Daytime Meditations for Achieving Lucid Sleep

In the first phase, called mindfulness of form, you focus on any external form, such as an item, your body, or your breath. It's a simple first move. When you start to shift from gross external items to more subtle inside thoughts, you are in the second stage of mindfulness of mind.

Here, it is a technique to observe all mental phenomena, such as thoughts, feelings, and images, without being entangled in them. As we've seen, the things in our minds have a tendency to draw us in just like the things in the outside world do. As a result, we lose awareness of what's going on within our heads.

We can awaken to (and subsequently from) our inner and outer forms with the aid of mindfulness of form and awareness of thinking. As we move from the first to the second, we are descending from the gross to the subtle and from form to formlessness.

The final level is mindless awareness. It is sometimes referred to as non-referential shamatha, objectless shamatha, shamatha without a sign, or awareness of consciousness. This is the primary daily practice prior to sleep yoga. With this technique, your focus is directed toward awareness itself rather than any shape, inner or exterior.

Just resting within itself, awareness. According to Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, in objectless shamatha, the mind should be "completely undisturbed by emotions, thoughts, and notions" and should be "free from focus, in a total openness free from a reference point."

Finding and then relaxing in the space between thoughts is one approach to achieve this. Locate the gap now, during mindfulness meditation throughout the day, and you'll be able to find it more easily during dreamless or formless sleep.

To "glide down from the top" and fall through the three levels is another method for relaxing without a reference point. Start by focusing on 21 breaths, or as long it takes for you to become relaxed. After that, turn your focus to your thoughts without becoming caught up in them.

Observe your mind's sky-like nature as ideas and images pass through it like clouds. In a short while, bring your awareness into the condition of awareness. Dissolve into the sky when dropping the clouds. Your awareness is currently focused inward rather than everywhere else.

Let go of any thoughts that may come to mind or outside distractions, and then come back to awareness. Remove anything that interferes with your open awareness's clarity. Due to the fact that you are not returning to any referent, object, or another thing, it is known as "non-referential shamatha." You're returning to awareness itself, which has no shape or substance.

Distraction at this stage serves as your meditation, thus in a way there is no such thing as distraction. In other words, you briefly focus on whatever has caught your attention. It only turns into a distraction when you allow yourself to get sidetracked by it rather than setting it aside for the next "distraction" - anything that catches your attention.

You might hear a plane while doing non-referential shamatha, for instance. Recognizing the noise without adding anything. Once you become aware of your propensity to make remarks about the plane—such as how loud it is, where it might be heading, what kind of plane it might be, etc.—you can let them go.

Catch and let it go. Then a dog barks, so concentrate on that for the moment. Breakfast is being prepared downstairs when you notice it for the first time ("breakfast cooking downstairs" is already commentary; the directive is to merely smell). So take comfort there.

There is nothing to stop your practice when you take an open-minded approach to whatever occurs. This brings to completion one of my favorite definitions of meditation: "habituation to openness." The secret is to allow your mind spontaneously identify each experience that arises while resisting the need to get into a story in your head about it.

Allow it to come, then allow it to go. You become unbreakable and indestructible, thanks to this shapeless haven. Nothing can divert your attention because there is nothing to divert it from. Whatever occurs, you'll accept it without indulgence and find momentary solace there.

When it comes to concepts like unconditional bliss, this open-minded approach to experience has real-world applicability. Jiddu Krishnamurti, a wise man who lived a long life, was questioned about his unchanging tranquility. His response, "I don't mind what happens," is indeed the key to pleasure.

You can learn to relax in the substrate consciousness, which is typically characterized by feelings of happiness, clarity, or non-thought, with practice. Although you haven't reached the clear-light mind yet, you are close. You can already smell it. This experience is crucial.

Every level of diversion or entertainment pales in contrast to the bliss, completeness, and satisfaction of resting in this ground state of consciousness. Consciousness eventually starts to prefer itself over all other forms.

This is the turning point that transforms you from a "outsider" to a "insider" in your life. The only place to be is reclining in the light of the mind, awareness itself, since everything outside appears to be nothing more than a shadow of what it actually is.

How do you tell if you're engaging in non-referential shamatha practice because it is so subtle?

According to B. Alan Wallace: "Any form of practice benefits from being aware of the extremes so that a medium ground can be found. For this one, you can become agitated if you strive too hard, and you can become dull if you don't try hard enough. After you are aware of the two extremes, you need to find a middle ground by gradually deviating from the extremes. This is one extreme, on the agitation side, if you are concentrating on anything, a concept, or an image.

Sitting there with a blank mind and without being aware of anything represents the other extreme, which is more elusive. You are merely vegetating and not paying attention to anything. Because you are in the present and acutely aware, what is between has a quality of freshness.

Although you are not paying attention to anything at all, you are aware that awareness is taking place. Very understated and subtle, it is. It feels like putting on a worn-out pair of sneakers. You truly understand where you are when you are there. You must gain the assurance that comes from knowing when you are performing something right. This is the proper method. "

Being at rest in the awareness of consciousness is calming, natural, and peaceful. Like going home, that is.

The formless meditations of Mahamudra and Dzogchen constitute the pinnacle of daytime meditations for sleep yoga for highly experienced practitioners. These are the exercises that teach you how to recognize the clear-light mind for what it is, and then how to stabilize that recognition.

Trekchö, which means "cutting through," is the primary Dzogchen practice. It entails piercing both the psyche and the substrate in order to reach the bed of the clear-light mind.

Under the direction of a true teacher, these meditations must be studied and practiced. They are "ear-spoken lineage," which means they are meant to be whispered into your ear directly from the master, and they are quite subtle. I'll uphold the integrity of that heritage and extend an invitation for you to work with a meditation master to go into these most advanced levels of formless awareness.

In the degrees of shamatha described above, Namkhai Norbu emphasizes the significance and difficulty of working to achieve daytime stability: "Being aware of sustaining our awareness in dreamtime involves maintaining the same awareness we have during the daytime. If we lack the ability to be in the state of Rigpa [the clear-light mind], which is the state of actual knowledge, during the day, then we also lack the ability to have it at night.

Even though we may not initially be able to identify the clear-light mind, non-referential shamatha access to the substrate consciousness strongly directs us in the right way.

This much for today. Happy dream yoga!