Dream Bulletin, Vol 8:1, March 2021
EDITORIAL:
Dear Dreamers,
Welcome back to our first bulletin for 2021. Once again Covid lockdowns in Auckland have prevented DNANZ meetings up until the recent Open Evening on March 15th. It was a pleasure to welcome new members and participate in Margaret Toland’s delightful presentation on a relatively new therapeutic approach called Havening.
- In this issue you will see that there is a dream conference coming up in October and details are below. If other dream conferences are to go by, this is a must for 2021. There will be more on this conference in the next bulletin.
- Margaret Toland’s research notes are included in the first report below. She discusses the Ruben brothers healing approach, Havening, which is based on neuroscience and neurobiology. It is used for activating chemical changes in the Amygdala through self – soothing touch. As well as providing research into the science, Margaret shares two case studies where she successfully uses Havening during dream therapy.
- In Research Corner, Jeni McGarry offers a preview of her upcoming presentation – Dreams as Soul Guides. This will feature at the next Open Evening in April. Jeni will share her experience of making meaning of major life transitions through personal dream therapy.
- Dream Corner features a wonderful historic dream in Margaret Toland’s life. It came at a traumatic transition in her vocational life. In the dream Marg embraces a tall black man from behind whose name is paradoxically - “White Brother.” The analysis relates the dream to the scriptural love song- Song of Songs.
- Margaret Bowater reviews Trauma and Dreams edited by Deidre Barrett. She considers the book to be foundational for students of dream therapy as it contributes to the scientific evidence for the importance of dream work in mental and physical health.
- Finally, in Research Corner Dr. Deidre Barrett’s article Dreams in the Time of Covid is discussed. Barrett presents the results of a survey from four thousand dreamers around the world.
I hope you will enjoy this issue and also come to our April Open Evening and the October Dream Conference.
Lyn Papp (Editor)
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ADVANCE NOTICE of DREAM CONFERENCE 8th to 10th OCTOBER 2021
4th Biennial Conference of Dream Network Aotearoa-NZ
 Fri 8th Oct 2.00 pm to Sun 10th 2 pm.
Theme: Science and Soul in Dreams.
Venue: St Francis Retreat Centre,
50 Hillsborough Rd, Auckland, set in
beautiful peaceful grounds.
Our programme includes seminars,
workshops, discussions, small groups and another presentation by the inimitable Playback Theatre actors. Fees are as follows:
- Full residential accommodation with all meals: $350.00 (or $320 unwaged).
Save by paying the Earlybird fee of $320.00 (or $300 unwaged), before 31st July, 2021.
- Full non-residential attendance with meals: $320.00 (or $300 unwaged).
Earlybird fee $290.00 (or $270 unwaged.)
Send indications of interest now to mandebowater@gmail.com, to receive the DNANZ Bank acct number for payment, and further information as planning develops. (If you are one of those who paid to attend the mini-Conference we had to cancel in September, and we still hold your payment, please deduct this amount from your payment for this Conference.)
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REPORT ON OPEN EVENING PRESENTATION by Margaret Toland
UNDERSTANDING HOW HAVENING SUPPORTS HEALING IN DREAM WORK
I presented this topic on Havening held at St Lukes, Remuera on 15 March. The audience was DNANZ members and others interested in counselling with dreams.
Firstly, I introduced an over-view on Havening, a brief intervention technique and recent innovative healing approach researched, developed and authored by Dr Roland Ruben, MD, PhD in collaboration with his brother Steven Ruben, DDS. Havening is a Neuro-Psycho-Sensory Therapy based on the fields of neuroscience and neuro-biology, which use sensory input for addressing wide range of issues including anxiety, stress, panic disorder, PTSD and depression.
The requirements needed for a traumatic event encoding in the Amygdala are:
- An EVENT can be experienced first-hand as part of it or vicariously - told of it.
- The event has MEANING for the person, dependent on attachment, physical loss, personal loss or public loss.
- A permissive LANDSCAPE being symptoms of vulnerability, abandonment, insecure attachment, previous trauma.
- The trauma is INESCAPABLE perceived as being trapped.
