Conference AbstractsProgram summaries of the 2010 IASD Conference being held in
Asheville, North Carolina at the Crowne Plaza Resort A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZA Back to TopJeff Armano, MA Candidate Indigenous Dream Practices and Religious Attitudes By studying cultures other than our own, we inevitably learn more about not only our own culture, but also about human expression in general. This paper explores the relationship between dream practices found cross-culturally and the religious or spiritual framework in which they occur. Dream practices such as using dreams to increase power as well as the act of dream sharing will be explored. These dream practices are inextricably tied to their particular culture's religious, spiritual, or cosmological belief system. Cultures that will be highlighted in this study include Native cultures of North America, such as various tribes of the Great Plains and New England Woodlands, as well as the Aboriginal tribes of Australia, including the Yolngu, Mardu and the Kukatja. By comparing and contrasting both the dream practices mentioned above and the cultural religious systems into which they fall, we get a scope of these phenomena and consequently are better equipped to gauge them in our own cultural system accurately. Sheila McNellis Asato, MA, EIC Healing Collage℠ Morning Dream Group This experiential morning dream group will introduce the Healing Collage℠ process as a means of working through the body, non-verbally with dreams. To begin each session, there will be a ten-minute check-in followed by forty minutes of hands-on Healing Collage℠-based dreamwork. Before closing, there will be ten minutes for discussion on the process and sharing insights with each other in dyads and with the group. On the last day, we will review the dreams and collages created during the week and see what underlying themes emerge. Then we will explore how to use Bosnak's embodied approach to dreaming to anchor these insights into the body, creating a "dream incubation body" for the dreams to come after the morning dream group has finished. Healing Collage? is a non-verbal, creative means of accessing, interacting with and deepening one's relationship with dreams, even in the absence of dream recall. Like the collage artist in the studio, the dreaming self loves to cut, paste, and move imagery around in a number of surprising and occasionally shocking ways to get our attention. In this morning dream group, participants will have an opportunity to directly experience the relationship between waking creativity and dreaming in a way that stimulates further creative work after the session. Dreaming is a highly emotional and visual state of consciousness. Upon waking, as one moves into the world of words and linear thought, it is only natural to try to articulate the dream experience in words. After all, verbal fluency is one of the great strengths of waking life. However, as useful as words may be in waking life, the dream itself remains an essentially non-verbal experience. When one relies primarily on words to bring dream content into waking life, a great deal is unnecessarily lost in translation. It's hard enough to recall dreams without the additional burden of immediately translating them into words upon waking. The Healing Collage? offers a non-verbal means of bringing dream material into waking life through the language of form and feeling. As artists throughout time have known, it is possible to bring dreams into waking life through the use of shape, texture, position and color. When one trusts the eyes and hands to guide the way, it is possible to transcend the specific cultural limitations of words. As Jung said, "Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain." Once dream material has been embodied visually in a Healing Collage?, it is then possible to begin the separate task of translating that material into words. Through demonstrations, participants will learn how to create a meaningful dialogue based on the tendency of particular issues to cluster together in specific areas of a collage. This will open up new ways of interacting with dreams, as well as deepening one's relationship with the inner world. Participants will leave with a deeper awareness of how dream imagery can emerge visually into waking life and how to anchor that awareness more fully into the body. B Back to TopDeirdre Barrett, PhD Using Hypnosis to Work with Your Dream There are a variety of ways of combining hypnosis and dreamwork for the mutual enhancement of each. One can use hypnotic suggestions that a person will experience a dream in the trance state–either as an open-ended suggestion or with the suggestion that they dream about a certain topic–and these "hypnotic dreams" have been found to be similar enough to nocturnal dreams (Barrett, 1979) to be worked with using many of the same techniques usually applied to nocturnal dreams. One can also work with previous nocturnal dreams during a hypnotic trance in ways parallel to Jung's "active imagination" techniques to continue, elaborate on, or explore the meaning of the dream. Research by Charles Tart (1964) has found that hypnotic suggestions can be used to influence future nocturnal dream content, and Joe Dane (1985) demonstrated that hypnotic suggestions can increase the frequency of laboratory verified lucid dreams. Many people have also utilized hypnotic and self-hypnotic suggestions for increased dream recall. The workshop will cover all of these techniques and include experiential exercises with several of them. It would be appropriate for both individuals interested in working with their own dreams and for professional therapists interested in acquiring more techniques for helping clients to explore their dreams. REFERENCES Barrett, D.L. The Hypnotic Dream: Its Relation to Nocturnal Dreams and Waking Fantasies. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88, p. 584-591. Dane, J. A Comparison of Waking Instructions and Post-Hypnotic Suggestions for Lucid Dream Induction. Dissertation, 1985, Georgia State University. (Univ. Microfilms Int. #8503800) Tart, C. T. A comparison of suggested dreams occurring in hypnosis and sleep. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 1964, Vol 12. Deirdre Barrett Dreams and Creative Problem Solving The French Surrealist poet, Saint-Paul Roux would hang a sign on his bedroom door before retiring which read: "Poet at work." A similar belief in nocturnal productivity was expressed by John Steinbeck: "It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it." Steinbeck’s term is especially apt as it sums up the nature of the unconscious in general and dreams specifically—not one uniform, entity but all the myriad aspects of our selves which may not reach awareness when we’re awake. Creative dreams have produced two Nobel prizes and numerous paintings and novels. Music from a Beethoven sonata to the Beatle’s “Yesterday” has been heard by their dreaming composers. Armored ships, designs for telescopes, the structure of benzene, and mathematical formulas have arrived in dreams. This talk will review these breakthrough anecdotes as well as more formal research on frequency and types of problems which are solved in dreams. The rate of success in incubating problem solving dreams can be as high as 30% when people are working with simple problems for which they are highly motivated. Some problems such those that are visual-spatial in nature and those that involve “thinking outside the box” are likelier to be solved by our dreaming minds—there seems to be an advantage over our waking consciousness on these dimensions. However, every type of problem has occasionally been resolved in a dream. The implications of dream thinking for evolution and survival will be discussed. The talk will also cover practical tips for increasing problem solving dreams—the incubation techniques which have been helpful in formal research and ones culled from the more dramatic anecdotes. KJ Bartnicki, LSW, MA The Art of Daily Dream Recall This is an introductory presentation for dreamers who wish to learn "The Art of Daily Dream Recall" and daily dream recording. It discusses some of the reasons why dream recall and daily dream recording is valuable and important for the dreamer. It presents the authors own personal "Four R's of Dream Recall: Reflect, Recall, Record, Review." Denyse Beaudet, PhD Born From The Dream: Tracking Children's Dreaming From The Womb Forward Every infant born appears to be emerging as if from the dream, when one weighs evidence from scientists who have penetrated the realm of sleep over the last sixty years. A child's dream life unfolds from the onset of sleep cycles in the womb to the first signs of dream awareness in the young child, and to the blossoming dream life of the older child. Newly detected sleep cycling in early gestational age pushes further back in time the appearance of sleep cycles in the womb. Karen Schwab and a team of neuroscientists at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany, showed the existence of sleep cycling in early gestational age that are distinct from REM-NREM. Short and unstable five-to-ten minutes cycles in early gestational age increase in length and stabilize with advancing gestational age (Schwab, Groh, Schwab, Witte, 2009). NREM and REM periods are at first distinguishable between 28 and 31 weeks of gestation. Remarkably, the ratio of REM to total sleep time is at its highest before birth. An infant born prematurely at thirty weeks spends 80% of total sleep in REM sleep. REM sleep diminishes gradually toward birth and through infancy, to stabilize at age three. By age three, children spend 20% of their total sleep in REM sleep, the same proportion of REM sleep as adults (Roffwarg, Muzio, Dement, 1966; Roffwarg, Dement, Fisher, 1966). REM sleep is known for its high correlation with dreaming, although both have been shown to be dissociable states (Solms, 2003). The high proportion of REM sleep in the unborn child, newborn and infant raises questions about the function of REM sleep before birth and in the very first stages of life, and its role in the development of the child's dreaming mind. It poses the question of how and when human infants begin dreaming. Startling evidence of intelligent life in the womb—a foetus can move, hear, taste, feel and learn—leads us also to ask what mental states might characterize REM sleep in the unborn, in the newborn and in the infant. Researchers have inferred dreaming in non-verbal infants from the infant's behavior during sleep. Once a child begins to speak, tracking a child's developing dream life becomes easier. The literature provides examples of verbal manifestations of dreaming in children as young as 13 months old (Isaacs, 1932; Fraiberg, 1950; Mack, 1965). The dreams of young dreamers, age three and four, recorded in a dream-receptive household through dream-journaling (Beaudet, 2008) are in contrast with the laboratory dreams observed by Foulkes (1971, 1999). At five and six a child's dream life blossoms. One can discern this developing dream life over several years. Dreams from two five-year-olds—one boy and one girl—and their recurrence—one at age seven and one at age nine—observed in the children's dream journals, illustrate dream processes in children over large spans of time (Beaudet, 2008). From the developing sleep cycles in the womb to the large cycles of dream recurrence over years, a child's capacity for experiencing the dream deepens. Ann Bengtsson Dreams, transformation symbols, chakras and meditation In this morning group I will describe what a chakra is and show the relationship between transformation symbols and chakras. The participants will tell their dreams or just the transformation symbols and I will teach them how to relate the symbols to the chakras or otherwise meditate on the symbols and experience the changes. Possibly there will be a short period of interpretations. I will then propose a short meditative exercise at night before going to bed and in the next morning group we may see the results of this influence. Walter Berry, MFA Through The Dream Looking Glass In this experiential workshop we will delve into the deep interior of a dream and experience the wonder that exists there. To begin this process we will make a visual representation of a dream chosen from the group by having the dreamer make a drawing of the dream. With this "dream map" in front of us, we will then quickly explore the interior of the dream using an Ullman/Taylor projective dreamwork approach. We will lay open the dream to its emotional content, its symbolic meanings, its associations to waking life, and other qualities that appear in its rapid unfolding. Now that we have "befriended" the dream, the final step will be to choose a point in the narrative and drop into that point in the dream, carrying these emotional, visual, and cognitive tools we have just developed to take a closer look at what the dream looks and feels like, and listen to what it has to tell us. We will move back and forth through this single point in slow motion, akin to Robert Bosnak's work, with the dreamer leading all of us down into the dream, allowing the thoughts, feelings, projections, to sweep over us in this dream depth, permitting the dream itself to speak. There will be a short introduction of about five minutes at the beginning of the workshop and the rest of the time will be spent in the work. Barbara Bishop, PhD Making Use of Drug Use Dreams This presentation focuses on the dreams addicts have after they have stopped active addiction and are sober. While virtually all drug addicts report drug use dreams, few find them much more than an annoyance. Further, most therapists and drug counselors treat drug use dreams with alarm, and little else. I want to argue that they need a thorough looking into, and offer information that could aid the drug counselor or therapist in assessment, diagnosis and treatment. I'll be exploring the very term, "using dream," to see what the word "use" refers to, besides the obvious drug use. By considering the metaphorical meanings of "use," the drug use dream may lead the drug counselor or therapist into the territory before drug use, specifically to the traumas that are buried underneath using. Other researchers have utilized drug use dreams to gauge the addict's ability to remain sober. Flower and Zweben (1998) and Shoen (2009) have identified the attitude towards the drug use in the dream as the barometer to assess commitment to sobriety. Feeling elation, without guilt, is one way to determine if the addict intends to stay sober, but there are other ways to see how determined the addict is to maintain sobriety. The other characters in the dream offer clues about the addict's internal and external support system; the settings may be identified as "drug use" or "sober" settings, and the plot sequences have "sober" and "drug use" features as well. Learning to assess the dream's commitment to sobriety can aid the therapist or drug counselor in determining whether or not the dreamer intends to remain sober. Finally, to make using dreams truly useful, the therapist or counselor will want to consider their recurring aspect, as a manifestation of some conflict or other unresolved matter that demands attention, but consistently gets only the literal "meaning" of the dreamer's past behavior. Using dreams are much more interesting and important texts when viewed through the lens of metaphor; the images in using dreams individualize the addict, and offer creative ways to sustain sobriety and move away from a "using" orientation. Christina Bjergo, MA Tarot Dreaming to Gnosis Western Gnostics integrated body-oriented practices from the East for their spiritual development. A.E. Waite, Gnostic member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, created the famous Rider-Waite tarot deck commonly used today. The tarot is a divination tool. The symbols in the cards show the way to spiritual unfolding and inner wisdom. Yet the images are but reflections of dreams. Understanding the eastern symbolism in dreams and the tarot supports the evolution of the soul – with dreams and the tarot expressing universal themes for dream workers on the journey to higher consciousness for people of all faiths. This presentation will explore the Gnostic alchemical secrets of the major arcana and the Taoist symbolism encoded in the cards. Mark Blagrove, Jen Neuschaffer and Josie Henley-Einion Assessing dream impactfulness, session depth and dream understanding in a dream group There is considerable controversy about the extent to which the study of dreams in either individual psychoanalysis or group sessions can result in personal insight about the self or insight about possible meanings or memory sources of the dream. An extreme scepticism is shown about this in the work of Adolf Grünbaum, where even the agreement of the person who had the dream to an interpretation does not count as evidence for the truth of the interpretation. A more empirical approach has been taken by Clara Hill and Teresa DeCicco, where ratings of session depth are taken after dream psychotherapy sessions. The current study aimed to assess variables related to dream impactfulness, session depth and dream understanding in a Dream Appreciation group based on the Montague Ullman method. Although such groups in the real world run with a constant membership and over time, and with all members able to offer dreams, for purposes of scientific control the current study had a group composed of three permanent members (the authors of this paper) plus a space for one participant at a time. The participant would bring 1 or 2 dreams to the group, and the protocol of the Ullman Dream Appreciation method would be followed for each dream. There were 13 participants in total (4 males, 9 females; all undergraduate students), 22 dreams were reported. Each group session lasted from 45 to 75 minutes. Institutional Ethics Approval for the study was obtained, all participants gave informed consent to take part, and ethical guidelines of the IASD for working with dreams were adhered to. Participants initially completed the Cernovsky Attitudes to Dreams Scale, where higher scores indicate a positive attitude. Each dream was then rated by the participant for its impactfulness on scale 0 to 4 (where 0 = not at all impactful and 4 = extremely impactful) for how on the day of the dream: a) the dream affected your waking mood …………. b) the dream prompted personal reminiscence ………… c) the dream sensitized you to aspects of your personal life ……………. d) the dream motivated you to changes in the way you live ………….. Attitude to Dreams had only a small correlation with total impactfulness of dreams (r = .13, n=13). After the group session participants and the other group members rated the depth of the dream appreciation session for this dream on a 0 – 100 visual analogue scale. A VAS scale was then used for all group members to rate the degree to which the session for this dream gave them any new understanding of what the dream means, with 0 = not at all and 100 = very much. For the 22 dreams the 3 experimenters had correlations of .39, .28 and .48 with each other, but mean of the experimenters' ratings had only a negligible correlation with the participants' rating of new understanding of the dream due to the group process (r = -.09). The rating of insight into any meaning of the dream, and the rating of any insight into one's self, were treated as separate variables. On the 0 – 100 VAS scales participants' mean rating of new understanding of each dream = 67.8 (SD = 18.2), mean experimenters' rating of post-group understanding of the dream = 72.0 (17.8), and participants' rating of 'Did the session for this dream give you new understanding or insight about yourself or about any aspect of your life?' = 57.0 (15.5). Two instances of an apparent sudden feeling of realization about how the dream is related to waking life occurred. In conclusion, participants and experimenters in the dream appreciation group did rate themselves as having obtained new understanding of the dreams in the group session. Participants also gave a moderate rating of having obtained insight about themselves or about their life due to the session. However, correlations between experimenters on level of understanding of the dream obtained in the group were very modest, indicating a problem with reliability of this scoring. Obviously, this study did not have any control condition. Personal insight, for example, may have resulted from the discussion and examination process rather than from any characteristic of the dreams, and ratings of depth of the session and understanding of the dreams may have resulted from expectation and experimenter demands. Future work should use the dreams of others, and the examination of waking life episodes, as in Hill et al (1993), to control for some of these factors. Reference Clara E. Hill, Roberta Diemer, Shirley Hess, Ann Hillyer, and Robyn Seeman (1993). Are the Effects of Dream Interpretation on Session Quality, Insight, and Emotions Due to the Dream Itself, to Projection, or to the Interpretation Process? Dreaming, 3, 269-280. Mark Blagrove (Swansea University), Nathalie Fouquet (Swansea University), Anna Davies (Swansea University), Jen Neuschaffer (Swansea University), Josie-Henley-Einion (Swansea University), Alison Baird (Swansea University), Johannes Thome (Swansea University), Ed Pace-Schott (Harvard Medical School), Patrick McNamara (Boston University) and Oliver Turnbull (Bangor University) Association of neurohormones oxytocin and cortisol with sleep stage and dream content This study investigated differences in levels of oxytocin (a hormone associated with emotional attachment) and cortisol (a hormone associated with stress) between Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep and stage 2 sleep, and investigated whether oxytocin and cortisol are associated with REM dream content (friendly social dreams and unpleasant dreams respectively). McNamara et al (2001) proposed that REM sleep and dreaming have a function of promoting attachment behaviour. The evidence is commonalities of brain physiology between areas of the brain activated in REM sleep and those areas involved in attachment, and that dream recall is higher in insecurely attached individuals, compared to securely attached individuals. This study follows on from McNamara et al (2001) and hypothesises that a) there are higher levels of oxytocin in REM sleep than in non-REM sleep when controlling for time of night, and b) higher levels of oxytocin following REM dreams that have multiple characters and social / friendly content, than in REM dreams that have content that is non-social or even threatening. Oxytocin: There is only a brief literature on circadian and diurnal factors in oxytocin release. Forsling (1993) found that from 2am to 4am the level of oxytocin is more than double the waking time average. However, no study has been published on whether sleep stage (Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM), and the 4 stages of non-REM sleep: stages 1, 2, 3 and 4) modulates the night time release of oxytocin. Forsling found that there was considerable variation between subjects, in terms of both the timing and magnitude of the peak, and noted that there is a marked variation in the same individual over successive days. We hypothesised that these variations may be due to modulation by REM and non-REM sleep, and by dream content. Cortisol: There is a considerable literature on a) the association between cortisol and stress, b) the high levels of cortisol during the later part of the night, when REM sleep is predominant, and c) the association between waking life stress and unpleasant dream content / frequent nightmares (e.g., Chivers & Blagrove, 1999; Blagrove et al, 2004). However, these literatures have not been combined into an investigation of the association between unpleasatness of dreams and cortisol levels when awake and when asleep. We hypothesised that the gradient of cortisol change prior to sleep will be associated with mean dream unpleasantness across the night, and that levels of cortisol within the night will be associated with levels of unpleasantness of individual dreams. Circadian phase: As oxytocin and cortisol each follow a circadian rhythm, the confound of circadian phase was assessed using melatonin assays. Possible delayed effects of dream content on oxytocin and cortisol Although the study of sleep stage associations with oxytocin and cortisol is straightforward, in that saliva samples of these are taken upon experimenter-cued awakenings from the stages, there is a complication regarding dream content and these hormones. This arises because of the possibility of delayed effects. For example, although Carter et al (2007) found that saliva samples of oxytocin increases in anticipation of breastfeeding, increases were found at 30 minutes after massage. Although they only studied pre-massage and 30 minutes post-massage levels, and so oxytocin levels may have responded sooner than 30 minutes to the physical contact of massage, this does raise the possibility of a delayed response of oxytocin or cortisol to dream content. To study this we collected saliva samples during the hour after final waking in the morning, and analysed those data in terms of sleep stage on waking, presence or absence of a dream on waking, and dream content of any such dreams. However, we acknowledge dreams could be conceptualised as the mind equivalent of the current brain state, rather than as a stimulus that causes a change in the brain state: in this case dream content would be associated with oxytocin and cortisol levels at thanalysis e time of the dream. The main theoretical background to this is that if a dream related oxytocin association is found then this feeds into the idea that unremembered dreams have some influence on the brain. Method In Fall 2009 20 Ps slept in the sleep lab for 2 nights and were woken during REM and stage 2 sleep to provide saliva samples and dream reports. Results Results of the associations between neurohormones and both sleep stage and dream content will be presented. Mark Blagrove PhD, Nathalie Fouquet PhD, Josie Henley-Einion BSc, Anna Davies, Johannes Thome MD, Edward Pace-Schott* PhD, Alison Bair (All at Swansea University except *Harvard Medical School) Assessing the 5 - 7 day dream-lag effect with home and laboratory dreams Introduction: The dream-lag effect as investigated by Nielsen et al (2004) refers to there being, after the frequent incorporation of or correspondence with elements from the previous day into dreams, a lower incorporation of elements from the 2nd to 4th days before the dream (termed here Days 2-4), an increased incorporation of elements from the 5th to 7th days before the dream (termed Days 5-7), and then a lower incorporation for Days 8+ before the dream. This effect may indicate a memory processing function for sleep or dreams. Two experiments are reported which aimed to replicate this effect. Methods and Results: Experiment 1: 8 participants kept a daily diary and a home dream diary for 14 days and rated the level of matching between every dream and every diary entry. Baseline matching was assessed by comparing all dreams to all days that occurred after the dream. Mean level of matching of dreams to the diary record of the day before the dream, and of dreams to the diary records of the 5th to 7th days before the dream were significantly higher than for baseline, mean correspondence between dreams and Days 8+ were not significantly different from baseline. Overall correspondences between dream content and diaries were such that Day 1 > Days 5-7 > Days 8+ > Days 2-4 > baseline, (Friedman test, chi sq = 14.20, p=.007). Experiment 2: 20 participants kept a daily diary for 10 days prior to sleeping in the sleep lab. REM and stage 2 dreams were collected in the lab and participants rated the correspondence between each of these dreams and each of the diary reports. Overall correspondences between dream content and diaries were higher for Day 1 and Days 5-7 than for Days 2-4 and Days 8+, but there were no significant differences in level of correspondence between these time periods (Friedman test, chi sq = 2.89). Conclusions: The dream-lag effect was replicated in a study involving home dreams but the results were not significant for dreams collected in the laboratory. Explanations for the latter finding may be that the incorporation of the laboratory situation into dreams outweighs any dream-lag effect, and/or that the inclusion of NREM dreams has diluted the dream-lag effect. Empirical tests of these possible explanations will be provided. Reference Nielsen, T. A., Kuiken, D., Alain, G., Stenstrom, P., & Powell, R. A. (2004). Immediate and delayed incorporations of events into dreams: further replication and implications for dream function. Journal of Sleep Research, 13, 327-336. Amy C. Blume-Marcovici, MA Poster Presentation: Gender differences in dreams: Applications to dreamwork with male clients Differences between the dreams of men and women have been the topic of much research in the study of dreaming. This poster outlines four such gender differences in dreaming, namely, dream recall frequency, sex of dream character, dream aggression and dream perspective. For each gender difference, a brief review of literature is presented, along with possible causes for the difference between sexes. Of primary emphasis, suggestions are made for applications to clinical practice with a focus on gender-specific dreamwork strategies for work with male clients. Fariba Bogzaran, PhD Lucid Dreaming and the Great Mind Intentionally or spontaneously while exploring lucid dream phenomena, Western practitioners have been reporting extraordinary experiences in their lucid dreams. Transcendence, Divine experiences (personal or impersonal), mystical encounters, phenomena of void and light are among many such communications (Alexander, 1987; Bogzaran, 1989; LaBerge, 1985; Garfield, 1979; Gillespie, 83; Hurd, 2008; Sparrow 1976; Waggoner, 2009). Within the contemporary western tradition, lucid dreaming is used for a variety of purposes, psychological, emotional, spiritual, creative and other goals. Within the Eastern system of practice, in particular ancient Tibetan Buddhism, lucid dreaming has been used specifically as a path to advancing spiritual development and preparation for dying. This paper addresses three distinct areas in light of lucid dreaming in relation to the concept of the Great Mind. The paper discusses the East/West view on lucid dreaming, in particular the Tibetan Buddhist view, and the recent Western movement in lucid dreaming. Paradoxes regarding intentionality and goals of this practice will be addressed. To bridge the ancient and the contemporary practice, the paper examines current phenomenological research with a group of Western lucid dream practitioners who have been reporting transcendent, spiritual or mystical experiences in their lucid dreams. Theme analysis based on their description sheds light on the nature of the lucid mind, and its representational and non-representational archetypes, visual, auditory and kinesthetic experiences. The research draws on common themes to discuss the practice of lucid dreaming as a vehicle for spiritual development as suggested by the Tibetan Buddhists. The themes will be explored in reference to the ancient Tibetan Buddhist texts on the non-dual nature of the mind. The paper concludes that ongoing practice of lucid dreaming eventually leads to spiritual inquiry and connection with what Gordon Onslow Ford called Great Spaces of the Mind. The lucid vehicle becomes a method for awareness practice in waking and dreaming thus the ancient Tibetan teachings on daytime and nighttime practices promoting lucid waking, lucid dreaming. Fariba Bogzaran, PhD and Daniel Deslauriers, PhD Integral Dreaming: A Theory of Practice Integral Dreaming is an approach to dreams by using multidimensional methods in working with one dream. In this workshop the theory and core principles of Integral Dreaming will be introduced. In Integral Dream Practice, participants begin with a dream-entry method to make contact with their own dreams. We will describe two methods: dream indwelling and dream reentry with a drum (in the workshop only one will be used, for didactic purpose, participants will experience dream reentry with drumming). After the reentry, participants will engage in a short session of automatic writing. Following this practice, participants will do a short somatic awareness method using one central dream image though active imagination. This method is followed by another automatic writing. The reflective phase consists of reading the automatic writings and drawing themes from them to arrive at a poetic synthesis that will be optionally shared by dreamers in dyads. Kirsten Borum Dreams and Meditation The theme of this workshop is how to combine dreamwork with meditation focusing on the spiritual aspects of dreams and benefiting from the group energy that builds up. Workshop participants are invited to bring a dream containing a symbol or image they would consider spiritual or archetypal. My workshop is geared toward increasing spiritual awareness as well as personal self-awareness and emotional growth. This is an experiential workshop. A form of group meditation on dream symbols of a spiritual or archetypal nature will be introduced. It will build on the sharing of and meditation on individual dream symbols with the aim of each person getting an opportunity to reach a deeper understanding of the symbol or become immersed in a space of higher feelings, as well as experiencing the group energy that will build up during the process. After the meditation there will be a period of sharing of experiences in the group. The background of my teachings of dreamwork and meditation/energy work is based on my intensive and long-standing studies with Jes Bertelsen, Ph.D (Danish) and Bob Moore, spiritual teacher (Irish). There is a correlation between the images of our nightly dreams and the subtle energy of man. Dreams will prompt certain specific energy exercises to be performed, and energy exercises will have an impact on the contents and symbols of the dream. Marc Bregman and Christa Lancaster Living the Red Book: Feelings as the Doorway to the Secret Life of the Soul Presenting Archetypal Dreamwork Scholarliness alone is not enough; there is a knowledge of the heart that gives deeper insight. The knowledge of the heart is in no book and is not to be found in the mouth of any teacher, but grows out of you like the green seed from the dark earth. —C. G. Jung, The Red Book Marc Bregman and Christa Lancaster, therapists, writers, and teachers from Montpelier, Vermont, will present the teachings of Archetypal Dreamwork as revealed in a combined 57 years of work with clients and students both individually and in groups. Archetypal Dreamwork was featured in Rodger Kamenetz' book The History of Last Night's Dream, and on Oprah Winfrey's Soul Series. Archetypal Dreamwork is a way of experiencing, rather than just understanding, the hidden aspects of the self, both positive and negative, as presented in the images and feelings of dreams. This experience, which can be had individually with a therapist or in group process, can lead to profound personal and spiritual growth and the ultimate goal of the dream, dying to who we truly are. This process requires that we understand the difference between core feelings, which come from the true self, and the emotional reactions that often run our lives. Dreams, as informed by the dreamer's own associations and life experiences, offer this discernment. Marc and Christa will discuss the role of archetypes in dreams—the animus and the anima, the spiritual father and mother, and the divine child. They will explain how pathological figures that appear in dreams, such as the dark mother and the dark male, influence our waking lives. They will also discuss the paradoxical way dreams communicate—sometimes presenting seemingly good things as bad and bad things as good—to reveal our own misunderstandings about our current predicaments, both psychological and spiritual. Following their introduction to Archetypal Dreamwork, Marc and Christa will demonstrate String Therapy, a unique and lively way of working with dreams in a group. They will work with volunteers from the audience who will be invited to share several dreams to be enacted by others from the audience, under Marc and Christa's guidance. Anything in the dream is open to being enacted—a person, an object, a feeling, an unseen voice, a belief held by the dreamer, a tornado, the car the dreamer is driving. As the dreams unfold, Marc and Christa will work with the dreamer through associations to fully explore the message the dreams reveal. Working with dreams in this way offers an immediate, visceral, and often surprising experience of ourselves, revealing the truth of our present experience and pointing the way toward who we can become. Nicholas Brink, PhD Shamanic Journeying: A Replication of Felicitas Goodman's Lifetime Work Felicitas Goodman spent many years as an anthropologist studying body postures found in ancient and primitive art and contemporary shamanistic practices of healing. She identified several dozen postures that produce specific shamanic journey experiences. As teacher of anthropology at Denison University and founder and director of the Cuyamungue Institute, she presented her workshops at the Institute and around the world and collected the dreamlike experiences of a large number of participants. From these experiences she found commonalities in the dream experiences of individuals standing, sitting and lying in specific postures. She also found that in being true to the posture, including the use of costumes and facial or body paint used by the dreamer, the dream experience would become more vivid. These postures are described in her book Where The Spirits Ride the Wind (Indiana University Press, 1990). Goodman suggests that certain postures produce an experience of a "spirit journey," either into the heavens, the earthly realm or into the underworld. Other postures produce divination experiences to provide answers to specific questions held by the dreamer. Other postures provide healing, death-rebirth and shape-shifting or metamorphosis experiences. Kelly Bulkeley, PhD and Jane White-Lewis, PhD First-timers Morning Dream Group This morning dream group is for people who are attending the IASD conference for the first time. The group will introduce people to basic approaches in working with dreams and offer guidance in navigating through the multi-tracked activities of the conference. We have facilitated this group at IASD conferences for more than ten years, and participants have found it a valuable way of orienting themselves within the dream studies community. The dreamsharing practices we will use include Jungian amplification of symbols and the projective methods of Montague Ullman and Jeremy Taylor. The group's activities will involve discussion and personal reflection. Approximately one-quarter of the scheduled time will involve didactic teaching, and the rest will focus on group discussion and sharing. Kelly Bulkeley, PhD Dreaming in Christianity and Islam: Historical Roots, Future Challenges At a time when Christianity and Islam appear to be mortal enemies locked in an increasingly bloody "clash of civilizations," new insights are needed to promote better mutual understanding of the two traditions' shared values. This panel presentation will look to dreams for those kinds of insights. The panelists, who have written chapters for the new IASD-inspired book Dreaming in Christianity and Islam: Culture, Conflict, and Creativity, will discuss the influential role of dreaming in both Christianity and Islam, from the very origins of those traditions up to the present-day practices of contemporary believers. Dreams have been a powerful source of revelation, guidance, and healing for generations of Christians and Muslims. Dreams have also been an accurate gauge of the most challenging conflicts facing each tradition. The panelists will share the story of dreaming in these two major world religions, documenting the wide-ranging impact of dreams on their sacred texts, mystical experiences, therapeutic practices, and doctrinal controversies. The panelists will present a wealth of evidence to advance a simple but, in the contemporary historical moment, radical argument: Christians and Muslims share a common psychospiritual grounding in the dreaming imagination. While careful attention will be given to the significant differences between the two traditions, our overall emphasis is on the shared religious, psychological, and social qualities of their dream experiences. Throughout their respective histories Christians and Muslims have turned to dreams for creative responses to their most urgent crises and concerns. In this presentation the panelists apply that same imaginative resource to the current conflict between the two traditions, seeking in the depths of dreaming new creative responses to the global crisis of religious misunderstanding and fearful hostility. Topics to be discussed include dreams in the Bible and Qur'an; the early history of Christian and Muslim beliefs about dreaming; religious practices of dream interpretation; the dreams of children, women, college students, and prison inmates; and the use of dreams in healing, caregiving, and creative adaptation to waking problems. C Back to TopDorothy Campbell, RN, BScN, MN, Diplomate ISAP Zurich Creating Dream Mandalas According to Jung, personal mandalas are individually unique and are based on inner images. They symbolize the center of the psyche, not the ego, and indicate "the silent happenings in the soul." Individuation is a "process of differentiation," having for its goal of the development of the individual personality." In the process the ego develops a stable connection to the Self, the center of the psyche; it is no longer