Our Daily Show Interview! Free Spiritual Wellness Series Continues at River Bend Yoga
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ALTON - Community members have the opportunity to learn more about how their dreams can guide their daily lives.
At 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at River Bend Yoga in Alton, the second session of the free “Raise Your Spiritual IQ!” series will discuss “Your Dream Worlds Revealed,” a conversation about techniques to remember and interpret your inner journeys for help in daily life. Organizers Flora Van Koten and Sheila Aehle will talk about how to remember and develop your own dream symbols to interpret your dreams and the messages they might reveal.
“That voice is Soul, your true identity,” Van Koten said. “When that voice is heard, then the voice of ego — also called the little self — will stop and listen. It’s not used to doing that. However, over time and with the practice of looking at your dreams, you’ll be able to hear and understand more about what God or your higher self is trying to tell you.”
Aehle and Van Koten talk about viewing dreams as “clues.” They encourage people to write down their greatest desires or intentions before they go to bed and then journal about the dreams they remember when they wake up. This can help you see patterns in your dreams and begin to interpret them.
If you don’t remember your dreams, upon awakening you can write down the emotions you feel. This is a good first step in remembering and understanding the messages you receive when you’re asleep.
Van Koten and Aehle also believe in waking dreams, or messages we encounter in our waking hours that can help us understand more about our daily and spiritual lives. They encourage people to pay attention for these occurrences, which are messages for our benefit.
“Spirit is always trying to help us, always guiding us somehow. We’re not always aware. We’re not always conscious of that because of the distractions,” Van Koten explained. “Once you start noticing things outwardly, it starts manifesting inwardly. The waking dream is something that happens in our outer everyday life that has a significant meaning.”
Van Koten and Aehle practice Eckankar, the path of spiritual freedom. They will talk about Eckankar and sing the HU song, a “nondirected prayer,” during the conversation on April 3.
But they emphasized that the “Raise Your Spiritual IQ!” series is for everyone regardless of religious background. They believe that anyone can benefit from learning more about spirituality and dreams.
“Raising your spiritual IQ, who doesn’t want to do that?” Aehle said. “Who doesn't want to know more about their own life, their own spiritual journey? For me, I have found that studying my dreams has made a great difference in my life. We hope to help others raise their spiritual IQ by seeing the importance of their dreams — both sleeping and waking.”
The conversation on April 3 at River Bend Yoga will be a roundtable discussion, with people sharing stories and experiences with one another. All attendees will receive a copy of the “Raise Your Spiritual IQ!” journal and a book about Eckankar and dreams.
Van Koten and Aehle hope to see many people there who are eager to learn more about spirituality and how their dreams can guide their daily lives. The two women believe that we have the answers inside of us, and our dreams can help us understand our own answers. They encourage everyone to come out and learn more.
“Your spiritual journey is your everyday journey. The word ‘spiritual’ might freak some people out, but really, that’s who we are,” Van Koten added. “The reality with dreamwork is that it’s one great way to get our own answers from within.”
In addition to the “Your Dream Worlds Revealed” conversation on April 3, you can check out “Soul Travel Explorations” at 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, 2025. These conversations will be held at River Bend Yoga and are completely free.
For more information about Eckankar, visit Eckankar.org or download the free HU app at HearHU.org. For more information about the "Raise Your Spiritual IQ!" series, click here. For your own copy of the "Raise Your Spiritual IQ!" journal, click here.
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