Dreaming while on the Camino

[pbucilla]

I have read in a number of places about pilgrims having very vivid dreams while on the Camino. I've searched and can't find a thread specifically on dreams, so I wondered if anyone would like to share their experience with dreaming while on the Camino. I'm interested in what your dreams were, any themes, or interpretations you made or what meaning you gave them. Any takers?

 

[Odem]

I have read in a number of places about pilgrims having very vivid dreams while on the Camino. I've searched and can't find a thread specifically on dreams, so I wondered if anyone would like to share their experience with dreaming while on the Camino. I'm interested in what your dreams were, any themes, or interpretations you made or what meaning you gave them. Any takers?

I can't believe this. If so, dreams are very personal. I really don't see the point.

 

[Mark Lee]

I don't remember any of my dreams while walking the Camino. I slept like a rock every night. Combination of walking 20-30 km a day and drinking wine or beer every evening I suppose.....ha ha.

 

[HalfDomeOrBust]

I dream while doing my training hikes all the time. Sometimes to the point of missing my next trail marker...Ugh. Dreams are great and nothing wrong with sharing your dreams!!! The more you share sometimes makes the dream become reality!!! I'm a dreamer!

 

[koilife]

I dreamed about comfortable mattresses.

 

[fraluchi]

Watch where you walk Are you dreaming???

 

[egar]

Like Mark, I don't remember any dreams. Perhaps I was just living them out, so thinking about it my sleep was unnecessary!

 

[Kanga]

Been reading Shirley MacLaine? A very vivid imagination methinks. I didn't enjoy her book. I found it boring after a while. Enough wonderful stuff happens on the Camino in reality; no need to gild the lily.

 

[StuartM]

I had a very vivid and painful dream on my first night, a real reminder of why I was there that I really didnt need. Not a nightmare as such, just a very vivid "memory" of happier times as though it was all still my current reality. Even now 18 months down the line it still hurts.

Apart from that I dont remember dreaming much.

 

[pbucilla]

Been reading Shirley MacLaine? A very vivid imagination methinks. I didn't enjoy her book. I found it boring after a while. Enough wonderful stuff happens on the Camino in reality; no need to gild the lily.

Yes, I've read Shirley MacLaine, but I've read other memoirs where the authors said that they had very vivid dreams. It made me very curious. Some authors felt they were working things out, some felt it was a result of the pain. As a nurse practitioner, I think it also could be the pain medications that many people take, at the dosages that they're not accustomed to. I'm a Junian at heart and wonder about the collective consciousness. I also think as a psychotherapist that people do often work out their greatest subconscious concerns in their dreams in a very symbolic way. Dreams are something we still don't really understand very well.

 

[HalfDomeOrBust]

Pennie, is it ok to dream of jeannie? Asking for a friend of course......

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Shirley MacLaine turned 80 a couple of days ago. She was a pilgrim back when she was about 60.

 

[Kanga]

Shirley MacLaine turned 80 a couple of days ago. She was a pilgrim back when she was about 60.

And wrote a book about it. A not very good one.

 

[pbucilla]

I like Shirley MacLaine, but I find in her books, she always takes it tooooo far. I'm with her to a point, and then her beliefs go beyond that with which I'm comfortable. That's ok though. A person's religious or spiritual beliefs are exactly that, theirs.

 

[Mark Lee]

And wrote a book about it. A not very good one.

I did like her in "Two Mules for Sister Sara", that movie she did with Clint Eastwood many years ago. ha ha

 

[mspath]

Shirley MacLaine turned 80 a couple of days ago. She was a pilgrim back when she was about 60.

2004 during the night my knees ached so much that I decided to spend extra time in Puente la Reina. This pain was no dream, but closer to a nightmare. Come morning truly KO
I dragged myself across the famous Romanesque bridge and exhausted checked into the Santiago Apostol private refuge; by 9 am I was fast asleep! Later while literally crawling to the loo I found in the common room actress Shirley MacLaine’s account of her trek. Once back on a bunk and reading voraciously I laughed at her description of 'typical ' pilgrims; the woman applying mascara (!!) while hoarding the mirror was particularly memorable.

After two days of rest, reading and practicing walking while leaning heavily on a stick I moved on. Unwilling to be grounded at the end of only the first week and unable to imagine the pain to mount up into a train to return to Paris, I gritted my teeth determined to persevere.
...Eventually I made it to Santiago walking upright; pilgrims wearing mascara still make me laugh.

Margaret Meredith

 

[Kanga]

She's a good actress, always has been. And she's still good - just watched her in "Downton Abbey". I enjoyed her first couple of books, although I always thought she does not let truth get in the way of a good story. But the Camino book I didn't like at all, and I could not finish the later books. Not my cup of tea.

 

[pattymo97206]

Kanga, I have to agree with you on Shirley MacClaine’s book. My dreams came after the Camino. Every morning for weeks. You know that twilight time between sleep and awakening...I’d be dreaming about where I’d to be that day, how far I’d walk, what I would encounter and then I’d open my eyes and in the dim early light of dawn, I’d look around and not know where I was. Then, I’d recognize my own bedroom and was surprised at being there and ask “how’d I get here” and “what am I doing home?” Part of me was happy to be home and close to my family again. But, a bigger part of me longed to be back on Camino. Transitioning back to “normal” life was tough.

 

[pilgrim b]

I'm due to go back fulfilling a dream in about four weeks, but as i drive around at home I keep seeing yellow arrows markings on the road is this true or am I dreaming???

 

[barber1586]

She's a good actress, always has been. And she's still good - just watched her in "Downton Abbey". I enjoyed her first couple of books, although I always thought she does not let truth get in the way of a good story. But the Camino book I didn't like at all, and I could not finish the later books. Not my cup of tea.

Kanga, you have such a way with words! "...I always thought she does not let truth get in the way of a good story." Fabulous! You made me smile.

 

[julie]

I also think as a psychotherapist that people do often work out their greatest subconscious concerns in their dreams in a very symbolic way.

I am always interested in the content of my dreams (when I remember them) and try to use them instructively.

On the first night of the Camino, I had a very vivid dream which brought up some concerns that I wasn't even aware that I was harbouring. That was the last dream I remembered having while I was on pilgrimage and I assumed that was because, as I walked, I was processing the thoughts that came zipping in from left-field which meant that the big questions didn't have to wait until I slept before they were free to make an appearance.