While You Were Sleeping
Photography by: Guido Bertram/Getty
checking out a dream group
Sharing dreams and commenting on them with other people gives the dreams an independent life. That's the wonderful gift of dream groups, says Rev. Jeremy Taylor, a Unitarian Universalist minister who teaches at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, Calif., and directs the Marin Institute for Projective Dream Work in San Rafael.
Taylor's groups, which take place across the country, all start with a check-in period, during which members update each other on major concerns and briefly describe a recent dream with a summarizing title. A good title is one that vividly recalls the dream experience: Running After the Ant-Man Through the Cobblestone Streets, for example, is more evocative than The Chase or even an "analytic" title such as Feeling Like the Details of Waking Life Are Getting Away From Me.
The cardinal rule in Taylor's discussion method is understanding that each comment is not about the dream as much as it is about the person making the comment.
"It's all projection," he says.
Participants begin with the phrase "If this were my dream..." as a reminder that we bring our own feelings, memories and associations to the images in our dreams and the dreams of others. In a group, once a dream makes its way from the speaker's imagination to that of the listener, it takes on a life of its own, arousing something different in everyone. And since every dream has multiple meanings, multiple interpreters will increase the chances of someone identifying a meaning that rings true to the dreamer.
"We are uniquely blind to our own dreams," says Taylor, which is why simply describing a dream aloud to attentive listeners who respond back can improve our own interpretation and understanding.
But what if you're so blind to your dreams that you don't even remember them? "That's all the more reason to come to a dream group," says Taylor with a laugh. "You can make good use of other people's dreams while you're waiting for your own to assume a more memorable form."
a safe place for change
Justina Lasley, moderator of the International Online Study Group for Dreamwork Leaders, says these dream groups are safe, efficient and effective environments for personal transformation.
"When we try to make changes, the first glimpse of that change often comes in a dream, and the group is a safe place to try out being like that," she explains.
Personal change often has a ripple effect on the dreamer's friends and family, who then become empowered to make positive changes of their own.
For Taylor, a long-time social activist, the power of dreams to reach out to the community is what makes him so excited about the work. "The language of the dream is universal," he says, referring to the common images and feelings that come up in our dreams.
"If you can encourage people to share their dreams with each other, and teach them the simple steps for new ways to explore them, people realize that they are more connected to each other than they thought," Taylor explains. It's through this connection, he says, that "they may begin to overcome racism, sexism and ageism." Lasley, who is on the board of directors of the Association for the Study of Dreams, agrees. "When we begin to accept the shadow part of ourselves through our dreams," she explains, "we can accept it in others."
Starting the conversation is the first step toward that acceptance.
Sharing dreams and commenting on them with other people gives the dreams an independent life. That's the wonderful gift of dream groups, says Rev. Jeremy Taylor, a Unitarian Universalist minister who teaches at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, Calif., and directs the Marin Institute for Projective Dream Work in San Rafael.
Taylor's groups, which take place across the country, all start with a check-in period, during which members update each other on major concerns and briefly describe a recent dream with a summarizing title. A good title is one that vividly recalls the dream experience: Running After the Ant-Man Through the Cobblestone Streets, for example, is more evocative than The Chase or even an "analytic" title such as Feeling Like the Details of Waking Life Are Getting Away From Me.
The cardinal rule in Taylor's discussion method is understanding that each comment is not about the dream as much as it is about the person making the comment.
"It's all projection," he says.
Participants begin with the phrase "If this were my dream..." as a reminder that we bring our own feelings, memories and associations to the images in our dreams and the dreams of others. In a group, once a dream makes its way from the speaker's imagination to that of the listener, it takes on a life of its own, arousing something different in everyone. And since every dream has multiple meanings, multiple interpreters will increase the chances of someone identifying a meaning that rings true to the dreamer.
"We are uniquely blind to our own dreams," says Taylor, which is why simply describing a dream aloud to attentive listeners who respond back can improve our own interpretation and understanding.
But what if you're so blind to your dreams that you don't even remember them? "That's all the more reason to come to a dream group," says Taylor with a laugh. "You can make good use of other people's dreams while you're waiting for your own to assume a more memorable form."
a safe place for change
Justina Lasley, moderator of the International Online Study Group for Dreamwork Leaders, says these dream groups are safe, efficient and effective environments for personal transformation.
"When we try to make changes, the first glimpse of that change often comes in a dream, and the group is a safe place to try out being like that," she explains.
Personal change often has a ripple effect on the dreamer's friends and family, who then become empowered to make positive changes of their own.
For Taylor, a long-time social activist, the power of dreams to reach out to the community is what makes him so excited about the work. "The language of the dream is universal," he says, referring to the common images and feelings that come up in our dreams.
"If you can encourage people to share their dreams with each other, and teach them the simple steps for new ways to explore them, people realize that they are more connected to each other than they thought," Taylor explains. It's through this connection, he says, that "they may begin to overcome racism, sexism and ageism." Lasley, who is on the board of directors of the Association for the Study of Dreams, agrees. "When we begin to accept the shadow part of ourselves through our dreams," she explains, "we can accept it in others."
Starting the conversation is the first step toward that acceptance.
