Early registration is now closed, but registration is still available at http://asdreams.org/2011/ Please register as soon as possible for your hotel rooms, either at Rolduc or in the surrounding hotels. Rooms are booking up fast. See the details on www.asdreams.org/2011 under the registration site or the Local Hotels/Restaurants page under the Travel/Venue link. A VSD (Dutch Dream Organization) discount has been added to the conference registration which will extend after the 1 April early bird deadline.

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT IASD'S 28TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Social networking is currently the rage. IASD's Facebook Fan page topped 500 members in March, and is growing daily as more people discover the value of regular updates on dream work and research around the globe. Now we are asking you to use the power of social networking to promote IASD’s 28th Annual International Conference, which is being held in a beautiful location and features some of the most exciting presentations ever.

We have provided some tools for you to use. You'll find them in Conference Newsroom at www.asdreams.org/2011

FOR ONLINE USE

Join us on Facebook. It's easy. Just go to the IASD main page (or the top of this Dream News page) and click the Facebook link. Once there you can share IASD with all of your Facebook friends.

Put a conference logo (in the language of your choice) on your personal web site or blog. A variety of logo files are available in the newsroom.

The e-version of the conference flyer is available in the newsroom to be sent to your e-mail lists. Remember that the e-version of the conference flyer contains a screen shot and hot link to the Rolduc conference video created by Conference Host, Willem Fermont, and Tamara Gurbis of Phenomenal Films.

Or you can invite friends to watch the video directly by joining us on the IASD YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/iasdreams

FOR PRINT DISTRIBUTION

We invite you to download and print the following from the Conference Newsroom.

A one-page flyer promoting IASD’s 28th International Conference is available. This same ad will be reproduced in color in the Spring issue of Dream Network Journal and in black in white in the upcoming issue of the Lucid Dream Exchange as well as IASD's Dream Time. Also refer friends and colleague to ads in the upcoming issues of five European publications: The Psychologist, Kindred Spirit in the UK; De Psycholoog and Paravisie in the Netherlands; and Psychologie Heute in Germany; as well as ads in The APA Monitor and IASD's APA publication Dreaming.

The print version of the conference flyer is also available for download and printing on the Newsroom page of the conference web site. Note that this is a double-sided version which contains the list of conference presenters, so it may need professional printing. Along with being sent to IASD members in an upcoming mailing, this flyer will be available at the upcoming Montreal Regional Conference and also at the Rubin Museum in New York, which is featuring a series of dream-related presentations involving IASD members.

So spread the word about this exciting conference we are planning. And plan to attend yourself.

ADVERTISE IN THE 2011 CONFERENCE PROGRAM

VOTE FOR IASD BOARD MEMBERS NOW

or Vote by Postal Mail

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IASD'S WORLD DREAMING:  JAPAN

In the past few months the world has been shaken by wave after wave of disasters, attacks and upheavals caused by both natural and manmade forces. Not surprisingly many dream reports reflect these traumatic events. Some dreams presaged the disasters and many are responses to the ongoing consequences, particularly in Japan, struck by triple calamities of earthquake, tsunami and radioactive nuclear meltdown. Even as the whole world responds with many and varied types of help, so does our IASD community, but we do so uniquely through the medium of dreams and supportive actions that follow these dreams.

During the monthly IASD Executive Committee and the spring board meetings held soon after the Japan tragedy, we shared powerful dreams and actions of IASD members and others regarding the disasters in Japan. Messages from our members and their families in Japan were posted on the IASD Facebook pages (there are two), the World Dreams Peace Bridge, the IASD Bulletin Board and other nets through which we interconnect. The relevance of dreaming in the context of an intense collective catastrophe and need is well known. Recently, the enhanced capacity of the IASD community to respond immediately via social media outlets both within and beyond our own members and families was powerfully demonstrated.

Some will remember how Robbie Bosnak, Jill Fischer and others established a Nightmare Hotline after 911; now there are multiple places where dreaming and emergency needs in a time of tragedy can be accessed. This is a real and palpable instance of the relevance of IASD’s work in community; in our dreams and in our friendships with one another we quite literally provide a refuge space for the terrifying, the saving, and transcending dreams experienced in this current nightmare crisis in Japan.

IASD was also approached by many media sources and individuals for comments and information about dreaming, in particular lucid dreaming, in light of the Tucson shootings regarding dream journals kept by the alleged gunman. Brief statements were posted on the website and on the list serve, which led to much discussion but was not intended as a policy or definitive statement on lucid dreaming. Rather, it was a way for us to “step up” and respond to a public need in the moment, as did many IASD experts who were also approached.

The point of these examples is that we have increased opportunities and requests to share our knowledge and practices about dreams with a wider public, especially in time of crisis or social need, and we are rising to these occasions from the unique capacity of our organization. IASD regional development has grown significantly in the past few years, and while in some cases the number of members may be small, the solidarity and impact of a regional group may be great indeed. We see this demonstrated in a very moving way with our regional membership group in Tokyo, Japan following the disasters.
Additionally, the Japanese IASD regional group was greatly helped by the larger IASD world community through Internet access to those outside Japan even when local access to friends and loved ones in their own country was severed. There are numerous stories to tell about the dreams and the activities undertaken within Japan and worldwide as our IASD community activated dream and practical linkages. I hope all these stories will be told, including the awe producing dream of Jennie Parker who gave Jean Campbell permission to share it with the broader community. To see her dream and others, or to share your own, please go to IASD’s Facebook page - now linked to our Bulletin Board - or go to the BB directly.

