Nahwe Imbwisk

The Dreamer, by Ozren Olbina 

Making the Most of Dreams

Here you will learn how to overcome nightmares and use dreaming to travel to alternate realities. The Ancients believed that when our soul stirs we dream, when it leaves us and does not find its way back, we become sick and die. That is why anyone who wants to attempt this magestic flight of the spirit should do so under the supervision of an experienced practitioner. Dreaming can be a great source of inspiration and power, but it must be based on a strong foundation.

We can program our dreams. We can become lucid by doing reality checks and we can overcome our nightmares by analysing the conflicts in our lives. We can also awaken our dreaming body by shifting back and forth between objects in waking and in dreaming.

In order not to go down the deep end, we practice relaxation. Relaxation is achieved when the breath is prolonged and made easy. The recommended posture for Total Relaxation is to lay on the back with the hands on the groin. Take fife minutes just for breathing. As you breathe in push out the belly and lower the diaphragm, contract when breathing out. Practice until you can easily inhale for 7 seconds and exhale for 7 seconds. After relaxed breathing you can progressivelly flex and relax each muscle of your body to reach ultimate relaxation. When we are relaxed with a quite mind, our soul returns to us. If we practice relaxation every day, eventually we are able to shift between dreaming and waking at will.

The Dweller at the Treshhold

A common experience among novice dreamers is that they wake up paralysed with the awareness of an evil presence or even see a spirit which might abuse them. This is called the Dweller at the Treshhold experience.

The parallalasis is nothing to worry about, it is known as sleep parallasis and is a common and harmless phenomenon. It can also occur that you get the feeling of falling, again nothing to worry about

Waking up while the body is asleep is called deep trance and can be used for astral projections.

The Dweller at the Treshhold experience is an attempt by the unconscious to prevent astral projection. It often bears a strong flavour of the Id.

Remember, there's nothing to fear but fear itself and you can't be a victim if you do not see yourself as one.

The Tibetan Seers have observed that the protector deities in their visions would appear with flames around their heads. Visualizing the features of those spirits, the lamas are able to turn (mentally) into them.

Tibetan Dreaming teaches that in troublesome dreams we should shout the words Dra Lha Yul Lha. The Dra Lha is the Warrior's Spirit, located above the right shoulder and Yul Lha is the Royal Spirit, located above the head.

Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda was an anthropologist who studied Shamanism under the brujo Don Juan Matus. He has written many books that offer a view of the magical life of the Toltec Sorcerers. His task was to stop the world using writing as sorcery. His best works are The Eagle's Gift, Power of Silence and The Art of Dreaming.

The Art of Dreaming is particularilly interesting. It proposes that we can reach the Totality of Ourselves if we overcome Seven Obstacles of Awareness known as the Gates of Dreaming, four of which he discusses in his book. These teachings, he claims come from a Man who has lived several thousand years and is known as the Tenant

• 1st Gate (stabilizing the dreaming body) Arrived at when the hands are perceived in dreaming. Solved with the ability to shift the focus from the hands to another dream object and return it to the hands, all repeated a few times. Crossed when one with the ability to induce a state of darkness and a feeling of increased weight.

• 2nd Gate (utilizing the dreaming body): Arrived at when  dream objects start changing into something else. Solved with the ability to isolate a Scout and follow it to the realm of Inorganic Beings. Crossed with the ability to fall asleep without losing consciousness.

• 3rd Gate (traveling): Arrived at when dreaming of looking at yourself. Solved when the dreaming and physical bodies become one. Crossed when you are able to control the Dreaming Emissary.

• 4th Gate of Dreaming (Seeing): Arrived at with the ability to perceive the energetic essence of every dream item. Solved by falling asleep in a dream, in the same position in which one has gone to sleep. Crossed by waking up in this reality, only not in the physical but in the energy body.