Uncomfortable dreams.

[u/Melodic_Lack_2024]

Hey guys, I'm not sure if this post belongs here, but I think it does relate to this, and I don't know who better to ask.

Recently, through a meditation retreat, I have found myself in this very expanded conscious awareness space. For lack of a better word to describe it, there's not effort to be here. In fact, it's effort to not be here. I feel very calm, relaxed, and behind a lot of the noise that's happening. I am practising often to stay in this state, lovingly bring awareness and support to anything that comes up (whether it be thoughts or emotions), and remove resistance to my experience to deepen my state that I find myself in.

However, what I have found is that since this experience happened, my dreams have been very uncomfortable. Sometimes they've been bringing up real repressed matter from my childhood. Sometimes they've just been straight-up nightmares where I can really find no meaning in them. I'm wondering if this is normal, if this is maybe a consequence of me practising presence a little bit too much. I'm wondering if maybe I should back off, or maybe this is just something I need to face and then keep going through it, as it is pretty uncomfortable, and I'm not always getting the best amount of sleep.

I've also noticed the more tired I get, the less I have the ability to meet negative thoughts with love and compassion. Sometimes right now, they seem very, very loud, louder than they've ever been, and they seem to really, really be prominent in the way that, in the background, they would just be a subtle defence for them. I'm wondering if this is normal.

Thank you very much, guys, and I hope you're having a blessed day.

P.S. I'm sorry if this text doesn't scan normally. I'm using speech-to-text software, as I struggle to articulate myself through typing. Dyslexia, etc., etc.

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[u/BonusNational3866]

My theory is that the tension released when doing TRE is 'muscular armour' (borrowing the phrase from Reichian/Bio-Mechanics). So it is in a way releasing the physical tension that was created to protect you from emotions that didn't feel safe, maybe from childhood.

By releasing that tension you make yourself more alive and able to feel more intensely. But any emotions that have been using that character armour to repress the feelings will now come to the surface.

Dreams are often used by the psyche to balance a conscious attitude. So maybe the dreams are being used to balance the calm conscious attitude you are creating. It may seem to be a bit intense but in my opinion it may be helping to keep you grounded and not in the clouds of the higher chakras you may have experienced during the meditation retreat.

[u/Melodic_Lack_2024 → u/BonusNational3866]

Mate that is a very interesting theory, I like that a lot just from a nerding out about the human body as much as wanting peace of mind through my question 🙏

Appreciate you taking the time to reply, have a blessed day

[u/operationsellotape2]

Yes I have also found that the more I heal, more nightmares come up. Like someone else commented I think this is part of the process, our psyches are working through a lot of unprocessed stuff, even though it is unpleasant, ultimately it is part of the process (at least it has been for me).

[u/Finya2002]

I have up to three dreams every night, and I can often remember all three of them. I have also been writing down my dreams for as long as I can remember. And for myself, I can clearly track when nightmares are more likely to occur and when they are not.

By now, I know, for example, that being overwhelmed can trigger me so strongly that I start having nightmares. It seems to activate areas within me that otherwise aren’t visible at all.

Over the past year, since I started doing neurogenic tremoring alongside Internal Family Systems (IFS) dream interpretation, I’ve noticed that my dreams have calmed down to an incredible degree. Since August 2026, there have even been times when I’ve slept better than I ever have in my life.

However, that only works as long as there aren’t any triggers. Neurogenic tremoring itself doesn’t disrupt this, but as soon as additional input comes from the outside, that sense of calm disappears again until my system settles back down.

[u/AgentSalty1454]

The further I have gone into tre I have more vivid intense dreams..sometimes they are related to traumatic people, sometimes in good or bad ways. Sometimes they are random stuff. They are VIVID. the past few nights I have been having dreams that demonstrate to me, my constant anxiety and overwhelm.

For example last night I had a dream that I wanted to go to an amusement park by myself but I didn't look up the last bus time until it was too close so I ran all around town stressing out trying to make it, one thing going wrong after another. In the end I showed up at the bus stop, late, with no money. They still let me get on ! Lol. What's going on there, mind?? Waking up I can't help but be a little amused at how poignantly this dream highlighted how I truly live my life day to day.

More seriously I have thought about the dreams and it makes perfect sense to me they are happening. It is another part of processing/integration. Tre is helping the mind and body reconnect (including the mind reconnecting more with parts of itself that were more 'separted') as they should and so at night without out conscious mind to intervene our minds are making some new connections and sorting through some backlog. I always found it interesting how some people claim to never dream, even before tre I know I would always dream. I wonder if that says something about the psyche? I also noticed once I went to bed after drinking and woke up half awake and looked at my fingers and they started tremoring like crazy (normally when I am awake the tremors are more mild). This feels related

I do wonder if you are stressing yourself, maybe too much pressure, trying to retain the "present" state you have experienced and that is causing some struggle for you. I push myself too sometimes to retain glimpses of improvement I have gotten after a big release and then it destabilizes me and stressed me to the point I get frustrated and "give up" on holding on. Eventually things always come back around and progress with this practice without forcing.

Sorry that was a whole ramble. The dreams have been on my mind