Dream Signs – Mirrors from Matthew Canale on Vimeo.

I made this video for my last lucid dream workshop. Brontosauruses rule. Enough said. Enjoy.

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Thank you again to everyone who came to the workshop the other night. I was in a yoga class the last week and in tree pose and a thought popped into my head. Usually ideas come in and out and just like a dream they disappear before I have a chance to write them down. That’s my signal that it probably wasn’t a good idea to begin with. However this one stuck around till after I got out of class. The idea was to create this piece above for people who come to my workshop.

The symbol is the Tibetan letter A. It is used for visualization exercises in the Tibetan dream yoga practice. In dream yoga, the symbol represents the natural non dual state of the mind. During meditation the practitioner is to look at the symbol while meditating without shifting his or her gaze. It is also recommended not to think about the A, but to simply allow it to be within one’s awareness. Once the image is clear in one’s mind, they are to close the eyes and visualize it. The next progression is to visualize being the symbol itself. After this is achieved, one should try to release all images and simply become the essence on the A itself. It is good to give yourself enough time at each step.

It is also recommended to use the A as a point of focus as you are falling asleep. It is said to rest at the throat chakra and is to be visualized as a red four pedaled flower that faces up to the sky with the A in the middle. There is a mantra that corresponds to the four pedals. RA, for the pedal facing front, LA to the left, SHA to the back, and SA to the right. This practice will bring about peaceful dreams and more restful sleep.

It has been noted that my design has a certain Looney Toons feel to it. I was actually thinking about that while I was making it. I’ve always been a fan so I thought why not add a hint of that Merry Melodies flavor. I hope this brings your practice many fruitful experiences. That’s all for now folks!

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Eve will be at the workshop on Thursday at the alignment center talking a little bit about her Elixirs and the ability of herbs to aid in our dream practice.

By Eve of Eden’s Elixirs

Since a young age, I have witnessed firsthand how beneficial it can be to harness plant intelligence in one’s life. I was raised very unconventionally in a household whose belief system was very earth-based; we never to the traditional medical doctor, and instead found all remedies through plants and a plant-based diet. Growing up with this truth has inspired me and made me passionate about sharing my knowledge and experience with botanicals. I craft herbal elixirs as an effort to a promote longevity, vibrant health and a deeper awareness of the human experience. I’m looking forward to sharing my Lucid Dreaming Elixir at The Lucid Dream workshop.

Eve will also be selling her elixirs at the workshop and talking more about how they can aid in our dream practice.

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People told me to go see Inception ever since the trailer came out. “There’s this sweet movie about lucid dreaming you gotta check out!” I like to know as little as possible about a movie before going to see it. This instance was particularly difficult because I had a lot of people who wanted to tell me how awesome it was. Luckily I dodged the spoilers and reviews and got to see it with fresh eyes. I have to say I was really please with the movie. I think it did what it set out to do really well. It also made the subject of lucid dreaming open to millions of people. A movie about dreams has a great potential to be very ungrounded and difficult for many to relate to. It was definitely nice knowing about different levels of consciousness and lucid dreaming going into it. One criticism I have is that Inception only scraped the surface of how we can potentially manipulate our dreams. I think Nolan was really trying to satisfy the imagination of people with the more surrealist scenes earlier in the movie. The cafe scene and the building folding were really spectacular cinematic experiences. That alone, for me, was worth the price of admission. There are also some great homages to M.C. Escher showing some great ways to play with dream space. I think it’s pretty tough to make an entire movie with that same type of visual candy but I couldn’t help but wish there was a little more.

I also was disappointed that the main form of attack in the movie were guns. How uncreative! You could create a wall or just travel to another country with a thought. I was also kind of hoping for some flying sequences but no dice on that one. Flying is one of the most common and amazing elements of a lucid dream and I just kind of assumed that it would be part of the movie. At the same time, I understand that having gravity work in a more realistic way is important in making the movie less fantastical. As with many of Nolan’s movies, I think it was a deliberate choice not to have people flying and manifesting things to happen at will. Knowing his style, he also likes to use as little special effects as possible. It makes his movies more believable to people who might not be as familiar with the subject. Instead, I think he did a great job of letting his concepts and story line satisfy the imagination of the viewer.

It is very easy to have a movie about dream become labeled as science fiction. Instead, it has been categorized as more of an action adventure and a drama. Because of this, I think that Inception will give lucid dreaming more respect and make people think about it more as a part of reality instead of fantasy. I definitely encourage anyone who hasn’t seen the movie to go out and take a look. I’ll be talking more about it in my workshop next week. Until then, sweet lucid dreams.

