The Foundations of Taoist Dream Practices

This week by synchronistic chance,

I stumbled on this great written article by expert Taoist Dreamer, Juan Li.

Juan studied at the Jung Institute in Zurich and travelled all around the world to learn many
types of Conscious Dreaming.

When I read this article last night, it really spoke to me and immensely inspired me.
The information can be used as an introductory eye opener for the beginner, and could give an
advanced viewpoint to the experienced dreamer. I feel it speaks out to everyone who reads it.
The sacred Taoist teachings give you a strong foundation for your practice and can deepen your
senses even more.
Before last night I was looking for my next synchronistic step and pondered in how I could go
deeper into my dream work, especially in a more spiritual sense. Now, for the first time in a
long time I feel completely inspired and In-Spirit to go forward and learn the ancient ways of
Taoist dreaming.

One of the key focuses is healing the body completely inside and out before taking the necessary
steps to become Lucid. This is very different in comparison to the many western methods out
there today, which teaches you just to dive in! They focus on the ever-present, subtle and sacred
energies that are within and around us.
It is not just a method in dreaming; Taoism is a complete way of living
N. Barrett

Playing With the Clouds: The Foundations of Taoist Dream Practices

The beginnings of dream practices in China are lost in the depths of antiquity. It is said that the
emperors of the Shang Dynasty some 3500 years ago had attached to their court a category of
ritual performers called Zhan Meng in charge of interpreting dreams and facilitating dream
divination. These dream specialists worked together with the shamans and other ritual specialists
interpreting omens which appeared either in the clouds, natural events or in dreams so as to chart
the best human course of action for the emperor and other government officials.

The interest in the experiences, which took place in dream state, was not only confined to the
government. There was a group of individuals who in the inaccessible recesses of the sacred
mountains, far removed from ordinary human interaction, explored the infinite potential of
dream state. These practitioners were those who followed the way of nature back to its origins
living a simple life in accordance with the rhythms of nature. They were called Taoists, from the
word Tao meaning path or natural way of living.
Like the ancestry of the dream practices, there have been Taoists in China for over 4000 years of
recorded history. Very little is known about these Taoists, even in China, because they carried
out their practices in utmost secrecy. Not because their practices were dangerous and had to be
hidden, but simply because one very important aspect of their self cultivation was withdrawal
from ordinary society so as a to cultivate a point of view radically different from most people.
Over the centuries the Taoists developed a highly efficient and coherent system of practices
aimed at realizing the full potential of human beings. The Taoists were not content with having
good health, and living a quiet life. Their practices were aimed at developing not only the
physical aspect of their being but also most specially the subtle and invisible aspects called the
energy body.

The Way of Energy

A fundamental aspect of Taoist practices is the concept of energy or life force. Energy was
understood as a vital force, which is at the foundation of all phenomena, both physical and
subtle. This energy, which they chose to call QI, manifests in a wide spectrum of variable
intensities or frequencies. From the subtlest which is invisible to the eyes and can only be
perceived with the most refined sensitivities in states of mental calm and heightened awareness,
to increasingly denser aspects that we begin to perceive as emotional states to the densest aspects
as solid matter. A modern analogy would be from radiation, which we are unable to sense
consciously, through electricity that gives a good shock to a stone that is easily felt as very hard.
The ancient Taoists would sense all these states not as separate but rather as a spectrum of
variable intensities.
Constantly aware of this energy that animates everything the Taoists went on to explore the nonphysical aspects of the life force in their own bodies. The physical body we all can touch and feel
is only the densest aspect of the life force, the grossest aspect of the energy spectrum. There are
increasingly subtle aspects of the spectrum where the life force never reaches densification.
Every time a Taoist sits down to calm the mind and meditate something very peculiar takes
place. The focus of the five senses and the mental attention begins to shift gradually from the
dense physical to the more subtle aspects of the body. The longer the practitioner is able to
remain calm without distracting thoughts arising or getting drowsy the more refined the
sensitivity to the life force becomes. Some ancient Taoists by remaining focused on the subtle
energy for hours day after day were able to sense the life force circulating through their bodies.
After years of practice they were able to chart the flows of the life force in their subtle bodies
with precision through what is called the energy meridians.

