“Good therapy is educational, and good education is therapeutic”

A great quote by therapist and practitioner of  Transactional Analysis, Dr. Muriel James.

Sunday April 13th, 3-6pm  $40

at East West Bookshop, 6500 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle

To register, click here: http://eastwestbookshop.com/events/6211

Drawing Wisdom from Dreams:
Our dreaming mind thinks in pictures and images, translating our experiences from the past, present, and potential future into visual metaphors and sometimes literal images.  This experiential workshop will provide a way to explore and gain some deeper insights into the fascinating landscape of our night time dreams and the messages they hold for us. 

Bring an image from a dream that you are curious about to draw in the class. If you don’t remember a dream, you can still participate by doing a drawing to interpret (instructions will be provided), or you can just be an observer if you prefer. No background or skills in art or drawing are required as we are not looking for artistic ability, but for what our subconscious minds are communicating to us. Through various interpretive processes we will look at the drawings to uncover new layers of meaning from our dreams.  You will learn valuable ways to understand dreams and the messages conveyed in their images.

Colored pens, pencils, crayons and paper will be provided, or bring your own supplies if you have your favorite. 

This class will be taught by Seattle dream interpreter Mimi Pettibone. Her areas of interest and fascination include dreams, subconscious communication and intuition. She is a natural empath and her background also includes Neuro-Linguistic Programming, graphology and the symbolic language of tarot. She enjoys teaching workshops, doing private consultations and readings for events and parties.

The following article talks about how blind people have a free running circadian rhythm; in other words their wake/sleep cycle is not affected by light as with people who can see.
Below is the title and link to the article:

Entrainment of Free-Running Circadian Rhythms by Melatonin in Blind People

Robert L. Sack, M.D., Richard W. Brandes, B.S., Adam R. Kendall, B.S., and Alfred J. Lewy, M.D., Ph.D.

N Engl J Med 2000; 343:1070-1077October 12, 2000DOI: 10.1056/NEJM200010123431503
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200010123431503

This just in – the latest way high tech has come up with to assist you in remembering your dreams:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alextaub/2013/09/18/remember-your-dreams-with-shadow-a-social-dream-database/

This original article was posted here:

http://www.oprah.com/health/Things-That-Influence-Dreams-Dream-Facts/1

Unexpected Things That Influence Your Dreams
You know that sounds, smells and situations can invade them and certain medications spin them out of control. But not in your wildest dreams (maybe) did you think these could play a role.
By Jena Pincott
Your “Favored Position”
Being nude, unable to move, using hand tools, making love to a celebrity (or all of the above at once)? Erotic and perverse dreams are more common among stomach sleepers than among those who favor other positions, found a Hongkongese study (face down in the pillow, privates pressed, you can imagine how). Meanwhile, Turkish researchers found that people who usually sleep on their left side have more nightmares and bizarre dreams, whereas those who slept on their right have mellower ones, with themes of relief, joy, peace and love. No surprise, right-side sleepers also felt better rested and less dysfunctional in their waking hours. (Note: A favored position is one you’re in prior to sleep and when you wake in the morning.)
Kindergarten Music Lessons
There’s a little-known payoff to all those years of elementary school band. The younger people were when they started taking music lessons, the more often the sound of music permeated their dreams. Researchers at the University of Florence’s Sleep Lab who discovered this also found that starting formal training at an early age, when the brain was developing rapidly, had more influence on how often people experienced musical dreams than the total number of years they had lessons, or even how many hours a day they played or listened to music. Bonus finding: 28 percent of these dreams featured music the dreamers had never heard before, suggesting that we really can create original art in our sleep.
Your Love of Cheddar Over Blue Cheese
Despite all the hearsay about dream-inducing edibles, there’s not a lot of science yet, says Tore Nielsen, PhD, a professor at the University of Montreal and director of the Dream & Nightmare Laboratory at the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur in Montreal. But take heart, experimentalists. In a preliminary, yet-unpublished study, he and a colleague discovered that the most commonly mentioned dream-disturbing foods contained dairy (milk, cheese and yogurt, pizza and poutine—a cheesy Canadian dish). Interestingly, an informal study by the British Cheese Board also found that cheddar (2/3 ounce, a half-hour before bedtime) inspired the pleasantest, most memorable dreams (with celebrity appearances, no less), while Stilton, a stinky blue cheese, made dreams freakier. Nielsen explains that when dairy dreams are distressing, the problem could be an undiagnosed sensitivity to dairy (indigestion, cramping, gas), which is incorporated into the dream as disturbing symbols or emotions.
The Planet’s Gentle Pull
Research finds a connection between magnetism and melatonin: The fewer fluctuations in the earth’s magnetic field (geomagnetic activity), the more dream-inducing sleep hormone the body produces. Inspired, Darren Lipnicki, a psychologist formerly at the Center for Space Medicine in Berlin, recorded his dreams for eight years—he then looked up the records of geomagnetic activity closest to where he lived and found a statistical correlation. After two or more days of an unusually calm magnetic field—and (presumably) higher melatonin—his dreams were much more vivid and bizarre than they were following stormier phases (when melatonin may have been suppressed). As oddball as this preliminary study sounds, it’s not alone.
Your Nocturnal Tendencies
If you’re a night owl and happen to be female, you’re especially prone to having nightmares, Nielsen found. One theory, he explains, is that go-to-bed-late types wake up at an earlier-than-usual circadian phase, in which dreams (or nightmares) are their most intense—and memorable. Another is that evening types have more REM cycles nightly (that is, more opportunities to have nightmares) than others, especially when they sleep in on weekends. But Nielsen contends that the distressing dreams may be primarily a manifestation of mood disorders such as depression and anxiety, which prey on more owls than larks. The best advice, he says, is to experiment with going to sleep earlier. If that’s not realistic, he recommends “imagery rescripting”: a technique for “rewriting a bad dream” by reviewing it during daylight hours—usually with the help of a psychologist—and playing it back with a different twist or ending.
Your Onscreen Alter Ego
The more you play video games, the more control and awareness you’ll have in your dreams—like playing your “character” in your sleep, found Jayne Gackenbach, PhD, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada. She explains that serious gamers get a lot of practice maneuvering in a virtual environment—a skill that may translate especially well in the context of a dream.
The One Thing You Want to Avoid
Just try to quash undesired thoughts—about urges, exes, hair loss, deadlines, white bears, whatever—and they’re more likely to rebound in your dreams, jack-in the-box-style, found a study at the Goethe University of Frankfurt. (The prefrontal cortex, which usually keeps these things in check, goes offline as you dream.) The researchers tested this by asking volunteers to suppress an unwanted thought for five minutes prior to sleep. Not only was the thought likelier to intrude in their dreams, but suppressing it also led to more nightmares overall. And when you already have a lot on your mind, the one thing you’re avoiding is even likelier to rebound. But, as Sigmund Freud pointed out, there’s a bright side: “A wish suppressed during the day asserts itself in a dream.” That is, the fantasies you deny or otherwise make taboo are also likelier to play out in your sleep.

