The notes below are designed to give prospective readers an idea of what to expect from the book, and to aid in making a decision on whether to buy it.
Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light, Chogyal Namkhai Norbuoga
General Notes
25% of sleep is dreams. It is the first phase of REM sleep.
Freud suggested that dreams are symbols and wishes for fulfillment, based upon sexual desires.
Jung believed that sleep enters us into a collective unconscious, not just sexually based.
Carl Sagan believed that dreams are the uninhibited right brains.
Buddhist text on sleep is the Mahamay Tantra. We do not lie in ignorance like a corpse, but we enter unwavering attention and recognize the body. We can mix sleep and reality.
Buddha suggested reality is like a shooting star. Dreams of life are not divisional. Dreams occur at night.
After-death states of chikha or sidpai bados.
Dreams cease when awareness becomes absolute.
Dreams are either karmic (rare) from past lives or from something that troubles you deeply or from the clarity of mind.
Early morning sleep is the least deep and the clarity is the best. Easiest to remember this sleep.
After death there are four or five lights. Dzogahans believed five with 5th the state of self-perfectness (sidpai bardos), but tantra believes in four lights after death.
Total focus is the key.
Breathing there is a nine-fold focus or Yantra yoga. Everything moves into balance.
Dreams are just awareness.
Disorder can come from joy becoming sorrow or concentration becoming non concentration.
Practical Tips
Applying practice to dreams is 9x more effective than trying it when awake.
If you are agitated then envision a sign of a UV (Tibetan) or A (one, then many up and down center of the body). They should be white. The UV makes the sounds Ahh. Or focus on Aumm. Relax slowly. You can try different colors if you like.
If you fall asleep too fast women should lie on right side and close right nostril.
Observe things if you cannot sleep.
You can change a dream. Make something ugly beautiful. Change the energy. Visit a teacher. Solve a problem.
Three steps:
-
Examine your dream
-
Control it. Make a female, male. Make something big small, etc. Make a snake into a nice person. It can be more difficult with karmic traces but it’s always possible
-
Find karmic traces
Breathe via different nostrils. Not all from one nostril.
Imagine the A on the forehead and if not then a red dot either on the forehead or at the throat.
Hold the dream. Inhale all that is unique from it. Hold the prana inside of you. Visualize the HAM or a white UV.