The discovery of the energy meridians brought a level of refinement to the Taoists practices
where soon it began to have a profound effect on healing the body. Illness was understood as
arising when the circulation of the energy was blocked from reaching organs and glands. It was
observed that from the blockages at the subtle level of circulation, in time a physical malady
would appear precisely in those areas affected by poor circulation.
In order to keep energy circulation at an optimum level the Taoists created a large variety of
exercises, dietary practices and meditations. However good circulation is not enough to maintain
good health. The Taoists noticed that our emotional states have a profound effect on the quality
of the life force circulating through the meridians. If a person is very angry there is an increase in
the heartbeat and the circulation of the blood. The rate of breathing changes, often accelerating.
Body temperature and muscle tone also increases accordingly. The body is literally boiling over
with energy. However the quality of the energy boiling over is very poor due to the negative
effect of anger.
It was noticed in antiquity that if a person goes to sleep with a tremendous amount of unresolved
anger, first of all falling sleep becomes extremely difficult. There is mental agitation and the
person is talking internally for hours. Then when eventually fatigue overcomes the body and the
person falls asleep, there is invariably a succession of dreams where anger predominates.
In their refined exploring of the subtle energies the Taoists were able to feel where the emotions,
both positive and negative, arise in the body. In the case of anger it was noticed that profound
changes took place in the liver. This organ not only became more hot, but it could also become
constricted and blocked so much that the circulation of the life force required so much effort that
pain was felt on the side of the liver.
With the discovery of the profound effect that emotions have upon the quality and circulation of
the life force the Taoists created an entire branch of practices to refine the emotions. One of the
simplest practices discovered was that of the Inner Smile, whereby the practitioner sends a smile
of appreciation to any part of the body along with a continuous wave of positive feelings.
Another very powerful practice which developed was that of the Six Healing Sounds, where
certain sounds are made which induce the vital organs to vibrate more harmoniously thus
releasing tensions and blocked emotions in the organs.

The Emotions And Dreaming

One of the great insights of ancient practitioners was the fact that, if a daily regimen of energy
practices is maintained-specially refining the emotions-the quality and quantity of dreams
changes. If a person goes to bed after having cleared the vital organs from unresolved emotions
the amount of emotional dreams and nightmares dramatically decreases, sometimes to the point
that they disappear completely. This does not mean that the person ceases to have dreams, but
rather that the quality of the dream shifts from restless to harmonious and pleasant.

