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Women’s Dreams - How Do You “Dream Yourself”?
By Patti Allen
How we “dream ourselves” may seem like an odd phrase, because as
children we begin with our parents dream for us. Then we grow
and as we are socialized the family dream for us expands into
our community, religion and culture. It often takes a rude
awakening in the form of an illness, a loss of a relationship or
job, or even death before we wonder if the dream we are living
is actually our own dream or somebody else’s nightmare. It is no
longer enough to live up to someone else’s dream for us. Most of
us will eventually wonder who we are and what our purpose in
life is. One of the quickest ways to get to know ourselves is
through our dreams.
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I work as a practitioner of the Rubenfeld Synergy Method ® (RSM),
a body-centred psychotherapy, where I both talk to my
clients and touch them. When I touch my clients or lead them
mindfully in connecting with their body through touch or
movement, pathways of connections begin to open up. These
connections become a “conversation” between body and mind,
heart and soul that leads to an integrated, holistic
approach to healing and life. It might be said that I help
my clients dream themselves. As a Synergist (that’s what the
practitioners of RSM are called) who works extensively with
dreams, I’ve witnessed that body, mind and emotions are all
present and reflected in my client’s dreams. We awaken from
a frightening dream and our body is tense, our heartbeat is
rapid and our respiration is elevated. Dreams have the
ability to produce strong emotional reactions and express
the passions, joys and fears of our soul that we may not be
consciously aware of. |
"One of
the quickest ways to get to know ourselves is through our
dreams." |
What is often hardest to put into words is the way our work
connects with Spirit. I am in awe when my clients have numinous
moments and seem to drop their shackles and take flight. In my
experience, this process does not unfold in a linear way, nor is
the appearance of Spirit in this work merely a wonderful
by-product of the body-mind-emotional work my clients do. Like a
hologram, the body-mind-emotion-spirit (and dream) experience is
each a facet that contains the whole. Viewed separately, body,
mind, emotions, spirit are all starting points or gateways, any
of which lead to the whole person hiding beneath the surface of
our behaviour or the masks that we wear. We can begin to
understand ourselves by walking through any of those gateways.
So now we return to the question how can we, as women, dream
ourselves, which really asks “How can I live in a way that is
congruent with my authentic Self and my Spirit? The answer is
pay attention to your dreams!
Twelve years ago, in Fire in the Soul, author Joan
Borysenko began with a “Parable: Safe Passage Home.” In it she
wrote, “The fledgling souls took many roads Home. Each Way had
its own Story with the gift of free will, embroidering new
stories of the dream-tapestry of the One Great Dreamer.” So
listen to your own “bodymind” for its wisdom and follow your own
rhythms and cycles as you pay attention to your dreams. Trust
them and find your way home to yourself, and to the Great
Dreamer who dreams us all. If we are created in the image of the
Creator—or the Great Dreamer—then we have no choice but to
dream. But how you want to dream yourself…that choice is
yours.
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About the author:
In private practice, Patti Allen offers intuitive
dreamwork, Rubenfeld Synergy Method (Body Centered
Psychotherapy), Reiki and Energy Healing.
Contact Patti Allen at:
pattiallen@rogers.com
Tel: (416) 567-0709 |
