Discussion Post I submitted for my Atlantic University TP6000 Course – March 25 2020
I’ve kept a dream journal for a couple of years, and I was introduced to dreamwork last summer as part of TP5010. We spent four weeks working through Henry Reed’s Dream Solutions! Dream Realization!’ guidebook. So I had some understanding of dreamwork.
TP6000, however, has dramatically increased my ability to analyze dreams. The course’s instruction, templates, techniques, and our own Dream Group, provided me with an invaluable insight into my journey. I began this year with several transitions occurring in my life. I now have a resource to approach my sleep state that has already helped me guide my way through. I’ve also brought dream techniques like word association, for example, into my meditation time, which has resulted in numerous “aha” moments.
Also, the Practicum was just that for me, “practice.” I’m adding dreamwork & analysis as one of the services I plan to offer in a new career. I hadn’t expected to do it before taking this course, and it was clear early on it would be an excellent tool to add to my arsenal. What I found exciting working with others is serving in a counselor’s role. With each of my three participants, I saw reoccurring characters show up in their dreams, which represented issues they need to focus on most. In one case, the person was deceased, and in the others, the individuals were still alive. I also saw how closely aligned the dream state is with the waking state and how just focusing on dreamwork can change a person’s attitude about the challenges they face during the day.
Lucid dreaming is next on my list to tackle! I think it would be the coolest thing to encounter a dream character and have a conversation with him or her (or it, I suppose). Being able to ask fundamental questions like “why am I here,” “where should I go next,” as well as broaching issues involving my transition would be a game-changer for me. I’ve been setting my intention each night to lucid dream, and other than a couple of near misses, I’m still at the starting gate. Last night, I started with Robert Waggoner’s hand technique that he mentioned in the interview we were assigned this week, so hopefully, it will work (https://youtu.be/gf0g1YZa8co).
Finally, I related to two of seven types of “dream recall” Jeremy Taylor mentions in The Wisdom of Your Dreams. As I just said, I haven’t successfully lucid dreamed yet, nor have I seen “extraordinary beauty” or been in more than one place or one dream at a time. I have had “Vague and barely conscious dream relocations.” In fact, it just happened this morning. I knew I had dreamed, and I was just about to record it when everything vanished except for one sketchy scene I couldn’t even articulate. (2009, p. 247).
I’ve also had relatively “clear and vivid dream memories” that also contain “blank” spaces. Most of the dreams that I record fall into this category. And sadly, I haven’t had any dreams that include archetypal images that transform and evolve” yet (2009, p. 247). Like most, I have had reoccurring scenes and characters and found the content analysis very helpful for these dreams, but I wouldn’t describe them as archetypal. Maybe if I can get some lucid dreaming going, I’ll conjure up Carl Jung, and we can have a great discussion about archetypes and a whole bunch of other topics I’d love to discuss with him!
References
[conscioustv]. (2012, Nov. 6). Robert Waggoner – ‘Lucid dreaming – gateway to the Inner’ – interview by Iain McNay [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/gf0g1YZa8co
Taylor, J. (2009). The wisdom of your dreams. New York, NY: Penguin Group (U.S.A.) Inc.
Reed, H. (2005). Dream Solutions! Dream Realizations! Mouth of Wilson, VA: Hermes Home Publishing