Dream Incubation

Dreams have captured the imagination of cultures around the world since the dawn of humanity. They were often considered to be messages from the gods, sometimes in the form of divine inspiration, and other times appearing as dire warnings of disaster. In more recent times they have also been used

within the context of therapeutic change work. Freud thought them to be repressed desires from the unconscious mind, while Carl Jung believed the dreamer to be dipping into the collective conscious.

More recently, dreams have been the subject of scientific research, which indicates they play an important part in learning and laying down long-term memories. When you sleep, you dream, and when you dream your brain is making sense of the world around you and your experiences.

We have used this framework extensively during our own DTI explorations. For example I (John) incubated and experienced a series of dreams when I was first learning hypnosis by DTIing with Milton Erickson. These dreams followed a pattern where I worked as a psychologist in a prison, under the supervision of Dr. Erickson. As you can imagine, even in a dream my clients had very difficult issues on which I had to consult Dr. Erickson, seeking guidance and advice. Learning directly from Milton Erickson in this way gave me enormous insight into therapeutic hypnosis. I also encourage my students to use dream incubation prior to, during, and after the hypnosis training where Milton Erickson was used as a model, and also in the photo reading training, where the students would typically DTI with the author of the books they were reading.

When we were writing this book, I (Shawn) used dream incubation to DTI with Konstantin Stanislavski, creator of the acting system called the ‘Method’ (often called method acting) mentioned earlier. These dreams took place in a small Russian village located on the side of a very steep mountain. I knew the mountain was steep because in my dreams I was typically walking up the main street with Stanislavski while he made insightful comments about the villagers we passed. Although the village was small, the street was long and very steep, I would wake exhausted in the morning!

Dream incubation and interpretation provide powerful tools for any sort of learning or change. And whether you are using DTI for yourself, or as a coach working with others, you can utilize the power of dreams to lay the foundation for a successful DTI, as well as to integrate the learnings of the DTI process. In this chapter we will be exploring some easy strategies you can use to incorporate the your unconscious world! These two hours are spread out over a number of sleep cycles, each cycle lasting roughly 90 minutes. Each sleep cycle consists of four stages, only one of which (REM sleep) is associated with dreaming.

During these cycles we experience two types of dreams, dreams for integrating learnings, and dreams for emotional well-being. During dreams associated with emotional well-being, the mind uses the dreamscape as a safe place to work through emotional issues, and let go of previously emotionally charged events. You may have had times in the past where you went to sleep feeling bad, emotionally

drained in some way, but wake up the next day feeling refreshed, and that old issue seems far behind you now. This is because while you were sleeping your unconscious was using dreams to work through those negative states. It is an opportunity to hit the emotional reset button.

The other type of dreams, those associated with learning and integration, provide the brain the opportunity to rewire itself so that new experiences are linked up with already existing neural networks. This is why infants, who naturally experience rapid brain development through learning, spend 50% of their sleep time dreaming.

It has also been discovered that dreaming impacts skills acquisition. One study showed that people who were taught a new mental skill, and then experienced REM sleep, were able to recall the skill after waking. On the other hand, those who were taught a skill but then deprived of REM-sleep, were

unable to recall that skill after waking.

(http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm)

You may be able to recall a time where you had a novel experience, or learned something new, and in some way it appears in your dreams that night. For example, when I (Shawn) was learning to ski, my dreams were full of ski-runs!

Now you are learning how to deep-trance-identify, so tonight, as you sleep and dream, you may have dreams about times when you were young; learning through pretending. Or perhaps you will have a dream where you become your model and experience the world through their eyes (like Shawn with Stanislavski). Some people dream that the model is teaching them (John with Dr.

Erickson), while others find that their dreams contain pieces and fragments of the new learnings.

Still other people may think they haven't dreamed at all, yet this too can be a sign of the changes taking place at the deepest unconscious level!

Through the process of dream incubation you can use the brain’s natural functioning to lay the foundations for the DTI, as well as integrating the learnings you acquire through the DTI process. This is a multilayered approach because the ability to DTI is a learned skill set whereby you are learning how to learn. Within a specific DTI experience you will learn specific skills, and integrate those skills with who you already are. These skills are the abilities, states, behaviors, and beliefs that you acquire through DTI with your model.

There is also a third learning layer, above both the specific skills you acquire, and the ability to learn through DTI. This final layer is connected with the therapeutic nature of dreams themselves; whether you are using DTI as a generative, or therapeutic, practice you cannot help but experience other profoundly beneficial emotional shifts in your life. Your unconscious mind can take both the specific skills of the model, and your newfound ability to learn by modeling, and begin to apply both on our unconscious basis to make profound changes in your life. After all, you never know how far change may go!

Someone could for example DTI with Jimi Hendrix within the context of playing guitar, then discover

that the fear of public speaking has unexpectedly dissolved. Perhaps the unconscious mind has taken not only the physical guitar-playing skill of Hendrix, but also his ability to perform naturally and confidently in front of massive audiences, and generalized it in the life of the modeler. Or perhaps your unconscious mind has integrated the learning process of DTI, and unbeknownst to you decided to DTI with Martin Luther King, or some other great speaker, whilst you dreamed!

On the therapeutic side someone could DTI with the calmness and peace of the Dalai Lama as a means of letting go of some previous traumatic event, only to find as a result that they now experience more love and compassion in their day-to-day life. Perhaps the unconscious mind absorbed a lot of compassion as part of the DTI with the Dalai Lama, or perhaps the unconscious mind decided to DTI with Jesus Christ while you slept! You really never know just how far a change may go!

With dream incubation you will directionalize the modeler’s dreams so they can develop their skills as a modeler, integrate learning that they made through the DTI process, and use the dream itself as another opportunity to DTI with the model from one or more of the perceptual positions (observing the model, speaking to the model, or becoming the model). The technique to do this is straightforward and is described below.

Note, that during dream incubation, we are not telling the modeler what to dream. We are simply letting the unconscious mind know that these are the areas to explore and deeply consider while the modeler sleeps and dreams. We are planting the seeds, and it's the unconscious mind that will grow the plant.

Using Dream Incubation with a Client/Modeler

Dream incubation is very easy when you are guiding someone through a DTI experience. They will already be in trance, which means that incubation can be done using post hypnotic suggestion. You are, after all, already speaking directly to the unconscious mind. We typically do dream incubation toward the end of the session, when we are ready to guide someone out of trance. This reminds the unconscious mind to take on the learnings from the trance experience, and use dreaming as a way of integrating it on a deep level.

We keep these suggestions very open. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that the unconscious mind knows how to dream in ways that are ecological for the person. We are simply inviting the unconscious to continue doing what it already does well. Their unconscious mind knows more about them, and what's needed during dreaming, than we could ever know.

The second reason for keeping the suggestions indirect and general has to do with the nature of dreams themselves. Some people may experience dreams as being nonsensical fragments without a central plot. Other people may forget their dreams and thus think they hadn't dreamed at all. If the guide sets a specific expectation around dreams, and the modeler experiences something different, they may jump to the conclusion that the process doesn't work. We are giving them every opportunity to succeed, and keeping these suggestions general and open-ended means that they cannot fail.

You can keep this short and simple by suggesting something along the lines of:

"Tonight when you sleep you will dream, and when you dream, your unconscious mind can integrate all of the learnings you've made. Now, you may remember these dreams, or you may choose to forget them. If you remember them, they will give you additional insight into your next steps, but if you choose to forget them it simply means your unconscious mind is making changes on an even deeper level.”

The above suggestion is very broad and covers two main possibilities: either the client remembers the dream, or she doesn't remember the dream. The client’s unconscious mind can make whatever meaning out of it she likes.

You can become a little bit more elaborate with this process, using double binds and universal quantifiers so that whatever experience the client has at night, when they wake up the next day they will be sure that the unconscious mind has gone through a process that is beneficial for them. Below is a longer example of what we like to use with students and clients.

"Throughout today you have learned many things. You've learned about dream incubation and other aspects of deep trance identification. Eventually tonight you will sleep and you will dream.

Now I don't know what type of dreams you will have. Some people have exciting dreams, while others have boring and mundane dreams. Some people have Technicolor dreams and others black-and-white dreams. Some people have dreams with a cast of thousands or only a few… of you… may even think that you have not dreamed at all. And let that be a sign of the changes taking place on the deepest unconscious level."

The above suggestions let the unconscious mind choose which way it would like to integrate the learnings, and the client is left knowing that whichever way is chosen is the right way to experience change and growth. Of course the same type of suggestions can be used to create dreams in which the modeler experiences another DTI.

Self Dream Incubation

Dream incubation for yourself relies on a direct line of communication between your conscious and your unconscious minds. Self-hypnosis is the easiest path to establishing this type of communication, and if you are going to be practicing DTI by yourself, it is certainly important that you are easily able to access trance states.

The process highlighted here is in three stages. The first is to prepare the unconscious mind for dreaming. The second stage comes as you’re falling asleep at night, and initiate the dream. The final stage comes in the morning as you wake and recall the dreams you had.

