Andrew Holecek

Andrew Holecek is an author and teacher who works at the meeting point of Tibetan Buddhism, meditation, and contemplative science. A longtime practitioner who completed the traditional Tibetan Buddhist three-year retreat, he is best known for his teachings on lucid dreaming and dream yoga, conscious dying and the bardos, and the practice of dark retreat. Below you'll find Andrew Holecek's practices and teachings shared on Mindfulness Exercises.

Holecek's teaching draws on more than three decades of study in Tibetan Buddhism and nondual wisdom traditions, including a completed traditional three-year meditation retreat. Alongside his contemplative training he has a background in dentistry and co-founded Global Dental Relief, a nonprofit providing free dental care to children in countries including India and Nepal. He serves as a resident contemplative scholar at the Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies and has collaborated with researchers studying dream yoga and dark retreat.

He is the author of several widely read books, including "Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming," "Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming," "Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition," "Reverse Meditation: How to Use Your Pain and Most Difficult Emotions as the Doorway to Inner Freedom," and "Total Eclipse of the Mind: Unleashing the Power of Darkness for Creativity, Healing, and Transformation."

A consistent thread in his work is using the whole arc of experience as material for practice. Whether the subject is sleep and dreams, difficult emotions and pain, periods of darkness, or the process of dying, Holecek presents traditional contemplative methods as practical, accessible tools for greater awareness, steadiness, and insight in everyday life.