Unlocking Our Dreams as a Pathway to Self-Discovery and Healing with Claudia Barfoot

What is uuuuup deep feeler baddies!?

This week we are honored to have Claudia Barfoot on the podcast to talk about one of our favorite topics: dreams!

Claudia is an Integrative Mental Health Specialist and Ancestral Healing Practitioner, integrating indigenous cosmologies and wisdom into her practice. Claudia strongly believes personal growth and healing is an active process of self discovery, openness to the paradoxes of life, curiosity, compassion and care for all our relations, human and otherwise.

This week's topics:

☁️ What are the different types of dreams and their purpose?

☁️ Recognizing symbols in our dreams and what they could mean

☁️ Shadow work in dreams

☁️ Depth psychology and how it aids the collective

☁️ The truth about "healing journeys" and how to find freedom within them

Get in touch with Claudia:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelandofpossible/

Practice website: https://www.instagram.com/thelandofpossible/

Dreamwork + coaching website: https://www.thelandofpossible.com/

Retreat: https://www.thelandofpossible.com/medicina-tierra

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:07 What's In Danie's Cup!? (News flash: it's rage)

07:27 What's In Crystina's Cup!?

12:54 EA Announcements

16:51 Empaths Anonymous 1 Year Birthday Announcement!

18:11 Introducing Claudia Barfoot

20:28 Claudia's story and how she got into dreamwork

22:28 Dreams, subconscious truth, and lessons we can learn from our dreams

26:42 Sitting with the emotions of our dreams

28:53 Dream symbolism

32:35 Steps to interpreting your dreams

37:13 Taking action on the lessons we learn from dreams

38:21 Understanding depth psychology and collectivism

46:05 Visitation dreams

48:22 What does true holistic healing look like?

59:00 Claudia's ceremonial Yucatan retreat

01:05:11 Closing reflections + outro

Transcript

Claudia Barfoot: 0:00

this life, it's also kind of dreamlike, this is also

Empaths Anonymous: 0:02

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 0:03

we're dreaming. like if this is a dream, why choose the nightmare

Empaths Anonymous: 0:07

Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 0:08

we are also responsible of every single day creating the best experience we can for ourselves. So choosing like, I'm just gonna go to the restaurant. I'm, I'm gonna order my favorite thing. And, and maybe that's enough and maybe that's healing and, you know, and for the day. That was a good day.

Speaker: 0:25

Welcome to empaths anonymous

Speaker 2: 0:28

a space for dreamers healers and feelers Navigating the fine line between putting yourself first and holding space for others

Speaker: 0:36

If you struggle with balancing your needs while still supporting your tribe, then you're in the right place

