Dreams are the natural reaction of the self regulating psychic system.
C.G. Jung
Throughout history, humans have recognized dreams as a source of wisdom and inspiration; messages from the Divine; sacred messages to be decoded and held with reverence.
Our dreams are messages from the unconscious psyche. They show us truths that our conscious mind struggles to see. Each night, we have about 3-5 dreams-- that’s 1500 dreams per year!-- each of which is offering us insight about our lives.
Because they speak in metaphor and symbol, dreams can be difficult to decipher — but the more we learn to speak the language of dreams, the richer our understanding of ourselves.
Dreamwork, sometimes called dream therapy, is a way in which we can use our dreams to understand ourselves better. My approach is rooted in somatic (body-based) Jungian dream interpretation. This approach is inherently trauma-informed because it moves at the pace of your psyche. We’re not pushing or forcing anything, but listening to what is already being shared.
How it works:
I don’t interpret dreams for my clients-- we work together to understand what the dream is telling you. By paying close attention to what is happening in your body as you revisit the dream, you will know when we recognize a truth that the dream is sharing. This moment is often quite emotional-- it’s like an “aha!” that resonates through the whole body.
This technique is incredibly powerful because all of the information comes directly from your unconscious psyche.
What to expect in a dreamwork session
My clients often send me their dreams in advance, or they bring them to the session. Together, I ask them to re-tell the dream, and then we explore it together. Sometimes all we have is a fragment, or part of a dream-- that’s more than enough to work with.
We might work creatively with the dream, using different techniques, movement, or creative expression. Whether we completely “interpret” the dream or not, each session provides a rich amount of information that would be difficult to get to through talk therapy alone.
Active Imagination
For clients who have difficulty remembering dreams, active imagination is a technique that can be used to work similarly. Creative movement, art, or writing are all ways that we can access the unconscious psyche-- and understand what it has to share.
