The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

We sleep one third of our lifetime, an average of 20 - 25 years. Centuries ago, Tibetan yogis developed spiritual practices that use dream and sleep as a spiritual path. Dream is a meeting place -- life meets death, the past and future blend, practitioners can meet dakinis, teachers and guardians, and the personal meets the impersonal. The practice of dream yoga is not done only during the night. In its complete form it is a practice that spans every moment - waking and sleeping. Foundational practices, done during the day, change the practitioner's relationship to all experience, developing strong presence and the awareness of the dream-like nature of life. These practices lead to lucidity in dreams. Lucid dreams are then used for higher spiritual practices. Ultimately, the dream practice gives way to the pure experience of the natural state of mind, the inseparable unity of emptiness and luminosity that is the base of the mind and all that exists.

Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is one of only a few masters of the Bon Dzogchen tradition presently living in the West. An accomplished scholar in the Bon Buddhist textual traditions, Tenzin Rinpoche completed a rigorous 11-year course of traditional studies at the Bonpo Monastic Center (Menri Monastery) in India, where he received his Geshe degree. In 1992 Tenzin Rinpoche founded Ligmincha Institute in order to preserve and introduce to the West the religious teachings and arts of the ancient Tibetan Bon Buddhist tradition. Rinpoche is known for his engaging teaching style, his ability to make profound teachings highly relevant and practical, and his skill in bringing Western students to clear, direct understanding through personal experience. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's books include: The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep; Healing with Form, Energy, and Light; Wonders of the Natural Mind; and Tibetan Sound Healing.