Decoding
The Hidden
Dreamscape

You’re not alone! It’s estimated that around 25% of people do not remember their dreams at all, and only 10% of people remember their dreams nightly.

The good news is that there are ways to improve your dream recall, but like anything, it takes practice, intention and persistence. Dreams of Us  offers 1:1 coaching and workshops to help you better capture the substance of your dreams and apply the messages to your waking life. We start identifying what might be creating a dream blocker, whether it be stress, too much screen time before bed, or stimulants - and offer attainable steps to prioritizing your sleep routine.

Some herbs increase the production of melatonin, a hormone that is associated with sleep. Others increase the activity of the pineal gland, a gland in the brain that is involved in dreaming. There are many anecdotal reports of people who have experienced increased dream recall and lucid dreaming after using dream herbs. A few examples of these oneirogens include Calea Zacatechichi, Silene Undulata, Mugwort, Blue Lotus and Guayasa. Before ingesting,  it is important to do your research as they can have side effects, and interactions with other substances or medications. Always consult with a healthcare provider or a professional herbalist before starting any new herbal regimen.

Dreams and alternate states of consciousness induced by drumming, breathwork or indigenous medicines are tools that have the potential to incite insights and personal growth when worked intentionally, especially with a trained facilitator. Dreams can feel like non-ordinary experiences, and these induced journeys can be very dream-like. That’s because both states involve similar brain activity, including changes in brain wave patterns and neurotransmitter activity, plus an increased release of serotonin. There’s also evidence that they share similarities, including a sense of timelessness, vivid imagery, and emotional intensity. Some researchers have even suggested that the effects of certain plant medicines could be thought of as a kind of waking dream, suggesting that the same integration principals that are used in psychedelic integration, can apply toward dreaming.

While dream interpretation has long been a mainstay of Jungian analysis, there has not yet been a strong emphasis on working with dreams as part of visionary work and plant medicine. Dreams of Us believes dreamwork is an essential tool for integration that can be widely adopted by practitioners and experiences alike. Dreams of Us offers a dreamwork practice that can be used to uncover the workings of the unconscious, and then integrate those non-ordinary experiences that may have uprooted some of that content. Dreamwork is not just limited to integration, but is part of a holographic world-view. Our monthly Medicine Moon practice connects dreamers' inner world with that of the new moon, which has long been associated with dreaming, the emotional body, and the unconscious, and helps to strengthen one’s relationship with dreaming overall.

Some people have more symbolic dreams that are more about the dreamer’s internal life, while others have more literal dreams that seem to be about the external world. But often, dreams are a little bit of both. Dreams of Us recommends first examining the characteristics of the person you are dreaming of, and how they could relate to aspects of yourself. Our dream character role-play method is designed to bring those aspects to light for closer examination. We also believe it’s possible for a dream to carry an important message meant for somebody else. This is why we aim to normalize sharing your dreams with those who appear in your dreams. Speaking from the author’s experience, it just might change or even save their lives!

Dreams are both personal and highly contextual, yet at the same time, they carry universal truths, often tapping into the collective unconscious and serving up guidance for communities at large. Guides to dream symbols and their meanings may serve as an initial frame of reference, though are to be taken lightly, and only after considering many other steps in the dream analysis process, the least of which are your own emotions, and conscious concerns. Dreams of Us believes that only you can interpret your own dreams. We offer the tools and guidance to undertake your own decoding process and the creation of your own codex of dream symbols. That said, an important (and intriguing) part of the decoding process is sharing dreams with others for input and other considerations, but only after you’ve started working out your own interpretation.