WILD and Absorption Meditation

[ImpossibleMinds]

I have recently started practicing samatha or absorption meditation. You focus on the breath and go through various stages towards the first jhana (described as a feeling of rapture and joy). My question is: If someone becomes proficient at this type of meditation, could they use it for mastering WILD and if so, why isn't this specific meditation talked about a lot more for lucid dreaming (or perhaps it is, I'm new to DV!)? (Wasn't sure if this should have been posted in WILD or meditation)

[Oneirin]

Dream Yoga practitioners in the east - Dzogchen as well as Bon Buddhist I believe - use shamatha meditation as a major part of their daytime practice. In "Dreaming Yourself Awake" Alan B. Wallace describes why this type of meditation is so important in developing the mind, and why it's used by these traditions. He basically says that you need to build the power of the mind to focus on one object of concentration. Now when turned to the 'space of the mind' as the object, we are becoming much better at recognizing with strong awareness our inner states/experience, yet with non-involvement/non-grasping. This type of shamatha meditation is called 'settling the mind in its natural state". With shamatha, the object of concentration is really up to you. I would defintely say that building the power of sustained focus on any object would greatly help with the WILD transition. For example, many of these traiditions focus on visauls in the throat (see dream lotus and flame technique in LaBerge's book) Sivason's dream yoga course could give you some really good exercises in this area.

[DoubleHelix]

As a practicing Buddhist for ~15 years, I feel qualified to comment on meditation...but less so on its relationship to acquiring lucidity in one's dreams. Falling asleep consciously ("WILD") is anathema to meditation in at least one sense...you're not supposed to fall asleep while meditating! Also, if you are going to focus on something "single pointedly" in meditation (breathing in your example) that object of meditation is not all that helpful in achieving lucidity in your developing dream. On those occasions when I attempt a WILD, my single-pointed focus (i.e. object of meditation) as I physically relax my corporeal self is more akin to "I am aware that I am dreaming..." than on my breathing, which takes care of itself and needs no particular focus. Otherwise, I just fall asleep without the INTENTION to acquire lucidity and the WILD will fail. Both of those things need to occur more or less simultaneously (fall asleep consciously with the intention to lucidly dream) and so (IMHO) focusing ONLY on breathing leaves out the critical element of INTENTION to achieve lucidity. I hope my poor explanation helps.

[ImpossibleMinds]

Thank you for your reply Oneirin, I have come across the dream lotus technique and completely forgot about it! I will definitely be ordering the Alan Wallace book and will have a look at the dream yoga course.

[ImpossibleMinds]

DoubleHelix, yes that explains it perfectly. Next time I WILD I'll try using single pointed focus on a mantra/the intention to have a lucid dream. I assume my waking meditation practice focusing on the breath will make this easier. Thank you for your reply!