Under all conditions during the day, hold to the concept that all things are of the substance of dreams and that you must realize their true nature.
Evans-Wentz, trans.,The Yoga of the Dream State, The Yoga of the Six Doctrines
• Visualize and meditate on the Tibetan syllable “ah,” in the center of your body.
• Keep your awareness on it while you are falling asleep.
• Associate the visual letter with the sound “ahhh.”
• You will fall asleep with virtually full awareness.
• This will enable you to maintain awareness of the full presence of the state of natural light both while dreaming and while deeply asleep
Namkhai Norbu, Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light
1. Go through the day understanding all your experiences as being of the
substance of dreams.
2. Apply rule number one to specific people, objects, or states to which you feel desire and attachment. By recognizing them as a dream, you can weaken your attachment to them. “We say everything is a dream,” Wangyal adds. “Anything you’re attached to, anything that holds your mind, we emphasize that those things are dreams. When you have a cup of coffee, it’s dream coffee. Drive the dream car, meet with the dream boss, have a dreamlike problem. If you see everything like a dream, things happen to you like a dream, and what results will be like a dream too, and it won’t have such a strong effect. It’s a form of detachment. ”
3. As you’re lying in bed before going to sleep, review your day as if you were reviewing a dream. Observe how each action, person, object, or state of being-and your attachment to them-is like a dream. Then create an intention to stay aware during your dreams.
4. Immediately upon waking, review the night to see if you remember any dreams and whether you were lucid within a dream. If you were, try to generate a sense of joy and accomplishment about the practice. If you weren’t successful, then generate an even stronger intention to be more consistent in the practice during the next night.
• Before sleep, practice specialized breathing exercises designed to calm and purify your consciousness.
• Merge your mind with the mind of your spiritual teacher.