Sivason's Dream Yoga Introduction Thread. Read This First.

[Sivason]

Sivason's Dream Yoga Introduction Thread. Read This First. What is Yoga? Strictly speaking it is any system where exercise or practice can lead to improvement in that area. It is what we may call a discipline or an art. The modern and deeper concept is that this exercise is of a nature to help bring spiritual awareness in the practitioner. Is this stuff a religion? NO! Not in the form I will present it. The authors of many of the reference materials are from eastern religions and cultures. However, the skills that you will learn are just skills and deeper self awareness, they should fit nicely into any members religion. In the advanced topic section, open minded topics may not be some peoples style. If religious and intense topics like astral dreams bother anyone, just skip the particular advanced topic. All other threads will be non offensive to any religion. What is Dream Yoga? Any system of training that develops the skills of the yogi (you) while asleep. WILD is an example. This is a Dream Yogi Trance. I am not planning on teaching WILD here. It is a classic Dream Yoga skill, so all of you should also take Sageous' class that focuses on WILD. I will explore other aspects of the dream yoga art. In my mind it should advance your self awareness, and increase your LD skills in the same way exercise improves an athlete. Dream yoga can be simply how you master LDs or you can take it much further into self exploration and deep emotional experiences.How do I get started? Start a thread to use as your note book in DVA forum. Include the word "yoga" and your user name in the title. You can have fun with the name. For example: Sivason's What the Heck is Yoga Book. The first lesson will be posted on Wed 05/09/12. I will offer 3 courses. Each will have a few lessons. You should understand now that this stuff takes a long time to get good at. I will spread the lessons out so that there is time to practice each skill. Here is a break down of how I plan on organizing the Dream Yoga Class: 1) Review of Literature Course In each lesson I will introduce a text that would be hard for many people to read. Many of the mystical texts and related books on this subject are confusing and dry. The intent of these lessons is that the student receive the important ideas from each text, in a clear and reduced manner. The required home work will be to post in your notebook. I will either have you make any general observation that comes to you, or I will have you comment on a basic related concept. An on going discussion of the ideas each book covers can take place on the lesson thread, as long as it stays to what the individual book has in it. Deeper exploration of most topics will be reserved for the Select Topics Course.Each book will be one lesson, but it will likely be broken up into digestible portions. This material can be heavy. The first lesson will cover "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep" and will be divided into about 3 parts. I just received this book from Amazon because at least 6 members said they have it. I think starting with a book many of you already own is the best idea. It was recommended as the easiest to read. Oh my God! I could fall asleep in a few minutes if I was listening to someone read it to me! Do not get me wrong. The author is a Rinpoche, a very powerful and astounding thing. They are a clan of Yogi who can retain their rank and friends lifetime after lifetime. They go out and find the reincarnation of each Rinpoche; the Dali Lama is the head of the Rinpoche. So I respect him as a powerful being. However, he has to write a whole book in a non-native language on a topic that is already hard to explain. The next lessons will cover books that either I will choose or books that I receive a request for. To complete the course the student must complete the home work for at least 3 of the lessons. 2) Basic Understanding Course. In each lesson I will introduce a few basic concepts of Yoga and eastern mystic traditions. The lesson thread may then be used for on going basic questions on each concept. I reserve in depth discussions for the Select Topic Course. The intent of these lessons is for the student to understand all the standard and basic references that are used when discussing this topic. To complete the course, the student will post in their workbooks, for every lesson to date. I will have you post on a general idea or ask for you to relate an idea as you see it in regards to your own life. Lesson #1 will cover Yoga, Mudras, Chakras, and Mantra. 3) Basic Skills Course Each lesson will teach a yogic skill to the student. Home work will be more intense for this section. You will be expected to practice these skills and comment on your progress. Lesson #1 will be Sensory Awareness Meditation. 4) Select Topics These lessons will be ongoing group discussions on a wide range of topics. I will explain how to use the information and skills you have learned in the first 3 courses. I will not be releasing any of these lessons at first. I want to see a little commitment by a few students first. I am not that strict, so the first lesson won't be to far off. To complete the lesson the student must have posted on the thread some thing that will convince me to 'like' your post. I do not want posts that are designed to agree with me. I will 'like' any reasonable attempt to express your own thoughts on the topic. 5) Advanced Yoga If a student has completed most of the homework up to date for each course above, they can participate in these lessons. Lesson #1 will be Kundalini: Part 1. This first lesson will become available after I have had members post in three select topics.

