Restoration, Dreams and Navigating Dark Spaces

Integrative restoration and dream educator, and yoga facilitator Jennifer Piercy here talks about yoga nidra, the importance of sleep and restoration practice, and the "wake-centric" bias of contemporary culture.

Rather than view sleep as a necessary evil, Piercy suggests approaching it as a kind of spiritual practice and an invitation to explore the unknown.  

"Part of being at home in the unknown is that we literally need to practice being at home in the dark. And sleep and rest are both literally and metaphorically inviting you into that. I think of it as a superpower that people forget they even have," she says.

Piercy's sleep meditation tracks on the Insight Timer App have been listened to more than an astonishing 21 million times.

Piercy is on a kind of mission to help people view sleep and restoration in a more holistic light. 

One of her favorite quotes of from Dr. Rubin Naiman, a pioneer in integrative sleep and dream medicine, and the man who coined the "wake-centrism" term.

"We are oblivious to a profound and pervasive bias in our perception, that waking is our sole, primary form of consciousness. Consequently, we tend to view sleep and dreams as secondary, subservient states of being. Wake-centrism is a kind of flat earth consciousness that discourages us from approaching the edges of our awareness. It is not a blind spot but a loss of peripheral vision. Wake-centrism is not a way of seeing, but a way of NOT seeing the bigger picture — the world behind the world," Naiman wrote.

In this podcast, Piercy talks about the path that led her to become a restoratation and dream educator, shares some practical suggestions for those struggling with sleep issues, and talks about the dangers of an overly medical approach to sleep disorders.

Piercy will facilitate the Sacred Inclusion Network's 11/19/22 event, Navigating Dark Spaces. 

Links:

• Piercy's site
• Article on yoga nidra
• Recommended resource (see Chapter 15, Dreams and Multidimensional Reality)
• Piercy's 11/19 Sacred Inclusion Network event
• Sacred Inclusion Network
• Sacred Inclusion Network's Facebook Group
• Sacred Inclusion Network's YouTube Channel -- 
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