On Sleep and Dreams

Meditation and the sleeping/dream state are connected in that they both work with more subtle levels of consciousness than we normally use in our everyday, waking consciousness. As we progress in our meditation practice, the opportunity arises for us to start to use our sleep in order to complement our meditation practice. Below is my response to a recent question from a student that touches upon this subject:

Q: I have not been working consciously with my dreams and I usually don't make conscious dreams. I would like to begin doing more clearing work and more learning, receiving more spiritual knowledge in my dreams. Do you know about Tibetan dream analysis?

A: I don't know/have not read much about Tibetan dream analysis specifically, but in general I dream a lot and make a point of recording what I do dream as I find it very meaningful for reflection.

One classical exercise you might like to try in order to increase your awareness and effectiveness regarding sleep and dream time is, as you are falling asleep, to consciously work your way back through the events of the day, and review each one of them in your mind. If you fall asleep doing this, your mind will continue to process the day’s events in the same way that you were doing before you fell asleep.
This is one way to direct you consciousness during sleep time.

The second thing that you might try is to meditate immediately before you go to bed, and then try and retain conscious awareness of the energies and themes of the meditation as you fall asleep. Your mind will then naturally gravitate towards inner plane sources of spiritual inspiration/education (related to the themes of your meditation) whilst you sleep, and so you may find that you have dreams that reflect this.

One note of caution here, sometimes, if we are very busy in our outer, waking life, it is best just to focus on solid sleep and getting rested. Sometimes we can pursue active learning and development whilst we sleep by using methods such as those described above, however at other times it may be best simply to deliberately cultivate sound sleep, and not too much else.

Balance is the key here.