Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Anticipating the 29th Annual IASD Conference


Dearest Dreamers,

My deadline for Send Me Your Dreams comes up before the end of the 29th Annual Conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.  So as I write this, I’m gearing up to spend four and half days in Berkeley immersed in a dream world of dreamers. 

In my own brand of nerdiness, I set goals when I registered months ago:  #1 - Meet, no, more than meet, actually converse with Gayle Delaney, Patricia Garfield, and Ernest Hartmann.  All Ph.D.’s.  All pioneers steeped in dream research and education.  All so cool.

I’ll report back later.  But in the short term, here’s my preview:

Gayle Delaney is the founding President of the Association for the Study of Dreams.  She wrote my go-to book for the understanding and practical application of dreams - Living Your Dreams.  She specializes in the pragmatic uses of dreams for problem solving and psychological insight.  My kind of gal.  Maybe you remember seeing her steps for incubating dreams in my columns.

Patricia Garfield is a renowned expert in the study of dreams.  She is the prize-winning author of eleven books on dreams, most notably her first bestseller Creative Dreaming (1974), considered a classic.  Revised in 1995, it's still in print and appears in fifteen languages.  Dr. Garfield is Co-Founder and Past President of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.

Ernest Hartmann is also a Past President of IASD, and Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine.  He’s the author of eleven books including The Nature and Functions of Dreaming.  Dr. Hartmann writes for non-professionals as well as professionals, making his cutting-edge research accessible and fascinating.

Finally, I am so looking forward to taking a cup of tea with Dr. Marcia Emery, noted psychologist, academician, consultant, and author of Dr. Marcia Emery's Intuition Workbook, The Intuitive Healer and PowerHunch.  She’s been in my column as well, sharing her process for understanding your dreams.  I’ll be attending her session on intuition and dreams.

More than 20 dream workshops offer experiences for putting theory into practice.  It’s hard to decide, but I think I’ll start with lucid dreams.  These are the ones where part of you is aware that the other part is dreaming.  Lots of possibilities here for speeding personal growth.  From there I’ll sample dream themes across cultures, then on to dream maps.

Auxiliary activities provide many opportunities as well.  There’s a dream art exhibition (where I’ll serve as a volunteer monitor), a dream hike, dream cruise with dessert, and … a dream telepathy contest!  I participated in such a contest at a past conference.  It was fun.  And I was pretty good at it!  Perhaps you, Dear Dreamers, would like to try your hand at dream telepathy?  I will offer an opportunity soon.

There’s not much down time in the next five days, but that’s OK.  I’ve dreamed of this for a long time!

Sweet Dreams to You, Dear Dreamer!

SMYD

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