Speaker 2: 0:42

Welcome to the support group

ea_4_03-11-2025_191710: 0:46

Hello and welcome back to Empaths Anonymous podcast. I'm Crystina. I'm Danie. And today we have a really exciting episode about dreams. Yes, girl, the dream world, dream state. We are fully invested and curious about dreams as we are about a lot of things, but it's been something we've been wanting to talk about for a while, say. Mm-hmm. It's been in the list It has, yeah. Of things. We're always telling each other our dreams and. Going back to like being a young child, I've always had very vivid dreams. Mm-hmm. Like future telling dreams and crazy alternate reality dreams. Mm-hmm. So it was really cool to learn about dreams and like what you can glean from them. Mm-hmm. But glean from dreams. Glean from dreams. I've been the. Same. Not necessarily in the future telling aspect or premonition aspect, but always very lucid. Vivid. Like weird. Yeah, like out of the box type shit. Yeah. Almost like watching yourself in a movie. That's how a lot of my dreams have felt. And also being really interested in dream interpretation. Yes. I think I was maybe as young as eight or nine when. I made my mom or someone bought me, maybe it was my grandma. I can't remember now. They bought me a dream interpretation book. Ooh, that's cool. A through Z. Ooh. Kinda like Dream Dictionary Dreams. A through Z. Yeah. Love that. I know. Before we get into the episode though, what is in your cup girlfriend today, ladies and gents? She's, he, she's in these we're hydrating. We're just keeping it simple. Unfortunately, this is my first Owala of the day and usually by this time. I'm about two and a half, three. Yeah. So I have some catching up to do. I should have put salt in here, but I didn't. I need to put a little sea salt action. That's my physical cup and my cup of life. Am I allowed to rant? You can do whatever you want. Okay. It's our podcast. It's our podcast. I'm gonna rant. I I try not to rant as much. Yeah. But I think. Our feelers will be able to resonate with this. Yeah. I was in a group project. Okay. And so it brought up a lot of. Feelings that I had, that I have, uh, opened up to feeling and have, uh, experienced since my session. My spinal energetics session with Shanti Moore. Please listen to that episode. If you have it. It's so good. And the group project just brought out a, a new, a new type of rage in me that I didn't know I had. It was me and another. Woman who I think probably saved me from going off on these little girls. I guess I have to remember that they're young. Several times, several. She talked me off the ledge many times and I appreciate her very much for that because it was, shout out, shout for my benefit and for the little girls. But don't do that shit to me ever again. I'm a Capricorn, so if it's been 48 to 72 hours of being in a group project and no one has taken the lead. Who do you think is gonna fucking do it? It's me because it's my grade too. And it's my education too. And this, if I don't pass this class, I cannot graduate. So imagine what kind of fool would I look like if I let someone sabotage, right? Oh, because I didn't wanna take control of, of the group. And I tried really hard because that was really hard for me to not say anything. For 72 hours. I was like, Hey, it's me. I'm in the group. Woo-hoo. And we all introduced ourselves, right? Nothing crickets. Mm-hmm. Not until the day that the very first thing was due. It was, it was a research paper group project just to, just to put it into perspective, which I just feel like is absolutely criminal to make people do in a group in undergrad, like we are full on adults and you're making us do a group project on research papers. Like, I'm sorry. I would, I would understand it more actually in grad school, because you're probably more in a cohort, right? You're probably figuring things out together. You. You care equally. Yeah. When you're talking about an intro class, even though it requires a pre-req, you're still talking about an intro class. Right. And people just don't give a shit. And I get that I was, that I was that person once. Right. But also, I didn't have to do a lot of group projects. And if I did, I would communicate and be like, Hey, I'm not a good, I'm not gonna be a good team member. Few and far between that, that even occurred. But yeah, just a lot of. Speaking of how I'm showing up emotionally angry. Hmm. It was, it's that, among other things, I think obviously the current state of the world, you turn left, you turn right, you look up, you look down. The United States seems to be like what's on the list of things we can't eat or buy or drink today? Oh my God. Actually, everything. Like trying to plan ahead and figure out how to like shop small and shop correct. And protect people who are losing their rights and people going missing. You know what I mean? So it's like, yeah. It's not just the little things like the day to day mundane group projects that are bogging me down. It's like bigger collective grief and rage. Yes. Collective grief. Thank you so much. That's exactly what I was gonna say. Sorry he said it. No, perfect. I wouldn't have said it as eloquently'cause Noggins turned off, but that's pretty much it, an anger. And because I mentioned Shantani she encourages an open line of communication. Text me anytime. Right. Ask me anything. And so I think I actually should do that.'cause it's been a couple of weeks now. Mm-hmm. And I'm, it's kind of like this common thing where if like, I've opened up myself to experience anger and I, it's. I said yes to it. Right. And so the universe is like, okay girl, we're gonna throw some things at you. Right. And we're gonna work through it. Yeah, yeah. But that, because once you kind of open the floods gate up to something, a concept that you're moving through mm-hmm. And emotion, you're allowing yourself to process. It's like it's not only anger for the group project, anger for what's going on in the world. Mm-hmm. It's like probably 30 years of anger that you have not allowed yourself to feel. Yes. Right. Very much that I feel you. Yeah. So I'm just trying not to pop off left and right and it's really hard'cause I can, I have like a little bit of a mouth on me. If you can't tell, I'll say some shit and it will not be nice. Cool. Better be, be quiet. Yeah. That's one thing, like even when we were younger, like early twenties, that I like noticed about you, like you will not say something for a long time, but if somebody forces you to say something, it's not gonna be what they wanna hear. It's not gonna be in the way that they wanna hear. No, it's gonna be in the way that you get it. Yeah. Yeah, that's, and I'm not here to warn a bitch, but, but try me. I'm not here to make any mess, but Exactly. Yeah. What's in your cup, sister? Okay. I finished my second coffee for the day. It was cold. It was a Phil's K-Cup with some Elmhurst new, uh. Creamer alert, Elmhurst, I think think it's cashew in Oakland. It was like creme brulee, not my normal Laird, it was sold out at the grocery store because I don't know which of you bitches be selling that shit out at the Temecula Sprouts, but every time I've gone to Sprouts the last three times it has no, I got it the time before, but two times periodically over the last like couple of months when I'd go to. Sprouts, it was always sold out, so it's pretty rare that it's sold out. Completely. Completely. Girl. Yeah. Not even the sweet and Creamy was on the shelf. The guy was like, well, we have the powdered version. I'm like, I don't want that. Listen here, Tyler. If I wanted that, I would be in the dry aisle, right? I'm not. I'm in the cold section. Right. Yeah, I know what I'm talking about. It's not the same. You see me in here every single week getting the same shit. Like I am a creature of habit at the grocery store. Don't you know me by now, I'm a regular ex. Exactly. Oh, and by the way that people were talking to me, they like were treating me like I wasn't an employee. Meanwhile, you guys, Mondays are like my decompress reset day, so it's like I don't do my makeup. Hmm. I was barely on my phone yesterday. I was getting shit done. I cleaned my room, I did laundry, and then I went to Sprouts. I went on a walk and some lady like was asking me questions about berries and I'm literally in sweatpants and like an old ratty t-shirt. I'm like, do I look like a Sprouts employee to you? Yeah. It's like I know a thing or two about a thing or two, but yeah, I got my AirPods and I'm not trying to talk to you. Right, exactly. Anyway, I digress. Apparently we both are like letting out some of our anger today. It's kind of that, kind of that era. But I'm sipping on water and I wanted to show you guys at my new what a bottle. Can you see that? Hold on. It is, I think it's'cause it's silver. If you're watching on the video right now, which shouts out, you can now watch every week or every episode I should say. Mm-hmm. On Spotify as well. Oh yeah. It is a shout out to my town, my Las Vegas. It's mothership coffee roasters. And it is female and Latina owned. And now when I went, she told me she has like six or seven locations. Now what? I'm like, girl, you want a franchise in California? Yeah. Come out here. I don't have the money to do that, but I could find an angel investor. Yeah. Well, I mean, she probably knows plenty of people, right? So you have money if you guys are ever in Vegas and you want some good ass coffee that is woman owned. And Latina owned go to mothership coffee roasters. Mm-hmm. But in my life slash emotional cup, I have been feeling a lot better since we have left the darkness, the cold, cold, dark of January and February. And I've noticed, maybe I've just become aware of it the last, you know, few years. But okay. Aquarius season in particular is always really tough for me. The last three years I've noticed this, so it's like January, February for me this year. I was really worried that I was like slipping into a depression because it was getting, like, I was really, it was really hard for me to get outta bed in the morning. I was always so, so tired. And yeah, just feeling very bogged down and overwhelmed. I. I felt like I, like, couldn't really get anything done and my mind was always in a thousand places could also be my mental health diagnoses. But as soon as the day that we enter Pisces season, I just feel like this big sigh of relief. I feel like is it Snow White or Sleeping Beauty? When she wakes up, she's like, ah. You know, I think it is Snow White. That's how I feel. Mm-hmm. As soon as we enter Pisces, I'm like, okay, all is right in the world. Yeah. And so I'm feeling a lot better. I am really prioritizing my goal for the year of reconnecting to my spiritual practices. Uh, just because I feel like mid to late last year I was just feeling very disconnected from that. And. Yeah, I'm trying to find new ways to connect to my spirituality as well as just getting back into my daily practice, which I'm very proud of myself because for the last week I have been waking up and at least doing something in the morning for my spiritual and mental self. Mm-hmm. Which is great. So that's where I'm checking and feeling a lot better than I was the first couple months of the year. Mm-hmm. And obviously. By the time you hear this, it will be tomorrow. That is our astrological new year. Yes. So happy new Year, happy, uh, post hibernation season. We hope you rested as much as you possibly could. Mm-hmm. Especially if you were a woman of color, especially, especially if you were a black woman. Yeah. And we're looking forward to sunshine and renewals. Absolutely. Yeah. Now if you do follow the lunar and astrological calendar, like now is when it's like, actually go time bitch. Yeah. Like you don't really wanna start anything big in January and February, especially if like there's some kind of retrograde going on, which for a while we were in several at the same time. It was a lot. It was a lot. I lost track. Right. But yeah, welcome to the new year. Hmm. Do you have any announcements? I do, and I wish I had a little drum roll sound effect. I wish I had a little soundboard. But, uh, this past weekend my brother and his girlfriend became not that, their fiances. So congrats to the cuties. Woo. They went to Palm Springs. I think it was for my brother's little birthday trip situation. We had seen him 30th. 30th? That's that. Not even little. It was the big three point. Oh yes. I say little because he likes to keep things small and intimate. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah. He's like, I'm gonna celebrate little, he didn't even want people to sing to him at the restaurant. He's one of those, but they did anyway, but they did anyway with a life pianist. So not only did they do to the entire restaurant. To the entire restaurant and uh, yeah, so we had seen him on Friday for his birthday dinner, and then I said, well, we're gonna just go hang out, blah, blah, blah. This bitch knew actually I had a premonition, but she had a premonition and forgot to share it with me when we were driving back home that she thought something was like. Yeah. Funny about him constantly mentioning the views. The views, the views, the views. The views. I didn't even pay any attention to it at all. It's like when I'm anywhere with my baby, it's just right. I've gotta make sure she's just not running into the kitchen and the restaurant, you know what I mean? Like she's that type of person. She's just gonna explore and she gets so much attention in public. Yes. Adoration. Yeah. I like the pianist. Like literally sang a song or, or Yeah. He sang and played over the rainbow. Yeah, he was calling her out by name. I'm like, this girl is just. It's like Leo Moon. Yeah. All over the place, girl. She's gonna attract the spotlight. Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, I digress. That is the fun news for this last weekend. Yeah. So congratulations to my little love birds. I love you guys so much. Congrats Adrian and Molly. Molly. We know you listen. So we love you. Love it. And I'm not even really in the family, but I'm like, welcome to the family. I'm like, wait, Crystina, this isn't your family. Oh, fucking lie. That's crazy. That's, I know, but you know what I mean. Biologically, no. Biologically blood. Blood sisters. No. But relationally. Absolutely. Yes. Yes. And I'm so excited.'cause I just love, I just love, love. Yeah. It's like, listen, I don't fuck with weddings, really? I'll go. She doesn't, but it's like I. That's a whole episode, but, but this wedding, yeah. I fuck with this wedding. I have a counter question. Yeah. Have you ever been to a wedding that you feel like at your standards was done? Well? Nah, and that's probably why you don't fuck with weddings. Yeah. I've been to a few, well, I have high standards, right. I've been to a few weddings where I walked away like, wow. Not only was that like well organized and done, but it was also like very heartfelt and like really represented the couple. Mm-hmm. That's when I like going to weddings. I don't like weddings when it's a fucking circus. Mm. And that's most of your experiences? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it's all over. It's like from the, from the planning or lack thereof to the last minute stuff, to the things that feel really confusing to the things that feel really insincere and dis and disgenuine. Is that a word I'm making up? Just not genuine at all. Especially when it comes to like the actual relationship. Like I'm interested in the marriage, like I'm interested in the connection, the romance. Yes. And if I feel like that's missing, I'm like, what are we all doing here? Right. You know, and unfortunately I've had more than one experience that has been like that. And that just, it just leaves me confused. Right. Well, a lot of people like get married for the wrong reasons. Absolutely. Or they get, get married like not in great timing, so they rush it. Yeah. Or you know, they are planning a wedding that's bigger than what their finances allow and so all the above. Right? Mm-hmm. So I understand that. Yeah. Piggybacking off of that, it's not so much as a announcement, as a request and an opening of the EA forums because we want to celebrate our birthday with you guys. Obviously, this is a group, it's a community. It's not just about us, and so in saying so, we wanna know what you would like to see or hear for our birthday episode, we. Thinking of maybe like approaching like a big guest. Is there somebody that you guys would love to hear from? Is there a topic that you would love for us to talk about? Sky's the limit. Just put all the ideas out there and then we'll do what we can. But we just want, we wanted to include you guys in the conversation. Mm-hmm. Uh,'cause we do have a couple little ideas, but I wanna hear about your ideas too, if you have them. So that is obviously coming up in May. May 15th is like the official day. But I think it, as far as the podcast release day is the falls on the 14th this year? I think so. So you have a few weeks, but sound off, do it in the Spotify comments, YouTube comments, Instagram, TikTok, literally wherever. We would love to hear from you. This goes down in the dims. In the dims. I. My mind. Okay, but without further ado, let's get into our chat with Miss Claudia Barfoot.

