The Three "Only" Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination by Robert Moss Page B
Authors: Robert Moss
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— and did not need to ask directions to the restroom.
Another good reason to go back inside a dream is to move beyond a fear. Suppose you dream that there is an intruder in your house. Surely you would want to know whether this is a literal intruder — in which case you would need to ensure your physical security — or a symbolic intruder, perhaps a disease that could break into your body. Or, is the intruder actually an aspect of your bigger Self, before whom the little everyday self often cowers in fear? One way of knowing would be to step back inside the dream space and check out the intruder on the ground where he appeared.
Other reasons to go back inside a dream? To have a proper conversation with someone who showed up during the night, perhaps a departed loved one, a personal mentor, or a spiritual guide. Or, perhaps the dream was simply fun. You were having a wonderful time in Paris, or Hawaii, or another star system, and you were pulled out by the alarm clock or your kid jumping on the bed, and you would like more of the dream.
How do we get back into a dream?
In my workshops and private consultations, as in the case of the friend who was summoned to the beach house, I follow a simple dream reentry technique. As explained below, I like to use steady heartbeat drumming to help the dreamer relax and shift consciousness and flow back inside the dream. The effect of the drumming is to shepherd brainwaves into the rhythms associated with hypnagogic states and sometimes REM sleep. It minimizes the clutter of distracting thoughts. And it works like jet fuel in powering the journey. For private use at home, I recommend using a drumming CD.
The Dream Reentry Technique
Going back into a dream is like going back to any place you have visited. It is the same as imagining yourself returning to a friend's house or to a landscape you visited on vacation.
To prepare for a dream reentry, do the following:
1. Pick a Dream with Real Energy.
As long as it has juice, it doesn't matter whether the dream you want to reenter is from last night or twenty years ago. It can be a tiny fragment or a complex narrative. You can choose to work with a night dream, a vision, or a waking image. What's important is that the dream you choose to revisit has some charge — whether it is exciting, seductive, or challenging.
2. Relax.
Follow the flow of your breathing, and relax. If you are holding tension in any part of your body, tense and relax those muscle groups until you feel yourself becoming loose and comfy.
3. Focus on a Specific Scene from Your Dream.
Let a specific scene from your dream become vivid on your mental screen. Let all your senses become engaged, until you can touch it, smell it, hear it, and taste it.
4. Clarify Your Intention.
Before you begin, come up with clear and simple answers to these two questions: (1)What do you want to know? (2)What do you intend to do, once you are back inside the dream? Remember these intentions as you reenter the dream.
5. Call in Guidance and Protection.
As you begin, or at any time, you may choose to invoke a sacred guardian by a familiar name, or you can simply ask for help in the name of Love and Light.
6. Give Yourself Fuel for the Journey.
Heartbeat shamanic drumming works well for many people and most groups. If live drumming is not possible, you may want to use my shamanic drumming CD for dream travelers, Wings for the Journey .
HELPING CHILDREN WITH DREAMS
Adults are not the only ones who need help understanding their dreams. Kids do too. And they need the same kind of sympathetic, respectful feedback that is asked for in the Lightning Dreamwork Game above. One of the very worst things to say to a child is “It's only a dream.” To kids, dreams are real. Trying to convince them otherwise is experienced as a form of abandonment.
When it comes to their dreams, our kids need just three things from us.
Full Attention and Close Listening
Children need us to listen to
Another good reason to go back inside a dream is to move beyond a fear. Suppose you dream that there is an intruder in your house. Surely you would want to know whether this is a literal intruder — in which case you would need to ensure your physical security — or a symbolic intruder, perhaps a disease that could break into your body. Or, is the intruder actually an aspect of your bigger Self, before whom the little everyday self often cowers in fear? One way of knowing would be to step back inside the dream space and check out the intruder on the ground where he appeared.
Other reasons to go back inside a dream? To have a proper conversation with someone who showed up during the night, perhaps a departed loved one, a personal mentor, or a spiritual guide. Or, perhaps the dream was simply fun. You were having a wonderful time in Paris, or Hawaii, or another star system, and you were pulled out by the alarm clock or your kid jumping on the bed, and you would like more of the dream.
How do we get back into a dream?
In my workshops and private consultations, as in the case of the friend who was summoned to the beach house, I follow a simple dream reentry technique. As explained below, I like to use steady heartbeat drumming to help the dreamer relax and shift consciousness and flow back inside the dream. The effect of the drumming is to shepherd brainwaves into the rhythms associated with hypnagogic states and sometimes REM sleep. It minimizes the clutter of distracting thoughts. And it works like jet fuel in powering the journey. For private use at home, I recommend using a drumming CD.
The Dream Reentry Technique
Going back into a dream is like going back to any place you have visited. It is the same as imagining yourself returning to a friend's house or to a landscape you visited on vacation.
To prepare for a dream reentry, do the following:
1. Pick a Dream with Real Energy.
As long as it has juice, it doesn't matter whether the dream you want to reenter is from last night or twenty years ago. It can be a tiny fragment or a complex narrative. You can choose to work with a night dream, a vision, or a waking image. What's important is that the dream you choose to revisit has some charge — whether it is exciting, seductive, or challenging.
2. Relax.
Follow the flow of your breathing, and relax. If you are holding tension in any part of your body, tense and relax those muscle groups until you feel yourself becoming loose and comfy.
3. Focus on a Specific Scene from Your Dream.
Let a specific scene from your dream become vivid on your mental screen. Let all your senses become engaged, until you can touch it, smell it, hear it, and taste it.
4. Clarify Your Intention.
Before you begin, come up with clear and simple answers to these two questions: (1)What do you want to know? (2)What do you intend to do, once you are back inside the dream? Remember these intentions as you reenter the dream.
5. Call in Guidance and Protection.
As you begin, or at any time, you may choose to invoke a sacred guardian by a familiar name, or you can simply ask for help in the name of Love and Light.
6. Give Yourself Fuel for the Journey.
Heartbeat shamanic drumming works well for many people and most groups. If live drumming is not possible, you may want to use my shamanic drumming CD for dream travelers, Wings for the Journey .
HELPING CHILDREN WITH DREAMS
Adults are not the only ones who need help understanding their dreams. Kids do too. And they need the same kind of sympathetic, respectful feedback that is asked for in the Lightning Dreamwork Game above. One of the very worst things to say to a child is “It's only a dream.” To kids, dreams are real. Trying to convince them otherwise is experienced as a form of abandonment.
When it comes to their dreams, our kids need just three things from us.
Full Attention and Close Listening
Children need us to listen to
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