the funny thing is i DID NOT KNOW I WAS DREAMING! so this means that it may take some time for my dream consciousness to fully integrate the idea that it really is a dream but also that i have created a safety net which makes stress and worry much much weaker! it works in waking life also, stress at work or worry about bills i blow off as "just a dream" and feel much better. although don't get me wrong i'm still doing my job and paying the bills  :wink2: . if i had realized i was dreaming i would have spun in a circle and looked around to prolong the dream. i'm semi frustrated because with the other techniques i've always had results that were pretty solid fairly quickly but i'm confident this will come to a pretty amazing fruition! also i always noticed that with the quick results i always would get lucid and then start doing whatever i wanted to do but felt kind of bogged down by the dream, like i was drunk and lucidity was being leached by this lack of awareness. the 'all day i'm dreaming' thing i believe will fix this issue because i'm constantly focusing on the present moment and analyzing what's happening as a dream so as awareness lacks in dreams i will habitually bring it back for greater awareness and accomplish better dream applications. can't wait to go to bed tonight because i can sleep in, no work tommorow! 

oh p.s. i'm also a little concerned that this is going to produce dreams where i "know" i'm dreaming but still play along with the dream because, for example i'm at work waiting on a customer and i think "i'm dreaming." but continue to help them when if it was a dream i would want to do anything but count money for customers! so we'll see... it's an experiment for a reason...

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## Baron Samedi

> waking nomad,
> awesome, how did you transfer awareness to the dream state?



I was saying to myself, "This is a dream," constantly all day for weeks. That phrase is always running in the back of my mind now in all states. I still do it, like when I go on long walks. Or, I chant the Lotus Sutra.

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## beachgirl

this is a great thread,

i have some injuries and have been reading arnold mindell, "working with the dreambody". he says injuries are frozen dreams. it's a small book, easy to read. 

i want to pay way more attention to my dreams ... like this... all day long. i want to actually start interpreting some of my dreams based on what i'm reading.

he also wrote "dreaming while awake" and i am partially through that, too.

i own some of tenzin's other works too and he is saying alot of the same stuff. it's taking a while for me to take this all as seriously as my body and psyche do. i want to read/possibly practice from his "healing with form, energy and light" - it's sitting on my shelf - i bought it at one of his workshops. he teaches a lot about healing, too ... 

and darkmatters, i loved robert waggoner's book too. very inspiring!

thanks, all, for your input!

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## sleepyzac

> ...thanks, all, for your input!



cool! let me know how your progress goes!

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## sleepyzac

> I was saying to myself, "This is a dream," constantly all day for weeks. That phrase is always running in the back of my mind now in all states. I still do it, like when I go on long walks. Or, I chant the Lotus Sutra.



thanx! i'm glad to hear i'm not wasting my time :smiley:

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## Darkmatters

Zac, Im not really trying the Tibetan Yogas techniques... I've been doing Vipassana (mindfulness meditation) for a couple weeks (mostly to help with LDing, but also for the long-term ego-squelching benefits), and just recently started doing Chakra healing, which is AMAZING! 

After I've been doing this for a while and got better at the meditation thing I might start trying the techniques in the Yogas of Sleep and Dream book. 

But first I'll sit back and see what kind of results you get...   :Shades wink:

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## Baron Samedi

> Zac, Im not really trying the Tibetan Yogas techniques... I've been doing Vipassana (mindfulness meditation) for a couple weeks (mostly to help with LDing, but also for the long-term ego-squelching benefits), and just recently started doing Chakra healing, which is AMAZING! 
> 
> After I've been doing this for a while and got better at the meditation thing I might start trying the techniques in the Yogas of Sleep and Dream book. 
> 
> But first I'll sit back and see what kind of results you get...



I have had amazing results. I shared a dream with Tibetan monks. Search my DJ for the word: monk.

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## sleepyzac

*ok update time* still no lucid but i'm noticing my waking consciousness and my dream consciousness are starting to link up, for example i keep dreaming i'm in my apartment in my morning dreams when this never used to happen. and another example is i referenced my waking thoughts in a dream: i dreamed i was at a bar and when i woke up i felt i dreamed this because i'd been there before but wasn't sure, then in a dream later in the night i dreamed i drove by this place by accident and decided i'd stop in for directions because it was the place i had dreamed about that i had been before... confusing? sorry. a couple nights ago i had a dream that i was going to a dream seminar, so it's definately starting to sink in. also my dream recall is INCREDIBLE!!! i'm remembering around four dreams per night and i keep waking up BEFORE my alarm goes off (i set it for 4.5, 6, and 7.5 hours after bedtime)! i keep waking up frustrated that i'm not having lucid dreams but then using this method throughout the day keeps making me feel GREAT! it's almost like making this habit starts to bring that joyful feeling upon recognizing dreaming into waking life.

