In my usual recurrent dream, I am angrily seeking answers that I’m clearly not going to get, over and over again. This time, I witnessed someone simply accepting they’re not going to get their desired outcome and confidently move forward regardless.
I mention this to Morley. “Congratulations,” he says. “You had a resolution dream.”
Apparently, the cessation of a recurrent nightmare is a sign that the trauma, whatever it is, has been confronted and integrated in the psyche; something, unsurprisingly, associated with improved wellbeing. A dream in which the nightmare finally ends differently tends to precede this. It means, if the studies are correct, I should no longer have any more fruitless arguments with my mother during sleep.
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I can’t say for sure whether that’s true or not, especially as it wasn’t exactly the same dream. But it is true that I haven’t had that particular dream again since my stay at Kimpton Fitzroy. As far as hotel wellness offerings go, it was a much greater gift to take home with me than the all-too-fleeting effects of a 45-minute massage.
“We did a study on 65 people with high levels of post traumatic stress disorder that was published in the Traumatology journal,” says Morley. “After one week, people had such powerful experiences with lucid dreaming that 85% of participants no longer classified as having PTSD using the official diagnostic criteria. The panic attacks and anxiety had stopped, and that was true at the four-week follow up as well.”
This notion makes me feel emotional. It means we may all have the tools within us to improve our own sense of wellbeing, without the time or monetary investment therapy requires. The tea, drops, balm, and pillow spray are yours to keep, so I’ve continued to practice the relaxation techniques at home to see if I can achieve a lucid dreaming state (although I’m not sure I’ll be investing in my own VR headset any time soon).
Regardless, this experience has given me a new appreciation for the restorative powers of a good night’s sleep. What I thought would be a bit of a gimmicky novelty actually proved rather thought-provoking. It makes a timely reminder that, no matter what happens to us, we alone have the power to take control of our own narrative—be that in our waking lives, or even in our dreams.
You can add Kimpton Fitzroy’s “Room to Dream” package to your booking for a £50 supplement. See here for more information. A version of this article originally appeared in Condé Nast Traveller UK.
