What is really behind the Ogre in your dream?

What about transforming him into a prince?
By Rocio Morales

It is always exciting to read about scientists and researchers that have been working for many years trying to understand human dreams.
Even more so is to read their recommendations on how to deal with nightmares and its relation to ancient yogic practices.

It seems that we will be talking a lot about dreams because of the release of the new movie "Inception" where a thief is able to steal secrets from the subconscious and even produce a nightmare on the subjects he is stealing from.

In a recent article by Melinda Beck in The Wall Street Journal, she mentions about dreams that "Once thought to represent repressed sexual urges, or simply neurons firing randomly, dreams are now believed to be mash-ups created by the unconscious mind as it processes, sorts and stores emotions from the day"

In many yoga traditions specially in Kriya Yoga we learn to pay attention to our dreams as a way to decipher the symbols that come from the subconscious mind. We do this not only because they will show the emotions we have been dealing with and the unresolved issues in our awake state but also because learning the meaning of those symbols can have an impact in the near future.

Nowadays a small group of psychologist and psychiatrist like Shelby Freedman Harris, director of the Behavioural Sleep Medicine Program at Montefiore Medical Center in N.Y. uses Image Rehearsal Therapy to help people who have frequent nightmares and those with post traumatic stress disorder. The therapy consists in recalling the nightmare in detail and write a new script that they envision several times during the day. This technique gives the patient control over the symbols making them less threatening.

If you are a lucid dreamer, you know that dreams can have different qualities, some of them can definitely relate to our emotions and activities from the day and others have an almost prophetical quality.
How to know the difference? It is recommendable to have a dream journal, it will help to write the memory of the dream and to relate to those symbols 72 h after the dream. This can be a very useful technique to gain control over the symbol and to neutralize the situations that might come around.

Want to have lucidity in your dreams? Do what Yogis and Buddhists have known for centuries:

a) Go to sleep with the intention to remember your dreams
b) Prepare yourself to sleep, turn off the TV, the lights and any other noise around you in other words, slow down.
c) Have a dream journal at hand where you can write the dream symbols as soon as you wake up. On one side (usually the right, write the most important events in your day and on the left the dream symbols)
d) Check some days after the dream and analyze if any of the symbols can relate to that event.
e) If you have a nightmare, as soon as you wake up, go back to the dream (visualize it in your mind) and recreate another ending, make the Ogre a prince and the tarantula a bird.
f) Give your dreams a name
g) Watch for recurrent symbols and its relation to actual events in your life.
h) Most importantly have a sense of wonder and playfulness.

You might be surprised by the frequency and the lucidity of the dreams in a short period of time.

Above all, remember that symbols in your dreams are the language of your subconscious mind. Also it is normal to have periods in your life where you can't remember your dreams.Give yourself time and prepare to fly in your magic carpet!

Fun week of testosterone, soccer and more!

What an interesting week i has been! Besides having my home full of testosterone and soccer as we are hosting three teenagers visiting from Chicago plus my son and husband; I have met wonderful yogis and yoginis.

Having a full house when it is usually very quiet has been a joyful and noisy experience. All the kids are filming a short movie and I like the sound effects and how they direct each other, needless to say the creativity and fun are very high when the budget is very limited!

I went to a luncheon of yoga teachers from Round Rock, Sun City and Georgetown! The ladies work hard to teach yoga. Some of them teach yoga to pregnant ladies, others teach to seniors in closed communities, some teach at dance studios, gyms and park districts. Click on the pictures to meet other lovely yoga teachers in these cities!

I also attended an Astrology meeting from ASA (Astrological Society of Austin). The group meets every month and this week we had a well known yogi, Methab. He gave a presentation on Jotish (Vedic Astrology) and the chakras. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to go deeper into this interesting subject. Nevertheless Mehtab was great at giving us a reminder of the chakras, the difference among traditions and time and how each chakra is related to planetary forces.
His humor and great knowledge made a very interesting time. He is such a caring, approachable man!

As for today, Ruth Jansa invited me to one of her classes. We are working together to make a proposal for Yoga for MS. Her students are so welcoming and enjoy yoga very much, some of them are recovering from different ailments and it was amazing to see them doing traditional poses using support. The average age in that class was 60 years old but the spirit was remarkable jovial!. I learned so much from them today.


This week I invite you to listen to our latest interview with Sant Dharamananda, the preceptor of the Himalayan Education Center, this center hosts disadvantaged students. In this center residents practice hatha yoga, meditation, eat vegetarian food and attend the University of Stout in Wisconsin. Click here to go to page in our website to listen to the interview.

Yoga Sanga July issue is out!

Our July issue is out!!

Please take some time to visit the Yoga Sanga website and read what our writers have prepared for you.

We are pleased to offer an interview with Dr. Karen Mustian where she talks about her research with Yoga and Cancer survivors. Go to the article section to listen to the results from this study.
On this issue you will find: the best way to practice Vinyasa to avoid injuries by Kim Schwartz; an interesting look at Bramacharya by Aileen Hansen; if you are a yoga teacher, Cheryl Alexander wrote a very complete and clear article on health insurance for you; Meet Keith Kachtick, the founder of Dharma Yoga in our teacher's profile section; don't miss Liz Belile interview on how yoga can support fertility treatments.

We are giving the Yoga Sanga Karma Yoga award, to the Himalayan Education Center, a unique place for students to live in an Ashram like environment and attend college in Wisconsin; Kerry Meath will help you understand what Ayurveda is about and much more!

Looking for an event? check our calendar and you can also find a teacher in our directory.

Join our e-mail list and you will earn yoga stuff!


Enjoy the Summer and try something new as Leila Kalmbach suggests in her article for this issue!

Shanti,
Rocio Morales