Deepen your awareness through the Tibetan practice of sleep and dream yoga—both presented here in this “thought-provoking, inspiring, and lucid” guide (Stephen LaBerge, PhD, author of Lucid Dreaming) It is said that the practice of dream yoga deepens our awareness during all our experience: the dreams of the night; the dream-like experience of the day; and the bardo experiences after death. Indeed, the practice of dream yoga is a powerful tool of awakening, used for hundreds of years by the great masters of the Tibetan traditions. Unlike in the Western psychological approach to dreams, the ultimate goal of Tibetan dream yoga is the recognition of the nature of mind or enlightenment itself. "If we cannot carry our practice into sleep," Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche states, "if we lose ourselves every night, what chance do we have to be aware when death comes? Look to your experience in dreams to know how you will fare in death. Look to your experience of sleep to discover whether or not you are truly awake."

In the modern era Sigmund Freud observed that the most common dreams are typically the product of our anxieties and preoccupations. The prevalence of common dreams has spawned mechanistic type theories by contemporary scientists hypothesizing the inconsequentiality of all dreams. In this book I have attempted to balance the slate by consolidating information as to the function and meaning of dreams, and the transcendent possibilities they represent. In contrast to the aforementioned quasi scientific theories, rich Dream Yoga traditions attribute mystical and trans-personal value to some classes of dreams. Tibetan Buddhist Dream Yoga masters, along with teachers from other traditional cultures, recognizes that, while it is true that many dreams are relatively inconsequential in regards to content, some dreams have great significance.

An “accessible look at the ways we can access the hidden adventures within our dreams and stretch our imaginations into the realm of enlightenment” through lucid dreaming and dream yoga (San Francisco Book Review) Some of the greatest of life’s adventures can happen while you’re sound asleep. That’s the promise of lucid dreaming, which is the ability to alter your own dream reality any way you like simply by being aware of the fact that you’re dreaming while you’re in the midst of a dream. There is a range of techniques anyone can learn to become a lucid dreamer—and this book provides all the instruction you need to get started. But B. Alan Wallace also shows how to take the experience of lucid dreaming beyond entertainment to use it to heighten creativity, to solve problems, and to increase self-knowledge. He then goes a step further: moving on to the methods of Tibetan Buddhist dream yoga for using your lucid dreams to attain the profoundest kind of insight.

Lucid dreaming—becoming fully conscious in the dream state—has attracted legions of those seeking to explore their vast inner worlds. Yet our states of sleep offer much more than entertainment. Combining modern lucid dreaming principles with the time-tested insights of Tibetan dream yoga makes this astonishing yet elusive experience both easier to access and profoundly life-changing. With Dream Yoga, Andrew Holecek presents a practical guide for meditators, lucid dreamers ready to go deeper, and complete beginners. Topics include: meditations and techniques for dream induction and lucidity, enhancing dream recall, dream interpretation, working with nightmares, and more.

A visual presentation of Tibetan yoga, the hidden treasure at the heart of the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist tradition • Explains the core principles and practices of Tibetan yoga with illustrated instructions • Explores esoteric practices less familiar in the West, including sexual yoga, lucid dream yoga, and yoga enhanced by psychoactive substances • Draws on scientific research and contemplative traditions to explain Tibetan yoga from a historical, anthropological, and biological perspective • Includes full-color reproductions of previously unpublished works of Himalayan art Tibetan yoga is the hidden treasure at the heart of the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist tradition: a spiritual and physical practice that seeks an expanded experience of the human body and its energetic and cognitive potential. In this pioneering and highly illustrated overview, Ian A. Baker introduces the core principles and practices of Tibetan yoga alongside historical illustrations of the movements and beautiful, full-color works of Himalayan art, never before published. Drawing on Tibetan cultural history and scientific research, the author explores Tibetan yogic practices from historical, anthropological, and biological perspectives, providing a rich background to enable the reader to understand this ancient tradition with both the head and the heart. He provides complete, illustrated instructions for meditations, visualizations, and sequences of practices for the breath and body, as well as esoteric practices including sexual yoga, lucid dream yoga, and yoga enhanced by psychoactive plants. He explains how, while Tibetan yoga absorbed aspects of Indian hatha yoga and Taoist energy cultivation, this ancient practice largely begins where physically-oriented yoga and chi-gong end, by directing prana, or vital energy, toward the awakening of latent human abilities and cognitive states. He shows how Tibetan yoga techniques facilitate transcendence of the self and suffering and ultimately lead to Buddhist enlightenment through transformative processes of body, breath, and consciousness. Richly illustrated with contemporary ethnographic photography of Tibetan yoga practitioners and rare works of Himalayan art, including Tibetan thangka paintings, murals from the Dalai Lama’s once-secret meditation chamber in Lhasa, and images of yogic practice from historical practice manuals and medical treatises, this groundbreaking book reveals Tibetan yoga’s ultimate expression of the interconnectedness of all existence.

Chogyal Namkhai Norbu examines the sprirtual path from the viewpoint of Dzogchen.

In Awakening the Luminous Mind, meditation teacher Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche guides you to find refuge within instead of searching for support outside of yourself. Using the heart instructions of Dawa Gyaltsen, an 8th-century Tibetan meditation master, as a vehicle to guide contemplative practice, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche opens your eyes to the gifts hidden in your ordinary experiences. The meditations presented in the book and on the accompanying audio download provide a direct way to meet the challenges of life as we encounter them. Fully incorporating these practices into daily life will help you open and transform your perceived limitations into unlimited possibilities. They will help you dissolve self-doubt and self-judgment, and discover the wisdom and light inherent within you in every moment. Awakening the Luminous Mind completes a series of three books that present meditation instructions and practices to help readers discover the treasury of the natural mind.