[Sivason]

I would like any one who wants to take this class, to post a reply here. You can also feel free to tell me if any certain topic intrests you. Feel free to tell anything about your own life you want to share. I am a 41 year old male, born and raised in Idaho, USA. That is one of the Rocky Mountain states. I started being interested in this stuff when i was in high school. One of my interests is meeting dream guides. I look forward to hearing from lots of people!

[Dark_Merlin]

Wonderful! I'm so happy that you have made this class, and from the way you have set the lesson plan I can tell you've thought about it a lot. 'Teaching' dream yoga as has been discussed before is a particularly hard thing to do, but I am hopeful that this course will be successful I am Alex, a 17 year old male from the east coast of Australia. I've been focussing on LDing for just over a year now and have had pretty good success. My father was deeply interested in meditation when he was younger, after being taught by his father. He delved into the side of being able to create your own reality - sending your intent out and having the universe bring to you the things you want. He raised me with this mindset - that anything is possible, and that's what made me end up delving into lucid dreaming. A couple of years ago I discovered on my own a couple of very basic energy exercises, and when I came back to DV last year joined the DVASA and learned a lot more about energy control, chakras and so forth. I've had a couple of interesting experiences with healing, telepathy, dream sharing etc and I'm interested to see where the advanced part of this course could take me. I haven't been practicing lately and I think it will be good for me to kick back into gear!

[nzshaman]

COOOOOOOOL!!!!!!! Ive been interested in dream yoga for ages, just haven't found a interesting way to learn about the practices, as you said some of the texts can be a bit dry anyways my names Dan im a 20 year old from the Kapiti coast, new zealand. ive been meditating for bout 2 years now, i mainly use a soham mantra but often mix it up a bit with some Taoist and zen practices and some of my own methods. ive been practicing lding for lil bit under a year and had many successes with dilds and wbtbs but cant get the hang of wilding at will during the day. im keen to learn dream yoga to help me refine my lding and get my day time wilds on lock

[hermine_hesse]

I am very excited for this class! I love how everything is planned out with clear lesson plans and assignments. Thank you, Sivason for sharing all this knowledge with us. A little about myself: I am 28 years old and live in Louisiana. (I am actually in the middle of a relocation to Texas, which unfortunately hasn't been great for LD's). I started having lucid dreams when I was around 8. I have practiced LD techniques on and off for about ten years, but have only been truly dedicated on a daily basis for about six months now. I have been interested in meditation and Tibetan Buddhism for many years, as well. I recently read the Tibetan Yogis of Dream and Sleep and look forward to further developing these techniques. In lucid dreams, I am interested in encountering alien entities and astral planes - something I suspect has only happened to me a few times so far. I want to expand my consciousness and views of reality beyond what I think possible.

[Sivason]

I have been interested in meditation and Tibetan Buddhism for many years, as well. I recently read the Tibetan Yogis of Dream and Sleep and look forward to further developing these techniques. In lucid dreams, I am interested in encountering alien entities and astral planes - something I suspect has only happened to me a few times so far. I want to expand my consciousness and views of reality beyond what I think possible. See if you would enjoy any thing like these two dreams. At first the topics will be less contraversial. I will help with that kind of thing too in some of the select or advanced topics. 03/09/12 Going to an ASTRAL Lecture DILD with other wordly stuff... - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views 02-19-12 First Astral City experience in this journal. - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views Thanks for showing an intrest. I will try to be helpful.

[Sivason]

The first lesson will be posted in the new DVA sub forum on the 11th. I said the 9th before, but I misunderstood. I plan on starting two threads within a few days of that date. Lesson 1: Basic Understanding and Lesson 1: Basic Skills I will make sure that the Sensory Awareness Meditation is posted as early as I have access to my pc on the 11th.

