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...and the power to manifest them.
The
origin of dreams: What are dreams, and
where do they come from?
Dreams are soul-speak: they're
messages arising from the deep self, arriving as the mind becomes quiet, calm,
transparent. These messages shimmer with truth: as artist Brian Andreas says,
"I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep."
Sleep literally puts the mind to rest, permitting the wisdom contained within
our center of being, within our body's center, to be revealed. Dreams
speak to us in images and archetypes. They create whole environments of meaning,
illuminating our personal predicaments and linking us to the continuum of human
consciousness. Dreams provide a conduit for our own instinctual knowing and for
the universal wisdom that wants to move through us. Dreams express the intelligence
of Source Energy in terms and images we can understand. Asleep,
we receive the intelligence of Source Energy through dreams. Awake, as our minds
enter a similar state of receptivity, we receive its messages through myth, imagination.
Moving within the realm of mythic imagination, our bodies become dreambodies,
dancing to rhythms and sounds that are ancient, eternal, timeless. We dance with
and within the Great Goddess, the Power of Be-ing we have known by many names.
| In Russia, this Great Goddess has been known
as Dennitsa;
in ancient Greece, Danae; in Babylonia, Dunnu.
In Ireland,
she has been called Danu, Danuna, and Dana.
Her name is the origin of our
word "dance." | What
kind of movement, what kind of breath, frees us to live within our dreambodies?
We animate our dreambodies when the steps or poses we've been learning become
channels for personal revelation. When we no longer have to think about how to
move, we can open ourselves to allow the dance to move through us. Free of planning
and premeditation, the movement itself becomes meditation. Our minds become quiet,
calm, transparent, simply witnessing. We move and breathe from our body's center,
giving direct, uncensored, unmediated expression to the life force concentrated
within our center of being. The
power to manifest our dreams: As we dance, open to the flow of universal energies, the same
intelligence that informs our dreams courses through us and moves us. But our
dancing can be more than receiving; it can become invocation as well. As we add
the elements of desire and detachment to the images that our dreambodies enact,
we send our dreams out into the world as intentions. And as our intentions serve
our soul purpose and align with universal purpose, we dance our dreams into actuality. When
you're energizing your belly with movement and breath, you're awakening and amplifying
your life force, your power to promote creation. You can direct your pro-creative
power to manifest your deepest desire—to dance your dreams into being—by
making a visual image of your intention and using this image as a focus for your
movement. Here's a way to create your own Image of
Intention, based on a process I've created for participants in my Honoring
Your Belly workshops:
| Image Your
Intention - Gather several sheets of plain white
paper and a selection of colored markers or crayons. Sit quietly and comfortably
with these materials in front of you. Deepen your breath into your belly, deepening
into your inner source of wisdom and guidance.
- As
you focus your awareness within your center, let a core desire emerge into your
awareness. What does your soul yearn for? What is it that you want so much that
tears practically come to your eyes at the thought of having, doing, or being
that? What is it you want so much you can practically taste it? And most important,
what is it that you're 100 percent willing to receive?
- Our
capacity to desire something for ourselves has at times been severely damaged.
We've often been criticized or punished for being "selfish" if we want
something for ourselves. We're rewarded for putting our own desires on hold while
we busily help others to make their dreams come true. Sometimes we misguidedly
believe our own needs will be met by meeting the needs of others. We often lose
our capacity to desire our own good; instead, we often try to make ourselves "desirable"
to others.
- As you image your intention, allow
your desires to make themselves known. You may desire something material—for
example, the environment and tools for creative expression. Or you might desire
to take part in an activity, a gathering, an event. Or you might desire a state
of being—for example, a way of feeling or healing, a way of experiencing
your wholeness.
- Keep breathing and feeling into
your belly, waiting patiently, remaining open to receive this knowing. Allow yourself
know what you want to be, do, and have. Censor nothing. Receive all the information
that's coming to you about your desire.
- Let your
desire emerge as a visual image, a word or phrase, or a sensation. Keep checking
in with your belly as possibilities emerge, asking your inner guidance questions
such as: "Do I really want this? Am I really ready and willing to receive
this in my life?" Wait until you hear, feel, or see an undeniable "Yes!"
in your gut.
- Now, with your hand as a direct extension
of your inner knowing, take up the color or colors that automatically appeal to
you and let shapes, lines, colors, and shadings spill out onto paper, allowing
an image of your desire to come into view.
- As
necessary, use several pieces of paper, revising the images until you have the
picture that faithfully represents your desire. Take all the time and paper you
need to depict exactly what you intend to manifest in your life.
- If
you feel ambivalent or uncertain about what you want, remember that you don't
have to address your most ambitious desire at this time. Focus on something you
absolutely know you want, deserve, and feel good about having in your life right
now.
- Some people prefer to represent their desire
on paper with a word or phrase, rather than with a visual image. If that's the
case for you, make your Image of Intention by writing the word or phrase that
best articulates your desire on the paper, using your favorite color and style
of lettering. Or, you may want to make a collage of words, phrases, and pictures
that you cut out from magazines and newsletters.
- When
you're ready to begin your dance practice, post your Image of Intention on the
wall in front of you, or simply make your image your internal point of concentration,
the focus for your movement.
- As you move and breathe,
see and feel that with each exhalation you're releasing any beliefs or patterns
of behavior that have interfered with actualizing your desire in the past. With
each inhalation, see and feel that you're drawing your Image of Intention directly
into your belly.
- Continue moving through your
day in the grateful knowledge that your intention, serving the best interests
of all concerned, is already on its way into manifestation.
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And as your desires evolve, create a new image
of intention as the focus for your dance.
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