the predominant power of the inner world. The psyche communicates this soul process to the conscious psyche through images from the unconscious. Dreams are a powerful carrier of these images. Through creating a mandala of a dream––either of a mandala image in a dream or of composing a mandala from dream symbolism––one may take an objective stance toward the symbols, finding wholeness in "knowing" the previously unrecognized energies and processes and their inherent relatedness to each other and to one's psyche, and finding "freedom" from attachment to the images and relationship to the psyche's center itself. Participants will create a mandala from drawing materials and paper. We will look at the mandalas in terms of the individuation process, either individually, in dyads or as a group, depending on one's choice. Sharing one's mandala is voluntary. This workshop is geared to increasing psychic and spiritual self-awareness of attendees. Laurel Clark, DM, DD Beyond Edgar Cayce: Dream "Prescriptions" in Intuitive Health and Past Life Readings In the early 1900's, well-known psychic Edgar Cayce stumbled upon a method for obtaining knowledge directly from an etheric source known as the Akashic Records. Cayce, sometimes known as the "sleeping prophet," reported information from a trance-like state to improve the health and wellbeing of people wanting to become more whole. As described on the Edgar Cayce Foundation website, the readings came from "an etheric source of information, called the 'Akashic Records,' which is apparently some kind of universal database for every thought, word, or deed that has ever transpired in the earth …" The website also describes Cayce's ability to put aside the conscious mind so that the information could be given: "In this state the conscious mind becomes subjugated to the subconscious, superconscious or soul mind; and may and does communicate with like minds, and the subconscious or soul force becomes universal …" In the present day, intuitive researchers at the School of Metaphysics have developed a method of Intuitive Reports similar to the readings done by Edgar Cayce. Past Life reports from the Akashic Records and Intuitive Health Analyses are done by a reader-conductor team. The conductor uses a mild form of hypnosis so that the reader is "asleep" and reports the knowledge directly from the etheric source, much like Edgar Cayce did. In this way, the opinions or value judgments of the person "reporting" the information do not interfere with the knowledge being retrieved. Since the late 1960's, these intuitive reports have served tens of thousands of people around the world. A significant number of these readings recommend that the individual remember and record dreams, using the knowledge obtained in the dream-state for health and healing. In some cases, individuals are counseled to interpret the dreams, and in others, the simple act of increasing awareness of the dream-state produces greater health. This presentation will describe the Akashic Records and the Intuitive Health Aura, where they are located, how the knowledge is obtained from that etheric source; and give examples of specific intuitive reports that recommend dreams. This knowledge is designed for the individual and at the same time, has universal applications. The purpose of this presentation is to show the vast knowledge that is available to us from this etheric source, and how the subconscious mind itself recommends dreams as a source of healing and soul development. The examples will describe (according to the Intuitive Health Aura and the Akashic Records) how dreams can be used for deeper understanding of the nature of the Self and the soul. The intuitive knowledge may describe dreams for better understanding of the self, for greater physical health, for emotional healing, and for other purposes. Individuals who gain access to this inner source of knowledge may increase their ability to be whole and to be a healing presence for others. Laurel Clark, DM, DD, PsiD In My Father's House Are Many Mansions Whether we are Americans living in square, box-like houses, Eskimos living in igloos, tribal people living in tepees or huts, or cave dwellers, most people have some kind of house that serves as a dwelling place. We also use buildings for other purposes: school buildings for education, churches or temples or mosques for worship, theaters for performing, office buildings for work. What does it mean when these buildings appear in our dreams? Is there a universal significance to a house or building that can enhance the personal understanding of its meaning in our own dreams? Some people report having a particular "dream house" ––a house in which they have never lived in physical, waking, reality––which appears in their dreams. Sometimes the house evolves over time, with new rooms, additions or changes. Sometimes this "dream house" can be a doorway into lucidity. When the dreamer recognizes the house in the dream, he or she suddenly realizes that s/he is dreaming. How can one use this experience of recognizing a familiar house in a dream to enhance lucidity? This presentation gives some ideas of how to do this, based on the presenter's experience with her own "dream house." Sometimes the dreams are not lucid, but the dreamer can note an evolution over time of exploring new places in the dream house. This presentation explores houses in dreams. Using her own experience, the presenter will describe a progression over time, starting with childhood dreams in which a house with secret rooms revealed new places in her mind, to discovering the same "dream house" that has appeared over the years which now is a doorway to lucid dreams. In exploring houses in dreams, the presenter has also reviewed 35 years of dream journals, discovering in retrospect how changes in her emotional state and spiritual consciousness were revealed in the opening of new rooms in "dream houses." The presenter will also give examples of "dream houses" from her students' dreams (they have given permission) that show a progression occurring as the dreamers evolved in their waking state through developing practices such as meditation and other spiritual disciplines. The presentation will illustrate some ways that those who have recurring dreams of houses can use these dreams as an evaluation tool to understand their own progression. It will also show how house dreams can provide a way to understanding one's "state" of consciousness, or mood. It describes how this common experience of house dreams can be a link to communicating with other dreamers. Jessica Clarke BSc (Hons), Teresa L. DeCicco PhD, Geoff Navara PhD Sexual Dreaming in Relation to Romantic Jealousy and Relationship Intimacy The present study explored dreams with sexual imagery in relation to the following waking day characteristics: infidelity (partner cheating or the target cheating), relationship satisfaction, romantic jealousy, and intimacy. Questionnaires were completed by 98 female undergraduate students at Trent University. All dream reports and discovery reports were analyzed with a textual analysis system of content analysis. As expected, significant correlations were found with those who reported having a partner cheat on them with cognitive, emotional, and behavioural jealousy. Additional findings revealed that people who scored high in romantic jealousy also had dream meaning associated with infidelity. These findings imply that the Storytelling Method of Dream Interpretation is useful for linking the interpretation of sex dreams to waking romantic relationship issues. Research implications and future directions are discussed. Rose Cleary, PhD Dreaming Tapestries of Time: Jeanette Winterson's The Stone Gods and H. D.'s Tribute to Freud If, as Norman Holland asserts, "literature is a dream dreamed for us" (1993, p. 178), then Jeanette Winterson's The Stone Gods (2007) is a contemporary nightmare. Captured in a catastrophic world fashioned by corporate hands and technological cleverness, readers are desperate to escape the intensity of its images. And yet, The Stone Gods is a love story. Anxiety breaks through. The novel has an unforgettable impact on the reader's imagination. Winterson self-reflexively includes encountering the manuscript of the novel within the novel itself. She hints that the story is itself an "intervention" that seeks to disturb the sleep of her readers. The Stone Gods can aptly be described in the terms Jane White-Lewis uses to describe the transformative potential of nightmares: it goes directly to the core of the complex with the intention to "express the acute distress of the psyche in the most dramatic form possible and – what is especially important – to suggest a way out of the fear or the complex" (1993, p. 55). In a similar vein, H.D.'s Tribute to Freud, a memoir of her analysis, goes directly into the core of her war terror. Written in 1944, H.D. had lived through the Blitz that she says literally blasted the past into her consciousness as it transformed London into "a city of ruin, a world ruined, it might seem, almost past redemption" (p. 84). Yet H.D. finds "resurrection and a sense of direction" in the midst of wartime devastations by remembering her analysis with Freud. With him she discovers the unconscious as a "time element." It is an "unusual dimension," she writes, "an unusual way to think" (p. 47). H.D. understood dreams, visions, and the startling fragments of childhood memory to be "hieroglyphics of the unconscious mind," a visual language that is almost out of time: "the years went forward then backward . . . It was a present that was in the past or a past that was in the future" (p. 9). In this presentation, I highlight the striking similarity found in the imaginative methods of Jeanette Winterson and H.D. as they confront the historical realities of "a city of ruin, a world ruined." Each turns toward the "time element" characteristic of dreams; each weaves "tapestries of time in which past, present, future, and fantasy form a single time element" that disrupts linear chronology. (Friedman, 1981, p. 52). In the simple dream equation that merges the distant future with the past, H.D. and Winterson recover the reality of a love that awakens from the nightmares of history. References: Doolittle, H. (1956). Tribute to Freud. New York: Pantheon Books. Friedman, S. (1981). Psyche Reborn: The Emergence of H.D. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Holland, N. (1993). Hermia's Dream. In Rupprecht, C. The Dream and the Text. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. White-Lewis, J. (1993). In Defense of Nightmares. In Rupprecht, C. The Dream and the Text. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Winterson, J. (2007). The Stone Gods. New York: Harcourt, Inc. Irene Clurman and Michael Tappan, MA Morning Dream Group: The Theater of Dreams: Discovering Meaning by Playing the Part. This dream group is interactive and provides a method of staging portions of dreams so that the content of dreams and their meaning can be more easily understood and physically experienced. In this dream group, a dreamer describes a dream, and the dream's landscape is clarified by questions and initially analyzed by other participants with the projective "If this were my dream" format. The dream portrayal is then carried out when the dreamer identifies a particularly resonant, powerful or enigmatic part of the dream. The opportunity to re-enter the dream occurs when the dreamer sets the stage by choosing group participants to play various parts of the dream. It is always "dreamer's choice" as to the level of involvement of the dreamer. The dreamer may choose to play himself or herself, direct from the sidelines, play a dream symbol or simply be an observer. We use an array of objects including masks, hats and yards of colorful cloths and scarves as props. We find that these materials are intuitively used to "flesh-out" the dream symbols, adding important information and fostering an imaginative understanding of the dream for the dreamer, the role-players, and for the other attendees. The dreamer will have the opportunity to play other parts of the dream, switch roles, or ask questions of the role-players. This enables the dreamer to experience the dream from an unfamiliar but often very meaningful perspective. We find that the dream fragment has a life and power of its own. And though some dreamers report a sense of déjà vu as they initially set the scene of the dream, once the action begins there is a sense of physical involvement that pushes the dreamed scene into new (or newly recognized) emotional territory. Methods: Dreams are first analyzed with the projective method of "If this were my dream" format. A community of dreamers then assists each other in physically recreating and re-entering the dream by using simple props and basic improvisational theatrical techniques. After the dream is portrayed and the work completed, Irene leads the group in gentle physical postures or physical activities that help in embodying the lessons of the explored dream. Activities Expected of Attendees: Participants should be willing to assist others in creating a dream landscape by substituting themselves for the inanimate and animate symbols experienced in a person's dream. No acting experience is necessary. Time Planned On the first day, 20 to 30 minutes of the dream group is devoted to the explanation of the principles involved, introductions and the opportunity to ask questions. The remaining portion of the dream group is devoted to portraying a dream. During the dream group questions can be asked at any time. And after the dream portrayal participants are given the opportunity to share their experience, understanding and questions about the work in which they played a part. Barbara Condron, DM, DD, BJ Group Dreaming: Energetic Connections Forming Universal Mind How much does the content of our thinking during the day affect the theme, scene, and characters in our dreams? Last September, over four dozen student-teachers at the School of Metaphysics participated in a group dreaming experiment. These individuals practice mental and spiritual disciplines daily, focusing on concentration, meditation, and visualization. Participants began incubating peace through participation in a "Living Peaceably Begins by Thinking Peacefully" event held on the campus of the College of Metaphysics. At the close of the day, participants were asked to journal their day's experience of peace. Next, they were given two additional instructions to perform before sleeping so right-left brain involvement could be measured. Dream activity was logged the next morning along with participant's thoughts about their dreams. Those engaging in all stages of the experiment were shown to have 100% dream recall and relevancy. This presentation chronicles participants, their level of mental discipline, dream recall and interpretation of their dreams, both personally and interactively. The results will be presented in the context of how Mind sends and receives thought within a single person and between Self and others. How mental "seed planting" in the consciousness of the individual and the group can shed light on dream lucidity and incubation will be shown as well as the energetic connections we form in group thought making mind-to-mind communication (telepathy) possible. Daniel R. Condron, DD, DM, PsD, MS Kundalini, Chakras, and Dreams: Using dreams to know connectedness as the true nature of reality For over thirty years, Dr. Daniel R. Condron has researched, prosearched, studied and taught about dreams, kundalini, chakras, and prana. During this time, he has come to understand a synthesis of these factors of investigation. Dr. Condron's own practice of meditation, life force-breathwork, kundalini, dream interpretation, visualization, service, and teaching led after twenty years to a dramatic breakthrough in the year 2000. In the year 2000, Daniel Condron breathed through and opened all seven chakras using life force and kundalini. By recording his dreams in the following month's insights were obtained of the effect of these factors on dreams. In the year 2006, while in India, Daniel breathed through the eighth and ninth chakras, which at the time he was not aware existed. Again, came the recording and effort to understand the meaning of dreams that took on a decidedly different quality. He began to have a new way to identify, explain, and assess the meaning of his dreams that he shared with students, friends, and colleagues. A summation of the results of the findings and the ongoing research will be presented. Hezekiah Condron The Dream Mystery – The Many Facets of Dream Interpretation (A Film) The Dream Mystery is a documentary incorporating many ways of looking at and interpreting dreams. Those interviewed include Dr. Stanley Krippner, Robert Moss, Patricia Garfield, Rita Dwyer, Richard Wilkerson, Vicki Anderson, Beverly d'Urso and others during the 2009 Chicago IASD Conference. The question posed to each participant was "What do you find profound and interesting about dreams?" The answers were varied and reflect the many faceted ways we see our nighttime experiences. The answers also showed what we have in common. The awe in the dream experience and the affirming of how much dreams can teach us shines in this film. What happens in this documentary reflects the spirit of this year's conference – Bringing Dreams and Community Together. D Back to TopAllyson Dale, BA & Teresa DeCicco, PhD Examining Dreams and Discovery of Canadian Soldiers with the Storytelling Method of Dream Interpretation This research expands on the past research on dream science, theories, and therapy. The relationship of dreams and nightmares to immune system functioning, PTSD, and combat trauma is reviewed. This study investigated the use of a self-guided dream therapy method with the Canadian military. The Storytelling Method of dream interpretation (DeCicco, 2006) was tested with combat arms soldiers (N = 30) with operational experience (have been overseas), combat arms soldiers (N = 30) without operational experience (have not been overseas), and an age matched control group (N = 30). All participants in the study were male and recruited from Canadian Military sites. Dreams and discovery were scored across categories. Dream category examples include fear, combat scenes, patriotism, death, and threat. Dreams were scored using the method of content analysis (Hall & Van de Castle, 1966). In support of past research (DeCicco, 2009; 2008; 2007; 2006), the discovery from the Storytelling Method was found to be both relevant and meaningful to the soldiers as well as to the control group. Dream content differed significantly between soldiers with operational experience and those without. Soldiers with operational experience had significantly more nightmares, recurring dreams, and negative dream imagery when compared to soldiers without operational experience, and to the control group. Discovery categories also differed significantly in main themes across all three groups. Limitations and future research are discussed. Teresa L. DeCicco, PhD; Dr. Mohamed Omar Salem, MBChB, DPM, BCPsych, FRCPsych; Dr. Mohamed Abdel Latif Ragab, PhD; Mr. Said Yusuf Abdel Razik, MSc; and Anthony Murkar Religious and Spiritual Dream Symbols in Two Samples: Canadians and The United Arab Emirates Research on religious and spiritual symbols in dreams has been examined in the past but remains relatively understudied. The current study was undertaken to begin the examination of religious and spiritual content in two diverse groups. One group is Canadian, predominantly a Christian sample including Protestants and Catholics. The second, from the United Arab Emirates, is predominantly of the Islamic faith. The goal of the study was to examine religious and spiritual imagery within each group and also between the two groups. This study examined the dreams of 114 Canadian female students and 114 United Arab Emirates female students. The dreams were analyzed for salient religious and spiritual symbols for both groups. Symbols and images were chosen based on important waking day religious and spiritual elements for each sample. Categories such as religious places, God, or Allah were included in the analyses. Both sets of dreams were analyzed across the same categories and t-tests were used for measuring significant differences between groups. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) Since people of the Islamic faith are very religious and spiritually oriented in waking day, they will be high in religious and spiritual dream content. This will confirm the continuity hypothesis of dreaming (Hall & Norby, 1972). Similarly, it is expected that the Canadian sample will have some religious and spiritual dream content, but less so than the United Arab Emirates sample. 2) It is expected that the two samples will differ significantly in dream categories and will be representative of waking day religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviours of each group. For example, a significant difference is expected between the two samples for prophets and the Afterlife appearing in dreams since in the Islamic faith a focus on prophets and the Afterlife occur more regularly and frequently. The same applies to the religious rituals such as prayers. This study extends previous research on religious and spiritual symbols in dreams and also begins comparing these between two cultural groups. This research aids in shedding light onto the dreaming mind in terms of beliefs and practices. Future research and implications for applied practice will be discussed. Teresa L. DeCicco, PhD and Massimo Schinco Comparing the Projective Method of Dream Interpretation between Italians and Canadians The examination of dream interpretation techniques has been a key focus of research and writings in the psychological literature (e.g. DeCicco, 2007; Hill, 2003). More recently, methods have been translated from an English-only version of dream interpretation to other languages. For example, an Italian version of The Storytelling Method (DeCicco, 2006; DeCicco & Donati, 2008) has been translated and tested in clinical practice (Decicco, Donati & Pini, 2009). The purpose of this work was to extend previous findings by testing a second dream interpretation method, The Projective Method, in both an English speaking sample (DeCicco, 2008) and an Italian-speaking sample (DeCicco & Schinco, 2009). The method was administered into groups with a total of 15 participants in each sample. One recent dream and one discovery from that dream were collected from each participant. Dreams were content analyzed for major categories such as number of characters, total emotions, and locations. Discovery categories were also content analyzed for major categories such as family, work, stress, major life change, health/illness. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) The dreams of Italians and Canadians would differ in terms of total emotions but not in other categories (DeCicco, Zanasi, Musolini, Wright, 2009). 2) The discovery categories between the two groups would be significantly different for several categories. The theoretical basis for this research, future directions, and limitations will be discussed. Discussion will also focus on the applications for clinical practice. Marilyn DeMario, PhD The “Where” in Dreams: Place as Player Community first and foremost denotes space and place – physical space, as in a town or neighborhood. Other kinds of communities, intellectual, religious, cyber-spatial, etc., all depend upon this concrete metaphor. But place is usually the “given.” We are born into a place and we don’t ask it questions. The same can often be true in dreams. The dreaming psyche creates place with almost every dream, but the literature on the function of place in dreams remains scant. Place in dreams also seems to be just the “given.” This interactive workshop will begin to interrogate the function of place in dreams. The workshop will begin with a brief introduction, illustrated with conventional and changed photographs designed to help participants question the nature of location in their own dreams. In an effort to expand the ways in which we consider the function of setting or place in dreams, comment will be drawn from a variety of sources representing theatrical stagecraft, city planning, humanist geography, visual landscape arts, and English literature. Participants will be asked to replicate a personal dream landscape with pencil strokes, words, and color. (Artistic sensitivity may indeed prove to be a liability in this exercise as aesthetic considerations may detract from the invitation to allow the “spiritus loci” or spirit of the place to come forward.) We will then put a “face” on the image of place and take notes while we hold a conversation with that image. In the final twenty minutes, participants will be invited to share with each other the dialogs that may have occurred during this exercise. We will very much hope that as a group we will be able to add to, in whatever small way, our communal knowledge about the function and importance of place in dream. Drawing cards and colored pencils will be provided. Participants should bring pens and paper for note taking. Barbara A. Derrick, PhD The Dream Maker Who Lives Within Edgar Cayce, the most documented seer of the twentieth century, asserted that anyone could do what he did – and the best way to begin was with our dreams. Edgar Cayce could put himself into a trance or deep sleep that gave him access to what may be called the Universal Wisdom. Cayce saw this Universal Wisdom as a river of thought flowing through eternity. He maintained this flow of information is accessible to anyone who is prepared to develop his psychic or spiritual faculties with patience and persistence. He asserted that dreams provide the dreamer with boundless information and guidance. The dreamer may reach far beyond his/her faculties to tune into the Universal Forces. He encouraged individuals to use their dreams for their beneficial possibilities and to understand dream symbols as unique to the dreamer. Our meaningful dreams, Edgar Cayce says, fall into four types: Physical: about our physical bodies and health with specific suggestions for treatment; Self-Revealing: Self knowledge and insight; Psychic: telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition to provide insight and information not assessable by our ordinary three-dimensional consciousness; and Spiritual, which originate from the dreamer’s higher self. Cayce often called such dreams “visions.” Illustrative dreams will be used to show each of the four types of dreams identified by Cayce as meaningful. Methods of ascertaining the essence of your own dreams will be given for use at home. Daniel Deslauriers, PhD Dreaming at the boundary of self and others: belonging or alienation? Against the backdrop of the conference’s theme “dreams and community” we find myriads of personal struggles with belonging. This presentation is an essay on the dialectic between these two poles: alienation and belonging. Research has shown that two of the main categories of impactful dreams deal with existential issues such as alienation. Social experience is also known as one of the most stable dimensions in dreaming. Both of these facts point to the central role that dreams may play for the self in regard to its belonging needs in a world populated by ‘others.’ The search for belonging is a complex task in the ever-shifting social landscape of waking life. I will examine the role of dreams in the portrayal of existential alienation and in our desire to belong. In an integral approach, beyond third and first-person approach to dreaming, we also find the relational second-person approach. Because relationships partake to an intangible reality (you can feel but not see a relationship), dreams provide an important contribution in making us aware of the texture of relational connectivity. Cultural differences in dreaming will be discussed. A case study will be offered in which, due to special circumstances, dreaming and waking increasingly fused, bringing drastic changes in the social life of the dreamer. Rita Dwyer, BS, CPC (Chair); Stanley Krippner, PhD; Lee Irwin, PhD; Gillian Holloway, PhD; and Patricia Garfield, PhD Dream Visits and Messages from the Dead The Washington Times (12/11/09) reported that a nationwide survey of 4,,013 adults showed that 21% percent of Republicans and 36% of Democrats claimed to have been in touch with their dearly departed. Researchers are looking for evidence of consciousness survival after death using various means such as electronic voice recording and mediumship. However, through the cross cultures and time people have believed that dreams bring advice, help and comfort and are the best and truest connections to the dead. Our experts will discuss cross-cultural studies of visitation dreams, post-mortem life and dream ethnology in world religions, current content analysis studies of patterns and personality types in after death communications, and the impact and use of such dreams on grief and bereavement issues in psychological counseling. We see that death does not separate us from our human families and other inhabitants of the cosmos, when joined in the Dreamtime. E Back to TopMarcia Emery, PhD Using Intuition to Explore Transitional Dreams Many people are currently experiencing transitional times. These times are challenging and you can’t just question with a logical mind. Instead, you have to see the whole picture. The secret for getting back in balance and seeing the whole picture is INTUITION. Intuition is the deepest wisdom of the soul, which gives us the broadest and clearest insight into any situation. It is the intuitive mind that will comb through the dream and provide instant understanding. There are two main thrusts to this intuitive dream work workshop. The first is to briefly explore the intuitive/precognitive dream and have participants discover how they are wired for intuitive receptivity. This part is primarily didactic. In the second thrust, participants will explore the role intuition plays in dream interpretation. This second part of the workshop is primarily experiential. Participants will be shown how to unravel the symbolism by first, engaging in Dr. Emery's metaphor technique. Pairing up with partners, they are led into a relaxing state and then asked if their partner were an animal (or book title, or well-known person) what animal (etc.) would s/he be? They are already using the intuitive antenna to tune in and then learn to use the amplification and word association techniques to unravel the symbolism. Then, Dr. Marcia Emery uses her DreamShift method to show participants how to easily and effortlessly go right to the dream’s bottom line. Dr. Emery has successfully used this method for decades, to help her clients and students unravel the mysteries embedded in their dream images. One of the steps in the DreamShift is to let the intuitive mind reveal one or two salient symbols that literally jump forward for analysis. Using intuition to freely associate to this symbol and apply the amplification and word association techniques they previously learned will instantly clarify the dream message. Here’s an example: Thirty-year-old Brittney is originally from Mexico and moved to Canada after her marriage. She wakes up with a panic attack after having the following dream. I am at the beach and see a huge wave rising. I am worried that it is going to fall on me and pull me out to sea. I run away so I won’t drown. She titles the dream “Drifting Out to Sea” and finds the “huge wave” symbol compelling and retrieves the following associations: inundate, menacing, water, drowning, and then she has an Aha to the association, “over the head.” She realizes she is in “over her head” in the new culture with different customs, another language, etc. As we talk, I show Brittney that the dream is revealing her underlying fear of being inundated and she realizes that the adjustment will come eventually and she won’t feel “over her head.” In this workshop, intuitive insights into challenging transitional times will be elicited to the dreams provided by the presenter as well as those elicited from the participants. Half the workshop is didactic and half experiential. Jacob Empson, BA, PhD Representations of the experience of sleep in literature and the arts. Concordances, anthologies, and extensive reading identified 350 pieces of writing with substantial relevance to the topics of dreaming, sleep and the night, mainly from British authors of the last 200 years, but including American works and some in translation from French, Russian, Chinese and Spanish. These were categorized using up to five keywords, and then sorted to give meaningful categories. The results of this analysis were used in the subsequent categorization of 60 works of figurative art. Results: Almost exactly half of the items are in verse. About equal numbers are extracts from longer works, and complete anecdotes, essays and short stories. The major themes were: a) the experience of sleep b) sleep disorder c) disturbed sleep d) interpretations of sleep. This presentation deals only with the first theme. There are 96 items which comprise this theme (48 of verse, 20 of prose, and 26 of excerpts from longer prose works), and they have been analysed into three categories, of dreams, habits, and children’s sleep, each further analysed into five, seven and four sub-categories. Dreams: Hypnagogia, Revelations in dreams, Nightmares, Wet Dreams, Provenance of dreams Habits: Humorous, Owls and larks, Extreme sleepers, Getting to sleep, Injunctions, Merits of early rising, Sleep of the just and righteous Children’s Sleep and Lullabies: Humorous/colic, Lullabies, Child perspectives; Adult lullabies The experience of Sleep: Merits of early rising, Sleep of the just and righteous Fifteen works of figurative art relating to this theme and its categories are used to illustrate the analysis. Conclusions: Qualitative analysis summarises a wealth of information, giving insights into the literary treatment of personal experience, as well as the influences of science, medicine and religion on literature and the arts. The anticipation, in the arts, of medical and psychological theory is particularly interesting. F Back to TopWillem Fermont, PhD The Dynamic Dream System. An empirical approach Dreaming is a dynamic process (Kahn & Hobson, 1993, Hobson, 2004, Wamsley & Antrobus, 2007, Pace-Scott, 2007), as well as recalling and reporting dreams. Haddad and Chellaboina (2008) define a dynamical system as “a system whose state changes with time. Specifically, the state of a dynamic system can be regarded as an information storage or memory of past system events”. If dreams are conceived consciously by our memory and recall capacity, our memory capacity could be considered as a state of a dynamical system. Hence, written dream reports might reflect the state laws of a dynamical system. Consequently, specific report characteristics may change with time, and, possibly enhance a state reconstruction of the dynamic system. This is the subject of this study. Report variables of 327 dreams from the present author have been analysed regarding time. The reports are composed of a dream (D) and an annotations report (A). Volume variables comprise word (DW, AW), sign (DT, AT), and sentence (DS, AS) counts. Structural variables are word length (DTW, ATW); sentence length of both dream and annotations reports (DWS, DTS, AWS, ATS); number of annotations per dream (DA); ratio of word counts (Rw) and sentence length (Rs) in dreams and annotations. These variables are considered content free. All cases were analysed with respect to date (T1). 