Turning Season: Conversations with Changemakers in Our Adventure Toward a Life-Sustaining Society

Katherine Lawson speaks from experience about how dreams offer support during cancer treatment. She's been both a patient, and a practitioner. In this episode, she shares her journey with dreaming: her academic work at Pacifica Graduate Institute; the study of Dream Tending and Embodied Imagination; her own cancer diagnosis, treatment and recovery; supporting other cancer patients at the Charlotte Maxwell Clinic; and a respectfully slow curiosity about dreamwork traditions in other cultures.

I love the glimpse Katherine gives into the process of Embodied Imagination (developed by Robert Bosnak). She describes how dreamers go into a hypnogogic state and experience the embodied sensations of a potent dream image. You'll hear about “anchoring the embodiments” offered by a dream, creating "something new" within the dreamer: the gift from the dream.

Embodied Imagination is a one-on-one process with a completely different flavor from group dreamwork. I think you'll enjoy hearing about another of the many ways to engage with your own dreams. You'll also hear one of Katherine's own dreams. It's an example of a dream with a “helper” showing up during cancer treatment. Toward the end, we talk briefly about Katherine's interest in indigenous, mystical, and shamanic approaches to dreamwork.

Click Play now and enjoy the conversation.

Click here for show notes.

Teresa Vazquez still remembers a dream she had at age 5. She's always kept her dream journals from adolescence. Decades went by, though, as she was studying art and becoming a writer and educator, before she found her path as a dreamworker. Now, she describes herself as a "dream midwife." You might relate to the idea of re-birthing a relationship with your dreams. One of the reasons I reached out to Teresa was that she has done dreamwork with children and teenagers. You'll get to hear about her "dream theater" projects at an arts camp, which I love imagining. Teresa touches on how race, culture, and socioeconomics might influence dreamwork in different contexts. She reflects on the cultural influences on her own dreaming, coming through her Afro-Cuban heritage and the Spanish language. She shares one of her dreams, called Where is the Water, as an example of a dream that speaks to liberation. Diving into this one leads us on a wander through topics like the collective myths that we don't consciously remember, and the importance of the setting of a dream (this one is in a dangerous part of the neighborhood). At the end, Teresa reads aloud one of her poems, called Come with Me. Click Play now and enjoy. Show notes and links here.

Can you imagine being a devoted witness of dreams, your own and others', for almost 50 years? There are a few people who could say, "Yes, that's me." But not many. Azima Lila Forest began working with dreams in the 1970s, when she met Jeremy Taylor. Since then, she has studied with Robert Moss, and become a teacher (sheikh) of universal Sufism and a Unitarian Universalist minister. We talk about: her perspective on the current global "emergence-y"; some repeated symbols we've seen recently; death and endings in dreams; how the Earth and animals have been showing up more and more in dreams over the past few decades; and the irreplaceable value of working dreams in groups. I loved talking with Azima, and I think you'll be able to tell. Enjoy! Show notes and resources: www.thedreamersden.org/blog

Have you had dreams that show the future? Dream visitations from loved ones who've passed away? I know many of you are curious about these two dream phenomena. In this episode, Carla Blowey talks about her own experiences with both, in her decades as a bereaved mother and as a dreamworker who serves bereaved families. You'll hear her explain how to recognize "visitation dreams" by certain qualities they all tend to have. We also talk about dreams as a healing, though difficult, part of the grief process. Carla shares in detail the precognitive nightmare she had the night before her 5-year-old son died in an accident, almost 30 years ago. (Because of that content, if you have kids around, you might want to put your earbuds in for this one.)

Links in show notes.

