I woke up the other night in the middle of a motion picture story that was startling and in vivid color.  I don’t remember many dreams, maybe three or 4 in my whole life, so I was surprised. It was not a relaxing dream, and when I thought about it, I realized that when a nightmare wakes me up, I better pay attention.  In my case, my mind was trying to dump some old undigested frustration and anger. I recognize the excess pitta in my system, fueling my nightmares. How? A Morlock with blood dripping from its teeth was chasing me through a carousel of my life, forcing me to confront my choices.

A Morlock is a people eating sci-fi humanoid creature from a fictional post-apocalyptic future. The being was created by HG Wells, in the sci-fi novel, The Time Machine.  I watched and read a lot of Sci-Fi in my teens, and yeah, I am a lifelong Trekkie.

I have not seen or thought about any version of a Morlock or The Time Machine in years. Best I can figure anger has been chewing on my life, shaping it without my awakened consent. If I don’t reconcile more of my old resentment and frustration, it will eat me alive. The whole dream kind of creeped me out, and it took Yoga Nidra to get me back to sleep.

How Does Ayurveda See Dreams (Svapna)

Dream analysis is customary in specific styles of western psychology. It can help you figure out what your mind is chewing on below the surface and flush true feelings into awareness. Can I also examine my dreams to help myself with Ayurveda?  Sure the teachings cover creating stories and images during sleep and show how Dosha impacts dream content and qualities.  Ayurveda agrees with the western understanding in many areas. Dreaming in Ayurveda is the mind’s way of trying to help digest experience and move back into balance.

On a personal level, I know that Ayurveda is where I go to find a broad healing perspective where I have questions or feel stymied. My nightmare experience had specific qualities and mental energy that acted on me.  It had an undigested quality (sticky, cloudy) I associate with ama as well as high levels of conflict, anger, and frustration from excess pitta.

When I see signs of imbalance or ama in my life, it is time for a change in diet and lifestyle.  I want to digest or remove all forms, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual ama pronto, just like I scape ama off my tongue every morning.  It often takes more work than that to balance the Dosha and move towards balance (Prakruti), repair agni and remove ama.  Do you remember your dreams?  Are they telling you to work on balancing pitta?

Process Dreams By Reducing Excess Pitta

Examining my dream through the lens of Ayurveda, I thought, “Wow, I have excess mental pitta, poor emotional digestion, and increasing mental ama. The makeup of the Dosha shifts how different areas of our brain react and generate our feelings. Deep in pitta season, the heat is building. Excess pitta in your mind shows up in irritability, hot temper, sharp interactions, narrow focus, and mental burnout.  Anger, hatred, frustration in dreams can also show up when pitta is out of balance.

Elevated Dosha puts you on a path to poor agni (digestive fire) and buildup of ama. Foggy thinking, anxiety, lethargy, rajas to tamas cycling, and even nightmares can be a result of too much ama. Our current media environment, the lack of economic certainty, the pandemic, and all the election negativity fosters the buildup of mental ama, vata, and pitta.  If you see signs of excess pitta in your mind and mental ama, take steps to help yourself.

Balance Excess Pitta And Build Mental Agni

Relax your focus

Spend a little less time on the computer working projects or watching the news and more time with family or outdoors before 10 am or after 2 pm.

Keep Your Diet Light and Cool

Eat a pitta balancing diet, with cooling herbs and vegetables. Stay away from hot spices like cayenne.  Mint and fennel are my go-to herbs to balance pitta all summer long.

Nasya

Nasya is one of the five actions (Pancha Karma) to eliminate ama from the body. Practitioners treat illness with these five actions to dispose of excess dosha. Talk to your practitioner if they agree, add an upper wash, then Nasya to move ama out of the head to your self-care routine.

Pranayama

Breathwork floods the mind and body with prana (life force energy). Cooling breath work like Alternate nostril or Shitali breath is a super way to help calm and balance emotions. Ten minutes in the morning will begin a shift.

Yoga Nidra

I have found regular use of Yoga Nidra (sleep) beneficial to help cultivate healthy sleep.  The combination of rotation of consciousness, mental imaging, and breathwork support clearing out the emotional clutter of the day.

Emotional Digestion Exercise

At the end of the day before bed, write your high points and low points of each day.  Take a few minutes to review and reconcile your feelings. Add some supportive, affirmative self-talk or mantra, before sleep.

Dream Journal

Keep a journal by the bed and write down your dreams when you remember them. Or use a dream journal app if this works better for you. Get as much detail as possible down in the moment, then go back to sleep. After you awaken, take the time to answer the questions your dreams raise.

Clearing out mental ama and balancing excess Dosha can only help you to a dreamless night’s sleep. If you notice a shift in your dreams look for imbalances that may help you resolve issues and sleep better

Ayurselfcare’s purpose is to educate on the benefits of Ayurveda. This article is not a substitute for professional medical care, treatment, or advice. All the material here is for learning purposes only. Always share strategy and work with your health care team.