Meditation and weird dreams

black_tea

I have something that I am curious about. Over the past several weeks I've made a point of meditating daily -- I get up early every morning before work. I've noticed an increase in the dreams that I'm aware of when I wake up. Usually I don't remember a lot of my dreams, and the ones I do remember are usually just random snippets from misfiring neurons. Now I am aware of a lot more of my dreaming, and they tend to be more vivid than normal. Some are bad (which is kind of unusual as I don't typically have nightmares -- just the occasional anxiety dreams when really stressed), but I would say that most still aren't. This might not have anything to do with meditating on a more regular basis, but I found it interesting that the two things coincided with each other. Has anybody else experienced anything like this?

taiyaki

Yeah my dreams have an aspect of clarity to them. Kind of like a crystal. Practicr feeds into all aspects of our lives!

Jeffrey

My favorite dreams are when I see old friends. But yeah I think there is a connection between meditation and vivid dreams. Especially if you remember Buddhism in the middle of your dream and then the habit of awareness can make you lucid or in control of the dream. I've had a dream about sort of a panel with colored lights and I could with my mind cause the colors to manifest brighter and glowing patterns. That dream was awesome.

lobster

Last night I was being given a 'dharma transmission' by an enlightened Zen Master in my dreams, shame it was Eido Tai Shimano.
He was 'giving me the finger' in an enlightened way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eido_Tai_Shimano
He was very unimpressed by my unenlightened returning of the gesture . . .

Dreams are just a rewiring process. Arisings.

maarten

Yes, for me it is definitely related. When I meditate more, the subjects of my dreams often become impersonal. I could dream about some football player being interviewed, and the interview would be really boring, and all kinds of uninteresting details would come up (where the player buys his shampoo). I'd be watching this interview in my dream for a long time (it would be consistent, and boring). When waking up, I'd think to myself: "why on earth did I dream about that, it's just boring and has nothing to do with me".
In a normal dream, this would not happen. I would be dreaming about something that has occupied my mind, there would not be that many details (or at least: I would not be noticing them), and the dream would move more rapidly from one subject/event to another. In the end, I appreciate my normal dream life more.