We can analyze and interpret our dreams, but we can do so much more: when we understand and engage with our dreams, we are able to tap into a special, deeper kind of healing. The process of healing is not about putting the same pieces back together; rather, it is about reclaiming what is already within us that could never be broken, the essence of who we are as individuals and as interconnected parts of a greater whole. In THE HEALING WISDOM OF DREAMS, health and wellness practitioner Kathleen Webster O'Malley gently guides us through the process of using our dreams to heal unwanted patterns and live more authentically.

She provides specific tools for enhancing dream recall, including dream journaling, and brings in the practices of dream incubation--how to ask our dream a question and receive and interpret an answer--lucid dreaming, and Tibetan dream yoga practices. Nightmares are inevitable when we start to dive deeper into our vulnerabilities and traumas, and O'Malley discusses how to re-vision them as urgent messages that serve to deliver profound realizations. She explores the more mystical side of dreaming: visions from ancestors and spirit guides, animal guides, and archetypes that appear in our dreams. Finally, she encourages us to grant ourselves permission to be playful in our dreams, to envision ourselves as archeologists unearthing our hidden gifts.