One of the greatest insights gained exploring the connection between dreams and energy
practices was that dreams are experiences taking place at the level of the subtle bodies. In other
words, as a person begins to fall asleep and the senses gradually disconnect from the physical
world, they turn inward. A process akin to having a good meditation. As the senses turn inward,
the consciousness which was focused on the physical world through the senses also turns inwardin the direction of the subtle energy body.
The Taoists consider falling asleep as a process no different from entering into a meditative state.
Just as in deep states of meditation if the body is fatigued the practitioner may fall asleep and go
unconscious, so going to sleep has to take place, paradoxically, when one is not fatigued. For the
Taoists falling asleep is an open door for playing fully conscious with the subtle energy body and
carrying out energy practices without the limitations of the physical body.
Every time we let go into sleep our consciousness shifts its focus from the physical dense body
to the subtle energy body at the other end of the spectrum. If we speak of sleep then it is of the
physical body, since the subtle aspects never falls asleep. The subtle energy aspect operates 24
hours through our lives. We may not be consciously aware when we shift our conscious focus to
the subtle body, however we all do that many times during our waking hours. For example we all
had the experience when we were children in school of sitting bored through an uninteresting
class. Then as the teacher continued talking we gradually began to go with our minds somewhere
else. We began to dream with the eyes open about doing something far more enjoyable at that
moment. Our conscious focus was far away from the classroom and the teacher. If this day
dreaming went on for a long time, and all of a sudden the teacher asked us a question, we had to
forcefully bring back our mental focus to the teacher, with predictable inability to answer the
question properly. Ordinarily we say we were fantasizing at that moment, doing something
which was not real in a physical sense. The Taoist would not call it fantasizing but rather shifting
attention from the physical to the subtle, just as when we are dreaming in bed.
Dreaming is not an action which is confined to falling asleep. We dream 24 hours a day. A part
of our consciousness which is not fully engaged in the physical plane dealing with day to day
problems is focused on the subtle aspects of the body. Many times a day we shift conscious focus
from physical reality to subtle reality. Our awareness at that moment may be focused on a friend
that is at the other side of the planet. Sometimes if our focusing is intense enough something
unexpected may happen: the phone rings! It is our friend calling from the other side of the planet
to tell us they were thinking of us just at that moment. Has this happened to you? Ordinarily we
call these happenings `coincidence. A word for labeling the unexplainable. For the Taoists
familiar with the full spectrum of the life force this is not something unexplainable. When we
shift our mental focus onto someone far away at that instant we are in direct contact with the
subtle body of that person. The geographical distance is irrelevant.
One of the insights which opens as one begins to consciously shift mental focus from the
physical to the subtle is that the life force is not limited by physical reality. It could not be
because the physical is just one aspect of the energy spectrum. There is the rest of the spectrum
operating simultaneously beyond the physical. So energy is not limited by space, nor time which
is also a function of space.

Every time we place the head on the pillow and fall asleep our consciousness focuses its gaze
upon a dimension which is not limited by time or space. A dimension which is extremely fluid
and efficient because it is not limited by time or the constraints of distance. In dream we have all
experienced how in the fraction of an instant we can change from walking to flying across the
landscape or being here and then on the other side of the moon.
The practices developed by the ancient Taoists around dream state were designed to tap into the
inexhaustible reservoir of possibilities that transcending time and space offers. One essential
notion they got rid of was the ordinary belief that dreams are fantasies with no basis on reality. A
dream may not have any basis on physical reality, but then physical existence is not the only
realm of experience there is. What we ordinarily call reality is limited to physical experience and
is just a fragment of the totality of being. Dreams, intuitions, feelings we dismiss into the dust
bin of the not-real. The Taoists would call that a fragmented vision.

The Practice of Dynamic Sleep

A fundamental goal of Taoist dream practices is the ability to enter dream state deliberately, as
an act of will, fully conscious. Ordinarily as we begin to fall asleep and relax our senses
disconnect one by one we become progressively unconscious, entering a twilight zone which
rapidly eclipses into total darkness. From that moment on until we finally awaken several hours
later we lose awareness of where we are or that we are asleep.
In Taoist dream practice one of the first things the practitioner does is make a firm decision to
remain conscious as one enters dream state. This initial step is done by voicing a mental
command of what one intends to practice or experience during that sleep session.
The sleep command is a powerful expression of willpower which is usually voiced over and over
as the practitioner prepares to sleep. This repetition of the sleep command, like all energy
practices is to be done with complete awareness and mindfulness, rather than mechanically or
unconscious. As one begins to enter the twilight state of drowsiness the sleep command begins to
function like a beacon guiding the consciousness across the threshold of the unconscious.
Opening Circulation
The sleep command however is not the initial step in dream practice. Dream practices are not
isolated from other modalities of Taoist exercises. Usually a novice in the Taoist system will
begin by learning to open communication with the life force through a series of exercises
designed to open the flow of the energy meridians. Only when the meridian system is circulating
properly and a degree of physical and emotional balance has been attained does one begins
dream exercises.
It has been discovered since ancient times that if the circulation of the life force is not balanced,
the resulting imbalance manifests very clearly in the quality of ones dreams. Generally as the
meridians are opened and one learns to regulate the emotions through specific energy practices,
there is a reduction of ordinary dreams. One begins to have less and less of turbulent emotional

