While those methods can be useful, they don’t always help us move beyond what we already know. Next time you want to plumb the depth of an issue, or find information from a new angle, you might try this easy to use approach to problem solving. It’s called dream incubation.

Dream incubation is the practice of setting an intention to receive life guidance from a sleeping dream. The practice works so well that you can ask a question about your health or life circumstances and often receive valuable and practical information overnight.

I’m not sure when the practice started, but people have been incubating dreams for at least 2500 years. In ancient Greece, for instance, a person in need of healing advice would visit an Asclepieion, or healing temple, and ask for healing guidance from their dreams. The visitor would sleep on the temple floor and upon waking would report their dreams to a priest who would interpret the dream and prescribe treatment based on the interpretation.

I don’t know if there are any active Asclepieion temples anymore, but you don’t need one to incubate a dream. If you ever need insight about a life problem, I suggest trying the following:

1. Think about your problem, challenge or situation.

2. Decide what you want to know about the scenario. Formulate a statement around what you want to know and make sure it cannot be answered with yes or no. For instance, “My intention is to dream about what is causing me to feel tired and sluggish.” Or, “Tonight I want to dream about how to best share my work with the world.”

3. Write your statement on a sheet of paper and put it on a nightstand next to your bed or under your pillow.

4. Hold the intention in your mind as you fall asleep.

5. When you wake up, either in the middle of the night or in the morning, record all dream images and contemplate how the dream might be an answer to your question or intention.

Sometimes the answers come quickly. For instance, Sara, a dreamer in the new DreamTribe community, had never incubated a dream in her entire life and she was excited to try it out. So, before going to bed she asked her dreams to tell her, “What is making me crabby and mildly depressed (low energy).” She dreamed that she accidentally bought moldy bread.

Not having any idea what that might mean, she decided to post her dream on the DreamTribe’s forum. She did not mention that she’d intended to incubate a dream about what was making her feel low energy.

When I read the dream I saw the bread as a metaphor for how the dreamer was nurturing herself. Since the bread was moldy, I felt that the dreamer may need to find a new way to practice self-care. Another dreamworker felt similarly and we discussed how Sara might make changes to her self-care practice.

But then dreamworker Atava Garcia Swiecicki popped onto the dream forum. She is a health care practitioner who uses dreams to help understand illness, and she saw a literal health message in Sara’s dream.

Atava mentioned that people who are allergic to bread due to the gluten or a naturally occurring mold in the bread can feel tired and lethargic. Eliminating or cutting back on bread can help the person feel more energy.

Sara resonated with both “interpretations.” In one night, she had two valuable pieces of information that helped explained why she was feeling crabby and mildly depressed, and practical advice on how to make changes that could help her feel more balanced and healthy.

Dream incubation is valuable, insightful, and highly personal. When you look to your own dreams for guidance, and then process them on your own or get help from experienced dreamworkers, you can start to make decisions that are based on your deepest needs and your internal healing system.

Next time you have a challenge or dilemma, and you want clarity about how to move forward, look to your dreams for their valuable wisdom and advice. If you get a response, but you don’t understand what your dreams are trying to tell you, ask a dreamworker to help you explore the possible meaning. And remember, dreams can be literal and symbolic at the same time, so be sure to reflect on the possible meaning from both perspectives.

P.S. If you want help exploring the information you get in your dreams, click here.

I’ve mentioned in passing an exciting new project I’m creating. The focus is on dreams: sleeping dreams, waking dream journeys, myth and imagination. It’s going to be a dream program like no other and we’ll be launching it soon.

One of the ways it’s going to be unique is that it will feature:

• an online art gallery of dream inspired artwork
• a section on dream inspired poetry
• music inspired by dreams
• and guest articles about dreamwork

That’s where you come in. If you have dream inspired art, poetry, music or articles, or know someone who does, and if you are interested in having your work featured online, then here are the guidelines for submission.* (You don’t have to be a professional artist to submit work.)

Submission Guidelines

Everything should be emailed to me at amy@amybrucker.com in:

.jpg format
no larger than 1600 pixels wide by 1600 pixels tall
or no larger than 8 inches by 8 inches
Writing should be attached as a Word or .TXT file

Music should be sent as MP3

You retain all rights. We will not sell or distribute your work without your permission (and have no plans to do either).

All submissions will be credited to the creator, so make sure you give me your name and any information you want included, like your website and contact information.

Deadline for Submission

The sooner the better, but before April 19.

Launch Date

The current plan is to launch the project on Earth Day (although it’s not a definite date). As the date gets closer I’ll let you know what’s happening.

I’ve included my own dream inspired art and a poem below. The art piece is part collage and prisma colored pencil drawing. The poem and collage go together, both being inspired by a series of dreams I had about eagles and condors.