In this one-year anniversary photo of the Japanese Regional IASD group you see Takanari Takjiri, Misa Tsuruta, and Shuhei Enomoto. In the following two letters Shuhei eloquently expresses their devastation and recovery and one of the ways they have decided to help: by translating the nightmare response pages on the IASD website into Japanese and posting them to our Japanese language gateway. Misa Tsuruta plans to do workshops with children experiencing post-traumatic stress. Watch our IASD communication networks for other avenues of assistance within Japan and in our world IASD community.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Dear Jody, Richard, and Scott,

Thank you so much for considering us. All three Japanese members of IASD are safe with their family, relatives and friends. We all live in Tokyo or nearby Tokyo. There are no days we can't hear people talk about the earthquake and nuclear plant. Two weeks has passed, my energy is beginning to bounce back slowly from the earthquake. I have had several dreams. I am moved deeply that dreaming imagination doesn't stop, even though the outer, real world is in catastrophic. I wonder what I can do for this situation as a member of IASD. So Takanari, Misa and I would like to translate the IASD nightmare information page for Japanese people who have had traumatic nightmares caused by suffering this triple event: earthquake, tsunami, and radioactive meltdown. I would like to know if I may have permission to do so. Actually on the day of 11 March, our cell phones didn't work, but we were able to use the Internet. This time, I feel the internet is one of the best resources. The nightmare pages are so neutral and offer comprehensive information, in brief, that Japanese people who fear their nightmares could feel relief, I think. Here is the link to IASD pages. http://tinyurl.com/3rg82wa  I would love to know if IASD can make the international gateway on the web or make the Facebook page a Japanese language version of the nightmare information. Let me know what you think of this plan. And any feedback would be very welcome.

Regards,
Shuhei Enomoto

April 2, 2011

Hi Jody,

Thanks for thinking of us. The earth and our hearts were shaken. Things around us are gradually better than two weeks ago. We are adapting ourselves to the new situation, scheduled blackouts, less frequent trains. So I feel tired, I need more time to rest and recharge this weekend. I guess this is a natural physical response to the earthquake. Feeling the being of dream images I will rest more relaxed. You can use the picture of us at our one year anniversary meeting. And here is good news! I almost forgot to mention it because the earthquake has strong impact! My colleagues of the Japanese Society for Embodied Dream Work and I have translated Robbie Bosnak’s book, Embodiment. Then the Japanese edition of Embodiment will be released April 6 from Sogensha, the publisher that published Jung’s Red Book in Japanese.

Thank you for supporting strongly.
Regards,
Shuhei

It seems very fitting that IASD’s work on nightmare help following disaster, begun in the US after 911 disaster, is now carried forward as an aid to the people of Japan at the very time that the Japanese Society for Embodied Dream Work releases a Japanese edition of Robbie Bosnak’s book, Embodiment. Even as we mourn the terrible losses in Japan we celebrate the amazing spirit of the Japanese people and of our own IASD Regional groups who so embody the spirit of hope.

Jodine Grundy, IASD President

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MEMBERSHIP NEWS

Spotlight on South Texas

by Scott Sparrow, Regional Representative for South Texas

I suspect that few of you have been to the Rio Grande Valley of deep south Texas, probably because it’s not on the way to anywhere—unless you are drawn to the white beaches of South Padre Island, or to the shops and restaurants of nearby Mexico. But it’s an interesting area, on the same parallel as Miami, and steeped in a rich Anglo-Hispanic cultural tradition. As a native of the area, I have a deep appreciation for its people, flora, and fauna, and think that it’s a great place to live.

As for dream-related activities, the area seems to be waking up. In recent years, I have integrated dream analysis into my graduate counseling courses at the University of Texas-Pan American, and discovered that dream work is easily the most popular topic in my repertoire. I have just written a chapter for a book on dreams in education, based on my experience in teaching dream analysis to counselors in training. Last fall, I was invited to speak on dream analysis at the annual Counselor Institute sponsored by the nearby University of Texas-Brownsville. I have also created an online mini-course titled, “Incorporating Effective Dream Analysis into Your Counseling Practice,” and made it available to my interested UTPA students, as well as to anyone who visits my website www.dreamanalysistraining.com  Atlantic University in Virginia Beach (where I also teach online courses) has been approved to offer National Board of Clinical Counselors (NBCC) CE’s for the course, so if anyone wants CE’s for the mini-course, AU is available to provide them.

A local psychotherapy practice recently sponsored me for a dream analysis CE seminar for professional therapists, which drew over 40 providers. Encouraged by the turnout, I am exploring venues for other dream seminars, including a possible regional IASD meeting or conference for the near future. I am joining a respected practice in the area, and will be able to use that affiliation as a platform for offering therapeutic dream groups, as well as training for professionals. I am also planning an upcoming dream work weekend in my new home in McAllen. Having lived in a secluded outpost on the Lower Laguna Madre (60 miles from McAllen) for over a decade, it’s been difficult pursuing dream-related teaching activities. But now that I am moving to the population/cultural center of the Rio Grande Valley, I am looking forward to introducing dream studies in general, and the work of IASD in particular, to a multicultural community that is clearly ready for the good news that we have to offer.