Dreamwork - Learn to Lucid Dream and find the dream practices that work for you

A jam packed episode where Rainbow Raaja talks about the anatomy behind dreaming and the significance of dreamwork in ancient cultures.  Learn how to lucid dream in one day and begin to explore the self reflective possibilities of day-dreaming through astral travel.  She wraps up the end of the episode with a divination reading on your dreamwork style and gifts and an activation to expand your capabilities in astral dreamscapes.

Pick a number between 1 and 5 for the Divination/Tarot Reading on your Dreamscape and gifts.  Feel free to skip to the chapter of your reading when it comes up.

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🎶Music Credit:
Intro/Outro - Traveler and Ambient Motivational by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License

Transcript

0:08

Hello, and welcome to rainbows rising, where we ascend together. I'm your host, Rainbow Raaja. And this month, I'm going to make your dreams come true, literally, because we are going to be covering dream work this month. Dreams, daydreams, lucid dreams, astral travel, Dream ceremonies, Dream dancing. And oh my goodness, there is so much to work with when you do dream work. So today, we're just gonna talk a little bit about what dreaming is, what causes dreaming the different stages of sleep and how you can begin to work with your dreams, and how you can use that for your spiritual practice, or for better understanding yourself and your subconscious mind. So our bodies have certain states when we're going to sleep, it takes the average person around seven to 14 minutes to fall asleep. And so, how that works is the very first stage. The very first stage of sleep is the alpha stage. Now, the alpha stage is responsible for like deep relaxation. So people who meditate a lot, or people who use energy work, they kind of quote unquote, hang out in the alpha state, a lot of the time, this is generally a, a place where your, your body is able to relax and feel safe in the environment. And then we move on to the theta state, which is a light sleep. This is kind of like when you start to fall asleep. And you're aware that you're not asleep yet. But you start to get kind of those, those like visions, you start to kind of like start your dream, you might hear like your phone go off, or you might get that sensation of falling. And then you will like wake up, that's kind of when this theta state is happening. It's it's that state right between being awake and being asleep. The next state involves the Delta waves. And this state is commonly where sleepwalking or bedwetting happens. And this is also kind of like, where you become less aware that you are falling asleep. And this period is like really short, it's like 30 minutes. And then that's when you drop into REM Sleep. That is our rapid eye movement, super deep sleep, that's when you begin to dream. Now our bodies when we drop into that REM state release serotonin, and acetylcholine, as well as some experts believe that we also release a chemical while we dream called dimethyltryptamine otherwise known as DMT. So these chemicals can produce kind of like very vivid hallucinogenic, like experiences as we sleep, but other people believe that these chemicals are responsible for allowing our consciousness to slip into other dimensions. And there has actually been a recent article that came out that scientists are running a new theory that when we dream we're actually traveling to other dimensions or that we are experiencing our multi dimensional lives or realities in these other dimensions. So there is just so much that we do not know about dreams, and about the act of dreams. And what really happens when we go to sleep, which makes it a really fun playground a really fun place to explore and to try out some some metaphysical or spiritual practices. We all have had dreams, we all have had those dreams that we wake up, and they're just so vivid that you go to sworn you were there. So what are those? Like? What do they mean to us, a good thing you can start to do is you can start to dream journal. Now, I have books and books and books of dreams. Literally, I log my dreams every day. Sometimes I have multiple dreams at night, sometimes I just have one. Sometimes I don't have any. I go through periods of like incredible, you know, incredible, vivid dreams. And sometimes I go through periods of dry spells. And that's totally okay. But what's neat is that in these books of dreams that I have, I can go back months or years. And I enjoy reading back these dreams and remembering these situations and circumstances that was happening in my life. And sometimes there are connections, I can make connections, as to events that were about to happen that that dream eluded to, or clues, or tips or people showed up in my dreams from, you know, I had a dream like three years ago, and there was like somebody in this dream. And I was like, wow, who is this person, I've never met this person. But I described them, I drew a picture of them. And like three years later, I met that person. So it's really interesting that you can play in these, you know, just just by reading your dreams back, just by logging them down. I use a website called dream moods. And I use that for dream interpretation, using different symbols and imagery to better understand the psychological meaning of my dreams. And that has brought some clarity into understanding how I'm handling certain situations how I'm handling stress. And that has been really beneficial for self reflective work. Moving into more complex practices, such as lucid dreaming, or astral travel. They sound complicated, they really do. But when you take all of the the mental blocks, we we sometimes think ourselves into a corner where we think something is so much more complicated than it needs to be. And in terms of lucid dreaming or astral travel, that's what it can be. For a number of years. I really thought lucid dreaming was this extremely