Dream therapy is
the use of dreams and the dream state to accomplish physical and emotional
healing. It involves both the interpretation of information obtained while
dreaming and the active participation in the dream process called lucid
dreaming. The various process associated with dreams have been put inder
the generlized term of dreamwork.
Throughout history dreams and their interpretaion have
been of great interest to people because they provide a link between the
mysterious inner world of the mind and the outer physical world of waking
life.
Hippocrates practiced dream therapy, encouraged dream
incubation, and taught about the therapeutic powers of dreams. In ancient
Greece, more than three hundred dream temples were built to heal the sick.
Dream incubation was a practice in which people made a
pilgrimage to a sacred temple in hopes of having a curative or prophetic
dream while sleeping. There were elaborate preparations for the dream experience.
The process lasted up to three weeks and included prayers, fasting, bathing,
singing and reciting poetry. The practice began in Egypt and was used for
more than a thousand years in Greece.
Freud aroused interest in the importance of the dreaming
mind. He stressed that dream interpretaion by an expert psychoanalyst could
be very healing. In Jungian analysis, therapy begins with free association
and dream analysis. Great emphasis is placed on dream interpretation. Carl
Jung said, "To be concerned with dreams is a form of self realization".
Although psychotherapists use the dream interpretation
as part of their normal therapy, and there are practitioners in the healing
arts who specialize in dream analysis consultation, dreamwork is mostly
a self-help process.
Most dream interpretation is done by the individual having
the dream, using one of the many books available on dream interpretation.
Dreams may warn of oncoming health problems, help diagnose them, suggest
treatment, accelerate the healing process, and contribute to life-long
health.
An individual with an injury, illness, or emotional problem
can use lucid dreaming to heal herself. Lucid dreaming is the process in
which the person takes her conscious awareness (conscious mind) into the
dream state to recieve guidance or insight on a particular subject or problem.
It is the unconscious awareness (subconscious mind) that provides answers
and information in the form of symbols and pictures in the dream state.
During waking hours, our conscious awareness is part of
the mind that deals with memory, knowledge, and logic; it used words, ideas,
and thought to communicate. When the conscious awareness is taken into
the dream state, there is a moment in the dream at which you are aware
you are dreaming. By using a "script" prepared before going to sleep, you
can influence the dream and make it turn out the way you want. For example
you could say, "Help me heal" or visualize your skin free of the disease
that now infests it.
Having the conscious awareness functioning while dreaming
builds a bridge, so to speak, between the conscious and unconscious awareness
and allows the two to work together. The conscious awareness is then able
to interpret the pictures and symbols (answers from the unconscious awareness),
and upon waking the dreamer will know why he had the dream and what the
dream meant. The dreamer can them use this information to heal herself.
Also, healing can take place within the dream and the individual can wake
up and be fully healed without further effort.
There are many books available on the study of dream work
and interpretation. For a general overview of dreamwork, Dreamtime and
Dreamwork by Stanley Krippner is very good. An excellent book that
focuses on health and healing aspect of dreaming is The Healing Power
of Dreams by Patricia Garfield, Ph.D.
Kastner, Mark, L.A.c., Dipl.Ac., and Burroughs, Hugh Alternative
Healing The - Complete A to Z Guide to More Than 150 Alternative Therapies
Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1996, P.88-90
There are several organizations and publications specializing
in the field of dreamwork. They are
The Association for the Study of Dreams
P.O. Box 1600
Vienna, VA 22183
(703) 242-8888
Lucidity Association (Lucid Dreaming)
P.O. Box 170667
San Francisco, CA 94117
Dream Network: Quarterly Journal Exploring Dreams and
Myths
1337 Powerhouse Lane, Suite 22
Moab, UT 84532