Empaths Anonymous: 18:11

Welcome back to Empaths Anonymous podcast. In this week's EA meeting, we are joined by the lovely Claudia Barfoot, an integrative mental health specialist with a doctor's degree in psychoanalytic clinical practice, and a master's in mental health and wellness. She is also an ancestral healing practitioner, integrating indigenous cosmologies and wisdom into her practice. Claudia strongly believes personal growth and healing is an active practice of self-discovery, openness to the paradoxes of life, curiosity, compassion, and care for all our relations, humans and otherwise. Welcome to the podcast, Claudia.

Claudia Barfoot: 18:49

Thank you. I'm very happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

Empaths Anonymous: 18:52

We are happy to have you. We're so excited to get into the world of dreams. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We we love that you have a background in education, but this marriage of. So many different modalities where you can kind of, uh, scientifically back up some of the indigenous practices that have been around for centuries. But before we get into it,'cause we have so many questions about dreams before we get into it, we do always ask every single one of our guests, what is in your cup? So what are you physically drinking on? And then what is in your cup of life? How are you showing up here today?

Claudia Barfoot: 19:30

In my cup, there's chai, uh, that's what I'm drinking. A little

Empaths Anonymous: 19:33

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 19:34

bit of spices, to warm the heart. what's in my cup. I think there's a mix of, of course, excitement to be here. It's always a joy to talk about something and, you know, that is fascinating to me. But I guess there's always this underlying, at the same time of kind of the grief for the world and what's going on these days. So I think I'm holding both in my cup. The excitement, the, the joy, the, there's always good things happening, but at the same time, there's, uh, worrying, you know, there's things that worry the heart and people around me, so, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 20:05

Yes, we talk about that a lot, especially here the last few weeks of the just duality of everything, how two things can be true at once and we can have joyful moments and joyful experiences while still acknowledging that not everyone is having those experiences and kind of making sure that we're attuned to everything that's happening around us as well. So we love that. Thanks so much. Yeah. So as we said before, we're talking all about dreams this episode. So let's dive into it. We wanna know, first of all, how did you get into Dreamwork? Is it something you were always interested in or did it kind of develop as you got older and into your expertise?

Claudia Barfoot: 20:44

I think it developed, but the more that I look back, I think it's also a part of culture, or at least my family culture. I, I think it's a whole, I mean, I'm, I'm Mexican originally. I. I think the culture of Day of the Dead, the idea that you can communicate right with your ancestors, it's a So I remember dreams like after somebody passed in my family, there was always this sense of. Waiting for any family member to tell you, I had a dream of this person. and, you know, always being open to listening. Okay, what's going on with them? Are they okay? Right. So that thing was always open and there, I think. then when I got interested in psychology and then in psychoanalysis, part of being in psychoanalysis, analyzing and studying your dreams. So it became my practice, my least three times a week practice of centering. My own personal exploration, exploration through my dream, so I think that became the center for a very, very long time. And then I kind of started being more interested in, in the ancestral ways of like, well, dreams have been around forever.

Empaths Anonymous: 21:48

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 21:49

know more about how dreams have been used.

Empaths Anonymous: 21:52

Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 21:52

understood. And, and it just became like a fascinating, to me, it's a fascinating world that we don't have usually control of. And I think that's very awesome also,

Empaths Anonymous: 22:02

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 22:03

at, at some point we just relinquish control and some, something creative happens. So yeah, I'm fascinated by them. It started as kind of like a family thing, then a professional thing, and now it's more, I think it goes beyond now. It's more about consciousness, it's more about spirituality, more about what is true and, and what's real, really.

Empaths Anonymous: 22:24

Right. Yeah. We talk about that connectedness a lot. And then a lot of the time, because we are under the same roof at this moment in time, we will both have very like interesting dreams on the same nights. Or we'll remember. And so we'll wake up in the morning and she'll say something like, oh my gosh, girl, my dreams last night. Or I had some crazy things going on, and I'll be like, me too. So, it does kind of speak to this other worldliness or like separate realms and so there's not really a way to go around it being part of different consciousness. So, it really leads into our next question, which is, do our dreams. Equate to subconscious truths. So how can we better interpret those dreams? Like when her and I are having those crazy dreams, kind of, they, not necessarily similar, but they're in the same kind of timeframe. How can we interpret them so that we can grow through what they're trying to teach us or tell us?

Claudia Barfoot: 23:26

Okay, so first I'm gonna explain something about dreams and

Empaths Anonymous: 23:29

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 23:30

I'm gonna give you a few tips on how to

Empaths Anonymous: 23:32

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 23:34

I can also, the more years I dedicated dreams, I think I, I kind of in my, in my own personal experience also, you end up on feeling, it's really a feeling. It kind of, that helps you understand that each dream it's different. Some of them are more related to your unconscious and your own things and, and how you are balancing the things you feel you're missing. Other dreams have a different quality and they feel almost like, just an experience. Like I just had an experience. It had nothing to do with my unconscious or my own. It was just a different experience. You experiencing something different. Mm-hmm. There's other dreams that sometimes it feels to me that they are almost like you enter a little tiny different world almost like if, if, if the dream were like a specific little tiny world that you were able to visit or a story.

Empaths Anonymous: 24:27

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 24:27

So I think that dreams have d different qualities. Sometimes I like to think of them as, you think about the solar system, like it's you, there's different types of dreams. Orbiting around, but each of them come from a different orbit and you relate to them or can relate to them in a different way. Mm-hmm. There's that I don't analyze or don't think about. I take them and like, oh, that's a really cool experience.

Empaths Anonymous: 24:50

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 24:51

There's other ones that I feel, okay, is telling me something, so I need to stop and kind of think about I, I would say the easiest way of doing it first, just stay with the emotion. The emotion is the only thing that comes through kind of untouched.

Empaths Anonymous: 25:07

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 25:07

basically that feeling. It's there, it's real, it's something that you, maybe it relates to whatever it's happening in your life, or it's the feeling that you're avoiding. And your dream just, you know, allowed you to feel it. stay with the emotion because you can get lost sometimes with the stories, they can be so weird at times an intricate, that it's hard sometimes to understand what was that about? So stay with the feeling. Another tip that I really like is try to find a title to the dream. Imagine the dream is a book, give it a title, because that's gonna kind of force you to distill the message that you actually want to. You know, like your other youth trying to, to show you. So stay basically with the, the emotion, give it a title and try to feel, say it's really an embodied experience. Like is there anything in your like daily life I. reminds you or the dream, is it reminding you anything, a relationship, a situation that you're afraid of? Is it a way of compensating? Again, like something sometimes the mind, the mind likes to compensate. Are you giving yourself something you don't feel you have in your reality? And one is take it as you trying to find balance and then as a reminder of, well, now maybe you need to take action to try to make that thing tangible in the here and now. So, but the emotion, I would say it's the thing and, and I imagine that both of you have experiences waking from a dream with a specific emotion, and the emotion stays the whole day with you.

Empaths Anonymous: 26:38

Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. That was gonna be like my next side question is. When that happens, like how do you honor that? Because there's sometimes where I'll have a dream and it's a great emotion. There's sometimes where I have a dream and the emotion that linger lingers for the rest of the day is kind of heavy. So how do we like sit with that and what is that? What are the emotions trying to tell us?

Claudia Barfoot: 27:01

I think that other like important element about dreams is that we practice skills in dreams. Like truly they are connected to survival sometimes.

Empaths Anonymous: 27:11

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 27:12

we're practicing like, I, am I prepared to life? Am I prepared to change it? Am I prepared I'm becoming? Mm-hmm. And I do try when I have a. Like a big dream that it's intense and I stay with the emotion. I stay with it. I don't reject it. I do feel dreams as an experience. Like I actually experienced that. There's a part of myself or my mind that does not understand that, that that wasn't real, right?

Empaths Anonymous: 27:40

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 27:40

it was real. So I stay with it. I allow it to be, I basically don't push away the emotion, like, ah, that's nonsense. I truly say like, well, I'm very sad. felt I was dying in that dream. Dying, I don't know, opens up these other emotions for me. So I

Empaths Anonymous: 27:56

Right. Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 27:57

I see like the contrast of, okay, now maybe I need to pay attention at least today and tomorrow to my life. So the fact that I'm alive and I'm enjoying it, I'm still okay. Even with the sadness of whatever that dream, you know, uh, gave to me that night.