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## sleepyzac

> Zac, Im not really trying the Tibetan Yogas techniques... I've been doing Vipassana (mindfulness meditation) for a couple weeks (mostly to help with LDing, but also for the long-term ego-squelching benefits), and just recently started doing Chakra healing, which is AMAZING! 
> 
> After I've been doing this for a while and got better at the meditation thing I might start trying the techniques in the Yogas of Sleep and Dream book. 
> 
> But first I'll sit back and see what kind of results you get...



awesome! i do mindfulness of breathing meditation which i think is the same thing. it's really good for... well everything lol!

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## sleepyzac

> I have had amazing results. I shared a dream with Tibetan monks. Search my DJ for the word: monk.



wait you know tibetan monks? or you shared it in a dream?

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## beachgirl

sleepyzac, some of what you said reminds me of what arnold mindell calls this "flirting with reality" and is part of what he teaches in "lucid dreaming while awake"

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## Robot_Butler

Glad to see it is working for you.  I used to rock the whole dream-yoga practice.  Daytime practice, night time practice.  The works.  I don't do it anymore, because I found it was interfering with other things I like to do with my life.

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## sleepyzac

> sleepyzac, some of what you said reminds me of what arnold mindell calls this "flirting with reality" and is part of what he teaches in "lucid dreaming while awake"



what does this lucid dreaming while awake consist of?

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## sleepyzac

> Glad to see it is working for you.  I used to rock the whole dream-yoga practice.  Daytime practice, night time practice.  The works.  I don't do it anymore, because I found it was interfering with other things I like to do with my life.



yeah i'm pretty much always trying to tame my mind and doing this all day works so i'm cool with that. it's a good habit to keep bad habits at bay. why smoke a cigarette or eat bad food if you're just dreaming? you don't need it. and why get depressed? it's just a dream. etc. the author said you cultivate the ability to alter emotions in the dream state and carry it into waking as well, i look forward to this. any idea why no lucid yet? is it because it's only been nine days? how long did it take you? any tips?

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## Darkmatters

Don't lose patience Zac... remember according to Buddhism, desire is one of the blocks we must get past. 

Are you willing to try adding in other techniques as well, or wanting to stick strictly to the Dream Yoga approach?

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## Mariano

hey , What do you think about awareness on breathing?
Everytime on waking life that I put my awareness on breathing I feel relaxed, and it works pretty similar to always thinking "this is a dream", at least for me.
Like, my mind links awareness on breathing with lucidity(this is what I think)
so it should work.

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## sleepyzac

*update again* alright STILL NO LUCID!!!! grrr maybe i'm being impatient but, while it might sound easy, constantly keeping a certain thing in mind and trying to experience it rather than just think it is HARD WORK!!! i understand why robot and some other people were saying they gave up the practice! although i do still stand by the fact that it has helped me liberate some bad emotion and stress and i think it still will i'm just frustrated with the success speed! i keep considering dream medicine but that's just silly because there's no point in forcing something you can do naturally. it would be like taking a pill to read but once it wore off you're illiterate again lol! oh funny story though i was at the mall with my fiance' and had my eyes dilated from the eye doctor. i came back to where we were sitting in the food court and felt the tables had been moved i asked her if they had and she said 'no'. i thought 'maybe i'm dreaming.' upon checking my digital watch i realized i couldn't read it because of the dilation ha ha ha! i cracked up because that should be a confirmation that you're dreaming. my fiance' said i looked crazy because i was laughing and my eyes looked all tripped out.

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## sleepyzac

> Don't lose patience Zac... remember according to Buddhism, desire is one of the blocks we must get past. 
> 
> Are you willing to try adding in other techniques as well, or wanting to stick strictly to the Dream Yoga approach?



hey thanx a lot! i appreciate the support. i'm willing to try other stuff! ideas?

