Oak Tree

Our dreams and inner work experiences can offer us allies. The oak tree currently has been appearing for me and hanging around my dreams and thoughts as well as body experience. It has helped me feel grounded and steady as I have a lot going on at the moment. It has been reminding me there is a bigger picture I can’t currently see. I was facing doing something I wouldn’t usually have the courage for and the oak tree was very present. I also got to work with a man on his dream of which all he could remember was a single oak tree image which he thought wouldn’t be much to work with. As he spoke of it he was very still, through simply me sharing that observation he became teary as he was touched by emotion. He felt he was like an oak tree and then imagined people dancing. For him it was about a sense of community and joy. In a few minutes this one dream image had brought something he was longing for and wanting attention to become closer to his awareness and gave him deeper connection to himself and his world.

There are just so many stories of the wondrous way the psyche and body brings forth information and the coming and goings of support figures. The more I engage, the more I know how we are dreaming all the time and how this is patterned between dreams, relationships, body symptoms, movement tendencies and what captures our attention in the world. I am unsurprised yet amazed every time.

Group Dream and Worldwork

I recently had a very vivid and strong dream whilst away visiting a friend. As I told her the dream that morning she was on the edge of her seat. She said she had been wanting a dream like this but realised if she had it herself she would not have listened to it with the same attention she used for a friend so it was an incredible way to hear deeply meaningful content for her. The dream was as much hers as mine. In fact the dream informed hours of conversation between four of us, leading us deeper into concepts and shared passions. It even led us into a formal group process aka world work or deep democracy which entails processing and discovering more about a topic which is alive for a group. This is done by stepping in and out of ‘roles’ or parts to gather information of what is present in the ‘field’ in order to gain understanding and process conflict. To me this is the bees knees of process work. Like parts work for a group. The group or community is the client unfolding the process by the members themselves in a kind of spontaneous but held and structured group interaction. Powerful and amazing!

I received this dream for myself but also for my friend and the group.

Three of us are now travelling to a world work conference focused on a theme from this dream, which is supported by my friend's more recent dreams! How enriching!

Relationship Dream

I was feeling stuck and helpless in my relationship with my partner around a difficult ongoing dynamic. That night I dreamt I was swimming in a rock pool, enjoying the water and having a nice time, then as I came up to a little bungalow where we were staying the tide had come in so far that the mattress and bed were just underneath the water. I felt bewildered and thought this must be an unusually high tide. I saw the owner of the accomodation coming around a corner along a small hallway. He had a slight smirk and looked very comfortable and relaxed. I found him very strange. He told me that the tide comes in like this all the time and I could always go to the other accomodation down the road. I remember in my dream looking at this on the airbnb map but it was too pricey and it looked uninteresting. I thought to myself ‘How can anyone run a business like this’. Then my attention went to a hill behind the bungalow where two dogs were fighting while their owners were trying to pull them back on their leads. My dog was there and I was calling him back out of the fight. He ran down the hill and disappeared. A woman appeared on the hill with the head of my dog and she was laughing as if playing a trick on me and I thought to myself that’s amazing that she can do that as in swap heads.

I unfolded this dream with my process work therapist and trainer. I had had a number of dreams recently with symbolism indicating overwhelm and a lot being asked of me and I took the high tide as another interpretation of overload. That was quite a everyday interpretation and I knew there was more. My therapist helped me go to the most strange and unknown part of this dream as this is often what brings us the most information and often represents disavowed aspects of ourselves or helpful energies. In this dream it was the owner of the accomodation. He reminded me of a character from a movie which helped me get more familiar with him. What disturbed me about this fellow was his casualness and disregard which I found a bit arrogant.

Although edgy and outside of my usual way of being I put my judgements aside to find out more. I realised he was more devoted to the sea and accepting of the nature of the tides and wasn’t very interested in bearing responsibility for what people wanted from him. He reminded me of a Taoist. He offered a little bit of detachment and acceptance of the nature of things. This really helped me shift a little. The next day telling a friend the dream the rest of it came together. It’s amazing how telling a dream can make things click and enliven the dream. I associate bed with something essential for rest and well being… survival even and also realised a dry place to sleep is something we really take for granted and it’s significance is so easy to overlook… like a relationship. The tide coming over the bed gave me a peacefulness and reminder that challenges come and go always, like the tides and remember not to take my home, safety and loved ones for granted and not to make the difficulties veil the positives. Then looking up the hill at the fighting dogs, told me when there is conflict do what my dog Basil does and move out of when things are escalated, then be a woman with the head of Basil and remember to be playful and silly. Playfullness and silliness is a something my partner and I can do well and a strength we have and I know we can do this as well as hold down the conflict and work through things. This dream made a huge difference to my relationship challenge.

This dream may sound simple and not very profound but when the wisdom is flavoured by the felt sense and emerges from living into inner experience rather than externally given advice the qualities are sensory grounded and immersive.

Learning and Practice

If you are interested in learning the tools of Process Work we have an introductory workshop in June in Bellingen. Contact me for more info.

adaisante@gmail.com

Thanking the foundational teachers

Arnold and Amy Mindell