178 cases are analysed concerning time intervals of sleep start-arousal (T2), arousal-preliminary reporting (T3), arousal-final reporting (T4). Variables were analysed by linear, non-linear and factorial statistical techniques. Different techniques were compared. T1. Report volumes are highly variable, but constant over a long period (p=0.01). Report structure shows significant change attributed to dynamic impact factors. Reporting style changes significantly (p=0.01) after reporting some 200 dreams, coinciding with changes in dream observation style. T2. Report volumes show significant fluctuations. Early night dreams volumes are 50% of late night dreams, approximately. A non-linear sinus-based correlation yields a reduction of 50% of residual variance, compared to linear correlation which pattern might be interpreted as a circadian response. No systematic variance is observed in structural variables. T3: For dream report volume variables, a linear regression, an exponential, and a logistic/exponential model are compared. The latter model is considered in more detail. From these data a generalized, unconstraint dream dynamic system model is proposed, combining an initial phase of dream development, a mature phase, and a phase of dream "decay." T4: Structural variables of dream and annotations reports are significantly different. Dream reports generally contain shorter words and sentences. Our non-linear dynamic model predicts that dreams will be lost after several days, without the recall option. A constraint non-linear dynamic dream model is proposed. The dynamic model approach has a potential to integrate some properties of dream phenomenology. References: Haddad, W.M. & Chellaboina, V., 2008. Nonlinear Dynamical Systems and Control. Princeton, 984 pp. Hobson, A., Pace-Schott, E.F. & Stickgold, R., 2003, Dreaming and the Brain. In: Pace-Schott et al. (eds.): Sleep and Dreaming. Cambridge UP. Kahn, D. & Hobson, J.A. 1993. Self-Organization Theory of Dreaming. Dreaming, 3, 3, 1993. Pace-Scott, E.F. 2007. The Frontal lobes and dreaming. In: The new Science of Dreaming. I,115-154. Praeger. Wamsley & Antrobus, 2007. Dream Production… In: The new Science of Dreaming. I,155-184. Praeger. Carol L. Flake, MA, PhD Becoming Conscious Elders: Guided by Our Dreams The Elder is an archetypal figure appearing in various guises in our dreams and offering new images of maturity centering around wisdom, self knowledge and transcendence (Chinen, 1989). Becoming conscious elders requires that we wake up, that we individuate, that we find our true vocation. A community cannot afford for its elders to spend a decade or more of their lives on golf courses and tennis courts. Elders must become “refired” instead of staying “retired”. Tasks for conscious elders include: defending and nurturing the innocence and wonder of children, mentoring and initiating adolescents, mentoring young adults, guiding the evolution or transformation of the culture, and maintaining the balance between human culture and the greater Earth community (Plotkin, 2008). Archetypes of elderhood that appear in our dreams allow us to identify our own personal gifts and guiding myths. Archetypes of elderhood appearing in the dreams of the presenter and her friends and clients will serve as a foundation for participants to identify the elder archetypes in their own dreams. Identifying these archetypes of elderhood lay the foundation for awakening the sacred feminine and the sacred masculine within each of us. Dreams are private myths and myths are public dreams. Participants will begin to draft a personal myth of elderhood based on the archetypes that are emerging in their own dreams. When we identify the archetypal themes in our dreams, we are then impulsed to live a mythic life as we bring our dreams and our communities together (Houston, 1996). References: Chinen, Allan B. (1989). In the ever after: Fairy tales and the second half of life. Wilmette, Ill: Chiron Publications. Fox, Matthew. (2008). The hidden spirituality of men: Ten metaphors to awaken the sacred masculine. Novato, CA: New World Library. Houston, Jean. (1996). A mythic life: Learning to live our greater story. New York: Harper Collins. Plotkin, Bill. (2008). Nature and the human soul: Cultivating wholeness and community in a fragmented world. Novato, CA: New World Library G Back to TopJayne Gackenbach, PhD Why are video game players’ dreams important for understanding dreams? This presentation will summarize why studying the dreams of video game players is important for understanding dreams. Hardcore gamers represent the leading edge of immersion in virtual worlds that increasingly has come to define a large part of contemporary entertainment and communication. Three conceptual points as to why this new element in contemporary society needs to be investigated in terms of its impact on dreams, will be illuminated: 1) dreams as aid to solving the hard problem in consciousness, 2) evolutionary function of dreams, and 3) gaining lucidity in sleep through imaginal absorption. First, Revousuo (2006) argues that dreams are useful for understanding the binding problem in consciousness. He defines consciousness-related binding as “the problem of understanding the relationship between the phenomenal unity of consciousness and the immediately underlying mechanisms that could explain phenomenal unity” (p. 205). In tying this to dreams Revousuo goes on to point out that “a dream object does not transform randomly into another object, but into an object that shares many semantic or associative features with the first. In the waking state such associations do not intrude into our consciousness, for they are unable to override the externally supplied sensory information” (p. 247). Thus the dream state and its inherent bizarre nature allow an unfettered examination of these networks. It is the bizarreness in dreams which illuminates semantic networks. In other words, if the bizarre element happens due to a skip in the track of the semantic network, it does not go too far afield. Thus having a waking situation, video game play, where subjects are exposed for long periods of time to unusual/bizarre experiences, can help to further illuminate the nature of bizarreness in dreams and ultimately the hard problem in consciousness. Such a situation is not easily created in a laboratory with a few hours of media viewing or interacting. In fact in a study on video game effects on various cognitive and perceptual tasks Boot et al (2008) found that nonplayers trained on up to 1000 hours of play still did not reach the levels on their cognitive/perceptual task performance as expert players who Boot et al estimate came into the laboratory condition with tens of thousands of hours of play. Second, one evolutionary function of dreaming has been identified as threat simulation (Revonsuo & Valli, 2000). Gaming may reduce this dream function because this need is being addressed in another imaginal realm (i.e., during a game). Early support for this thesis was found by Gackenbach and Kuruvilla (2008a). Thus gaming offers another realm to investigate this evolutionary function of dreams. Relatedly, the rehearsal of nightmares while awake as a technique to decrease their intensity and persistence (Krakow, Kellner, Pathak, & Lambert, 1996) may also be manifest in some video game players. Specifically, in some studies the Gackenbach group has found gamers reporting fewer nightmares than those that rarely game (Gackenbach, 2009a). The final reason that studying gaming informs dream studies is the potential of gaming to act as preparation or training for dreaming lucidly (Gackenbach, 2006, 2009b). Again the practice in this technologically generated imaginal realm can result in consciousness emerging in dreams. Thus such inquiries inform not only the question of how to have a lucid dream but also the broader question of the nature of consciousness when it emerges in sleep. In a review of lucidity-gamer association Gackenbach, Hunt, and Dopko (2009) conclude that gaming enhances the experience of lucidity along the same lines as meditation. These findings can be interpreted equally in terms of a psychology of imaginative absorption. All of these are potential ways that studying video game effects on dreams illuminate our understanding of dreams. Conceptually, this is not surprising as the deep absorption into the VR of gaming constitutes another imaginal realm or perhaps altered state of consciousness whose experience impacts and informs “normal” consciousness states such as dreams. While games are escapable and dreams typically less so, sans lucid-control dreams, none-the-less there are many parallels in the sense of games offering an alternative reality accessible by most while other alternative realities such as that created in hypnosis or meditation is less widely accessible. As Preston (1998) has pointed out, gaming provides experiences in deep absorption not normally available to those without that trait, and thus informs our understanding of dreams in the context of consciousness. Jayne Gackenbach, Tyler Sample, Gabriel Mandel, Misty Tomashewsky, Mikayla Kuchinsky and Kimberly Masliuk Dream and Blog Content Analysis of a Video Gamer’s Long-Term Diary Our research group has for some time been collecting dreams and examining their association to media use. While we have looked at the impact of various media on dreams, our focus has been on the dreams of hardcore video game players. We chose this group because they represent the most intense form of media immersion for long periods of time, and thus are most likely to evidence media use effects on dreams. The reason that it is important to investigate media effects on dreams is because today’s post-secondary students, and indeed young adults in general, live in a media-saturated world to an extent never before possible. Specifically, in past research, we have identified a positive relationship between video game play and lucid/control dreaming. We have also investigated nightmares and dream bizarreness in gamers. For the most part our research studies have involved collecting dreams on a one time basis utilizing either morning after recall or longer term retrospective recall. We have one study comparing two-week dream diaries of gamers versus nongamers; however, the dream literature recommends the use of longer term dream diaries in order to more clearly reveal temporal patterns and to facilitate greater depth of analysis. Since the literature recommends that at least 100 dreams from one person be gathered in any longitudinal dream diary effort, it was with some interest that we discovered an 8-year dream diary posted online by a hardcore video game player. His website has 116 video game dreams as well as 652 other dreams, all personally categorized. This dream diary satisfies the criteria for long term longitudinal examination of dreams. This young man’s web site also includes extensive autobiographical information that supplements this analysis as do the daily blogs he posts. The data is completely archival and his motivation for keeping this diary was personal. About 450 dreams from his diary are planned to be content analyzed using the Hall and Van de Castle system. He also provided daily blogs that are being content analyzed using a coding system developed by the authors. In the first 300 dreams analyzed, there were more differences than similarities to the norms. For instance, as with our previous studies there were more dead, imaginary and animal characters and similar to previous work fewer misfortunes. However, the pattern of aggression in the dreams was the opposite of that found previously. Of the 70 blogs coded thus far, most entries had some reference to computer software with slightly less having at least one gaming reference. Of other media mentioned, the phone was the most frequent. Moods tended to be rated as neutral with most entries mentioning that a dream was recalled. Of the quantities reported, and many were reported, time and counts were the most frequent. Finally, only a third had some person/character mentioned in the blog. Patterns across time will be considered as will the relationship of the dreams to the previous days activities as recorded in the blogs. Jayne Gackenbach, PhD (Chair); Allyson Dale, BA; Katja Valli, PhD; Marco Zanasi, MD; Ernest Hartmann, MD (Discussant) Research into the Dreams of Several Clinical Groups The focus of this symposium is an examination of the dreams of various clinical groups using a variety of research methodologies. The syndromes include Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Schizophrenia. Populations ranged from single case study to small and large groups drawn from online, military, and hospital settings. Some studies were part of therapeutic work while others were purely observational. All studies used norms or control groups to draw conclusions. Jayne Gackenbach, PhD Kimberly Masliuk, and Tyler Sample Long-Term Online Dream Diary of an OCD Individual One previous study has examined the dreams of Obsessive-Compulsive (OCD) sufferers (Sauteraud, et al. 2001). When compared to the studies controls, they reported no differences in anxiety, failure, sadness, and obsessive-compulsive themes. The current study is a content analysis of an eight-year dream diary of a self-identified OCD individual. This dream diary is online and publicly available; thus, it is archival research. The dreamer has identified himself as “living with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder” (OCD) on his Wikipedia user page and in private correspondence with the first author. He was on a variety of medications for OCD until age 18 when he stopped all medications. All dreams used in this analysis are from the post-medication period. Our primary interest in this young man came about because he is a heavy video game player. But for this symposium we will focus on the OCD component of this archival data. The dream literature recommends long-term diary analysis in order to examine longitudinal trends. The diary we are utilizing for this study has over 840 dreams over an eight year period. Thus, this dream diary is ideal for a long-term longitudinal dream analysis. In the current study, an idiographic approach, with only one research participant, is utilized. This is a case of a young man of about 20 years of age. The dreams in his online diary begin when he was about 12 years old. There have been no inducements offered, nor promises made to the research participant. Despite the use of archival data, ethics approval has been obtained from our university. The data we are analyzing consists of dream transcripts and autobiographical text in the form of daily blogs. It includes all of the dreams posted up to the commencement of the study in the summer of 2009. Initial organization of the data and content analysis of some of the dreams resulted in only dreams with at least 50 words, and not more than 500 words, being selected for content analysis. Additionally, only dreams with day before blogs and clear dates, which had been categorized by the dreamer, were included. We have finished coding about 300 of the roughly 450 dreams, that fit the above criteria, and plan to finish the remaining dreams by April 2010.We are using the Hall and Van de Castle system of content analysis. Of these 300 dreams, 160 have been entered into the spreadsheet developed by Schneider and Domhoff (2001). Contrary to the Sauteraud, et al. (2001) findings, this one young man’s dreams were coded as significantly different from the male norms along 16 of the 25 tests of significance offered in the spreadsheet analyses. This included less self negativity then the norms, but no difference in negative emotions. Sauteraud found no differences in failure while we found significantly less failure than the norms but no difference in success. Jayne Gackenbach, PhD; Deborah Hickey, PhD; Curt Hoffman, PhD; Jacquie Lewis, PhD Weaving Dreams and Dreaming into Educational Classes Jayne Gackenbach, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Grant MacEwan University Dream Use in Various Courses to Various Cultural Groups Over the thirty-plus years that I have been teaching at the post-secondary level I have talked about dreams in a variety of courses. These range from entire Sleep and Dream courses taught in the U.S. to segments of courses taught in Canada. Most recently about one-fifth of my Psychology of Consciousness course is devoted to dreams, and I regularly teach a dream unit in Introductory Psychology and Personality. In both cases, I invite students to do an online discussion post about their dreams. They often have several choices of what they might discuss, but most choose dreams. For the last 20 years I have been teaching in Canada to various cultural groups, all of which show an interest in dreams, but none with the focus and seriousness of the Central Alberta Cree. Franklin J. Galvin, PhD Toward an Architecture of the Dream As a beginning approach to the architecture of the dream, this presentation will identify five types of structure around which dreams are formed and illustrate these with patients’ dreams from clinical case material. The first is the dream that is formed around a primary symbolic image or archetype and will illustrated by two dreams from patient J.P. with the primary image of snakes. The second is the dream that is formed around the image of an automobile and will be illustrated by patient P.R.’s dream of a limegreen cruiser, patient T.T.’s dream of his dented van, and Y.T.’s dream of her great-grandmother’s car. The third is the dream formed around a scene or theme from a motion picture and will be illustrated by K.R.’s dream of his “Changeling” wife and by D.T.’s dream of a scene from Independence Day. The fourth is the dream that is formed around a particular object and will be illustrated by K.D.’s dream of her cousin’s wallet, by H.E.’s dream of her lost laptop, and by T.J.’s dream of things in her pocket. The fifth is the dream formed around a mandala and will be illustrated by M.R.’s dream of a Victorian School. Other types of dream structure will be suggested as well as suggestions from the audience. Heloisa Garman, PsyD Dreams: The Theater of our Inner World In this workshop, I will demonstrate a way of working with dream utilizing the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model developed by Richard Schwartz. This model views the mind not as a unitary entity, but as made up of multiple and often differing subparts that are both interconnected and autonomous from each other, each having specific characteristics, style of communication, intentions and feelings. This model sees the Self, another aspect present in all human beings, as different from the parts. When the Self is fully differentiated from the parts, the person describes a feeling of well being, of “feeling centered,” totally energized and in the present. The Self is not a passive state; on the contrary, it can be an active leader for the system, leading it to its optimal functioning, due to its clarity and ability to be compassionate and understanding towards all parts. I initially have the person tell the dream and describe the specific feelings, sensations and characteristics. The dreamer is then asked to go inwards, preferably by closing his or her eyes and noticing which image (or part of that person) stands out in the dream. Because other parts may have strong reactions to that part such as fear, anger or even fascination, the dreamer is directed to ask those parts to step aside so as not to interfere with the Self’s ability to be curious and compassionate and thus work with the dream image. Once the Self is differentiated, it can interact with the dream image, by asking it to explore its perspective about other dream images and by asking it to describe itself, know what it wants for the person and what it fears would happen if it was not there. The Self can also help resolve polarizations between dream images by helping the parts to compromise and understand their exaggerated assumptions about the opposing part. After this process is repeated with all the different dream images, I then help the person tie together all the meanings found in the dream and discover what parts of the person them feel, think and act like the dream image. Workshop participants will learn that the basic difference between this approach to dream work and other approaches is that it is designed to build a trust relationship between the part or dream image and the Self. When there is Self-leadership, all the parts or dream images are valued and consequently cooperate more easily with each other to form a more balanced and harmonious inner system. Lourdes Gonzalez, Mac, AP, MMQ Five Element Dreamwork: Uncovering the healing power of dreams through the merger of Five Element Acupuncture and Dreamwork. Although Traditional Chinese Medicine is becoming very well accepted in the Western World, the Five Element healing style of acupuncture is not yet well known. The Five Element system--Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal--originated in Ancient China and it has been used as a healing modality for thousands of years. The Elements are a community of archetypes, which illuminate the idea that everything in the universe is interconnected. The more aware one is of the ways in which one is influenced by these archetypal energies, the more one will be able to meet the unfolding process of the soul and aid its movement towards growth. Dreaming is one of the ways in which the soul searches and expresses its movement towards the process of growth. The Five Elements clearly manifest in dreams and through their associations they reveal their guidance. In this process, the Elements open new doors and access new levels into the personal unconscious through which somatic, emotional, and spiritual healing can be reached. Dream awakening is soul awakening and soul awakening is healing awakening. The Five Element model illustrates that even when all the elements manifest in one’s life, one element becomes the constitutional element in the person’s life. Each element has a set of associations, which correspond to physical, emotional and spiritual levels. Similarly, while all the elements may manifest in one’s dreaming life; one element becomes the constitutional dream element. In 2006, the inspiration for Five Element dreamwork was revealed to the presenter in a dream and the idea of merging both the Five Element healing system and Dreams began to take form. This presentation will illuminate the Elements and their associations, and it will introduce preliminary research about the way in which each Element manifests in dreams. While this presentation is not intended to teach dream workers to do clinical diagnosis using the Five Element system, it does, however, carry the intention to present dream workers with a new possibility of looking at dreams. In addition, one should consider Five Element dreamwork as a path to illuminate certain patterns manifesting in dreams that may be associated to the Five Elements and which illustrate how the Elements apply to the process of transformation and healing in one’s daily life. Tzivia Gover Dreaming on the Page: Using Proprioceptive Writing as a tool for Dream Exploration Every newcomer to the world of dream work learns the importance of writing dreams down. But the potential for using writing as a tool for deepening our connection to dreams and exploring new levels of consciousness is rarely given the serious intellectual, spiritual and psychological attention it warrants. Through a simple but profound ritualized method of writing, one can paradoxically get closer to the message and meanings in a dream by establishing critical distance through ritual, writing and listening. Proprioceptive Writing, a method developed in the 1970s by Dr. Linda Trichter Metcalf and Dr. Tobin Simon, can be used with dream work to develop new ways to listen to and understand dreams. Proprioceptive Writing (PW) is a meditative form of writing that allows you to know yourself more fully by exploring on paper the territory of your mind, memory and emotions. This technique, when used as a regular practice, helps synthesize emotion and imagination, generating authentic insight and joy. PW combines focused attention and the use of a mantra-like question to excavate and expose personal meaning and to amplify thoughts and dream images. PW also engages the auditory imagination, helping people to cultivate the skill of deep listening. The workshop will combine about an hour of didactic learning and an hour-long hands-on experience consisting of practicing the meditative writing technique described. After the hands-on practice there will be time to reflect on the experience and share with other group members. As a result, participants will learn to listen to dreams with focused intention and attention. Together we will discover new associations to dream images and symbols and gain fresh insights and renewed clarity into our personal stories and issues. This form of dream work has the potential to strengthen community when practiced with others while also helping practitioners to develop the ability to create and benefit from regular periods of solitude and quiet reflection when practiced alone. Dale E. Graff, MS, co-chair; Gloria Sturzenacker MS, co-chair; Barbara Condron, PhD; Valley Reed, CDT; and Mary Joyce Whitefeather, AS Energetic Dreams: Activating Creative, Healing and Transformative Potentials The five members of this Energetic Dream panel discuss a variety of dreams that either present imagery related to some forms of energy or that actually invoke energetic feelings. Some of these dreams can be powerful and incredibly inspiring, while others can be disturbing due to the unknown sensations that they invoke or generate. These sensations can be very intense and seem to result from an unusual force, perhaps a combination of electric and magnetic, as some type of subtle energy or as something spiritual or mystical. A variety of effects, such as healing, precognition or time travel can be experienced as a result of these energetic dreams. Associations of energetic dreams with other experiences such as the Near Death Experience (NDE) or some types of unusual UFO-like encounters are discussed. These dreams can also be transformative, leading to new understandings of reality and how external and internal reality are connected. Historical religious and mythological traditions are reviewed to illustrate various ways of describing and understanding various energetic experiences. Some concepts include the perspectives from the Hindu yoga tradition and kundalini; others relate to Native American practices and spirituality. Links are made with energetic ley lines in the earth and earth-cosmic connections described in the Australian Aborigine DreamTime. Energetic dreams, especially those associated with kundalini activation or awakening can occur through the practice of various mental disciplines. Some of these programs are designed to invoke energetic experiences in the awake state that also results in correlating symbolism in dreams. Sometimes kundalini experiences occur spontaneously. Their effects are summarized and compared with kundalini energies encountered in structured developmental programs. Possible physical parameters from laboratory experiments that correlate with these energetic experiences are reviewed. The panel members provide examples of healings that resulted from energetic dreams or from visualizations that resulted from them. They also describe precognitive or time travel dreams that were associated with energetic dreams and how these dreams can be transformative. A group study involving fifty lucid dreaming participants worldwide, is presented that explores how concentration, meditation, and visualization facilitate the occurrence of energetic dream experiences. The study of personal experiences of hundreds of students led to identifying energetic connections between daydreaming and dreaming during sleep that invite kundalini experiences. The association of energetic dreams with creativity and evolution are considered. Dale E. Graff, MS Learning from Precognitive Dreams I review several dreams from the dream literature and from my own experiences that proved to be precognitive in order to discover how they differed from ordinary dreams and from psi dreams that were not precognitive. These differences help in predicting when a subsequent dream is very likely a precognitive dream. Some of the dream attributes examined are the dynamics, emotional quality and presentation style. The type of future incident also influences the dream dynamics and its specific content. Differences occur between precognitive dreams about personal situations and precognitive dreams about future situations not directly related to the dreamer. The dreamer’s personality, background, interests, needs and other factors affect the nature of the dream. Prior experiences with precognitive dreaming, along with a desire for certain presentation styles, also influence the dream format and content. Precognitive dreams reviewed include those of personal significance and those about tragic events reported in newspaper headlines. Personal precognitive dreams were of warnings about potential accidents and the approaching unexpected death of a close colleague. Some of the precognitive dreams about future news tragedies were probably not preventable due to lack of general acceptability of precognitive reality and lack of appropriate methods for evaluating and communicating the information. Specific future incidents dreamt about include the Spaceship Columbia disaster, the TWA 800 explosion, a Russian airplane crash, a mid-air plane collision and the terrorist attacks in 2001. Reasons for having these specific precognitive dreams are discussed. Some of the precognitive dreams conveyed more information than the type of incident and its general location. The dream content had imagery suggestive of some form of survival for those who perished in the tragedy. Although highly speculative, I provide rationale for this view and relate it to the nature and characteristic of key imagery in the dreams. I close by reviewing the various factors that affect the way in which precognitive dreams are presented, who is likely to experience them and speculate on the purposes of precognitive abilities. I suggest that precognition has a role in evolution and for enhancing survival by sensing and avoiding danger. Precognition and psi in general, is a vital aspect of the universe with its primary function in subconscious communication across all species, independent of space and time. I provide recommendations on how to routinely experience precognitive dreams. Jodine Grundy, LPC Sanctuary Dreams: Reflections on the Images of Aya Uekawa This presentation explores the relationship between art and dreams. The audience is invited to take a trip into the dreaming mind through artist Aya Uekawa’s “dreamscapes” as if they were dreams. Approaching the images of Ms. Uekawa’s inner life presented at her Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center solo painting debut, the viewer is invited to relate to her fantastical paintings with feelings & associations and respectful attitude, in the way that dreams might be explored. This unique artist interweaves images from Japanese and Western cultural sources, from archetypal and historic to personal and current themes. The CAC brochure announcing the exhibition states: “In this new body of work created specifically for the CAC show, Uekawa has created a dream world inhabited by highly adorned women and fantastical creatures.” The sanctuary of dreams that she creates in the exhibition expresses an in-depth psychological process of development over time as her work and life progresses and the dreamscapes evolve. Interpretations of the meaning of these “dreamscapes” and the psychological themes, tensions and resolutions they display are offered with ethical restraint, as the artist, like the dreamer, is the authority on her dreamscapes. But similarly, entering deeply into the sanctuary of the artist’s dreams opens a door to common human experiences as well as novel, uncharted and cross-cultural experiences. When the viewer gazes into the inner mirror of these images it is hoped that one might see one’s own as well as the artist’s inner face. In summary, this lecture and slide show event is a special opportunity to reflect on how the wonderful, fantastic images of both dreams and art arise from the deep or unconscious mind in dialogue with the waking mind. And when the image is expressed, a dialogue between inner and outer selves and inner and outer realms occurs. Laura Gurevich, PhD and Toni Tugenberg, MEd, LICSW From “The Interpretation of Dreams” to the Dream as Interpretation In Sigmund Freud’s seminal work, “The Interpretation of Dreams,” he described dream analysis as “the royal road to the understanding of unconscious mental processes.” In this book Freud demonstrated that “there is a psychological technique that makes it possible to interpret dreams.” Freud is often understood as designating the analyst as the interpreter of the dreams; however, Jacques Lacan turns this understanding of Freud on its head by identifying the dream itself as the interpretation. Lacan highlights Freud’s distinction between the subject of conscious awareness (ego) and the true subject of the unconscious that authors the dream. If from this perspective, the dream itself is the interpretation, what does it interpret? Willy Apollon, a psychoanalytic theorist and a founder of the Freudian School of Québec, responds that the dream interprets the drive -- the drive that responds to the traumas that the individual has experienced. These traumas mark us, and we construct unconscious fantasies that attempt to make sense of our experience. These unconscious fantasies guide our actions without our awareness and can result in symptoms that can be devastating. The key to defusing the symptoms and becoming aware of what guides our actions is the bringing into awareness of these fantasies that are located on “the Other scene” -- the scene of the subject of the unconscious. The bringing-into-awareness is made possible by the analyst positioning herself in a particular manner that facilitates the expression of “full speech” from the analysand. The analysand in turn agrees to put into speech what comes to mind, including that which most fills him with anxiety and dread – that which he most does not want to say. This process opens the door for the arrival of “signifiers” (metaphors) coming from the unconscious – the building blocks of the unconscious fantasies. As these are assembled and the fantasies become clear, the analysand gains awareness of that which has elusively guided his decisions. With this knowledge he becomes freer to steer his course and to create a space with others in society where the subject of the unconscious has a place. This process will be elucidated through a bit of Willy Apollon’s theory as well as through clinical examples that center on dream work. Heidi Guttmann, MA and Teresa MacColl, MA Indigenous Dreaming Cultures: A Work-in Progress Film This film presentation is a work-in-progress story of how Hawaiian, Native American and other cultures all over the world view their dreams, via interviews with elders as well as students. Using new ethnography methods to intertwine what dreamers learn along the way, this film will not just document a culture's ancient wisdom about dreams, but demonstrate its use and relevance to all dreamers living in modern cultures. Teresa MacColl and Heidi Guttmann have both completed the Indigenous Mind program at Naropa University and base their research for this film on their own experiences with indigenous elders of many cultures, but primarily Hawaiian and Native American. Teresa specifically studied her Celtic ancestry at Naropa University, focusing on tribal dreaming and the Celtic “Second Sight” (an da shealladh in Gaelic) which denotes the capacity to see both the normal waking world (ordinary reality) and the world of spirit and energy that is intertwined and connected to this one. Heidi learned ways of connecting to the specific Chinese images in her dreams by utilizing indigenous methods of dream interpretation and “triangulation” in her waking life. This film is not meant to encourage cultural appropriation of other cultures’ ways or methods, but to reconnect with the dream wisdom we all used to have as indigenous people, and to find ways to utilize this wisdom in our current modern lives and communities. H Back to TopThe Rev. Bob Haden, MDiv, STM, Diplomate, The American Psychotherapy Association Working With Dream Shadow Images and Resulting Projection in Church, Society and Yourself This workshop will explore how dream shadow images develop; where we find the resultant dream shadow images projected onto Church, family, society and ourselves; and how to work with dream shadow images and resultant projection as psychotherapists and spiritual guides. Each participant will have the opportunity to identify one of their own dream shadow images and be led through an 8-point method to work with that shadow image discerning how to respond authentically and safely. Lou Hagood Playing With Dreams "On the seashores of endless worlds, children play." In his book Playing and Reality, the British pediatrician and psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott took the quote above from the Indian mystic Rabindranath Tagore. In the book he introduced the concept of transitional space for the play area between the me and the not me, where objects are neither found nor created but simply become as if emerging from the sea. This sea of transitional space is similar to the quantum mist of infinite potential out of which subatomic particles emerge like dreams. Dreams are grown-up play. Transitional space, like the quantum mist, has creative energy,--chaos as Winnicott calls it--and dreams manifest this energy just as do subatomic particles. Freud introduced psychic energy, which had the limitations of nineteenth-century classical physics, while Jung spoke of archetypal energy, which reflected the quantum theory that he learned from Wolfgang Pauli. Archetypes like the opposite-sex anima and animus, the ego’s dark shadow and the divine Self emerge from the collective unconscious like subatomic particles from the quantum mist or like transitional objects in dreamplay. When they appear in dreams, the archetypes have the energy of a nuclear reaction or even the Divine. The formless play of dreams has access to this infinite creative energy, divine energy, which for millennia has been tapped in spiritual and healing practices. Shamanism is based on dreamplay. Play is transforming and healing for children, as are dreams for adults. Once I dreamed that I flew over the sea to Hawaii and met with a group to discuss dreams. I insisted that dreams are not to be analyzed but are just for the fun of it, like play on the seashore. Playing with dreams is like childplay, alone, with another or in a group. Play, like quantum phenomena, requires both intention and attention, which enable spontaneous creativity to manifest like subatomic particles from the quantum mist. In dreamplay the spontaneous response can be imaginal, poetic or metaphoric; a memory, Freudian association or Jungian amplification. Playing with dreams is like jazz improvisation, intimate dance or harmony. It depends on spontaneity, not a deterministic script, like quantum theory versus classical physics. Dreamplay, like childplay, is transformational and healing. Nigel Hamilton, PhD The role of lucid dreams in healing and spiritual awakening This presentation looks at the case history of a man who initially presented in therapy as severely depressed and suffering from a number of addictions. His initial dreams revealed the conflicting forces of his inner world. Through the use of meditation and embodiment of the dreams in the therapy, he began to slowly lift out of the depression and accompanying addictions. A critical point was reached in the therapy, however, when he began to have lucid dreams. The same therapeutic methodology of consciously re-entering the lucid dreams in a waking state and then meditating on embodying the central image was employed, with dramatic effect. The frequency of lucid dreams increased and he recorded several out of body experiences in the dreams. In one lucid dream state he was shown clearly the insubstantiality of the dream contents – implying the ability to dissolve the mental constructs in his mind. Furthermore, these lucid dream states transformed the content and landscapes of the dreams, invigorating him and revealing an overwhelming brilliance of light within the dream imagery. The latter phenomenon had the effect of not only healing his psyche, but awakening his consciousness to a profound spiritual awareness of life beyond this physical world. The key dreams that show this psycho-spiritual transformation are presented along with reflections on the varying degrees of lucidity that contributed to his healing. The role of lucid dreaming in the process of spiritual awakening is also discussed. Ernest Hartmann, MD Is the CI (Central Image) the Fast Lane on the Royal Road to the Unconscious? The Central Image (CI) is the most powerful image in a dream, which appears to picture the dominant emotion or emotional concern of the dreamer. Thus the very common dream image “I was overwhelmed by a tidal wave” pictures the dominant emotion of terror or helplessness in someone who has just experienced a severe trauma. The situation after trauma, when there is one overwhelming emotion, provides the clearest example, but other dreams can be approached in the same way. Will an examination of a CI lead quickly and reliably to an underlying emotion or emotional concern? In this workshop, the CI will be defined and a system for finding and research on the CI will be briefly reviewed. Participants will have a chance to examine some of their own dreams to determine whether their memorable dreams or “big dreams” contain CIs. Participants in pairs or small groups will work on their own dreams starting with the CI to get a sense of whether this is useful in dreamwork, or in therapy. Finally we will try to construct or build a dream using the CI model of dreaming. We will examine whether, even in the waking state, allowing imagery to develop while experiencing a powerful emotion can lead to a dream or very dream-like imagery. Silja Heikkilä, BA Greetings from a Dream! - Creating Live Postcards This workshop explores dreams through creative methods like writing and movement and offers tools for transforming the dream into a performance. Through creative dreamwork we focus not only on the artistic product, the burgeoning performance, but we also on the process. The experiential workshop can be characterized as applied dreamwork or as community theatre that uses different dreamwork methods. This workshop is open for everyone interested in creative dreamwork but also in dreaming - the process and creative approach help us to reach the dream the way it is, without any interpretation. No prior experience in theatre or dance needed. There is a short discussion forehand so the participants can share their attitudes towards different art forms. There is no “have to” in the workshop. Susan S Hendricks, MA, MSW Cognitive Restructuring Through Dreams and Imagery: Descriptive Analysis of a Women’s Prison-Based Program This paper is a report on research conducted in a women’s maximum security prison just published in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 49:23-38, 2010. The article describes process and outcome evaluation, methodology, and implications for future research. Velva Lee Heraty, MSW Subjective Symbol Immersion (c) This two-hour interactive workshop will help you become a more effective dream facilitator using a new and clinically sound model called Subjective Symbol Immersion (c). This new methodology incorporates all the core concepts of Freud and Jung, and includes Gestalt and Gendlin as well. You will learn, in a step-by-step process, how to take possession of a dream in a new and rewarding way, and then engage your clients to do the same. This workshop is a balanced mix of didactic and experiential methods involving three written exercises. Handouts and worksheets will be provided. After attending this workshop, and practicing the Subjective Submersion Method, you can, in one or two clinical hours, enhance your clients’ self-efficacy and provide them with a sound and meaningful tool to facilitate their deepest healing. No other single method is this rewarding in such a brief clinical training time. Deborah Armstrong Hickey, PhD, LMFT, Core Faculty at Capella University, Marriage and Family Therapy Program Introducing Dreamwork as a Tool for Understanding Personal Mythologies in a Community College Setting While I was teaching courses at a South Carolina Community College I developed an optional dream-work education program as a component to the introductory psychology courses I was teaching. Immediately I was forced to do lotteries to choose who would be able to take part in this group. I ran these groups for three years and the focus quite naturally evolved in the direction of discovering one’s personal mythology through dream-work. It was, quite frankly, the most satisfying piece of my work at this school and the response from the students was overwhelmingly positive. In the group I used a range of dream-work experiences including: creating dream images with clay; dream enactments; a diverse range of expressive arts with dreams; dream journaling; drumming and ‘dream-tending’; and teaching skills to increase lucid dreaming. Heather Higgins, BA The Power of Dreams In Healing From The Addictive Cycle There are two key elements that are very effective in working with alcoholics, the telling of personal stories and dream interpretation. The sharing of stories in a group adds depth and richness to individuals who have great difficulty in communicating and enhances the chances of recovery from the addictive cycle. We also believed that interpretation of the dreams of alcoholics would take them to a level of insight that would go beyond the level of denial that is so prevalent in their waking life. The combination of storytelling and dream interpretation has been very powerful in our work with alcoholics. The method that we have found to be most effective with our alcoholic clients is The Storytelling Method (TSM) developed by Dr. Teresa DeCicco. TSM is a powerful tool that is simple to use and not time consuming and takes the dreamer through the dream to the story the dream is telling. It is the simplicity of use combined with storytelling that has made TSM so effective with our alcoholic clients. In the IASD workshop I will use the same methods we use with our alcoholic clients. I will give a brief introduction to the workshop and an overview of our research on the Dreams of Alcoholics discussing a few of our findings. Included will be my applied work with alcoholics who are members of Alcoholics Anonymous over a fifteen year period and the impact dream interpretation has had on this work. Also covered will be my background and what bought me to this work. Once I have shared my story I will invite the IASD participants to share their stories. Participants will then have an opportunity to interpret their own personal dream using TSM. Each participant will be given a TSM worksheet to write out their dream and will be guided to make associations from words and phrases from their dream. The final step is creating a personal story from the words or phrases developed from the dream which often leads to discovery. We will close the workshop with sharing on a volunteer basis, of any insight or discovery that may have been gained. TSM worksheets are individual and the content known only to the participant. All sharing is on a volunteer basis in an environment of safety and trust. Jan L. Hitchcock, PhD Adolescents Dreaming: Critical Connections and Opportunities Children's and adolescents’ dreams have been a topic of scientific and clinical interest for nearly a century, including, of course, by Freud and Jung, but also by other early writers such as Kimmins, whose 1920 book described dreams samples of over 500 