6 Degrees of Cats

Catnaps! Part 2: Cats, Dreams & the Unconscious with Jungian analyst Mary Bowen & Nap Ministry’s Tricia Hersey

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In part two of this sleep and dream series in "6 Degrees of Cats," your favorite cat-themed history, culture, and science, let’s find out what your dreams (and your cat’s) mean…if anything!

Returning to the podcast are Jungian analyst Mary Bowen, the senior most Pilates practitioner to have studied under Joseph Pilates who explains Jung’s deepest mission for us in the unconscious and relates it to her own journey. We’ll also excavate the profound collective consciousness of The Dreamspace with The Nap Ministry founder and Bishop Tricia Hersey, M.Div., author of New York Times bestseller “Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto” (Little, Brown Spark) whose follow up, “We Will Rest! The Art of Escape” (Hachette), helps us navigate a path to true liberation and connection to self and others. 

And cats, of course.

After this episode, take note of your dreams and discuss them with your cat. Or with your fellow 6 Degrees of Cats listeners on The Captain’s Log!

Support the podcast at https://ko-fi.com/6degreesofcats for as little as $1 / month for stickers, early access to new episodes and behind the scenes audio. View the show notes and more on The Captain’s Log, the companion podcast newsletter here: linktr.ee/6degreesofcats.

And check out these supplementary episodes:

  • Catnaps! On Pilates and Rest with pilates practitioner Mary Bowen (Lifelong Pilates Plus Psyche with Mary Bowen) and author and activist Tricia Hersey, M.Div (The Nap Ministry)
  • Felines & Fatherhood: Exploring Masculinity, Father’s Day, and the Unique Bond Between Men and Cats

    • About the experts:

    • Mary Bowen is the most senior Pilates elder still teaching who knew and studied with Joseph and Clara Pilates. To study with Mary please visit https://pilates-marybowen.com.
    • Tricia Hersey, M.Div, is the Atlanta, Georgia-based founder of The Nap Ministry, an organization that examines the liberating power of naps and author of “Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto” (Little, Brown Spark) and “We Will Rest! The Art of Escape” (Hachette), both available at major and independent book retailers. You can follow Bishop Hersey’s work on Instagram, Facebook, Threads and X via @thenapministry and learn more about her work and how to participate in a Collective Rest Experience by visiting her website at thenapministry.wordpress.com.

      • Producer, writer, editor, sound designer, host, basically everything*

      • Captain Kitty (Amanda B.)

        • * with co-executive producers Binky & Snuggles and associate producer Peanut

         

        Animal voices include:

        • Binky, Snuggles and Peanut _^..^_

          • Music:

          • Leathered: "Look Alive" © 2025
          • Additional sound effects from Pixabay.com

            • Logo design:

            • Edward Anthony © 2025 (Instagram: itsmyunzii)

              •  

              Research used:

              • Bartels, M. (2024, March 2). What do dogs and cats dream about?. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-do-dogs-and-cats-dream-about/ 
              • Bautze-Picron, C. (2003, June 30). The five Dreams of the Bodhisatta in the Murals of Pagan. Berliner Indologische Studien, 2003, 15-17, pp.341-368. https://www.themathesontrust.org/papers/buddhism/Bautze-Five_Dreams_of_the_Bodhisatta.pdf
              • Benvenuto, S. (2022, August 3). Freud’s concept of narcissism - European Journal of Psychoanalysis. European Journal of Psychoanalysis -. https://www.journal-psychoanalysis.eu/articles/freuds-concept-of-narcissism/ 
              • Brinkhof, T. (2023, July 28). In “The red book,” Carl Jung recorded his encounters with entities from “Inner space.” https://bigthink.com/high-culture/carl-jung-unconscious/ 
              • Carr, M. (2016, June 30). A brief history of dream research. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dream-factory/201606/brief-history-dream-research 
              • Cat dreams. Dream Dictionary. (2023b, November 22). https://www.dreamdictionary.org/dream-dictionary/cat-dreams/ 
              • Dal Sacco, D. (2022, May 11). Dream recall frequency and psychosomatics. Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9171870/ 
              • Farah, S. (2023, February 2). The archetypes of the anima and animus. Applied Jung. https://appliedjung.com/the-archetypes-of-the-anima-and-animus/ 
              • Freud, S. (1997). The interpretation of dreams (A. A. Brill, Trans.). Wordsworth Editions.
              • Historical Adventure. (2023, August 4). Hesiod: The farmer who wrote the “‘Genesis’” of Greek Mythology. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9ugG6z7dpk 
              • Howell, S. (2021, November 7). Do cats dream?. The Dodo. https://www.thedodo.com/dodowell/do-cats-dream 
              • Jouvet, M. (2003, March 19). What does a cat dream about?. Trends in Neurosciences. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0166223679901103?via%3Dihub 
              • Karim, N. (2021, July 18). Dreamcatchers are not your “aesthetic.” The Indigenous Foundation. https://www.theindigenousfoundation.org/articles/dreamcatchers 
              • King, Martin Luther. (1963, August 28). “I Have a Dream.” March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC. https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety 
              • Langdon, S. (1917). A babylonian dream tablet on the interpretation of dreams. The Museum Journal. https://www.penn.museum/sites/journal/586/ 
              • Linden, S. van der. (2024, February 20). The science behind dreaming. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-behind-dreaming/ 
              • McLeod, S. (2024, May 22). Sigmund Freud: Theory & contribution to psychology. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/sigmund-freud.html 
              • McNeil, T. (2021, February 18). A new theory for why we dream. Tufts Now. https://now.tufts.edu/2021/02/18/new-theory-why-we-dream 
              • Mednick, S., Nakayama, K. & Stickgold, R. Sleep-dependent learning: a nap is as good as a night. Nat Neurosci 6, 697–698 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1078
              • Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association. (2018, December 17). Jungian psychology: East and West, encountering differences. Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association. https://pgiaa.org/news-announcements/jungian-psychology-east-and-west-encountering-differences/ 
              • Prema, C. K., & Joshi, T. (n.d.). Review of Dream interpretation: ancient cultures and scientific research. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, 12(2). 
              • Vedor, J. E. (2023b, October 11). Revisiting Carl Jung’s archetype theory a psychobiological approach. Biosystems. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0303264723002344 
              • Walker, M. (2017, October 24). Why your brain needs to dream. Greater Good. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_your_brain_needs_to_dream
              • Wamsley, E. J., & Stickgold, R. (2010, December 7). Dreaming and offline memory processing. Current biology : CB. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3557787/
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