Most people disregard their dreams as jumbled up images with little to no relevance. Yet dreaming is an important biological process and a huge part of the human experience. Dreams can link our daily experience to the vast and mysterious subconscious mind that holds so much beneficial information for us! When we dedicate time in our waking life to cultivate dream recall and eventually dream interpretation, we open ourselves up to a whole new universe of signs, signals, metaphors and sometimes even amusement (my dreams often make me chuckle with their blatancy, “ya GOT IT”). ⠀

When we become sick our body does everything it can to help us eliminate the harmful bacteria, virus or toxins and expel them from the body. Dreams can perform the same purpose in that they can reveal toxic behaviors and patterns giving us the opportunity to release them. Cultivating good dream recall and examination skills can also allow us to open up to the abundance of stored knowledge, guidance and innate intuition we all have access to.

I believe dreaming to be a biological process that allows us to live a more interesting and healthy waking life experience. Our dreams are our gifts, no matter what form they take. Dreams can reveal our greater purpose, hidden agendas and lost-knowledge, giving us the opportunity to grow and expand beyond our understanding of the walking life reality. Both the new science and shamanism agree that consciousness can never be confined to one space-time reality, and here we have our very own alternate reality, playing out evey night.

Dream recall and exploration is such a perfect complement to the detox process. During my detox retreats, I invite participants to open up to the dream realm and begin to explore this fascinating and expansive practice of self-examination. It’s a bit of a double win too since we’re “proactively napping” as much as possible (keeping the nervous system in repair mode) and afternoon naps often provide really strong dreams. ⠀⠀

Beginning this practice can be as simple as setting the intention to remember your dreams before you lie down to sleep and then keeping a pen and paper beside your bed. Be sure to write down any recollections of your dreams as soon as you wake before they begin to fade. You can go back to these later to journal and unpack the meaning and messages.

It’s common to only remember snippets or impressions from dreams at first but as you stay with the practice of writing them down, you’ll quickly find that more vivid memories of your dreams stay with you when you wake.

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Dream work inspiration

The DNA molecule was discovered by Nobel-prize winner Dr James Watson through a dream of snakes wrapping themselves around each other.

Niels Bohr, the father of quantum mechanics, often spoke of the inspirational dream that led to his discovery of the structure of the atom.

Albert Einstein spoke of the vivid dream that revealed the principal of relativity. And this list goes on and on throughout recorded history dreams bringing breakthroughs in art, science and music as well as personal and communal healing and guidance.

This work/play is maybe my new favorite healing modality. It’s not even a modality, it’s code that leads you to your modality. Dream work is the ultimate auto-shamanistic approach to healing yourself. To wake up to the dream realm is to invite a bigger waking life. ⠀

I offer dream realm activation workshops and council during my detox retreats, allowing for the potential release of toxic patterns as well as acknowledging the portal known as liminal dreaming where many insights and helpful downloads can come in.