Can You Meditate In Your Dreams?

I miss out on a third of the day
Sleep on
I lie down to sleep and lose control
Sleep on
I don’t want to sleep but remain in charge
Sleep on
Anything could happen to anyone
Sleep on

Lighten our darkness
Sleep on
O Lord we pray
Sleep on
Preserve us
Sleep on
From all dangers
Sleep on

Only God keeps watch while we
Sleep on
- James Hart

It was midnight 03.00 hrs when my dad saw me walking in our lawn and got worried. For a moment he thought I am suffering from sleeping disorder. So he headed downstairs and stood in front of me in lawn. “Hi sweetheart, is anything wrong? What got you here so late?” his voice sounded tense at the same time soothing. His questions were actually answerable but I dint from where do I start “Umm.. Well nothing Dad its just I was sleeping and I got up again and now I can’t sleep” for a moment I looked at him and hoped that he had understood my dilemma.

He took a deep breath, sensing the chill around us he suggested “listen, dear do you mind having a walk around the fences even, I need to stretch my legs” I was so unstable I just agreed to what he said and besides, a walk with dad …. Anytime I gelled very well with my father, its may be he understood me the best.

While walking he just kept a thought “So Anne do you wanna talk about it?” my own thoughts broke as I was trying to remember what made m wake in midnight “Talk, talk about what dad?” “Well, about your sleep; I thought you want to talk about your sleep.” This is called Father. Man these guys actually know everything and read your mind like a open book. Hell, my heart was screaming and I really wanted to talk with my dad about it. “Hmm… yeah I mean yes I really need to talk dad. This is making me insane, I hope I am not turning one.” He placed his hands on my shoulder and made me comfortable “Ok, ok no worries take a deep breath. I am here.”

“Dad, I sleep on proper time but suddenly something creepy happens and then I am unable to sleep. I mean I myself don’t understand what happens is it some sort of dream, I just don’t know what exactly happens. I just know I will definitely go mad in few days.” This time my dad smiled “Relax, Anne it’s nothing big to worry about. We definitely have a good solution for it. Provided you need to help yourself.” I was on the verge of my threshold “Dad please I am ready to do anything I just need good sleep, a very good sleep.” “Sure darling, now its already getting dawn so will you cup of coffee, I will tell you over the coffee what has to be done”

“Well that’s fine dad but let me make coffee for you” a cup of coffee for my dad make a good start. “Aha! For sure dear, I would love to”

My dad was sitting in our living room where I got two mugs of coffee of us. “Dad is 2 spoon of sugar fine?”, “hmm.. Yeah it will do.”

He was bit busy with his laptop, and I was loosing my patience; he was supposed to tell me the solution. While I was suppressing my brain’s nonsense my dad broke” hey Anne just have a look on this. This is what I have got for you”

The site looked very simple and it mentioned DREAM YOGA. I was left numb. Two different words it looked like human with alien. “Dad what is this? I mean how can  this be a solution?”.

Only two from dad for the moment “Read it”. I looked at him his eyes gave a huge hope. I just went on and on, dint even realized when dad went off to doze.

It was after few weeks I was back again. I slept well and hence my mind was well. It was all because of m dad’s small miracle called as dream yoga. I know the name itself sounds so funny but this is a fact. Dream yoga is a peaceful way to have a balanced mind and healthy body. Well, it is a form of yoga but I have gained a lot from it and n o doubt I would be very happy to help characters like me who wake anytime and loiter like any spirit.

To start with, Dream yoga or Milam— the Yoga of the Dream State is an advanced form of Yoga Nidra. Dream yoga is one of the Six Yogas of Naropa. Dream yoga is originally derived from Tibetan form of yoga. It is one of the sixth yoga intricate by the Tibetan guru Marpa and conceded down by his eminent adherent Milarepa. This yoga actually allows the yogi- (one who performs yoga)to have full concentration and earn huge control in the dream state.

There are some various steps while performing this yoga. This steps help you get rid of unnecessary burden.

• At very first, a person should turn into coherent or wake up in the dream state.
• Then during the second stage the dreamer must conquer all fear contents of the dream which gives us realization that nothing in the dream can cause hurt.
• For example, in the state of dream he should play with acidic fluids and realize that acid won’t burn him.
• While performing the third step, both the matter occurring in our dream and matter in the world through the Buddhist’s worldview are therefore empty with no significant nature. This stage of meditating in the dream can be known as Maya, so we need to equate the sense of Maya in our every day life.
• Well during the fourth stage the dreamer should comprehend that he has achieved control in the dream by changing big objects into small object, heavy objects into light ones, and many objects into one object. The dreamer should also be able to experiment with changing things into their opposites like for e.g. coal into ice.
• Once the dreamer achieves control over objects and their conversions the dreamer should realize that the dreamer’s dream body is as frail as the other objects in the dream..
• Finally, the images of divine being like Buddha’s, Bodhisattvas, or Dakinis should be envisioned in the lucid dream state. These images are recurrently seen in Tibetan religious art and used in meditation. They are said to be resonate with the clear light of formless “such ness.” They can therefore serve as doorways to clear light. The dreamer is instructed to concentrate on these images without distraction or thinking about other things so that the qualities of each of these personifications of the enlightened divine are internalized.

And to addition there are some simple instructions to follow dream yoga:

• Visualize and meditate on the Tibetan syllable “ah,” in the center of your body.
• Keep your awareness on it while you are falling asleep.
• Associate the visual letter with the sound “ahhh.”
• You will fall asleep with virtually full awareness.

This all steps will enable you to maintain awareness of the full presence of the state of natural light both while dreaming and while deeply asleep.

I would like here to mention that while practicing this dream yoga I not only overcame my fears in dreams but simultaneously it healed many other things which disturbed my mind. And to my surprise I dint even realize many of transformation. And to precisely mention I gained a wide range of patience. But in addition to this the other benefits that I gained were:

I hugely believe in Karmic actions and their consequences.

And according, to the karmic theory, our actions decide our destiny. For each action that is of benefit to others, there is a suitable reward sometime in this life or the next. With dream yoga, a person is able to view this karmic cycle clearly and can get an opportunity to see the consequences of karma before the action is even performed. This can help the person in deciding the best course of action in any situation and sometimes change the way a person lives their life.

Dream yoga helps a person to stop indulging in the past or the future and instead concentrate their energies on the present.

A dream is never about the past. It is always a depiction of the present.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.- BUDDHA.

In this moment of the limitless present, the body and mind are both liberated.

No doubt all the credit goes to my dad who showed me this beautiful path but It is has been just possible with the help of dream yoga. I live my dreams, I control my dreams and I enjoy my dreams. This is a very rare combination don’t you think?

I dare you to dream
Dream of what you can do,
And what you will do.
Dream of who you are,
And who you’ll become.
Never believe that dreams are for fools,
The fools are those who don’t dream….Sarah C. Ward.

I definitely don’t loiter like spirit in our lawn but I definitely enjoy the beautiful walks with my dad.