In the summer of 2013, I found myself headed deep into the Peruvian Amazon for a 33-day transformation retreat called Embodying Your True Nature. Each of the participants had our own simple hut with a palm roof and mosquito netting walls. We were deeply immersed in the beautiful green chaos that is the jungle. Everything is alive, even the decay on the clay earth is the birthplace for new growth and home to all sorts of creatures. The air seems to hum and there is a constant orchestra of insects and critters, birds and breezes, rolling thunder and downpours.
The air is so thick and sweet, you can almost eat it. Vines are strewn about and the canopy towers high above.
It makes sense that as part of a transformation retreat, a significant amount of time was spent dreaming and doing group dream work to dive into the individual and collective messages that were so potent in these natural and wild surroundings. Almost daily we gathered to dig into dreams together and I'd like to share some of the guiding principles and practices we used.
Each participant had an opportunity in the hot seat. We all recorded our dreams each night until we had a set of ten that we would read out in order. The shaman facilitating the retreat would record the dreams as we spoke and then read them aloud back to us. This alone was useful because hearing your dreams read back to you in a voice other than your own can really draw your attention to the language you chose to use.
You will likely find that it is not a coincidence that you chose to describe the night as "dark and creepy" vs. "late and still," for example. Words are symbols themselves, holding greater meaning that can point to the emotions the dream is triggering in us that we are experiencing in waking life. Dream language is important to notice.
The purpose behind reading 10 dreams at a time was to look for patterns. Dreams will continue to share similar or related messages with us until we are able to understand them and incorporate them into our lives. When looking at a series of dreams then, we can find the similar themes while taking note of the different information that comes along with the pattern each time. The context around it can provide more evidence and information that will guide us to the message trying to get through.
Taking from Jungian dream theory, we then would look at the people in the dream from the perspective of, "Everyone in the dream is you." The idea is that your subconscious is pulling the image of the person who best embodies the qualities that you are wanting, avoiding or needing in order to take the next step in your personal journey.
After identifying the people in our dreams, we would do a free association of the qualities that we associate with that person. We would then consider our emotional reaction to those qualities and where in our lives they are pointing to that needs attention.
Hint: The quick and easy answer is often not the key to the dream, rather the feeling of tension or resistance will often come, indicating where we have some work to do. If we can identify that resistance and open ourselves up to what is being shown, we can then reach the tingling "aha" moment when our bodies tell us that we "got it." An example of this would be when a person we absolutely cannot stand is in our dream. In this scenario the dream is likely asking what shadow qualities this person holds for you that are actually unconsciously being enacted by you. The dream is calling your attention to this.
Speaking of the shadow archetype, another thing we would do is to take a look at all the various archetypes within the dream. Archetypes are universal symbols that we all experience naturally purely by being human. Archetypes would include such things as Mother, Father, Lover, Shadow, Teacher/Sage, Trickster, Friend, Muse, Masculine/Feminine, etc.
Because these are symbols that we can easily relate to in terms of greater meaning and qualities we associate with them, they can tell us a lot about the messages in our dreams when we identify them. How are we acting as a mother in our life or what qualities of a mother are we being called to consider? (If a mother character were to show up in your dream.)
It may not be possible for all of us to go to the Amazon to do dream work; however, there are two important things to remember.
1. Dream work is universal and can be done anywhere with any group of people that has the respect and honor for a dreaming practice.
2. Dream work is a fruitful and constructive practice for influencing transformation and helpful as tool alongside other tools and practices on anyone's personal journey.
If you're specifically interested in the transformation retreat experience in Peru, you can check out the amazing work they are doing at Paititi Institute to help individuals transform their lives, while being in service to Mother Nature and infinite human potential.