British children, aged five through eighteen. With subsequent maturation of research and theories in dream studies, as well as in fields of cognitive development, evolutionary psychology, and neuropsychology, the past two decades have included significant new formulations of the origins and functions of children’s and adolescents’ dreaming (Cf. 2005 special issue of Dreaming on children’s dreams and nightmares). Dreaming by the young is of interest not just in its own right, but also to the extent that it yields greater understanding of the underpinnings of adults’ dreaming and insight into the species more generally. For instance, findings of differences between the detail and recall of dreams by children and by adults support the relevance of cognitive and meta-cognitive skills and the role of brain development. Much of the literature on dreaming by youth emphasizes infants and young children. Several factors contribute to this paper’s focus on critical connections and opportunities presented by adolescents’ dreaming – for researchers, educators, and, not the least, adolescents themselves: evidence of significant new phases of brain development in adolescence, the adolescent’s expanded contemplation of heretofore unexperienced possibilities (Cf. Piaget’s stage of formal operations), and the compelling shifts in physical, self and social identities of this age. As much as adolescence (in the United States, at least) remains a time of intense self-focus and capacity for qualitatively more complex understanding, there is also much in contemporary culture working against adolescents (and adults!) engaging in sustained reflection on their inner experiences at any depth – a level that could be developed through greater attention to dreams. While one can argue that the highly visual, associative, non-linear processes inherent in our electronically-mediated culture bear resemblance to dreaming, it is as likely that habituation to high, intense levels of stimulation from external sources can deflect attention from engagement with dreams and associated possibilities for further development on varied levels, including greater self-awareness. This integrative literature review will build on the writings from the past two decades on dreaming by children and adolescents, including by Bleandonu, Bulkeley, Catalano, Domhoff, Foulkes, Siegel, and White-Lewis, as well drawing on perspectives from more general literatures of developmental psychology, neuropsychology, and evolutionary psychology. Curtiss Hoffman, PhD, Professor of Anthropology at Bridgewater State College Culture and Consciousness: An Undergraduate Seminar Incorporating Dreamwork Since 1997, I have offered a course for upper level undergraduate students (mostly Anthropology and Psychology majors) entitled Culture and Consciousness. This course is offered once every two years, and is an experiment in the study of how consciousness, and particularly the idea of the unconscious, is construed and constructed in various cultural contexts. We work towards an understanding of consciousness in cultural context as a means of understanding cultures at their deepest levels, including our own. An important component of the course is a series of 6 in-class dreamwork sharing sessions, using a variety of techniques, including the Ullman method, dream amplification, dream art, embodied dreamwork, dream theatre, and shamanic dream-tending. Curtiss Hoffman, PhD Research Articles in Dreaming: A Metastudy Over the past 21 years, well over 150 research articles have been published in our journal Dreaming. They cover an extraordinary range of topics, and have been submitted by many authors from a variety of countries and settings. While the editors of Dreaming have been responsibly selective in what articles they accept for publication, nevertheless when viewed objectively there is quite a range of diversity in the academic rigor of these articles. This brief presentation examines this range to try to determine whether there are any consistent trends. Articles are reviewed in terms of how explicit their description of the participant group was, the duration of the study, the number of quantitative tests performed, the level of accuracy accepted, whether they expressed any awareness of the limitations of the study, and whether their final conclusions were blithely global or cautiously hedged. The ultimate aim of the study is the upgrading of research standards in our flagship publication. Curtiss Hoffman, PhD; Dolores J. Nurss; Christina Bjergo; Michelle Mangini, BA-SLPA; Janice Ryalls Faerie Exploration Through Dreams Things seen or unseen. The dream world in and of itself is frequently unseen…unremembered by the majority of the people on this planet. But does it mean those who don’t “see” their dreams, don’t dream? Nope. They just don’t remember them! They have not awakened to them yet. So too with Fairies. Seen or unseen….fact or fiction? As we are learning through modern day science, that which we see with the naked eye, certainly isn’t all there is to be seen. In fact, according to modern science, that which is seen with the naked eye is not seen truly at all! Pull out your microscope. Look deeper. The very essence of life is a deep mystery! Then is it perhaps also true that that which is unseen might just be vibrating at a higher rate of speed...so much so that our eyes cannot catch it…our minds cannot wrap around it? Does it have to become denser to become visible? This could present quite a challenge for a fairy that is used to being so light and airy that it can move around the ethers without being seen. The higher the vibration, the less dense things become. Look at water turning into steam when the heat is turned up and the molecules vibrate at a faster speed. Therefore, the less dense something becomes, the more elusive, the more open are the spaces in between. Perhaps the realm of fairy is like that. If fairies vibrate at an amazingly high speed, it explains the difficulty of our adult eyes to perceive them. And here comes the interesting part. It is frequently the little child that sees the fairy…has the “imaginary” friend. Could it be that before our innocence becomes tarnished…denser…we are open wide to the realms of higher vibration? And if this is true, must we adults then need to return to an innocence of being for our Consciousness to seek new heights…higher vibrations? "And a little child shall lead us." And therefore, to experience the highest of vibrations, as within the fairy realm, perhaps one must open to a newer way of thinking…thinking that is unbounded by reality’s densities…and become open to new possibilities formerly unimagined. It is with childlike wonder that we seek to return and follow the path back to our soul. Within the context of a dream, could the appearance of fairy then be a marker, perhaps a sign to one’s Consciousness that we are entering a new state of rebirth into innocence, a state of wonder, an opening to mystery, to the journey, and that it has begun anew in earnest? Or perhaps could fairy appear in our dreams because we are ready to move into the journey, the mystery, more deeply….into the woods, the inner space of the ethers of which we know little or nothing. Could these little nature angels come to us as if to say….there’s so much more waiting for you! You can’t even imagine! Brigitte Holzinger, PhD Lucid Dreaming - Cognition in Sleep (CIS): A Therapeutic Intervention for Nightmares in Patients with PTSD (preliminary results) Controlled studies on the treatment of nightmares in patients suffering from PTSD by means of psychotherapeutic methods are rare. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of lucid dreaming on nightmares of traumatized patients. Fifteen subjects with recurrent nightmares completed the study. All of them were enrolled in an inpatient trauma-treatment-program for three months. In addition, they could also participate in a lucid dreaming course over a period of six weeks. Examinations with respect to sleep quality, nightmare frequency, anxiety, depression and quality of life were carried out at the beginning, after six weeks, and at the follow up session of the study, approximately also six weeks later. During the treatment period, all subjects completed sleep- and dream logs. The control group consisted of a waitlist group, only applying the questionnaires, which were also used in the experimental group. Preliminary results with respect to nightmare-frequency and sleep-quality will be presented at the conference. This presentation was funded by Webster University, Vienna. Caroline L. Horton, PhD, CPsychol; Tracey L. Kahan, PhD; Connie Svob, BA Dream Remembering Caroline L. Horton, PhD Rehearsal improves the quality, but not the quantity, of autobiographical recall Retrospective autobiographical events have been found to be more recallable than dreams, although similarly recognisable. It was hypothesised that rehearsal could account for this difference in recallability. Undergraduate psychology students were instructed to complete a dream and waking episodic event diary over two weeks, in a matched design. A rehearsal group (N=27) were instructed to read through their reports after recording them. A control group (N=28) were instructed not to look at their reports. After this two-week period participants returned for a recall task, cued by the titles of their reports. Whilst rehearsal and control groups did not differ in terms of dream and event recall, the recalled reports in the rehearsal group corresponded significantly more closely with the original reports than those recalled by controls. This experiment indicates that whilst rehearsal may not increase recall over two weeks, it may influence the quality of memories that are subsequently recalled such that rehearsed and elaborated memories are recalled, as opposed to recalling the original dream or waking experience. Robert J. Hoss, MS Color Reported in Dreams in the First and Second Half of the 20th Century: a Content Analysis There has been speculation at times that the color in our dreams may have changed over time from earlier parts of the century until now, based partly on observations of earlier dream studies which contained less color reports than more recent studies. Explanation for this has ranged from a change in research methodology, to attitudes about color in the psychological community or the culture at large, to possible influences of color in media. A content analysis of color terms in spontaneously recalled dream reports was performed on a database of 25,222 dreams, containing 55% male and 45% female reports, spanning a time period of from the early 1900’s through the present. Comparing samples from this database containing earlier reports (prior to 1950) to samples containing later reports, indicates no appreciable difference in the percentage of recall of color nor in the specific colors reported over these two time periods. The samples in this database indicate that color patterns in dreams across the century seem to have remained relatively constant. INTRODUCTION There has been speculation at times that the color our dreams may have changed over time from earlier parts of the century until now. Eric Schwitzgebel (2002) observed that in 1950's, dream researchers commonly thought that dreams were predominantly a black and white phenomenon, although both earlier and later treatments of dreaming assert that dreams have color. He speculated that the view that dreams are black and white was somehow connected with a change in media technology. Murzyn (2008) observed that research on dreams earlier in the 20th century resulted in low color counts in the 9% to 20% range (Bentley, 1915; Knapp, 1956; Middleton, 1942; and Tapia et. al., 1958 in Murzyn 2008), perhaps leading researchers and study participants to agree that non-color or “black and white” dreams were the norm. She stated that this begin to change after 1960 when researchers began reporting a higher percentage of dreams containing color “with carful interrogation closer to the time of dreaming” (citing studies by Kahn, 1962; Herman et al, 1968; Berger, 1963; Jankowski et al, 1977; Snyder et al, 1968) noting that many of the earlier studies relied on the subject answering a questionnaire about how they dreamed long after the dream itself. After REM was discovered in 1953, research methods changed, and awakenings during REM produced results of from 69% of the dreams containing color (Herman et.al.,1968) to 83% (Kahn et. al., 1962). Schredl (2008b) notes that if dreams are interrogated immediately upon awakening and dreamers asked explicitly about color, the percentage of dream reports containing color increased to about 80% (citing Kahn et al.,1962 and Snyder, 1970). Furthermore a study by Schredl et. al. (2008b), where the dreamer was asked immediately upon waking up to record the color of all dream elements, resulted in 100% of the dream reports containing some color. The dominant variable in the existence of color in dream reports before and after the 1960 time period therefore appears to be the change in research method. There continued to be speculation, however, as to whether factors such as media change from black and white to color about that time may have had subliminal effects on dream color, as well as whether attitudes among the psychological community and the general public about color in dreams effected the earlier reporting by subjects as well as researchers. Exposure to media has been shown to affect dream content in early stages of sleep or when it contains emotional scenes (Van de Castle, 1994, p. 257). Intense exposure, where there is a personal emotional affect such as threat simulation, has been shown to become incorporated in dream scenes and scenarios in video gaming studies (Gackenbach, 2008). Studies using colored goggles to alter the waking experience (Roffwarg et.al., 1978) demonstrated definite influence in early REM stages, but this diminished over the night giving way to other internal determinants of dream color. Murzyn (2008) pursued the question posed by Schwitzgebel with a study that found an interesting correlation between dream color recall and exposure to black and white media with some of the 55 and older subjects in her 60 person study, when they were asked about their degree of exposure to black and white media when they were younger. In the discussion there remained a question of how much of the effect might be due to a subliminal media effect on the dream itself or to a belief about dreams or dream color or other memory related factors. I was curious as to whether the effect of long term exposure to black and white media, or to the attitudes about dream color, prior to 1960 was strong enough to have an effect on the general population to a degree that might show up in a large database of spontaneously recalled dreams. OBJECTIVES If indeed there was an attitude that prevailed in the general population prior to 1960, that dreams were mostly in black and white, and if that attitude in any way influenced the reporting of color in dreams, then the evidence should show up in a content analysis of a large database of dreams collected pre and post 1960. Also if the influence of black and white media prior to 1950 had a direct influence on the amount of black and white or grey scale color incorporated in dreams, then it should have an additive effect on the color content of dreams before and after that period. Prior to 1950 only 12% of movies were made in color (Wikipedia) and there was no color TV. Color TV appeared in 1954 and by the early 1970s most homes had color TV. By 1980 the media (including movies, TV and digital displays) was well saturated with color. The objective therefore was to determine if there is any noticeable change in the colors reported in dreams prior to 1950 and after 1980, within the limits of the available database of 25,222 dreams in the DreamBank.net database which contained a collection of dreams across this period. METHOD The content analysis was performed on 25,222 dream reports within the DreamBank.net database (Schneider & Domhoff, 1999). The database consists of a large population of male and female dreamers of varied demographics primarily from the US, but also samples from Europe and South America. This study looked at two parameters: 1) percentage of explicitly named colors recalled (using a standard set of dominant colors); and 2) the pattern (relative frequency) of specific colors recalled. These specific results were initially reported in the International Journal of Dream Research Volume 3, No. 1 (Hoss, 2010). The effort was aimed at looking for apparent differences in the presence or absence, as well as the relative color pattern, of dominant colors including black and white. Therefore comparing results against a consistent standard for dominant color naming was important. Since color names can vary by culture, gender and personal experience the database was first searched for dominant color names, which would consistently appear at the greater frequencies, for comparative purposes, rather than trying to collect every possible color related term. The result was that “minor” or color “mix” term occurred very infrequently (typically much less than 1%) relative to the more primary terms. With the exception of two terms (violet and blond which were seen to be commonly interchanged with purple and yellow), trying to collect those minor terms under more primary or dominant terms added as much subjective error as accuracy, so only the 13 most dominant color terms were used as a “standard set” to measure relative recall. The most dominant ten (10) terms are plotted in the graphs herein. The database was primarily populated with spontaneously recalled dreams recorded in journals after waking, but also contained reports from laboratory and research studies. Spontaneous reports typically result in a reduction in color recall in the range of 25% (25% according to Kahn, 1962; and 11% to 47% according to Schredl, 2008a) as opposed to the 80% or greater recall rate obtained by interrogating the dreamer regarding color immediately upon waking, so a typical rate of recall in this range was anticipated from the analysis. RESULTS Figure 1 illustrates the dominant colors recalled based on the composite population of the DreamBank.net database. It provided a count of 4,555 of the dominant color terms in 25,222 dreams. This database represented a broad, but primarily US base with some samples from Europe and Latin America, and included dreams of all age groups spanning dreams from 1912 to the present. It contained 55% reports from males and 45% from females. The analysis found that on average black and white (as colors) are reported most often (approximately 20% each) and with approximately equal frequency. This is followed by the next dominant frequency grouping (at approximately 10%) of the colors red, blue, yellow and green. Within this grouping, red tended to appear a larger percentage of the time in comparison to the other three colors. Other colors were reported less than 5% of the time with the possible exception of brown, which was reported in the 6-7% range. This color pattern was found to be significant since it was observed to exist in some form in a majority of the large and many small data sets (individual journals as well as groups) that made up the database.
Figure 1. Color recall from spontaneous dream reports in the DreamBank.net database, n = 25,222 dreams (Hoss, 2010) The next trial was to compare dreams from the pre-1950 time period with reports post-1980, to determine if dreams recorded pre-1950 contained less color recall or more black and white or gray than those in more recent times. Female dreamers were compared in order eliminate any imbalance between gender effect in the data sets. The results for 500 dreams collected between 1945 and 1950 (later published as the Hall Van de Castle norms) are shown in figure 2(a). Figure 2(b) compares this with a group of 3,900 dreams from females recorded post 1980. Color recall (standard color set), for the late 1940’s college students, was quite typical at 25.3% for spontaneous recall. This was not significantly different than the 26.9% color recall rate for the post 1980 females. Comparing figure 2(a) with 2 (b) it can be seen that the specific colors recalled for the 1940’s dream subjects was similar to that of the post 1980 group and was also the same dominant pattern as in figure 1 for the composite database of dreams covering both periods. Curiously there is actually less black and white (reported as colors) in the pre-1950 data than there is in the post 1980 reports. This set of data therefore, does not show a significant difference in either dream color recall or the specific colors recalled, in dream reports from the 1940’s and dream reports from the post 1980’s.
Figure 2: (a) Color recall from of Females collected between 1945 – 1950, 25.3% recall; (b) Color recall from of Females recorded post 1980, n = 3900 dreams, 26.9% recall. (Hoss, 2010) Next the dream colors recalled by older persons, who grew up with black and white media during the 1930s and 1940s, were compared with those born after 1960. There was no way to control for specific attitude or media exposure for each subject as Murzyn was able to do, but I was interested in whether a more general exposure to black and white media at the time might show up in the spontaneously reported dreams of the older subjects in comparison to younger subjects. Figure 3 compares the data-sets of older persons (2458 dreams from 2 males and 3 females born prior to 1940) against younger persons born after 1960 (1584 dreams of males and females from age 12 through late 20’s). The overall recall of dream color, as well as the relationship between black and white to color, between the two groups was again similar (note: the older persons in the database actually demonstrated in a higher percentage of color and less black, but that difference may not be significant considering the different sample sizes). This data therefore does not show any relative decrease in dream color recall, or increase in black and white in relationship to the primary color hues, for those in the sample who were exposed earlier in life to a general environment of black and white media.
Figure 3. Dream color recall for dreamers living pre and post 1950 time period, male and female dreamers: (a) born pre-1940, n = 2458 dreams, recall = 26%; (b) born post 1960, n = 1584 dreams, recall = 22.5% (Hoss, 2010) CONCLUSIONS Various studies have shown that media exposure prior to dreaming appears to influence dreams, particularly when it contains emotional content important to the dreamer. Studies using colored goggles to alter perception of the color environment for a period prior to dreaming has shown the effect to be incorporated in dreams during early REM cycles but gives way to other internal factors in later REM periods. Studies where subjects were asked to reflect on specific exposure to black and white media at an early age have also shown some interesting correlations with the reporting of color versus “black and white” or grey scale dreams later in life, indicating the possibility that long term exposure or early attitudes toward color within our culture, might alter the color or recall of color from dreams. This study was aimed at determining whether those media and belief factors were strong enough to have had a noticeable effect across a more general segment of the population. The results on the samples in this database did not show any notable differences in the spontaneous reports of colored dreams, or in the colors reported versus black and white, between the pre-1950 and post-1960 periods. The data actually trended toward less black and white (as a color) and more color hues being reported from the earlier period, but not to a significant degree considering different sample sizes. This result does not necessarily contradict a more controlled study with individually solicited dreams, where belief and exposure to media can be specifically questioned, but it does indicate that these factors may not have had a dominant effect on the general population to a degree that might show up in a large database of spontaneously recalled dreams. The color patterns in dreams across the century seem to have remained relatively constant. REFERENCES Gackenbach, J.; Kuruvilla, B., (2008). The relationship between video game play and threat simulation dreams. Dreaming. Vol 18(4), Dec 2008, 236-256 Herman, J., Roffwarg, H., & Tauber, E. (1968). Color and other perceptual qualities of REM and NREM sleep. Psychophysiology, 5, 223–229 Hoss, R. (2010). Content analysis on the potential significance of color in dreams: a preliminary investigation, International Journal of Dream Research Volume 3, No. 1 Kahn, E., Dement, W., Fisher, C., Barmack, J. (1962). Incidence of color in immediately recalled dreams. Science; 137:1054-1055 Murzyn, E., (2008). Do we only dream in colour? A comparison of reported dream colour in younger and older adults with different experiences of black and white media. Consciousness and Cognition, Volume 17, Issue 4, December 2008, Pages 1228-1237 Roffwarg, H., Herman, J., Bowe-Anders, C., Tauber, E. (1978). The Effects of Sustained Alterations of Waking Visual Input on Dream Content. H. In The Mind in Sleep: Psychology and Psychophysiology, Hillsdale, NJ Schneider, A., and Domhoff, G., (1999). DreamBank.net : http://www.dreambank.net Schredl, M. (2008a). Laboratory references in dreams: Methodological problem and/or evidence for the continuity hypothesis of dreaming? International Journal of Dream Research: Volume 1, No. 1 Schredl, M., Fuchedzhiea, A., Hämig, H., Schindele, V. (2008b). Do we think dreams are in black and white due to memory problems? Dreaming; 18-3: 175-180 Schwitzgebel, E., (2002) Why Did We Think We Dreamed in Black and White? Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 33: 649-660 Van De Castle, R. L. (1994). Contemporary dream research. Our Dreaming Mind. New York, USA: Ballantine Books Wikipedia, Color Motion Film, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_motion_picture_film Robert J Hoss, MS, Lynne M Hoss, MA, EHP-C Dreamwork and Energy Psychology: the Dream to Freedom Technique According to many researchers, theorists and psychologists, dreams tend to focus on the most important unfinished emotional processing of the day. As such, dreamwork has become an important means of quickly and effectively identifying a critical issue, as opposed to peeling away at surface-level problems and emotional layers until the critical issue surfaces. While dreamwork is useful for identifying or experiencing inner emotions, unless it is part of a more encompassing therapeutic process, dreamwork by itself does not necessarily deal with those emotions or reducing the barriers to progress that they impose. The field of Energy Psychology, on the other hand, provides some relatively simple approaches for reducing emotional conditions and stress once the condition is identified. By integrating the two disciplines, using specific approaches which complement each other, both identification plus reduction of emotional barriers and stress can be affected. This bridging of disciplines may also have a natural neurological synergy. While dreams appear to reflect the nocturnal processing of unresolved emotional issues, involving the limbic system among others, energy psychology targets similar centers in the brain with methods intended to reduce emotional stress and anxiety. Neural plasticity theory and clinical reports indicate that energy psychology is able to produce neurological shifts which neutralize emotional patterns in the limbic system, formed when the amygdala responds to waking life experiences. In this workshop, participants will be trained in both a uniquely scripted Gestalt based dreamworking technique as well as a specific Energy Psychology protocol – and learn how to combine them in their professional or personal practice, to reduce stressful reactions to emotional memories that may surface while working with a dream. The workshop will demonstrate: 1. a scripted 6-step Gestalt-based dreamwork method for identifying an emotional issue the dream is working on; 2. application of the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to the dreamwork process, which uses self-stimulation of acupressure points while holding the problem in mind, to reduce any emotional stress surrounding the issue the dreamwork reveals; and once the stressful barriers are reduced, 3. a means for closure which uses the dream to stimulate a closure metaphor, and definition of next steps. A discussion of the theoretical and research underpinnings and some examples, illustrating the basis of the combined methodologies, is provided in the first half hour of the workshop. This will be followed by a case study demonstration of the technique followed by a step-by-step experiential session, for those attendees who wish to learn the protocol using one of their own dreams. The workshop will include a handout and worksheet. The workshop is applicable to professionals or anyone interested in the unique synergy of disciplines for working with dreams. Robert Hoss, MS, (Chair); Deirdre Barrett, PhD; Stan Krippner, PhD; Robert Waggoner Evidence of Wisdom in Dreams Robert J. Hoss, MS Potential Theoretical Underpinnings of Dream Wisdom Carl Jung (1875 to 1961) the eminent Swiss psychologist and one of the founders of analytical psychology, claimed that dreams act on a natural tendency towards balance and becoming a whole person, by reconciling our conscious and the unconscious parts so as to realize the whole range of one’s capacities. He divided the unconscious into the personal (material that was once conscious) and the collective (content which has never been conscious) and indicated that organizing patterns or forces, that he called archetypes, emerge from the collective unconscious [1]. The archetype representing the organizing principle of the personality he called the ‘Self’ [3] which drives a self-realization process he termed “individuation.” [2] The process of becoming a whole individual (accepting and integrating our unconscious side) is hindered by misconceptions we have about the nature of who we are and are not. Jung stated that the archetypal forces in dreams attempt to “compensate" for these misconceptions as a means to bring about the integration. Jung noted that the archetype of the “Self”, this organizing principle, often appear in our dreams as wise and benevolent guiding characters as well as focusing patterns, stabilizing elements and illuminating storylines. From the dreamer’s standpoint the “Self” appears as an internal wisdom, illuminating the consequences of our beliefs and actions and mediating subsequent changes in our understanding and behavior in the dream. The integration process begins by first revealing the “old myth” (the misconceptions) and guiding the dream ego towards acceptance of a “new myth” (new view of self or belief system) either through direct revelation or the parable of the dream story. Some biological correlates have been observed that are support of the Jungian theories. Integrating neurophysiological, neuralpsychological and neuroimaging work, Hobson [5,6] describes a unique combination of active and inactive brain centers during REM state dreaming that appear to account for not only the unusual characteristics of dreams, but some of the functions that Jung and other prior theorists observed or attributed to dreaming. The activation of the amygdale and other limbic regions and relative deactivation of areas responsible for episodic memory, supports the Jung’s contention that dreams deal with emotionally important “unfinished business of the day,” even though the waking episode may not be re-enacted in the dream. The medial prefrontal cortex becomes active, which is involved in goal-directed behavior and attention demanding tasks that are explicitly self-referential, involving the many aspects of the multifaceted “self” [7]. This is supportive of Jung’s contention that dreams focus on or are influenced by the “self” in its many dimensions (from the re-centering of the Ego self to the attention demanding forces of the inner “Self”). The active state of the anterior cingulated during REM is of particular interest. This part of the brain plays a role in: recognizing anomalies and mediating action to resolve conflicting perceptions; decision making based on anticipating and valuing rewards (positive outcomes) [8] whether the outcome is from experience or imagined (or from experience with one’s own decisions or observing the successes and failures of others' decisions [9]). The Anterior Cingulate has been observed to monitor the consequences of actions and mediate subsequent changes in behavior, providing the ability to recognize and respond to imagined outcomes [10]. This gives some biological support to Jung’s theory that there is a creative, deductive, imaginative (“wise”) decision making process active during dreaming that focuses on anomalies and inconsistencies in our perceptions (our misconceptions) and can anticipate the consequences of our actions and mediate subsequent changes in our behavior. This process of revealing the old beliefs, presenting new possibilities and accepting those possibilities is observed to take place in dreams in three ways or with three common characteristics: 1) surprise; 2) guidance; and 3) positive projection/Ending [4]. Surprise is typically a revealing of ego misconceptions, a visual representation of one’s inappropriate belief system (the old myth), in order to ready the ego for re-direction. It is evidenced in the dream as unusual imagery or action that juxtaposes opposing or seemingly incompatible beliefs or concepts, such as: a) an unexpected twist to the dream story (ex: God appearing as Santa Clause); b) unexpected imagery combination (ex: the husband you were arguing with in the dream appearing to have your fathers face on his body); c) unexpected new discovery (ex: exploring an old abandoned house only to find new rooms filled with valuables). Guidance is typically expression of internal wisdom attempting to redirect, or re-center the dream ego around a new belief system (new myth). With some exception this guidance is usually not literal but appears as any other dream element does, as a metaphor or parable within the dream story. Guidance typically appears as actions in the dream which lead to dreamer toward a new awareness, new possibility or potential direction, such as: a) direction from some dream character (ex: wise old man pointing the direction); b) written or verbal words in the dream, which are rarely literal and sometimes nonsense phrases, but may relate to the context of the dream (ex: the words “stop you are only making it worse” coming from a voice in the sky); c) revealing or discovering new paths, ways, valuables, the light etc. (ex: “I then saw a bridge leading across the stream”). Positive Projection or Positive Ending, is seen as a reinforcement of the internal guidance or wisdom, which often comes when the dream ego has accepted or is contemplating accepting that wisdom. The dream seems to celebrate and reinforce the decision with a promising direction or pleasing sometimes beautiful ending. This can be observed as: a) a positive projection (ex: seeing your destination ahead or knowing that you are now on the right path); b) a positive ending (ex: emerging from the dark place into a bright beautiful environment; a puzzle falls into place; you feel at peace). REFERENCES C. Hall & V. Nordby, A Primer of Jungian Psychology, A Mentor Book, Canada 1973, Ch 6 C. G. Jung, "Relations Between the Ego and the Unconscious", Part 5 of The Portable Jung, edited by Joseph Campbell, The Viking Press, N.Y. 1971 C. G. Jung, "The Transcendent Function", Part 9 of The Portable Jung, edited by Joseph Campbell, The Viking Press, N.Y. 1971 Hoss, R. (2005). Dream Language: Self-Understanding through Imagery and Color. Ashland: Innersource Hobson, J. A., Pace-Schott, E. F., Stickbold, R. (2003). Dreaming and the brain: toward a cognitive neuroscience of conscious states. In E.F. Pace-Schott, M. Solms, M. Blagrove, S. Harnad (Eds.), Sleep and Dreaming (pp 32). New York, USA, Cambridge University Press. Hobson, J. A. (2007). Current Understanding of Cellular Models of REM expression. In D. Barret & P. McNamara (Eds.), The New Science of Dreaming: Vol. 1. Biological Aspects (pp. 77-82). Westport Connecticut, Praeger D. Gusnard, E. Akbudak, G. Shulman, M. Raichle, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, March 27, 2001 vol. 98 no. 7 G. Bush, B. Vogt, J. Holmes, A. Dale, D. Greve, M. Jenike, B. Rosen, Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex: A role in reward-based decision making, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, January 8, 2002 vol. 99 no. 1 523-528 M Apps, J Balsters, N Ramnani, Anterior Cingulate Cortex: Monitoring The Outcomes Of Others' Decisions, Royal Holloway University of London, London, United Kingdom, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153472.php B. Hayden, J. Pearson, M. Platt, Fictive Reward Signals in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex, Science 15 May 2009: Vol. 324. no. 5929, pp. 948 – 950 Marsha Hudson, PhD Dreams: A Source of Global Change The human species today is confronted with a global environmental, social, and spiritual crisis. There is an existential need for profound change on a vast scale. Technology alone will not solve the problem as there needs to be a shift in consciousness as well. Attending to our dreams can make a powerful contribution to this needed shift. Dreams bring about change in two primary ways: (1) through direct problem solving, and (2) by changing each of us through exposure to what we wish to avoid, personally and collectively, and an acceptance of the disavowed parts of ourselves. This latter is commonly called "projection." As we individually confront what we wish to avoid we become more conscious and less fearful, and as we collectively become more conscious, the wider community becomes less fearful. In the discussion of projection we use the story of Elias Howe's dream that led to the invention of the sewing machine, not so much to illustrate problem solving as to illustrate the issue of fear of disowned parts, and we lead the audience in an experiential exploration of their own "shadow." Dreams call upon us, individually and collectively, to embrace our dark sides and to incorporate them in a journey toward wholeness. In this way, we build greater possibility for the survival of the species in this age of devastation. Ryan Hurd, MA (chair); Chris Olsen, MA; G. Scott Sparrow, EdD; and Robert Waggoner The Dream as Co-Creation: Explorations in Dreamer Response Ryan Hurd How to Win Fiends and Influence Demons: Sleep Paralysis as a Portal to Extraordinary Dreaming This paper explores how the attitudes of victims of Isolated Sleep Paralysis (ISP) can transform the nightmarish aspects of this spontaneous visionary experience, including encounters with the apparition known as the “Stranger.” I envision ISP hallucinations as a co-creation, rather than a given, of the dreamer and the autonomous imaginal realm, mediated by cultural myths and personal memories. This paper describes the full spectrum of experience possible in ISP, and provides tactics for utilizing ISP as a gateway to extraordinary dreaming. I will present case studies of ISP, including accounts of dreamers who learned to empower themselves when they discovered alternative (positive and healing) outcomes that can occur during ISP. Although physically harmless, ISP causes great fear amongst naïve experiencers, increasing the likelihood of a highly realistic apparition encounter. This entity can be conceived of as dream imagery projected onto the physical space where the victim is sleeping. We are literally between worlds. This apparition may be an unseen but sensed presence, a seen entity that moves towards the dreamer, or, in full-blown cases, a creature that makes “physical” contact with the dreamer. These Strangers have many faces, including demons, aliens, and monsters who seem to want to harm the victim, and may pursue unwanted sexual attacks. The effects of this parasomnia upon awakening include lost sleep, increased anxiety, and fears for one’s sanity. Due to the lack of cultural narrative for these visionary experiences that feel absolutely real to the victim despite their otherworldly quality, ISP is under-reported due to victims’ fears of being labeled mentally ill. Therefore, the goal of this presentation is to explore the full range of possibilities inherent in ISP, in order to teach dreamers and dreamworkers how to break the grip of the paralysis, and how to provide a safe container in order to transform SP into other kinds of extraordinary dreams, such as lucid dreams, out-of-body experiences, and hypnagogic creative reveries, as well as encounters with helpful and non-threatening entities. Providing educational material of this phenomenon is the first step towards making Sleep Paralysis a household word rather than a privately endured curse. I Back to TopLee Irwin, PhD The Metaphysics of Dreaming This workshop will explore the topic of the "apex dream” or “big dream" as a source of metaphysical intuition. We will look at the oracular or prophetic aspect of dreaming as well as its mystical dimensions as a theme running through multiple spiritual traditions. We will also explore the link between transpersonal psychology and the new "participatory" model of interpreting religious experience. If some dreams are ontologically deep, then those dreams are also a medium for spiritual insight and personal revelation in a sense that goes beyond the "social psychological" domain of ordinary dreaming, thus offering an opening to sacred human potential as illustrated by native traditions of the dream quest and other types of dream praxis. The goal of this workshop is to engender discussion and engagement with the dream as a medium of spiritual transformation.
