If you’ve been following my posts, the last one was about how to sift through your dream symbols, work with them, and get a basic grasp on what they could mean. In this post, I want to explain a technique on how to delve a little deeper in order to have some concrete, and hopefully profound results!
So, you’ve written down all of your symbols, categorized them, drawn them out, and were able to make some connections to waking life. If you’ve done this, awesome! Keep it up! This is still the foundation to any good dreamwork, whether on your own, or with a dreamworker. The next step is to figure out what to do with that information. Your dreams are always asking something of you. There is an action to be taken, either within the dream, in waking life, or both! Here is one such action:
Gestalt Technique*
This is by far one of the most useful, helpful techniques I’ve encountered so far in dreamwork. Gestalt means, “whole”, so with this, your goal is to relate yourself to the whole of the dream. For best results, it’s recommended to use this technique with a dreamworker such as myself, or another therapist. Even so, I still wanted to bring awareness to this awesome technique! Here’s a glimpse of how it works:
You’ll want to begin by grounding yourself, and getting into a relaxed state. Take a couple of deep breaths. Once relaxed, renter your dream and tell it slowly in present tense. You’re aiming to bring it back to life, to relate to it personally, to meet your dream head on. So, by saying, “I am looking at,” “I am now walking,” etc. vs. “I was looking at,” and “I was walking,” etc., you’ll put yourself in the present moment, as if that dream is happening now. Once finished, identify how you were feeling during the dream. Name your characters, and important symbols. See if any connections to waking life can be made right away. If not, here’s where Gestalt comes in handy. Also, if there is something you’re afraid of, something you feel you’re blocking, this is also where this comes in handy. Take a look.
The trick to helping you decipher your characters and symbols is to act them out. Say, for example, you encounter a killer. You see this character running about shooting others. This frightens you. In order to relieve the fear of this killer, you can actually be the killer. Take on his/her role completely. How are they shooting? What facial expressions are they making? Are they aiming at you? Act this out. In acting this out, you get to see your dream from a whole new perspective. Perhaps, your initial feeling of the killer is that they are trying to harm you. When you act them out, you may find that they are actually scared themselves, and are shooting in their own self-defense. Or you may realize that they are an aspect of yourself, killing off things that no longer fit your life. See how you, as the killer, relate to you- yourself in the dream.
Another example is, if you encounter a physical obstacle. Say, you are in a car that breaks down as its driving. Be that car. What does it feel like? Are there bumps? Are there noises? Let your imagination free, and truly BE that car! Make those noises! Bob up and down if you’re going over bumps. Whatever it takes. Yes, at first, this can sound silly. Yet, in physically acting out an object, such as a car, you’ll become aware of what that symbol may be a metaphor for. It just may be that in waking life, you’re on a bumpy road, and you feel like you can’t go on! In acting out what you see, you’ll connect with your dream on a more personal level, and perhaps get the message faster.
Another way to approach characters, that I find is helpful, is to reenter the dream and have a conversation with them. Going back to the killer example, imagine approaching them, with no fear, and asking them why they are killing people. Perhaps you could ask their name, where they’re from, what their intention is. You’d be surprised at how your subconscious provides you with the answers you need. What do they say back to you? What are they trying to get you to pay attention to?
Write this dialogue down when you’re finished with this exercise.
This is definitely a tough subject to cover in a short amount of time! It’s definitely hard to cover all of! And, by no means am I a psychologist! I will attach some helpful resources at the bottom of this post if you’re interested in reading more about Gestalt.
I hope you can now see the value of this technique and can be willing to try it in the future! If you are interested in trying it with me, please feel free to contact me about booking a session. I’d be more than happy to help!
Rest well, and dream well!
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