Empaths Anonymous: 28:13

Right. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I kind of put my dreams into categories and it really just depends on like my mental state and sometimes even just what I'm consuming from like a show, movies, social media. Sometimes that will like influence my dream, but then I have other dreams where it's like, I'll go. I mean, since I was very young, like there's this certain world almost that I go to in my dreams, and it's the same like in my dreams. The places are familiar and I'll even go back, you know, several times, but it's not. This world, you know, it's not daily life. And then I have just other dreams where it's like very abstract, but the feelings are there or there's something that represents, like, I have a dream with like a moving truck or like a semi-truck. And that pops up every so often, you know? So I started making notes of them in a, in a journal just to see the different patterns. So that I can see like, well, maybe it's popping up in certain times of my life or when I'm going through certain things or even different seasons. Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 29:13

Yeah, definitely. And that's the beauty of having like a journal to dreams

Empaths Anonymous: 29:19

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 29:20

you can see the patterns of Oh yeah. Yeah. Every now and then I go through this process and it shows up in different ways in my dreams, but the emotion is same. The same or the symbol.

Empaths Anonymous: 29:29

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 29:30

for me it's, maybe it's not a truck, but it's a house. This, a specific house that I have dreamed about, like different moments in

Empaths Anonymous: 29:36

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 29:48

that example I gave you the house at other dreams, I have found rooms that I didn't know existed or a whole floor that I never explored. in a way it's announcing these other sites of yourself that you're accessing now. Right? Or creating. Or building more. And I think that that's the beauty of dreams. It truly show you how much we can. Change and grow, and one symbol can represent one thing at a specific moment in time and 15 years later, it's a whole different thing. Mm-hmm. If you dream with animals or you know, there's certain symbols that actually change through time.

Empaths Anonymous: 30:23

Yeah. Yeah. For me it's always been a, a mixture of places and people. So for a lot, a lot of my dreams I will remember the place, and the is often familiar, but for me personally, it's always, almost always drawn from real life. So it's a place I used to live. And it, the dreams kind of rotate which people are in those places, which has always been very interesting to me. And it's other people that are still in my life now, or a person that's there that will feel familiar that they're supposed to be somebody, but they don't look like that person. So I always thought that that was really interesting. It for me. I focused a lot on. When I wake up, I remember like the place, yes, but it's like the people like, oh, so and so was there, or this person was there and that person was there. And my mom has always been very similar, but she just struggles to, I think, remember a lot of her dreams. Although here recently, she's been remembering a lot more, whereas before she couldn't really remember anything. And so for us it's been the same like the. The people or like the versions or representations of certain individuals show up. So I guess that would lead into your next question, but I do often wonder like people in places and things like animals, are they all the, are they all symbols,

Claudia Barfoot: 31:45

Uh, I guess it's hard to say, but I think

Empaths Anonymous: 31:48

right?

Claudia Barfoot: 31:48

with dreams, it's worth the doing the, the exercise of exploring all the

Empaths Anonymous: 31:54

Okay.

Claudia Barfoot: 31:55

uh, if I, I'm gonna work with one dream, I think, okay. I'm gonna try to, of course, stay with the feeling and all of that. But then what if I, I am all of it. What am I telling myself through all the characters in my dream, even if it's family members and people that I know, what am I saying to myself, uh, who has more power here? Who's the helper? Mm-hmm. In a way, it helps you understand different parts of yourself and the dynamics, because the idea we have different sides to

Empaths Anonymous: 32:25

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 32:25

That's a dynamic, like we have a. I'm like a theater inside of our minds and they do have relationships to one another. Mm-hmm. You know, so maybe the first step that I usually do. Like, I wanna think about it as all of it is me,

Empaths Anonymous: 32:40

Right? Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 32:41

I can find.

Empaths Anonymous: 32:42

Hmm. I like that.

Claudia Barfoot: 32:44

when it feels so, so not me. it feels very like, this is, this is other, this is something that, maybe it's not mine. But when something feels like an other that is not mine. It could be my shadow. It could be a part of me that I just don't want to face. I don't want it to belong, but it's mine. So then I explore the idea of is there something I'm rejecting about this, uh, character in my dream and why? Maybe it feels scary, but why is it scary, really? Right. And

Empaths Anonymous: 33:16

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 33:16

what I teach when I work with people and, and they wanna change kind of the, their nightmare. The idea of a nightmare. You need to face the fear. That's the thing.

Empaths Anonymous: 33:25

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 33:26

And sometimes, sometimes people I work with, they do remember me in dreams, but in the moment, like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Claudia told me to just look back and face the thing.

Empaths Anonymous: 33:35

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 33:35

they do, the dynamic of the dream changes and sometimes they, they see that this part that is chasing them, the part that they truly fear and that feels so other that it's actually a part of the wants to come back.

Empaths Anonymous: 33:48

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 33:48

been so abandoned, so neglected for so long that it appears in a very angry way. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 33:56

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 33:56

kind of the way that I do it. And at times I would say that animals, usually I see animals as a symbol. Those are specific dreams that I think that's a different view. That's a different, that's not a human perspective. So I need

Empaths Anonymous: 34:10

Mm.

Claudia Barfoot: 34:10

about it's a cat, need to see what is this cat telling me? How do I feel sitting in front of this cat? Almost like, but instead of like going to dictionaries and trying to find the symbol and the meanings

Empaths Anonymous: 34:25

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 34:26

of how civilization have, you know, thought about cat with the one that you dreamt of.

Empaths Anonymous: 34:31

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 34:32

That's a specific cat that appear in a specific way to tell you something specific. Mm-hmm. It's symbol. you kind of, explore that relationship, then you can go and read everything about that animal and see if anything else fits. say certain

Empaths Anonymous: 34:50

Right. Okay.

Claudia Barfoot: 34:50

symbols. I think houses are symbols in a

Empaths Anonymous: 34:53

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 34:54

and they can represent. They can represent, of course, your living situation. Do you feel, is it a beautiful house or not? Do you feel, is it safe? Is it crumbling down? Is it dark? You know, is there light in there? houses can represent your body. are you taking care of your body? So there's certain, yeah, like themes or symbols and dreams that can, you know, connect to yourself and your outside your exterior world also. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 35:22

Okay. That's, yeah. That's interesting. I'm gonna start looking at it that way because I think a lot of times when a certain person pops up into a dream mm-hmm. I often think like, oh, like, is something gonna happen with that person? Are they thinking of me? A lot of times, like if Will's dream about the same person, we're like, Ooh, what does that mean? Like, is this like a weird omen? So instead of kind of putting a expectation on that person,

Claudia Barfoot: 35:47

Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 35:48

we should. Take that call to go more inward and think about, well, what is this trying to teach me as a shadow part or as a characteristic of this person that I need to like face and integrate?

Claudia Barfoot: 35:59

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 36:01

Okay, that's interesting.

Claudia Barfoot: 36:03

when I dream about people, certain people, that I also take the responsibility like, okay, maybe it's just me. I'm just using them to tell myself something. And at the same time, I am thinking of them. I'm dreaming of them, so I, maybe I need to give them a call

Empaths Anonymous: 36:18

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 36:20

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I also feel we do have those connections.

Empaths Anonymous: 36:24

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 36:24

I have a connection with my best friend. It has happened, not, not a, maybe just a few times in life when she actually can feel when I'm not doing well and she has a dream about me and she was like, I had a dream. You weren't doing well. What's going on?

Empaths Anonymous: 36:39

yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 36:39

I do think that at times, maybe. Yeah, I open the door. Maybe we're calling each other at times when we need the other person to show up. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 36:48

Yeah. Yeah, that's really interesting. Okay, so we can kind of take these different themes or symbols to help us interpret the dream. My next question was once we identify those different symbols or maybe that lesson, theme pattern then what's the next step after that? How can we kind of use these things to help us in our daily lives?

Claudia Barfoot: 37:13

It is important to take action once you of understand, right. Okay. And by the way, the message of a dream, usually it needs to. Give you an aha moment. If you truly do like a dream work, it's not like, ah, yeah, yeah. Me and my, the same thing. I know, I know. It

Empaths Anonymous: 37:32

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 37:32

give you a new perspective, so eventually it, it fits the same. You haven't found the message

Empaths Anonymous: 37:38

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 37:39

it needs to give you. Ah, I can think about that before. Mm-hmm. kind of the key of it. With that said, like, don't overanalyze dreams. I

Empaths Anonymous: 37:49

Right,

Claudia Barfoot: 37:50

them almost like a living thing. And if you overanalyze the whole story, you leave no space for bi mystery, no space for the, who knows. You

Empaths Anonymous: 37:58

right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The surprise.