J Back to TopElizabeth Jeffries, BA; Nicholas Brink, PhD The Roots of Healing Dreamwork in Welsh Mythology This workshop will examine as a dream of our ancestors the second half of Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion (1). The first three branches and the first half of the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion were examined in a similar manner at the last four IASD conferences. Portrayed in this story is the extensive use of magic, of casting magical spells, of shape shifting, of an uncle’s support of his nephew who is being rejected by his shamed mother. It is a story of the deceptive use of magic for control and retribution. What seems illogical in conscious life is the real magic of dreams. In dreams, as in this Welsh myth, we have the ability to do what in conscious life would be considered irrational, that is to change shape and to change the shape of others, the real experiences of magic. This is the story of Math the uncle of Gwydion, Gwydion the uncle of Lleu, Gwdion’s sister Aranrhod and her unwanted son, Lleu. When Gwydion offer his sister Aranrhod as a maiden to the chieftain Math, she failed the test of maidenhood by giving birth to two sons. One son was raised by Gwydion and when he brought him to his sister three time, because of her humiliation she cast a curse on him each time preventing him from being named, from have armor and arms, and from having a wife. Yet Gwydion found a way to overcome each curse. Then when Lleu’s wife who was magically made from flowers fell in love with another and arranged for the near impossible death of Lleu, Gwydion found a way of recover Lleu from his death and with the help of Math cast a spell on Aranrhod turning her to an owl, harassed by all other birds. This workshop as a dream group will explore this story as a dream/myth. It is our belief that we each gain much in personal growth by experiencing the myths of our culture when we examine and understand them as dreams. Carol A. Joyce, PhD, RN The Horse as Symbol in the Dreams and Lives of Women The emergence of the horse in dreams of women is discussed in this paper. Women in therapy, both in individual and in group, dream of horses. These dreams as well as life experiences with horses offer healing to these women engaged in work driven environments. The paper explores the dreams and stories of these women comforted by the numinous archetypal and natural energies of the horse. Paula Lippard Justice, PhD, LPC Turning Dreams into Poetry Workshop participants will examine both dreams and poetry for the purpose of understanding and practicing the techniques for bringing a dream image to the art of writing poetry. They will continue to explore and experience the world of the dream through the art of writing poems based on dream images. Participants should bring copies of recorded powerful dreams as well as dream journals and any samples of poetry they may have written. K Back to TopTracey L. Kahan, PhD Phenomenological qualities predictive of reflective awareness in dreaming and waking Theorists disagree on whether dreaming is deficient in executive functions such as reflective awareness (the ability to reflect upon or evaluate ongoing experience) or executive attention (the intentional direction of one’s attention). Several studies show that dreaming experiences are not uniformly deficient in executive functions when compared with comparably sampled waking experiences (see Kahan, 2001 for a review). The present study extends prior research and considers whether patterns in RA across dreaming and waking vary for men and women (controlling for variables such as average sleep time, dream recall frequency, and motivation to recall dreams). 188 college student participants used the Metacognition and Cognitive Experience questionnaire (MACE) (Kahan & LaBerge, 1996) to self-rate the incidence of metacognitive events in experience samples obtained from dreaming and waking. Participants also rated the phenomenological qualities of these experiences, including sensory/perceptual details, emotions, and cognitive features using the Subjective Experiences Questionnaire (SERS)(Kahan, 1994; 2000). Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed the same general pattern of similarities and differences in metacognition as was observed in prior studies (e.g., Kahan & LaBerge, 1996; 2009; Kahan, 2001). Multiple regression analysis revealed that the combination of subjective experiences (sensory, affective, cognitive) that best predicted reflective awareness varied somewhat for dreaming and waking and also for men and women. The importance of considering individual difference factors in theories of dream generation is discussed, as are the implications of these findings for a 24-hr model of cognition. Tracey L. Kahan, PhD Mapping the relationship between dreaming and waking cognition: A microcosm of the strides and challenges of dream science A long-standing controversy in dream science concerns the extent to which the cognitive skills of waking are (or are not) available in sleep. Some researchers have offered evidence in support of the claim that dream cognition is deficient relative to waking cognition; others have offered evidence that dream cognition is continuous with waking cognition (for reviews, see Domhoff, 2003; Hobson, Pace-Schott, & Stickgold, 2003; Kahan, 2001; Kozmova & Wolman, 2006; Schredl, 2005). Regardless of where one stands on this controversy, progress in formulating a “24-hour” model of cognition is critically dependent upon the methodological paradigms used to sample waking and sleep cognition. For example dream science - dream studies, in general - rely heavily upon one’s recall of a subjective experience (“the dream”). And whether one identifies him or herself a dream scientist, dream scholar, or dream worker, our natural inclination is to assume that we are learning something about the “dream as dreamed” (i.e., dream-generation) by studying or otherwise working with the “dream as told” (i.e., dream recall). Tracey L. Kahan, PhD (Santa Clara University) and Kelly Bulkeley, PhD (Graduate Theological Union) Emotion and Reflective Awareness in Dreaming: Mapping Their Reciprocal Influence This presentation will share initial results from the project that was named the primary recipient of the 2008 IASD Dream Science Research Grant. The project aims to develop a new approach to the scientific study of: 1) emotion in dreams and 2) reflective awareness across the waking, sleeping, and dreaming states. Using an innovative analytic method that combines content and process approaches, we shed new empirical light on the roles of feeling and thinking in the formation of dreams. The theoretical basis for this project is our belief that the dream-generating process involves a dynamic interaction of emotional and cognitive factors. Recent research in (waking) cognitive neuroscience has demonstrated that feeling and thinking interact in complex, mutually supportive ways (Damasio, Forgas, Panskepp), with the implication that old psychological theories of consciousness need to be revised in light of the new data. Our project is aimed at extending this theoretical revision into new territory by investigating the interaction of emotion and cognition in dreaming. Many theories of dream formation assign a central role to emotion (Cartwright, Hartmann, Kramer, Freud) and/or posit a fundamental deficiency in thought processes during dreaming (Hobson). We believe these theories do not account for evidence that dreaming as a whole is more cognitively sophisticated and less emotionally intense than is often assumed (see Hall and Van de Castle, Domhoff, Kahan, Hunt, Gackenbach and LaBerge, Kozmova and Wolman). We further believe that trying to determine whether emotions cause thoughts or thoughts cause emotions is a reflection of the old theoretical paradigm that needs to be discarded. To understand the dream formation process, we need to understand the mutual relationship between emotion and cognition. They are co-determining factors whose interactive potentials have yet to be mapped out in systematic, empirical terms. Our goal is to make new progress in that mapping effort. The specific focus of our project is the emotional context in which reflective awareness (RA) does or does not emerge. We will investigate the following questions: Does RA emerge more often in dreams with intense emotions, or in dreams with no emotions? Is there a difference in RA between dreams with very negative or very positive emotions? What other aspects of dream content (e.g., characters, social interactions, colors) are related to the emergence of RA in dreaming? Our hypothesis is that dreaming involves a more complex and variegated relationship between cognition and emotion than has been recognized by other dream theorists. David Kahn, PhD (Harvard Medical School) Dreaming, Lucidity and Mind Wandering An overview of the brain networks that are involved in mind wandering and in lucid and non-lucid dreaming is given, as well as an overview of the kinds of awareness associated with these networks. Experimental protocols for measuring creativity that may be associated with these networks are also suggested. When awake and actively engaged in performing a task, all regions of the brain are available as are all neuromodulatory brain stem systems. In REM sleep, the aminergic neuromodulatory brain stem system is unavailable as are several brain regions including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the precuneus. Increases in 40 Hz power during lucid dreaming physiologically distinguishes lucid from non-lucid dreaming (Voss, et al., 2009). Mind wandering is distinguished from both of these REM states as well as from the active wake state by activation of the default network (Raichle, et al., 2001). The default network, active during mind wandering, includes parts of the posterior cingulate, the precuneus and the medial prefrontal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Highlighting a difference between mind wandering and dreaming, two of these areas, the precuneus and the DLPFC, are deactivated during dreaming. These brain networks, the default, lucid and non-lucid networks provide us with different kinds of awareness, each in turn, create an awareness that differs from that when consciously concentrating on a task. For example, in a dream there may be awareness of oneself talking with a person long since dead in the wake world (but not in the dream world), or one may become aware of doing extraordinary feats (that are impossible in the wake world). In lucid dreaming the same expanded awareness occurs with the addition that one is aware that this awareness is coming from within the dreamer’s mind. Mind wandering provides yet another kind of awareness. It differs from the awareness that is brought to bear on the performance of a goal-directed task, as the mind moves from one thought to another lingering here and there with little or no effort directed to stay the course. The question of how awareness may contribute to creative insight is addressed and two procedures to test creativity are discussed. One such test is the remote association test (RAT) (Cai, et al., 2009) that measures our ability to come up with a word that is associated with other words. The RAT has been used to demonstrate that subjects find more associations after a nap if it included REM sleep than if it did not, or if no nap was taken. The same test, it is suggested, may be used for subjects who became lucid during the nap. Similarly, the RAT may be used to test for creativity after a period of mind wandering. It is further suggested that because the anagram test provides a different measure of creativity (Walker, et, al., 2002), it too should be used after mind wandering, and upon awakening from lucid and non-lucid dreaming. References Cai, D., Mednick, S., Harrison, E., Kanady, J., & Mednick, S. REM, not incubation, improves creativity by priming associative networks Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jun 23; 106(25):10130-4, (2009) Raichle, ME, MacLeod, AM, Snyder, AZ, Powers, WJ, Gusnard, DA, Shulman, GL. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98, 676-682 (2001) Voss, U, Holzmann, R, Tuin, I, Hobson, JA Lucid dreaming: A state of consciousness with features of both waking and non-lucid dreaming, Sleep 32, 1191-1200, (2009) Walker, Matthew P. Conor Liston, J. Allan Hobson and Robert Stickgold. Cognitive Brain Research, vol 14, 3, 317-324, (2002) David L. Kahn While the World Slept: Dreams of Rwandan Genocide Survivors This presentation reports on the dreams and experiences of Rwandan genocide survivors in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. As this is a modern-day genocide, some of the testimonies come directly from modern-day survivors, most of whom are still quite young. Books, articles and websites also contribute to the information included. This presentation features the story of my friend Rwema Jean Nepomuscene Sibomana, who was the sole survivor of his family. He survived being thrown into a pit and living on his own in the wilderness for one hundred days at the age of ten. Bethany Keen, RYT The Art of Yoga Dreaming This three-part experiential workshop is designed to create new awareness in the dreamer of the power of the mind, body, and breath, and their connection to reaching deeper states of dreaming and dream body awareness. You will learn simple tools to open and rejuvenate the outer body, to cause conscious relaxation, conscious assimilation and therefore more wakefulness in the dream body. Participants will then either choose a dream to re-enter and gain deeper insight upon, or simply use the dream space to explore the Self, and will be lead into a yogic sleep. Sharing and discussion follow. Bring a yoga mat or firm blanket, and your dream journal to record your experience. Pia Keiding, Lic Phil, Lic Sc, STM Tibetan Dream Yoga as Clinical Tool: Nearness to ourselves, closeness to others The present workshop aims to give an introduction to the use of Tibetan Dream Yoga as a way to deepen and possibly heal the strong emotions emerging in dreams and nightmares. The Tibetan philosophy and psychology view the dream state as being an 'energy state,' implying that this is a subtle state of being with less of a gap between body/mind, energy/matter and subject/object. The dream subject and the dream apparitions are seen as energy constellations of our mental structures and created reality. The late Tarab Tulku Rinpoche, Lharampa Geshe, Ph.D., developed profound psychotherapeutic methods, Unity in Duality (UD), partly based on the ancient Tibetan Dream Yoga, which include the technique of re-entering into the dream subject, also named the Dream-body. Originally, the Tibetan Yogi practiced different kinds of meditation in the 'lucid dream'-state as –– due to its energy nature –– it was reckoned to be an important bridge for self-development and for spiritual progress, gradually gaining insight into different layers of reality and transcending these. Having studied more than twenty years with Tarab Tulku Rimpoche, (including the Tibetan Master degree S.T.M.), I have integrated this modern approach of ancient dream methods in real or imaginary dream states. I find the U.D. approach gives practitioners great opportunities through a transformational process to - in individual long sessions - directly and radically deal with underlying key problems, imprints, that otherwise unconsciously rule our lives. Being an energy-state in the Tibetan perspective, the Dream-state also entails the possibility of intuitive insight into matters that are impenetrable from our otherwise materially bound conditions and solidly created reality. In my transpersonal psychotherapy clients are guided into a traditional deep Tibetan relaxation and then to re-enter into a strongly emotionally loaded dream scene or an everyday situation, to heal and transform limiting constructions and identities. After a theoretical introduction explaining the Tibetan Psychology view as the base of this approach, participants are invited to experience a short version of a Tibetan Dream Yoga session. The subtitle: “Nearness to one self, closeness to others’, is a quote from Tarab Tulku Rimpoche indicating that working with ourselves in this deep way will help us to be more openly in community with others. Miloslava Kozmová, PhD Cognitive Processes Investigated in Threatening Dreams of Japanese and Ukrainian Dreamers Previous studies that investigated dreamers’ responses to nocturnal dilemmas mainly focused, through the use of dream content analyses, on elucidating the adaptive function of dreams positioned within an individual’s personal mythology (Kuper, 1983) or within adaptations connected with psychoanalytical theory (Glucksman & Kramer, 2004; Greenberg, Katz, Schwartz, & Pearlman, 1992; Wolowitz & Anderson, 1989). It is not yet known, however, what might be the extent and the variety of cognitive processes dreamers are capable of using in the context of dreams’ specific problems defined as threats, dangers, risks, or fear-related concerns. The goal of the current presentation is to report the results of a qualitatively based investigation that was guided by the question, What types of problem-solving strategies are dreamers capable of using when confronted, within their dreams, with imminent environmental or self-created threatening or dangerous situations? The study utilized 444 self-selected dreams of male and female dreamers (aged 20 to 70 years, with a few younger or older exceptions) from Japan and Ukraine. With the operationalized definition that a problem-solving dream included a prima facie observable fear-induced quality, from these four distinct groups of dreamers were selected narratives that contained descriptions of subjective experiences in which dreamers used various tactics, maneuvers, and strategies to confront or resolve the problems they faced. The analysis utilized selections of problem-solving dreams with threats, dangers, risks, or fear-related concerns in the following distribution: 41 dreams of Japanese males, 61 dreams of Japanese females, 72 dreams of Ukrainian males, and 66 dreams of Ukrainian females. The method of constant comparative analysis of grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1987) focused on capturing the emergent categories and their dimensions and properties of cognitive processes (often described by in vivo language—in the language of participants). From the analysis emerged four separate collections of specific types of problem-solving strategies with distinct and overlapping cognitive processes dreamers used for their decision-making and resolving efforts. The examples of such mental abilities dreamers draw on during dreaming to negotiate the predicaments are actions/behaviors (e.g., using one’s own body and weapons, visual strategy, calling for help, autoscopic maneuvers) and varieties of higher order thinking (e.g., evaluation, realization of the extent of the problem, comparison between realities, choosing between options, mindreading, reasoning). Based on the results of this qualitative analysis of subjective experiences of dreamers, the classification of problem-solving cognitive processes demonstrated in threatening situations might currently represent the extent of known possibilities for resolving conflictual, problematic, or dilemmatic situations in dreams that are underlined by the presence of emotion of fear. The scope of cognitive capacities dreamers used to alleviate these perturbations within the dream scenarios also allow for the conclusion that the goal-oriented strategies might expand our understanding of executive function that operates during dreaming. The range of cognitive processes further points to the existence of a phenomenon of nocturnal cognitive problem solving (Kozmová, 2008) that becomes activated in response to emotional disequilibrium and renders itself to speculations about the function of specific problem-solving dreams. References Glaser, B. G. (1978). Theoretical sensitivity: Advances in the methodology of grounded theory. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press. Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago, IL: Aldine. Glucksman, M. L., & Kramer, M. (2004). Using dreams to assess clinical change during treatment. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 32, 345-358. Greenberg, R., Katz, H., Schwartz, W., & Pearlman, C. (1992). A research-based reconsideration of the psychoanalytic theory of dreaming. Journal of the American Psychoanalytical Association, 40, 531-550. Kozmová, M. (2008). The investigation of nocturnal cognitive problem-solving using cross-cultural dreams. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, San Francisco, CA. Kuper, A. (1983). The structure of dream sequence. Cultural Medical Psychiatry, 7, 153‑175. Wolowitz, H., & Anderson, T. (1989). Contributions to psychohistory: XV. Structural characteristics as an index of mental health in Freud’s, his patients, and colleagues’ manifest dreams. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 68, 811-819. Stanley Krippner, PhD Dreams as Extraordinary Human Experiences Most nighttime dreams serve such adaptive functions as affect regulation, behavioral review, and neural maintenance during sleep. Some dreams, however, fall into the category of "extraordinary human experiences" because they contain the potential of transforming the attitudes and/or activities of an individual and/or a community in some important way. Although these dreams have often changed the lives of the individual dreamer, this presentation will provide examples of how extraordinary dreams have evoked community transformations, either for a small group of people or for an entire nation, industry, institution, or social group. Examples will be selected from such fields as philosophy, religion, science, technology, and literature. Specific examples will include the dreams of René Descartes (philosophy), the patriarch Jacob (Judaism), St. Joseph the husband of Mary (Christianity), Otto Loewi (neurobiology), Elias Howe (technology), and Robert Louis Stevenson (literature). This type of extraordinary dream will be discussed from the perspectives of evolutional psychology and chaos theory. For example, problem solving in dreams has had adaptive functions for millennia, most notable in rehearsing activities that could lead to survival of the organism during daytime hours. In addition, chaotic attractors resemble the "central figure" in Ernest Hartmann's model of dream interpretation. Chaotic attractors in extraordinary human experience would include the needle tip in Elias Howe's dream that led to the invention of the lockstitch sewing machine, the ladder to Heaven in the biblical dream of the patriarch Joseph, and the test tube experiment that won Otto Loewi a Nobel Prize for demonstrating the electrochemical transmission of signals from one nerve cell to another. Extraordinary human experiences may occur in twilight states, drug states, hypnotic states, and waking states as well; however, the dream seems especially conducive to their occurrence probably because of the adaptive purposes they have served in human evolution. Stanley Krippner, PhD Evidence of Wisdom in Extraordinary Dreams The history of dreaming is filled with personal reports, as well as actual research evidence, that dreams can at times reach beyond the ordinary limits of space and time. These “extraordinary dreams” show evidence of a wisdom that taps into information outside our sensory barriers. Examples include dreams that seem to predict future events, and those that appear to describe events occurring at a great distance from the dreamer. Most of these dreams can be explained by basic psychological principles such as coincidence, attributions, faulty memory, and sensory cues perceived during wakefeulness that consolidate during dreaming. However, a small body of laboratory research and a voluminous amount of anecdotal evidence raise the question as to the anaomalous nature of some extraordinary dreams. The wisdom emerging from these dreams, whatever their source or nature, has given rise to new religions, to inventions, and to great works of art. In addition, this wisdom may even provide glimpses into dimensions considered by many cultures to be the domain of spirit. L Back to TopTom Lane, DMin Exploring the Mystery and Meaning of Your Dream Through Its Central Image Is it possible that dreams invite us into a deepening experience of the Mystery at the center not only of our own lives, but of life itself? Can work with a Dream's Central Image become a window or a door to this experience? In these dream group meetings, we each will explore individually and together the significance of a central (preferably archetypal) image that fascinates us from one of our recent dreams. In addition, we will utilize dream incubation as a means of opening to dreams during the conference which may illuminate our presented dream’s meaning for us. Through personal and invited group reflection, we will seek to deepen our relation to the dream and what we individually may regard as its Mysterious Source. In the process, we will hope to gain an enlarged sense of the meaningfulness of the dreams we share together for our present and the wisdom they offer for our future as well as an increased relatedness to those with whom we share them. 1. The First Session – Didactic Introduction of the theme including guidelines for our group process and our dreamwork and discussion of “Central Image” and the process of amplification. The main part of the session will be the group members sharing of their Dream’s Central Images, and our Amplifying Central Images. They will be encouraged to do Dream Incubation of their Central Images and seem what emerges to report in the sessions. 2. The Second Session – Dream Incubation Reports The Sharing of Dreams + continuing to Amplification of Central Images now in their context; Projective Dreamwork 3. The Third Session – Dream Incubation Reports Creating Stories around Central Images, and animal symbols -- utilizing native American animal amplifications as a means of integrating the dreams. Beginning of the sharing of stories in dyads. 4. The Fourth Session – Dream Incubation Reports The sharing of the stories for dream meaning integration in the total group; brief reflections upon the stories in terms of their application both personally and more than personally, to future waking life. In the closing, they will be asked to consider the “next step” to which their dream is inviting them in their daily living. Justina Lasley, MA Building Community through Group Dreamwork By working within a dream group, participants will share dreams, experience and observe the process of successful dream group leadership. Participants will witness the dream’s power in helping individuals understand issues in their life which may otherwise block personal growth. We will focus on the importance of recognizing emotions within the dream and relating those to life, leading the dreamer to identify and understand personal emotions and live a more fulfilled life. My special interest and research is in personal growth and individuation through dreamwork. Group dreamwork not only affects the dreamer, family and friends, but also the entire world through the ripple effect of change. Dream group leaders are rewarded whether a volunteer, professional, or trained therapist. The success of the group depends on the leader’s ability and training. It is important that a leader be well prepared for the role. We will look at the following areas of group dreamwork: • Benefits of dream groups in building community • The role of effective leadership • Organizing dream groups • Creative methods of dreamwork • Group problem solving • Effects of energy and emotions in dreams and waking life We will explore techniques for listening, observing, and experiencing the dream. Through the workshop, I will share my experience leading dream groups for nineteen years, writing Honoring the Dream: A Handbook for Dream Group Leaders, and creating the Institute for Dream Studies, which offers a certification course for dreamwork leadership. If you are a group leader, I want to inspire you to enhance your work. If you are not, I want to encourage you and give you the support you need to take the leap to leadership. George M. Leute, MA Bringing the Dream to Life As therapists, our ability and willingness to work effectively with the dreams of others is an invaluable skill. Gestalt Therapy with its emphasis on awareness, presence, dialogue, and respect, is ideally suited for the psycho-spiritual nature of dream work. Using techniques from Gestalt Therapy and other compatible approaches, we make contact with the dream in its own territory and bring it to life. We do this by re-experiencing the dream in the present, by embodying various elements, dialoging with them, and occasionally, asking others to “become” part of a theater in which the dream can be enacted. Throughout the process, the integrity of the dreamer is respected and it is the dreamer who chooses how to approach his or her own dream. In this experiential workshop, participants will have an opportunity to become familiar with the orienting principles of Gestalt Therapy and how they apply to dream work. Participants will learn how to facilitate the embodiment of dream images and the contact between them, how to set up a dream theater, and how to assist the dreamer through the process. In addition, therapeutic considerations, such as contraindications for Gestalt Therapy oriented dream work, will be presented. All attendees will be encouraged to take part in brief warm-up exercises that will assist in the embodying of dream images. In addition, all will be encouraged to participate in a demonstration of “Dream Theater.” This workshop is suited primarily for therapists although many dream group leaders will benefit from being familiar with these processes. Approximately one half of the workshop will be didactic and the other half experiential. Ross Levin, Gary Fireman, and Alice Pope The relative contribution of affect load and affect distress as predictors of disturbed dreaming This is the first study to empirically investigate the heuristic model of dysphoric dreaming proposed by Levin and Nielsen (2007). Three hundred and nine participants indicated their incidence of nightmares and bad dreams over 21 days and rated their subsequent distress in daily dream logs. Results support the contention that the two constructs identified in the model, affect load and affect distress, underlie nightmare production and are active in both the waking and sleeping states. Thus, the study confirmed a connection between perceived stress and increased incidence and intensity of disturbed dreaming. As predicted, affect load accounted for more unique variance to the prediction of incidences of disturbed dreaming while affect distress accounted for more unique variance to the prediction of distress over nightmares and bad dreams. Taken together, these findings support Levin and Nielsen’s model and suggest that clinical interventions for dysphoric dreaming can be made during waking hours. Jacquie Lewis, PhD, Interim Co-Director, Dream Studies Certificate Program, Saybrook University Teaching Dreamwork in Clinical and Research Courses I teach graduate courses at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and Argosy University in Chicago. In my research methods courses students are introduced to dreams and dreaming from an academic perspective. Students are required to read and critique article that appear in Dreaming Journal. l also teach Psy.D. students in Humanistic/Existential/Transpersonal courses. Students learn basic skills for working with clients’ dreams. Students engage in the Ullman method as a non-directive “humanistic/transpersonal” approach to working with dreams. Students obtain hands-on experience by working with their own dreams in classroom sessions. Jacquie Lewis, PhD The Paranormal Dreams of One Exceptional Individual Andy Paquette is a 45-year-old American artist now living in the Netherlands. He has been recording his dreams for twenty years and has recently written a book about his dreams. Many of his dreams suggest paranormal ability, particularly precognition. For example, Andy had two dreams in the 1990’s, which he believes relate to 9/11, and a waking premonition two weeks before actual 9/11 events. A number of Andy’s dreams will be examined in a PowerPoint presentation, incorporating his dream journal passages and artwork, in an attempt to explain the nature of these dreams. We will explore the variety of paranormal dream experiences Andy reports and investigate patterns that occur in his dreams. Winifred K. Lum, PhD Dreaming in Two Worlds and Two Languages: The Bicultural Self in Bilingual dreams Only a handful of studies have looked at the meaning that language plays in bilingual dreams. Even fewer studies have identified and examined the role of the bicultural self in bilingual dreams. My study involved 18 participants who had been in a second-language country long enough to dream in their second language. Eighteen immigrants from diverse cultures were interviewed about their bilingual dreams. The dreamer told their dream in their first person narrative. Each dream was analyzed by looking at the dynamics of the relationships in the dream and the background and associations the dreamer had to the dream. The major components of each dream were analyzed in an attempt to give meaning to the dream. Conflict was noted by lack of resolution of the dream tasks or sudden shifts of dream setting. Symbols were useful in interpreting the conflicts, messages, and the dreamer’s relationship to the first and second language figures, and their accompanying culture, in the dream. An attempt was made to identify the message of the dream (what the dream was trying to tell the dreamer) and a figure that might represent the bicultural self. A majority of these dreams appeared to be about conflict between cultures and had an identifiable bicultural self. This presentation will discuss the finding of the bicultural self. Several dreams will be presented to illustrate the role the bicultural self seems to play in these bilingual dreams with implications to the dreamers’ acculturation process and cultural identity. Mary Pat Lynch, PhD Shamanic Dreamwork Shamanic practice is our oldest spiritual tradition, reaching back to the earliest peoples of the Paleolithic. Every culture throughout history and across the globe has developed some form of shamanic tradition, and these traditions include dreamwork. This workshop group will explore shamanic approaches to dreams, including journeying into dreams for ourselves and others, connecting with dream allies, and exploring healing work in dreams. Background information on shamanic traditions will be shared, but the emphasis will be on working directly with our dreams in shamanic ways. Although advanced shamanic work requires skilled training and many journeys, the basic journey experience is easily and safely taught, and accessible to most dreamworkers. For this workshop, no experience with shamanic journeying is required. We will explore basic grounding and shielding exercises, shamanic dream re-entry (first with our own dreams and those of others), contacting a dream guide, and possibilities for dream healing. Tallulah Lyons, MEd; Rachel Norment, MA; and Wendy Pannier Dream Medicine: Healing Energy through Dream Re-entry and Mandala Expressions In this interactive workshop participants will experience three processes developed and used in the Healing Power of Dreams Project, an IASD-supported, nation-wide dream-work program for those facing cancer and other serious illness. First, participants will experience Dream Re-Entry through Guided Imagery. Second, they will deepen their experience through Mandala Expressions and Group Sharing. Third, they will direct energy for healing in specific ways. After breathing and relaxing into a deep state of consciousness, participants will re-enter a dream, feel the impact, and gather the healing imagery. The benefits of using guided imagery to connect with healing experience and in so doing, to positively effect both the immune system and quality of life has been well researched. After connecting with their dreams, participants will expand their experience through using art materials to create one or more mandala expressions. As mandala researcher Judith Cornell points out, creating mandalas brings many benefits including a “calming effect on the mind and body,” a sense of “opening up a perspective in which things can be understood as a whole,” the effect of making “the invisible visible,” and the effect of giving “form and expression to intuitive insight and spiritual truth.” The expansion and embodiment of dream energy through expressive arts has become another primary goal of the Healing Power of Dreams Project. After sharing their dreams and mandalas in small groups, participants will be guided to re-activate the energies of their healing images and to direct these energies toward targeted issues of mind, body, and spirit that need special attention. The chief goal of the Healing Power of Dreams Project is to facilitate participants in learning to direct imagery as healing energy in targeted ways that dreams have directed. Guided imagery concepts and techniques are based on the approaches and research of Belleruth Naparstek and Martin Rossman, M.D. Mandala concepts and techniques are based on the work of Suzanne Fincher, Judith Cornell, and Anneke Huyser. The group sharing process is based on a Jeremy Taylor projective approach. Didactic presentation is planned for less than thirty minutes, opening and closing guided imagery exercises for ten minutes each, mandala work for thirty-five minutes, and small-group sharing for thirty-five minutes. This workshop is geared toward anyone who wants to increase personal self-awareness and personal growth, anyone who wants to increase spiritual or psychic awareness, and anyone who is interested in dream-work techniques developed especially for those facing cancer or other serious illness. M Back to TopUma Markus MA, EdM Drawing the Dream Awake Drawing the Dream Awake is a 30-minute film that captures my five-year artistic journey into the wilderness of my dreams to renew my life. Produced in collaboration with my son, Samuel Markus, the film is narrated in my own voice with a sound-scape to enhance the imagery This film refines and expands the original story that I presented in power point at the Chicago Dream Conference 2009. It clearly demonstrates the life-changing power of the Inner Journey and, in this way, can serve as a teaching tool for others. Five years ago, a series of nightmares convinced me that I could no longer ignore the forces that were speaking to me through my dreams. I discovered that by drawing a dream in a sequence of images, I was able to re-enter the dream awake and consciously re-experience its mysteries. With the crucial help of a psychotherapist, I used my artistic imagination to contact, integrate and transform the deep archetypal imagery that was surfacing in my dreams. From the many threads of inner reality that were rendered visible in the drawings, I wove together a curative tale to release the ties that bound me emotionally to the past. As I creatively engaged with the psyche, I grew to trust the indwelling Presence that met me there in direct proportion to my courage to meet with It. This Presence made Itself known in my dreams and guided me most prominently in the figure of a “native fisherman” and in the form of various animals. Over time, my focus and fascination shifted from my identity with my story to my encounter with the Divine Mystery of the dream world itself. This shift in focus has opened new realities and possibilities, allowing me to deepen my experiences and broaden my actions in life. The film gives an account of this inner transformation through the dream drawings and the narrative that accompanies it. A question/answer discussion afterward with the audience is welcomed. Linda Mastrangelo, MA and Megan Joseph, MA The Right to Dream: Bringing Dream Work to Underserved Populations One of the most exciting movements in dream studies today is bringing this field to underserved populations including the homeless, elderly, children, prisoners and the disabled, for the intention of personal empowerment. If you are passionate about working with a certain population, have a program idea, or have a project underway but need practical tools to make it successful, this workshop is for you. Linda Mastrangelo and Megan Joseph bring over 30 years of combined experience in dream work, spiritual activism, transformative practices and direct service to underserved populations. As a certified dream specialist and a coach, their unique approach will help you access and integrate inner-guidance, practical skills and an action plan to shape your idea into a reality. This workshop will be highly experiential (50%) in addition to group discussion (30%) and didactic training (20%). In this action packed workshop we will: • Share success stories of how dream work has been used in this way: One of the more fascinating movements to reemerge in recent decades is the study of dreams. This esoteric, if not indigenous, practice has certainly been around for centuries and yet we Westerners are just skimming the surface of potential in how dreams can empower both the individuals and the community, especially in certain populations where dream work is not readily accessible and affordable. In group discussion we’ll explore dream work used in the past and the present to empower underserved populations and what we can learn from them such as IASD founders Jeremy Taylor, DMin, Strephon Kaplan Williams, PhD and JFKU’s Ray Greenleaf, MFT worked with youth suffering from schizophrenia at the St. George Home in Berkeley; Reverend Taylor’s later work in prison population including San Quentin and in the Civil Rights movements in the Bay Area during the 60’s and 70’s; JFKU’s dream study graduate Liliana Bonet working with nightmares and PTSD at a Veterans Hospital; Mary C. Walsh, MFT who is currently using biofeedback in addition to dreams to counsel youth who are dealing with substance and alcohol abuse and PTSD. • Access guidance for your project or idea directly from your dreams: Throughout history many inventions, works of art and literature, scientific discoveries, spiritual/religious movements and community based projects have come directly from dreams including The Pachamama Alliance based on co-founder Lynne Twist’s dream (the Hunger Project, The Soul of Money). The purpose of this project is to bring indigenous peoples of the South and Western peoples of the North to come together to find solutions in how to preserve both the rain forests and the dreaming culture of its inhabitants. The Insight Prison Project was created based on founder Jacques Verduin’s dream about the Buffalo who instructed him how to reduce recidivism in prisons. We will also explore communities working directly with the power of dreams including IASD’s 2006-7 President Jean Campbell’s World Dreams Peace Bridge in response to 9/11 and book Group Dreams: Dreams to the Tenth Power; 350 Dreamers for global healing; and the School of Metaphysics’ project GLiDE to name a few. In this workshop, through group dream work and dyads we will resource our own dreams using specific techniques such as dream incubation, mapping, shifting ™ and sharing to illuminate information, inspiration and insight around your project. • Language your dream work to be accessible to anyone: Gaining access to an underserved population or group of people to do dream work can be challenging. Often