Anyway, help us spread the word! We want to make this a rich environment for exploring dreams.

I dreamed I saw two condors
Flying high above the earth
I drove away to follow them,
They went south, the road went north

Sadly, I looked to the horizon
Where a green forest grew
And fifty birds flew toward me
With feathers, black and blue

They were not the condors flying
As I’d imagined in my head
But fifty eagles flying low
To tree boughs where they laid

Their feathers landed softly
On the ground below my feet
I stooped to gather what I saw
But they were bent and weak

Sorrow flooded my pained heart
As I wondered what went wrong
Broken feathers, broken wings
not where they belonged

I heard a call to fly with Eagle
To heal the heartless mind
To bring the voice of the wild back
To balance out our kind

It’s the story of the condor
Who flies with eagle by her side
They touch their wings together
And through the air they glide

It’s the story of the south
Who greets the north in peace
We’ll touch our minds together
And through our hearts we’ll meet.

Then I had a dream. I dreamed I made money by helping other people make money, and I did this by tending to their gardens.

Here’s what happened to my dream Self:

I am a bookkeeper, but instead of crunching numbers I help people make money by tending to their gardens. I use my credit card to draw water from the Source of Creation which comes from a spigot on the side of a house.

After a day of watering my client’s garden I sit back and review my books. There is a loving Presence (God) behind me. Together we review everything.

Suddenly I’m nervous. In my bank account there is a million dollars, and I have no idea how it got there. Did I accidentally put my clients’ money into my own account?

Fortunately, God shows me that my clients each have a million dollars. The million dollars in my account is the money I’ve earned simply by helping other people tend to their lives.

I am stunned. I was so busy helping people and enjoying my work I didn’t even realize I was making money.

I woke up excited, feeling as though I’d been given some profound information that could change my life.

Over the next few days I thought incessantly about the dream. As revelations surfaced, I decided to explore the emerging information.

I used a 6 x 9 foot piece of paper to draw the eco-system of my life. Everything was a metaphor for an experience, need or vision. I was essentially dreaming on paper and as a result, even more information revealed itself.

Then things started to fall into place.

A few weeks later, I discovered an overarching lifework theme that encompassed everything I loved.

Below I share the details of my process with you because I created 3 pillars you can use to build the foundation of any heartfelt work you want to offer the world. They were:

1. The needs of your community

My community was comprised of mind, body, soul & life (coach) professionals who struggled with how to grow prosperous work

2. What you love and need most in order to be happy – a 2 part process

1. I was done picking and choosing which parts of me to use in my work. It was time to use everything – art, writing, dreams, Spirit – but I also redefined the qualities and characteristics of the work I wanted to create.

2. The other side of this step was the elimination of every aspect of work that I didn’t enjoy.

3. The culmination of your experience and expertise

Up until that point I had compartmentalized my work. I’d been a website and graphic designer for big companies, a marketing and business consultant for non-profits and a spiritual guide for individuals.

Even though I enjoyed all of these pieces, the compartmentalization of everything was making me miserable. Reflecting on the dream helped me find a way to create an overarching theme for my work so I could offer one service “Grow Your Lifework” and use all of my skills and talents in that context.

My work started to feel fresh again. Over the years, the dream has inspired countless revelations and creations. It still touches everything I do. It even inspired:

• Grow Up Ezine (which you’re reading) and many of the articles I’ve written over the past several years

• Grow the Extra Mile, or GEM, a 12-Month marketing program for mind, body, soul & life people

• Tools for my spiritual guidance and lifework direction services

• Grow Your Lifework Guidebook, which walks people through the fun and creative process I used to help breathe life into my work (I’m still working on this one. It may be a year before it’s finished!)

It was a simple dream, but it’s given me years’ worth of inspiration.

Also, for those who say you can’t make money by following your dreams, this dream was responsible for generating over $40,000 in income. While it wasn’t a million dollars, it was income that came from rewarding lifework that made me feel rich in mind, body and soul.

The power of dreams to transform lives is remarkable.

What precious gems are hiding in the dark corners of your mind?

An uninterpreted dream is like an unopened letter.

-  The Talmud

Incorporating dream work into spiritual direction, coaching or counseling is a natural way to help your clients gain access to the Divine and salient messages that dwell within and without. But if you’re not familiar with dreams and dream work methods, dream exploration can feel like strange terrain.

If you want to incorporate dream work into your private practice, get started with the following techniques:

1. Have your client share her dream with you by describing it in the present tense and giving as much detail as possible. Have her tell it to you as though she is sharing a story, not like she’s giving a description of something that happened in the past. This keeps the dream alive, helping you and your client connect with the feeling of the scenario.