Claudia Barfoot: 38:00

They're awesome because they are weird. I kind of feel part of the essence of dreams and, actions. It's about What am I going to do with the information? It needs to be. It needs to be the action that you need to take. It needs to help you have a better relationship with yourself and have a better relationship with others.

Empaths Anonymous: 38:21

Another concept that I really wanted to dive into about your work that I thought was really interesting was how you incorporate depth psychology. Can you let our listeners know what that is?

Claudia Barfoot: 38:31

Well, that's, that's psychology. it's based in psychoanalysis not only called young.

Empaths Anonymous: 38:36

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 38:37

part of it. And like, you know, there's other. People that have worked with the unconscious, but basically it opens the space not only to your per personal unconscious, but the collective unconscious. of we as groups of people have dreams are to tell us something as a group. Interestingly enough, that's the way indigenous communities, you know, communities work with dreams

Empaths Anonymous: 39:03

Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 39:03

them. Dreams are a community thing. It's not

Empaths Anonymous: 39:06

Mm. Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 39:08

Growth and self-discover, it's no, we're gonna wake up, we're gonna share our dreams because there's message for the community. We all

Empaths Anonymous: 39:16

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 39:16

from it. We all need to, give each other the information we have. Mm-hmm. And there's been a few kind of stories of how other people have gathered dreams, uh, about specific moments in time or communities and people do have dreams that are more related to the collective.

Empaths Anonymous: 39:34

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 39:35

The other day I mean, I don't know if this is going to be interesting, but I kind of feel that my son had a more, like a collective dream. Sometimes they, also share their dreams, but it was the day of the election,

Empaths Anonymous: 39:47

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 39:48

woke up to say that he and his dream, he just saw the American flag, half buried in snow

Empaths Anonymous: 39:56

Oh wow.

Claudia Barfoot: 39:57

he, he tried to go to school and all schools were empty. Almost like abandoned,

Empaths Anonymous: 40:02

Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 40:03

just felt probably there's something personal specific to, to my son. But at the same time, for me it felt more like who is this more collective? Is this more ambience of, of the changes

Empaths Anonymous: 40:15

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 40:16

right now? Mm-hmm. So I

Empaths Anonymous: 40:18

And have,

Claudia Barfoot: 40:19

psychology, that psychology is more about like something in the air that we all. Or the, you know, kind of the, the unconscious, the collective that we're all tapping into, that

Empaths Anonymous: 40:30

mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 40:31

to, and we sometimes have dreams that are for all of us.

Empaths Anonymous: 40:35

Right, right. And now we're in this age of social media where anyone can get online and share those things with larger audience. And so I, I mean, right now my TikTok algorithm and Instagram algorithm is not people sharing their dreams, but I would love to train it to be that, to do that, to see if people are, uh, are. Sharing their dreams that are more for a collective purpose, like how you're saying, and that we can, now that we have all this information, when I'm going into my dreams moving forward, I can kind of, I don't wanna say like create, but in a way I have all this new knowledge that's kind of in my subconscious. And that's, that's where I'm going when I'm dreaming, then I can tap into like bigger ideas or different ideas that are maybe not just about my inner work or my self work. And that's gonna be more so for like a community that honestly both her and I are trying to create here with the podcast. So cool. Taking notes. Yeah, definitely. Okay, cool. So depth psychology can also apply to your dreams, to dreams on a collective level. For So it also ties into your work with Dreamwork,

Claudia Barfoot: 41:48

Yeah. And it's also transpersonal, it's not only collective unconscious, but

Empaths Anonymous: 41:53

right?

Claudia Barfoot: 41:54

there's bigger forces,

Empaths Anonymous: 41:55

Right,

Claudia Barfoot: 41:57

that can visit you. Like the, the

Empaths Anonymous: 41:59

yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 42:01

There are leading things or leading that really can visit you and give you a story. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 42:07

Oh, great. Awesome. Okay.

Claudia Barfoot: 42:09

them. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 42:10

Perfect. Okay, cool. Well that's really interesting. I'd love to like explore that on my own.'cause since I was a young child, I would have dreams like that. Like I would have dreams that, you know, kind of almost like psychic or prophetic dreams. I would dream that something would happen and it would, or I would dream that somebody would die in a specific way. And they did. And I just, I was always told that that was not good. I was raised like in a Christian home, and so that was kind of hush hush. And so I was told that like, oh, well that's like evil or an evil spirit, or like, that's, you shouldn't, you shouldn't be sharing that.'cause I think that they just didn't know what to do with coming from such a young child saying like, oh, I had a dream that this person's gonna die. And then a few months later they do. I. Wish that I could have been able to harness that more for collective good. Instead of, you know, kind of pushing it down. Because for a while I kind of, abandoned, you know, that ability because of the shame that I felt or I was scared. And now it's kind of coming back to me a little bit more as an adult here or there, kind of when I allow it and have the space to. But yeah, I. love to be able to explore that more on level and a collective level.

Claudia Barfoot: 43:27

I truly love what you said about it has to do with capacity.

Empaths Anonymous: 43:32

Hmm

Claudia Barfoot: 43:33

I think it's first of all, it's not that it's not normal, it's human. I think it happens. We

Empaths Anonymous: 43:37

mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 43:38

preco, you know, precognition that we. Confess we do, I guess. And, and I understand we all have different capacities, uh, but, but it also matters of like, do I have enough space for this right now in my life or not?

Empaths Anonymous: 43:52

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 43:52

use it or not? How much do I wanna, you know, deepen my knowledge or right now it's not the best time. Right. I think, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you know, you, you have the freedom to choose always how much you wanna use it or not.

Empaths Anonymous: 44:07

Yeah. Yes, that's very true. So now that you're kind of, you've opened the door back up to it and you're welcoming it back in, it's just a kinda like a slow process because you have to acknowledge that maybe mentally right, you're not capable of maybe some of the downloads that you might be Right. Getting Yeah, exactly. And when I was working with a Reiki healer for a while, I was really able to tap back into my dreams'cause I felt like I had a safe container to explore them. And so I was having dreams really frequently at that time. Right now, I just feel like I have so much on my mental that they don't come through as often or they, a lot of times I'm having certain types of dreams. Or significant dreams, I should say, like around the moon cycles. So a new moon, a full moon. I'll have dreams more often, but on my day to day, not as much.

Claudia Barfoot: 45:00

Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 45:02

Okay.

Claudia Barfoot: 45:02

Our relationship to our dreams can change throughout time, and I

Empaths Anonymous: 45:05

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 45:06

okay, right? Like don't, let's not obsess with the journal and the understanding. Sometimes we have time, sometimes we don't,

Empaths Anonymous: 45:13

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 45:14

and if there's a message that's important, it's gonna come back.

Empaths Anonymous: 45:18

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 45:18

You're gonna

Empaths Anonymous: 45:19

So true.

Claudia Barfoot: 45:20

in a different way, but it's gonna come through like,

Empaths Anonymous: 45:23

Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 45:23

don't sweat it.

Empaths Anonymous: 45:25

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 45:25

you let some it's fine. They'll come back in

Empaths Anonymous: 45:29

Right. Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 45:30

way.

Empaths Anonymous: 45:30

I love that idea. We don't need to put pressure on, on to just like try to, you know, inspect your gadget or like, I know it gives what's that movie with Nicholas Cage? The Treasure Hunt? Yeah. Yeah. Like just trying to like ev every little detail. I really like that we take the pressure off of those things and it, if it is something significant, there's been, several times where I've like jotted something down in my notes app on my phone. Mm-hmm. Or like, I will write it down if it's, if I have it available to me. But since usually, if I'm being honest with myself and everyone here, the first thing I pick up in the morning is my phone to check to see if I've overslept mostly. And, you know, I, I will remember something, it'll be really, really prevalent or my, I will wake up from a dream because of something that's happened in it. Whether it be anxiety inducing, a nightmare that we have to face or something really significant. Like I remember cl like close after my paternal grandfather died he was in a dream of mine and. It was very clear. It was very vivid. It felt extremely lucid. And so I, six o'clock in the morning, I like immediately jotted that down because I hadn't ever really had him visit me in my dreams before, but it being so significant to like just close after his passing, I was like, okay. Message received. You're good. Everyone's good. Great. Thank you. Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 46:53

good. Thank

Empaths Anonymous: 46:53

Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 46:54

Yeah.