those making the decision to accept your dream work proposal and those participating in your workshop or class have limited experience with dreams and the benefits of exploring them. Learning how to language your dream work proposal as well as your work to be accessible to anyone from any background, level of education and experience is key to the viability and success of your program. Through dyads and group coaching you will practice crafting your program or proposal in this way. There will also be an opportunity to access our group’s collective wisdom to address challenges in bringing dream work to an underserved population. Often the answers are right there in the dream! You will also receive a tool kit of easily accessible dream exercises that can be used with any population to get you started. • Create action steps to make your idea for a dream program a reality: Your program idea that brings dream work to an underserved population can become a reality though action planning and setting deliverable goals. Using a SMART goal worksheet (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely) you will work individually and then in dyads to create action steps and a timeline to see your program through. Laurel McCabe, PhD Jung’s Red Book: Text and Image in the Spirit of the Depths Jung's Red Book is a vivid telling in image and text of his confrontation with "the spirit of the depths" from 1913 to 1917. He faithfully painted and transcribed his inner explorations in these years, and these experiences became the foundation for his psychological theory of individuation. This event presents an outline of Jung's inner work in the Red Book, including dreams and active imaginations; a visual presentation of the images; a discussion of how Jung's inner work reflects an objective psychological organization; and application of this structure to Biblical and medieval narratives as well as contemporary art and dreamwork. Diana McKendree, MEd “NOT KNOWING AND TRUSTING SIMULTANEOUSLY”: An Examination of the Language and Call to Heart. Wassily Kandinsky states, “The work of the artist is born of the art in a mysterious and secret way. From him it gains life and being.” This is true of the dreamer and her dream as well. None of its existence is casual and of inconsequent, but has a definite and purposeful strength alike in its material and spiritual life. When we work with a dream, we begin with the understanding that the image serves as a metaphor for integration. We see its meaning or not, we enjoy it or find it unpleasant. Initially, we rely on our sight to understand our image before seeking information from other sources. Some images tell us something we need to know at first glance, while others take time to understand and integrate. The dialogue between image, dream and dreamer rewards us when we use intellect, experience and emotion to better understand. We are brought to a place of heart, not necessarily of mind. The heart as symbol has been split by the analytical, industrialized mind. We are presently at a time in our evolution as a species of being called to consciously return to heart - individually and collectively. The language of heart is image. This is a foreign language to our evolved intellectual species, and it must be learned and created. Whether individual or collective, our presence and sense of identity arises from our history, experiences and associations with the images that stir our heart language. Our lives change as we live into our truth, which can only be that which comes from the deepest relationship with heart and true morality. This inwardly-directed approach allows us to discover new paths taking us beyond experiential circumstances from which we wish to be free of. We must be willing to not know and trust simultaneously as we hold the tension of the polarities of what is known and not known. It is only at this crossing point that transformation is possible. Diana McKendree, MEd Dream Theater An opening presentation reviewing the basic theory and principles related to creative expression of the dream will be given. A group dream will be collected containing the primary archetypal elements that will be suggested by the presenter. An example being – a male and a female are to be included in the dream. The participants will then choose the role they would like to play; the enactment is directed by the presenter. The dream is played through a number of times – in different forms – silently, with dialogue, in slow motion. The “dreamer” plays his/her role in the enactment initially, then becomes the observer and then the director. The players are all invited to share their experiences and insights following the exercise as the group process is attended to. Angel K. Morgan, MA Director’s Preview of Documentary Film, “Linked: The Dream-Creativity Connection” Saybrook doctoral student and filmmaker Angel K. Morgan interviews teen artists living in community, long-time participants of regular dream groups aged 50-86, and professional creative artists. This documentary film explores various perspectives concerning the link between dreams and creativity that inspired her vision for a Dream-Arts Community Center. The SIRB-approved research footage included in this documentary takes place at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, all over New York City, Los Angeles, and Ashland, Oregon. It can be described as a phenomenological urban ethnography, with a cinéma vérité style. It explores the link between dreams and creativity, through subjectively described experiences of 20 unique individuals. Angel K. Morgan narrates the chapters of the film with a script and artistic style that she dreamed. Recorded music in the film was the product of her dreams and therefore, the documentary itself is some of her own dream-creativity in action. Viewers of this film will inevitably explore their own relationship with, or experience of a dream-creativity link. They will be able to compare and contrast their experiences with those who have experienced this phenomenon and shared their experiences. They will be able to determine if they are interested in what a Dream-Arts Center could provide, to support, develop and strengthen the creative dream consciousness of individuals and communities in the future. Anthony Murkar; Teresa L. DeCicco, PhD; and Marco Zanasi, MD Waking-day Anxiety and Dreams: Dream Content and Predictors in Italian and Canadian Samples Previous research has shown that waking-day mood is related to dreams in a number of ways (DeCicco & Higgins, 2009; Schredl, Pallmer & Montasser; 1996; Jones & DeCicco, 2009). Research has also begun examining the relationship between mood and dreams between Italian and Canadian samples (DeCicco, Donati & Pini, 2009; Zanasi, DeCicco, Musolino & Wright, 2009). Results reveal that mood and dreams are related for both Italians and Canadians. Furthermore, there are some significant differences between the two groups. Since the research in this area has just begun, a full understanding of these processes is yet to be established. Therefore, the current study was undertaken in order to extend previous findings in a more specific way. The domain of anxiety (waking-day and dream content) was chosen in order to narrow the focus of examination. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) Dream content would be correlated with a waking day measure of anxiety (BAI) for both Italians (N=85) and Canadians (N=85), 2) There would be significant differences in dream content between an Italian sample and Canadian sample for apprehension and , 3) Waking day anxiety can be predicted with regression analyses from the number of scene changes in dreams (Jones & DeCicco, 2009), above other dream content categories (e.g., apprehension). Findings supported some of the hypotheses with significant differences in specific dream content between Italians and Canadians. The findings support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming in that the dreams of highly anxious participants were found to be high in anxiety-related emotions such as apprehension and fear. Most notably, the number of scene changes was found to be highly relevant in terms of waking day anxiety. These findings imply that the number of scene changes in dreams is an important distinguishing feature of waking day anxiety. Clinical implications and applications for Canadians, Italians, and other cultures are discussed. Furthermore, future research and directions are discussed in terms of waking day anxiety in both clinical and non-clinical populations. Eva Murzyn, BSc, University of Dundee Dreaming in colour: cross-cultural and methodological comparisons Previous research has shown that there are interesting differences in the rates of reported colour and greyscale dreaming – cross-cultural, age and individual differences. This talk will explore these differences by presenting three studies that looked at these issues. The first study is a comparison of dream chromacity carried out between UK and Polish middle-aged populations, which reveals marked cross-cultural differences in reporting of greyscale dreams that can be linked to exposure to black and white media. The seconds study investigated the relationship between visual imagery style and the visual content of dream reports obtained from long term dream diaries. The negative results from this study are compared to an earlier experiment which used the last recalled dream paradigm and found an interesting link between dream recency and visual imagery influence on dream report. This part will highlight a novel methodological issue that can arise when comparing dream journal and ‘last recalled dream’ reports. Finally, the last study (the final results of which will be forthcoming in January) looked at the detailed connections between visual memory, writing style and the colour of dreams and presence of colour in dream narratives. This study was designed to analyse the visual features of dream journal dream reports and of video clip report, and to compare these with visual memory and imagery abilities in students. The results of these three studies will be compared to the previous research carried out during my PhD and a general overview of the various influences on dream colour will be presented. N Back to TopValdas Noreika, MSc1; Jennifer M. Windt, MA2; Valtteri Arstila, PhD1; Christine M. Falter, PhD3; Julian Kiverstein, PhD4; Antti Revonsuo, PhD1,5 (1) University of Turku; (2) Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz; (3) University of Oxford; (4) University of Edinburgh; (5) University of Skövde The Subjective and the Objective Duration of Static NREM Sleep Dreams Background: Several researchers have argued that dreams may last throughout the night, while others have claimed that dreams are formed instantaneously at the moment of awakening. Yet, only a few empirical studies, based on post-awakening reports, incorporation of external stimuli into dream content, or counting tasks performed in lucid dreams, have aimed to explore the average duration of dreams. These studies have focused on the duration of typical complex REM sleep dreams, leaving the more simple forms of NREM sleep dreaming aside. We aimed to investigate the duration of static NREM sleep dreams, which usually consist of just a few comparatively mundane experiences. Method: 10 participants spent 4 experimental non-consecutive nights in the sleep laboratory and were awakened 8 times per night, following the early-night serial awakenings paradigm (Noreika, Valli, Lahtela, & Revonsuo, 2009). Awakenings took place during NREM sleep Stages 2 and 3 as well as during sleep onset REM sleep and were followed by a free dream report. Participants were also asked to answer a detailed questionnaire on different aspects of dreaming, including 5 questions about the subjectively estimated duration and the speed of time passage in the dream. The objective duration of NREM dreams was tentatively explored by EEG contrast between the reports of dreaming and dreamless sleep in a series of 2 s pre-awakening segments, starting with a 2 s segment of sleep just before awakening, then analyzing a previous 2 s segment, then another previous segment, and so on. We expected that such stepwise analysis would detect a time point at which alpha and beta power of pre-awakening sleep EEG would not differ anymore between conditions of reported dreams and dreamless sleep, which would suggest how long these dreams may have lasted on average. Results: (1) Most of the NREM dreams appeared to be static and limited in content, while the majority of the REM dreams were complex and dynamic. (2) Even though the duration of sleep was equivalent, the subjectively estimated duration of dreams differed between sleep stages, with REM dreams being reported as having been longer than NREM dreams. Yet, even the simplest NREM dreams were often experienced as having a duration of 30 s, 1 min or even longer, rather than being brief flashes of images. (3) By contrast, the subjective speed of time passage did not differ between dreams of different sleep stages and was typically scored as resembling waking life. (4) EEG spectral power in alpha to beta frequency range varied randomly between the dream and the dreamless conditions across a pre-awakening period of 20 s. Conclusions: The subjectively reported duration of dreaming is associated with the complexity of dream experiences: dynamic REM dreams seem to last longer than static NREM dreams. Even though NREM dreams are also reported as extended in time, EEG findings do not support this and are compatible with the view that static NREM dreams might be generated during a brief moment of awakening. Acknowledgments: The study was funded by the Volkswagen Foundation and the Academy of Finland. Jean Norelli, MA; Pam Brunner, PhD Candidate; Valerie Hinard, MFT Intern; Winnie Piccolo, MFT; and Meg Pierce, MFT Drinking the Green Lyon’s Blood: Dreaming the Transformation of the Inner Masculine To dream in community is to take the single golden thread of a shared theme and plait it into the individual psyche of each participant. There it illuminates a variety of unique and singular patterns that dance the theme into greater consciousness for the whole community. This is the experience of our group of five women, all deeply committed to a process of inner development in which dreams play an important role. Guided by a skilled leader who initially convened the group, we have been meeting biweekly since 1996 with the intention of reading C. G. Jung’s Collected Works. Over that thirteen-year period an initial intention to better understand Jung’s often difficult and dense pioneering work has become an intimate and rich conversation oriented by our readings and punctuated by our dreams, which often are flavored and directed by the material. We feel we have transformed into something more closely akin to an Ecclesia Spiritualis: a sacred container that holds us as we move forward in our individuation processes. Today we experience Jung as a valued mentor and friend. Often he offers an essential turning point in our understanding. Yet other times we feel he simply misses the mark for us as women and is somewhat lacking in the reference points which we need to fully understand the ideas he is presenting. Such was the case this year as we considered his most dense, obscure and possibly most important volume, Mysterium Coniunctionis. His commentaries describe a man’s spiritual development in a way that left us searching as women for adequate comparisons. Jung makes clear that the man’s inner feminine nature is an essential part of his psychological renewal cycle. Does our inner masculine nature play as important a part and if so, how? The leader asked each of the women to consider this question personally and present her findings to the other members of the class. We were delighted and amazed at the responsiveness of each woman’s dream life guiding her to an understanding of her process in unexpected and profound ways. By studying Jung slowly and carefully and by welcoming our dreams into the group discussions we have helped each other deepen the connections to our innermost Self and to each other. Through this process we became more conscious of those parts that would remain hidden if not in relationship with others. As we grow individually from this process, that growth affects all and our community becomes healthier. Although each person’s experience is unique, it is also universal. The richness of each person’s dreams educates, enlivens and touches us deeply. In our symposium each woman discusses her investigation into the inner masculine. The leader will introduce and help integrate the different presentations by pointing to the universal themes within the personal. O Back to TopChris Olsen Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Perspectives on Dream Consciousness The nineteenth and early twentieth century is a particularly promising era for resurrecting forgotten avenues of research into dream consciousness. This time period witnessed a diverse plurality of dream research traditions that have been obscured by the ascendance and eventual dominance of Freudian dream theory. A greater awareness of the historical development and decline of theories of dreaming could illuminate the wide spectrum of potential resources, perspectives, and research avenues available to contemporary dream researchers. Throughout the 19th century, dream theorists were required to account for the mounting evidence for the considerable complexity and depth of unconscious phenomenon. In the 1830s, mesmerism exposed the public to elaborate mental processes occurring beyond the domain of normal waking consciousness. Many romantic writers developed sophisticated theories of dreaming that were informed by their deliberate and conscious interaction with dreamlike imagery in the form of hypnogogia, reverie, and opium induced trances. Beginning in 1848, spiritism introduced new configurations of complex unconscious processes. In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, hypnosis and mediumship would attract a tremendous amount of attention from the medical and psychological research community. The growing complexity of theories of the unconscious was mirrored by changes in dream theory, as well as the adoption of more direct investigations of the dream state. Many dream researchers conducted experimental investigations involving the physiological stimulation of dreamers, which led to imagery replacing physiology as the most plausible primary stimulus of dreams. Consequently, dreams were conceptualized as a process that is more constructive than perceptive in nature, further expanding the role of unconscious processes. Other researchers adopted an even more active and immediate method for investigating dream content by becoming aware of dreaming and exploring the dream state while it was occurring. Rediscovering theories and approaches to the unconscious and dreaming articulated by Flournoy, Myers, Van Eeden, and other prominent writers from the formative years of modern dynamic psychology may provide new lenses for conceptualizing the nature, scope and potential of contemporary dream research. Jean H. Orost, EdD Children’s Dreams: Integrating the Developmental Theories of Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson with Jungian Dream Work It is very valuable, especially when working with the dreams of childhood, to understand the social, cultural, emotional, cognitive and moral reasoning stages each child is experiencing. This can help the therapist, teacher or parent to better understand some of the factors affecting children’s dream images. It can also enhance the meaning and significance of recollected dreams that occurred earlier in the lives of adults. This paper focuses on the theories of psychosocial development described by Erik Erikson and the cognitive and moral reasoning theories explored by Jean Piaget and their use in better understanding the dream images of children, both current and retrospective. Children experience or observe multiple images every day, some normative and some unique to them; these permeate their dreams. When working with children’s dreams from a Jungian perspective, clinicians also need to be aware of archetypal content and the gradual development of ego consciousness. This paper proposes that a better understanding of the message of the dream would include an awareness of the particular developmental stage and it’s unique tasks that the child may be currently or prospectively encountering. Using dreams collected by Jung, Piaget and Frances Wickes, along with dreams from the author’s own collection, possible connections between Jung’s, Erikson’s and Piaget’s theories may be drawn. Moreover, as adults, many dreams of childhood may be recollected, some of them repetitive. Another aspect of consideration in this paper (as time permits) would be the focus on current life stage issues of the adult and how they relate to the resolution of stages represented in the childhood dreams that are being currently recollected. These techniques may be used both therapeutically and as an aspect of personal growth. The author has used these concepts in working with the families of young children and as a life review procedure with aging adults. Paul Overman, PhD The Shaman's Call Some may consider shamanism the ultimate dream work - entering the dream world, diagnosing personal and social conditions and receiving empowerments for creative prescriptions for personal and social transformation. This special presentation will use the power of story telling, sharing several ancient “hymns” or stories of the Vedic Tradition – including the Kesin Hymn – and the transformational yoga of twenty-first century sage Sri Aurobindo, presenting a modern model or process of dreaming and self-empowerment for the individual and society. The challenge addressed by many dreams and visions is accepting individual personal calls to greatness. Issues of personal identity, social identity, and will and self-doubt will be presented within a cross-cultural perspective, and within an understanding of social transformation through individual inner-discovery of purpose: the power of will, the power of wisdom or knowledge, the power of harmony, and the power of action – all to be tapped in dreaming. Such issues and principles can be experienced or illustrated in scenes from the intuitive film work of Peter Weir, The Last Wave. It is with an "ideal" map or goal and simple but effective methods for transforming sleep and dreams that we can see our way into collaborating in society’s transformation through dreaming practices. P Back to TopJF Pagel MS/MD REMS Suppression and Significantly Lower Nightmare vs Dream Recall in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea In a study of a sleep laboratory population including patients with more severe apnea undergoing split-night studies (204/393 [51.9%]) patients with more severe OSA, as based on higher AHI, reported a significantly lower frequency of nightmares. No such changes were found to significantly affect the reported frequency of dream recall in this study. Mean Apnea-hypopnea Index (AHI) for this study population was 34.9 (std = 32.0). AHI and AI (Apnea Index) were significantly higher (p=0.000) for the grouping reporting infrequent nightmare recall. 71.4% of individuals in the grouping with an AHI < 5.0 reported nightmares occurring more than once/week. As the AHI score increased, the percent of participants with such frequent nightmare recall decreased linearly. This finding indicates that OSA, suppresses the cognitive experience of nightmare recall, an effect that occurs independently of OSA effects on reported dream recall frequency. This finding, that worsening OSA results in a significant decline in reported nightmare recall frequency, could potentially be secondary to the effects of OSA in inducing daytime sleepiness. Patients that are more difficult to arouse report lower nightmare frequency. However, daytime sleepiness is not present in all patients with OSA, with studies reporting excessive sleepiness in 15.5-22.5% of middle-aged OSA patients. In addition to daytime sleepiness, OSA is known to result in cognitive deficits that include declines in working memory and deficits in frontal cortex executive functions. However, cognitive deficits are not present in all OSA patients and have been difficult to describe consistently for the disease process. The potential effects of OSA in inducing cognitive impairment do not explain why worsening OSA should significantly affect nightmare as opposed to dream recall. The possibly that insomniacs, known to have higher nightmare frequency than the general population, might comprise a higher percentage of low AHI no-CPAP group and introduce a selection variable accounting for the higher proportion of nightmares was also addressed in this study. Even in the lower mean AHI group not treated with CPAP, increasing AHI significantly reduced reported nightmare frequency. While dreaming occurs throughout sleep, nightmares are generally described as a REMS associated parasomnia. REMS is the sleep stage most susceptible to abnormal breathing events, with OSA selectively suppressing REMS. It appears likely that diminished REMS in OSA patients accounts for the finding of decreased frequency of nightmares compared to dreaming in this population. J. F. Pagel MS/MD Dreaming, Focused Meditation and Lucidity Lucid dreaming was originally defined as “being awake in your dreams” and as “dreaming while being fully conscious that you are dreaming” (LaBerge 1985). Several studies have suggested that lucid dreams occur during REM sleep based on the apparent ability of a small group of lucid dreamers to either push buttons or make volitional eye movements during episodes of what may be REM sleep. This finding is debatable in that it contradicts definitions for both sleep (reversible behavioral isolation from the environment) and REM sleep (voluntary muscle motor paralysis). For most all individuals, polysomnographically described sleep is interspersed with recurrent episodes of arousal and awakening that the individual does not remember at awakening. Episodic arousal and awakening occur at high frequency during sleep onset non-REM sleep and during REM sleep. Lucid dreaming is reported to occur at the highest frequency during those sleep stages that are closest to waking: sleep onset (8 % of LaBerge reports) and episodes of REM sleep associated with increased motor activity and alpha bursts. Lucid dreaming is also reported at higher frequency by individuals for whom sleep and wake are loosely differentiated (individuals with thin borders). Both focused meditation and lucid dreaming are characterized by conscious control, teachable induction techniques, focused awareness, intense hallucinatory visual imagery, detailed recall, and association with higher frequency synchronous EEG activity. These are not characteristics of most variants of sleep associated dreaming. Lucid dreaming has characteristics that fit better with states of focused meditation than with dreaming. Lucid dreaming is better viewed as a “dream-like” state occurring during arousals or awakenings from sleep sharing characteristics with focused meditative states. Lucid dreaming may be a sleep arousal epiphenomenon. Rather than “awake in dreaming,” lucidity may be a focused mental state associated with arousal from sleep. Wendy Pannier and Tallulah Lyons, MEd Working with Healing Dream Imagery This morning dream group is based on the work that Tallulah Lyons and Wendy Pannier do with cancer patients through their workshops and ongoing dream groups. The work is relevant to anyone interested in the healing potential of dreams and how dream work can be used with other forms of integrative medicine. This is suitable for all audiences, from beginning through experienced dream workers. Participants should be interested in the following primary objectives: • Increasing personal self-awareness and personal growth • Increasing spiritual awareness After using the projective technique of Jeremy Taylor, work with dream imagery falls into two primary categories: 1) facilitating the evolution/transformation of disturbing dream experience (e.g., those from nightmares) and 2) facilitating the integration of the evolved positive imagery and also the integration of positive imagery from spontaneous healing dreams. Techniques include dream re-entry and use of guided imagery. Participants are encouraged to embody and integrate their personal dream imagery through a variety of relaxation and meditative visualization techniques. Imagery work is based on processes developed by Belaruth Naparstek and Martin Rossman, MD. The group is primarily experiential. After brief introductory remarks the first morning (15 minutes), teaching points are used only to help the dreamer in his or her exploration of the dream and its imagery and to offer possibilities for incorporating work with the dream imagery into waking life beyond the dream group. These could include art, movement and a variety of meditative activities. Members are encouraged to briefly share additional insights or experiences with their dream imagery at the beginning of the session each morning. Basis for Work: Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) research has confirmed the impact of the mind and emotions on the immune system, and also provides evidence for the role of dreams in healing. Biophysics and physiology researcher Candace Pert discovered neuropeptides, which she calls the “molecules of emotion,” that connect all systems of the body—including the immune system. At the level of neuropeptides, the body and mind are neurologically connected. Every emotional state involves the release of neuropeptides and other biochemical messengers. Our emotions are thus connected to our physiology. Pert emphasizes that for maximum functioning of the immune system, it is important to free blocked emotions and to find constructive expression for all emotions. Dream work is a process for achieving that goal and pairs well with other integrative medicine practices. Stephen Parker, PhD Vasily Kasatkin and Prodromal Dreams The Russian Vasily Kasatkin catalogued 10,000 dreams of his 1200 patients over a forty-year period. His 1967 book, Teoriya Snovidenii, is the largest source of examples of “prodromal” dreams – dreams that are predictive of illness. Most of the books that review the history of dreams give mention to Kasatkin, without citing any original source. There appears to be no translation of his book into English, and no systematic presentation of his work has been done. This presentation will summarize the information available about Kastakin’s findings, including original translations from his book. Additional prodromal dreams that Dr. Parker has gathered since his presentation to the 2009 Chicago conference will also be included. Richard F. Paseman, EdD Dream Visitations Of The Dead: Communion Of Souls – Pillar Of Dreams Dream visitations of the dead have been reported in diverse cultures from antiquity to the contemporary. Are these phenomena projections from the dreamer’s nighttime “cast of characters” and archetypes or is there a basis for viewing them as valid visitations from the departed? Documents dating to the early Christian era demonstrate that many church leaders regarded after death communication during dream states as a reality that was consistent with the emerging orthodox faith. The foundation for dream visitations of the dead is grounded in the theological affirmation of the communion of souls. Dreamtime represents a “thin place” where the boundary between the holy and the ordinary is so thin as to become permeable. Symbolically, the “pillar” is a biblical representation for the means by which the soul ascends or descends in visitation between the two realms. Cynthia Pearson (chair); Sheila Asato MA, EIC; Jean Campbell MA; Joan Harthan, PhD, and Gloria Sturzenacker, MS Long-Term Journal Keeping: Quest for Enrichment When the first panel on long-term journal keeping met at ASD-13, chair Dennis Schmidt noted: "…In the tradition of the naturalists whose patient observations prepared the ways to elegant understandings of physics, chemistry, and biology, home journal keepers record and discover events and regularities that astonish and enlighten…the personal journal is a uniquely sensitive instrument that may enlighten not only the individual dreamer but the whole field of dream study." Since then, journalers have met at every IASD conference to discuss long-term record keeping and continue our cross-fertilization. In 2010 the theme will be "Quest for Enrichment," featuring presentations by journal keepers who report not only on how recording dreams has enriched their lives but also on ways they have learned to enrich their journal-keeping. In Pausing at Midlife – Embodying Dreams in the Book Arts, Sheila Asato will explore whether it is possible to embody dreams within the book arts and how journals might hold dreams in a way that is true to their original nature. She will also share her new body of work. Jean Campbell will present The Benefit of the Internet to Long-Term Dream Journalists and Researchers. As one of the first moderators of the IASD Discussion Board, Co-Chair of the popular PsiberDreaming Conference, and creator of the World Dreams Peace Bridge, she will recount some of her experiences with the Internet and dreams. Joan Harthan promises to take us with her on her journey of exploration and discovery with This Quest; this Adventure; this Discovery. What began as a story told in the dead of night became the launch pad for a Dream Quest that she believes was as important to humanity as it was to her own life. Cynthia Pearson will offer the Top 10 Reasons to Write Down Your Dreams. She will recount examples from over 30 years of journaling that demonstrate the brilliant, inscrutable, surprising, rich and inexhaustible benefits of writing down one's dreams. In Curiosity Quests, Gloria Sturzenacker will recount how long-term journal keeping often involves what she’s come to think of as a “curiosity quest.” Odd or unfamiliar elements of a dream lead her to explore externally—either intentionally (often through Google searches) or unintentionally (through synchronistic encounters). The result is often psi-like connections leading to deeper meaning. Winnie Piccolo, MA, MFT; Dawn Matheny, MA, PhD ; Meg Pierce, MA, MFT ; and Robert Tompkins, PhD, MFT Four Perspectives on Soul-Making: Dreaming the Past Forward “There is but one history and that is the soul’s” – William Butler Yeats In 2007 our group of four presented “Four Perspectives on Soul Making: Dreams and the Religious Function of the Psyche” to the IASD Annual Conference in Sonoma, California. We returned two years later, presenting in Chicago our symposium entitled “Four Perspectives on Soul Making: Reanimating Self and Planet.” Our group has continued to meet together, living forward the vision of our specific, personal lives within the universal patterns of soul, with dreams as our guide. Soul making is our unifying concept. We understand soul as spirit alive in the body. The depth-psychological understanding of devoting oneself to inner work is that it is soul work and therefore a spiritual journey. Soul making is the work of becoming fully embodied as human, temporal selves in which the spirit is also housed. When we allow that sacred flame to enter us, letting it ground, enliven and expand our human personality, we become “ensouled.” Soul making is taking what Jung referred to once as “the fateful tissue of our lives,” and finding ways to create with it, evoking new potentials for living without denying the given realities of our own personal matrix. It is stepping into a new relationship with the many possibilities of being. Dreams are essential and powerful allies in revealing the old that wants to (or must) die and in living the creative process of birthing the new. Our community of four has become the container as well as the impetus for integrating unconscious energies in a way that transforms them into imaginative, heartfelt, soulful living. Our current presentation demonstrates how newly appearing dream imagery integrates and mirrors unfolding relationships within the individual along with making new connections between individual and community. Robert’s images of magical animals and children portend radically new life energies arising. Winnie is in the midst of an energetic, transformative relationship with longstanding repetitive dream images of destructive forces. Dawn engages a powerful dream using the universal pattern of the labyrinth. And Meg’s dreams reveal emergent forms of Eros connecting human and spiritual community. We present our changing themes and active dream work approaches as part of a process of coming into embodied consciousness and so into the many possibilities of being. This is the essence of .soul making. Dominic J. Potts, Esq, JD Overcoming Linguistic Limitations That Subliminally Undermine Optimal Understanding of Extraordinary Dreams From the dawn of primitive conversational exchanges, over 5000 years ago in the ancient Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia (Iraq) language has come to be infused with cathected, memory-related connotations that subtly and subliminally influence our perceptions, thought processes, judgments, stream of consciousness and behavior, all beneath the threshold of our conscious awareness. Neuroscientists have cogently demonstrated that the language we habitually use can subliminally and detrimentally affect and undermine our interpretation, understanding and application of dream messages, particularly those in extraordinary transformative dreams. Our communicational faculty relies upon two primary requisites. We all have a reservoir of expressional language—a figurative warehouse of words and phrases—which we habitually and unthinkingly use when we communicate with ourselves and others. We also have a repertoire of expression skills—a range of communicational aptitudes—we commonly employ in our communications with ourselves or others. It is the thesis in this presentation, predicated on neuroscientific research, that our habitual language is often unknowingly inhabited by affective, subliminal connotations emanating from, or associated with, memory-experiences lurking in the shrouded penumbra of our perceptual faculty. It is a further thesis of this presentation that the language we habitually select and unthinkingly use creates a linguistic prism through which we perceive, analyze, understand and react to our experiences, including those in our nocturnal wonderland of dreams. It is an additional thesis that our linguistic prism harbors subliminal undercurrents and overtones that can influence our perceptions, assessments and behavior. It is the final thesis here that our language selection and usage can significantly influence the fortunes and misfortunes that follow from our understanding and reaction to our dream experiences. Commencing with the classical Yale University Studies in 1951, known as "The Yale Communication and Attitude Change Program,” led by Carl Hovland, Sterling professor of psychology and Director of the Department of Psychology at Yale, cognitive psychologists, linguists, sociologists, semanticists, neurologists, endocrinologists, neuropsychologists, psychoanalysts and psychiatrists have studied, researched and persuasively documented the detrimental effect that undiscriminating language selection and its unstylized architectural arrangement can have on our evaluations, behavior and attitude. During the intellectually contentious and occasionally acrimonious ferment about “the unconscious” that erupted in the 1940s and percolated through the 70s, noted psychoanalyst Charles Fisher was engaged in studying the subliminal effect of language on behavior and dreams. His studies culminated in his highly-acclaimed, seminal publication, Subliminal Explorations of Perception Dreams, and Fantasies. Subsequently Joseph LeDoux, former professor in the Department of Neurology at Cornell University Medical College and later at New York University, conducted laboratory experiments involving the emotional brain and its amygdala, the two small structures in the brain’s limbic system, while studying subliminality and the unconscious. LeDoux concluded that the emotional brain is heavily involved in our emotional life, our moods, and our dreams, publishing his findings in his widely-noted work, The Emotional Brain—The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life. The emotional brain, limbic system and amygdala have also been researched in Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, Ph.D., The Brain and The Mind, both by Richard M. Restak, M.D. and Training The Brain, brain-mapping research conducted by Torkel F. Kingbeerg, a Norwegian neuropsychiatrist and professor of cognitive neuroscience. Highly sophisticated, sensitive brain-scanning instruments—such as MSI (Magnetic Source Imaging), fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging), that will also be presented—have confirmed many major findings of the foregoing researchers. Recent noteworthy treatments of the relationship of subliminality, perception, and behavior have been addressed by Howard Shevrin, Professor Emeritus in Clinical Psychology and a psychoanalyst in the Department of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Michigan. Shevrin authored the novel, The Dream Interpreters: A Psychoanalytic Novel, and published his scientific research in Subliminal Explorations of Perception, Dreams, and Fantasies: Pioneering Contributions of Charles Fisher, the noted psychoanalyst who pioneered scientific exploration of subliminality. This presentation will illustrate how cathected subliminal connotations unknowingly embedded in the language we select to describe, understand, and assess our dreams can influence our interpretation, evaluation, and reaction to our dreams, beneath the threshold of our conscious awareness. The dream-related fortune or misfortune we subsequently experience may be significantly shaped by the language we unwittingly employ when working with our dreams. Mena E. Potts, PhD The Psychosocial Dynamics of Extraordinary Dreams In this presentation I will illustrate the psychosocial dynamics and the relevance and important implications of psi dreams for others and the community. As denominated in the research literature, a psi dream is a dream which includes knowledge of events not otherwise explainable on the basis of any known sensory channel of communication. In the 2009 IASD PsiberDreaming Conference I conducted a survey of psi dreams which demonstrates how psi dreams can significantly extend to others and into the community. The psychosocial dynamics of the survey participants correlates with the findings in my practice. Their dream accounts illustrate what motivates psi dreamers in their decision to conceal or to disclose their dreams and the compelling emotions and action-directives that influence their behavior. I will discuss some intriguing results that occurred in the course of my survey. My interest and study of psi dreams began with my own psi dream experiences at an early age. The realization of their personal and social transformative potential and impact led me to do doctoral studies of these phenomena. During my doctoral program I studied the meaning of psi dreams as “a lived experience” within the social world because our dreams do not occur in isolation. I wanted to take the phenomenological-existential-humanistic approaches to dreams and apply them to psi dreams. This would encompass the approaches, among others, of Ullman, Krippner, Moustakas, and Boss’s Daseinanalysis. In 1980, I began an extensive search of