Stop Dreaming; Is it Possible?

Do you sometimes suddenly wake up in the middle of the night? You are fear stricken, sweating all over, or your heart races like crazy. I am sure you have. We all can relate to it. Often that is the end of the night. We are afraid to fall asleep again and that the nightmare may come back and continue.

I used to have fear dreams that showed images inside of German concentration camps. Perhaps it was associated with my previous life in Germany. Some related memories or that something still needed to be completed. Perhaps the fears were so strong that a nightmare was the only way the subconscious mind could deal with it. Who knows.

Nightmares You don’t Want to Have

In my dreams I was constantly chased and running away from something or someone. If I could not outrun my invisible dream enemy I started to fly into the air, using swimming motions. This moved me slowly but surely higher up into the air. I then safely landed in trees or on rooftops. I escaped the enemy, felt safe, and enjoyed the different view high above the world.

In another repeated dream I was in an indoor swimming pool along with other people. The fear here was that I never knew when we would be electrocuted in the water.

The last but less often nightmare I used to have, was that I visited a concentration camp in outer space. They gave me a tour of it. I was fearfully asking myself, when would they use those torture instruments on me?

How my Nightmares stopped

One day I was talking about it at a spiritual gathering lead by a realized Swami. We were all sitting together for our meal during which we all shared some concerns. Interestingly since that time I never had these particular nightmares again. But other dreams continued.

How I Stopped Dreaming alltogether

A few years later after I met my guru, he told a story of how he stopped dreaming. One day when he was about 10 years old he visited Annamalai Swami. Annamalai was a disciple of Ramana Maharishi and later a master of himself. He told the boy that he does not dream. The boy was so impressed that he right away decided to stop dreaming too. Just like that.

The Power of Intention

Now when I heard the story I also was impressed and decided to experiment. Sure enough one night a dream came. Because of my strong intention not to dream, I was able to chase the dream away. In my sleep I was thinking, I don’t want to dream, go away. The dream actually vanished.

For the last 10 years I have chased my dreams away. When a dream starts forming, I tell myself in sleep that I don’t want to dream.

Some readers may have a doubt, no, you have to dream. It is a psychological outlet or something of that sort. I can only say, for me this has not held true. I don’t have to dream, period. It has not done me any harm; I actually feel happier without dreaming.

Try it tonight or the next few days and see if you sleep better. Then add your comment below.

Yogini Ma Udaysree is a Happiness Coach & Meditation Teacher. She helps her clients to connect with their true nature and live a blissful life. She has lived six years in South India where she conducts Silent Arunachala Retreats once a year. Udaysree is the author of ‘Living at Arunachala’. MaUdaysree.com