Dream Yoga Guided Mediation

Lie down on your right side, as if you are getting ready to fall asleep for a dream yoga practice. When you lie down on your right side, this is called the lion’s position. This is also how Buddha Shakyamuni passed away, resting in his dream position as the sleeping Buddha.

Once you are comfortable, settling in and preparing, begin to visualize the Buddha Amitabha, the wisdom Buddha who transformed the klesha of desire into the wisdom of discriminative awareness. Visualize this Buddha here with you. Invite the Buddha to come into the room with you. See this red Buddha above the crown of your head. If you are comfortable visualizing, you may also see him in union with his consort, in bliss, arising as your primordial awareness.

Now see, at the center of your throat, a four-petaled red lotus flower. If you cannot see the lotus clearly, you can start with anything. Perhaps you simply see red, or a red glow, or red syllable Ah. Just try to tap into that red light. 

Often we visualize a four-petaled red lotus, and at its center there is a red triangle. At the center of that triangle is the syllable Ah, and at the very center, subtle and tiny, is the Buddha Amitabha.

Another way you can visualize this is to see Buddha Amitabha at the center of the lotus flower itself, with the syllable Ah at the center of his heart. 

Go over in your mind the mantra “Om Ah Nu Ta Ra.” ཨོཾ་ཨ་ནུ་ཏ་ར་། [sung]

These seed syllables correspond to the five Buddha families and also to the five elements: space, wind, fire, water, and earth.

Now chant the mantra silently. From the center of the red lotus flower, red light begins to emanate. It fills your throat and then spreads through your entire body, until your whole body becomes completely filled with red light. Continue chanting mentally. Each time you chant the mantra, the red light expands.

Your body becomes red light. Your hair becomes red light. Your brain becomes red light, inside the skull, the ears, the mouth, everything becomes red light. Once the body becomes light, everything changes.

From the mantra, red light continues to emanate. Then it expands beyond the body, filling the room. Then it penetrates all things. The red light conquers everything and helps all sentient beings awaken as Buddhas. The land is filled with red light as it expands far into the distance. Your red light becomes so all-pervasive that it fills the entire universe.

The entire universe is filled with red light. All beings are filled with red light, helping to awaken them. 

Eventually, you begin to bring the red light back, closer and closer. It returns to just the room, then into your body, then into your throat. Finally, it dissolves into the center of the four-petaled red lotus, becoming a tiny point of red light at the center of the Buddha’s heart. You can visualize that red Ah, relax completely, and fall asleep.

You abide in all-pervasive luminosity. You complete your night, and when you awaken, you gently reflect on your dreams. Offer gratitude to the gurus and Buddhas, to the universal, to yourself, and to everyone. Then you wake up and continue to experience the dream of the day.