2. Have your client give the dream a title, something that captures the essence of the dream. It can be as long as a few sentences, like a caption in a newspaper article.
After your client has finished sharing her dream, ask clarifying questions.

3. Realize that you and the dreamer now have a unique experience of the dream. Perhaps state this out loud.

4. Ask the dreamer how she felt when she woke up and how she feels now in the retelling of the dream.

5. If you have ideas about what the subjects and objects of the dream mean use the “If it were my dream” language made popular by dream worker Jeremy Taylor. In essence, reference all dream related thoughts in the first person and say, “If it were my dream, X means this…” or “I really feel uncomfortable in this situation (referring to the dream). If it were my dream, I’d want to get out of that room.” This type of language lets the dreamer decide what is true for her. Never impose your thoughts onto a dreamer by telling them outright what their dream means.

6. If you are not comfortable with symbolism, simply explore the feelings the dreamer has as she reflects on her dream scenes. Ask if she’s felt these feelings in waking life. If she has, have her explain the waking life situation to you. Or, perhaps you can sit in silence as she goes within and reconnects with the feelings. Ask her where in her body she feels the feelings. Continue to ask questions about her responses. Allow space for silence so the two of you can observe the dreamer’s responses.

7. Using crayons, have the dreamer create a simple drawing of the emotions she feels relative to the dream, or have her create a literal representation of a dream scene. The two of you can refer to the drawing as you contemplate the dream scenario.

Anxiety producing? Absolutely!

Clearly, when we have dreams like this something is trying to get our attention.

But what?

The clue lies in who or what is chasing us, but often we  don’t know what that is, and we’re too afraid to turn around and find out.

There are many kinds of chase dreams. Have you ever had any of these?

• have no idea what is chasing you
• know exactly what is chasing you
• think you know what is chasing you, when in fact, it is something completely different

A clue about how this dream pertains to waking life is in how we respond to the chase.

Here are some personal examples:

• escaped a tiger by going out of body
• hidden under tables and behind closed doors
• turned to face my pursuer
• been shot at by my old landlord while he sang “Jesus loves me”
• been bitten by a shark
• been eaten alive by a reptilian monster (and pooped out!)
• killed my pursuer with a machine gun
• even turned to give my pursuer a lecture!

So, why do we have chase dreams?

It is always worth asking if the dream is potentially literal.

For example, is it possible the dream is warning you about a potential waking life event? If the answer is yes, pay attention to the dream images and take precautionary measures.

In my experience, however, most dream are not this literal. I do know several people who have literal, prophetic dreams, so I always make a point to ask if the dream may be precognitive.

More often than not, chase dreams are symbolic on some level.

Here are some possible associations with this dream:

feeling like someone is

• out to get you
• hounding you
• threatening you
• putting you (or someone else) in danger

It’s also possible that this chase dream is trying to alert the dreamer to a behavior that needs to be changed or addressed. Perhaps it has to do with:

• an addiciont that is causing health problems
• a bad relationship that is unhealthy
• a job that is too stressful
• a belief that is antiquated

If we run from the pursuer, we are most likely trying to avoid a confrontation in waking life. Perhaps we are afraid of change or a conflict. The mere fact that we had this dream and remembered it is a good indication that despite our fears, we are quite capable of facing the situation.

If in the dream we face the pursuer, we are most likely consciously ready to face this waking life challenge. We may actually be in the process of interacting with whatever it is we have up until now been running away from in waking life. Our dream may even hint at a way to solve our problem.

The only way to know what a chase dream is referring to, though, is to ask questions of the dreamer and the dream.

Here are some questions to ask after having a chase dream:

Who is chasing the dreamer?

Am I running away from something (avoiding something) in my life?

Am I being harmed?

Am I missing out on an incredible opportunity?

What am I ready to face or what do I feel apprehension about facing?

If the character(s) is a recognizable entity (person or thing), but not something or someone you know in waking life, notice as many details as you can. Describe the entity in a timed writing exercise or write a letter to yourself from the entity. How does this relate to a waking life experience? Does the dream entity have a mustache? Do you know someone with a mustache? Could there be a correlation?

If you don’t know who or what is after you, you can re-enter the dream to find out. Some people simply close their eyes and imagine they are back in the dream, others use shamanic drumming to assist them in the process.

Whatever method you use to re-enter the dream, imagine the setting of your dream. Imagine you are running. Now turn to face the pursuer. What do you see? What do you sense? Ask it who/what it is and what it wants from you. Trust what you see, hear, feel, experience. You already know the truth on some level, otherwise you wouldn’t have remembered the dream.

The post barely touches the surface of possibility with regard to chase dreams and their deeper implications. The best way to understand chase dreams is to interact with your own and those of others.

Most important: if you dream of being chased, pay attention. Something is sincerely trying to get your attention to tell you something important.