What might become possible when we learn to listen differently?

This is in an invitation to tune your dreaming mind: to reconnect with your ancestral inheritance (blood, land, and culture) by cultivating the wisdom of dreaming. More than that, it's an invitation to rekindle your own deep ancestral mind.

Join us in a collective journey that may forever transform the way you experience the world and find belonging. Ancestral dreamwork is a process of discovery that starts with your intention, but is quickly matched by startling disclosures that come through your own dreams.

Through dreaming, we will explore ways of listening, connecting, and cultivating relationships with our ancestors, the land, and the more-than-human world.

This course is especially for dreamers who are aching for a deeper connection to their own forgotten authentic selves. By applying our ancestral dreamwork methodology, You'll establish a new sense of belonging in your body, your relationships, and community. We will give you the tools to hone your skills as an ancestral Dreamworker so you can safely and sustainably call big dreams, receive ancestral support, and heal that authentic and ancient part of yourself that has had to hide to survive in the modern world.

We have lost so much but we can find our way again

So many of us have lost connection to our ancestors. Some of us have lost our names, our land, and our spiritual practices. And all of us are struggling in one way or another with belonging in the 21st century. It’s a time of deep loneliness and disconnection, and even dreamwork can reinforce that separation if we only treat the dream as my dream, rather than our dream.

In this 5 week exploration of ancestral dreamwork, Ryan and Natasha will lead exercises and practices for reigniting the deep belonging that still rests in our bodies. We will learn how to focus, listen, discern, and act on the wisdom that emerges from the dreaming mind.

If that sounds compelling, I invite you to join us.

What is possible when we dream with our ancestors in mind?

Focus

Learn how to set effective dream incubation rituals for ancestral wisdom, with direct feedback from your instructors.

Listen

Develop your capacity for heightened dream recall as well as tactics for listening in lucid dreams and waking life as well.

Why this dream now?

Recognize ancestral wisdom in dreams, which can often come through in weird and surprising ways.

Honor your dreams with action

Learn new ways to spin the energy from your dreams into waking life. This is turn invites a deeper level of dreamwork to emerge, a true conversation that dissolves the blocks of the dissociated western mind.

Essential Details

Ancestral Dreamwork is a 5 week online course that will meet live for five sessions over zoom, starting Tuesday November 17th and running through December 15th. You also will have access to secure and moderated forum for this sensitive work, and access to all recordings and materials forever.

Who is this course for?

Beginner, Lapsed and Advanced Dreamers

This course meets you where you're at, with practices tailored to your journey, no matter if you are new to playing with your dreams or a seasoned dream traveler.

Folks who are feeling isolated and disconnected

In this time of deep loneliness and disconnection, the gifts we receive in the dreamworld benefits all our explorations and ripples out into waking life.

Sensitive Dreamers

This course is especially helpful for those have lost confidence after facing initiatory ordeals and difficult ancestral dreams

Therapists, dreamworkers, and spiritual directors

Learn how to better support clients who move in these deep waters

The Container

We are hosting this offering on the Dark Forest Operating System (DFOS), a safe place for sharing sensitive dreams and visions. You can even stay anonymous if you choose to. DFOS is built for privacy first, in a simple online environment that is easy to navigate and shielded from the prying eyes of bots.

Based on Ryan's 15 years+ of experience running online dream groups and communities, and his own peer-reviewed research (Hurd 2019, Sparrow and Hurd 2025), these are the conditions that encourage the most successful outcomes for dreamers. We stay safe, have time to reflect without pressure, and can show up online how we feel the most comfortable.

When sharing dreams (which is not required, but recommended), we will also protect dreamers by committing to dreamwork ethics put in place by the International Association for the Study of Dreams.

Nerd corner:

Hurd, RD. (2008). A short history of online dreamwork. Dream Studies Portal, December 19, 2008. https://dreamstudies.org/a-short-history-of-online-dreamwork/
Hurd, RD. (2019) “Dreams: Internet and social media.” In Robert Hoss, Katja Valli, and Robert Gongloff (Eds), Dreams: Understanding Biology, Psychology and Culture. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Hurd, RD., Sparrow, G., Yih-Jiun Shen, Kim Phetteplace (2026). A proposed methodology for online asynchronous therapeutic dreamwork. International Journal of Dream Research. 19(1).

Course Features

5 Live sessions

We meet on Tuesdays at 10AM Pacific / 1PM Eastern / 6PM London. Dates are November 17, November 24, December 1, December 8, and December 15, 2026.

Private Chat Forum

Recordings, downloads, extra resources and conversations are all here. It's like a simple version of discord, without the privacy woes.

Direct Instructor feedback

Ryan and Natasha will be on hand to answer all your questions and focus your plans

Dream Ceremony

This is an experiental online workshop, and will include interfaith ceremony and other activities

About your Instructors

Ryan Hurd is an award-winning lucid dreaming scholar, author of the impactful book Sleep Paralysis and editor with Kelly Bulkeley of the two volume reference set Lucid dreaming: New perspectives on consciousness in sleep.

Ryan's a trained anthropologist of consciousness who loves bridging Paleolithic cognition with modern dream science. He's published chapters in books such as Lands of the Shamans: Archaeology, Cosmology and Landscape (2018) and Folklore, People and Places (Routledge, 2023) and is a contributing researcher at the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network.

Ryan first ran an ancestral dreaming membership site in 2010 with his dear friend and colleague Amy Brucker, who has since joined the ancestors. Since then, Ryan has taught how to use dreaming for ancestral remembrance and decolonization in a number of professional settings, including his current role as Visiting Professor in the graduate program Indigenous and Peace Studies at the UN's University for Peace in Costa Rica. His approach is anti-racist, non-appropriative, and welcoming.

Natasha Bolvin is a Certified Embodied Experiential Dreamwork Practitioner, writer, and founder of Beyond the Subconscious, where she explores the intersections of dreams, consciousness, spirituality, and culture. For over two decades, she has cultivated a personal dream practice informed by contemplative traditions, mysticism, and the study of human consciousness.

Natasha currently serves on the Board of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD), is a faculty member at Dream Studies Portal, and an advisor in the emerging field of dream technology, where dreams, consciousness, ethics, and artificial intelligence intersect.

Her facilitation experience includes Tmrw.Tday Dream Camp, Sacred Village Women's Retreat, and a dreamwork experience for Being Frenshe, Ashley Tisdale's wellness brand.

She is also co-author of the Infinite Dreams Oracle Deck.

Natasha is the creator of Ancestral Remembering, an experiential offering she has facilitated online and in person, and producer of Dream TMPL, an immersive experience inspired by ancient dream temples. Drawing on embodied imagination, Yoga Nidra, Focusing, and intuitive inquiry, her work invites participants to explore ancestral connections, inherited wisdom, and the stories carried across generations.

Course Bonuses

A Lucid Amulet

Elsewhere Dream Journal

Testimonials

Frequently Asked Questions

“I don’t remember my dreams.” This course will be best for those who remember some dreams, and we will teach methods for improving dream recall. However if you don’t remember any dreams at all, I recommend holding off on this offering.

“What if I miss live calls?” We will miss you, but everything is recorded. So you can watch/listen in your own time, and ask your own questions to the instructors in the secure form.

“Do I need to share my dreams publicly?” While dream sharing on the forum is encourages, it is not required! Also you are welcome to register using a pseudonym for your own safety, as long as you agree to the our dream ethics.

“Refund policy?” Of course! If you try the course out for the first week and find it’s not for you, we will refund your course registration 100%

Are you ready to find out who you really are?