Category: Medicine

To Sleep Better, We Need to Surrender to Our Dreams

By Dr. Leslie EllisJune 15, 2023

A podcast review by Dr. Leslie Ellis

The main reason people don’t sleep is that they have a bad relationship with dreaming. – Dr. Rubin Naimin

I was so inspired by a recent conversation between Nikos Patedakis and Dr. Rubin Naiman on the Dangerous Wisdom podcast, I want to share some of their surprising and inspiring ideas —such as how befriending dreams can be the key to getting a good night’s sleep.

Sleep and dreaming are a different, and wider form of consciousness than waking. Many with sleep troubles fear falling into sleep and dreams because it means letting go of our accustomed waking state and the sense of self that comes with it, according to Naiman, a psychologist, author, Fellow in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona’s Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.

We need to change how we think about sleep

Naiman consults internationally about sleep and dreams and believes patients with sleep problems are thinking about sleep in the wrong way. “The statement, ‘I can’t sleep’ makes no sense… because the presumption is that the part of me that I call ‘I’, the waking self, should be able to sleep, and it can’t. That’s where people get stuck, they try leverage waking to get to sleep.” In fact, our very efforts to fall asleep tend to engage our waking selves more deeply.

So how does he suggest we descend into sleep then? It’s more of an accident than a deliberate effort, and it takes a willingness to descend into a different state where our sense of self and ego are not as central, and there is a greater breadth of consciousness available. Naiman said that over the previous few decades, our collective consciousness has shrunk, in part a product of spending more time narrowly focused, indoors, and looking at various screens rather than the natural world. So when we begin to fall asleep, and dreaming begins to widen our horizons, we may feel overwhelmed.

Naiman said: “Sleeping and dreaming both require a fundamental willingness to allow consciousness to expand, but this may be something many are not comfortable with. A contraction of consciousness allows for the kind of focus essential to survival in the waking, material world. The problem is that if we stay there, we think that’s all there is.” He goes on to lament the current epidemic of sleep loss, which he says is actually dream loss, and that attention to dreaming is a glaring omission in modern sleep medicine.

“The main reason people don’t sleep is that they have a bad relationship with dreaming.” Naiman cites evidence that when those with sleep troubles are first letting go into the kaleidoscope of dreams and a dissolution of waking consciousness, they react to that “as if it were a stampede coming from the horizon.”

Psychedelics as an appetizer for expanded consciousness

Dreaming is a different order of consciousness, one that is both feared and repressed, but also sought after. Because we are being deprived of the mind-expanding properties of dreaming, we hunger for it. Naiman says this may be why there is such a resurgence of interest in psychedelics: “We have forgotten how to expand consciousness through sleep and dreams, so it makes sense we are fascinated that a molecule or mushroom can do that. I’m not opposed to that, but these are the appetizers, not the main course.”

Patedakis views mind-altering substances as a bridge but not the final destination: “You need to learn what your mind can do. And then you need to learn how to do it within yourself.” Both speakers advise proceeding gradually into wider ways of seeing and being because plant medicine can bring overwhelm and disorientation to those not prepared for a direct experience of expanded consciousness. As a culture, we have been taught to fear or dismiss such things.

Academic focus on the material world ‘distorts and impoverishes’ our self-understanding

Naiman quotes Gary Schwartz and a group of scholars lamenting the nearly absolute dominance of the material over the subjective in academic study. This has “led to a severely distorted and impoverished understanding of ourselves and our place in nature.”

Even those who practice mindfulness and other potentially consciousness-shifting activities often do so to become better in their waking life. They want to know what their dream means so they can apply it to their personal situation, missing entirely that dreaming reflects a much larger perspective, one that takes us beyond ourselves into a wider, more spiritual realm.

Dreaming as antidepressant

Naiman also speaks of the psychological importance of dreaming. “It processes, sifts, digests and assimilates waking experience. If we are not dreaming, we’re not assimilating, and we’re not being nourished by our waking experiences.” This could explain the well-known link between dream loss and clinical depression. Ironically, the medications to treat depression erode dreaming even further because most antidepressants suppress REM sleep.

The answer to the epidemic of depression and sleep loss, according to Naiman, is not to medicate the problems but to turn toward our dream lives and allow them to help us become more comfortable with a wider sense of who we are. “If we have a better relationship with the dream world, we definitely sleep better,” says Naiman.