Empaths Anonymous: 46:55

exactly. And I think it had a lot to do with, I had just given birth to my daughter. So she was only a few weeks old when he passed, and of course it was 2021 January. So like very heavy Covid times. And so they never got to meet, but I feel like they met, I feel like she met a lot of people and. Her realm before she got to this earth. So I, yeah, I think she met him, I think she met her paternal grandfather who passed away when I was pregnant with her. And so just a lot of like things that will happen in, in the form of dreams that I think when there's significant and you have the capability, write those down, but if not, it'll come back. And I love that idea. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like you said, it's a practice,

Claudia Barfoot: 47:40

That's a practice. Those are visitation dreams. Yes.

Empaths Anonymous: 47:43

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 47:44

Yeah.

Empaths Anonymous: 47:44

Yeah. And of course,

Claudia Barfoot: 47:46

by people. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 47:47

yeah. And then of course the community aspect of it. I shared that, you know, with my family.

Claudia Barfoot: 47:53

Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 47:53

Coming back to your, coming back to the indigenous roots, coming back to the community where it's like, okay, well he visited me. I don't know if he's visiting any of y'all, but I'll like, you know, this is what said, this is what said. This is what it is. Like he's chilling. He's great. No more pain. We're all good. So I guess along the same vein, when we talk about visitation dreams and people visiting us, who we miss and are grieving a loss, that kind of coincides with this healing. So when we first reached out, we had this common idea, or this common theme that we wanted to speak on, the idea of, of healing versus actual holistic healing. Because healing journey, and I'm healing it's hot button, right? It's, we're hearing it a lot, but what does it mean? We don't wanna take the weight from it. So. How does that look in our daily lives? What does true healing look like?

Claudia Barfoot: 48:51

Ah.

Empaths Anonymous: 48:52

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 48:53

topic. I

Empaths Anonymous: 48:54

Yeah. Big question.

Claudia Barfoot: 48:56

I would say, I think the idea of healing, of course, it's linked to the idea of life. How are we going to face life? Think that sometimes we're not facing life fully with all our capacity because some of like parts of ourselves, our own energy, it's still stuck like in trauma and other things are happening and in whatever's going on with the world and our community, takes away a bit. Mm-hmm. And I would say healing, it's a process of, of course, kind of healing is there's trauma. needs to be healed. But I, I, I guess what I'm against is this idea of. Going back to idea of hunting, you don't need to hunt for perfection. You don't need to hunt for ultimate healing. Everything is fine. I think it needs to be a mixture of I need to go and revisit my life. Heal what needs to be healed, forgive what needs to be forgiven, and at the same time. need to see my friends in the here and now. I need to see the people that I love. I need to give myself experiences that are fun and happy. It's this mixture between working with self and living life and

Empaths Anonymous: 50:06

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 50:07

yourself to, the, know, wonderful things that are also around. Mm-hmm. I think that holistic healing is this idea of only kind of healing your body and you know your soul, but we also. All of us have different ideas of what a healthy body is, and we wanna eat what we want to eat. You know, like

Empaths Anonymous: 50:29

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 50:29

as, and we don't need to be perfect, I don't think. It's about the joy of, can you enjoy your life the way it is?

Empaths Anonymous: 50:36

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 50:37

be honest with yourself? you love yourself even in imperfection and your mistakes? would say healing is kind of that more compassionate way of relating to yourself and to everything. At the same time, creating enough capacity to everything is good and bad.

Empaths Anonymous: 50:57

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 50:58

I am good and bad. Everything is, and life is complicated and beautiful and terrifying and all of it kind. The, accepting the truth of this is a very wild ride,

Empaths Anonymous: 51:09

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 51:10

can we be willing and ready to just go with it and, and see how we survive it. Mm-hmm. And thrive in it at the same time. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 51:18

Right. Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 51:19

to meet that, when I work, at least with clients that are in psychotherapy, kind of my goal, personal goal is yeah, be here and then go, go, go, go, leave. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 51:30

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 51:31

Don't stay here forever. Come back if you need to, but go leave. Trust your capacity. You have them. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 51:39

Right. I think that it's so. Great to see that as a collective. There is this focus now on mental health and healing, but I think that it has become so big and all encompassing that it. Tends to force us to stay, stay there and stick in this mindset of, oh, well, my childhood trauma and I need to heal this, and my past relationships and this and that. And it's like, yes, those things are very valid, but when we stay in that place, we don't have the room. I mean, from what I've experienced, I didn't have the room. To go out and enjoy life.'cause I was just always in this mindset of, I need to be better. I need to be better. I need to heal this, I need to confront this, I need to do this. And it's just felt like work. And it just felt so draining after a while because I felt like I was having to remold myself and become this machine to check it off list so that I can come to the table, my version of perfect. But it's like I'm never going to. I'm missing out on life experiences because I'm so focused on how I'm showing up or being this idea of myself that just isn't relatable.

Claudia Barfoot: 52:51

Yeah. Yeah. I love that you use the word machine, right? I do see certain people becoming this healing machine and the journey of healing takes 20 years of your life and. Yeah, dedicate some time for therapy or community or whatever.

Empaths Anonymous: 53:06

Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 53:07

also think that healing comes in so many

Empaths Anonymous: 53:09

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 53:10

For some it's therapy. For some it's just friendship and love. It's a pet, like there's so many ways in which we repair. The wounds we have.

Empaths Anonymous: 53:20

Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 53:21

but the obsessive, I'm gonna heal this and heal this other thing. Yeah. I kind of feel sometimes that the more we did, we we're gonna find something always. Yes. Like work inside your internal work. There's always more, but I think at some point you need to be wise enough to say, okay, this is enough for now. I

Empaths Anonymous: 53:39

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 53:40

you know, go out, leave more, relate more. Life will show you when you're, you need to go back to this, you know, like therapy healing or stuff like life is gonna tell you, or your friends or

Empaths Anonymous: 53:49

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 53:50

somebody's gonna tell you. So don't worry. You'll know when

Empaths Anonymous: 53:53

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 53:54

in that way. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 53:56

Yeah. It goes back to the idea of trusting your gut, trusting your intuition, knowing enough, knowing when you're ready to dive in a little deeper. I think her and I are kind of just getting used to that idea. I. Because coming up now almost a, a year that we're gonna be having this podcast, there were so many conversations that happened outside of this room that were really focused on that and like, well, how can we heal and how can we be better and how can we do this? It did feel very robotic. And it didn't feel very fluid. And I think the more that we've talked to so many experts, the more that we've had conversations on this podcast about how it's. Not linear. And everyone, first of all, it's gonna be very personal to you. And everyone's gonna make different choices. And those different choices are gonna fulfill certain parts of what it means to heal for that person. So I really like witnessing, I. Now when that's happening for whether she's going out with, with coworkers or like going out on dates or I'm doing something with my daughter or we're all doing something together. Like we just went to a couple of thrift stores the other day and I'm like, Ugh, it's so simple. But

Claudia Barfoot: 55:09

is simple.

Empaths Anonymous: 55:10

that time, I'm like, I love this. I love going out. I love taking a little drive. It was just the girls. So that always makes it more fun, you know, when you have that collective feminine energy. And all of us. You know, pouring into my daughter, which is very constant. And so I really like being present and I kind of feel like I'm watching it happen in real time. And so me feel like I can deep breath it out. Like I don't have to be like writing every single second and like, okay, and this is what happened and this is how I did different and this and this and this.'cause I can very much step right into that.

Claudia Barfoot: 55:47

Mm mm-hmm. In the overdoing.

Empaths Anonymous: 55:49

Yes. Right. Definitely the over doer.