dreams which originate from congested organs and in its place the luminous dreams of profound
experiences begin to manifest from time to time. A practitioner, who for example has been
keeping dream journals for several years, after a months of intense meridian exercises and
meditations usually report very infrequent dreams that are very widely spaced apart. After some
time they also begin to experience greater clarity in dream state. Dreams are more vivid, the
images more powerful carrying a sense of transcendence.
In Taoist practice it is said that as we improve energy circulation and begin to harmonize the
emotions in the organs there is a change in the quality of ones energy from a gross state to a
refined one. This is reflected as better health both physically and mentally. As the quality
changes one can also say that the potential of the individual changes. The nervous system, the
brain, the glands, the vital organs are all able to function at a greater degree of harmony. Instead
of investing a great part of their vitality fighting illness and trying to maintain balance in the
midst of fatigue and emotional upheavals, the organism is operating in an energy surplus mode.
The state of energy abundance is fundamental for the unfolding of dream practices. A Taoist
invests years of constant effort bringing about such state. If dream practices are attempted
otherwise when the body is tired and fighting imbalances, then one discovers that nothing
happens, because the body needs the sleep for the basic function of resting the nervous system
and the brain and repairing damaged tissues.

The Foundation of Calming The Mind

Preliminary to dream practices are also the states of mental calmness brought about by long
meditations. When the senses turn inward in deep practice, the brain changes waves from active
Beta to Alpha, deep Alpha and in experienced meditators to Theta and even Delta. This sequence
of changes is very similar to that taking place as we fall asleep. The brain moves from
polarization in Beta to greater integration in Alpha, Theta and Delta. This means that a regular
meditator has learned to `fall asleep consciously seated quietly in a cushion.
We need to sleep in order to integrate the hemispheres of the brain and allow the nervous system
to rest and repair itself. This essential step is accomplished in the hours of the night when we
cease activities and turn the senses inward like a meditator. So if a person is meditating daily and
able to integrate the hemispheres of the brain to some degree there is a resulting change in sleep
patterns. Most experienced meditators need less sleep than people who do not practice. As their
practice progresses is not unusual to begin sleeping an hour less after a few months. Some
advanced practitioners get by with only three to four hours and in the Tao system there have
been many great sages who eventually transcended the need to sleep at all. A sign of such people
would be the absence of a bed in their house!

The Sharping of Mental Focus

If a practitioner has reached the level where the sleep pattern is changing through practices of
concentration and circulation of energy then there is also an increase in the ability to focus the
intention for long periods of time.
In meditation when the senses are turned inward the attention is focused on something such as
the breath, an energy center or the circulation of life force in a meridian. As the years go by the
practitioner automatically develops greater capacity to remain focused without distractions when
the attention is placed on something. This is an increase in mental power and also an
intensification of the will or intention.
In dream practice the intention which has been strengthened in sitting practice is then developed
further in dream state. The Taoist aims at entering the normally unconscious states of sleep fully
conscious, carrying forth the awareness and the intention like a candle in the wind.
The sleep command being voiced as one falls asleep is the first stage in training the intention to
remain sharply focused through the ocean of the unconscious. This simple gesture opens the
possibility of extending consciousness into areas where normally we go blank. The Taoists view
dream practice as an opportunity to train the intention and the will in conjunction with the subtle
aspects of the body. In other words consciousness which is used to being active only when
awake in the physical learns to be awake in the subtle also. This is the subtle dimension which is
operating 24 hours of the day.