Stage 1: Preparing for the Dream

In order to prepare for the dream you will need to set your intention, prepare your body, and prepare your mind.

To set your intention, decide that you wish to have a dream experience of your DTI model. In order to activate this intention it's important that you take specific a physical action. We suggest you write your intention down in a dream journal, which you keep for this purpose, so that the writing becomes the physical activation.

On evenings where you have set the stage for dream incubation, it is important to eat sensibly (not overeating, not under eating, not eating food that might disagree with you), as well as avoiding alcohol. This will help to prepare your body for the dream. You should also avoid activities that might over-excite your unconscious mind, such as the late-night news, and instead spend some time simply breathing and relaxing before you go to bed.

To begin to prepare your mind for the dream incubation, you should enter a hypnotic state. The induction we are about to share with you can be used for dream incubation (as well as a part of your DTI process).

Begin by finding a comfortable place where you will not be disturbed during this trance. Take a moment to get comfortable and find something in front of you, at least 3 feet away, on which you can focus your gaze. Allow your vision to narrow down to the tiniest detail and focus on that. You can notice any differences in color, variations in light and shadow, even the texture of that point. Imagine you could narrow your gaze down even more so that it’s almost as if you could see the atoms and molecules that make up that point.

Next, allow your gaze to relax, and your focus to soften. Still looking at that point, let your vision expand so you can take in more of the space in front of you. The more you relax your eyes as you keep looking at that point, the more you can take in everything that is to your sides, above you and below you. You could allow your awareness to expand, and as your vision expands you can sense the distance between yourself and the walls in front of you, behind you, and to your sides. You could be aware even of the space from the top of your head to the ceiling.

As you do this, begin to notice the comfortable, relaxing feeling that is deepening in your body and mind. Allow it to spread from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. It is as if each time you exhale, it sends another wave of peace, comfort and relaxation through you. When you are ready you can close those eyes and relax even more deeply enjoying the comfort in your body and the quietness in your mind.

You should now begin a preparatory visualization. We like to do this using an Aleph point. An Aleph as a particular place, perhaps a place in nature, real or imagined, that acts as a starting point. The term Aleph was used by the writer Borges to describe a point from which all other points in the universe are visible. Choose an Aleph that is meaningful to you.

Once you are in a trance, or at least a deeply relaxed state, visualize going to your Aleph. The Aleph is the place where you meet your model during DTI, or from where you go to the place where the dream is to take place. In any case, if this is your first DTI with this model, introduce yourself, welcome your model and verbally set your intention for the dreams you would like that night. You may wish to gently suggest to your unconscious mind your intention for the dream incubation, and ask your model to take part in the process. Thank both your unconscious mind and the model for assisting you in this process.

It is time to come out of trance so allow your awareness to drift back to the outside world and enjoy the rest of your day.

Stage 2: Falling Asleep

This protocol is based upon Shawn’s work with lucid dreaming and shared dreaming.

When you go to bed to sleep, once more allow your vision to expand so you can see the entire room around you (or so you could see the room if it was not dark), and then allow your eyes to close while you are in this state of expanded awareness.

Within your imagination, go back to your Aleph point and enjoy the sensory experience of being there.

Pay attention to the details, see the landscape and the sky, hear the sounds around you, feel the ground under your feet, notice any scents or fragrances. When you're ready, allow your model to appear in front of you, and allow the experience to unfold in whatever way it chooses, knowing you have an amazingly resourceful unconscious mind.

If you experience this deeply enough, with all sensory involvement, all this internal journey, there is a very good chance you will begin to ‘drift off’, for a second or two. You may even fall asleep completely, but if not, you can simply repeat this process from the beginning; expanding your senses, closing your eyes if they are open, going back to the Aleph, experiencing the Aleph with all your senses, and meeting your model.

Stage 3: Recording Your Dreams

Once you have woken up in the morning, and before you get out of bed, begin to recall the dreams you had during the night. Simply allow those memories to come.

Thank your unconscious mind, and the model, for those dream experiences. Now record your dreams in your dream journal.

Dream Analysis

Once you have accumulated a number of dreams in your dream journal, if you wish you can begin to

self-analyze those dreams. Discussion of dream analysis is beyond the scope of this book, and we refer you to the excellent Dreaming Realities by John Overdurf and Julie Silverthorn.

You can use this dream incubation process as often as you like throughout your modeling project. The

You can use this dream incubation process as often as you like throughout your modeling project. The