Claudia Barfoot: 55:52

Yeah. Yeah. It just kind of connecting that to the dream thing, like one of my teachers, my ma. She used to say, and, and with the idea that this life, it's also kind of dreamlike, this is also

Empaths Anonymous: 56:06

Hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 56:06

we're dreaming. like if this is a dream, why choose the nightmare

Empaths Anonymous: 56:11

Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 56:12

we are also responsible of every single day creating the best experience we can for ourselves. So choosing like, I'm just gonna go to the restaurant. I'm, I'm gonna order my favorite thing. And, and maybe that's enough and maybe that's healing and, you know, and for the day. That was a good day. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 56:30

right? Yes. Yeah. I kind of tend to look at it now as like there's different levels to it, and I'm gonna arrive at a certain level at different times of my life, so. Whatever's present in my life at this moment that I need to like conquer or take a second look at. Once I get through that, I beat the level and now let me go out and enjoy, you know, this new place internally that I'm at. So that I can the world at that level. And then, you know, maybe in my late thirties, my late forties, there's gonna be another level to be like a video game. Mm-hmm. And it's like you're saying like life can be a dream. Life can be a video game where it's like we're able to create these experiences in the life that we want. And that doesn't mean that there's not gonna be hardships sometimes'cause there is. But allowing ourselves the space and the fun and the freedom for that creation because. The work's always gonna be there. It's always gonna come. Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 57:26

Mm-hmm. It never ends.

Empaths Anonymous: 57:28

Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's one thing that we really wanna inspire our community with is just showing up imperfectly and being authentic. So it's like we don't have it all together every single moment the day, and it's never like an expectation from others. So why do I have to ex expect myself to do that?

Claudia Barfoot: 57:50

Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 57:53

Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 57:53

treating yourself the way you treat your best friends.

Empaths Anonymous: 57:56

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 57:57

Yeah. I'm not gonna, I'm not judging everything that you do. I, I support them. I do the

Empaths Anonymous: 58:03

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 58:04

Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 58:06

So true. Yes. That is definitely something that she holds me to all of the time, and I'm like, Ooh, okay. It was just two days ago where she was telling me a story and she said something about herself. I was like, I know you're not talking about my friend like that.

Claudia Barfoot: 58:21

Aw.

Empaths Anonymous: 58:22

Right. Because I was like, hold on. Yeah. But it's good. I think we, I think we both need it, and I think that we need it at, at different times.

Claudia Barfoot: 58:32

Yeah.

Empaths Anonymous: 58:33

Mm-hmm. Right. And that in itself is healing.

Claudia Barfoot: 58:36

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 58:37

I liked that you had that perspective on it.'cause that's something that we talk about a lot, we think is really important to highlight. So I really enjoy your perspective on that because it's the truth. It's like, why spend all this time healing to then just not. Be able to enjoy my life. Isn't that point? Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 58:56

Yeah.

Empaths Anonymous: 58:57

for sure. Well great. We had such a great time with you. We do wanna give you some room to talk about your retreat coming up. So can you let our audience know more about the retreat? Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 59:08

Yes. Well, once one, yeah. I'm, I'm hosting a retreat during April in Mexico. Yucatan, in the jungle, and kind of, to me it's kind of a love letter of I'm holding space in a way that I. I, I, I have been loved by other people, right? A

Empaths Anonymous: 59:29

Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 59:29

only, uh, just get out of your routine. I think there's something about stepping outside of your life that gives you the space and the pause. Be like, okay, what am I actually doing here, here in this life with myself and with my life? And I kind of, that's what I'm doing is opening space for that. Now in my journey through dreams and stuff, that has taken me into of also exploring and, and working with different states of consciousness. worked with indigenous communities that work with planned medicine, but this, there's going to be a be a ceremony hosted by a matech women,

Empaths Anonymous: 1:00:06

Hmm

Claudia Barfoot: 1:00:06

holds the tradition beautifully. I've been with her, like she's just pure love, like just being around her can heal you,

Empaths Anonymous: 1:00:13

mm

Claudia Barfoot: 1:00:13

in the ways of receiving.

Empaths Anonymous: 1:00:15

right.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:00:16

loving presence that you can find. Uh, at least in my life, it felt like that. So that's what I'm doing. It's just like a five day retreat. She's gonna do a ceremony. There's going to be a lot of sound healing too. And of course, like connecting with other women, connecting with, with self. Wanna facilitate some of the how to kind of map the web of your life and, and how you're using. Your resources towards yourself and your own loving more than growth, I would say it's just more about your own loving.

Empaths Anonymous: 1:00:46

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:00:47

so yeah, that retreat is gonna happen April 23rd, 27th. If anybody wants to get more information, you can just go to my web page and you'll find it there.

Empaths Anonymous: 1:00:57

Yeah,

Claudia Barfoot: 1:00:57

page, it's, uh, the land of possible com. Guess I.

Empaths Anonymous: 1:01:03

yeah, yeah. We'll definitely link everything in our show notes. When I was checking it out, I was like, wow, this looks so amazing. Rooted in indigenous practices and cultures, uh, I think is really important to highlight, especially for that area. Just'cause we've seen a lot of Western businesses and things come in and kind of make a destination that should have been more of like a traditional ancestral spiritual experience into a commercialized commercial. Thank you for Into a opportunity.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:01:36

Yeah. Yeah.

Empaths Anonymous: 1:01:38

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:01:38

me. Yeah, for me, kind of the, the thing was creating the bridge of can I do the thing? I could, but it's more about why don't, let's experience it from the, you know, the people that have carried these medicines for generations and they know how to relate to it, and

Empaths Anonymous: 1:01:54

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:01:54

have

Empaths Anonymous: 1:01:54

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:01:55

be honest, like, yeah, let's, like, that's the, the integrity of how they do it. I think it's not comparable to what we're doing over here. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 1:02:04

Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Yeah. I'm so curious. You're now, I think our second or third guest who is, are you from the Colorado area or have you just lived there for a while?

Claudia Barfoot: 1:02:16

and raised in Mexico City, but I

Empaths Anonymous: 1:02:17

Okay.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:02:18

I moved to the US like, I don't know, 13 years ago, but now

Empaths Anonymous: 1:02:22

Okay.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:02:23

uh, in Colorado? Yeah,

Empaths Anonymous: 1:02:24

Okay. Yeah. So I am noticing more uh, of a Hispanic community moving out there. Or just Latina in general. So I'm really curious. I think I saw on your website, are you trying to put together something in Denver as well?

Claudia Barfoot: 1:02:40

Yes,

Empaths Anonymous: 1:02:41

Okay.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:02:41

yes. I'll do something here in Colorado too.

Empaths Anonymous: 1:02:44

Oh, okay. so there's, there's different options. So you can go to Mexico, you can have the full experience, right? You can go have the retreat if you want something more on like a small scale to first start out which is something I would love to do. So if. I know eventually I want to be the person to go to that place and take those five days. But if it's not something that you've practiced before, especially because it is plant medicine and you're integrating all these different things starting small, going to Denver first be something I would love that. So, yeah, I'm really curious if that Denver keeps coming up in our, it does in our lives. So.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:03:20

maybe you guys need to come,

Empaths Anonymous: 1:03:22

think we do. Yeah. Another theme. Awesome. We would love that. Yeah. My aunt and my grandma, maybe they both rest in peace. They lived in Boulder for a long and I remember as a little girl getting like postcards and stuff. From them. Yeah. And my aunt was just like such this brilliant, intelligent woman. And she was doing research out there on animals. They both had parrots, cupcake, and Lorenzo. Oh. I know they were just so, like, I wish I had more conversations with them about their time there. So. I'm, I'm, I'm gonna put it on my, my vision board. Yeah. It'll be on our wishlist. Yeah, for sure. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Claudia. Can you let our audience know where to find you on social media?

Claudia Barfoot: 1:04:09

Yeah, social media basically the only one that I use right now is Instagram, and it's the same name as my website. It's the land as possible, but I think if you also, uh, type my name Claudia Barfoot, you'll find

Empaths Anonymous: 1:04:21

Right?

Claudia Barfoot: 1:04:21

Yeah.

Empaths Anonymous: 1:04:22

Awesome. Sounds great. And then for people who are interested in working with you do they have to be in the state of Colorado or do you work with people nationwide?

Claudia Barfoot: 1:04:30

It depends on how they wanna work with

Empaths Anonymous: 1:04:32

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:04:33

two different web websites, but, and the possible that it's more my holistic healing

Empaths Anonymous: 1:04:36

Right.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:04:37

claudiabarfoot.com, that is more my psycho psychotherapy

Empaths Anonymous: 1:04:40

Okay.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:04:41

or the dream work. I would say it's in the middle between the two. Uh, because it could be very much, you know, psychological or. Touching the spiritual world.

Empaths Anonymous: 1:04:50

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:04:52

the kind of in the middle. So for psychotherapy, yes, you need to be in Colorado, but

Empaths Anonymous: 1:04:56

Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:04:57

other type of work, you could be anywhere else in the world. Mm-hmm.

Empaths Anonymous: 1:05:00

All right. Awesome. Perfect. That's great. Yeah. Thank you so much for your time, and I can't wait to put all of these things that we learned about dreams into practice. Mm-hmm.

