dreams and awakening
Astral projection and dream yoga
Astral projection means staying conscious as the body falls asleep so that awareness continues in the world of dreams, and dream yoga is the practice that trains this. We teach it gradually and safely as part of the Gnostic path, in classes in Midrand.
definitions first
What the words mean
Three terms come up in this part of the teaching, and they are related rather than interchangeable. Lucid dreaming is knowing that you are dreaming while the dream is still going on, and the tradition treats it as the first doorway. Astral projection is the step beyond it, where you do not wake up inside a dream but keep your awareness unbroken as the body goes to sleep, so that there is no gap between lying down and finding yourself awake in the dream world. Dream yoga is the name for the whole discipline that trains both, borrowed from the Tibetan tradition, where the same practices have been taught for centuries.
The Gnostic teaching holds that everyone leaves the body in sleep and that most people simply do not remember it. What the practice changes is not whether it happens but whether you are conscious while it does.
why bother
Why the teaching values it
It is easy to hear about astral projection and think of it as a thrill, and plenty of books sell it that way. The tradition values it for a plainer reason. A third of your life is spent asleep, and if the consciousness is switched off for that third, a third of your chances to know yourself are lost. In dreams the ego shows itself without the polish it wears in daytime. You see what you fear, what you crave and how you react when nobody is watching, and that is exactly the material that self-knowledge and the psychology of the ego works with.
So in this teaching astral projection is not a party trick or a way to visit places. It is a way of continuing the work of self-observation through the night, and of learning directly, rather than by belief, that you are something more than the body.
an honest answer
Is it safe?
Yes. The tradition treats it as a natural extension of sleep and dreaming, something the body does every night whether you notice or not, and not as a forced state. It is taught step by step over months, nobody is pushed, and nobody is given a technique before they have the calm and the self-observation to use it well. Students who prefer to wait simply wait. Fear is the usual obstacle, and the practices are arranged so that confidence grows before anything unusual is attempted.
We also do not teach it in isolation. It sits inside a course that begins with relaxation, concentration and meditation, so by the time a student is working with dreams they already know how to settle the body and watch the mind. You can read how those first skills are taught in our meditation classes in Midrand.
first steps
What a beginner is given to practise
The first practices are ordinary and gentle. Students are asked to remember their dreams, which usually means keeping a notebook beside the bed and writing something down before getting up, because memory of the night fades within minutes. They are asked to question, several times through the day, whether they might be dreaming at that moment, since the habit of asking carries over into sleep. And they are taught to relax deeply before sleep, so that the body lets go while the attention stays quiet and alert.
None of this is a manual you can follow from a web page, and we do not try to teach it here. What we can say is that these three habits are where every student starts, that they cost nothing and harm nobody, and that the rest is taught in the room at the pace of the group. Our older article on astral projection gives the teaching's own account of the subject if you would like to read more.
your next step
Cost and how to begin
The introductory lectures are free. The weekly classes that follow are run on donations. The classes are held at Rabie Ridge Community Hall in Midrand, and students come from across Johannesburg, Centurion and Pretoria, as our page on Gnosis classes in Johannesburg and Pretoria explains. If you are new to the teaching, start with what Gnosis is, then come to the next introductory lecture on the Midrand course page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. It is a natural extension of sleep and dreaming, and we teach it gradually and gently, never as a party trick.
Not quite. Lucid dreaming is waking up inside a dream. Astral projection is keeping your awareness unbroken as the body falls asleep, so there is no gap to wake up from. The tradition treats lucid dreaming as the first doorway to it.
The tradition teaches that everyone leaves the body in sleep and that the skill is remembering and staying conscious. It comes more easily to some than to others, and patience matters more than talent.
There is no fixed time, and we would be inventing one if we gave it. Some students have a first clear experience within weeks of starting the practices, others take much longer. The daily habits are the same either way.
The practices are about attention and remembering, not about belief, and students from Christian, Muslim and Hindu backgrounds keep their own faith. If you are unsure, talk to us at the introductory lecture before you begin.
Start with the first lecture
Come to the next free introductory lecture in Midrand, or send us a WhatsApp on +27 79 678 0991 and we will tell you the date and place.
