Dream Catcher

I recently had a dream that changed the way I feel physically and emotionally. Perhaps calling it a dream isn't quite accurate.  It was more like a flash of a dream; a vivid image that appeared very suddenly in my sleep, and then disappeared just as quickly.
I dreamt I saw the interior of my injured left knee, where the femur and tibia meet.  It didn't look like an x-ray in fuzzy black and white.  This was a very realistic image of what my knee would look like if the skin and top layers of tissue had been cut away to reveal the bones, muscles, and ligaments in vibrant, real-life colour. The muscles were shades of blue and green, the bones white, and the blood vessels various tones of red.  As I looked at my knee something flipped, flapped, or popped ever so slightly.  I was aware that some sort of subtle realignment or adjustment had occurred.  And that's all there was to it.  The whole thing was over in a few memorable seconds.

I remember that I wasn't the least bit alarmed; I felt certain there was nothing to worry about.  It was almost as if the image were flashed unto the screen of my sleeping consciousness to give me important information. Afterwards I slept soundly for the rest of the night.  When I awoke the next morning I had completely forgotten about my dream.
I went to early morning yoga practice that day.  I felt unusually light of heart and I practised as if I'd never sustained an injury at all.  I moved through all the poses with more mobility than I've had in over six months since my injury.  When I came to the series of asanas (poses) that involve a lot of exterior rotation of the knees, I suddenly realised that I hadn't been favouring or nursing my knee at all.  In fact, I hadn't thought about my bum knee since the moment I awoke, and usually she's complaining all the time.  Her persistent whining always reminded me of a cranky two year old child, so eventually I named her Neela.  (Neela is Sanskrit for blue, which is how she's made me feel.)
Anyway, when I realised that Neela had been quiet all morning, and I could move her around with more ease than I'd experienced in over six months,  I suddenly remembered the dream-bite I'd had the night before.  I couldn't help thinking that there had to be a connection.  And I knew it wasn't my penchant for signs and attaching meaning to every little thing, because I'd completely forgotten about my dream until that very moment.  And what a moment it was.

I knew something extraordinary had occurred.  It was thrilling.  It was all I could do not to jump up and announce to my fellow practitioners  that Neela was feeling so well that I was able to sit cross-legged without any pain at all.  For months I'd been avoiding that position.  I especially wanted to call out to my my two yoga instructors, Svitlana and Christine, who have been watching me weep, wince, and wobble my way through early morning ashtanga for many weeks.  But I said nothing because I thought it might be a fluke, and that Neela would eventually return to her stubborn, recalcitrant self.  But that was almost two weeks ago.  And just yesterday I sat very briefly and ever so cautiously in the iconic lotus pose. Neela's far from completely healed, and I don't know if she'll ever be as flexible as she once was, but she doesn't make me feel like half-a-yogi anymore.
Until this ostensible bit of spontaneous healing happened, I was certain that Neela would require surgery, because her condition hadn't improved in the six months she was ailing.  In fact, at times she would flare up and get worse.  I was frustrated and frequently depressed, and I couldn't understand why Neela wasn't getting better, in spite of all my care and caution to keep her safe from further harm.  That's why my doctor finally ordered an MRI, which I'd had only four days before the night of my dream, and the subsequent quantum leap forward in healing.
When I got the results of my MRI, I was relieved to hear that surgery wasn't required.  And I'm also glad that my quick-fix-dream occurred before I got the results.  I was so certain I'd need surgery that being told I didn't would have made me worry that I was going to be stuck with Neela's obstinate ways for the rest of my life.
In the normal course of things, I figure Neela is just about where she should be after six months, especially with the slower rate of healing that happens with age.  But this wasn't a normal course.  Most of the the healing happened all at once.  When I got the results of my MRI, only two days after my mini-miracle, I told the doctor about my dream.  I asked  her what she thought.
     "Scientifically, I don't have an explanation," was her reply.  I liked what she said.  She acknowledged that she couldn't give me a scientific answer, but tacitly suggested that there might be a meta-scientific one. (Materialist scientists would no doubt be appalled at the term meta-scientific, which I think I just made up.)
I'm fairly certain that my deepening yoga practice is responsible for the glimpse I had into my knee.  Yoga works on the subtle body as much as on the physical one.  The subtle body is a series of energy channels within the body's nervous system that's accessed by the imagination, creative visualisation, yoga, and meditation. Physical or emotional injuries have a counterpart in the energy system, and can be treated at that level.  My "treatment," however, happened unconsciously in my sleep.
It was my wise friend Margaret who suggested that it happened when and how it did - facilitated by my yoga practise, of course - because I'd let go of some lingering emotional hurt or issue that no longer served me well.  After some serious thought I eventually realised it was my non-career as an actress that I'd finally released.  I've previously written on this little web of mine about how difficult it's been to completely surrender to my fate as a failed actor, and how my ever fading hopes simply refused to die.  But my passion for yoga and the many hours I've spent in my teacher training programme have given that derelict dream the final heave-ho. Abolishing negative energy has cleared space in my life to find a new path and make new plans.
Neela's months of resistance to healing weren't just because of a physical injury.  I was hanging on to old, worn-out patterns that blocked me spiritually and emotionally.  Ego and pride got in my way as much as a small rip in my meniscus.  True healing at the level of the subtle body happens when one recognises the connection of body, spirit and mind.  Yoga showed me that.  And it's not mere happenstance that I originally injured myself practising yoga.  Resistance caused the injury, and resistance prevented it from healing.
A siddhi is a paranormal, supernatural, magical power or accomplishment attained through spiritual practices such as meditation or yoga.  Numerous cases of advanced yogis performing siddhis like levitation or bi-location (appearing in two places at once) have been documented.  I don't claim that Neela's sudden improvement after a snapshot of a dream to be a bona fide siddhi, but I'm certain that whatever happened was because I practise yoga.  So I'm calling it a super-mini siddhi.  My mind was showing me that I can, and should, use my mental faculties to heal my body.  The last words I wrote in the first blurb about my injury were Yogi, heal thyself.  (see Feb. 2/15)  My dream must have been my unconscious mind reminding me to quit carping and just do it.

Occam's Razor is a theory attributed to William of Okham, a 14th Century logician and Franciscan friar who devised the principle that natural occurrences can be explained when all the causes that are not certain or reasonable have been eliminated, so that whatever is left must be the truth.  In other words, the simplest explanation is likely the most accurate. This scientific principle suits my purposes perfectly, because it validates my belief in magic, a.k.a. miracles, siddhis, etc.
I began practising yoga over five years ago because I wanted to develop my spirit and mind as much as my body.  I knew it could help me live a richer, more meaningful life, and that's exactly what it's done, and continues to do.  It heals me from both inside and out. And best of all, it keeps me on the path to Magic.
- G. P.