Make some tea.
Bring it into the meditation space.
Sit in a circle. Open the chocolate. Have an orange.
Read a taoist poem.
Share six ground rules. Breathe deeply. Begin.

Tonight was a merging of two of my worlds – dreamwork with my housemates, and dreamwork with friends from across the country part of the Web of Change community. For two hours we held space together to share deeply, tap into the wisdom of our dreams, and specifically work with a recent dream from one of the members of the group.

In North American culture we are told to “follow our dreams,” but how often do we really pay attention to what our dreams tell us, not to mention work with them enough to understand where they might lead us?

Although I’ve always had a relationship with my dreams, in recent years that relationship has become one of the most important in my life. Inspired by the way indigenous cultures work with dreams, and grateful to key pivot points when dreams have helped me navigate tough situations, I’ve made a commitment to recording all the dreams I can remember. Doing so builds my dreaming muscle, and I now average remembering at least one dream a night.

I’ve also learned that dreams serve us best when they are shared. Sharing our dreams – the ones we have at night – helps us gain new insights from them, gives us the energy to do our part to help the processes present in dreams to unfold in waking life. From doing artwork (I created my first pastel painting a year ago based on a dream I had) to getting in touch with a long-lost friend, group dreamwork can be a helpful conduit to making dreams a more concrete reality.

Humans have always gathered in small communities; we evolved as a socially connected species. Working with dreams is one of the most powerful ways I’ve ever encountered to foster depth of connection, and get real with people in all their messy, complicated, wondrous glory.