TODAY’S DREAM OFFERS A REVIEW FOR OUR DREAMER — what was and what is before finding what might be.

Dear SMYD,

At one time I taught five or six yoga classes a week in a very strong athletic and physically demanding style. Now there are some changes in my life: We moved to a new town from our home of almost 40 years. And I have dropped down to teaching only two classes. They are of the “gentle” variety for older people with stiff bodies. People expect more breathing and meditation in these “asana” classes. Since I am very physical and I prefer gym classes, this presents some conflict.

Now my dream:

I am teaching a yoga class in a big house with many rooms. The students are in different rooms and I am running around giving instructions. I tell them to all come to one room, but when they do it’s crowded. I start to teach, then there is a break and they are in different rooms again. When I go to a second room, students are lounging around on couches and bar stools. One is looking at his 35mm camera and some photos. I think — yes! Teaching opportunity! “You know how you are so involved with your camera? This is yoga. Sustained directed focus.”

It’s almost time for class to end. I try to gather students into one room, but some students from the first room have left. Outside, a former friend/client (who was a teacher and has died) is putting the photos in an album. I ask, “Will this building continue to be used for classes? It needs some walls taken down; it has too many rooms.”

Signed, Different Life/Same Me

Dear Different,

Your dream reflects a natural pause and assessment that you may be going through as you re-establish your life with new parameters. It presents your “teachable moment.”

First, the element of the dream that has you trying to collect students from diverse rooms around the house may be speaking to the idea that you seem to be “condensing” your practice, both on a literal level — six classes down to two — and on a figurative level, from the more physical practice of your past to the more meditative practice expected of you now. These changes are most likely disconcerting or stressful. This would denote your waking state of mind as you make the adjustments.

In addition, your dream speaks to the place where you are in life now. With “sustained directed focus” you are reviewing what has been (a wide and varied practice), what is (a smaller, less demanding practice) and what might be. Organizing those photos into the album is a memorializing of your work and your life to date. Like students who’ve left the room, some things are left behind. Your questions to your past (“passed”) friend about what will become of the building might be restated as, “What will become of me?” Not to worry, Dear Dreamer. You are working things out!

Sweet Dreams to you!

Carolyn Plath, M.Ed., is a Benicia resident and member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. Reach her at sendmeyourdreams@yahoo.com.

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