Expanding Liminal Space, Extending Sleep

Building a bridge between waking and sleeping by dwelling in the in-between, the gradual transformation inward as night falls, is a natural way to drift into sleep. “In nature, sleep actually starts when the sun goes down and there is a beautiful, gradual transformation of consciousness through dusk, and also again through dawn.” Naiman suggests that we surrender to the night and to the dark, allow it to naturally expand our consciousness, and view it neither as inferior nor applicable to waking life. In fact, sleep and dream life is the larger vessel in which the narrower consciousness of waking is contained.

Below are the links to both Nikos’ interview with Rubin Naiman, as well my conversation with Nikos on experiential approaches to dreams (which is referred to in this interview).

Rubin’s podcast episode: https://dangerous-wisdom.captivate.fm/episode/recovering-sleep-and-dreams

Rubin’s YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_E4tyFw-8c

Leslie’s podcast episode: https://dangerous-wisdom.captivate.fm/episode/attending-to-our-dreams-dialogue-with-dr-leslie-ellis

Leslie’s YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NyYEd3neIg

References

Naiman, R. (2017). Dreamless: the silent epidemic of REM sleep loss. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1406(1), 77-85.

For more on experiential dreamwork for clinicians, visit www.drleslieellis.com

Potential dangers (and benefits) of herbs that help you dream

By Dr. Leslie EllisJuly 27, 2022 3

Clinical herbalist Sky Richarde says she is often asked about plants that can bolster your dream life by giving you more vivid or lucid dreams. However, few people are aware of the potential dangers of taking an herb without knowing about things like side effects and possible interactions with other medications.

“A lot of people have a misconception that just because it’s a plant, it’s very safe. It can be very safe for some people and can be very dangerous for others, especially for those who are taking medications or who already have other sleep disorders,” said Sky.

Sky is a student in my Embodied Experiential Dreamwork certification program and this presentation of her expertise was given at one of our final class meetings. (A new cohort begins this September). She has been working with medicinal plants all her life, and has also received formal training as a clinical herbalist, from Pacific Rim College in Victoria BC, where she now teaches several courses on herbal medicine.
Sky says that any herb can be helpful for promoting dream life if it is taken with that intention. Two of her favorites include lion’s mane (a fungi, not a plant) which increases mental clarity and can promote dream recall and lucid dreaming. She also likes holy basil or Tulsi, a pleasant tasting tea that can also help with certain sleep disorders and their physiological consequences. Herbs for sleep and dreaming are not a one-size-fits all but ideally are matched with what a person wants to achieve and take their unique sleep and dream life into consideration.

Sky warns against simply doing an internet search on dream-promoting herbs because side effects and dangers are rarely listed. Mugwort, for example, is often listed as an herb that can boost dream recall. However, most people burn mugwort in a room and allow the scent to promote dreaming rather than drinking this very bitter brew, which is not recommended if you suffer from acid reflux.

In general, Sky says an internet search on dream herbs typically yields a list of highly stimulating plants that are not conducive to sleep. Some can even induce psychosis. Blue Lotus Flower, for example, was used in Egyptian times, steeped in wine to induce euphoria. But some people have been inhaling it with vape pens and going into catatonic states that require hospitalization.

Another plant, with the common name African dream root, was used by certain tribes to communicate with their ancestors. But it was taken as part of a ritual, and vomiting is expected. “A lot of these plants are often taken out of the context of their culture and people are using them recreationally without understanding their properties or potential interactions with other substances.”

In terms of potential drug interactions, Sky offers two examples: People might take St. John’s Wort for stimulating dreams, not realizing it can completely disrupt how their birth control medication works. Passion flower is not compatible with anti-depressant or anti-psychotic medication.

It is impossible to cover all of the possible benefits and dangers of dream-inducing herbs here. The main point is to treat plants as you would any other medicine or substance. Sky points out that you would not take another kind of drug without consulting a doctor and understanding its proper dosage and use, and if it has side effects. The same should be true for plants.

Sky recommends that if you’re wanting to explore the rich world of dreams with the assistance of plant allies, that the best course of action is to choose one plant to work with and research how it functions in the body, being sure to do a separate search for potential side effects and herb/drug interactions as well as herb/condition interactions, and try not to neglect learning about the cultural significance of the plants you want to use. Be fully informed before you consume any medicine.