Tony Crisp Interpretation:
Adrian Morrison, at the University of Pennsylvania, investigating narcolepsy, a condition producing sleep in the middle of activity, found that a small area of the brain, the pons, suppresses full muscular movement while we dream. If this area is damaged or suppressed, humans or animals make full muscular movements while they are asleep in connection with what is dreamt. He observed that cats would stalk, crouch, and spring at imaginary prey. These very important findings suggest:
use the body to discover dream power The brain sends impulses to all the muscles to act on the movements we are making while in the dream. This is observable when we wake ourselves by thrashing about in bed, or kicking and shouting. A part of the brain inhibits these movements while we sleep. The important factor is that a dream is more than a set of images and emotions, it is frequently also a powerful physical activity and self-expression. If we explore a dream while sitting and quietly talking to a friend, even if we allow emotions to surface, we may miss important aspects of our dream process. Through physical movement the dream process releases tensions and deeply buried memories that are stored in our body. These may not release and heal by simply talking about them. It is often enough to realize this aspect of dream exploration for such spontaneous movements to emerge when necessary. By being aware of the body’s need to occasionally be involved in expression of dream content, we may catch the cues and let these develop. Frequently all you need to do is to let the body doodle, or to fantasize, while exploring a dream. Jung suggested this technique for times when the person was stuck in intellectual speculation. To practice it you can take a dream image and let the hands spontaneously doodle, watching what is gradually mimed or expressed. When you have gained skill doing this, let the whole body take part in it. This can unfold aspects of dreams that the other approaches might not help with. See .