What do dreams have to do with digestion?
Your sleep and your dreams reflect your state of mind. Especially your subconscious mind.
Your subconscious mind is responsible for 95% of your actions and behaviours. Ayurveda knows unmetabolized experiences or emotions are responsible for imbalances throughout the body-mind.
Not surprisingly, when your dreams feel peaceful, it’s often a sign that the mind is also calm on all levels. Disturbed dreams and nightmares point to an agitated mind.
And weak mental-emotional ‘digestion’ usually equates to weak physical digestion! This causes imbalances in aspects of your constitution.
Let me explain. We all know about the gut-brain axis. We know there are brain cells in the gut. We also know the brain has its own microbiome. We know that, physiologically, the brain affects the gut, and vice versa.
On an energetic level, I call it the gut-heart-brain-Spirit axis. That’s because the mind and emotions also affect the gut, via the vagus nerve. These components are inseparable.
When the mind and emotions are disturbed, your nervous system becomes dysregulated. Which affects your gut, your heart, and your organs. That’s because the vagus nerve goes through the viscera and its tendrils wrap around each of the organs.
In fact, that’s often where I start with clients. You can eat perfect foods, but if your nervous system is stressed, you won’t digest well.
So, I share tools for regulating the nervous system quickly, which is surprisingly easy to do. But when the subconscious mind is holding onto a lot of content, you can end up feeling fragmented. Then the nervous system can get activated easily.
Dreams are a doorway for accessing the subconscious mind. They provide clues for healing.
What about the Spirit part of the equation?
In today’s world healers and psychics prevail. Yet, many (including me, when I was healing my gut) seem not to be fully inhabiting their body.
I believe we’re meant to fully embody all the spiritual wisdom available to us. To make this earthly plane as beautiful as the spiritual one! We need harmony between each element of the gut-heart-brain-spirit axis. Otherwise, we don’t function well as humans.
Dreams are a way to do that, as long as we know how to interpret them. And then, we have to put that guidance into action.
Dream analysis a fun way to do deep personal work, which, goodness knows, can be tedious at times. The dream world is mysterious and intriguing!
While your dreams do provide great intel, they often don’t make logical sense. The mind’s ramblings often seem random, but its messages can be decoded.
Dreams often speak in metaphorical symbols
With interpretation over time, you may develop your own personal lexicon of symbols. This can expedite the process of interpreting dreams, at least sometimes.
The symbols are based on your subjective experience. I don’t believe much in stock symbols. A bear in your dreams can means something very different than one in mine. The meaning depends on many things, such as:
- Your relationship and encounters with bears.
- Whether there’s something current in your life relating to bears.
- If you, your family, or someone close to you has some special history with bears.
All these aspects inform what a bear means to you, as a symbol.
I’ve often dreamt of various men with a subtle golden quality about them. There’s something different about them than ordinary men in my dreams. I’ve come to understand this as a personified symbol for music, which is an important part of my life as a flamenco guitarist.
This symbol often plays the role of an archetypal Muse, beckoning. This invaluable guidance is obviously highly individual. I hope you dream of Muses, and they probably appear in a different form for you!
Six ways you can start to connect with the messages of your dreams a little more
- Keep a dream journal. If you have trouble recalling your dreams, make a point of remembering first thing in the morning. The less you move upon waking, the easier it is to remember. Even dream fragments are useful.
- I’ve started speaking into a voice memo on my phone as soon as I remember a dream. The trick is transferring it to your dream journal before the end of the day (I admit to having a backlog)!
- If there’s something significant going on in your life, make a note of it in your dream journal too. It may provide context for your dreams.
- Note any symbols or actions that jump out at you. The shower is a great time to free-associate on what that symbol might have to tell you. You can also do this while walking, or free writing in your journal.
- Notice any symbolic patterns that recur over time. Usually, recurring dreams show that you haven’t received the message yet!
- You can view each character in your dream as an aspect of yourself. What can you learn about yourself through this lens?
Know that some people simply dream more than others. If you have a hard time remembering your dreams at all, consider your life as a dream. You can notate a current situation in your life and look at it archetypally or symbolically.
When I teach dream analysis the process is quite involved, but it’s very illuminating. I’m still surprised by the outcome sometimes!
You discover how to trick the subconscious mind into revealing its message. You’ll highlight certain things, extract them, and then focus on something else. When you put it back together, you interpret your dream in a new way.
Once people sign up for a dream analysis workshop, they often have a vivid dream as the date approaches. That’s because you’ve given your mind an opportunity to tell you something important. It will!
Let’s come back to digestion
Dreams can be a delicious way to recognize your habitual ways of moving through life. They can help you process your emotions and experiences, and gain clarity. They provide guidance and direct you toward your own right actions in a way that even a psychic couldn’t.
A good system for dream analysis breeds a deep Self-trust you may never discover in other ways. It’s tremendously empowering to interpret your own dreams. Using that agency to implement the intuitive guidance is not only fun. It brings deep connection between yourself and the mystery of life.
Would you like to experience the magic of your dreams firsthand?
I’m hosting a dream analysis workshop where I’ll be playing my own live music. My Muse has agreed to be there! Get the details here.
It’ll be in person for a limited number of local participants and live online globally.
Connect with Holly on The Wellness Universe.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month
The Wellness Universe supports Mental Health Awareness Month. Join our event 5 Tools for Better Mental Health 2024 to discover tools that will help you achieve your best mental health. Did you know that people with depression have a 40% higher risk of developing cardiovascular and metabolic diseases than the general population. #NAMI
Join us in making a difference—not just in your life but in the broader community. Register today at and take a moment for your mental health. #TakeAMentalHealthMoment #MentalHealthMonth
By prioritizing mental health care without guilt or shame, we can collectively reduce the stigma surrounding mental health challenges.
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Holly Blazina’s Gutsy Type Method is an alchemy of the Yoga and Ayurveda traditions, Embodied Vision™ Coaching, and her work as an author, flamenco guitarist, composer and recording artist. She helps empaths solve their gut issues, amplifying their personal power in service of their life’s purpose.
