Dreams consolidate memories, process emotions, and reflect waking life experiences. When we experience traumatic events that trigger strong feelings, nightmares occur. During the Holocaust and Covid-19 pandemic, there were significant increases in nightmare activities in the general population. Also widely recognized are war veterans experiencing recurring dreams of intense horror and threats. 

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Without a deliberate effort to learn, heal, and release the effects of trauma, nightmares become recurring stressful dreams that cause anxiety, insomnia, and sleep disturbances at bedtime, inhibiting our bodies' natural ability to self-heal and further deteriorating one's mental health.

 

Dreamwork helps people understand the meaning of their dreams and provides the opportunity to overcome and release underlying unconscious emotions. The premise is that when one heals in the dream, one heals in real life. Dreamwork differs mainly from conventional psychotherapy in that we work with the dream rather than actual traumas, bypassing the risk of retraumatizing the dreamer.  

 

Although dreams contain vital and timely information about one's psychological state, they may appear bizarre and impossible to understand. The reason is that dreams communicate in metaphors, similar to the art of theatre, which most people are unfamiliar with. During the session, I will first help you analyze the dream(s), identify each element, including the characters, setting, and plots, and offer possible metaphoric suggestions of each component to help you assign meanings relevant to your life. If necessary, I will guide you safely back into the dream to seek clarity.

 

After extensive analysis of your nightmare or recurring dreams, we will discuss potential ways to overcome their challenges, e.g. for dreams that feature terrifying monsters, the possible things you can do to defeat them. You will then decide on which approach to take.

 

In our last step, I will guide you back into the nightmare or recurring dream and execute your chosen approach to overcome the challenges. You will notice the dream transform and end differently, with you feeling in control and relieved, like a ship's captain who just safely sailed out of a severe storm, gaining experiences, awareness and resilience along the way and ready for future challenges in your life's journey.

 

Session duration: 1 hour. Cost: $80. Virtual sessions only at this time. The client will receive an audio recording of the session.

 

Bei Linda Tang is a member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) and a workshop presenter at its 2022 Annual Conference. Her dreamwork session will be conducted following IASD Dreamwork Ethics Statement. 

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By appointment only. Please visit the Contact page and submit a brief description of your nightmare or recurring dream, including as many details as you can remember. Please also state your general availability on weekdays.