Wondering if there are any dream yoga retreats or places to practice for a long time, with which I mean: 6 months and longer (but at least for four weeks…). All I find is a weekend, 3 days, up to a week. Anybody any ideas? Thanks in advance.
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Andrew has a Dream Yoga course that stretches over six weeks, found on Tricycle. I found it to be excellent.
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I have some ideas which could may or may not point you in a direction for you to go…
Idea 1 - solo retreat:
I’ll suggest a slightly alternative suggestion since I’ve done several solo meditation retreats.
What I’ve done for solo retreats is either at home or staying a small room (like at Diamond Mountain or other retreat center). Then every other day I would talk to a meditation teacher, or in this case a dream yoga teacher, to coach me on whatever happened or to perhaps be aware of next. Obviously this isn’t for everyone since it really depends on your temperament or inclination toward approaching practice this way.
Idea 2 - augmented practice during a group meditation retreat:
Sign up for a group meditation retreat at a retreat center but be very clear up front about your intention to also do dream yoga during a retreat. This might mean you speak to a ‘dream yoga’ coach every day, or every other day, this means you will also likely adjust your daily meditation schedule to fit the needs around dream yoga.
Idea 3 - go to where dream yoga is actually taught - basically, Tibetan places
Andrew Holecek and Charlie Morley both received their dream yoga ‘training’ through Tibetan traditions. Andrew Holecek with the multi-year Tibetan retreat, and Charlie Morley was authorized to teach by a Tibetan lama. Speak with either Andrew or Charlie with direction on where these places might be that have experienced dream yoga practitioners. Staying at a Tibetan monastery is not necessarily free but it would plant you in a place with supportive conditions that would guide you toward what you want. At a monastery though you don’t just sit around and meditate the whole time so it’s not a “retreat” per se but it could be the conditions you need to support what you are looking to achieve.
Idea 4 - a slow and steady approach
I don’t know your background or if you have done any retreats before. But if you have not done a 3-day retreat or a week long retreat, it may be wiser to do a number of 3-day or week long retreats before attempting something longer. Different temperaments have different needs but if you try to bite off more than you can chew, it is not a great formula to support your practice. A 6 month retreat (if it existed), for example, could be more overwhelming and something you may not be able to handle yet. After doing several 3-day or week long retreats then you could do one of the other previous ideas. Easier to build up your dream yoga muscle and confidence.
Example of how I might approach doing a solo or augmented group retreat with a dream yoga focus:
- Talk to a dream yoga teacher/coach about your plan, e.g., Andrew Holecek or Charlie Morley
- See if they are willing to coach you during the retreat, or if they cannot due to their schedule, they likely know someone they’d recommend for a coach
- Discuss with this dream coach what the daily schedule might look.
- Then start the retreat at home, or at a different location
Without knowing what a dream yoga coach might suggest, this is what a daily schedule might look like:
- perhaps meditate 4-6 hours per day
- several naps per day and experimenting with sleep in general
- practice inducing sleep while meditating yet still being aware
(secretly hope @Andrew can give an example of what a retreat schedule might look like and how to plan/organize one)
One element that I suspect is helpful that could be hard to do in the above scenarios is having time for dream sharing. The more importance and interest we give to our own and others dreams, the more likely we’ll remember our own dreams.
IMO one reason you’re unlikely to see dream yoga specific retreats is because it can be relatively self directed. So going to shorter retreats would help give you some building blocks for how you want to approach it before doing something longer.
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Hello Claylimo, thanks super much 
Your ideas are really helpful. I think it makes a lot of sense not to start too big - I have meditation experience, but not much dream yoga experience, and never done anything more than a couple of days (my longest meditation retreat was at Plum Village for 2 weeks). I’m the type of person who doesn’t like small steps and will usually try to jump :D… Thinking that if I want big changes in my life I need to do something big :D… Like 2 or 3 years. Although that’s still my goal, I could continue with smaller or solo retreats until I find a place to practice for much longer. You are talking about coaches. Have you worked with any? I have really no idea how to find a coach. And how would someone coach…? Via internet…? Thanks once more for sending me all your ideas.
May be too late to join (1 person on wait list) but Charlie Morley has an online DY retreat next month. He is an excellent Lucid Dreaming/Dream Yoga teacher, so you might want to check it out.
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PS You can also listen to his interview with Andrew, it was one of the first he did for the Nightclub site.
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Thanks so much, really helpful. Never had the idea of searching for Charlie Morley on meetup. I will definitely check it out, and if I don’t make this one maybe the next one
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If you read his book, Dreaming Through the Darkness, you have a great springboard to the environment he creates during his retreats.
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Just found it as an Audiobook on Audible
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