Dream Work
How Dream Work Actually Works
Dreams are your unconscious processing things you haven't figured out consciously yet. They're not mystical predictions or messages from the universe - they're your brain working through patterns, emotions, and situations while you sleep.
Dream work is about learning to pay attention to what shows up and what it might mean for you specifically.
What We Do
Keep a dream journal - writing down what you remember trains your brain to remember more
Look for patterns over time - recurring themes, symbols, feelings
Explore what the images mean to you - not universal symbol dictionaries, but your associations
Notice who shows up - often dream characters represent aspects of yourself
Work with recurring dreams or nightmares - what are they trying to show you?
Jung and the Collective Unconscious
Carl Jung (and his student Marie-Louise von Franz) did the foundational work on dream psychology. They discovered that dreams access both personal and collective unconscious material - meaning some dream symbols tap into shared human experiences and archetypes, not just your individual history.
When you dream of archetypes (the wise old woman, the hero, the trickster), you're accessing patterns that have existed across cultures for thousands of years. This doesn't make dreams magical - it makes them deeply human.
Jung also identified the animus (inner masculine) and anima (inner feminine) - aspects we all carry regardless of gender. Dream figures often represent these inner energies and how they're relating to each other within you.
Lucid Dreaming
Lucid dreaming means becoming conscious that you're dreaming while still in the dream. Once you're aware, you can interact with the dream - dialogue with characters (aspects of yourself), explore the landscape, ask questions, work through fears.
It's a learnable skill that takes practice:
Keep a dream journal to train dream recall
Do reality checks during the day ("Am I dreaming?")
Set intentions before sleep
Use wake-back-to-bed technique (wake after 4-6 hours, stay up briefly, return to sleep)
When lucid, you can dialogue with dream figures, ask for healing or guidance, transform nightmares, or practise skills. It's essentially conscious exploration of your own psyche.
What You Get From This
Better understanding of patterns you can't see when awake
Insight into emotions and situations you're processing
Access to creative solutions and ideas
Ability to work with recurring nightmares or anxiety dreams
Connection to archetypal energies and collective wisdom
Working Together
I can help you learn to remember and work with your dreams, identify patterns, understand what your symbols mean, and develop lucid dreaming skills if that interests you.
Sessions focus on your actual dreams - what's showing up, what patterns are emerging, what aspects of yourself are trying to get your attention.
This isn't about interpreting your dreams for you. It's about teaching you to understand your own unconscious language so you can work with your dreams yourself.