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🎙️ Episode 39: How Dream Work Can Give You Unexpected Insights Into Yourself and Your Life

Guest: Theresa Russell, LMFT

Air Date: 10/28/26

✨ Episode Summary

In this conversation, Aly talks with therapist Teresa Russell about dream work as a body-aware practice—not a fixed symbol dictionary. Teresa shares how exploring dreams can support emotional healing, creativity, and self-understanding, especially when paired with somatic experiencing and curiosity.You don’t need to remember every detail to begin. A single image, feeling, or body sensation can be a starting point. Aly and Teresa discuss how to approach intense dreams at a manageable pace, how recurring dreams may connect with unfinished experiences, and how to explore a dream without assuming there’s one universal interpretation.

Key topics

• Teresa’s path from early childhood education into therapy and somatic experiencing
• How sobriety opened the door to a more vivid dream life for Teresa
• Why dream work is personal exploration—not looking up a symbol’s universal meaning
• How one image or feeling can be enough to start exploring a dream
• Simple practices for improving dream recall, including journaling and noticing details during the day
• Teresa’s triangle dream and the life transition it eventually helped her recognize
• Ways to approach dreams about deceased loved ones with curiosity and care
• How to tell when a dream may be better explored with support
• Using resourcing, pendulation, and titration to work with intense dream material
• Exploring a dream through symbols, archetypes, emotions, and body sensations
• Recurring dreams and the possibility that the body is trying to complete an unfinished response
• How dream work can support self-expression, relationships, and a clearer sense of direction
• Teresa’s distinction between therapy and coaching in her practice
• Why even five minutes of reflection can be a meaningful start

A few ways to begin

• Write down whatever you remember, even if it’s only a word, image, or feeling.
• Start with one part of the dream instead of trying to interpret the whole thing.
• Notice the emotions and body sensations that come up as you reflect.
• If the dream feels overwhelming, slow down and consider exploring it with support.
• Try acknowledging the dream’s importance before looking for an explanation.

Connect with Teresa

=Instagram: @the.liminal.therapist

Website: TeresaRussell.co

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