What if you could meditate only during the time between hitting the snooze button on your alarm clock and getting up in the morning? And what if this meditation was certain to be more powerful and deep that any of your standard “insight” meditations?
In fact, the Tibetan Buddhists have numerous practices that follow along these lines. The goal of many of these practices is to reach a state in which one can observe the “natural light” of the mind free from thoughts and attachments. The time before you have fully come into wakefulness is also a time before you have resumed all the trappings of selfhood.
One simple method is to focus on a symbol, say an “X”, as resting right on the inside of your forehead. This will help you stay half-awake and half-asleep letting you persist in a dream-like state while alert enough to observe the nature of the mind.
You can use this practice either first thing in the morning (which I recommend), during a nap, or at night when you go to bed. The result is a feeling of freedom, peace, and detatchment. One simply feels less constrained, having seen first hand a limitless and infinite space.
For more information on these techniques read How to Practice by the Dalai Lama or Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu.