2020 has been a very dark year, and now as we approach the darkest days of the year, I have noticed that my sleep-world has taken a significant shift. On August 29th, I posted the most popular blog post of the year. It was titled "The Great Insomnia of 2020"
"This isn't my usual kind of sleeplessness. My mind isn't racing about a zillion different worries or concerns. Nor are my lower limbs kicking in endless restless leg syndrome. I just stare at the ceiling. Wide awake, in a sort of meditative state (but not in a good way). For hours. No creative bursts. No physical issues. No mental monsters. Just awake. I spend much of the evening and night applying all my tricks and tools: And still, I stay awake, merely dozing in spits and spurts throughout the night. And the next morning, I get up and go about my day...tired, fatigued, exhausted."
Well, that was then.
This is now.
What's Happening
While the great insomnia continues, it's different now. For the last couple weeks, ever since Thanksgiving, I've experienced a very intense and active dreamworld. As a shaman, I know that this is significant. I often wake and remember details of my dreams like I haven't since I was a young child keeping a dream journal (oh how I wish I'd kept that one). Everything is deeply vivid.
Sometimes I am dreaming of my distant past, parts of my life that I now refer to as "a prior life." I often wake up having taught a high school class, or engaged with a teacher I knew at some school once upon a time. Mind you, I haven't taught high school in nearly 20 years!
Other times, I am dreaming of a world that I never experienced in my waking world. I've been an architect, a surgeon, a housewife with five children, and more completely foreign experiences to my current reality.
What I do know is that when my dreams are this active, I wake feeling like I didn't rest, but rather, I worked.
What is Means
Having gone through periods of my life where I analyzed my dreams, looked up their significance, tracked their progress-purpose-potential in detailed notes and journals, I have long ago given up trying to fully understand them. Heck I kept dream journals to a point where I was writing in them more than I was actually sleeping or dreaming. It was just too much.
What I do know is that when I wake tired from dreaming, I know that my soul has been very busy. The energy realm has needed my shaman/empath/energy/light working skill put to use for some reason or another. When I dream this much and this vividly, I know I am busy doing the work that needs to be done to promote healing of the planet and collective consciousness on the spirit realm.
I've asked a number of my friends, and they all agree, the dreams have been WILD these last few weeks. And we don't see any sign of them letting up anytime soon.
I choose to believe this all means that the deep destruction of 2020 is now in the process of healing itself. That we empaths, energy workers, shamans, light workers, and sensitives are busy working on the spirit realm.
What I'm Doing About It
NAPS
I need naps. So I take them. I seem to get better rest in the 15-20 minute dozes on the couch with my pup on my chest than I do in the depths of night-time.
LEGS UP THE WALL
Legs up the wall yoga pose is my go-to sleep posture. When I have difficulty sleeping, I do this for 10-minutes. While ideally it is done with all the right yoga props...bolsters, blankets, sandbags, straps, eye pillow, etc. I usually just find myself turning around on the bed and putting my feet up on the headboard. It doesn't always work, but it often does help me fall asleep.
YOGA NIDRA
When I can't get a full night's sleep, I turn to a consciousness practice that has worked for centuries, yoga nidra, otherwise known as yogic sleep. This is basically a guided meditation that takes you through a process of deep relaxation of the physical body so you can access the deeper layers of consciousness. Yoga Nidra podcasts on spotify have become my night-time best friend, and often the end to my early morning yoga practice.
CREATIVITY
When all else fails, I get up and write. The good news is that this kind of activity in the dreamworld almost always means a great increase in creative inspiration. When the great insomnia happens now, I am inspired and gushing with ideas. So I follow them. Sometimes I have to chase them. Heck, this blog post is one of them. Creativity like this doesn't come often, but when it does, it is a ton of fun. So I PLAY!
Have you been having difficulty sleeping? Are your dreams more active than your waking life? Feel free to share in the comments.