Samadhi of the Dream State

"A fire to call eternity into Time, Make body’s joy as vivid as the soul’s".
                                                         – Sri Aurobindo 
In Integral Dream Yoga, soul-centered dreaming is a goal and method of experiencing higher dream states called Dream Samadhi™. Higher dream states are experienced similar to higher states of meditation – dream states of Samadhi. (Aurobindo 1976, 503-505) – as a process of dream yoga. Samadhi in the east is typically thought of to be a trance-state from deep meditation. Trance in the west is often thought of as a form of hypnosis or an altered state of consciousness. Meditative trance though can be experienced while awake, lucidly or semi-lucidly with various degrees of being in touch with the senses of the physical body. When an aspect of the dream trance state, the inner world, breaks into the waking consciousness of a healthy or integrated individual, in contrast to someone experiencing hallucinations, it is called a vision.
 
In higher-state dreaming one can experience and discover inner awakenings, emerging energies and direction of consciousness for personal and social change and present time empowerment. In dreaming one can experience empowerment by rising in consciousness, identifying with these potentials and even seeing future potentials unfolding for one’s future and those of society.  The goal is to bring that light – behind those stirrings, intuitions and inner seeing – into waking consciousness to create a greater consciousness for mind, body and life. 

Such visions or extraordinary dream experiences are developed from dreaming practices that facilitate a process of penetrating deeper and deeper into the layers of the higher feelings, creative mind and universal consciousness. The quest is to know and understand our powers of consciousness and their “field” of play – waking and dreaming. 

When we successfully enter sleep and dreams from the heart center through mindufullness of the breath and resonance to the inner soul, with the goal of integrating dreaming with meditation, it becomes a process of samadhi of the dream state – or "dreaming your way home." Such higher dreams can have great feelings and imagery of harmony with others, nature or the world as a whole.  Such dreams can have extraordinary revelations of empowerment, healing or creative inspiration and activity.

So, higher-state dreams – "soul sleep" as Hawaiians have called it –  are alive, making us more alive rather than lethargic, overcoming feelings of dullness on awakening. Higher state dreams tap our creative energy source, inspiration and inner guidance.

There are many ways higher dreams can be classified and infinitely experienced, but for brevity we can describe them as:  
  1. dreams of power itself which give us strength and the power of carrying out will and intent, which also assist overcoming depression, low-drive, and feelings of weakness while giving us “vision” for moving forward towards our destiny or life purpose; 
  2. dreams of intelligence or knowledge – creative moment-to-moment direction and inspiration for right action and "delightful" living – showing us the right time and means for work, love, art and spirituality; 
  3. dreams of expanded consciousness or awareness, inner-healing and ultimately experienced as love, “knowingness," compassion and wisdom – loving and knowing the other, whether it is a plant, an animal, a pet, another human, or spiritual Guardian. 
  4. and dreams of mutuality or harmony, working with all of life in synergy.​

Soulful Dreaming, the way of shamana, is a mindful dreaming practice, assisting increasing dream lucidity, but more than that assisting filling the dreaming mind with greater energies from our inner source, called "soulfulness." By transforming the mind into greater peace and awareness – with greater fullness of knowledge and understanding through dreams, empowerment through dreams, healing through dreams and creativity through dreams – we live a full life. A mindful  and soulful flow of the dream world into the waking world emerges.

The Role of Deep-Meditation and dream trance – inner focus, alignment and and receptivity to soul:
Deep-meditative "trance" states is a practice of many yogis, and is a skill either born with or acquired trough training and practice. Dreaming gives everyone though a natural door way into higher and subtler levels of experience, with the ability to see the unseen. When accessing higher or wider dream states than our normal ability and experience we can call this dream trance, whether recalled or forgotten.
The mandala above is the symbol of  the work of
​Paul Overman, PhD
Dream Samadhi – seeing inner-things hidden, but secretly affecting and guiding us.

Dream Samadhi – dreaming in higher states of mind & feeling – to have peace and harmony.

Dream Samadhi –exploring the inner-life and universal nature for higher self-discovery.

Dream Samadhi – seeking and listening to soul – under the Light of soul.

Mentoring Active Imagination and Waking-Dreams of the Inner Life in Integral Dream Work