Using dream imagery for healing has been around for millennia. In the modern age, dreams have mostly been used for psychological health and for balancing one’s perspectives on waking life issues. The use of dreams in therapy has often led to too much reliance on “expert” analysis – taking the power of ownership and interpretation away from the dreamer.

There has been a regrettable division between waking and dreaming states that has led to dreams being seen as confusing, misleading and even frightening thought-forms that have little to do with waking life. The truth is, dreams, as well as personal images found in dream-like states, are direct messages from our body-mind that are giving us valuable, timely information about our physiological, emotional and spiritual health. As Jeremy Taylor famously stated, “Our dreams always come to us in the service of health and wholeness.”

There is a shift happening in how we see dreams as a therapeutic modality to wholeness. We are very fortunate to be living in a time of this convergence of ancient wisdom and modern application. Current neuroscience is bringing us back to what the ancient healers have always known: You change the perception and you change the reality. Dreams can reveal the underlying truth or falsehood of our assumptions about how we think and live. For example, if we believe in lack, we tend to only perceive lack (versus abundance). 

Joseph Campbell eloquently stated, “We save the world by being ourselves.” We are each individuals with strengths and gifts that are meant to be shared with the world, both for our individual health and well-being and that of the world at large. Our dreams can help us access these gifts and enable us to restore balance and health so we can be all that we can be. Dreams are direct messages from our body-minds, providing us with highly individualized healing imagery. Finding the particular images that have healing potential and transferring them to the body-mind in a way that the individual can use them is the practice of Dream Healing. There are a variety of Dream Healing methods and approaches from which the dreamer can choose, depending on his or her comfort level.

“What happens if I don't remember my dreams?” This is a common concern. If dream recall is an issue, dream-like states can be reached through light trance and the purposeful use of archetypal images, like those found in the Tarot. All that is needed from the client is a willingness to reach states of creative healing.

Cassandra Matt, owner of Dreampath LLC, has 15 years of experience in dreamwork and is a graduate of the Institute for the Study of Dreamwork and the Robert Moss Dream Teacher Training. Learn more at DreampathLLC.com.