Can’t Figure Out Your Dreams? Here Are 6 EASY Steps To A Transformative Dream Practice

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Don’t think your dreams mean anything? Think again. Dreams have been used since humanity began for healing, self-understanding, and developing spiritual connection and support.

Many believe that since they don’t currently remember their dreams, there is no reason to be interested in them. There is nothing terminal about not remembering your dreams, however. With a little effort, anyone can start to remember their dreams, creating a steady stream of wisdom and insight into their lives night after night.

Others find that the only dreams they remember are so disturbing, they would prefer to forget them entirely. While this desire to turn away from our darker aspects is completely understandable, in my experience nightmares can offer the needed insight to heal an old and festering wound for good.

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Ready to get started? Here are six easy steps to cultivating a dream practice that is nourishing and transformative.

SEE ALSO: The Poem That Changed My Life- And Might Change Yours

1. Set the Intention – The first step to a deeper dream practice is to sincerely desire to remember your dreams. Simple actions can be so effective—placing a small object near your bed to remind your dreaming, keeping a journal nearby to jot down dream notes, or even just saying out loud before you go to sleep—I want to remember my dream tonight can make all the difference.  
2. Honor And Own Your Dreams – Just like relationships with the people in your life, the less you judge your dreams and the more you accept them for what they are, the more fruitful the relationship will be. It’s tempting to want to judge or dismiss your dream, saying it is too boring, weird, short, or that you ‘didn’t remember enough’, but doing so can be very harmful to the healing properties of the dream. Take your dream for what it is, in whatever form it comes, and approach it as a gift from your deepest self.
3. Interpret With Your Heart – It’s common to focus on figuring the dream out—many people tend to think believe their dreams are riddles to solve. Try instead to understand the dream as an experience that your heart was meant to have. Bring your attention to the visceral experience of your dream, the actions (or inactions) you took, the way being in the dream felt to you. Instead of figuring the dream out, try to feel your way into the dream.
4. Use Dreams for Embodiment Practice –When you have a feeling in the dream, try to identify where you are feeling it in your body. Once you make the connection between the image in the dream and a felt experience in your body, you can more easily find that feeling place inside of yourself when needed (this is especially helpful with supportive dream experiences).
5. Spark Creativity With Dreams – This is a great thing to do with dreams that may be difficult or bringing up feelings that you need ample time to process. Take the image or moment of the dream and use it to inspire a form of creative expression that resonates with you. Bonus points if you try something that’s new for you. The point isn’t necessarily to create amazing art—but rather to seep yourself into the experience of the dream from a new perspective.
6. Use Dreams to Increase Intimacy –Find someone you’d like to connect more deeply with and set aside a time to share dreams with one another. Try not to interpret the dream, but just make space and be present for the other as they share. To heighten this, try to maintain eye contact and ask your partner if they can relate the feelings in the dream to experiences they have had in waking life. You may be surprised at what unfolds when you take dreams seriously in the presence of another!

I hope these steps can be a great jumping off point for you to develop a dream practice that is transformative and nurturing for you. Happy dreaming!