To help you sleep deeply and dream lucidly,
This meditation has three parts.
The first is a visualization to purify your heart and your mind for sleep.
The second invites you to set an intention to dream lucidly.
And the third is a 21 breath exercise to calm the winds of your mind so you can drop effortlessly off to sleep.
This practice does not guarantee that you'll have a lucid dream,
But over time it will help you to cultivate clarity and lucidity in sleep and in life.
Your last thought as you fall asleep affects how you sleep.
If you go to bed stressed,
You'll tend to have stressed out dreams.
Tonight you are making a choice to leave stress behind,
To transition into sleep with clear intention in a state of deep relaxation.
So lie down comfortably.
If it helps,
Place your hands on your belly to help you unwind,
But any position that feels good is fine.
And gently release any tensions or concerns you may be carrying from this day.
Just let them go.
To deepen your motivation,
Call to mind your immediate wish,
Whether for deeper sleep,
Restoration or relaxation.
Then call to mind an even deeper aspiration,
Whether it be for healing,
Lucidity or transformation.
And expand your aspiration to wish these things for others as well.
And now with this motivation in your heart,
Gently bring your awareness to your body.
Let your body settle into stillness.
Your body is a field of moving energy,
Yet beneath the movement is a natural stillness.
Feel the natural stillness of the body.
And notice the paradox of stillness beneath the breath,
The stillness within the breath.
To cleanse your mind and your spirit for sleep,
You might picture pouring your whole being through a kind of water purifier,
Filtering out any tensions or worries,
Reminding yourself that there's nothing you need to do right now,
Nothing you need to fix.
This is a time for rest.
Picture golden light descending from above,
Pouring in through the top of your head,
Saturating and purifying your entire brain and all the thoughts within it.
See this light filling and cleansing your eyes and your sense of sight.
Feel this warm glow permeating your ears and your sense of hearing.
See golden light purifying your nose and your sense of smell,
Your tongue and your sense of taste.
Feel the warm light penetrate your skin,
Purifying your body and your sense of touch.
See the light form a halo around you,
Guarding you as you prepare for sleep,
Protecting you from harm.
Invite this light into your heart,
Feel it filling your entire heart area,
Purifying your emotions,
Purifying your love.
Invite this light in to guard your beautiful heart as you sleep.
Feel the light descend through your body,
Filling your belly all the way down to your sacrum,
Purifying your seat of wisdom.
Invite the light to lovingly cleanse your body and your mind.
From the base of your tailbone,
Feel the radiance of light grow stronger,
A liquid golden radiance that begins to fill your whole body,
Moving up through your belly,
Your heart area,
Filling your body as water fills a glass,
Rising all the way to the top of your head,
All parts of you filled with light.
Feel the light overflowing out of the top of your head into the shape of a flower that opens and opens,
Blooming wider and wider,
The sweet fragrance of light spreading in all directions,
Filling the room,
Filling the world.
See yourself within this liquid golden radiance,
This light that is always with you,
With or without your awareness,
With you as you sleep tonight,
With you when you wake tomorrow,
Within you and around you always.
And now bringing awareness to your throat area,
Picturing a radiant orb of light,
A liquid pearl as a symbol of lucidity,
And with that pearl as a symbol,
Aspire to have a lucid dream tonight.
Let your intention come from a deep,
Relaxed place in you and feel gratitude and joy in advance as if the dream has already happened.
And inwardly say to yourself,
Tonight I'm going to have many dreams.
Tonight I'm going to become lucid within my dreams.
Put your whole heart into it and inwardly say three times,
Tonight I will recognize my dreams as dreams.
Tonight I will recognize my dreams as dreams.
Tonight I will recognize my dreams as dreams.
And add some emotion to your intention.
Think of what it is you would like to do when you're lucid.
For example,
You might say,
Tonight I'm going to wake up in my dreams and feel the thrill of flying.
Or you might say to yourself,
For the benefit of myself and others,
Tonight I'm going to wake up in my dreams so that I can practice meditation while I dream.
Whatever it is you wish to experience is fine.
Just set your intention and invite it.
Buddhist scholar and lucid dreaming teacher Andrew Holacek says this.
When you go to sleep,
You are going to meet other human beings at the deepest possible level.
You are coming home.
Every night you and I meet at the level of the heart.
Our only task is to not forget this nightly reunion when we come back to the surface of life and to sustain our heart connection.
Everyone you meet you've met before and are still together at this most fundamental level of love.
Allow this aspiration for lucidity to settle deeply and comfortably into your body.
And gently,
Soothingly become aware of the body sinking into sleep.
You might notice images on the back of your eyelids,
Colors,
Shapes,
Pulsations.
Let them come.
Let them be.
Let them go.
Just notice.
And noticing is a door to enter sleep lucidly.
To dream lucid dreams.
Now surrounded by this comforting protective energy,
Invite lucidity by counting 21 breaths.
Counting each one on the out-breath.
Each exhalation gently dropping you deeper and deeper into sleep.
Noticing how your breathing slows down as your mind slows down.
Feeling the movement of the breath spread through the body like waves rocking you to sleep.
Back and forth.
Deeper and deeper with each exhalation.
Trusting your breath to carry you.
The music will continue as you count and then gently fade away on its own.
After 21 breaths,
Let go of counting and allow yourself to drop into deep,
Restorative sleep.
Allow your beautiful heart to be restored.