the literature in order to ascertain whether anyone else had conducted research in the meaning of psi dream experience as it relates to personal, interpersonal and social relationships and its transformative potential. Whatever sources of information and knowledge I could identify were searched and explored. During my literature search I utilized the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychological Association, Medline, American Society for Psychical Research and Parapsychology Foundation, to name a few, as well as university, governmental, public and private libraries and collections. I also engaged research librarian Rhea White to do a parapsychological search on this topic for me. To my surprise she later reported she “could not find any studies or research on my topic or that area.” My doctoral topic, therefore, was a virginal field of study that had never been plowed. My interest in psi dreams as “a lived experience within the world” continued through the recent survey I conducted during the IASD 2009 PsiberDreaming Conference. Based upon my clinical work, research, study, practice and IASD survey involving psi dreams, I will discuss the psychosocial factors I have identified which motivate the psi dreamer and coextensively affect others within the dreamer’s “dream community.” William Henry Price, MFA Dream Origins of Language: Pre-verbal Meaning in World Art This talk explores the meaning behind decorative patterns in world arts, which emanate from the dream space. I will begin by relating a powerful and astounding dream I had as a young man, a dream in which I was presented with an exquisite object that appeared to be made of strands of light and sound, but which were the eloquent gestures of a living language. I later encountered similar stories from Terrance McKenna, Martin Prechtel, and others; experiences of profound beauty, the direct apprehension that the world is made of language. What we tend to see as merely decorative in the arts, so often is actually specific and purposive. We can begin to appreciate the grammar of these patterns as we recognize their origins in deep consciousness. We will look at images of fantastic early Chinese bronzes; the design circuitry of Conibo decorations; amazing textile patterns of central African tribes; Taoist spirit drawings; and Celtic designs. Tibetan mandalas hold the patterns of higher dimensional spaces into which one enters and moves about. The coherence of song and shape in unison creates the healing designs of Navajo sand paintings. The Ainu of Hokkaido readily perceive the songs and designs that please the gods. And Islamic design invokes a world of meanings with sophisticated geometry and intricate interlace. We’ll have a brief glimpse into the meanings of Ghanaian drum patterns. Lastly we’ll consider the presence of “the net” in world traditions from ancient Egypt to modern string theory. In each instance we find eloquent patterns articulating creative forces at the interface between dreaming and the material world. The decorations contain the story that is being lived by the people, and these patterns are as vital as DNA. This language of forms emanates from dreaming, and finds expression as offerings back to the Dreaming. R Back to TopVictoria Rabinowe Creative genius of the night mind: New Tools and Techniques for DreamWorkers This series of evening dreamgroup sessions will explore inventive practices for entering the landscape of dreams with new and unusual methods. Shifting frames of reference during each meeting, the group will explore dream symbolism from a new twist on personal, collective, archetypal, allegorical, mythical, religious, medical and spiritual dimensions. Each session will be filled with surprises and insights as the group unravels the multi-dimensional worlds of paradox, allegory and metaphor. When dreams are reentered by a group, the collective mind becomes a creative entity. When dreams are worked from a variety of perspectives, the mysterious realms of absurdity, ambiguity, and enigma open their secrets. Universal themes of Judgment, Boundary, Identity, Calling and Grace will be juxtaposed with reinventions of archetypal themes such as Wounded Healer, Trickster, Shadow, and the Mythic Journey. Dreams are the connection to our deepest, authentic creative source. To make sense of a dream, we need to learn how to shift away from our usual strategies for finding answers. “The Art of the Dream”™ techniques invite an understanding of the dream as opposed to an analysis. This method does not pathologize dreams nor does it categorize dreamwork as new age, pseudoscience or therapy. The group will not attempt to tell dreamers what their dreams mean. An atmosphere of respect, curiosity and gentle humor will support a framework for self-discovery. For this reason, “The Art of the Dream”™ techniques will appeal to dreamers of diverse education, environments and traditions: psychoanalysts, spiritual guidance counselors, writers, artists, educators, health care providers, caregivers and dreamers from all backgrounds. This dream group is appropriate for all conference attendees with the aim of increasing personal self-awareness and emotional growth. Henry Reed, PhD Dreamwork in the Classroom: An Empirical Approach Teaching dreamwork in the classroom presents many challenges. Not only does it require the teaching of skills not normally associated with intellectual achievement, it also ventures into topics normally thought of as too personal to share, and raises questions about the boundary between self-exploration and psychotherapy. This presentation describes a decades-long program, involving special dream education technology, that takes an empirical approach to the task, involving students in experimentation, observation, sharing, and the testing and application of dream insights. Examples will be given of specific pedagogical tools used in empirical dreamwork instruction. Presentation will expand attendees’ awareness of new possibilities for teaching dreamwork in the classroom. Mathew Rosie, Jayne Gackenbach, John Bown, and Tyler Sample Dream Incorporation of Video Game Play: Interactivity, Fidelity and Presence In a series of studies, Gackenbach and colleagues have been investigating the impact of media exposure, especially video game play, on dreaming. These studies are primarily descriptive using methods from first person interviews, retrospective questionnaires, and morning-after dream diaries regarding dreams and media use. Video game play has been found to be associated with various dream types. However, no study from this laboratory to date has done an experimental manipulation of game immersion factors in order to investigate subsequent dream incorporation. Nielsen, Saucier, Stenstrom, Lara-Carrasco, and Solomonova (2007) did something very close when they used an immersive virtual reality (VR) setup to investigate dream incorporation. They had subjects follow a maze in VR and examined subsequent dreams. They were successful in having subjects identify incorporation of the VR experience into their dreams. The current study is a replication and extension of that preliminary effort but this time a video game was used, Mirror’s Edge. In this case, we added presence self reports as a dependent variable for both the game and the dream, along with interactivity and fidelity independent measures to manipulate immersion. The former independent measure was either passive or active, while fidelity was either high-screen resolution with stereophonic headset audio versus low screen/audio. Presence was measured after the game play to see if the manipulation worked. We expected higher presence in the high-fidelity/high-interactivity condition than in the other conditions, and especially than in the low-fidelity/low-interactivity condition. In preliminary analysis (more subjects are still being run), there was no main effect or interaction for presence sum scores. There was, however, a main effect for enjoyment such that playing the game was more enjoyable than simply watching it being played across fidelity conditions. For those who reported a dream the night following the manipulation, there were no main effects or an interaction for self-reports of game incorporation into the dream. This could have been because of the 300 data entries into the daily online journals thus far, over the two weeks following the experiment, only 98 dreams were recorded. Of these only 30 were from the first night following the experiment. Alternatively, it could be that by selecting only high-end gamers there was a ceiling effect for degree of feeling presence in the gaming experience. After each dream the participant was asked to fill out a measure of presence about the dream. Surprisingly there was a significant interaction between the two conditions for dream presence sum scores. This could be due to the demand characteristics set up by the experiment. Specifically subjects were aware that the game might show up in their dreams. And since the presence scale following the dream was the same as the one following the experimental manipulation, they may have then reported differences in felt presence in their dreams, as a function of the manipulated variables in the experiment. We developed a dream content analysis system based on the game, beyond the subject’s self-report of perceived incorporation. Two high-end gamers, who are researchers in this study, went through a grounded theory approach to develop a dream content system for evidence of this game being incorporated into the dream. Their final coding system was based upon act frequency and was divided into four classes of variables: 1. Primary elements were defined as being unavoidable, core processes; 2. Secondary elements were supportive of the primaries; 3. Extra-game elements accounted for indirect products of game play (e.g., fear of heights); and 4. Laboratory elements are in-dream manifestations of the experimental setting. They achieved over 80% reliability on coding the same dreams and are currently doing the rest of the dream coding. Finally, all dreams collected over the two weeks following the manipulation are also being content analyzed using the Hall and Van de Castle system. Richard Russo, MA Jung’s “Red Book”: A Dream for Our Culture In 1913, C.G. Jung embarked on what he later called (in Memories, Dreams, Reflections) his “confrontation with the Unconscious.” During this period, he had vivid dreams and waking visions – some of them terrifying -- and engaged in intense dialogues with the figures who were appearing to him. All this material was duly recorded in his journals, and later became the raw material for the Red Book, which was published for the first time in 2009. Jung worked on the Red Book on and off for many years, hand-copying key dreams and visions from his journals, and adding commentary and paintings. This talk will describe the structure of the Red Book, and discuss some of the dreams and visions it contains. We will also explore the relation of the Red Book to Jung’s work as a whole, with special attention to several key concepts, including: • Jung’s ideas about the nature of dreaming • Jung’s concept of the “Objective Psyche” • The process of “active imagination” In addition, we will look at some of the paintings that Jung created to accompany his dream texts, and make some observations in passing about the value of making art from dreams. Finally, we will discuss the distinction between personal dreaming and dreaming for the culture, and consider the Red Book not only as part of Jung’s personal journey, but also as a dream for our culture. This idea will be placed in the context of “Cultural Dreaming,” a process that explores the cultural dimension of dreaming, developed by Russo and Meredith Sabini at the Dream Institute of Northern California. S Back to TopSuzanne Saldarini MA, LPC Dreamwork: A Psychoanalytic Perspective The workshop begins with a didactic review of basic principles of dream interpretation articulated by Sigmund Freud over 100 years ago. Participants then observe psychoanalytic method at work by reading a brief, highly condensed presentation of Freud’s classic analysis of his own Irma dream. Finally, contemporary dream specimens will be presented as examples of “everyday” dream-work; participants will be invited to add dreams and observations from their own experience. The presentation will conclude with practical guidelines including ethical considerations. Participants can expect 20 minutes of didactic content, 15 minutes of silent reading (Irma’s dream and its analysis) with 15 minutes for reaction and discussion, 25 minutes for consideration of contemporary specimens and participants’ contributions, and 15 minutes for review, reactions, and concluding thoughts. Dream-Work is meant for a broad audience. It provides a useful introduction for therapists with no formal background in psychoanalytic theory, a refresher for others, and an engaging challenge for any curious and introspective dreamer. Mohamed O Salem, Ola M Salem, Said Y Abdel Razik United Arab Emirates University Effects of Watching Films on Dreams of the UAE University Students Background: Films have a powerful effect on the individual, affecting many psychological functions Aims: The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of watching films on the dream life of a sample of UAE university students and whether there are any gender differences in such effects. Methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional epidemiological survey in the academic year 2008 /2009. A questionnaire was randomly distributed among students, and those who consented for the study filled the questionnaire Results: The sample included 200 students, 100 males and 100 females. The mean age of the sample was 19.7 years, and the majority were single (90.3%). 42% of the male and 75% of the female students reported that watching films had an effect on their dreams. 53% of the male and 82% of the female students reported that watching films increased their dream recall. Characters related to the watched films were seen in dreams of 39 % of the male and 55 % of the female students according to their reports. Emotions related to the watched films were reported in dreams of 43% of the male and 73% of the female students. Dream actions related to the watched films were reported by 50% of the male and 71% of the female students. In all of the above findings there were statistically significant gender differences. 29 % of males and 39% of female students noticed a relation between the watched films and the occurrence of nightmares in their dreams. 38 % of the male and 23% of the female students reported that watching films had in general, a positive effect on their dreams. Regarding the effects of the types of films on dreams; horror and action films were reported to have more effects on the students’ dreams than the comedy and romance ones. Horror and action films were reported to increase dream recall of the students’ dreams more than the comedy and romance varieties. Both findings were statistically significant. Dream characters, actions and emotions were also reported to be more related to action and horror films than the comedy and romance types. Not surprisingly, nightmares were related to horror and action films more than comedy and romance varieties. Conclusion: In this study, watching films had a significant effect on many aspects on the viewer’s dreams, including dream recall, and there was a significant gender difference in many of these findings. Action and horror films seemed to have more effects on dreams than the comedy and romance ones. Dr. Massimo Schinco Dreams and Music: 10 common features affecting practices of psychotherapy and education. The acknowledgement that the boundaries between waking and sleeping activities of mind are flexible and without sharpcut interruptions accounts for a view of creativity as a general attitude of mind that has in dreaming its basis. A particular form of creativity is the one giving rise to thinking music. It is well known that the nature of “musical thought” is a controversial issue. But if seen in the general frame of theories of wholeness and orders, with a specific cut derived from the study of creativity in great composers and musicians, its characteristics become less hazy and more clearly defined. The aim of this paper is to show how music and dreams share common features so that is possible to argue that thinking activities underlying both dreaming and music have vast areas of overlap: 1. Both dreams and music sprout from the implicit, enfolded, unexpressed side of reality and grow as an explicit, unfolded, expressed side of reality 2. Both feature an irreducible part of virtuality 3. Both depict a world characterized by motion 4. Both can be very tricky 5. Both come out from silence and to silence they return 6. To understand music one must tune the attention beforehand on the still silent implicit, musical thought. To understand dreams, one has to do something similar, but in the reverse direction 7. Both dream and musical thought drawn their materials from any kind of sensory data, memories, perceptions, experiences. The rules that the scenery and phrase building obey are those of the implicit and unexpressed. 8. In both music and dreams the relationship between the experience of the subject and the outcome (dream or music) should not be considered as being lineal, nor as directly causal 9. Regarding both dreams and music, a central role should be acknowledged to our body and bodily experience 10. Both music and dreams should be always approached in a multidimensional frame reflecting the many dimensions of reality itself. The recognition of these features should help to develop a particular awareness which results in enhanced skills of proprioception, and in being tuned with the world beyond the narrative continuity of our mind as a source of creativity. Lauren Z. Schneider, MA, MFT; Athena Johnson, MA, MA Dreams and Tarot: Innovative Approaches to DreamWork and Depth Therapy Lauren Z. Schneider, MA, MFT: This psychotherapeutic method called Tarotpy® utilizes the rich symbolic imagery of Tarot, Dream Cards, Soul Cards, and other representational images to actively engage deeper unconscious processes and lay the imaginal world out on the table. Founder of IASD, the late Strephon Kaplan Williams, created the Dream Cards for this purpose: to understand “symbolism, dreams and the application of dreams to life. [It will] help you create strong bonds between dreaming and waking consciousness.” Using this method Tarotpy, we gain greater insight into our dreams and into the dreaming psyche; through the integration of Tarot and dream work, the archetypal patterns, psychological and interpersonal dynamics that influence our life come into clearer view. Tarotpy® enhances dream work and vice-versa. I use Tarotpy® with a client to contemplate and gain further insight on a specific night dream, or to stimulate imagination that may be otherwise blocked in some clients – for instance, with those clients who do not remember their dreams. Often, I find that a Tarotpy® session will be followed by reports of more vivid dreaming. These archetypal symbols represent a universal language of imagery, which is cross-cultural, perhaps birthed from the same collective and psychic pool from which emerges the dream. In her book, Jung and the Tarot, Sallie Nichols states that “these old cards were conceived deep in the guts of human experience, at the most profound level of the human psyche…Studying a specific card seems to unlock hidden stores of creative imagination so that sudden insights and ideas can burst forth into consciousness – seemingly from nowhere.” As with dream work, the core principle of Tarotpy® embodies a profound respect for the inherent wisdom, creativity and wholeness of the psyche. Unlike traditional Tarot readings in which there are set formats and definitions, this method is a hands-on interactive process with the client: I carefully attend to the individual’s verbal and non-verbal cues as the client selects the deck, the number of cards, the form and name of each placement. On the one hand, the therapeutic use of Tarot cards is a highly effective projective tool or Rorschach test, for assessment and exploration. This simple method relaxes the vigilant ego and provides a safe and effective medium to discuss issues, often revealing the client’s deeper concerns and truth without engaging resistance. The metaphoric imagery creates a bridge for unconscious material and intuition to flow between client and therapist. On the other end of the spectrum, there seems to be an unconscious mastermind at play in the “random” selection of a specific deck and particular imagery. Like the genius of the dream, it appears more intentional than random to bring into consciousness information about our relationships, environment and ourselves that is vital to emotional, physical or spiritual growth. This workshop is intended for professionals to consider an additional tool to enhance dream work in clinical practice. It is also geared to non-professionals who are interested in a method that combines with dream work to increase spiritual and personal self-awareness. Athena Johnson, MA,MA: The tarot is an empowering tool that can be utilized to develop a deeper comprehension of one’s dreams and life. The Tarot as a whole possesses a mythology of the human condition, especially when contemplating the images of the major arcana. The images are archetypal and come from the stream of Consciousness that all humans tap into, especially in their dreams. The tarot is a pictorial mythology, a piece of art, with only a few words as title; thereby leaving room for any viewer to personally experience it regardless of time, culture or religion. The beauty of imagery without words is that it allows for a flow of change in thought and experience of it; art has flexibility in meaning and interpretation. The more one becomes familiar with and educated about the tarot cards, the more they will be able to build a personal relationship and knowledge of them which can be applied to their dreams. The tarot cards can express one’s experience with Consciousness, provide answers to how to handle situations, and open one up to exploring their own choices. By walking through the mythology of the major arcana, one can identify and relate the cards to their dreams and waking life. When the tarot cards of the major arcana are placed in sequential order and in the shape of a circle, they show a story of evolution, maturation and individuation. Each time an individual completes a cycle in the tarot, they are ascending in a spiral motion towards greater levels of awareness. The mythology of the tarot also has an inner (spiritual/emotional) and an outer (physical/mental) theme that can be experienced in dreams and life. With the help of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth, the tarot map can be dissected to analyze what stage and card one has come from, is entering into, and might next encounter. This can be done by correlating the dream(s) of a single night, series of nights, or from a collection of dreams within an age bracket, to the images of the major arcana of the tarot. One can utilize the major arcana as a map to plot out their current course of action, what obstacles will need to be overcome, and/or gifts to be open to receiving in both in their dreams and waking life. Part of the purpose of dreaming is to put the pieces together of one’s day in order to find a sense of resolve, thereby becoming closer to comprehending one’s personal quest towards wholeness and deeper connection with something greater than oneself. This correlation of images also reminds the seeker that their connection with Consciousness is always present in all avenues of life. Thus, this practice can assist one in opening their mind, heart, and soul to a daily purpose and further importance of paying attention to their dreams. Michaela Schrage-Früh, Dr. phil. Dreams and the Literary Imagination In my paper I explore interconnections between dreaming and the literary imagination at various levels. Thus, although the view that dreams are "the imaginations of them that sleep" (Hobbes, Leviathan) may be considered problematic for various reasons, dreams have all the same sparked literary creativity and triggered powerful imaginative creations. After briefly discussing selected examples of such incidents recorded throughout literary history, I will turn to the multiple ways in which literary dreams function in fictional texts and interact with them structurally as well as metaphorically. One recent text that lends itself ideally to such an analysis is Clare Jay's 2009 debut novel Breathing in Colour. This novel focuses on the traumatic event that overshadows and threatens to destroy the lives of two women, Alida and her daughter Mia. Interspersing the narrative with accounts of the two women's dreams, the author retraces their progress from trauma to gradual recovery and healing at two levels, on the one hand presenting their evolving recollections, thoughts and emotional responses during waking consciousness, on the other hand mirroring and supporting those through recurrent dream scenarios and images. These again increasingly begin to intertwine with waking consciousness, triggering insights and increasing awareness hitherto barred from the characters' waking minds. The novel tackles the interrelationship between art and dreams at a further level, because in the story Mia communicates with her mother solely through her dream collages, which in turn influence her mother's dreams and shape her experiences in waking life. The images encountered in dreams not only reemerge in and evolve as artistic images, but eventually find their way into waking life as the elusive dream guides turn into solid characters aiding both Alida and Mia on their way to recovery, reunion and ultimately spiritual rebirth. Both women's gradual healing process is triggered and accompanied by increasingly lucid and powerfully sensory dreams. Given the theme of synaesthesia explored through the character of Mia, strong sensory experiences both in dreams and waking life (as well as their mutual impact) are a further interesting subject to study in this powerfully resonant novel. While my paper will approach the text mainly from a literary perspective, I will also draw on insights from current dream research to enhance and corroborate my reading. Hopefully, by focusing on Jay's novel and other selected fictional examples, I will demonstrate the ways in which literary studies and dream studies can be mutually enlightening – an insight which is hardly surprising, given that both deal with what can be considered the two most fascinating manifestations in which human imagination takes shape: dream and art. Michael Schredl, PhD Sleep laboratory, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany Gender differences in dream content: Related to biological sex or sex role orientation? Despite the large number of studies addressing gender differences in dream recall and dream content, research regarding whether these differences might be affected by sex role orientation is rather scarce. It was hypothesized that dream topics more present in males should correlate positively with masculinity/instrumentality and dream topics more often found in women should correlate positively with femininity/expressivity. Method. Overall, 2894 persons (2016 women, 878 men) completed the online survey including a most recent dream between Oct. 10, 2008 and Nov. 20, 2008. The mean age of the sample was 34.2 ± 14.7 years (range: 14 to 86 years). The participants were asked report a most recent dream and to complete the GTS+, a questionnaire measuring sex role orientation along two dimensions: expressivity/femininity and instrumentality/masculinity. Dream reports were rated along the several scales by a "blind" rater. Results and Discussion. The results clearly indicate that sex role orientation (femininity/expressivity and masculinity/instrumentality) affect the same dream characteristics that show marked gender differences, e.g., sexual dream content, physical aggression. One major difference to prior studies was ratio of male dream characters to male and female dream characters found in this study: 59.2 % (women’s dreams) vs. 42.4 % (men’s dreams). Whereas the effect of sex role orientation on dream content supports the continuity hypothesis of dreaming, the effect of biological sex on dream content does not preclude that other variables such as, for example, the amount of sexual fantasies during waking, have an effect on dream content in addition to sex role orientation. Thus, future studies have to elicit more waking-life variables in order to model the varying daytime experiences of men and women in order to investigate whether these daytime differences sufficiently explain gender differences in dreaming or whether biological factors are also of importance. Table: Dream content and logistic regression analyses (Standardized estimates)
* p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001 Michael Schredl, PhD Listening to the dreamer (Morning dream group) This approach is based on the client-centered therapy developed by Carl Rogers. Interpretations in any form are discouraged because the interpretations reveal more about the interpreter than about the dreamer. Even the dreamer herself/himself is not encouraged to use interpretative methods. The group will learn to ask open-ended questions to stimulate the dreamer to think about the links between the dream (emotions, cognitive patterns, and the way the dream ego acts) and current waking life issues. After working with the dream, group members can share their own thoughts and feelings connected to the dream’s topics. Techniques: This approach is based on the client-centered therapy developed by Carl Rogers. If necessary and appropriate, techniques based on cognitive-behavioral therapy will be included. The sole activity in the group will be talking. Michael Schredl Nightmare frequency and nightmare topics in a representative German sample Nightmare content has very rarely been studied in a systematic way, especially in adults. The present study investigated nightmare frequency and the frequency of various nightmare topics in a representative German sample. The five most common themes were falling, being chased, being paralyzed, being late, and the deaths of close persons. Even though several effects can be explained by the continuity hypothesis of dreaming, further research is needed to investigate the possibly metaphoric relationship between nightmare topics like falling or being chased and waking-life stressors. Jeanne M. Schul, MA, RSMT Dancing with Dream Images The central image of the dream—the aspect of the dream that is most memorable and compelling—is the focus of this workshop. Initially, participants will be shown dance images taken from dance theatre performances that developed as the presenter explored her most vivid nightmares and archetypal dreams through dance. Then, participants will actively engage in dream descriptions and dance-based active imagination explorations of their own dream images. Working with a partner, each participant will verbally share dream material, as well as witness her partner’s dream telling. Then, each partner will take his turn moving through the positions that became vivid through the dream telling, as well as the physical actions that evolve out of the reenactment. As one person explores dream dancing, his partner will become a witness, consciously observing his spontaneous movement improvisation and reflecting back to him what unfolded. The goal is to amplify vivid dream images by bodying forth the positions, actions, and emotions that are most powerful and, thereby, offering the dreamer an embodied understanding of the most significant aspect of the dream. A closure dialogue will draw the group back together to process experiences, share insights, and consider other applications. Jeffrey R. Schweitzer, BA and Roger M. Knudson, PhD A Narrative Approach to Religious Calling: The Role of Dreams Since the publication of Hillman’s The Soul’s Code: In Search for Character and Calling (1996) there has been renewed interest in the idea of finding one’s true calling in life. One area where this idea was never lost was in the realm of calling to religious life. This study uses a narrative methodology to study the experience of being called into religious service with particular attention to the role that dreams may have played in hearing and answering such a call. This project will contribute to a deeper understanding not only of the concept of calling in life, but also to the deep connection between dreams and religious experience. Monique Séguin and Nicole Gratton Dreams at the End of Life: A Tool for the Great Crossing Over This is an interactive presentation. The workshop will begin with the presentation of the different categories of dreams related to different dream functions at the end of life: information, communication and premonition. Many examples of dreams will be shared with their specific metaphors that appear around death. This workshop will demonstrate that people at the end of life may have significant dreams and how caregivers can listen to dreams as a tool of communication during this sacred moment. 1) Before death: - Informative dreams to reflect the inner state of dying person - Telepathic dreams to prepare family and friends - Precognitive dreams to announce the departure 2) During the process: - Preparing dreams to adapt for the unknown - Leaving dreams to indicate that time has come - Salutation dreams to say goodbye 2) After death: - Contact dreams to reconnect as souls - Protection dreams to facilitate the mourning - Transformative dreams to heal Alan Siegel, PhD Blue Ridge Dream Hike This workshop/event is intended to have a recreational and social component to balance and de-stress from the continuous indoor presentations at the conference. A two-hour long hike will include a short semi-structured discussion and dream sharing ritual focusing on one recurring dream from each participant that will occur midway through the walk. The dream sharing exercise will follow the format described by Montague Ullman. In addition, discussion of dreams with themes of nature will be encouraged during the hike. Due to the size of the group and time limit, dreams will not be interpreted or explored in depth but used as a stimulus for further understanding and exploration of recurring dreams. This awareness may be relevant to psychotherapists, and individuals interested in understanding recurring dreams. Alan Siegel, PhD Understanding and Working with Dream Characters and Relationships Using multiple theoretical lenses, we will examine characters and relationships in dreams looking at developmental, gender, and cultural differences along with the impact of childhood relationships, trauma, abuse, grief, and parenting on dream character representation. Theoretical perspectives to be considered include contemporary psychoanalytic and psychodynamic, Jungian, existential and experiential, transpersonal, cognitive, and expressive arts approaches. Concepts to be covered will be linked to clinical practice through case vignettes, group discussion (with small group break-out if the audience is larger) and brief exercises to illustrate concepts and techniques. Issues to be considered include literal, intrapsychic, cultural, and transpersonal conceptualizations of dream relationships. This will include looking at grief dreams involving themes of visitation from the dead, pregnancy and parenting, relationships and marriage, separation and divorce, and developmental changes in dreams linked to age and life transitions. Relevant concepts to be reviewed include Freud’s dream mechanisms such as displacement and condensation, consideration of the continuity theory and the impact of unresolved trauma and attachment on dream characters and relationships. Cultural and ethical concerns around differing views about literal versus intrapsychic versus transpersonal conceptualization of dream characters will be considered. The notion of dream characters as parts of self, familiar and unfamiliar characters, recurring characters and relationship patterns, gender and age differences in character representation will also be discussed and illustrated through clinical vignettes and brief exercises. Case vignettes and active discussion of selected topics will help to illustrate the concepts and link them to clinical practice. In addition, a variety of practical applications to psychotherapy and dreamwork will be discussed and demonstrated via brief experiential exercises for working with dream characters including dialogues, role-playing, and dramatization. Ethical and cultural sensitivity to differing ways of conceptualizing and working with dream characters will be emphasized. This clinically oriented workshop is geared for psychotherapists seeking continuing education but open to all. The level of instruction is intermediate to advanced. A power point slide presentation with a bibliography will be supplemented with a paper handout of the slides. References 1. Barrett D, ed. Trauma and Dreams. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1996. 2. Fosshage J, Loew C, eds. Dream interpretation: A comparative study: Revised edition. New York: PMA Publishing Corp.; 1987. 3. Freud S. The interpretation of dreams. New York: Avon; 1965. 4. Hill C, ed. Dream work in therapy: Facilitating Exploration, Insight, and Action. Washington DC: American Psychological Association Press; 2004. 5. Mattoon MA. Applied dream analysis: a jungian approach. New York: Wiley & Sons; 1978. 6. Siegel A. Dream Wisdom: Uncovering Life's Answers in Your Dreams. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press; 2003. 7. Siegel A. Children's dreams and nightmares: Emerging trends in research. Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. 2005;15(3). Christine Simmonds-Moore, PhD The relationship between anomaly-proneness and dreaming: Sleep Interjection Theory and beyond A case will be made for understanding all anomalous experiences (both nocturnal and diurnal) from a sleep/dreams perspective. This implies that anomalous phenomena are associated with dreaming, but dreaming can occur during the daytime via “sleep interjections”. Anomalous and psychic experiences are commonly experienced in the ‘dream’ state (e.g., Rhine, 1961; Sherwood & Roe, 2003). However, dreaming is not restricted to REM sleep or to the night. Hypnagogia can exhibit all of the formal features of nocturnal dreams (Rowley, Stickgold, & Hobson, 1998) and can occur outside of the sleep onset period (Hayashi, Katoh & Hori, 1999). This includes during the daytime, when one is relaxed and awake (Psychologically in a state of relaxed wakefulness and associated with a waking EEG reading.) (Foulkes & Fleisher, 1975). Hypnagogia is also associated with psychic experiences (Sherwood, 1998). The personality dimension positive schizotypy is associated with a range of anomalous and paranormal phenomena (e.g., Simmonds, 2003). Interestingly, rapid alterations in state of consciousness are particularly common among higher scorers (e.g., McCreery, 1997). More diurnal hypnagogic experiences and recall of nocturnal dreams (Schredl, 2009) might explain their proneness to anomalous experiences (Simmonds-Moore & Holt, 2007). These may also include veridical psi (e.g., Parker, 2001). Recent research by the author suggests that sleep deprivation or poor sleep may result in “dreaming” while awake and could underpin diurnal hallucinatory experiences and subjective paranormal experiences in those who are not trait anomaly-prone. Foulkes, D., & Fleisher, S. (1975). Mental Activity in relaxed wakefulness. Journal of Abnormal psychology, 4 (1), 66-75 Hayashi, M., Katoh, K., & Hori, T. (1999). Hypnagogic imagery and EEG activity. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 88, 676-678. McCreery, C. (1997). Hallucinations and arousability: Pointers to a theory of psychosis. In G. Claridge (Ed.), Schizotypy: Implications for illness and health, (pp. 251-273). New York: Oxford University Press. Parker, A. (2000). A review of the ganzfeld work at Gothenburg University. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 64.1 (858), 1-15. Rhine, L. E. (1961). Hidden channels of the mind. New York: William Morrow and Company. Rowley, J.T., Stickgold, R. & Hobson, J.A. (1998). Eyelid movements and mental activity at sleep onset. Consciousness and Cognition, 7, 67-84. Schredl, G. (2009). Frequency of Precognitive Dreams: Association with dream recall and personality variables. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 73, 83-91. Sherwood, S.J., & Roe, C.A. (2003). A review of dream ESP studies conducted since the Maimonides Dream ESP programme. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 10, 85-109. Sherwood, S. J. (1998). The relationship between the hypnagogic/hypnopompic state and reports of anomalous experiences. In Proceedings of Presented Papers from the Parapsychological Association 41st Annual Conference, pp. 210-225 Simmonds, C.A. (2003). Investigating schizotypy as an anomaly-prone personality. Unpublished doctoral thesis: University College Northampton. Simmonds-Moore, C., & Holt, N. (2007). Trait, state and psi: An exploration of the interaction between individual differences, state preference and psi performance in the ganzfeld and a waking ESP control . Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 71, 197-215. Gregory Scott Sparrow, EdD Lucid Dreaming: A Path of Transcendence or Transformation, or Both? One of the great questions that has arisen in the lucid dream research community has been, "What is the ideal stance that one should maintain in regard to the dream imagery?" From one standpoint, the imagery is presumably a self-creation, and thus subject to the will of the dreamer. But in the actual encounter, the imagery often asserts its own autonomous agenda. To the extent that one regards the autonomous manifestation of the dream imagery as meaningful, then it is perhaps incumbent upon the lucid dreamer to establish a relationship with it in hopes of learning from it, and perhaps becoming more fully integrated with it. But on the other hand, such engagement potentially threatens the continuation of lucidity and the constructive disengagement from the chaotic forms and energies of the dream. This dilemma reflects the age-old dialectic that expresses itself in various religious and spiritual traditions, in which two paths have clearly arisen: one leading to transcendence from the world of form, and one leading to the acceptance and utilization of the forms of creation, as well as the energies with empower those forms. The first path is associated with various spiritual philosophies, such as Vedanta and Hinayana Buddhism. The downside of this path is, in its extreme form, a devaluation of the phenomenal world and, ultimately, a kind of solipsism that denies its independent reality. The second path is associated with alchemy in the West, and Mahayana's tantric yoga in the East, in which the transformation or transmutation of "lower" forms and energies is considered the ideal approach. From this standpoint, the Mahayana doctrine of nonduality holds that nirvana and samsara are two aspects of the same whole, and thus equally valuable. Hence from this perspective, the form of the dream offers a relationship that leads to the transformation and harnessing of its energies. The downside of this path can be the destabilization of the self and a loss of perspective through engagement with the world of form. In my presentation, I will draw upon a series of lucid dreams in order to illustrate that when dreamers adopt one of these classic positions or the other, the autonomous aspects of the dream seem to compensate for the dreamer's stance, thus intimating the need for synthesis of these divergent philosophical and psychological perspectives. p>Scott Sparrow Understanding Adaptive Responses from the Standpoint of Co-creative Dream Theory Traditional content-oriented dream interpretation places little emphasis on the dreamer's responses to the dream content. However, from the standpoint of cocreative dream theory––which holds that the dream can best be understood as indeterminate from the outset, and cocreated through the real-time interplay between the dreamer and the dream (Rossi, 1972; Sparrow and Thurston, 2009)––the analysis of the dreamer's responses becomes central to the dream work. Indeed, the dreamer's responses can be seen as either facilitating or thwarting a relationship with unintegrated aspects of the psyche. From a Jungian standpoint, which acknowledges both the retrospective and prospective function of dreams, these unintegrated aspects may stem from unfinished business from the past or from forward-looking emergent potentials, both of which may threaten the status quo structure of the self. In my work in psychotherapy, I have found that over time, that nonlucid and lucid dreamers alike will exhibit chronic and predictable types of relational responses to their dreams, which impede the healing of longstanding conflicts as well as the integration of new awareness and competencies. Unless the dreamer becomes aware of these responses, and endeavors to modify them, the process of healing and individuation will thereby be delayed. While it is useful in and of itself simply to become aware of these counterproductive responses, and to affirm new responses in one's dream and waking life, such efforts are more likely to succeed if the origins of adaptive responses are understood. In this presentation, I will describe two sources of what I call "adaptive responses"––early loss and trauma, resulting in "reactive adaptive responses" (RAR) in the dream, and parental/cultural indoctrination, resulting in "compliant adaptive responses" (CAR) in dreams. I will illustrate the manifestation of these two types of resistive responses with client dreams, and describe the impact on the dreamer of employing this explanatory and interventional framework, which draws on psychodynamic theory for the treatment of RAR and Narrative theory for the treatment of CAR. Kelly Sullivan Walden Sleep Your Way to Success: How to use the Hero's Journey in DreamWork Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey is a 12-step model that outlines the predictable stages that a hero encounters on his/her noble quest. The process of Dream Mastery is a hero’s journey, and the 12 stages map out the terrain in the dreamer’s ordinary life as well as in their extraordinary dream life, to access greater power, choice, and illumination, while awake and asleep. In this beginning-intermediate-level interactive presentation you will learn to: • Reframe nightmares into opportunities for transformation, healing, and liberation. • Become the Hero and director of your own Dream Theatre. • Recreate "unfinished" dreams to create greater success in your waking life. “In my experience over the past fifteen years of working with clients, I’ve come to see the Hero’s journey as a map of the road to dream mastery…over the course of a person’s lifetime and/or in a single night, dream by dream. The Hero’s Journey is a context that dignifies the process of grappling with the inevitable ups and downs, challenges and triumphs that are par for the course when you desire to become a strong dreamer and thus the master of your destiny. This process is an initiation to becoming the deliberate director of your inner world, which manifests in mastery of your outer world: as within, so without.” ~Kelly Sullivan Walden Leila Ryland Swain, MA, MSW, LCSW Eros In The Toilet: Toileting Dreams in Clinical Practice The practicing psychotherapist is routinely presented with dreams depicting scenes of toileting and elimination of body wastes. These dreams present a variety of situations and emotion. They are related to the separation phase of the client’s early life as it is being reenacted in the therapy container. They also may indicate that the client is moving towards a connection with the underworld. Hillman sees the appearance of excrement in dreams as a reflection of the underworld to which we must daily pay homage. The taboo imposed on anal products and their discussion is far-reaching and repressive. It can prevent a fuller understanding of the positive contribution to the individuation process in the client. Reporting a toilet dream in therapy establishes a “waste disposal” couple, similar to the earlier “feeding couple.” The outcome of the dream drama shows the way in which natural development has been derailed. The urgency of “having to go” in the toilet dream suggests the urgency of the development task. The role of the therapist in relating to toilet dreams is discussed. Jung steered the client who dreamed of a two-year-old child smearing himself with feces in an empty room away from a career as an analyst. Sanford reported a woman faced with having to clean a room covered with feces as an individuation task. Jung’s vision of the turd dropped from heaven led to a maturation of his vision and a new approach to psychoanalyst. Connie Svob, BA; Don Kuiken, PhD; and Tore Nielsen, PhD A Multi-dimensional Approach to Measuring Dream Remembering In this paper, we continue our exploration of the multi-factorial dream remembering questionnaire that was presented at the IASD conference in Chicago in 2009. The preliminary results suggested an 8 factor structure of the ways in which dreams are remembered, including: Vivid Recall, Enactive Carryover, Mood Carryover, Cued Recall, Sensory Intrusions, Dream Reality, Liminality, and Inhibitory influences. In the third study of this series, we have developed a revised questionnaire including 12 new items. The new items were intended to elaborate the original 8 factor structure, especially the factors with relatively few items. We conducted exploratory factor analysis (Principal Components, Varimax Rotation) on a new data set consisting of 256 participants that replicated 7 of the 8 factors. Surprisingly, the Mood Carryover factor was displaced by a factor that suggests something more akin to Lingering Lethargy. More detailed analyses of these new factors and new items will be discussed. T Back to TopMichael Tappan, MA and Irene Clurman The Theater of Dreams: Discovering Meaning by Playing the Part This workshop is interactive and provides a method of staging portions of dreams so that the content of dreams and their meaning can be more easily understood and physically experienced. In this workshop, a dreamer describes a dream, and the dream’s landscape is clarified by questions and initially analyzed by other participants with the projective, “If this were my dream” format. The dream portrayal is then carried out when the dreamer identifies a particularly resonant, powerful or enigmatic part of the dream. The opportunity to re-enter the dream occurs when the dreamer sets the stage by choosing workshop participants to play various parts of the dream. It is always “dreamer’s choice” as to the level of involvement of the dreamer. The dreamer may choose to play himself or herself, direct from the sidelines, play a dream symbol or simply be an observer. We bring to the workshop an array of objects including masks, hats and yards of colorful cloths and scarves to be used as props. We find that these materials are intuitively used to “flesh-out” the dream symbols, adding important information and fostering an imaginative understanding of the dream for the dreamer, the role-players, and the other workshop attendees. The dreamer will have the opportunity to play other parts of the dream, switch roles, or ask questions of the role-players. This enables the dreamer to experience the dream from an unfamiliar but often very meaningful perspective. We find that the dream fragment has a life and power of its own. And though some dreamers report a sense of déjà vu as they initially set the scene of the dream, once the action begins there is a sense of physical involvement that pushes the dreamed scene into new (or newly recognized) emotional territory. Jeremy Taylor, DMin Archetypal Group Projective Dream Work After distribution of the “Basic Dream Work TOOL KIT” (one page), and brief orientation/discussion of that material, the bulk of the workshop will consist of group exploration of dream material volunteered by participants, using the projective, “if it were my dream...” approach. The emphasis of this experience is on self-empowerment, and cultivating the understanding and confidence necessary to initiate and participate in on-going dream groups with shared leadership, as well as casual (no money changes hands) dream work with individuals. Patricia Elizabeth Torres Villanueva, PhD Dance Your Dreams: The healing power of dance therapy The central objective of circle dance therapy is to learn to focus our attention, concentration and observation to be able to imitate and repeat, thus developing our consciousness and awareness. Our innermost feelings of fear, sadness, and anger will emerge, but we learn to express our feelings in a healthy and creative way leading to joy and love, self-contentment and sharing. Repetitive rhythms slowly inspire us to recognize our moods, thus interpersonal relations are established in a different atmosphere of respect, finding our will of power, self-esteem, decision, discipline and persistence which are necessary to free ourselves of destructive competition, criticism, judgment and comparisons which are the origin of our psychosomatic illnesses. The repetitious steps in this ancestral ritual dance ensure that our brain receives and processes electric messages transmitted to the neuro-endocrine axis, hypothalamus, thyroid and adrenals to bring into balance whatever hormones are askew. It is especially important for dealing in psychotherapy. Sergey Toymentsev Tarkovsky’s Oneiric Realism: Influences and Evolution Tarkovsky’s oneiric style, associated with the defamiliarization of time and space as well as the continuous flow of dreams, visions, and memories that induces lethargic contemplation, is widely recognized in film studies (e.g., Vlada Petric, Vida Johnson, Thorsten Botz-Bornstein), yet the scholarly interest in the subject still remains heavily descriptive and hermeneutic rather than historical and genealogical. The paper will attempt to trace the evolution of the director’s oneiric realism throughout his career in the context of intertextual cinematic as well as philosophical influences documented in his diaries (e.g., Buñuel, Mizoguchi, Fellini, Castaneda, Lao Tzu and Zen Buddhism). I will argue that Tarkovsky’s oneirism evolves from his diegetic use of dreams in Ivan’s Childhood (1962) where the protagonist’s dream-memories are distinctly separated from, if not opposed to, everyday reality by conventional coding to the indiscernibility of dream and reality in his late films beginning with Mirror (1975) and especially Stalker (1979). Tarkovsky’s transition to the cinematic fusion of dream and reality was very much influenced by Vasily Maksimov’s underground (samizdat) translations of Carlos Castaneda as well as Gregory Pomeranz’s doctoral thesis on Zen Buddhism in the mid-seventies. Tarkovsky’s evolution of dream imagery (from ‘dream vs. reality’ to ‘dream as reality’) will be further examined in terms of Deleuze’s theory of the time-image, an image born out of the collapse of the sensory-motor continuum, chronological time, and narrative coherence and characterized by the conflation of the virtual and the actual, past and present, and physical immobility. I will argue that both Tarkovsky’s cinematic oneirism and Deleuze’s systematic ontology of the virtual share utopian aspirations to discover new ‘ways of seeing’ and open the world toward the unknown. I will conclude that Tarkovsky’s utopian aesthetics is by no means that of the transcendence of everyday reality: just as Deleuze’s transcendental empiricism is anchored in this world but on the plane of immanence, Tarkovsky’s oneiric realism is committed to the raw facticity of things and nature (Bazin, Kracauer) seen through the prism of mysticism. Misa Tsuruta, MA Myōe: A Buddhist dreamer Myōe was born during the time depicted in The Tale of the Heike (12th century Japan), when two powerful military families divided the country into two. His mother, while pregnant, already thought about making him a Buddhist priest, which was realized after her death when he was eight. He was spiritually precocious; being young and already a dreamer, he got easily dissatisfied with his mentors at the temple. He was a natural dreamer. One time, he dreamed of being eaten alive by wolves. In the dream, he thought that this was what meant to be, tolerated it, only to wake up with sweats all over when he was almost completely eaten up. He was a poet in his adolescence. From the age of 19, he kept a dream journal (Yume no ki), and for about 40 years thereafter. While dream work was encouraged in Mikkyo Buddhism (the Japanese descendent of Tibetan Buddhism), it was not required by his Buddhist school to work on dreams. Rather, he naturally lived his dream life. Often, he reached spiritual insights in his dreams. One of his dreams to be realized in waking life was to travel to India, where Buddhism was born. Despite his longing for India, he gave up his dream, following an oracle from a bodhisattva. His life devoted to dreams fascinated two modern intellectuals: the writer Masako Shirasu and the psychologist/Jungian analyst Hayao Kawai. Both of them wrote biographies of Myōe. What aspects of his life and personality particularly attracted these individuals? Myōe, one of the strongest and most dedicated dreamers in the Japanese history, inspired them, and made them believe that dreams were as real and important as our waking life. V Back to TopKatja Valli, Birgit Frauscher, Birgit Högl, Werner Poewe & Antti Revonsuo Dream content and movements during REM sleep in Parkinson patients with REM sleep behavior disorder Patients with REM-sleep behavior disorder (RBD) feature complex and often violent behaviors that emerge in REM sleep. We explored the relationship between subjective dream content and actual movements carried out in the objective physical realm systematically in a sleep laboratory setting with controlled REM sleep awakenings and video recordings. As a close link between dreamt and actual motor movements has been reported, this study focused upon whether single dreamt movements (e.g., pointing, grasping, hitting, kicking, running) corresponded with single actual movements. Systematic awakenings were performed in patients approximately ten minutes after the onset of every REM stage of sleep, and the patients were interviewed about any dream content they could recall. In the symposium, the results of the study will be presented and discussed in light of recent literature on RBD and dreaming. Katja Valli, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, Finland, and School of Humanities and Informatics, University of Skövde, Sweden Co-authors (not presenting): Valdas Noreika, Department of Psychology and Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, Finland; Juha Markkula, Department of Psychiatry, University of Turku, Finland; Katriina Seppälä, Department of Psychology and Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, Finland; Antti Revonsuo, School of Humanities and Informatics, University of Skövde, Sweden, and Department of Psychology and Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, Finland Dream Bizarreness and Waking Thought in Schizophrenia Even though bizarreness of conscious experience is probably the most psychotic-like dimension of dreaming, the relative level of bizarreness in dreams of schizophrenia patients compared to healthy controls remains largely unclear (Okuma et al., 1970; Scarone et al., 2008). The aim of the present study was to clarify the following open questions regarding sleep and waking mentation in schizophrenia: (1) Do schizophrenia patients have quantitatively less abundant nocturnal mentation than healthy controls, and if so, could this difference be related to the cognitive and memory deficiencies in schizophrenia patients? (2) Is the difference between waking thought and dreaming as great for the patients as for the healthy controls? (3) Is the level of bizarreness in the patients' dreams different than the dreams of healthy controls? Five male hospitalized schizophrenia patients and five age and level of non-professional education matched male members of the nursing staff participated in this study. All participants were instructed in detail to collect at least five dream reports, and for waking thought reports, each participant was brought five times on different days to a silent and dim room relax and let his thoughts wander. After the participant had spent 10 minutes in solitude, he started to write down what he recalled had been going through his mind during the session. Patients were also tested for cognitive and memory functions with various neuropsychological tests. Two independent blind judges classified the reports according to two dimensions: origin (Dream / Waking thought) and reporter (Patient / Control). Dream reports were further content analyzed by the judges with the BIZ-AR bizarreness scale. Schizophrenia patients reported shorter dreams than did the matched controls, but interestingly, produced equally long or even longer reports of waking thought than the controls. Even though the patients’ dreams tended to be short, there was a genuine increase in the bizarreness of the patients’ dream mentation.
Deon van Zyl, PhD The Clown Archetype: Reflections on the age-old wisdom within the fool’s humor In this lecture the essential dynamics of the clown as a universal symbol and character will be explored. An example will be given of how a clown image manifested through an experience of active imagination and spontaneous movement. The importance of the fool or sacred clown as the carrier of fundamental but often forgotten life principles and wisdom, will then be illustrated with DVD clips of performances and examples from cultures across the world. The role of humor in psychological maturity and healing will be highlighted through the clown symbol. Maria Volchenko, PhD Russian Pagan Dream Rituals The workshop offers an experience of dream journey based on authentic rituals. The rituals make pagan dreamers much more successful than 'civilized' ones. Mostly it is the tradition of powerful dream incubation, that combines curiosity and creativity, and transforms plain objects into sacred ones. It is a key to the twilight zone where the bridge to dream reality is situated. The conference takes place exactly in the period of summer dream time for rituals. Dreamers can use this information in their everyday life as a way to dream incubation, as a game that involves both adults and children, and as a source of creativity. It is also the way to satisfy human curiosity about the Future. The dream practice as a natural part of life helps to keep emotional balance and psychic health as successful as it helped our ancestors. The facilitation of the journey includes energy support, protection, guiding meditations, and ancient rituals. W Back to TopRobert Waggoner The Secret of Frequent Lucid Dreamers: Developing a Lucid Mindset Over the years, I have interviewed a small number of lucid dreamers who claim to become consciously aware in their dreams on a nightly basis. Many of these ultra-frequent lucid dreamers are shocked when they realize that everyone does not consciously direct their awareness while dreaming. Compared to many active lucid dreamers with one to eight lucid dreams per month, these ultra-frequent lucid dreamers claim to have approximately 1500 lucid dreams a year. As I questioned these ultra-frequent lucid dreamers, I noticed some commonalities. Most were women. Some reported persistent childhood nightmares, which were ultimately overcome by lucid awareness. Others reported a habit of questioning their environment or actions in the waking state, and this questioning followed them into the dream state. This second point is reminiscent of the German psychologist, Paul Tholey, who reportedly taught himself in 1959 how to become consciously aware in dreams by repeatedly asking “the critical question,“ during the day, “Am I dreaming?” He believed that the questioning attitude developed by his waking mind would also appear in his dreaming mind, and prompt him to conscious awareness. In my own experience, I have found that frequently questioning daytime events as if symbolic (like a dream) led to dreams in which I wondered, “What does this represent?” and became lucidly aware. An ultra-frequent lucid dreamer told me that she persistently asked, “What was I just doing?” and this question re-appeared in her dream thinking, which caused her to recall preparing for sleep and led to the conclusion that she must be dreaming. Trying to summarize the factors that led to ultra frequent lucid dreaming, it occurred to me that each group had developed a lucid mindset. I define a lucid mindset to mean a persistent mental habit of questioning or examining one’s perceived environment or state of awareness. Whether it involved memory, vigilance (e.g., Am I safe here from the monsters?) or critical questioning, these ultra-frequent lucid dreamers repeatedly checked or analyzed their current situation. For some, persistent childhood nightmares apparently reinforced the need to differentiate waking from dreaming, and allowed them to become highly attuned to dream state cues which would prompt lucid awareness. This habitual need to examine their state (waking or dreaming) naturally led to lucid dreaming, as a positive way to handle nightmares. Done with consistency over time, a lucid mindset developed, which became a routine part of their dream life. As for the lucid dreamer who consistently questioned herself to remember her last action, we find the other genesis for the lucid mindset. Here, she performs not so much a ‘reality check’ as a memory check that leads to a reality check. Her questioning leads her to re-examine more thoroughly her environment or current state, and she becomes lucid. Whatever the underlying motivation, certain habitual mental patterns can create a lucid mindset that leads to a questioning or examination of one’s perceived environment, and lucidity.
Robert Waggoner Consciously Questioning the Dream: Lucid Dreams, Dream Wisdom and the Inner Self The scientific evidence for lucid dreaming (becoming consciously aware of dreaming while in the dream state), dates from 1975 and the pioneering work of researcher Keith Hearne at the University of Hull and lucid dreamer, Alan Worsley.1 Separately in 1978, Stephen LaBerge, using himself as the lucid dreaming subject, performed his own evidentiary experiments and published his results in the journal, Perceptual and Motor Skills in 1980.2 Since that time, increasingly large numbers of the population claim to have experienced at least one lucid dream.3 However, a much smaller percentage deem themselves frequent lucid dreamers4 or devote the time and energy to become experienced lucid dreamers capable of creating a stable lucid dream environment, consciously recalling a waking experiment, performing the experiment and waking with the results. I taught myself how to become consciously aware in the dream state in 1975 by adapting an idea in the book, Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda. Since that time, I have logged 1,000 lucid dreams. As one gains experience with lucid dreaming, many initial assumptions are seen to be mis-conceptions, such as the mistaken idea of ‘control.’ In my book, Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self, I repeatedly note that the lucid dreamer directs his or her focus within the dreaming; the lucid dreamer does not control the dream. I write, “No sailor controls the sea. Only a foolish sailor would say such a thing. Similarly, no lucid dreamer controls the dream. Like a sailor on the sea, we lucid dreamers direct our perceptual awareness within the larger state of dreaming.”5 The many surprising and unexpected developments within the lucid dream support this, such as ‘independent agents,’ i.e., dream figures who appear to act independently and often in contradiction to the lucid dreamer’s intent and expectations. Further support comes from lucid dreamers, who use intent when consciously aware in the dream state. Lucid dreaming artists have intended to discover new works of art in the dream state. Strolling into the next room, many have been delighted to see their request realized with a fantastic creative painting hanging on the wall. However, who answered that intent? Who, in a matter of seconds, created that new work of art? The lucid dreamer only intended it; he or she did not consciously imagine it (the subject, colors, placement, size, etc.) into being. Carl Jung wrestled with this same issue: does dreaming simply reflect a “psychic mirror world” reacting to the contents of our conscious mind6, or does it show more – and if more, how do we explain it? In the example of the creative art work, it suggests the lucid dreamer accesses a subconscious responsiveness, which shows many qualities associated with consciousness: perception, creativity, affect and so on. Moreover, the response does not seem archaic, instinctual, random or chaotic; rather, it seems much more creative than the conscious self. Experienced lucid dreamers have explored this question of creativity’s origin more deeply. In my case, certain unusual lucid dreams led me to the idea that a larger, more creative awareness existed ‘behind the dream.’ I developed a counter-intuitive lucid dreaming technique in which I ignored all of the dream figures, dream objects and setting (and other so-called representations of the dreamer), and simply shouted my requests and questions to the ‘awareness behind the dream.’ Using this counter-intuitive technique, amazing, wise and creative responses followed. However, sometimes the response was completely unexpected. In one example, the response was a direct refutation of the questioner’s errant assumption. In another case, the response was an analysis of the lucid dreamer’s current inability to handle the magnitude of the request’s manifestation. The apparent awareness behind the dream demonstrated many of the qualities that Carl Jung identified as suggestive of an inner awareness: perception, apperception, affectivity, memory, imagination, reflection and judgment, etc.7 Beyond questions and requests to experience concepts, some experienced lucid dreamers have sought out telepathic and forward looking information, while consciously aware in the dream state. Anecdotally, the many valid results suggest that this second psychic system or awareness either has access to a broader dimension of information like Jung’s ‘collective unconscious,’ or has amazing computational abilities to determine or intuit likely outcomes. Through lucid dreaming, science finally has a tool to confirm the existence of a “second psychic system,” which Jung called “revolutionary in its significance.”8 1.Hearne, Keith (1978). Lucid dreams: An electrophysiological and psychological study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Liverpool. 2. LaBerge, Stephen. Lucid dreaming as a learnable skill: A case study. (1980b) Perceptual and Motor Skills, 51, 1039-1042. 3. Erlacher, Daniel, Michael Schredl, Tsuneo Watanabe, Jun Yamana, Florian Gantzert, The Incidence of Lucid Dreaming within a Japanese University Student Sample, International Journal of Dreaming, 1, no 2, 39-43. 4. Ibid, 40. 5. Waggoner, Robert, Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self (Needham, MA: Moment Point Press, 2009) 17. 6. Jung, C.G., “The Relations Between the Ego and the Unconscious” in The Basic Writings of C.G. Jung, ed. Violet Staub de Lazlo (NewYork: Random House, 1993), 196. 7. Jung, C.G., “On the Nature of the Psyche” in The Basic Writings of C.G. Jung, ed. Violet Staub de Lazlo (NewYork: Random House, 1993), 53. Suzanne Wiltink, MSc The Dream give-away: a dream sharing in a shamanic ritual The presenter describes a dreamquest ritual at a small spiritual center in the Netherlands. A dreamquest can be seen as a kind of vision quest in which one is ´seeking to see´ a vision or powerful dream. It is a rite of passage or ritual which has been used for centuries by Native Americans and other aboriginal cultures. In this case, trance dance was used as a technique to obtain an altered state of consciousness for the dreamquest. The quest itself was preceded by a give-away ritual. Such ceremonies were mostly held to redistribute a person´s possessions within the community. In this case the form of the ceremony was somewhat different: each attendant was asked to bring a precious object, with a very special personal value or meaning, to be sacrificed to a fire. One idea behind this is the notion that you give before you receive; it is a moment of letting go of old attachments and opening up new space. This was also intended for the dreamquest: before you receive a powerful dream, you give away something from yourself. Thus sacrificing a precious personal object to the fire becomes a powerful tool that supports letting go and transforming attachments to self. The presenter had little knowledge of the give-away ceremony before attending. Prior to the event, a Buddhist teacher appeared in a dream and gently motivated her to participate and “give!” This led her into a powerful experience in which she gave away her ´dreams´ to the spirit of fire, by sacrificing a unique dream journal, and she ‘saw’ the dream-like quality of life itself, as she later understood through her dreamquest. A detailed report of this personal experience is given. Consequences to the presenter’s personal vision of the nature of dreams, with a specific focus on the practice of dreamyoga in Bön Buddhism, and dream sharing are discussed. The Bön Buddhist teachings of dreamyoga offer a conceptual understanding for this experience. According to the practice, dreams can obscure the inner clear light. Realizing the illusory quality of the reality of dreams opens up a doorway to clear blockages, to discover our inner qualities and to increase our awareness. Dream sharing can serve as a way to let go of attachment to our dreams, and make them a sacred gift, from which everyone can benefit. Jennifer M. Windt, MA Dreams: the Imaginations of Them That Sleep? In the Leviathan, Hobbes characterizes dreams as “the imaginations of them that sleep” and several philosophers have recently argued that dreaming is better described as an imaginative state than likened to waking perception. This stands in contrast to the view, shared by many contemporary philosophers of mind and empirical dream researchers, that dreams involve vivid, multimodal hallucinations in sleep. After briefly reviewing the main philosophical arguments in favor of the imagination view, I will focus on two central aspects, namely agency and immersion. With the exception of lucid control dreams, dreams do not give rise to the phenomenal quality of agentive control. Like daydreams, sleep dreams are generated by internal processes, but their internal character is not cognitively available to the dreamer and so cannot be exploited to engage in deliberate dream control. As in standard wakefulness, dreamers may have the experience of directing their own actions within the dream, but they do not experience agency for the unfolding dream as a whole. This presents a central problem for proponents of the imagination view, and one I will argue is not easily fixed. Second, proponents of the imagination view suggest that the subjective sense of involvement in dreams can be understood analogously to fictional immersion in daydreams, novels or movies. This type of fictional immersion, however, differs in two decisive respects from dreaming. First, the as-if quality of fictional immersion requires a degree of metacognitive insight or so-called state clarity that nonlucid dreamers lack. Second, the sense of immersion in dreams, including lucid dreams, is characterized by spatial and temporal relatedness to the experienced dream world. On the level of phenomenal experience, the dreamer occupies a certain location from which he perceives and interacts with the unfolding events. There is also a sense of temporal presence in the dream, i.e., a subjectively experienced “now” within an extended time span. Due to the lack of agency, metacognitive insight and the substitution of the spatiotemporal reference frame, dreams are profoundly unlike waking imagination, and the imagination view falls short of explaining these central characteristics. These objections notwithstanding, many characteristics of dreaming are closely related to imaginative processes. Like daydreams, dreams are often underdetermined on the phenomenal level of description. For instance, touch, proprioception and thermal sensations are rarely experienced in dreams. This suggests that the experience of being present in a dream is underdetermined with respect to such bodily experiences as are related to an anatomically detailed full-body representation. Another example is color information, which may be lacking in many dreams. If true, dreams may be underdetermined with respect to color, being experienced neither as colored nor as black and white. Further parallels between waking imagination and dreaming include frequent perspective changes, discontinuity, recognition by “just knowing” and narrative structure. Taken together with empirical findings on the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms, the presented analysis shows that dreams are not the imaginations of them that sleep, but should be placed on a continuum with imagination and perception. Ann Sayre Wiseman, MA Recurring Dreams and Their Life Messages: A Hands-on Problem Solving Workshop for Recurring Dreams This is a hands-on workshop to recreate visually the dream problem and the images that symbolize the content of the story. Seeing the story on a paper-stage adds new dimensions. Using role reversal, dialogue, guided imaging to explore the content, the dreamer can find more options, observe how the metaphor may relate to the dreamers life style and it is a safe way to test and negotiate options that satisfy the problem. Methods to be used: re-visioning, dialogue, guided imagery, rehearsal and action. Activities: creating symbols with torn paper collage or found material, re-framing, dialogue, role reversal This process allows many participants to work at the same time and "piggy-back" off of other peoples’ readiness to explore and make changes. A sheet of paper acts as "the stage" on which each person creates the scene of the dream, the problem, or whatever issue they have come to work on. Seeing the issue allows the participant to step outside as observer and director and test his options in response to some pertinent questions. Reframing and role reversal empower the dreamer as the observer and director. Dialogue offers new options and possible solutions. This is a self-clarifying, empowering exploration facilitated by the leader moving around from "stage to stage" as people begin to move and explore their options, and a useful method for traumas, depression, stuckness and problem-solving, helpful for work with body image. The method of dialogue and visualization is deeper and quicker than talk therapy. Constance Wolfe, PhD Using Astrology and Dreams as a Methodology for Psychospiritual Growth This methodology derives from an experiential qualitative study based on over 20 years of accumulated dream and daily logs and offers a tool for timing of psychospiritual growth. It is based on evidence of correspondences between critical life events and astrological Jupiter Cycles as demonstrated by symbolism in dreams. Within each 12-year Jupiter Cycle there are points in time relating to when the transiting Jupiter Field activates certain points in an astrological birth chart, namely when Jupiter crosses the Nadir, Uranus, and lastly, when it returns to its original position. These points may correspond to critical life events and appear as such in dreams. The Nadir can symbolize the most vulnerable part of the Self with corresponding dream symbolism of vulnerability. As Jupiter activates Uranus in the natal chart, this activated field holds the potential for recognition of limiting factors, or old myths dictated by others that prevent the full growth potential of each individual and again, corresponding to powerful dream symbols. At the end of the 12-year cycle, dream symbols may hold information regarding the progress of growth and also give ideas for the next cycle of growth based on a new attitude. New intentions for the next 12 years may be applied then. In this way the use of astrological Jupiter Cycles offers a review of this growth as the individual moves from one cycle to the next. The use of surrounding astrological fields of information that may correspond to dream symbolism provides for a timely structure to dream work. When applied to critical life events it also contributes credibility. Showing correspondences of astrological fields, life events, and dream symbolism gives a good sense of timing and builds on the concept of a natural and cyclic manner to psychospiritual growth. It lends support to the concept of raising consciousness and living a more full and successful life. Z Back to TopAntonio Zadra, PhD (Chair); Katja Valli, PhD ; Michael Schredl, PhD; Ross Levin, PhD; Mark Blagrove, PhD (Discussant) REM sleep behavior disorder, nightmare content, and predictors of disturbed dreaming. With their vivid imagery and intense emotions, nightmares are highly disturbing manifestations of the dramatic autonomic and cognitive fluctuations that can arise during REM sleep. This symposium addresses three key but as of yet largely unexplored questions related to nightmares: a) What is the relation between dream content and behavioral manifestations observed in patients with REM-sleep behavior disorder? b) What are the actual themes and contents that characterize people’s nightmares? and c) Why do people experience idiopathic nightmares? Recent findings from four laboratories will be presented in response to these questions. Antonio Zadra & Geneviève Robert Why do some dreams become nightmares? Surprisingly little is known about why some dreams unfold into nightmares and very little data exists on nightmares’ actual thematic content. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the content of nightmares collected in over 100 adult participants’ prospective dream journals. Findings are presented on common nightmare themes (e.g., physical aggression, interpersonal conflicts, being chased, health concerns, death), what triggers dreams into becoming nightmares (e.g., events, emotions, cognitions), the narrative development of nightmare reports (e.g., at what point does the dream become a nightmare), their emotional content, and presumed causes of awakening (e.g., voluntary awakening, overwhelming emotion). Salient gender differences in these content variables are also highlighted. Findings are discussed in the context of recent research and clinical developments in the field. Marco Zanasi, MD Oneiric Activity in Schizophrenia: Textual Analysis of Dream Reports This work evaluates dream structure in schizophrenia. It investigates the features of dream activity as observed in schizophrenic persons using an approach based on textual analysis. The use of textual analysis constitutes an efficient bridge strategy between qualitative and quantitative analytical methods. Our study explores whether there could be a correlation between the linguistic form and the psychological status of the dreamer. We explore whether there are differences in the oneiric structure related to the psychopathology. Such an approach may help to clarify which aspects of dream activity are affected, if so, by schizophrenia. The study observed 123 schizophrenic inpatients at the Psychiatric Unit of Tor Vergata University of Rome (60 men and 63 women) between the age of 17 and 53 (mean age 31.9 years, SD 8.9 years) and 251 compatible healthy subjects between the age of 18 and 50 (147 men and 103 women, mean age 40.4 yr, SD 3.23). The patients had to meet the DSM-IV TR criteria for the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Clinical evaluations were carried out by two expert psychiatrists using SCID-1. All participants were asked to sign an informed consent form. Every morning, a member of the research team asked the inpatients if they had dreamed and if they could remember their dream. If the answer was yes, the dream was tape-recorded and faithfully transcribed as an accurate working copy. All the reports were obtained by the patients in the final period of the hospitalization, during a symptom stable condition after recovery from an acute phase. The oneiric text was evaluated bearing the following aspects in mind: 1. The composition of the text and its character definition 2. The speech's temporal organization 3. The emotional organization We also evaluated the frequency of the semantic fields by assessing all the lemmas relating to the senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste) and measuring the frequency of their occurrence in the dreams of the two groups examined. The frequency distributions of the dreams’ descriptive variables were analyzed and studied both individually and by correlations. For each variable we assessed the number of words referring to either category. Significant differences between groups were found in several measured parameters, such as context/descriptive, context/emotional, speech/direct, speech/indirect; emotivity/explicit statement, emotivity/ absent statement, temporal organization, place/absent, verb tense/present, verb tense/alternating No difference was found, regarding the length of the dream reports between the two studied groups. Our findings show that a reduced expression of emotivity is a characteristic of schizophrenics’ dreams, regarding both the dream’s context and the dreamer’s expression of emotions. Another finding of great interest is the difference between the schizophrenic persons and controls in the semantic fields of Hearing: schizophrenic subjects show a reduction of lemmas related to Hearing compared to controls. Our results are in accordance with the above findings and suggest that the difference between schizophrenic subjects and controls in the semantic field of hearing may be related to a specific impairment of auditory memory rather than a reduction of auditory experiences in schizophrenic’s dreams. In ongoing researches we are testing the auditory memory in schizophrenics and controls to confirm this hypothesis. Mary Ziemer, MA The Science of Mirrors In this workshop, participants will step into the looking-glass world of dreams as mirrors, into the “Science of Mirrors.” Henri Corbin, in his analysis of the Creative Imagination of the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, Alone with the Alone, observes that: ‘The science of the Imagination is also the science of mirrors, of all mirroring “surfaces” and of the forms that appear in them.’ Through an imaginative and scientific study of mirror symmetry, participants will experience how dreams act as mirroring surfaces, reflecting an individual’s psychological and spiritual state. Participants are asked to bring a small mirror to the workshop.
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