Everything is a Dream: Tibetan Wisdom for Waking Up in Sleep and Life

Sleep, Dreams and Awakened Presence: Integrating the Wisdom of Your Inner World

This is all just a dream.

What if your dreams are trying to tell you something—would you listen?

Every night, your dreams speak in symbols, sensations, and stories—offering insights that your waking mind often overlooks. When we learn to engage with our dreams, we gain access to an untapped well of wisdom, integration, and transformation.

The Dreaming Ground of Esalen Institute

There are places in the world that hold a special frequency— where personal transformation is inevitable. Esalen Institute, perched on the edge of the Pacific in Big Sur, California, is one of those places. For decades, it has been a crucible for consciousness exploration. Recently I had the privilege of attending a Tibetan Dream Yoga retreat at Esalen with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a master of the Tibetan Bön Dzogchen tradition. Esalen had been calling me for some time. Since the 1960s, it has been a gathering place for pioneers like Alan Watts, who brought Eastern philosophy to the West; the author Aldous Huxley, whose visions of human potential shaped modern psychedelia; Dr. Stanislav Grof, a father of transpersonal psychology & Holotropic breathwork; Dr Fritz Perls, founder of Gestalt Therapy; and Dr. Ida Rolf, whose work in somatic healing changed how we understand the body. Among other greats at Esalen, their teachings have influenced so much of my own path. Stepping onto this land, I felt an immediate resonance— I was exactly where I was meant to be. Waking before sunrise, meditating by the rushing mountain stream, and soaking beneath the stars in the sacred thermal hot springs overlooking the Pacific felt like stepping into a dream itself.

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is one of the few lineage holders living in the west. He founded Ligmincha International and is the author of nine books, including Wonders of the Natural Mind and The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep. He’s a kind, warm, and deeply present teacher—one who meets his students with genuine curiosity. His wisdom runs deep, yet he carries it with a lightness that makes even the most esoteric teachings feel accessible.

During our time together, we explored preparation for sleep, lucid dreaming, dream recall, and how to use dreams as a tool for self-knowledge.

Here’s one one fundamental truth we must acknowledge: good sleep is non-negotiable.

Why Sleep is the Key to Dream Yoga

One of the most profound takeaways from the training was that dreamwork begins with deep, restorative sleep. In our modern world, where sleep deprivation is worn as a badge of honor, Tibetan teachings remind us that without proper rest, we cannot access the deeper layers of our mind.

A core teaching from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche was striking in its simplicity: Give yourself at least 9 hours — in bed — each night. Why? Because only with adequate sleep can we engage with the fullest extent of our REM cycles, allowing for deep cognitive restoration, emotional processing, and the kind of rich, extended dream states where conscious awareness can develop.

Science backs this up—our sleep follows a natural rhythm, with deep, slow-wave sleep in the first half of the night and REM sleep dominating the second half. If we cut our sleep short, we cut off the dream world before it has a chance to fully unfold.

From the Buddhist perspective, sleep is not simply a biological function; it is a spiritual necessity. In the Bardo Thodol (Tibetan Book of the Dead), sleep is considered a rehearsal for the process of dying, where we navigate shifting states of awareness. Dream Yoga helps us cultivate rigpa, the state of pure awareness that is present in both sleep and wakefulness.

Takeaway Integration: Starting tonight, try prioritizing 9 hours in bed—not necessarily asleep, but allowing your body the time it needs to cycle through the essential stages of rest.

with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche at Esalen Institute in February 2025

How Dreamwork Expands Conscious Awareness

Dream Yoga is not about passive dreaming—it’s about bringing awareness into the dream state. What if, instead of letting our dreams unfold unconsciously, we could wake up within them? What if we could recognize that everything is a dream, including the identities and stories we hold onto in waking life?

Our recurring dreams often mirror deeper emotional imprints—places where our consciousness is stuck. A common theme in Tibetan Dream Yoga is learning to Lucid Dream: to label dream imagery as a dream while still inside the dream. For example, if you frequently dream of being lost or running late, try saying “This is a dream” whenever that moment arises. Over time, this practice trains the mind to recognize the dream state while dreaming, leading to increased lucidity.