The Breath And Calmness

Ancient Taoists discovered that as the mind becomes calm during meditation a similar process of
calmness takes place in the way we breathe. The breath and consciousness are intimately
connected and the change in brain waves that accompany a good meditation are in fact facilitated
by a corresponding change in the gross breath passing through the nostrils.
Agitated states of mind are generated when the left hemisphere of the brain is most active. This
is when we generate Beta waves. At the same time that the left hemisphere activates there is a
predominance of breathing through the right nostril.
Our breathing alternates from nostril to nostril throughout the day. Generally we breathe through
the right nostril from 45 to 90 minutes and activate the left hemisphere of the brain becoming
more active. Then for a brief period of 3 to 5 minutes we breathe through both nostrils as the left
nostril eventually takes over activating the right hemisphere of the brain. When the right
hemisphere of the brain is active we enter into a more relaxed mental state with less activity and
less agitation.
In meditation in order to enter into a state of calmness a change in the breathing pattern has to
take place. If the practitioner is activating the left hemisphere through the right nostril breath
then the first change will be to switch it to the left nostril, inducing calmer states to manifest.
Eventually as the practice deepens and the brain becomes more integrated the breath takes place

through both nostrils at the same time. This is the state where Alpha, Theta and Delta waves
begin to manifest.

The Sleeping Tiger

In dream practice the practitioner aims at entering calm states of mind as quickly as possible.
Taoists have traditionally brought about such changes by adopting the position known as `The
Sleeping Tiger.
In the Sleeping Tiger position one lays on the right side of the body. The right hand may be
cupped around the right ear or under the pillow. The left arm is extended resting on the left side.
The right leg is slightly bent at the knees, supporting the body, and the left leg is extended
without making it totally straight. The purpose of this posture is to press on the right side of the
ribs upon certain acupuncture points which induce a rapid change of the breath from the right
nostril to the left. In this posture the road is open to enter the calmer states of mind and
eventually induce simultaneous nostril breathing.
The posture of the Sleeping Tiger was not confined to practitioners in China only. The same
posture is adopted by dream practitioners in Tibet and India. The same posture has been found in
a sculpture of the sleeping priestess or goddess in the Hypogeum in the island of Malta dating
from 3800-3600 BC. The Hypogeum is believed to have been used for receiving prophetic
healing dreams by practitioners who spend the night within its precincts.
The Sleeping Tiger posture is not only used for entering dream practice it is also the ideal
posture for entering death. In Asian art the Buddha at the moment of death is always shown lying
on the right side with the right hand cupped around the right ear.

The Practice of Deliberateness

A novice after adopting the Sleeping Tiger posture and voicing the dream command will then
have a long and rocky road still ahead. at the beginning usually nothing happens. One goes
unconscious as usual or if too anxious to accomplish the goal of the practice have difficulty
falling asleep. Worse yet some practitioners keep waking up over and over without having a
restful night of sleep. What is lacking is a key ingredient of the practice which is going to sleep
with deliberateness.
Normally we go to sleep without clarity of purpose, we simply cannot go on from fatigue and
exhaustion so we lay down and close the eyes. Whatever happens next is beyond our conscious
control. In dream practice the scenario is totally different. The practitioner has a clear goal and is
carefully creating the right conditions to fulfill it. But not everything is tight control, there is also
the conscious ability to let go into the unknown with the same deliberateness of a swimmer who
jumps from a diving board.
One lets go into the unknown voicing the command ready to accept whatever happens.

The Stages of Dream Practice

If the desire to succeed in the practice is excessively strong then, the ancient Taoists warn, one is
headed for trouble. First because frustration and impatience is going to develop as we fail to
reach our goal. Second because excessive force is a quality which has to be balance with yielding
in order to develop the energy practices to their highest potential.
It is suggested in dream practice that we begin with the simple command to have a restful sleep
regardless of how many hours we sleep. From that one follows with the command to remember
dreams or simply to awaken at a certain time without alarm clocks. From those simple
commands then one can eventually build up to the monumental task of becoming conscious
within the dream that one is asleep.
The ability to become conscious that one is asleep in the middle of a dream requires that the
awareness focuses with such intensity that it is not only possible to maintain the thread of the
dream but also at the same time step back to realize that one is dreaming. This is made possibly
because there is a surplus of energy and sleep is not being used primarily to rest and repair the
body.
The body has to be rested and balanced for dream practice to unfold. If one is fatigued or
carrying a heavy burden of unfinished emotional situations then progress will be very very slow.
The body will be mainly occupied with maintenance without a surplus to `play in the clouds as
the Taoists would say.

