The Doctor Within Can Heal in the Dream State, is there a doctor in your house?

When you sleep and dream, you come in contact with a healing force that is not as available during the waking state. 

Loretta was a divorced woman in her early forties who sought sex therapy for her non orgasmic condition. Her dysfunction was primary, meaning she had never had an orgasm regardless of the methods she employed. From masturbation to intercourse, nothing worked for her. I was referring unmarried women to a female sex therapist. When I offered her that option, she decided not to focus on that issue with me but rather to explore her shyness, emotional suppression, and insecurities.

She was a very active dreamer, and after a few months of therapy I suggested she could learn how to program her dreams for any problem that was unresolved. A short time after I taught her how to do this, she came to a session in extremely high spirits coupled with a beaming smile that lit up my office. Her adeptness at programming dreams culminated in the following dream experience:

“I lie nude on an examination table in a doctor’s office with a plain white sheet covering my body. When the doctor enters, I notice his advanced age, perhaps in his late seventies. His white coat is blotched with mustard and ketchup stains, and his gray beard is somewhat disheveled. He reaches under the sheet and begins fondling me, which immediately turns me on sexually. We make passionate love, and during intercourse I experience a magnificent orgasm. I awaken very excited.

From that moment on, she experienced orgasms with her current boyfriend during intercourse. I was curious about why her unconscious had chosen such an elderly man. She revealed that when she married in her early twenties, she had a sexual affair with the next- door neighbor who was in his seventies. It was the best sex she had experienced up to that point in her life, even though an orgasm did not occur. Explanations cannot do justice to this inner adventure. I am not sure of the dynamics behind her breakthrough. Perhaps the driving force that generated this healing dream was a combination of her optimism, expectations, and intense desire.

For many women, sexual issues are still fraught with secrecy and are considered lewd and immoral, even in this so-called age of sexual freedom and open-mindedness. This breakthrough dream bypassed the need for sex education, self-awareness exercises, communication skills, medication, or behavioral techniques. Of course, there was much follow-up on the possible origin of her difficulty, but the sexual blockage was permanently removed. This was one of those dreams that provided an impressive experience, which was inspirational because it healed what was lacking. Probably, most of our emotional stumbling blocks come from losing contact with our instincts. And where can we often get in touch with the force that knows how to reconnect our energies? In our dreams.

Ancient Cultures Knew the Secret

Many ancient cultures knew the secret, because they took healing dreams for granted. The ancient Greeks believed dreams were “real” experiences. Thus, they created conditions that would induce specifc dreams that could heal, reveal a dreamer’s current and future health status, or provide guidance toward effective treatments. Not only did they experience dreams as real, they also perceived their gods as real. Ancient Greek gods took on human form, displayed emotions of human beings, resided in human society, and intervened in human affairs. With this fusion of god and dream reality, powerful inner forces were unleashed, creating an art of healing that to us seems miraculous.

In many ways, the Greeks were like you and me. When ill, they visited traditional doctors. If that didn’t work, they consulted alternative medicine. Today people go to acupuncturists, herbalists, nutritionists, hypnotherapists, massage therapists, and psychic healers. For the Greeks, the choices were less extensive and usually involved traveling to a dream temple to be healed while in the dream state. Although this may sound like a fairy tale, it is not. Being ill then as now was a serious business. The sick and disabled sought cures in the holy sites of dream temples and would travel great distances, seeking to have their bodies and minds repaired. There were no automobiles, trains, airplanes, or buses in those days, so most people walked. The rich and poor came, as did the famous and the unknown. Everyone was welcome. All sought cures in the dream state from the same inner physician, Asklepios, the God of Healing, who appeared to those who sought him in their dreams.

Asklepios was a daring surgeon. In the dream state, he would perform complex operations that far exceeded the medical capability of those times. He opened the skull for brain surgery, performed open-heart operations, and even took eyes out of the sockets of the blind and returned them for vision restoration. It is unlikely any of these patients would have survived if the surgeries were done in the waking world.

When Asklepios did appear, he often took different forms, such as an old wizened
gure, sometimes with a beard sometimes without, carrying a rustic wooden staff. Alternately, he appeared as a radiantly beautiful youth who was quick-witted and had sparkling eyes. His appearances were many and various. Actually, each dreamer depicted the qualities of godliness and divine power through a physical image that was believable to that dreamer That same phenomenon is true today which makes the healing force alive and well in our modern psyches. The healing force likely to appear in the dream state would be appropriate for today’s context and would probably look more like a modern physician. But the curative power can take any form such as a beam of light, magic water, a Chinese herbalist, a color, an animal, a child, a magic potion, and so on.