Working With Dreams
Dreaming is an altered state of consciousness that we all visit regularly. Dreams are a way of processing lifes events, a portal to the subconscious. There are some similarities with the dream state and the shamanistic view of experiencing other ‘realms’ and also the concept of ‘soul loss’.
As humans we experience a range of uncomfortable experiences from mildly stressful to overwhelmingly traumatic. These things can be difficult to process and one of the ways in which our brains attempt to resolve things is through a dream. Like unprocessed emotions can get trapped in the body, stressful events can get lodged in the brain and even stuck in a dream. Im sure you have had a recurrent dream where the same thing happens over? In Shamanism trauma (and even more milder stress) can be seen to fragment the soul - a part of us gets splits off from the whole. This is usually because you can’t precess the event properly, something happened that overwhelmed your abilities to cope (there are many different reasons for this). So with recurrent dreams, in the same why that the body can speak to us with pain messages, your dream is trying to tell you about an unresolved issue.
In some cultures dreams are not just personal. ‘Seers' dream for the community and gain insight for the group as a whole. Some dreams may even be deemed as prophetic. Like in Shamanism symbolism and the meaning of images is important. Although you can get dream books that attempt to explain the meaning of certain images and objects, it is much more useful if you ask yourself what an image symbolises to you. I do this with my clients when they connect with a power animal during a shamanic journey. ‘There are collective thoughts about the traits of certain animals but what does it represent to you?’ Dreams may seem like a mishmash of meaningless stuff but if you start to look at and connect to the imagery they often have some useful messages. Its like any second language. its takes time and practise to learn it!
Working With Your Dreams
Like when we embark on a shamanic journey, you can use intention to direct a dream. It is simply a case of placing an intention in your mind repetativly before you go to sleep. 'It could be as simple as “I would like to remember my dream tonight” or “I would like to receive insight about XXX”. When analysing dreams, the first practise is dream recall as It can be easy to quickly forget a dream. When you start to wake don’t open your eyes straight away, this can bring you out of that sleepy state too quickly. Instead try to remember any images, people, places, language or shapes. Once you have cemented them a little more deeply in your mind, write them down. Then ask your self for example “What does this octopus mean to me!?’” think of any added detail like colour or the place it whats or what it says to you. Start to keep a dream diary and make notes. As a shamanic practitioner I am very used to working with image symbolism so we can always work through this together in a session.
Nighmares
If you are having unpleasant, recurrent or bizarre dreams or PTSD flash backs that are scaring you please know that there are ways in which you can work with them. Therapists can help you one to one to work through any traumatic projections you may be experiencing.
Dr Justin Havens has produced a method called The Dream Completion Technique - here is a link to his You Tube video. Which is a simple but proven effective way of working with your own dreams. You can use this method with your children to help empower them if they are suffering with bad dreams.