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All I can really say is that I’m consistently creating things that leave me scratching my head and I like it. In a sense I really have been here. After meditating about the piece for a little while, I really feel like this is place where I’ve been. The longer I worked on it, the more I felt this to be true. A place from my imagination perhaps, but when I was working on it I knew where everything was spatially and the sensations around me. I pictured being under one of the large leaves laying on the cool pavement while the telephone wires buzzed above. I was in the backseat of the car looking through the front window at the legs of a big yellow floating monstrosity. He seemed harmless enough. The way I see it, this place that I’ve made is real in the same way that my dreams are real. Yes, I don’t experience either with my physical body but when I’m in the act of dreaming or painting I am having the experience of being there in that moment. It’s been a great project for me. I can’t wait to go somewhere else!

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I’m pleased to announce my next workshop at the Alignment Center Thursday August 19th. With the movie Inception just coming out, there has been an increased buzz about lucid dreaming. It’s exciting to know that so many people are interested in this subject. At the next workshop, I will show some more animations which will help illustrate some concepts of lucid dreaming. We will go deeper into the mystery of the dream and more importantly how we can become aware within it. The dream is a tool that has been used by cultures from across the world for as long as recorded history. It is obvious that this essential element of the human experience is no less important to us today then it was thousands of years ago.

As for the poster, the design was inspired by the art of the Huichol people of Mexico. They have beautiful yarn paintings and intricate bead work. Their use of color is almost childlike, but has an amazing luminous quality that I’ve seen in few other places. I have some friends who have a great project to make sure the Huichol community has clean water to drink. The organization is called Water for Huichols. You can view their crafts online and buy them and the money goes to help the cause. Visit them at http://www.ecozoicera.net/ Sweet dreams.

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Dream Signs – Jumping from Matthew Canale on Vimeo.

Here’s the latest animation from my Dream Signs series. More on the way. The nice one about this technique is that once you do it you’re already thinking about flying. Just a quick recap of a dream I had the other night. I was lucid and was just standing there looking at my hands. They wobbled and morphed before my eyes. I looked at the guy next to me and asked him if it was happening to him as well. It seemed like I was the only one that had it going on at the time. I hopped into the dog washing van from Dummer and Dummer as it drove by. I was in the van still perfectly lucid and I was wondering if there was anyone else in the van that was dreaming as well so I told them all that it was a dream. They didn’t seem impressed at all. So I decided to ask a question. “What is a dream?” A man appeared next to me and said quite simply, “Grammar.” It seemed so bizarre that I had to ask him to repeat himself. “Grammar,” he replied again. “It is the grammar of the soul.” I didn’t understand it intellectually after he said it. Sometimes things are so deep and yet so simple in dreams that I have a hard time understanding the meaning behind it as its happening. I simply made a point to remember the man’s answer and went on with my dream.
I’m still mulling the whole thing over. Maybe I’ll see him again and ask him to elaborate a little. Maybe you have an idea. Sweet dreams.

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Itzhak Beery Interview 2008 from Matthew Canale on Vimeo.

Before I left for the Amazon in 2008, I sat down with Itzhak Beery for an interview. We talked about his relationship with shamanism, plant medicine, and what its like to be a shamanic practitioner in New York City. I planned on having it be part of a documentary about my journey but it didn’t turn out like that. Much thanks to Itzhak for meeting with me for this talk. It’s about an hour and a half so grab a snack, sit down, and enjoy!

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Here’s a nice article that appeared in the Times recently. It talks about how more and more people are taking notice of their dreams and talking about them with other people. Apparently they are the equivalent of book clubs at the moment in some places. I think it might be fun to get a study group together as well. Lets say meeting up once a month would be a good practice. Get back to me if you think you would be interested. When I’m not having workshops it would be nice to have a small community where we could share our journeys together. I had quite the experience today that I’ll share a bit of tomorrow. I was once told that if we are given gifts of knowledge from the divine and we don’t share them with one another we are like thieves. Dreams can be personal and difficult to talk about but I feel like there is a wealth of good that can come sharing them. So often we can’t even recognize our own patterns. Sometimes it takes another person standing at a different angle to recognize them for us.

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Coalition Of The Willing from coalitionfilm on Vimeo.

A great piece that deals with what is actually being done to help the state of the environment. Regardless of what you think the cause of global warming is, the video offers some very helpful solutions that could greatly help humanity by using the technology that already ties us together. There is also some great insight into the social movement of the 60’s by talking about what worked and what brought about the it’s end. I really love this video for the kaleidoscope of styles and techniques used. It’s good to know that there are videos like this are being made and that time is being spent on them to make them look amazing. It’s my hope that many more projects like this will be made in the future.

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