Claudia Barfoot: 1:05:09

Yeah, let's do it.

ea_2_02-17-2025_141117: 1:05:11

How did you feel about our dreamy conversation with Claudia? It was a dreamy conversation, wasn't it? Mm-hmm. I love so much the energy that all of our guests bring, whether it's really high energy and really fun, or if it's just very chilled, relaxed vibrations, which is what I. Received from Claudia and what I respected so much about the conversation. Yeah. I love a calm energy because I feel like for me personally, I'm always on. Mm-hmm. I think that's just like a thousand. Yeah. I think that's just like mental health stuff that's undiagnosed A DHD and diagnosed anxiety disorder. But I appreciated it and I liked that we were able to talk about so many different things. Mm-hmm. I felt transported, yes. To a different place. Speaking of the gates of consciousness, I wish we could have dove into that a little bit more, but I know it was a episode that we wanted to focus mostly on dreams. Mm. But I will be visiting her website, which will be linked in the show notes. Land of possible like dream consciousness or just like everyday consciousness. Just like gates of conscious, there's nine gates of consciousness. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So kind of delving into that a little bit more, being in kind of like my own, journey of academia, if you will, especially in the field of psychology. I love talking to these people. I feel like I can gain so much on a personal level as well as on the podcast level and being able to just share these ideas with our listeners. But I selfishly take so much from these conversations with these people especially when we are talking about something that's been of interest to us for a long time. I mean, having a dream expert on, I think was one of the first things we talked about. Oh, yeah. Right. When we were kind of in our planning stages. Yeah. It's been, it was one of the first things that I wanted yeah. One of the first concepts I wanted to talk about. It's been on our list for a minute. Mm-hmm. Which is really cool to see, like in 2025, we've had a lot of. Things checked off the list as far as topics and dream guests and things like that. So it's good to see That's very true. And a very early 2025, so. Right. That'll be good. When you all are listening to this, we are very much, spring has sprung. Yeah, I think having her on was perfect. Like I, I mentioned in the episode certain places and certain themes keep surfacing mm-hmm. Coming to the surface. So I think it was first Pam, who I think spends some time in Denver, Pam. Mm-hmm. And then Denise also lives in Denver. She posted that it was snowing a couple weeks ago. Yeah. Then now Claudia, and so I'm like, Hmm, all the Latinas are from the Colorados and the Colorados. Yeah. So it's something to explore for sure. But do you have any specific takeaways? What was your favorite part? Yeah. I really loved this concept of not assigning meaning when a person or thing pops into your dream. I, like I've said, I've always had this. Uh, weird dream ability. I don't know if it's necessarily like psychic or if I just am very open in my dreams. So like people come to me a lot in dreams. I get a lot of messages and dreams, warnings and I always think it's something having to do with this person. So, like, for example an ex person that I dated, right? I'll have dreams about him and then he'll text me. Things like that. It's like, is it a warning or is it like a, oh, watch out'cause this person, or is it like, am I assigning too much meaning to him being in my dream? Do I, do I need to start looking more inward about my dreams and thinking, what about this person as part of my shadow? Yeah, that was a big part of a, was like, oh, speaking of gates of consciousness, like that opened up a whole different. Perspective. Yeah. That I think that I've never even really taken before. It's always just taking it kind of like face value, right? Right. Like, or it's this person visiting me, it must be this person having a message for me, or I need to pay right closer attention to this person instead of it being, being this person must be thinking about me or something like that. Yeah. Yes. Instead of it being more of. A message about myself. What, why is this person visiting me? What happened in the dream? What did the person say or do? Was it nothing? You know, what was the interaction to where now I have to think to myself, what is that saying about me rather than this person just coming to see me. Yeah. So that was kind of a, a shift, which I appreciated for sure. Yeah. A lot. And yeah, I think just all of it. I find a psychology so. Fascinating. Mm-hmm. I mean, the brain does crazy stuff. Mm-hmm. And so this idea of like the parts of your brain and, certain parts of your brain being responsible for different functions and things like that. Yes. We have a lot of information on that, but I think that the more we have these conversations with experts like Claudia, who have tapped into both sides and are honoring the indigenous parts. Mm-hmm. What has been practiced for centuries from different people and different groups around the world? I think that we're gonna have just so much more information in academic journals that are. Clinically based in science. Yeah, in in truth. And so I love that. That's gonna be honored in academia because I just don't think that I, not that I don't think, it's not, we don't have a lot of those things. I can't go on to. a psychological journal and find as many articles on indigenous practices than I could with like, you know, cognitive therapy or, you know, how the brain functions when this is happening, or, uh, traumatic injuries to the brain, things like that. Yeah, so I, I love that that's becoming more of a thing. And I appreciate Claudia for dedicating so much of her life to this practice and. That's really it. That's all I have to say. Right? Yeah. We hope you really enjoyed,'cause I feel like I'm still kind of right. A big goal for this year for me, and I put it on my vision board to remind me, is connecting to things that doing inner child work, I guess for, to make it more succinct. Mm-hmm. Connecting to things that my younger self loved or had a deeper connection to and my younger self had a deep connection to her dreams. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, that's definitely something I want to prioritize more this year is I bought a dream journal when we went to Julian. That was like over a year ago, and I have yet to write a single thing down in it. So open it up. Yeah. Wanting to open it, wanting to connect to that a lot more. This year. So I think that a lot of the themes and topics and stuff that I've, when we sit down and we plan for the podcast, we both kind of come together like, okay, what are things you wanna talk about? What are things I wanna talk about? Okay. Like, who should we reach out to? Mm-hmm. Who are bipoc women doing the work that can speak about these things on our podcast? And I think a lot of the, the topics that I really prioritize wanting to talk about this year. Are things that are having to do with my inner child. So mm-hmm. Excited about that. I kind of had a full circle realization during a conversation with her. I'm like, oh, this kind of fits into like the things that I'm trying to. Work on or focus on this year. Mm-hmm. But yeah, that's pretty much it for the episode this week. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you guys so much for growing with us and allowing us to grow at the, at the pace that is. Needed for us right now. Mm-hmm. We see everybody. We're very, very appreciative of everybody who leaves a comment, reaches out, gives a follow, shares, things with their friends or family members. Yeah, we're really, really grateful to be at the place that we're at, at not even a year in. So thank you guys. You guys give me all the. Warm fuzzies. Mm-hmm. And I'm always thinking about how I can show up better and how we can show up and deliver great podcast episodes and content and create a community that is mutually beneficial for all of us. Right. As we've said from the beginning, chat to me. I do love that. Mm-hmm. The shout, the shout outs, I think, for me personally, I can let it overwhelm me and think, okay, more eyes, more people watching me. I have to like be very careful about what I say and do. But that wasn't the intention when we set out to do this. Similarly to what we spoke to Claudia about is I'm trying to step into this idea or this feeling of being confidently imperfect and, and. Basically showing that I'm okay with that and that I'm still figuring it out just like the rest of us are. And I don't ever wanna get to this place where just because I feel like there's more eyes on us that I have to like perform to a certain level because it's literally what I'm trying to get out of. So, right. Super, super grateful and loving that it's real, genuine, sincere people who are wanting to be a part of the conversations that we're having with our guests. So. Thank you. Times a million. Yeah. And of course, because we're co-creating with this with you, we do wanna know the things that you guys want to hear on the podcast as well. Mm-hmm. So you're always welcome to share that feedback with us. We don't want everything to be all about us. So let us know if there's something you want us to talk about and we'll put it on the roster. Especially if it's like, don't feel shy if it's something that someone else has talked about a thousand times over. Right. We're always gonna be able to. We're always gonna try to do it from a different lens. Obviously from a, a bipoc lens, obviously from a lens being two women of color in their thirties, there's different ways to talk about different things. So if it's something that like a thousand other podcast hosts have done, that's totally fine. Right? Please submit the idea. Right? And we will, we'll put our different, we'll put a lemon twist on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It'll be always through the lens of. Being an empath, being a highly sensitive person, a person of color, a healer, an eldest daughter, all the above. Check, check the boxes. Yeah, check your box. Yeah, yeah. How is your box doing? Is it, is it women's, women's? It is, no, it was last month. March. Would've been March was International Women's Month. Sure. What is April Earth Day? I don't, I think Earth Day is in April, earth Day's in April, Easter. Anyway if you made it to the end of the episode, please comment with a cloud and we will see you on the other side. Toodles.