Dreamscape Awakening
Those that pay heed to their dreams are rewarded with subtle, and at times screamingly overt, cosmic intimations corresponding to the on-goings of our own lives, almost as if the mind were trying to figure itself out within the recursive loops of our imaginal plane. The art lies in the remembering of our nocturnal expeditions within those first few minutes of awaking as they can dissipate quite quickly; luckily, there are certain foods, herbs, and supplements that can help boost our ability in capturing these seemingly ephemeral experiences.
Serotonin plays a vital role in regulating sleep patterns among other important functions. By boosting levels of this neurotransmitter, you can augment and intensify your dreaming capacity. To do so, eat lots of tryptophan loaded foods such as chicken, turkey, soybeans, spirulina, game-meats, fish, egg whites, kidney beans, pumpkin seeds, tofu, and cheese. These are a few food items you can implement into your diet for vivid, nighttime dreaming experiences. By taking a Vitamin B6 tablet alongside your tryptophan-rich intake, you’ll be giving your body that extra boost in breaking down this notoriously drowsy amino acid into serotonin.
As mentioned before, there are also a variety of supplements and herbs on the market that you can take to accompany this “dream diet.” Exalted in the electronic dance scene as an ecstasy hangover cure, 5-HTP is the precursor to serotonin and can significantly help ramp up the levels of the sleepy neurotransmitter within your brain. For serious explorers, galantamine and choline are both purported to aid in lucid-dreaming and OBE’s; those that would experiment with these two should take caution as not to overdo it as the potential side-effects can be nasty.
If you’re looking for something with an earthier, deep-rooted shamanic edge to your nightly passage, you could try combining the little-known African dream root, silene capensis and/or the renowned Mexican dream herb, calea zacatechichi (aka the Leaf of God) for an exceptionally interesting voyage.
“Dreams are impartial, spontaneous products of the unconscious psyche, outside the control of the will. They are pure nature; they show us the unvarnished, natural truth, and are therefore fitted, as nothing else is, to give us back an attitude that accords with our basic human nature when our consciousness has strayed too far from its foundations and run into an impasse.” – Carl G. Jung
