In the 1930—1950’s, a renegade anthropologist and psychoanalyst, Kilton Stewart created a series of dreamwork protocols. They were supposedly based on his research among the Senoi tribes, indigenous people living in the jungles of Malaysia. Though some were actual Senoi practices, Stewart seems to have embroidered and expanded his limited findings into an overarching theory of how to influence dreams, and thereby influence waking behaviors.
During the 1960’s his ideas caught fire. Courses on Senoi Dreamwork were run at Esalen in California; the techniques were extolled in books such as Creative Dreaming by Patricia Garfield and The Jungian-Senoi Dreamwork Manual by Strephon Kaplan Williams. Sadly, because of the controversy surrounding Stewart and the Senoi, this interesting way of working with dreams lost favor and has almost disappeared.
Garfield (1974) summarizes the basic rules of the Senoi Dream Theory as follows:
A. Always confront and conquer danger in dreams.
B. Always move toward pleasurable experiences in dreams.
C. Always make your dream have a positive outcome and extract a creative product from it.
Before sleeping you hold a strong intention to never run from a dream antagonist but turn and confront him/her/it. Always face the fear. The next step is to conquer or constrain the antagonist and demand a gift—something you can bring back to your waking life. This may be an insight, information, an artistic idea or a service to your community. Similarly, invite pleasurable dream experiences of all kinds, particularly sexual release.
I experimented with these ideas many years ago and found them quite effective. Over a period of time, I trained myself to confront fearful dream figures and even attack them. Now, in my dreams I feel intolerant and even pissed off if something frightens me and I actively go after it! I don’t always carry through to get the gift but that aspect never interested me as much.
What do I take from the mythology Stewart created around Senoi dreamwork? Stewart’s anthropology research was somewhat of a fraud, but his ideas still have merit. We can positively affect our dream life—and that can help us be more satisfied, powerful and effective in our lives. Refusing to be harassed and cowed by our dreams is one way to learn assertiveness in our waking relationships. Asking for positive gifts and experiences from our unconscious can never be wrong.