Dream work provides many benefits when it comes to spirituality, including helping you to find the right path, see signs of your manifestations coming true, strengthen intuition, and gain more clarity. Keep reading to find out how to use dream work as a spiritual practice.
Try Not to Use Sleep Aides
Unfortunately, even if you have insomnia, sleep aides are probably not recommended. This doesn’t mean you don’t have options, but you do want to avoid the sleep aides you get over-the-counter, such as Benadryl or Tylenol PM. The ingredients can affect your dreams, sometimes making them worse than normal, disrupting your signs in your dreams, or keeping you from dreaming at all.
Instead, if you have trouble sleeping, look to more natural or spiritual remedies, such as keeping healing crystals under your pillow, meditating before bed, or using natural aides like melatonin or magnesium.
Set Intentions Before Bed
You can actually set intentions that you want to not only remember your dreams, but also learn from them. Before you fall asleep, say to yourself that you will remember your dreams, that you will have vivid dreams, and will find out important messages from whatever you dream of. Say this a few times to yourself in whatever words you resonate with, and keep that in mind as you drift off to sleep.
The more you do this, the more it will help you to stay aligned and have those important dreams.
Write Down All Your Dreams When You Wake Up
In addition to setting intentions before bed, you should also start keeping a dream journal. This is a journal you use to write down details of your dreams, as soon as you wake up. The sooner you write the details down, the more you will remember. Write down everything you can recall, from where you were, to how you felt, what you saw, what you experienced, absolutely everything.
Make a habit of doing this every morning when you wake up, and in the middle of the night if you wake up from a particularly strong dream. Just like with setting intentions, you will recall more from your dreams the longer you keep up with this habit.
Use Crystals for Dream Work
There are also some different crystals you can use to charge and set intentions with for your dream work. These can be used before going to bed, sitting them next to your bed, or even under your pillow. Here are some crystals that work very well for dream work:
Lucid dreaming – If you want to have more lucid dreams where you can actually control what happens in the dream, us rainbow moonstone or white labradorite.
Peaceful dreams – If you have been struggling with nightmares lately, use clear quartz for more peaceful dreams.
Opening up your third eye – When you want insightful dreams that bring you more clarity, use amethyst under your pillow or near your bed.
Emotional healing – If you have a lot of stress or anxiety, keep citrine near you as you sleep.
Learn How to Analyze Your Dreams
And of course, you want to learn how to analyze your dreams. There are many resources that provide explanations for different symbols and themes that are recurring in your dreams, such as seeing insects crawling on the walls or dreaming of a rabbit consistently. But there are also some other tips for proper analyzing your own dreams. These include:
- Paying close attention to details and writing down everything you remember.
- Considering how you felt, not just what you saw.
- Asking yourself what you were thinking during your dreams. Were you happy or sad? Did something scare you or excite you?
- Looking for subtle clues or signs, like colors, animals, totems, or anything else that keeps showing up.