The Third Oneironauticum is Saturday, April 5
For the third Oneironauticum, we’ll be practicing a meditation described by Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche in his book Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light. Though this practice leads to lucid dreaming, it focuses primarily on the boundary between awake and dreaming, the passage of time between falling asleep and becoming conscious again within the dream. At this border, Norbu instructs us,the practitioner breaks through illusion and perceives him or herself.Tibetan Buddhists believe that this same thing happens at death, life ends and the bardo, which is like a dream state, begins, and that int he moment between dying and becoming aware of the bardo state, we havethe potential to find nirvana. Regardless of what you believe about consciousness and rebirth, the practice brings greater awareness into dream experience.
The practice consists of these basic steps:
1. Visualize either a white om, if you can keep that image clear (I’ve attached an om to this message if you need to see one), or a white A, and hear the sound aah (make the sound now so you can feel it vibrate) at your heart chakra. The image needs to be clear in your mind’s eye, the color very bright. The sound should be distinct and visceral. Get a really strong visual of the symbol and a firm sonic fix on the sound, centered at your heart. Don’t worry about taking the practice any further until that happens.
2. If you get as far as having an om or A visualized clearly at your heart, visualize a second one at your throat, an a third at the crown of your head. Now visually connect the three with an imagined beam of light up through your head and then back down to your heart center. The sound should follow the image, climbing up and then descending down, resonating through your body.
3. Before you go to sleep at night, practice whatever form of this meditation works for you at the moment. If it’s the process of trying to keep the visualization clear in your mind, then do that. If it’s meditating on the sound and image at your heart center, do that. If it’s creating a vibrating, resonating chain, do that. It matters less that you get to the resonating chain bit than that you focus attention and intention on practicing whatever form of the meditation you have clear as you slip into sleep.
Allow me to repeat that, because it really matters. The most important part here is that you have some form, visual or aural, of the om or the A present as you fall asleep. If it’s the last thought you have as you slip over the border into sleep, then you’ve done it. The dreams will do the rest.
The different forms of the meditation should only be undertaken to the degree to which they don’t interfere with your ability to fall asleep. If you’re at all insomniac, don’t get too caught up in trying to get anything beyond visualizing the om or A at your heart, just think about it. If you fall asleep easily, perhaps try the meditation sitting up in bed for a while before lying down.
If you can’t get the visualization clear, print out or draw either an om or A and stare at it. Close your eyes and try to visualize it clearly. Alternate opening your eyes and examining the image and try to get it down. If you can’t get the sound clear, keep making it out loud, feeling it vibrate at your heart chakra. Meditate on the feeling. You want to reproduce that effect, without actually having to vocalize.
Other directions can get pretty advanced and esoteric here if you want to get deeply into it. Norbu instructs women to lie on their left sides, men on their right. Women can block their left nostrils while trying to fall asleep, men their left. People who have a hard time falling asleep can decrease the brightness of the om or A, or change colors to make it milder. People who still don’t get vivid reams after a while can visualize the red om or A (or just a glowing red ball) at their throat chakras, the color increasing in intensity each night. Or they can move the image or the ball up to their foreheads, to the third eye, and imagine it as white and glowing more strongly every night. If you get far enough with this that you want to get into this level of detail, go read the book.
We urge remote participation in the Oneironauticum. To participate remotely, follow the practice as described above throughout the day of Saturday March first. That night, when you set your intention to become lucid, add the intention to join us in the dream realm. All dream participants, those who attend the Oneironauticum and those who join remotely, are welcome to post to this blog. Contact us if you’re interested.
Sweet dreams!
