Postures, Movement, Body Language Dream Interpretation

Even in everyday life, the way we hold and position our body, the inclination of chest and head, the movement of hands, are a means of com­munication.

The apparently intuitive information in some dreams, when investigated, can be traced to an unconscious insight into the language of the living body. We all have this ability to understand body language, but it seems to be some­thing which is inherited from past times before verbal lan­guage. It therefore remains a largely unconscious ability. In our dreams, however, it is a major factor in how the dream is structured.

If you cannot find a satisfying description below, imagine yourself making the movement or posture in the dream to see if you can define what the feeling quality is, or what you are saying non-verbally. It can often be of value to make the movement or take up the posture physically instead of in the imagination. By comparing the movement/posture with an­other one, it can help to clarify its quality.

Example: Marilyn was expenencing emotional pain con­nected with her impending divorce. Marilyn had dreamt of seeing a dinosaur standing in her path, devounng all who approached it. We explored it by having Marilyn find a body posture and movements which for her expressed the feeling of the dinosaur. In doing so Marilyn did not sense anger or aggression, but she did feel like a predator which always had to take to gain her own needs. This feeling immediately re­minded her of her family life as a child. She remembered when she was sent shopping as a very young child of three or four; as well as buying what she had been asked, she pur­chased some sweets for herself. When she arrived home she was treated as if she had done a terrible thing, and that was where she began to feel like a predator. It seemed to her as if her own needs were always gained at the expense of someone else.

‘With this awareness, she could now see that the dinosaur standing iti her path clearly related to her present situation. Bargaining to gain a realistic share of the house and property jointly owned by her husband and herself, felt to her as if she were gaining her needs at his expense, like a predator. That made her feel so awful, she was almost ready to allow her husband to take all, leaving her without house or money to start again. Her awareness of where the feelings arose from, and the unrealistic pan they played in her life, allowed her to relate to the situation with less pain and more wisdom’ (from Mind and Movement, Tony Crisp).