Power Naps of The Sleeping Tiger

It is generally assumed that dream practice is best done at night time when the day is done.
Taoists dream practitioners are not content to have only one opportunity per day at entering
dream state consciously so the practice of power naps was developed early on.
Power naps consist in taking short naps several times a day, lasting anywhere from 15 minutes to
an hour. The frequency of power naps allows the practitioner to develop the necessary skills at
entering dream practice very rapidly. A by product of power naps is that the body is truly rested
so sleep is truly deliberate and not out of fatigue.
One of the greatest Taoist dream practitioner of the past was Master Chen Tuan of Henan
province in China. He lived during the 10th century and practiced power naps in a cave at the
sacred mountain of Hua Shan in west China. It is said that visitors had often to wait while the
master completed power naps. Chen Tuan is said to have realized the highest levels of Taoist
practices in dream state, spending months at a time in deep conscious sleep. Beyond the
constraints of time and space in a dimension that it extremely fluid.

The Realm of Fluidity

The physical dimension is the portion of the energy spectrum most affected by time and space. It
is a dimension where there is a tremendous gap between wish and fulfillment of the wish, or
between imagination and realization. It is a dimension where anything we do is limited by time
and at the same time takes time to accomplish. One of the direct experiences which arises out of
consistent dream practice is that time and space have no influence whatsoever in the subtle
energy dimensions. Time and space are not a limiting factor and play no role whatsoever in
phenomena. It is extremely hard for physical beings to imagine the state beyond time and space,
specially if we have no direct experiences of subtle energy in our bodies or consciousness.
We all have experienced in our sleep the extremely fluid nature of dreams. We are able to fly,
move great distances, transform ourselves into something else, become objects or simply turn
into pure consciousness without a body. These are all random experiences of transcending
physical corporeality.
As mentioned before dream practices are not truly aimed at working with ordinary dreams
arising from unresolved emotional states or poor energy circulation. And Taoist dream practices
have nothing to do with dream interpretation. The ability to remain conscious in dream state is
for learning to play in the dimensions without time and space. Dimension where imagination and
reality are one and there are no limits.
Master Chen Tuan during his long naps learned to transcends the mental limitations of time and
space. One very common problem practitioners have to overcome is the unconscious projection
of physicality into the non-physical dimensions.
When describing dreams or talking to ourselves in dreams we are limited by the language of time
and space. We speak of `going somewhere, `hurrying up and `coming back tomorrow and so
on. One of the habits the dream practitioner learns is to be present all the times speaking the
language of the instant that has no past or future, just eternal now.
In conscious dream state anything that is imagined is experienced simultaneously as dream
reality. If one thinks of a house, there is a house instantly. This is totally different from the dense
physical dimension where the thought of a house, and the mental image of a house does not
manifest a physical house right away. As we all know the thought of a house might take years of
effort to manifest. This is why Taoist say that the physical dimension is very dense and very
inefficient when it comes to manifesting reality. There is a tremendous gap between imagination
and manifestation.
In the fluid state of conscious dreaming it is possible to have direct experiences in an instant.
Experiences which are as real and powerful as physical reality. If in a dream we have a very
strong experience of loving someone, as we awaken into the physical dimension we still carry
the emotional impressions of that love experience throughout the day. If dream state was pure
fantasy there would be no powerful impressions to carry during the day and no emotional residue
to recall.

