An adept in the art  of Tibetan yoga  is said  to  be able
consciously to experience this transition. He attempts to
maintain   continuous  consciousness  while  progressing
from the state of  wakefulness  to  falling asleep,  then to
dreaming   and  finally   to  re—awakening.   Most  of  us,
however, do not experience this underlying unity. We are
accustomed     to     having     our    conscious    existence
interrupted    by   sleep.    And    when    we   awaken,   we
immediately   reconnect  quite   naturally  with  our  daily
reality.
     As we arise to confront  the duties  of the day, we can
usually dismiss easily  any  lingering dream fragments as
if they were the meaningless fancies of  a sleeping mind.
Dreams   invite  such  neglect   for  they   usually  appear
discontinuous  with  each other  and  alien  to our waking
life. No wonder, then, that the dream is often rejected as
incoherent nonsense  and that  it slips from  our memory
as   we  engage  ourselves   in   the  day's  activities.  Our
memory   system   is  not  designed   to  retain  nonsense.
Being already overworked, it has little time to digest the
strange  forms  of  dreams,  especially  when  they  seem
irrelevant to the needs and purposes of the day.
     A  more  technical   explanation  of   how  dreams  are
forgotten    is    provided    by   experimental   laboratory
techniques   which   have  been  devised   to  observe  the
potential   dreamer  during   sleep.   Through  the  use  of
electronic    instruments    which    monitor    the   bodily
processes  of  the  sleeper,  it  has  been  discovered  that
sleep passes through cyclical stages.  About every ninety
minutes  the  sleeper's  brain—wave  activity  approaches
that  of  wakefulness.  The  irregularity  of  the  pulse and
respiration  suggests  emotional  arousal.  Behind closed
lids  the  eyes  are  moving rapidly  as  if observing some
ongoing action.  If  the sleeper  is awakened  at this point,
the person will usually report having been dreaming.
     The   discovery  that   dreaming    occurs  periodically
through   the   night  and   that  it   is  associated  with    a
particular stage of sleep has significantly intensified the
investigation      of    dreams.    It    is     now     generally
acknowledged     that    if     the   sleeper    is    awakened
immediately  following   the  active  stage of  sleep,  the

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