Andrew Holecek

Andrew Holecek is an author and spiritual teacher who offers talks, online courses, and workshops in the United States and abroad. As a long-time student of Buddhism, he frequently presents this tradition from a contemporary perspective – blending the ancient wisdom of the East with modern knowledge from the West. Drawing on years of intensive study and practice, he teaches about the opportunities that exist in obstacles, helping people with hardship and pain, death and dying, and problems in meditation. 

Known as an expert on lucid dreaming and the Tibetan yogas of sleep and dream, he is an experienced guide for students drawn to these powerful nocturnal practices. Andrew Holecek is the author of many books and offers seminars internationally on meditation, lucid dreaming, and dream yoga. He is the author of Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep, the audio learning course Dream Yoga: The Tibetan Path of Awakening Through Lucid Dreaming, Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming, and The Lucid Dreaming Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering Your Dream Life (See all of his books). Dr. Holecek is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the author of scientific papers on lucid dreaming.

Andrew was born in Bogota, Colombia, the son of a Lithuanian mother and a Czechoslovakian father, and raised as a Catholic. He grew up in Michigan and graduated with a double degree in music and biology from Indiana University. An avid reader since childhood, Andrew immersed himself in his younger years with books on pop psychology and Eastern mysticism.

His first life-changing experience at age twenty recounted in his book “The Power and The Pain,” was when he was introduced to meditation: “I had no idea such a state of consciousness was even possible, and I had to find a way to develop and stabilize this blissful state of mind.” In an effort to understand his breakthrough experience, for the next seven years, he searched the world’s spiritual and religious traditions and studied physics at the University of Colorado. 

“I didn’t know it then but was looking for reality. I thought physics described reality and that all my answers could be found there. But physics describes physical reality. It does not describe a complete spiritual reality. I abandoned my study of physics and entered the darkest period of my life, feeling utterly lost and alone. I had no idea what to do or where to go with my life. Because my brother and mother were both dentists, I decided to join the family, so to speak, and finally do something practical. I felt that dentistry would be a good profession to bring some stability and provide a way to help people.” In 1988 Andrew received his doctorate in dental surgery.