I have been having recurring dreams lately. Earlier in my career as a psychotherapist, I studied with Dr. Gerald Epstein, whom as you know was a very important mentor to me and wrote the foreword to my first book: Asthma Free in 21 Days: The Breakthrough Mind-Body Healing Program (2000). During my years of study with him, Dr. Epstein taught me many things about mental imagery and about dream reading during my trainings with him and from one of his books: Waking Dream Therapy (1981). As I began to search for actual file folders and journals in which I took many notes during the 1990’s (there were no cell phones, computers, or Google), I pondered: Well, what is a reoccurring dream? What is a dream, what is a nightmare? How are they created and recorded in the brain?
So I began scrolling the internet to see how dreams are described. According to Wikipedia (Wikipedia contributors, 2024):
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, although the dreamer may perceive the dream as being much longer than this.
It is not known where in the brain dreams originate, if there is a single origin for dreams or if multiple regions of the brain are involved, or what the purpose of dreaming is for the body or mind—Hmmm sure I agree with this from what all I’ve learned…Stay tuned.
Further according to Wikipedia (not a great source by the way but this is what pops up on Google), beginning in the late 19th century, Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, theorized that dreams reflect the dreamer’s unconscious mind and specifically that dream content is shaped by unconscious wish fulfillment (totally a Freudian perspective). He argued that important unconscious desires often relate to early childhood memories and experiences. Carl Jung, and others later expanded on Freud’s ideas about the origin and content of dreams reflecting the dreamer’s unconscious desires.
Dream interpretation, according to Wikipedia can be a result of subjective ideas and experiences revealing meaningful hidden truths, or insight into their unconscious beliefs and desires.
Clearly, dreams have been and continue to be of great interest not only to scientists and philosophers but also to those of us experiencing dreams. What is my dream trying to tell me? And how can I use the message of the dreams to access and provide me more information about what my brain is trying to tell me about my life and recent or past experiences?
These questions brought me back to my time with Dr. Epstein, and specifically to his work with Waking Dream Therapy. Inspired from my training from his teacher Mme. Colette Aboulker-Muscat of Jerusalem and Dr. Epstein, Waking Dream Therapy is guided by a therapist—or a person familiar with this work. As opposed to night dreams, a waking dream allows the person to take a journey back into a dream with the prompt and guidance of the therapist/healer. During this the journey, the dreamer can access information and possibilities and work on using them about life in the present.
While still searching for my handwritten notes from the 90’s I decided to watch an interview Dr. Epstein did in 1980 on the topic of Waking Dream Therapy. You can watch the interview for yourself here: https://youtu.be/PEiLU15hFUY?si=BZ1pDgCUzxqWMf1n
In the interview, Dr. Epstein describes the concept of waking dreams as the synthesis of thinking, feeling, and behavior using imagination. In this way, we can tap into our creative potential, which aids in the transformation and synthesis of our entire being- body, mind, and spirit. He goes on to describe the work of waking dreams as a work of freedom, a way to overcome the habitual activities of daily life and access higher levels via waking dreams. If daily life is horizontal, then vertical is the direction we take to ascend to see our limitless potentials. We can then descend back to center and enact these potentials in our daily activities. Acting from this place of higher self can help us to heal. Regularly tapping into the imaginative life can inform our everyday lives and transform relationships, how we feel about ourselves, and how we see life.
Dr. Epstein concluded the interview by sharing an example page from a Waking Dream Notebook. The page was unlined with a vertical line down the middle. On the left side of the page there was text- representing our linear, logical left-brain- and on the right side of the page was a drawing that showcased the creative, visual, artistic right-brain. The text and drawing converged to provide insights from the Waking Dream journey and a tangible guide for moving forward with the information in daily life.
Sleep is restorative for body, mind, and soul. Dreams, whether while we sleep or the waking dreams we can access during Waking Dream Therapy, give us a portal into our imagination. Mental imagery has been an essential part of my own healing journey and has helped me to transform illness and limiting beliefs. It has also been a catalyst for the creation of my FUN™ Program. Incorporating mental imagery, dream reading, mind-body exercises and movement therapies with traditional psychotherapy can help transform lifelong habits in thinking and behavior that express themselves in physical and emotional distress.
While I continue to look for my notes and ponder my own reoccurring dreams, I invite you to learn more about the power of mental imagery and Waking Dream Therapy at Dr. Gerald Epstein’s website: https://drjerryepstein.org. And of course, please come by my internet home at https://limitlesspotentials.com to learn more about me, my FUN™ Program, Yoga Nidra (rest, mental imagery and balancing Chakra Energy in only 1 hour!), and all of the services I provide here at Limitless Potentials in Jupiter, Florida. Bye for now! Stay curious and keep dreaming! Life is limitless…
