A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming (31 page)

the practice spans back not only to Greeks but also to the ancient

Egyptians and dozens of other cultures throughout the world.

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Using lucid dreams

to heal is a very practical,

commonsense practice. Cut off

from all outside world distractions,

the dreamer has the opportunity to

communicate directly with his or her

subconscious and heal through it. Modern medicine tries to heal

us from the outside in, while dream healing mends from the inside

out. As with hypnosis, the power of your subconscious is being

tapped. In this chapter, we’ll separate dream healing into two cat-

egories: mental and physical.

Healing the Mind

According to psychologist Abraham Maslow, the main goal of

all therapy is integration. Integration means coming together

or fusing. In psychological terms, it’s the process whereby the

psyche becomes whole. Even if we don’t need to see a psychologist,

many of us do not live to our fullest potential simply because we

lack unity within. We are held back by the nagging voices of our

fears, doubts, and criticisms. A block forms, preventing us from

expressing who we really are and from living a rewarding life.

Many mental problems seem to happen when we’re repress-

ing parts of ourselves. If a traumatic event occurred when we

were young, we may lock that experience away in order to cope.

Psychologists call this disassociation. Shamans throughout the

world have called it soul loss.

A healthy person is a united, integrated person whose memory,

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emotions, social functions, body, etc., are all connected as a united

system.

We become unhealthy when one or more of these aspects

become disconnected from the system, and we become detached,

numb, anxious, or depressed. You can go to a therapist for help in

these matters, nothing wrong with that. But in addition to ther-

apy, lucid dreaming can be a powerful tool.

Becoming Whole in Dreams

In Old English, the word
healing
means “to make whole.” Dreams

often alert us to our problems and guide us toward integration.

Think of dreams as an intuitive, concerned mother, putting the

back of her hand to your forehead to see if you’re okay.

Read over your dream journal entries and ask yourself,

After a hard breakup, for months I didn’t feel like myself. I was

depressed, confused, and bitter over the way things had ended.

knowing I could ask the dream to heal me, I set out to incubate

a dream in which it would heal me of my suffering. A couple

days later, I had the most vivid lucid dream. I was with my ex-

girlfriend at the time and we were sitting on a park bench. she

took my hand and with a gentle voice said, “I guess it’s time I

forgive you, huh?” I nodded as I looked into her eyes. “I think so.”

I woke up feeling incredible. I had the closure I needed to move

on. From that day on, I have felt nothing but warmth and accep-

tance toward the entire situation. —MARTY M.

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I found myself talking with a man in a room. Not sure what we

were talking about but something out on the balcony caught my

attention. I walked out onto the balcony and instantly an orb, or

what I took to be an actual sun, whizzed by above my head. A

second sun followed, and the two danced in the sky. I watched

as the clouds began changing above me. These weren’t earthly

clouds, these were cosmos clouds and I could see within them

millions of stars. The sky changed again: this time revealing an

enormous whale made of light. The whale swam through the cos-

mos like water. Then I saw the most beautiful light in the world.

It was the purest white but at the same time it gave off the most

incredible hues of greens, blues, and pinks. I watched the sky in

complete awe, humbled at the magnitude of what I was seeing.

It was incredible, and it brought me to tears. The man hugged

me from behind and let me cry. I felt like I was healing. The

dream changed and I asked where we were and someone said,

“san Pablo.” I then heard a voice that told me something very

profound: “All matter has its origin in spirit,” it said. I woke up

with a renewed sense of energy and excitement. —THOMAs P.

“Do any of these dreams contain advice on how I can be happier

and more whole?” We can record and interpret our normal dreams

in order to decode the messages from our subconscious. Sometimes,

however, interpreting our dream journals can be tough. It’s not

always possible to know exactly what your subconscious is com-

municating. This is where lucid dreaming comes in. You can find

lost parts of yourself while actively exploring your inner world.