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## sleepyzac

> hey , What do you think about awareness on breathing?
> Everytime on waking life that I put my awareness on breathing I feel relaxed, and it works pretty similar to always thinking "this is a dream", at least for me.
> Like, my mind links awareness on breathing with lucidity(this is what I think)
> so it should work.



i've thought about this also, you get a nice relaxed feeling i think because both keep mind in the present moment and if there's no concern of past or future there's really no worry. i'm *positive* it helps because about a year ago (i had not been practicing or remembered any lucid dreams in a couple years) i was meditating a lot and also keeping mindfull awareness of my daily life pretty consitently and i had a dream in which i was walking somewhere and with that same constant awareness i easily recognized it as a dream. however because i wasn't practicing i didn't do anything and the dream just continued but none the less awareness of the present is lucidity.

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## Darkmatters

> hey thanx a lot! i appreciate the support. i'm willing to try other stuff! ideas?



Well, what popped into my head immediately is that i got great results from writing my intentions down in my dream journal before going to sleep. If you're not keeping a DJ you might just write them on some paper... for me because I did it in my dream journal it seemed to be a lot more powerful than simply stating my intent in my mind before going to sleep. 

As soon as I started doing that I immediately was able - for the first time - to lie perfectly still without opening my eyes or moving after waking up, for proper DEILD technique. It didn't get me any lucids, but at least it significantly affected my dreaming mind. Just thought I'd throw that out there for ya.

I wrote something to the effect of "I will wake up after each dream. I will lie perfectly still and not open my eyes. I will think about the dream I was just having and imagine myself going back into it. And then I will re-enter the dream and go lucid". Well, 3 out of 4 aint bad, huh? Least that's what Meatloaf says.

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## beachgirl

my understanding is that lucid dreaming is an art form to take up that ripens over the years. i've had a dry spell of two months once (and i only started in aug.) and even now it's different than when i started. i do this for the reward in each moment, lucid or not.

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## lacerup808

what is DEILD? 

OMG, I love when I wake up and can go back into my dream, except when it's about zombies. I have a serious fear of zombies and often have nightmares, force myself to wake up, but then can't stop thinking about the dream and then go right back into it when I fall back to sleep.

By the by I'm started an emergency survival bunker in my basement for natural distasters or zombie attack (Zac, the plan is to bring the baby and Casey to my house, I'll stockpile food, water and weapons, we'll just have to reinforce the doors and windows and wait it out) <<< only half joking :-/

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## Olysseus

I read this book a year or two ago. I like his idea that one should create a peaceful time before one goes to bed each night in order to disconnect the spirit from the outer concerns of the day. I regularly do his three breaths meditation before I go to sleep. It is a quick way to bring calm and peace to the breathing before lying down. 

When I first started doing the meditation I had more lucid dreams, although once it became something of a routine it did not have the same effect anymore.

I awoke one night after reading this book in the middle of the night. I visualized the dakinis and repeated their name as a mantra and slipped right into a lucid dream. 

Overall though I think most of the techniques in the book can only be developed by someone who is really plugged into a Tibetan teacher. That is what the author himself claims. Still it's nice to have a fragmental glimpse of how Tibetans approach lucid dreaming.

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## Darkmatters

> what is DEILD? /



Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream... in other words you wake up from a dream and then go right back to sleep and get back into it, only hopefully as a lucid dream. It's a very abbreviated form of WILD. There are tutorials on the site if you want to look into it. 

Sorry Zac, didn't mean to hijack your thread! 

_I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming._

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## sleepyzac

> Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream... in other words you wake up from a dream and then go right back to sleep and get back into it, only hopefully as a lucid dream. It's a very abbreviated form of WILD. There are tutorials on the site if you want to look into it. 
> 
> Sorry Zac, didn't mean to hijack your thread! 
> 
> _I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming._



thanx! don't apologize, you're tips and stuff are much appreciated :smiley: ! i will try this.

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## sleepyzac

*ok probably last update* i thought i could handle it but it's just too much mental work and i've had noooo results!!!!!! i give up! i'm going to try something else. any suggestions are much welcomed! thanx everybody sorry if i'm letting people down :Sad:

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## sleepyzac

to be fair i do believe that the yogas of dream and sleep are a reliable method so don't take my quitting to mean they don't work! hundreds of years and thousands of people say it works so still check out the book the tibetan yogas of dream and sleep by tenzin wangyal rinpoche but get exploring the world of lucid dreaming by stephen laberge also because he has a good trouble shooting type approach and many different methods to try and tenzin just gives one method and a few tips. but tenzin has loooooooooots of stuff that is just amazing and i haven't seen anywhere else so getting both is a must.

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