Can a dream change someone's life? You know my answer is an enthusiastic Yes. But how about a dream combined with acupuncture, in just the right dream-inspired spot? That's next-level. You'll hear golden advice from Bob Quinn, a man whose waking life is “awash in dreams.” He talks about working three dreams from any single person, and watching for themes to repeat three times. He shares how to check for confirmation of what we think we know (which is, in fact, merely what we project that we know) about someone's dream. My fellow acupuncturists will be right there with us for this whole conversation. (There is a little bit of “shop talk.”) Still, this episode is also for all of you who are anywhere from "curious" to "passionate" about dreams. Bob shares a story of a dream changing someone's life – two people's lives, actually. And by extension, mine. And maybe yours. Listen to the experience his patient had. Even if there weren't any Chinese Medicine interpretation, experiences like the one she had influence our lives from that day forward. Click here for show notes with links

Sure, it’s a nice door. But are you going to stare at it, or go ahead and open it? In this episode, you’ll hear Sue Scavo describe each character in your dream as a door to walk through. Have you ever been confused or embarrassed about dreaming of a certain person? Thinking, “why is he here?” Sue gives such a helpful way of looking at this. I really enjoyed hearing Sue share her thoughts on art and dreams, and how core dreams are to human creativity. As she puts it, the dream is just the beginning. The dream itself is a door, and when we walk through it, the conversation begins. You’ll hear several dream stories from Sue. We talk about famous people and characters in our personal dreams (anyone else have dreams of Harry Potter or U2?). One of my favorite parts of the interview is the end, when Sue gives her guidance for working with your own dreams. Her re-frame about the whole “we have blind spots about ourselves” concept is a real gift. I’ll let you listen to it for yourself. Find Sue at her website, at deLuge, or at Students of the Dream. Music: East Forest

Have you ever dreamt you had a serious illness or injury? Maybe it scared you, at first, but then you came to understand the dream symbolically? It can be a relief to realize, “It's a metaphor.”

But sometimes, our dreams truly are about our physical health. In this episode, Denise Conner jumps right in to the full story of three dreams that changed her life by guiding her through a health crisis. Her series of dreams gave her a kind of clarity that's hard to come by when navigating major medical decisions.

Denise also talks about how her years working with Jeremy Taylor prepared her to receive the messages of those dreams. At the end of this episode, I share a dream of my own. Denise offers her projections, and I invite you to share yours, too, in the Dreamers Den free Facebook group.

Denise Conner: www.dcdreamwork.com

Music by East Forest.

What can you learn from a kid with nightmares, a young therapist at the VA, a corporate executive, a life coach, and a dreamworker? Everything in this episode! Will Sharon has been in all of those roles, and his combination of education, experience and care for people shine through in this conversation.

Will and I talk about nightmares, and how they play a role in growth and healing in adults, as well as how they are slightly different for kids. We talk about why it's not ideal to fracture our experience into "conscious vs. unconscious" or "waking vs. dreaming." He describes how to use active imagination to help a dream live in us and inform us over time (and the example Will uses is an imagined conversation with a dream character who was frightening).

Hit "Play" and listen to the whole conversation.

Links mentioned: Will Sharon's website. Will's YouTube Channel. Music by East Forest.

Melissa’s open-heartedness and deep attention are so welcoming that I spontaneously shared this morning’s dream with her, right after we got on the phone. I share it with you later in the episode. You’ll also hear stories from each of us about other dreams, including a couple of unexpected “transcendent experiences” that arose from unassuming dreams.

Melissa describes experiences that we are led to through dreams as “uniquely ours, and reliably ours.” So true! Dreams always impress me with how specific they are to the individual dreamer. And, at the same time, how they apply to the wider world. To the collective. Melissa and I are having this conversation at a time when we are grateful for any guidance we can get about what’s happening in the wider world.

You’ll also hear about Melissa’s work with clients who are more empathic and intuitively sensitive than the average person. Especially in these times, she’s gotten to witness these people find clarity and the opportunity for healing through dreams. You’ll love hearing all of this just as Melissa expresses it, so hit Play now and listen to the full interview!

Links mentioned: Free video & pdf from Leilani. Melissa Grace’s website. Music by East Forest.