[Arch]

I'll probably end up taking the class, isn't the objective to stay conscious throughout the night? Have you achieved this? I'm 17, from England and go to college there now, not much to me

[Sivason]

I'll probably end up taking the class, isn't the objective to stay conscious throughout the night? Have you achieved this? I am not sure whose goal that is. It is probably one of the books. No, that is not my focus. I can stay conscious in sleep, but that is just the same as a WILD attempt. What the goal is, is to learn more about your own nature and encourage personal growth,or some important sounding stuff like that I actually like regular sleep a lot. I would not choose to stay fully aware all night.

[Arch]

I am not sure whose goal that is. It is probably one of the books. No, that is not my focus. I can stay conscious in sleep, but that is just the same as a WILD attempt. What the goal is, is to learn more about your own nature and encourage personal growth,or some important sounding stuff like that I actually like regular sleep a lot. I would not choose to stay fully aware all night. Interesting, well I would mainly be attempting to stay aware ALL night, so do you think I can learn to do so from the course?

[hermine_hesse]

See if you would enjoy any thing like these two dreams. At first the topics will be less contraversial. I will help with that kind of thing too in some of the select or advanced topics. 03/09/12 Going to an ASTRAL Lecture DILD with other wordly stuff... - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views 02-19-12 First Astral City experience in this journal. - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views Thanks for showing an intrest. I will try to be helpful. Yes, this is definitely what I am interested in. I can't say for sure whether I have visited astral cities or not yet. I have definitely been to locations (in lucids, non-lucids, and imagery while falling asleep) that seem surreal, vivid, and almost to come from outside me. It is interesting that in the first dream you listed on 3/09, I had a similar experience around the same time. Climbing a Cliff with my Dream Guide In the past few months, there are three DC's I've encountered that I believe to be entities (although one may be a human dreamer). One is my Dream Guide which has appeared to me twice in a short time span, but not again since. The other two I have just seen once. I am really interested in encountering all of these three entities again and learning from them.

[Sivason]

Arch, Yes, if that is your goal you can reach it using the things I will teach. It is the kind of goal that you should give yourself a decade or so to reach, and enjoy every aspect of getting there. The main things I hope members will get out of this, are that they have the basic skills needed to explore further on their own, and that they have access to guidance and answers along the way. I will teach enough that if the student gives it many years of their attention they should be able to do any dream or meditation goal. The staying fully aware while the body is sleeping, is almost more of a WILD topic. Like I mention above, Sageous is going to be teaching on that specific yogic skill, so his course is likely to cover the material faster. I hope the skills I teach will still be useful to you in one way or another. The earlier lessons will be tuned more in the direction of self awareness, and skillls that are the foundation of inner awareness. Hermine, it is interesting that both dreams have the same elements. Very cool. Work with entities is a slow process, again a wonderful goal to spend a decade prefecting! I hope you see my theme. You will both be able to do any of the dream yoga stuff if you are willing to stick to it.

[RareCola]

This all sounds fascinating, can't say I've ever heard of dream yoga before. I'm still learning to lucid dream though so I fear that dream yoga may have to wait until I've accomplished that goal.

[Sivason]

This all sounds fascinating, can't say I've ever heard of dream yoga before. I'm still learning to lucid dream though so I fear that dream yoga may have to wait until I've accomplished that goal. You should at least learn the basic skills stuff. It will develop your brain so you will become lucid. The first stuff will be good for even those who have not been lucid in a dream yet. Or, just check back in a few months from now after reaching some of your basic goals.

[Ctharlhie]

I'm quite interested in attending as I've recently read 'The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep' and started integrating dream yoga into my MILD induction.

[Despierto]

My name is Daban, im 17 and I'm interested in dream yoga, and pretty much everything that could develop good awareness. I've read the book The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, I've picked up a lot from it.

