Vipassana (mindfulness) induced lucid dream

[allismind]

THIS IS NOT MY POST. It is a method I found few years ago and used it. Quite frankly it is something I used way before I read it but still, I prefer to post the original post an give credits. " i recently learned that lucid dreams can be easily induced by vipassana techniques. i’d like to share what i learned for those who are interested to develop their lucid dreaming skill. i understand that some of the hardcore Theravada practitioners may have objection to this. what does lucid dreaming have to do with “enlightenment”? isn’t it just another distraction along the path? another phenomena to cling to? in general, i agree. however, the practice i’m about to describe is a complement to vipassana, not a replacement. my main intention is not to develop lucid dreaming skill as an end in itself, but as a means for extending awareness in the dream state. think of it as concentration (or samatha) practice. mastering it is not required, but enough proficiency with it could lead to insight. from this perspective, lucid dreaming is just another doorway into the nature of things. for lack of a better term, i’ll call this technique VILD (vipassana induced/initiated lucid dream). it has similarities with MILD (mnemonic induced lucid dream) and WILD (wake induced lucid dream). see Lucid Dreaming Frequently Asked Questions Answered by Lucidity Institute for a description of these techniques. however, VILD is slightly different since it is specifically initiated via vipassana meditation, as opposed to altering sleeping cycles (i.e. WILD). it’s a work in progress. but in my experience, i’m able to have lucid dreams 80% of the time. (need more data points to be more conclusive though). here’s how i do it. i do my meditation practice for 1.25 hours every sitting (one in the morning and one in the evening). in the morning i divide my “sitting” practice. the first half is regular vipassana sitting (Shinzen Young style, see http://bit.ly/sxsPN ). then i do lying down meditation for the second half. below is the algorithmic sequence. 1. 30-45 minutes of sitting vipassana. after this session the body and mind should be peaceful and relaxed. 2. continue with lying down meditation. focus on breathing (rising, falling), relaxation, impermanence. 3. sooner or later you will sense big waves/vibrations (maybe even high pitched ringing in your ears). notice them. label them as “flow”, “expansion”, “contraction”. stay with it. surrender to it. until… 4. WHAM! you’re in a dream state. (note: you might see a flash of light, prior to the change in scenery). initially you might be disoriented or get lost in the dream. but hopefully, the clarity of awareness from the vipassana meditation (step 1), would spill over the dream state and make you lucid. 5. once you’re lucid, you can either continue to explore the dream world. have fun in it (i always fly), OR you can continue with vipassana practice (i.e., noticing the phenomena in the dream state). in my experience, there’s an initial disorientation when i shift to the dream state (step 4). but most of the time, as soon as awareness shifts, i still have some awareness that i’m dreaming and lying down in meditation at the same time. at times, i can even hear myself snoring. then i just note it �� i understand that Tibetans have highly developed dream yoga techniques. but since i choose to practice vipassana, this is my own way of incorporating my practice into the dream world. again, VILD is *not* a replacement for vipassana, it’s my own approach for extending awareness in the dream state and continue with my chosen practice. if you decide to give this a try, let me know how it works for you. we could use more data points. but never let the dream state be a distraction to our waking practice. thanks! ~C " End of quote . Here is the original link for those interested: https://www.c4chaos.com/2009/03/open...id-dream-vild/ This method always works the same way for me. First I lose all my physical senses. It starts with the body... I feel like it simply disappears unless I try hard to think of it or feel it. Simultaneously I start floating and spinning (its always a great feeling, quite fascinating) and then depending of how much I let go and relax I enter the dream. Often if I try too hard or get excited or want to hurry it simply stagnates on that level and I end up giving up because my body gets hot and I start to feel stressed lol. Of course experience and patience thought me to simply "surrender" with awareness. PS: dont expect instant results with this one. Take it as a training. Happy dreaming !D

[Lang]

Interesting. Something to think about. Never heard of that. If you like, I can Edit your OP post and put it in quote tags so, it will be easier for people to read. -------------------------------- MILD (Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dream) and WILD (wake induced lucid dream). Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams And from what I have learned, it is not WILD (Wake Induced Lucid dream), it's: WILD - Wake Initiated Lucid Dream.

[allismind]

yes please <3

[Lang]

It's done. I know that our Admin Sivason has talked about this kind of thing in one of the Yoga. you can also look into that too., I think?? Here: https://www.dreamviews.com/dream-yoga/

[allismind]

Thank you for the efforts. Truly appreciated. I already know those posts, I read them years ago when I was learning here Dreamviews were one of the earlies place I started learning

[Lang]

You're welcome! I think it could also help other members that may be also interested in those links. back on topic!

[WanderAbout]

Hmmm. Over the past ... thirty-five years? I've done six 10-day Vipassana courses, in the Goenka tradition. Each course involves a ten-day period of silence, except for brief discussions with a teacher every now and again, and about eight hours each day sitting on a mat, observing your breath and the sensations in your body. It's quite common to have strong perceptual changes, a bit like psychedelics but without that jittery electric feeling, a lot calmer. You also get a lot of emotional crap coming up, including passionate feelings of dislike or attraction to some of the other people on the course, despite the fact that you don't even make eye contact with them. Well, one of the things I experienced was insomnia. That is a pain, because it's hard enough to sit still for eight hours a day with your eyes shut after a good night's sleep, let alone on three or four hours. So, one night, I was lying in bed, thinking I've absolutely got to get to sleep or I'll be a wreck tomorrow. And then a funny realization struck me: I actually was asleep. I can't quite call it a lucid dream, because in no other way was it like a dream. Perhaps more like an OBE? But I didn't have any feeling of "floating above my body" or being out of my body. I just felt that my body was completely asleep, but I could still think consciously. Never happened any other time, before or since. Honestly, there were so many other weird things going on that I didn't even bring up the issue with the teacher. Anyway, I'm sure he just would have said, Don't worry about it too much. Just try to bring your attention back to your breath. That was what he said to practically everything. By the way, when I did my first course, at the age of about 18 or 20, I forget, I said I'd do seven courses over my life before I decided whether it was really for me or not. Decades later, I'm up to six. I'm not sure I will do the last one. I've moved away from it in my mind.