Thread: New Book: Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep

ah good you found it. i saw it some days ago and had in the back of my head to write you end tell you because i know how much you are into tibetan yoga
did you order it already? i think i will order it too but it it pretty expensive here. but i am interested in his approach of writing this topic.

I'm going through the audio presentation now. I prefer reading to listening as I can zero in on the "good bits" must faster. I will get the kindle version of the book, it's not very expensive, $9.99.

I bought the ebook and started reading it. I can confirm that there is basically complete overlap (including the same wording and phrases in places) with the audio CDs, but with a lot more information in the book (in a far more useful form, but that's perhaps just me, I'm a visual learner, and like to skip "fluff" at times). So I recommend the book. The book is definitely Eastern-practice oriented, and his viewpoint is from a Buddhist/spiritual standpoint generally, but includes sections on Western LDing practices as well. Which is not surprising given the title.

It looks so far like a valuable addition to the body of LD/DreamYoga literature. I'l give a more detailed review once I get a bit farther in the text.

Yisss, moar lucid dreaming literature.

OK I'm only up to chapter 8 ("Advanced Meditations and Visualizations"), but I'm ready to declare this book a treasure to our community. The chapter on mindfulness meditation and its relationship to lucidity is brilliant and spot-on. I feel a bit of a sense of deja-vu reading his stuff, a lot of it confirms my "attention, reflection, recall, day and night" theory, very closely in fact!

It's a very exciting book, to anyone at all open to the Eastern/spiritual/Dream Yoga path, it's a must read I think.

I've skimmed ahead to the Dream Yoga practice, then went back and slowly went through the chapters on the levels of the mind, a more challenging section of the book. There is no doubt that this is a Buddhist-focused book. I don't mind because I feel a great deal of appreciation and sympatico with a lot the Buddhist perspective. They are clearly masters at working the mind. Now I'm starting the Dream Yoga section again.

I'm doing throat Ah (my avatar) visualization most nights, and also playing with the 4-petaled lotus visualization, Holecek says to trace out the perimeter in your mind as you fall asleep (among other visualizations).

I'm doing illusory body throughout the day. I've gotten 3 LDs in the last week, after perhaps the longest dry spell in my LD career. I'm very excited that this book provides exactly the right mindset for mindfulness-centered LD practitioners, as I like to think of myself. He gives lots of practical things to experiment with in day practice, nap practice, night practice, etc. I like how he also says that dreaming should be approached with a playful, have fun mindset, in addition to doing the dream practices. Aweome!!!!!

FryingMan: I got the ebook about a week ago and I've been dipping in and out since. I'm really glad you're enjoying it and finding it useful; I've always thought that dream yoga was probably your lucid dreaming "home" but that you hadn't clicked with it. Congrats on those LDs! I've got as far as the chapter on illusory form and wholly agree with your comments on the book, and would even go as far as saying this may be the most important book on lucidity written from a western perspective since ETWOLD. More thoughts to follow!

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

FryingMan: I got the ebook about a week ago ... and would even go as far as saying this may be the most important book on lucidity from a western perspective since ETWOLD. More thoughts to follow!

You are absolutely correct, I feel the same way, and I was even just writing a comment on an amazon review saying the same thing!

I'm getting interested about this " Dream Yoga" and this book because you say that it's as good as ETWOLD which I'm currently reading. Should I buy this book ? I'm completely new to Dream Yoga, but I heard it's not like putting your limbs in all sorts of weird positions etc. and that's good. Also I'm interested if you would recommend these books if you have read them :

Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self - Robert Waggoner
Are You Dreaming?: Exploring Lucid Dreams: A Comprehensive Guide - DL

I would heartily recommend this book. The practice of Dream Yoga itself is entirely mental (well there's a particular recommended position to lie in while sleeping but that's just briefly mentioned). Dream Yoga itself is the practice of becoming lucid in dreams and then performing a number of different activities. As in most things in Buddhist practices, most of the work is in the preparatory exercises leading up to the dream yoga: mindfulness meditation, visualization practices, day practices (illusory form), and so on. If you're at all interested in the ideas of lucidity, awareness, consciousness, mind, spirituality, etc., this book is for you. Even if you have a strictly secular outlook, there are a lot of practical things to do and ways to prepare your mind for lucid dreaming.

I personally didn't get into Waggoner, but maybe I'll give it another try.
DL's book is OK, some things are a nice addition to ETWOLD, but ETWOLD is more or less still the gold standard in terms of Western LD practice.

So the goal of dream yoga is to become lucid and then do the dream yoga in the dream lucidly? Like doing some focus/awareness exercises while lucid ( in a spiritual way ? )?

So you think if one reads ETWOLD he doesn't really need to read the book of DL?

Originally Posted by Saizaphod

So the goal of dream yoga is to become lucid and then do the dream yoga in the dream lucidly? Like doing some focus/awareness exercises while lucid ( in a spiritual way ? )?

Yes, exercises that confirm the illusory nature of experience: changing things (size, number, etc.), walking through walls, creating and facing fears, and so on. There is an advancing collection of exercises to do. And finally, at the higher end, existing in the "clear light mind."

So you think if one reads ETWOLD he doesn't really need to read the book of DL?

I like LD books, it depends if you like to read them, maybe you'd like it. Compared to ETWOLD, I didn't find DL's book groundbreaking. It has some different perspectives on things, but I think ETWOLD plus all the material here on DV is more than enough for the Western approach to LDing.

in my opinion ETWOLD is very good. it was my first book too and i already had good success with the book itself some weeks before i get to dreamviews.
i´ve read both waggoners and DL. with DL i agree with FM. it indeed is in my opinion an addon to ETWOLD. it has some different techniques that are worth a read and the introduction has a little different and fresh perspective but the last 2-3 chapters i didnt like that much.

Waggoners book is different. he does view the whole thing from a different angle. i liked this book because he has a more spiritual or deeper meaning. he talks about the inner self, the unconscious and how to fathom it. there is a different respect to it. i find it interesting and worthy to read but not how do induce lucid dreams but more some ideas what do to with it outside the fun part. its more interesting than necessary to read.

Sounds very interesting. What is the deal with amazon/audible? Can you burn the audio files on to disks?

The Book "Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava's Teachings on the Six Bardos" also has a good chapter on dream yoga you may wish to check out. It is also one of the best books on meditation I have come across.

Originally Posted by Valis1

Sounds very interesting. What is the deal with amazon/audible? Can you burn the audio files on to disks?

The Book "Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava's Teachings on the Six Bardos" also has a good chapter on dream yoga you may wish to check out. It is also one of the best books on meditation I have come across.

Thanks for the suggestion! I don't know if you can extract the audible files outside their app. But I moved immediately from the audio to the "print" (ebook) format as soon as I got it, I far prefer print to audio for learning, it is 100x more efficient in skipping forwards, backwards, and searching. The print book is newer, and has a lot more content in it.