complex skill that you had to practice every single day to get it right. And one day when I was exploring the topic, I had found a PDF online. It was three pages long and I thought how can there be a lucid dreaming book that's only three pages long? Like how could it possibly be so short? And I kind of wrote it off as nothing and I think I put it away for like a year and then I found it again because I downloaded it. I read it through and I tried it I tried the three steps that it gave me. And by god it worked. I lucid dreamed that night, that very night just by going you know what, I'm just gonna try it like it's three steps, three pages, you know, it can't be that hard to you know, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. And I did I sat down I read it through I tried those steps and those three steps were this very first thing is set an alarm on your phone every two hours. You know if you're a lot better at time management, you probably don't have to set to two hour alarm intervals but every two hours, what you should do is you should stop and say out loud to yourself, Am I dreaming? Look around your room. Feel yourself in your skin just kind of pay attention. Like, when I clench my fist, I can really feel myself clenching my fists, when I look around my room, there doesn't seem to be anything abnormal, everything makes logical sense. And then I just go about my day. And if you do that, every two hours, that pattern will carry into your sleep in the evening. So when you go to sleep, you're like okay, I'm going to sleep you close your eyes, you fall into a dream. And you know, two hours into that dream, you will have that habit of every two hours, you're gonna say, am I dreaming? So suddenly you do you say, am I dreaming? And what is that duck doing teaching this class? This is a dream. And when you are aware that you are in a dream, you can change the dream. Now when I became aware that I was dreaming that very first night when I did it, I got so excited, I actually accidentally woke myself up. And that can totally happen. You might end up waking yourself up and go, Oh, no, I woke up now what like, do I have to do it all over again. Now just go back to sleep, make sure you know that you you just go back to sleep immediately. Because the pattern will continue. And try to be calmer with you when you realize that you're that you're dreaming and you and you found that out yourself. And you just practice that for a week. And you'll have more control over your lucid state when you're actually practicing. Now, lucid dreaming was not was not necessarily for me, it came with some pluses. I could like fly through my dream on command. I could interact with whoever I wanted, I could go do whatever I wanted. But I really liked kind of the the surprise of the dream and I didn't like to really control my dreams. So if that doesn't work, you can do kind of the same thing. This this control of this dream world, this dream realm with astral traveling, that's where you you take advantage of that dream state and the control that you have in meditation. So instead of dropping all the way down into REM state, you're going to use the alpha wave state to get relaxed and and the more that you breathe and relax into your body. Imagine melting every single muscle from the top of your head and just slowly go over every section of your body, from the top of your head all the way down to your toes. Once you're there, and that super calm like just it's like floating through space kind of feeling, then you can start to travel wherever you want. And imagine being like at the pyramids, or imagine going to outer space and flying all the way past Saturn. And so when you can control that state. I mean, there's a lot you can do, especially if you are a healer. You can utilize that to work with clients to get information. If you have an interest in past lives, you can astral travel to past lives. If you have an interest in your ancestors, you can astral travel to your ancestors. And this can be similar in ways to journeying as well, which is another type of Daydream like state. So dreams have been an important component for spiritual work since the beginning of time since beginning of being on Aboriginal cultures trying to get information about, about the the illnesses of the body about understanding why the crops were not growing about trying to predict what was to come if there was any danger to come to better understand who might be stealing in the community, whatever, whatever it may be the the spiritual leader of the the community would utilize their dreams, or their visions, their their waking dreams, to support the community find solutions for problems, to do medicine work, and more. Dreams in the Australian Aboriginal community were the foundation of their their main medicine work that they did. They would dance their dreams. And I think I might go more in depth about about the the different types of dream work used in spiritual, like older spiritual traditions in the next podcast. But I do want to give you guys a little short healing and an activation for beginning to do your own dream work this month. And I would love for you guys, no matter whether you're listening to this, like when I posted or in the future or whatnot, just take the time and log your dreams. Even if it's just pulling out your phone and recording, you know, a voice memo of what you dream last night or texting or telling your partner Hey, can I tell you my dream and you can remind me when I'm more awake. Whatever it is, whatever it is drawing a picture, journaling, putting that dream journal under your pillow really helps. But a pencil in it. And just every morning you wake up before you open your eyes just like you know, feel around for pull it out and log what you can remember, that's all you have to do. I only remember a dog. That's totally fine. Right that you remember the dog any details about the dog? Was the dog like spotted? Was it standing on grass? Was it running? How big was the