A dreamer writes:

I had a dream where I was with a bunch of guys and we would stab each other just like we were playing tag, and throw knives at each other. We were all having fun. It was just like a game, but I didn’t feel any pain when getting hit by the knives. I eventually stopped the knife game because even if I didn’t feel the pain we were all injured quite badly. I told them we should probably go to the hospital now. All the guys left. I asked my friend Tyler to take me to the hospital. We went into his car and that’s when I woke up. What do you think this means?  cccPS – I had an argument with my mother the night before and she said something to me that hurt.

Hi Megan,
Physical wounds in dreams often represent emotional wounds. It could have to do w/your mother and the argument before the dream, but it seems more likely that it may have to do w/your relationship with men in your life since they were men in the dream. What it makes me picture is a pattern of bantering that seems like a ‘game’ but is really hurtful to others and yourself. Perhaps this was something learned by your relationship w/your mother, since she said something to hurt you shortly before the dream. This dream is outlining the pattern for you, and showing you how you are wounded in the process. The message is that next time you catch yourself in what seems like a ‘game’ of verbal banter, take a step back and ask yourself if the situation is potentially more hurtful to yourself an others than it appears on the surface.
I hope this helps,
Mimi

(This post was originally written in 2013!)

Here is an example of a woman who had a mutual dream with her ex-boyfriend. The dreams were not exactly the same, but there was definite overlap and they happened at the same time. For this one, I am sharing some of the question and answer process so you can see a dream session in action.

Amy sent in this dream:
2 nights ago, I had a dream in which I was running through a dark house being chased by my ex boyfriend. I ran in a room and tried to close the door and could not, and yelled out “What do you want from me?!” Just then a scary voice I said “I want you” I instantly woke up and experienced what I now know is sleep paralysis.  Less than a minute later my phone rang and it was my ex boyfriend! He apologize for the phone call at 2:30 a.m., however he said that he had to call me to be sure I was okay. He said he woke up from a dream that felt real, in which I was falling from a cliff and he was trying to grab me to save me, however I fell to my death.  What does this mean?
~Amy

Mimi:
Do you have a sense for what this dream means to you?

Amy:
I have absolutely no idea. I somewhat feel that I was wanting to get away from my ex boyfriend and move on, however him having the same dream or similar dream at the same time is what concerns me. I dreamed something was grabbing me and I was getting away, he dreamt that he was grabbing me and trying to save me at the same time.

