Mindful dreaming

“I was scared of the lion in my dream last night,” said seven-year-old Jade, “I don’t want to have that dream again.”

Usually buoyant, and blessed with a loud exuberant voice, she whispered the ‘lion’ word, afraid, at some level, that mentioning the lion might conjure him up in waking life. I asked Jade about stories and movies involving scary animals or monsters that she’d read or seen, and she was surprised at how many there were.

The more we talked about her favourite stories and movies, the more she noticed that they all had a scary bit in the middle of the story but a happy ending. In most of the stories she remembered that the way through to the happy ending was to overcome fear by confronting the scary animal or monster, to teach it a lesson, or to make friends with it. We had a little chat about what makes a good story: overcoming something scary or solving a problem or a mystery, everyone learning something new, and a happy ending.

It was then easier to return to the lion in her dream, and see some possibilities for dealing with him.

You and I both know that the lion symbolised something scary in Jade’s life, whether in her waking world or within herself, and looking at the rest of her dream I could see what it was and subtly help her through, but I wanted to give her what I called a magic spell to deal with any scary animals or people in future dreams. “If you ever meet a scary lion in another dream, Jade, “ I said, “look more closely and you’ll see he’s really quite friendly after all, just like the monster in your favourite most-scary story book.” I knew enough about the lion in her dream and her life to know that this was the best dream alchemy for her, helping her to befriend her fears and move forward.

A wonderful thing about working with young children is that they’re very open to suggestion, and if you tell them what to do next time they meet a lion in their dream they’ll generally do it.

It seems that I took on the suggestion too, for the following night I dreamed I was enjoying a run along a gently hilly road when I saw a scary lion ahead of me.

He was poised, still, waiting for me, and I was very, very scared. Instead of turning on my heel, though, I slowed my run and looked at him more closely as I approached. Yes, there it was, a friendly, supportive look in his eye. He wasn’t waiting to pounce and kill me. He was waiting for me, so that we could run together and he could lend me his strength. We begun to run side by side, and I slowed my pace to match his. (He was very slow for a lion.) Suddenly there were four other lions slowly ambling along with us, all of one accord. I felt safe, protected by my pack.

I decided to show them my special magic: how to run so slowly that you can stay airborne for several seconds at a time. It’s a kind of gravity-defying slow dance of a run that I enjoy doing in dreams when the opportunity comes up. The lions followed suit and together we danced slow graceful arcs, all senses mindfully engaged.

As always, I was surprised to wake up and find that it had been a dream. I’ll take the liberty to coin the phrase ‘Mindful Dreaming’, not a method of being mindful that you are dreaming, but of being mindful within a dream, opening to all your senses, slowing into the glorious timeless moment, making friends with your fears.

 

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