Why "Dream Yoga"

A dear friend and Yoga Nidra peer, Nick, recently asked me about the name Dream Yoga. The name infers the possibility that I am creating a new kind of yoga. I understand the name could be interpreted many ways. Here is why I went with "Dream Yoga":

During the 13 months that I lived at the Kripalu Center, I stuck an A between the Dre M on my nametag and for some people my name ended up simply being Dream. Around that time, my already profound dreaming practice dramatically increased, which became a beacon for my internal development. I wrote all my dreams and began to understand a subtle language they were sharing with me.

In 2009 when I approached Richard Miller to ask to study with him, he looked at my nametag and said, "Ha, Dream! Of course, come study with me." Yoga Nidra is a practice that takes place in some dream states. To those who know me and my yoga practice, they always seem surprised that I'm not sharing more Yoga Nidra in my teaching. No one else has brought it to Kansas City either.  I made a shift recently when I realized that I've been kind of doing my own thing as a yoga teacher, but there still has been a sense that I'm trying to be the kind of yoga teacher that people expect. I recently realized there are hundreds of teachers here to fill that role (which is a wonderful role) but that I'm supposed to do what what makes my practice specifically mine. And the most I can say about that in this moment is that Yoga Nidra is one practice that I keep developing, exploring and seeking out as I continue my education.

One main theme in my inquiry over the years, it seems, keeps bringing me to the space between reality and illusion. Questioning what is real. The things I think are real aren't. So I gradually travel through a slow letting go of the illusion of reality while simultaneously living a 'householder's existence' in the everyday world that is shared by everyone, not just monks and shamen. The funny thing is when I let go of what's 'real' the reality that happens to me is so outrageous that I couldn't possibly make it up. But that's the magic of yoga, shit gets weird, but shit gets real. We have access to the truth that takes ourselves there.

As Donna Eden said when she looked up at my energy field, "You ARE a Dream!"

So I called what I'm doing Dream Yoga because I am the Dream. But if I'm creating something new I don't know about it yet.