Bed Bases

DREAM WORK

Why do we dream, and do dreams have meaning? Since the origins of psychological inquiry, dream material has been thought to be subconscious information that may shed light on conscious life situations. While some scientists dismiss dream material as neurological noise, many psychologists consider the information received in dreams as potentially important. A towering figure in depth psychology and dream work, is Carl Jung who developed a broader approach to dream material than his predecessor Sigmund Freud.

One argument for the relevancy of dream material is the notion that as biological beings in a biological world, the evolutionary process has produced dream experiences among humans for a reason. This implies that at some level dreams may contribute to the adaptive human experience of life on Earth. If this is the case, dreams may respond to the natural environment and our life experiences, offering clues or wisdom that may be missed in our regular conscious life, and if examined, may give us a kind of extra-sensory or intuitive perspective that may inform our personal growth and life choices.

I find dream material to be incredibly interesting and meaningful. Because of the unpredictable and often strange seeming components, dreams provide novel experiences, essentially our own little "movies" that can be quite entertaining, scandalous, provocative and startling. When shared in the group context in a facilitated, respectful environment the sharing of dreams can create a strong sense of connection, trust, sense of adventure, emotional intimacy and sense of deep community.

I became interested in working with dreams in 2002 when I began study of dream material in course work with author Jeremy Taylor at Naropa University, at a satellite campus in Oakland, California that existed in the early 2000s. Jeremy posited that dreams, even with difficult material, come to us "in service to health and wholeness". After initial exposure to Jeremy's work (see his book, "The Wisdom of Your Dreams"), I contributed as a teaching assistant through 2005. Jeremy identified his process as "group projective dream work". He put forward a philosophy that a dreamer is often uniquely blind to possible meanings of a dream, and that the collective wisdom of a group can provide meaningful insights that otherwise would not be accessible to the dreamer.

Another similar model of dream group encounters is a "dream appreciation" concept developed by Montague Ullman (for background on Ullman, check out this Psychology Today article). Both the "dream appreciation" and "group projective dream work" models share a common value: as a dream is shared, each participant has their own experience of the dream -- which sometimes can be quite profound, even for people that did not originate the source material. Another hallmark of these modalities is that only the dreamer of the source material can know if reflections of others "ring true" for them or not. In the spirit of inquiry, participants offer reflective possibilities and pay attention to what seems like the "hot" material of relevance to themselves. There is no assumption that there is only one valid meaning; indeed, there can be multiple contrasting meanings of value within a single dream.

There is a long tradition of dream analysis among Jungian analysts, psychologists and therapists with a depth psychology philosophy that occurs in a therapeutic, professional context. While this can be very valuable, group dream work lands in the community group domain (there is support for this in the above Psychology Today article above). If a group participant encounters difficulty in response to dream material shared in the group setting, they are encouraged to seek additional support from trusted friends, relatives, or a professional therapist.

I facilitate group dream work, and I am also available for individual dream consultation, either in person or by electronic means. You can reach me by phone or by submitting your information using the form below.

Call Levi Mason at 541 556 7682