Upon   falling  asleep   we   may   experiment   with   a
meditation  from  The Tibetan Book of  the Dead.   If we
focus  our  desire  for dreams into  a concentrated "glow"
in the back of the throat,  we may then find that sleep will
not erase our intention to notice our dreaming. The yogic
phenomenology has an interesting  psycho-physiological
parallel, for it is in the stem of  the brain  that the arousal
during    the    dream    state    is    controlled.    Thus,   by
establishing   mental   contact  with    this  center  before
falling asleep,  its  activation  during dreaming  may  also
awaken our intended vigilance.
    But  in  any case, there  may be  a  temporary difficulty.
Occasionally   we  find   that  the intention  to  recall  our
dreams  ruins our  sleep. During  the  night  we fidget and
fuss. We  may  be  anxious  about our dreams, afraid  that
we  may  fail  to remember them, but  also perhaps afraid
that we may succeed only to have  terrible dreams. Given
certain   popular   misconceptions   about   the  nature  of
dreams, it is natural to experience some anxiety when we
begin to try to remember them.  More typically, however,
it  is simply the fact of  our heightened expectancy which
is   to  blame   for   a   poor  night's  sleep.   Any  form  of
expectancy—some exciting  or  distressing  event  taking
place  the  next  day—can  interfere  with  our  sleep. But
this  should   be  no  cause  for  concern,  for  we  quickly
become accustomed to the anticipation of our dreams.
    The effects of  vigilance during the night will probably
first  be evident  to  us in  the  morning  when  we awaken.
We  may  recall having dreamed,  but remember only that
in  the dream we  reminded ourselves  to "remember  this
dream."  Here  we have,  in  fact,  taken  advantage  of  the
semi-wakefulness accompanying  the dream state to alert
ourselves to  remember the dream.  At first it may appear
that our  vigilance  is  operating  within  the dream  itself.
What may have happened, however,  is  that we awakened
to  give ourselves  this reminder, but since  we awakened
only  so slightly and  returned  to  sleep very quickly, our
reminder subsequently appears  to be  a part of the dream
experience itself.
    The  next stage in the development begins the night we
discover ourselves lying in bed awake only to realize that

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