Dream Yoga
I am currently doing my yoga teacher training and my final project is to host an event. Not so easy given that most of us are on stay at home orders during the COVID 19 pandemic. The pandemic has provided many of us the space to turn inward and start to tend to ourselves. Since I can’t host an event, I decided to create something you could do on your time, whenever and how often you wanted. Something to help you cultivate your inner work, inner world and expansion. A wonderful friend suggested that I create a yoga sequence for dreams since I work with dreams. I love dreams! I have always been an active dreamer, with wild and vivid dreams. Dreams provide us with insight, connection, and growth. Feeling inspired and ready to share something I love, I create a sequence of yoga poses to help your body relax and you to enter your dream world.
So, I got into my favorite most comfy pajamas and since my cat Nero thought it was bedtime, we headed off to bed to do some dream yoga.
This sequence is designed to help your body relax and release tension so you can enter those higher states, connect with your highest self, and divine wisdom.
Remember:
Have everything ready before you start. Dream journal next to your bed for the morning. Any music or aromatherapy you may want to assist you. Your blankets or pillows near by. This is designed to help you relax and make your body as comfortable as possible.
Take time in each pose, the video demonstrates the poses so you have an idea of what to do.
Stay in each pose for a few minutes.
Focus on your breath. I recommend box breathing for each pose- inhale four counts, hold four counts, exhale four counts, hold four counts. If four is too much time, find a number that works for you and set your own pace, count as fast or slow as you like.
In each pose feel your body. Feel the connection of your body to the surface below. Take a moment to notice this connection, using your five senses. Place a hand on the stomach and one on your chest and feel your breath move through your body. You really want to feel your belly move, too often we take shallow breathes, never fully expanding our lungs. The deeper the breath the more relaxed you’ll be.
In corpse pose (Shavasana) take time to ground, feel your roots growing deep into the ground. Allow yourself to release whatever needs to be released. If something feels stuck or does not want to release, that is okay, thank it and continue to breathe into the space that feels the most relaxed. Again, bring your awareness to your breath (placing a hand on your stomach and one your chest) In this pose, you can do a guided meditation or yoga Nidra. Play relaxing music or listen to binaural beats. Don’t forget to set your intention.
Get comfortable and enjoy. Below you will find:
a video demonstrating each pose
a guide to each pose
links to a couple of guided meditations
The Little Book of Dreaming and a couple of other handouts to enhance your dreaming life (I love dreaming and have created a few handouts to help).
Correction- in the video I say banana pose put your legs at 75% I meant 45%.
I forgot to demonstrate supine bound ankle, luckily it’s in the handout. Blankets or a pillow can be wonderful here, to put under your middle back or knees.
Bridge pose is another good pose to use blankets and pillows.
Sorry for Nero’s distraction, it was either have him help or have him cry at the door (not so relaxing). Plus he loves yoga, I can’t practice without him.
Yoga handouts:
Dream Yoga- a flow designed to help you relax, turn inward and connect deeper to yourself and your dream world.
Moon Salutations- Moon Salutations are wonderful to help relax and calm not only your body but your mind as well. Moon salutations are also known for enhancing creativity. Add to the dream sequence or do it on its own.
Dream Handouts:
Little Book to Dreaming- A book designed to help you cultivate your dreams and your relationship with your dreams. Filled with tons of information.
Dream Rituals- A quick little guide to help you create rituals for your dreams.
Shadow and Dreaming- “To confront a person with his shadow is to show him his own light. Once one has experienced a few times what it is like to stand judgingly between the opposites, one begins to understand what is meant by the self. Anyone who perceives his shadow and his light simultaneously sees himself from two sides and thus gets in the middle,” Carl Jung. Shadow dreams are full of rich content to aid in our development and personal growth. Showing us where we are blind. Want to know more about the shadow, click here.
Dreaming and the Moon- The moon influences us in so many ways, and one of the ways in our dreams. Learn more about the moon phases and signs and how to use the moon to fuel your dream work.
Archetypes- Archetypes are “a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.”- Dictionary.com. Our dreams are full of archetypal information. When we work with archetypes we not only heal ourselves but the collective consciousness as well.