Sustaining Focus
The ability to remain focused in conscious dreaming is made possible by the cultivation of
mental power and increased vitality. Beginners who are able to awaken within the dream do so
for very brief instants before either awakening fully into the physical or going unconscious into
deeper sleep. Sustaining focus is very much like learning to ride a bicycle. One has to maintain a
crucial balance for indefinite time, which in this case is not awakening into the physical or going
unconscious, and at the same time carry out the numerous exercises for developing the use of the
will and the intention.
As we grew up we learned to focus our attention in the physical world through all of the physical
tasks such as learning to walk, talk and memorize in school. As babies our attention span for
concentrating on anything was very limited and could not be sustained for more than a few
seconds. As we entered school we learned more and more to use our mental focus for longer and
longer uninterrupted periods. Usually the best students are those who from very early learned to
focus their attention with intensity for long periods of time. A great teacher would be one who is
able to keep the attention of the students fully engaged for long periods of time also. So in the
physical dimension we become skillful at sustaining focus of the consciousness for long periods
of time.
In dream practice the ability to sustain focus is a skill that develops gradually with much
difficulty and many set backs. This is so because sustaining focus in the physical dimension
requires only a fraction of the energy it takes for doing so in the fluid dimensions beyond time
and space. A good analogy would be the difference between trying to run underwater and on the
ground.

Surplus Energy
The fuel for dream practice is surplus energy-not only abundance of vitality but specifically a
surplus of vitality to be invested in learning to sustain conscious focus in dream state. The
preliminary energy practices mentioned before lay the foundation for starting dream work but
they are not enough. At some point the practitioner has to dig deeper into the available resources
and learn to utilize them more and more efficiently.
The obstacles and lack of progress encountered in dream practice serve as a mirror revealing
where the weak points and blockages are in ones overall energy structure. There is usually a
deepening work in the area of the emotions, which is where a large portion of the available
vitality is trapped in unresolved issues. There is also a process of harnessing the energy
outwardly spent through the senses. Fluidity in both the physical and mental state is cultivated
through movement exercises such as Tai Chi and Qi Gong. So there is a progressive movement
towards excellence and efficiency that gradually transforms the individual into a new being.

The Mastery of Timing

One of the crowning insights of the ancient Taoists is the awareness that we are at the most fluid
and efficient when we are operating at the right moment. If we carry out some action during the
wrong timing then a monumental amount of energy is required to produce results and sometimes
even that is not enough. In contrast when the action is riding the river of the right timing there is
a minimum of effort needed to accomplish extraordinary things.
One of the deciding factors in all energy practices is the recognition of the right timing. In dream
practice it means that one learns to listen to the body and the life force. Listening for that
moment when the totality of ones being points in one direction with uncompromising power.
Listening to the right timing means that the Taoist is totally committed and available to the
practice whenever it calls. This is the result of a decision taken fully conscious at some point in
the past. Without a strong decision and a definite commitment there is no way to begin directing
the life force in the direction we want to go.

Ultimate Purpose of Dream Practice

The development of the intention and the will, the ability to sustain focus through the subtle
dimensions, the harnessing of ones vitality and the ability to become fluid and abandoned at the
right timing are all directed at one important experience. That is the transition of consciousness
at the moment of death from the physical to the subtle body.
Dream practice is the training ground for learning to utilize the intention, the will and
consciousness in conjunction with the subtle energy body. At the moment of death there is a
separation of the consciousness from the physical body into the subtle energy body. A crossing
from time and space into the ocean of infinity.
The dream practitioner is someone who through sustained effort has learned to swim in the ocean
of infinity without tiring or becoming scared. Someone who is consciously at home in the
complete energy spectrum of the life force. Someone who is no longer fixed on the physical
dimension as the sole reality worth exploring.
For the Taoists the ability to embrace the full spectrum of the life force is the most important task
a human being can accomplish in this lifetime. It is said that `If one realizes the Way in the
morning one can die at peace in the evening.
The great insight of the ancient Taoists went even beyond life and death. So detaching the
consciousness from the physical into the subtle dimensions is not an end in itself. It is simply a
beginning of another cycle of being. A new cycle which continues under different conditions
from the physical and yet carries a precious gift from the world. The gift is the `luminous pearl
of indestructible insight condensed through the alchemy of refining the intention and the will.
The traveler takes only that from the crossing through this world.