From a Buddhist lens, this practice aligns with the six yogas of Naropa, particularly illusory body training (gyulu), where practitioners learn to see all appearances—including waking life—as inherently empty and dreamlike. Recognizing the dream state helps loosen our grip on reality, freeing us from conditioned perceptions and habitual suffering.

Dreams Release Pain Identities

One of the most radical aspects of this practice is its ability to reveal the fluid nature of identity. Who we are in the dream state can shift from moment to moment, much like in waking life. Tibetan Buddhism teaches that clinging to fixed pain identities—whether it’s the role we play in our careers, relationships, or even our past traumas—keeps us trapped in illusion.

A recurring practice throughout the training was learning to say: I am not my pain. I am not my past. I am not this story. By practicing non-attachment in dreams, we strengthen our ability to do the same in waking life. Dream Yoga thus becomes a training ground for emotional liberation—a place where we can rehearse stepping beyond our limitation.

In Dzogchen teachings, this process aligns with non-dual awareness, where we recognize that the ego is a shifting, impermanent construct. Rather than being confined by identity, we cultivate lhakthong, or insight, which reveals the boundless nature of our true self.

The Clear Light of Sleep: Accessing Deeper States of Awareness

In its most advanced form, Dream Yoga is not just about lucid dreaming—it is about recognizing the clear light of sleep, a luminous awareness that exists even in deep, dreamless sleep. This concept aligns with Tibetan Buddhist teachings on emptiness, presence, and the nature of consciousness itself.

According to the teachings of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, the clear light is the primordial awareness that underlies all experience. Advanced practitioners of Dream Yoga seek to remain conscious even during dreamless sleep, resting in this pure awareness as a form of deep meditation. This practice mirrors the process of entering the bardo, the intermediate state between death and rebirth.

The idea is that rather than viewing sleep as unconsciousness, we can learn to rest in pure awareness—a state that mirrors the clarity and spaciousness of meditation.

Integrating Our Dreamy Nightlife

The real power of this practice is not just in what happens at night, but in how it transforms our waking state. By training ourselves to be more aware in dreams, we also become more present in daily life.

This practice offers an exciting pathway for altered states integration, providing a bridge between expanded consciousness in sleep and deep presence during the day. For those who work with psychedelics, meditation, or breathwork, Dream Yoga offers a complementary practice—one that deepens self-awareness and strengthens the ability to navigate different states of mind.

To further integrate these teachings, simple practices such as dream journaling, setting nightly intentions, and practicing mindfulness throughout the day can be highly beneficial. Writing about your dreams immediately upon waking trains the mind to retain dream details, fostering deeper awareness over time.

Before sleep, setting an intention—such as “Tonight, I will know I am dreaming” sets the foundation for increased dream recall and lucidity—the first step in becoming more aware of the messages your subconscious is offering you.

Finally daytime mindful reminders of waking lucidity, where you periodically stop to ask yourself, “am I dreaming?” enhances awareness that naturally extends into the dream state, increasing the likelihood of inducing a lucid dream experience.

Bringing Dream Yoga into Your Life

Dream Yoga invites us to wake up within the dream—both at night and in our waking lives. The more we engage with this practice, the more we recognize that the boundaries between waking and dreaming are fluid, offering us a deeper sense of presence, clarity, and transformation. Whether you are looking to explore the depths of your subconscious, enhance your spiritual practice, or integrate dreamwork into your healing journey, Dream Yoga offers a profound pathway to self-knowledge.

If you’re ready to dive deeper into this practice, I invite you to work with me through my group program or 1:1 mentorship. We’ll explore how to bring the wisdom of your dreams into waking life, using Dream Yoga as a tool for self-awareness, integration, and transformation. Let’s bring the nightlife of dreamwork into waking life.

And tonight, remember: everything is a dream.