For me, the most fundamental element of Embodied Dreamwork is that there is some way in which we are, each of us, not fully living, not fully manifesting, not discovering the deepest part of who we are, what I will call soul. We may have moments where we do experience our deepest self at times, of course. But soul, for me, is not a place to arrive at, like a destination where suddenly the universe makes sense, the clouds part and an angelic choir appears singing hallelujah. It is something else entirely. 

What is it? I cannot say what it is because it is different for each of us. It is a journey, an alchemical process, a remembering, a forgetting, a stepping into the unknown. I do feel that we each have our own journey to discover what soul is, to discover who we are; I do feel that the invitation for that journey is ours to take or to refuse. Following the lead of the dream is one way to embark on that journey.

The foundation of this work, for me, is that that the dream holds the most profound intelligence for what we need at precisely when we need it in our personal journeys. As an Embodied Dreamwork practitioner, I work with the story as presented by the dream. What this means for me is that the story, our experiences and our feelings in the dream are the first steps to open the exploration. 

I say first steps, for the initial story of the dream, as we see it/experience it with our conscious reality, is not usually the deeper story the dream wants us to discover. By opening each piece and working with the elements together, the dream unfolds to the deeper meaning and learning, the deepest intention of the dream for you.

What is that intention? The dream does not offer “the answer” at any given moment. Instead, the dream offers possibilities, openings, challenges. It offers to hold up a mirror to see where we are blocked to these openings, to our feelings, to the profound healing that awaits. It offers to challenge us to open to feelings that we perhaps have not wanted to feel so that we can grow and change. It offers the support we need and perhaps never had to open and heal, even through the most difficult truama.

We all have stories about ourselves and the world. Stories that are fashioned from our experiences in the world as well as the experiences of those who raised us or the circumstances in which we were raised. Some of these stories are true. Some of these stories are not true. 

The dream works to challenge those stories that are not true, to dig deeper into the stories that are true and also to offer up the story that the dream holds about who you are.