[Strit]

I'll like to participate. I'm 29 and from Copenhagen. I'm mostly into learning about alternate states of consciousness and what is possible for our mind, and less into the more mystical things, though I find myself getting further away from my secular upbringing and starting to believe in more than my eyes can see. I'll go to this with an open mind as best I can. I've been wanting to learn to meditate for many years but have never been serious enough about it. I once went to a 10-days silent retreat and meditation course i Thailand and I've been taking yoga classes that had meditation as a part of them, but still I seem to be very bad at focusing on anything for more than a couple of minutes. So I'm really looking forward to the Basic skills course. I'll go order "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep" right away. -Strit Oh, and where exactly should i locate my notebook? Is it in the general DVA forum or in the "Dream yoga (Sivason)" subforum? Edit: this thread got moved while I wrote, so I guess that answers my question about the notebook

[Linkzelda]

I would like to participate as well. Hello, my name is Brandon, and I'm going to be a sophomore attending a University here in Texas during the fall semester. I've been very passionate for attaining lucidity every since my friend Ryan mentioned this forum to me. Of course, I was always skeptical at first, but the moment when I took his advice to just believe that I will have a dream that I'm aware of, I was able to recall them fairly well. Since then, it's been a chain of just being motivated in remembering my dreams, and I because I had a lifestyle that promoted a lot of solitude (still do today), Dreaming itself has become an aspect that is important in my life. Dreams are the only thing that I can hold true to in this world. I'm not really too comfortable declaring my view on the world, it's always changing, but since I've had a few lucids and practiced augmenting my dream recall for the entries I've posted, there's always the speculation of another afterlife for me. But I will keep that reserved in the workbooks, if I'm capable for this course. Ever since I had a lucid dream, I've always was interested in finding my dream guide(s). Although I would like to believe the mentality of there being one dream guide in many forms, I'm open to being cognizant of the possibility that I have several individual and unique dream guides. From my dreams, I can recall several entities claiming to be my dream guide, but there has only been one lucid or two where I personally asked someone if they were my dream guide. I had a non-lucid a few months ago where a blonde female claimed to be my dream guide, and since then, I wanted to attain lucidity to hopefully find her and ask her the question to confirm if she really is a dream guide. She also gave me a gray letter, but she was in a rush, maybe she had to run away from someone, but she wanted me to hold on to it. I've been fantasizing to meet this person not only just for personal means, but to confirm if this letter contained something important. I've met her a few times after that moment, but most of them have been non-lucids. The most important non-lucid with her was when she helped me sneak into the Akashic Records that were full of guards. I've learned from that dream that I shouldn't have been reckless by attracting guards just for the sake of playing a game, seeing as once a guard was aware of our location, a random entity shot the same person helping me. Having that non-lucid elevated my belief that she really could be my dream guide, and she was quiet most of the time, but I followed her and paid attention to her movements rather than talking to her. I am open to the possibility to shared dreaming, astral projection/obes, because I've had several shared dreaming events with DV members that I think I'm comfortable to declare as true dream friends. Not only do I want to become lucid for adventure, I want to be able to practice utilizing it as something I can apply to waking life (practicing how to do a certain lab, so that I can do it flawlessly, or near it, and so many other things like studying, remembering, etc.) I know that this course will focus on Dream yoga, and not WILD, which is why I've signed up for the WILD course as well. I think that after the Akashic Records dream, I need to focus on mental awareness, freeing my mind, focusing on deeper parts of it, and attain lucidity consistently. I lucid dream to find a purpose in life, not to just be swayed by the concepts that society has accepted to be normal. I want to see it in a different light. I'm observant of the people around me, and I think more than I talk in waking life. I do it because I want to see how humans interact, so that I can become aware of my emotions and schemata of life as well. Although my mindset right now seems to be shifting towards the WILD course, I am always happy to learn what you have to offer, it's best to take in the information now than later, at least for me. And awareness is something I need to work on with seriousness, because I know I have the ability to recall my dreams very well, all I need now is to practice awareness, so that I don't miss out the events that are abnormal in my dreams. I look forward to participating in the course. I apologize for the long introduction.

[LaBerge]

Hey, I'm Kayo from Amsterdam, 20 years old. I'm very interested in deep meditation/dream yoga.. I don't believe in anything supernatural, however I do believe in the power of the mind. LDing opened up a whole new world to me. I'm very grateful of all the info DV has provided me and I'm anxious to find out what you can teach me.

