ABSTRACT

An Eclectic Approach To Dream Work Using A Mandala

Summary of Presentation

With a presentation, learn how to uncover the simultaneous layers of meaning in a dream using frameworks of Freud, Jung, Perls, and Adler. Then, with a volunteer¹s dream, participants construct a mandala, using an "If this were my dream" format. This workshop is fun and hands on.

Learning Objectives:

1. To learn what questions you can ask yourself in order to look deeper into your dream.
2. To learn how to construct your own dream mandala.
3. To gain the tools you need to find possible solutions to your current waking-life situation, and deeper and more long-lasting solutions to issues and recurring behaviors in your life.

Evaluation questions:

Abstract 

A mandala provides a helpful tool to investigate all the layers of a dream, giving the dreamer a good visual image of how they all tie together. The mandala is a circular form with a distinct tendency toward four as the basis of the structure. Its function is to pull together the different parts of something into a whole being. The dream-mandala I work with is a series of concentric circles that form a picture of the dreamer's mind. Carl Jung pointed to the mandala as an archetypal image representing the Self, the whole Self.
The concentric circles of the mandala give a graphic representation, not only of the dreamer's Self, but also of the different layers of meaning in the dream. First I use the very center of the mandala to represent the dreamer. Then I draw on some of the circles closest to the center to show the first layer of meaning in the dream; that is, how the dream reflects a current issue in the dreamer¹s life. The next layer in the dream, and the next circle of the mandala, hooks the dreamer into how the different characters in the dream might represent different parts of himself. A third layer or circle represents how the dream ties back to the dreamer¹s past or recurring issues from his past. At the deepest layers and outermost edges of the circle we find the universal archetypal themes in the dream, which bring the dreamer back outside himself again, connecting him to the rest of humanity.
In order to arrive at the different layers of meaning of a dream, I use the ideas of theorists such as Perls, Freud, Jung and Adler. The theories of Perls allow us to tap into the different parts of ourselves represented in our dreams - that is, the second circle of the mandala. Freudian free association techniques help us discover what comes to mind from our past that is repeating itself in our dreams or in our current waking-life situation‹this is the third circle of the mandala. And finally a Jungian approach to archetypes helps us arrive at the outer circles of the mandala, where we explore our connections to the rest of humanity.
In my use of the mandala as an aid to understanding our dreams, I strongly emphasize practical methodology and individually directed results over abstract theory. For example, I will ask the dreamer questions such as: What familiar stories, fables, movies, or characters come to your mind when you think about the story and people in this dream? What do these stories or characters have to teach you about your current situation?

The workshop will run from between one and a half to 2 hours and begin with a 45 minute lecture and visual presentation demonstrating the use of the mandala with a previously explored dream of my own. We will then map a different dream with a mandala, using the dream of a volunteer from the group and the participants helping the dreamer using an "If this were my dream" format. The group will help fill in the layers of the mandala as the dreamer connects to each level of the dream.
   I will reserve 20 minutes at the end of the workshop to re-examine the mandala and search for interconnections, patterns and recurring symbols that indicate larger patterns in the "dreamer¹s" life, behaviour and/or relationship with humanity.

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