Interactive Dream Healing for
Ourselves and Others
Beverly K.H. D'Urso, PhD,
a lucid dreamer all her life, has done research on lucid dreaming
since the 1970's with Dr. Stephen LaBerge. Numerous media specials
have featured her work. She has led workshops, has over 30 dream
publications, and has presented at IASD conferences since 1985.
Abstract
I often attempt physical and
emotional healing for myself and others in my dreams, where,
potentially, it could have the most effect on us. My experiences
at the Stanford Sleep Laboratory of monitoring my physical
conditions and seeing them change as I attempted various tasks
with my dream body, which I also refer to as one of my dream
“characters,” proved to me that what I dream can affect my waking
life. This led me to try healing from the dream world. I have
developed interactive techniques, such as: asking for advice,
using “experts,” sending energy, often through my hands, and
reciting chants or affirmations to attempt healing. I set goals,
practice, and use induction methods before I go to sleep. Although
my dreams often involve lucidity, my techniques and methods have
also proven themselves valuable for non-lucid dreams or
visualizations, as well. When I assist others to heal in my
dreams, I feel that I also heal, or experience more wholeness,
myself. I view all my dream characters as representing aspects of
my higher self, while at the same time, I feel that they can,
potentially, have a connection to other people. I might ask others
to come into my dream by connecting to my dream characters, or I
might go looking for dream characters that I feel best represent
them. By the term dream “character,” I mean a type of dream “body”
or “entity” that may have a connection to a physical person, but
not necessarily. For example, I usually “connect” to the dream
character that looks and acts like myself in my own dreams.
I
recognize that a healing attempt may not always best serve myself
or others, and will not always get at the source of the problem.
However, I feel that a healing may help, but only if the subject
desires it. Therefore, I make sure the dream character, whom I
attempt to heal, agrees to the healing. When helping heal another
person from my waking life, I usually ask permission of the person
in the waking state before I decide to dream of the person.
Discussing the healing with the person ahead of time also means
that I can share my results with the person and determine any
benefits. The dream character that I work with may or may not
appear exactly as the physical person does, but usually I can
still recognize the character as the person.
As I
explore other issues involved in interactive dream healing, I
realize that the possibility exists where one might adversely
affect dream characters, and hence their possible physical
counterparts, while attempting a dream healing. However, I think
that this can happen only if the subject allows it. I also believe
that, potentially, anyone can tap into positive energy, or what we
might call “love” or “God,” when attempting a dream healing.
Because of this, I see interactive dream healing as a form of
“prayer.”
References
"Dream Speak: An Interview with
Beverly (Kedzierski Heart) D’Urso: A Lucid Dreamer - Part One, Two
and Three", The Lucid Dream Exchange, Numbers 29, 30, and 31, 2003
- 2004. Available at:
http://beverly.durso.org/LDE_interview.html
"The Art of Dream Healing",
D'Urso, Beverly (Kedzierski Heart), Presentation at the
International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD)
PsiberDreaming Conference, September, 2005. Available at:
http://beverly.durso.org/IASD05_Dream_Healing.html
