10,000 NOs

CHAPTER 13The Subconscious

“While your conscious mind is five horses pulling you in one direction, without your knowing it, your subconscious is like ninety-nine horses pulling you the exact opposite way.”

—Zander Fryer, CEO/Founder,

Sh*t You Don't Learn in College

Carl Jung is famous for his work with the subconscious. According to Jung, our conscious mind is like a tiny cork bobbing in the sea of our subconscious. If you buy into that image, you begin to understand that gigantic forces from within you, of which you are not fully aware, are swaying your decisions every day.

Dreamwork

My interactions with Jung's work have come mostly through my study of acting with coach Kim Gillingham and her protégé Amanda Lovejoy Street. The work we have done together is commonly referred to as “dreamwork” or “mat work,” because a lot of it is done from a yoga mat, many times with the student lying on his or her back.

I find it noteworthy that much of dreamwork is done with the subject on the floor. In many ways, this work is the opposite of grinding. To envision the difference in the approach, consider the quote that begins this chapter from past 10,000 NOs podcast guest Zander Fryer. He said this to me when we began our work with my subconscious around the area of self-belief. To untangle this mostly mysterious knot of thoughts, feelings, and emotions, the practice of dreamwork does not come at it head-on. Instead, the subconscious is summoned before bedtime with something like this ...