dog? What kind of dog was it? You know, that kind of thing? So, yeah, start doing that. And if you're interested in trying the lucid dreaming, please go ahead just just do the practice, just like I recommended every two hours, set an alarm. Do that for several days. And you will be lucid dreaming in no time at all. Okay, So, let's go ahead and move forward with our reading for this month, I have five sets of two cards. The first card is going to illustrate a dream scene that is going to be a representation of what dreaming provides you the gifts that dreaming brings you and how dreaming helps you in your waking life and the second card is going to be how that integrates into your your waking life and the types of lessons that dreaming can help you learn. Okay, so please pick number between one and five for your dream set. Always go with your first number, the very first number that comes up and really feel into it with your heart. The very first set set one we have a beautiful scene of a little a little child sleeping on the back of a swan soaring over a bunch of crows sitting on the tops of swords. So this particular imagery tells me that you experienced dreaming as a way to escape stress and fear and scary situations and drama in your waking life. Dreaming is a way for you to get rest to recuperate after a long day. And to just kind of enjoy this, this view, right. So dreams are more of an amazing opportunity for you to feel safe. And what this brings to you, is a sense of security and protection in your own body. And in your own life. As also provides you with insight. So your dreams bring you insight as to your, your own, like physical dreams, like things that you want to do in this world. So a good example of this would be like, if you have a lot of dreams of, you know, being a teacher, and you're, a lot of times, you know, at the front of a classroom, even if you're not doing so well, your dream is planting a seed, that this particular career might be really, really good for you. And that it, you know it, it seems like something that's on your mind a lot. So just know that your dreams provide the seed for your true passions, your your true ambitions at its root. Okay. For those of you who chose number two, number two, your dreams make you feel powerful. They give you the sense that you can go anywhere and do anything and make connections that are beyond your current environment. It gives you a shift in your perception as well. And your dream image is this Poseidon looking man surrounded by these turtles. And he is staring eye to eye with a sea horse. And they both are just standing so strong and regal, there's a sense of power. And there's energy coming off of both of them in the card. So to give you an idea of like, how this could be applied or how this how this could have a relation to you is that maybe in your dreams, you get really interesting perceptions of situations that in your waking life you wouldn't have otherwise. And through these new perceptions through these new ways of seeing your situations, you feel more powerful in your day to day life. The seahorses teeny tiny but this giant Poseidon being a person is showing respect and equality for this little seahorse. In fact, he's actually looking up to the seahorse. Another aspect of this card is connection. You connect with people in dreams, you are able to understand people emotionally or connect with them on an emotional level and your dreams probably help you move through emotional healing. And the second card, the second card, which is what gift does dream work bring you it is the ability to connect outside the physical realm. It is the ability to see the potential whether in others or to to dive deep into the emotional spiritual connections between either other people or situations or ideas. You like the ability to go with the flow in your dreams and I get the feeling that by Being able to connect with people in the dream world, either before you meet them, or outside of a situation you may be experiencing with them, that it helps you get clarity of the situations that you are in, without becoming emotionally entangled, or attached in the physical world as much as other people might be. So using dreamwork for you, helps you to create a physical separation and see situations and people from a bit of a distance, to give yourself separation, to really observe and evaluate their character, their actions, etc, and make an assessment before moving forward. Reading number three, reading number three. So your dream scene is a man who is pushing back against an entire flock of foxes. And the foxes are all chasing this, this rabbit and this man is pushing against the flow. So the way I interpret how dreams and dream work are beneficial for you and, and how you work in the dream realm is that you kind of think outside the box, your dreams in your dream sequences are not of the norm, you are pushing through, you know pushing your own boundaries, pushing your limits, always trying to get to like break out of this, this perception. And whereas everyone else might be following the program, I'll just I'll just go with that. Following this program, you are defying the dream program. So it's really hard to explain this concept. But the best way that I can explain it is like the masses, when they go to sleep, they have a specific program they go through. And when you go to sleep, you are constantly pushing yourself to expand your horizons, you might be going like to really really distant realms, you might be going into, like dark dreams just because you're curious, you might be going to like past lives just to check them out. You know, you're constantly just kind of you're you're, you're kind of pushing the boundaries of what what is comfortable for, for the normal person. And I see this as also like you're breaking through deception, you're breaking through the illusions that are around you, that you're surrounded in your dream state with, with like magic, and you must really like to engage a