Professor Thurman discusses the experiential and physical parallels between the process of sleep and the process of dying. He explains also the similarity between this experience and enlightenment, and how sleep yoga and death yoga can be used therefore on the path to enlightenment.

This episode is an excerpt from recordings of a weekend retreat that Professor Thurman led at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in February 2015, titled “Living the Evolutionary Life: Through Death and Beyond.” It is a continuation from last week’s episode, titled “Rebirth Stories“.

Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to empowering people and communities to realize their full potential through the transformative wisdom and practice of yoga.

To learn more about Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health + about upcoming events with Robert AF Thurman please visit: www.kripalu.org.

“Inner science focuses on the soul, spirit, and mind as embodied in the physical body in its environment. It is not simply a name for religious mind control through belief and ritual. It develops various theories but is primarily an experimental science, proceeding by contemplative observation of the mind, senses, emotions, and intellectual faculties. Its laboratory is the mind-body complex itself, as well as the whole range of mental states experienced in waking, dreaming, sleep, meditative trance, and even out-of-body, virtual reality situations. Its technology is yoga, the yoking of conscious attention to empirical exploration, transformative discovery, and healing modification.”

Robert AF Thurman

This podcast is apart of the Buddhist Inner Sciences 101 Podcast Series taken from the Bob Thurman & Tibet House US archives which are intended to provide an introduction to the yogic, meditative & theoretical practices of the tradition. These recordings are intended to be general overviews & one should be studying with a qualified teacher before attempting or engaging in the practices.

Photo by Hugues de BUYER-MIMEURE on Unsplash