Picture above is my dog Little Man who is always dreaming!
I don’t often remember my dreams. My husband does a lot of dream work and has done this for years and is able to vividly recall details, symbols and ideas and uses this to work in the subconscious. These are his mornings. Mine are about coffee, playing with my adorable pets and watching the sky open up.
Lately though and this feels very significent, I have had some dreams that remain with me still and I believe are speaking to me (and perhaps you reading this )of a bigger picture. In the first one, I observed the world erupting into chaos by the earth shifting form. It was almost as though the earth was trying to recreate itself by turning inside out. There was rubble everywhere. Very dystopian. Through this rubble I walked with my daughter (who was actually in weird dream world was this adult like baby….). I carried her and we were conversing about starting this whole thing called life over from the beginning. The amazing thing to me about all of this was the very visceral connection to Hope. We were determined to do things better this time and be part of creating a foundation based on compassion and egalitarian values.
The second dream happened about a week and a half later which was two nights ago. I dreamed I was in the last stage of pregnancy. My body was so lush, ripe and full and I could feel my child moving slowly without much space. I could feel the way my taut belly (which had a barely visible belly button) had dropped and partially was rested on my legs. I couldn’t stop rubbing my hands on my belly! Life! In the dream I recall that drowsy feeling of pregnancy coupled with having my center of gravity completely altered and the excitement and anticipation of birth. This experience in my own waking life is over 20 years old. With Riley we had in utero fetal surgery at 22 weeks and she was born at 29. But this felt more ancient. This memory of bearing life resides deep in my cellular memory and felt in the bones.
I maintained the sensations of this yesterday morning and when it slowly faded my body became slightly feverish and achy. I did the bare minimum that day and went to bed at 8:00 pm and slept until 7:00 am.
In my limited experience of remembering dreams, I am in no way qualified to interpret other than what intuitively arises and feels authentic to me. I feel the old order, the hierarchical, paternalistic culture where power and domination rule is shifting. There is enormous fear and resistance to this which explains the phenomenon of Trump.
In my life, I have the privilege of working with the dying and as people slowly loose attachment to roles they defined themselves by, it is that person and God. The stripping away. There is so much grace here. In this sense, we need old ways of thinking and being to die so we can make room for the new. Behold I make all things new says Jesus. This has already been laid before us as a way of living and being. Where the feast is laid, the table is set and all are welcome. The oppressors and the oppressed together with those divisions and walls taken down so all that is left is that hidden wholeness that lies, lives and breathes in all beings.
When I teach yoga in prisons, rehabs, shelters and in my public classes, we practice paying attention to being alive. Feeling our feet on the earth, strengthening our center, opening our hearts. In our auto pilot life, we forget that we are here right now. All it takes for me is to bring my hands to my heart before beginning Sun Salutations and everything shifts. This. The gift. Life.
We have to pay attention to our dreams and then we must act. When we act. Possibilities emerge. In the act of communion, Jesus offers his body as a living sacrifice and asks that we do the same. Do THIS in memory of me. Show up. Open hearted. Having the courage to love in the midst of chaos. To love people that scare the shit out of us (this is really hard so I am starting with those who slightly annoy me like Pat Robertson), to create awareness and safety for the vulnerable in our communities. To reflect to people who have been told told they are nothing, a blot on humanity, a worthless piece of shit, to be able to unpack our own distorted images and then reflect that back to these beautiful souls who identify as victims that do not yet know they are survivors. You. You are a part of a whole. Because you exist Love is a part of you. This is the dream. This can be the reality. Let’s do this. Love is why we are here.
