I probably started studying of dream yoga when I found the Tibetan Book of the Dead in highschool. Ram Dass, Surya Das, Ken Wilber and Sogyal Rinpoche soon informed me deeper. Finally, a weekend dream yoga retreat with Lama Surya Das in Kansas cemented it into my practice, and I have been practicing it ever since.
It’s funny; In high school my mother gave me The Art of Happiness, which I read three times and profoundly changed my views toward spirituality. And then in college my mother gave me a dream yoga retreat for my birthday, which seriously strengthened my practice. My mother has always been very supportive.
But I remember when I told her about the basic principles of dream yoga she immediately, in a kind of panicky voice, replied
“But you know that if you jump in front of a bus you will die, don’t you? This is not just a dream.”
I know, mom! The point of dream yoga isn’t to imagine this world as wonderland, but to awaken. Emptiness is one with all states; it's the common ground that connects the waking, dreaming, and sleeping states. It's the only thing that’s constant, and being awake for the state changes inside your mind will help reflect to you that ever-present witness who never changes-- the Timeless One that is Whole and Empty. It’s integral post-metaphysics, not delusional fantasies.
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