Concise Dream Yoga Practice Description
This is not complete description of the entire practice—we will go into it further in the container— but enough to get you started:
In Dream Yoga practice, we can visualize a four-petaled lotus in the throat with Amithaba in union sitting on it, “Om” (ༀ) in the center, and “ANUTARA” syllables across the four petals. (ཨཱ་ནུ་ཏ་ར). Imagine your throat and body filling with red light from Amithaba’s heart expanding out to all the buddhas and returning to Amithaba’s heart as you prepare for sleep, as you recite silently, in your mind, OM ANUTARA. Remind yourself to catch the dream at night over and over mentally. When you wake up, whether or not you had a lucid dream, dedicate the merit of this practice for the benefit of all sentient beings (including yourself!).
This practice is an excerpt from the Yuthok Nyingthik—the “Heart Essence” of the Yuthok lineage, which is a non-monastic, layperson-oriented, medical and spiritual path to enlightenment within Tibetan vajrayana buddhism.
What to do when you wake up within the dream?
Relax! If you get too excited, you are likely to actually rouse yourself out of sleep!
Then, you can explore the dream world: change aspects of your environment or yourself. You can fly, go through walls, underground or underwater. You can visit your wisdom guardians and council. Experiment with transforming anything and everything: time, space, multiplying things and making many things one. You can shut your “dream eyes” and practice in the clear light. Practice meditations and visualizations. Have fun recognizing that all is mind-made!