Mimi:
What was going on in your life at the time you had this dream?:

Amy:
I recently broke up with my boyfriend about 2 months ago and moved into my own house he wants to get back together however I do not.

Mimi:
What was the main feeling in the dream? :
My dream was absolutely terrifying.

Mimi:
What you had was a shared or mutual dream with your ex. It is not uncommon amongst people who have emotional ties (couples, siblings, parent/child etc). Just because you had this experience does not mean you should get back together with him, it just means you guys still have an open line of mental communication. If you look at the energetic dynamic, in his dream he is saving you, in your dream you feel terrified, and you want to get away.  From what you have described, this reflects the actual dynamic between the two of you, where he wants to come after you but you want to get away. I am very pro-relationship in general, but the fact that you felt terrified is your own consciousness telling you how you really feel about him at the time of the dream.
Sometimes things seem ‘fine’ on the surface, but our dreams bring to light what is really going on underneath the surface. So I’m not saying this dream means never get back together with him, or that he is a bad person – after all, he was trying to save you in his dream…however your feelings are important to consider. Perhaps they were a reflection of how you felt in the moment, and that can change.  But the fact that you found the dream absolutely terrifying is of concern.
Listen to your instincts always about who to surround yourself with. I hope this helps.

A dreamer writes:

I had a dream where I was with a bunch of guys and we would stab each other just like we were playing tag, and throw knives at each other. We were all having fun. It was just like a game, but I didn’t feel any pain when getting hit by the knives. I eventually stopped the knife game because even if I didn’t feel the pain we were all injured quite badly. I told them we should probably go to the hospital now. All the guys left. I asked my friend Tyler to take me to the hospital. We went into his car and that’s when I woke up. What do you think this means?  -Megan    PS – I had an argument with my mother the night before and she said something to me that hurt.

Hi Megan,
Physical wounds in dreams often represent emotional wounds. It could have to do w/your mother and the argument before the dream, but it seems more likely that it may have to do w/your relationship with men in your life since they were men in the dream. What it makes me picture is a pattern of bantering that seems like a ‘game’ but is really hurtful to others and yourself. Perhaps this was something learned by your relationship w/your mother, since she said something to hurt you shortly before the dream. This dream is outlining the pattern for you, and showing you how you are wounded in the process. The message is that next time you catch yourself in what seems like a ‘game’ of verbal banter, take a step back and ask yourself if the situation is potentially more hurtful to yourself an others than it appears on the surface.
I hope this helps,
Mimi

I will be doing dream interpretation, handwriting analysis and some other fun activities at this exciting holiday event! My good friend DJ Leslie of Seattle Parties always knows how to throw a good party, and this event is open to the public so come and enjoy the festivities!

Wednesday Nov. 20, 2013    6pm – 9pm

Melrose Market Studios
1532 Minor Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101

SEATTLE PARTIES HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE
Kick off the holiday Season in Style! Enjoy sumptuous fare by Kaspar’s Catering Kaspar Donier and raise a glass with drinkies by LAVISH by Ravishing Radish and Pondera Winery to toast your successful year end! Eat sweets and socialize with friends both new and old and show future clients this fabulous wedding and event space! Listen to Seattle Parties jocks DJ KRISTINA spin along w DJ BEN MEADOW. Magician Nash Fung – Seattle magician will stroll the house and be sure to get those holiday shoes out and shined by Clayne Wheeler from Old Style Shoe Shine! ENTER TO WIN!! ALL GUESTS who drop a business card at entry are entered to win a BUBBLES BASKET: Including CRISTAL CHAMPAGNE, BATH BOMBS, and CHAMPAGNE TRUFFLES courtesy of the DIVA DJ LESLIE xo FAB VENDORS including , The Dream Detective , AA Party Rentals, Flora Nova Design, Lighting by Seattle Parties, One Love Seattle, Choice Linens, Pondera Winery, Cake Noir, Celeste Cooning, Count Kody Tuwaletstiwa, and MORE! All this plus MANY SURPISES await you. Please help us celebrate Seattle Parties new partnership as preferred DJ vendors at Melrose Market Studios

I will be doing dream interpretation and other types of readings at this event, open to the public so come join in this Saturday!

The Fall Boeing Employees Parapsychology Club Alternative Healing Showcase & Expo is scheduled for Saturday, November 23, 2013.  It will be held at the Eastside Baha’i Center in Bellevue, WA.  Doors open at 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.  Readers, Healers, & Vendors will be available to serve the community.  Come and participate in the fun for an enlightening day!

Date: Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013

Time: 10am- 4pm

Location: Eastside Baha’i Center
16007 NE 8th Street
Bellevue, WA  98008
(Tel) 425-957-1919