Dreaming as an Art

 Sleeping is an important part of keeping the physical body happy and healthy.  Without sleep the art of Dreaming becomes tenuous.  If your body doesn't achieve the amount of rest that it needs,  it won't actuate our daily experiences.  We won't go through the memory dump and much needed personal programing to keeping the thinking machine healthy.  If prolonged sleeplessness isn't corrected the mind may implode upon itself and the end results may turn into psychosis.  There have been documented cases where patients who suffer from lack of sleep lose their attachment to what is considered standard reality.   They may suffer from hallucinations, both audio and visual, and could mistake thinking for outside stimulus.  This ailment is considered a form of psychosis and may lead to full blown schizophrenia if left untreated.  

Sleepers go through several levels as we drop deeper into unconsciousness.  REM sleep, (Rapid eye movement) is usually the time when our minds are active in sleep and we dream.  During this dreaming time our daily experiences are played out and our memories are solidified.  Traumatic experiences get worked through and the physical body heals.  Our imaginations are active during dream time.  We take everyday happenings and transform them into the plays and stories we experience in our dreams.  This is how we fit them into our paradigm, our personal realities.

There are cultures that practice Dreaming as an Art.  A Shaman may initiate a student into the Art of Dreaming through meditative practices and series of waking and sleeping in several intervals to facilitate a certain amount of control over the dream.  There are many books and periodicals written about dreaming, explore the one that works best for you.  However, and easy technique to control your dreams is to set an alarm for periods of time during your sleep to wake you.  When you wake you ponder the dream and go back to sleep trying to achieve the same dream.  When and if you get there, when in the dream the first thing is to remember to look at your own hands and recognize them.  You keep this up for a period of time, then consciously start moving around in your dream pulling back to your hands to stay in control.  This technique takes time and should be practice sparingly, that is not every night not to steal away from your restful sleep time.  You will know when you have control of your dreams when you can walk into a dream and be aware and in control from the beginning.  It is important to remember that most of the time a Dream is just a Dream.  There are those very few that aren't.  What you call these experiences is up to you.  I leave that to your own research. 

Sleeping and The Art of Dreaming can be a rewarding way to recharge, destress, and relax while learning something new about your own journey.  Remember as with any esoteric practice, go slow, take your time and make sure what you're experiencing is real and not a fabrication of your imagination.  When you know for sure and re-emerge from the experience healthy, then you've learned a new thing.  Dreaming is a way to learn new things about yourself.

Peace and Balance,

John