Soul Work

Artwork by Jan Dean

Natural Dreamwork is Soul work. In Natural Dreamwork we do not interpret dreams, rather we bring them to life. One of the ways dreams can come to life and connect us more deeply to the soul is through the senses – through sight, touch, sound, taste, and smell – and senses, in turn, can bring us to deeper feeling. 

I have had recent dreams of vivid images of connection through the eyes. As has often been quoted ‘eyes are the windows to the soul.’* They are a portal to deeper connection, both inner and outer. Eyes reflect our inner landscape, and they can bring profound intimacy and vulnerability.

A first dream of such connection: 

I am in an isolated alley at night. I look across the way and my eyes connect with a man in the distance. He begins running towards me, arms flailing crazily making unintelligible sounds. I start screaming “help!” “help!” Looking around, there is no one besides me and the man. He comes upon me, and I quietly say, “please stop.” He says “thank-you, I’m sorry” and our eyes meet. He is sane and there is a deep felt connection.

I step back into this dream moment. There is something profound in the eyes of the man from the dream, a resonance that reminds me of Yogananda's** gaze, famed for its soulful depth and magnetic stillness. It feels as though his eyes contain an entire universe. That brief connection carried a weight of compassion, of vulnerability, of a shared humanity.

His apology lingered in the air, and as I looked into his eyes in this dream encounter, it was as if the alley dissolved, the night grew quieter, and we stood in a realm where time stopped. This meeting, though brief, echoed a deep truth. The soul can find recognition in unexpected places, even in moments of fear which I felt when the man was running at me. His gaze reminded me that within each of us lies a depth waiting to be met, a window through which we can both reflect and be reflected, heal and be healed.

I woke from the dream with a sense of calm, as though my own soul had been touched by those eyes. And I can revisit this dream moment by bringing it back to life by stepping back into it in my mind’s eye, what we call in Natural Dreamwork “dream homework.” Eyes like this man’s, like Yogananda's, are vessels of the divine, reminding us of the vastness within and the possibility of connection that lies beyond words.

In another dream,

I was climbing on rocks overlooking the sea with my sister. Below, on the ocean floor, there was a stingray. It then disappeared and my sister said, “it’s a good thing we’re not down there; it would eat us.” Then a huge sea creature emerged from the depths of the sea towards me. I first think it is a shark, but as it comes closer, it is a dolphin and our eyes meet.

Again, it is as though through the gaze of the dolphin there is a moment of recognition, a deep connection. The dolphin’s eyes are soft, loving, gentle, playful. In these dream encounters—whether with the stranger in an alley, or the gaze from a mystical creature beneath the waves —there is a timeless quality, a resonance that transcends the ordinary. The connection of our eyes bridges the gap between seen and unseen, known and unknowable, grounding us in the present while unlocking something eternal.

It is important to note here that standing in fear in these dreams is the catalyst for the connection to soul: to calm, to soft, to love, to playfulness. In the first dream the flailing man conjures up the idea of “run” “he’s crazy” but as he approaches and I softly speak my need, he stops and is there for me. In the second dream, the voice of fear (my sister) who says it is safer to stay above it all yet I’m ready to stop listening to that voice, which allows the sea creature to arise. And there is a moment of fear when the thought of shark conjures “run!” but in staying, I realize it’s a gentle, playful dolphin and the moment of connection can happen.

Through these dream encounters, this visual and visceral connection, there is an undeniable intelligence that feels ancient and yet intimately familiar. Through such encounters, we are reminded that the essence of the soul is not bound by barriers or forms—it is fluid, like water, moving through us and around us, seeking reflection in every gaze. The soulful quality in those moments has the power to transform, to heal, and to awaken something dormant within.

This is the true gift of the eyes—their ability to speak volumes without uttering a word, to reach into the recesses of our being and draw forth what lies hidden. Every connection, every glance, is an invitation in these dreams to go deeper, to remember the vastness we carry within and the profound interconnectedness that binds us.

*exact origin debated but often attributed to William Shakespeare or Leonardo da Vinci

**Yogananda was an Indian and American Hindu monk, yogi, and guru