lot in, in these mythical practices or kind of, like experimental uses of dream states. So that's, that's, that's what I get from this particular card is that you are almost training yourself. And that is how you use dream work is that you're pushing those boundaries. And so the gift that this brings you the gift, the The reason you do this is that you are diving deep, to better understand yourself. It's almost like you are going to the very, very depths of of your abilities, just to have a better understanding of who you are, and why you make the choices you do. And to like, really, really get the full immersive experience of this life of all the corners of this life. And you get the most emotional fulfillment when you're exploring when you're trying to get information. And learn the truths of the world and, and just being playful and just, you know, exploring, exploring what you're capable of, and what's out there. So that's, that's why you break those walls. That's why you break those boundaries and you're constantly pushing yourself and, and defying the, the social norm and breaking through those illusions. Okay group number four, group number four we have for your dream Dream scene is there's a woman and a man and they're embracing. And they have this beautiful swirl of fish swimming around them. So for you, you really you just you just like the pleasure of it, you just love the pleasure of dreaming. All the endless possibilities, all the all the beautiful sensations and the emotional depth that you can experience in the dream world and just being able to, to enjoy, be present with the connection in this place, you feel that it's just, it's just this exciting, and you know, feel good place for you. It's just a safe embrace. It's a place that you just love to be. And for the gift, that this that dream work brings you the gift that dream work brings you is it gives you the ability to be the most nurturing the most compassionate and loving individual that you can be. you expand your heart through the dreaming you do. You are able to really manifest the life you truly want. When you dream it the best that you can. So providing the the optimal dream experience where you're getting to bed on time where you're doing whatever exercise or whatever routines that support your your best dreaming as schedule that is when you are the most whole and happy and warm and nurturing where you see the most harvest in your life for yourself. Okay, so dreams bring you harvest and happiness and joy and a deeper sense of love and how to love your life and others. And last but not least dreamers number five dreamers number five Hmm, dreamers number five so you I have as your dream scene a winged warrior with three swords. You have two companions, two black swans with swords as well. So the way I see this is you are like a dream warrior. You use dreams as a way to fight darkness or fight injustice or fight imbalance and that could be for yourself or it could be for others and it seems like you are working with guides who are working with other people maybe that you guys are working together to to bring about balance and justice. This card has a lot of white and black. So I see yin and yang and balance and this you know the the person that symbolizes you on the card is not striking first. They are In a defensive pose, so that shows me that they are protecting instead of being the aggressor. So you are doing like big work you are you are traveling around in other dimensions and other timelines or whatever it is, and you are a defender of justice. And what this does for you, and what the gift that dreamwork is doing for you, and for the world is you are bringing happiness, contentment, peace, and fulfillment and success to yourself. And to everyone around you, you are the noble hero. So the second card is you still with your wings, you're this winged warrior, you are actually sitting atop one of those birds. And the sun is like shining down on you. You have fairies and beautiful birds surrounding you Everything is amazing. And you have earned a halo. So you have become this like sovereign angelic being you are protecting people, you are the Savior, you know, that kind of thing. Now, don't let that go to your head, please. But in, you know, your gift is providing safety and protection. And you are a guide and a protector for others. And that is the gift that dreamwork is doing for you. So that was your reading for this month. And I hope you guys better understand what dreamwork brings to you. I hope that that resonates. Please let me know what you guys think of these readings every month. If you guys just, you know preferred me doing, like one big reading for everyone or if you prefer these individual readings. Let me know. And I'm going to end today with a little just just a super short activation for you guys to deepen your dream practices. Okay, we're just going to deepen the dream practices. So go ahead, drink lots of water over the next three to five days. And you might experience some some shifting happening in your day to day life. As that integrates, your dreams might become more vivid. Or you might be traveling to different types of dreamscapes. And just know that that's totally okay. If anything comes up that you have questions about, don't hesitate to message me and ask what's going on. All right. So I hope you guys had a great time today. I'm super grateful to all of you out there listening. Thank you. Thank you, thank you for your support. And I am so excited for the guest that I have scheduled at the end of the month. She is a shamanic depth psycho therapist who specializes in dream work and transpersonal development. And she is going to come on and we're going to talk a lot about dreams and dream work. And she's going to share some insight on what she has discovered in her field. So please look forward to that and join us at the end of the month for that. Well, I hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your day. And I'll see you next week. Bye