Usually when one drives along a familiar route, awareness of the present is lost. Even during a daily commute lasting forty-five minutes or an hour, nothing is really seen with strong awareness. The driver is on automatic, lost in thoughts about the job or fantasies about a vacation or worry about the bills or plans for the family.
Then one becomes a practitioner and decides to remain as present as possible during the drive home, to use the time as an opportunity to strengthen the mind for practice. It is very difficult to do, because of conditioning. The mind repeatedly floats away. The practitioner brings it back—to the feel of the steering wheel, the color of the grass along the highway—but this only lasts for a minute before the mind’s activity carries the attention away again.
It is the same with meditation practice. The mind is placed on the image of a deity, or on A, or on the breath; a minute later it wanders off again. It may take a long time, even years, before presence can be maintained continuously for a half hour.
When dream practice is begun, it follows a similar progression. Most dreams are periods of complete distraction; the dream is forgotten almost as quickly as it happens. With practice, moments of lucidity arise, gradually increasing to long minutes of lucid presence in dream. Even then, the lucidity may be lost, or the next dream may again be lacking lucidity. Progress is made, it is certain and recognizable, but it takes diligence and strong intention.
Sleep practice is often even slower to develop. But if, after a long time of practice, there is no progress—no increased presence, no recognizable positive changes in life—it is best not to accept this state of affairs. Rather, do purification practices, examine and heal broken commitments (samaya), or work with the prana and energy of the body. Other practices may be needed to clear obstacles and serve as a basis for the accomplishment of dream and sleep yogas.
The practitioner is like a vine that can only grow where there is support. External circumstances have a strong influence on the quality of life, so try to spend time in environments and with people that support practice rather than detract from it. It helps to read books on the dharma, practice meditation with others, attend teachings, and to associate with other practitioners. Practitioners have the responsibility to honestly evaluate their practice and its results. If this is not done, it is easy to spend many years believing progress is being made when nothing is actually happening.