Yoga Dreams

Today I want to talk about dreams - yoga dreams. I don't mean the kind of dreams where you dream to one day be a celebri-teacher, or you can only dream of one day doing an advanced pose like Shayanasana. I mean nocturnal visions - subconscious stories about yoga.

I generally don't dream about yoga which is odd considering my world revolves around my practice. I remember when I was in teacher training they said - "Get ready for Yoga Nightmares." I didn't immediately pick up on what they meant, so it's a good thing they elaborated. Once you're a teacher it's a common issue to have actual nightmares about teaching. Sometimes you're having bad dreams about students not listening to you, telling you they hate your class, or even just about trying to teach in a space with terrible acoustics. I thought - am I going to have nightmares about teaching!???! Weird.

It was a long time before I ever had one, but I have definitely had my share of yoga nightmares. I don't remember them, but I know I've had them. I thought of this because recently I had a pleasant dream about my yoga practice - in the dream I was effortlessly drawing my foot up to my head in backbends. So far that I could see my foot in front of my face before I reached for it with my hands. It was strange because I've NEVER dreamed about my yoga practice before in 10 years. It inspired me to get back to my daily practice 'cause I've been slacking recently.

When I did finally practice and do a deep backbend - I did accomplish new things - I easily did full pigeon without a strap. I was psyched. Studies have shown (sorry I have no sources at the moment to back that up) that simply visualizing yourself practicing does bring you some benefits as if you were actually doing it - maybe it works with dreams too.

Tell me my fellow yogis - Do you ever have yoga dreams?