[Sivason]

I am glad to see lots of people interested in what I plan on teaching! Thanks! I am about to post the first lesson. Please start workbooks now, by starting a thread in the Dream yoga sub-forum. Just start a new thread and title it creatively. Include your user name and the word yoga in the title.

[spacebaba]

Im so interested!!! Great to see this is starting up. Im 22, I just graduated from college im from FL. I have been interested in states of consciousness, introspection, and exploration since high school. My interest in lucid dreams and dreaming has followed since then with specific practice only moreso applied within the past year. Dream yoga is very much of interest to me, as is raising awareness and quieting the mind. I havent read the Tibetan yogas of sleep and dreams you spoke of but I did read another dream yoga book within the past year. I have had LDs off and on this past year and my dreams have become clearer as well. I believe I have met a dream guide in a few dreams, I didnt ask him however. It was a shaman, the first dream I met him at was at a fire he was playing the drum and transforming. He gave me a gift in my hand, I didnt open it in the dream. Then that same week his drumming came again in a nap and it raising my energy I felt a huge surge of energy going up and stopped at the sacral but I became lucid for a bit and floated up out of my bed. Im very grateful to have you teaching this class and I look forward to growing with you.

[icebird3]

I am glad to see lots of people interested in what I plan on teaching! Thanks! I am about to post the first lesson. Please start workbooks now, by starting a thread in the Dream yoga sub-forum. Just start a new thread and title it creatively. Include your user name and the word yoga in the title. I joined this site 3 years ago when I took LDing seriously in 2008 and started having them. I've since lost touch with it but I've gotten much more into meditating and creating higher awareness. I'm 24 and live mostly in the midwest but I travel around constantly for work. I also found a love for Yoga last year and have been practicing regularly now (5-6 times a week) for about 8 months. I had never even heard of Dream Yoga before but for some reason this concept really resonates with me right now. I understand completely what you're saying about discipline being the ultimate practice of Yoga. It's very true and one of the reasons I decided to make it a regular part of my life and not just attend every now and then. I've been trying to LD for the past 2 months keeping a dream journal but haven't been focused too much on it. I really want to start working harder at it though and this seems like the perfect opportunity! How fortuitous that you created this course the very day I decide to come back to this forum and get inspiration to focus more on LDing! I've never heard of this book you mentioned so I'm going to get it right away on my iPad and check it out! I saw you mentioned you just posted the first lesson today so I'll fill out the workbook right away!

[Sivason]

I believe I have met a dream guide in a few dreams, I didnt ask him however. It was a shaman, the first dream I met him at was at a fire he was playing the drum and transforming. He gave me a gift in my hand, I didnt open it in the dream. Then that same week his drumming came again in a nap and it raising my energy I felt a huge surge of energy going up and stopped at the sacral but I became lucid for a bit and floated up out of my bed. That is really cool! I think that sounds like powerful Dream Guide stuff. I have experienced that they can be short on words at first. I have never flat out asked anyone if they were my dream guide. If it happens that straight foreward for anyone, then that is awesome for them. In my case the first time a dream entity got close to my face and raised its voice at me, I went running like a scared teen age girl in a horror flick! That woman was later to be my dream guide for about 14 years. The class will not be about that kind of stuff until the select topic offerings. I want everyone, regardless of religion, atheism, or distaste for unprovable topics, to be able to complete the course, learn what they can, and not have offensive ideas thrust upon them. After the select topics start opening up, we can really go into details on this sort of thing. !!! The first lesson has been posted !!! Here is the link.... http://www.dreamviews.com/f157/dream...6/#post1877129

[Ichorid]

Hi everyone, I'm 24 years old and currently living in the UK. I'm just back from vacations and very excited to see this course is underway! I've been lucid dreaming for about 1 year and looking for some deeper introspection and an exploration of the unconscious when LD'ing. I believe that through dream yoga I will acquire very useful skills and expand my mind's horizons. I'm also comfortable with meditation teachings, as I've been practising frequently for about 2 years. I'm very excited, thank you sivason for taking the initiative to teach *goes to practice*

[realdealmagic]

I'm definetely gonna join in on this one!