Theory underlying Havening: Electrical stimulation and Chemical Responses: The trauma process produces expanded consciousness resulting in high frequency Gamma brain waves.
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Traumatic Encoding Pre-synaptic neuron firing occurs, releasing neurotransmitters, and AMPA receptors are expressed on the post-synaptic membrane surface and are locked in place. This then causes automatic activation of powerful emotions, stress responses and physical.
How the brain responds to Havening Touch, Self or Facilitated, in traumatic memory experiences.
- Unlocks and removes AMPA receptors from the post-synaptic membrane in 5-7minutes
- Increase in GABA and Serotonin
- Allows for incorporation of new memories and new beliefs
- Increases resilience
I presented two case studies on dreamwork, using the Havening technique.
Case Study One was a 40+ woman with a history of depression, low self-image and low resilience, exposure in childhood to family violence and a long history of counselling support. Peg (not her real name) recorded her dream and brought it to her second session. In the dream she is on a path with children. She passes a locked shed and then sees another shed with doors open. In it is a camera on a tripod and a mattress on the ground. Peg connected with the presence of the mattress, instantly recalling being raped by men with her father standing by watching. Immediately Peg expressed a flooding of emotions and a fearful sense of being trapped. These were observable in her body behaviour as if the event was happening for the first time when she was a child.
Intervention: I immediately asked Peg to self - haven (having taught this technique in our first session) as an important distraction in order to disengage from the trauma. I asked Peg to focus on the imagery in the scene as she self - havened.
Outcome: within 15 minutes the expressive body emotions of FEAR and being TRAPPED were no longer present; she was calm and relaxed. Peg shared that through the imagery process she had taken herself to her safe place where she used to go as a child. The emotional experience of the memory was gone. Amazed, Peg stated “I’ve shared about this in counselling many times and nothing like this has happened.” Checking in with her at the next session she remained emotionally free of this traumatic event in her life.
Case Study Two: Recently, Shel (not her name) now 23 years expressed her fears when sharing about her experience of parental control over her future in life and who she could engage with. In 2019, during a family party, her drunk father was asked what he would say to his daughter having a boyfriend. In a flying destructive rage he threatened to kill her. A protection order is currently in place. Being out of her family environment Shel has chosen her own career. Recently graduated, she is becoming confident and independent she is happily enjoying her choice of career.
I’m entering a construction site, there’s a building and I climb the stairs to the top floor. I enter a big room. Helpers are present lining the walls with a type of sheeting making them ready to paint. I go downstairs for a break. Suddenly my mother appears I take her aside to a room and we argue and fight. I feel frustrated, angry, and tell her “You don’t understand me…you need to leave.” Mother leaves and I feel ashamed, bruised and shattered. I go to a big room on the ground floor. I see the people from the top floor, I recognise them, they are my friends and colleagues and they are concerned about me.
Context: her Mother had been to see her wanting her to return home and they had fought, leaving Shel feeling shame, bruised and shattered. I began using Facilitated Havening Touch and at the same time asked Shel to imagine what would happen next in her dream. She chose the heart she’d drawn on the bottom of the board with a smiling face in it. The imagery changed to a rose, she described it opening, growing on a bush in a garden and she is feeding it fertilizer. The imagery with the Havening enabled a new outcome. At the end of the session her body posture and facial expressions showed confidence. A week later Shel reported that she had chosen to return home with the provision of a protection order, and her Father is to address his behaviour. She is free to make her own engagements increasing her new found confidence and growing resilience.
Resources
“Facilitated Self-Havening,” Dr Robin Youngson: https://youtu.be/Qlz-sye89ec
https://Havening.org
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.PREVIEW:
Jeni McGarry offers an introduction to her presentation on Mon 19th April, at St Luke’s Centre, 130 Remuera Rd, at 7.30 pm:
Dreams As Soul Guides That Help To Navigate Our Way To Change.
I will be telling my personal story of change that has been recorded through a process of dreaming. My talk is based on a childhood recurring nightmare that, when I reflect on it, has been the source of what has shaped my life. As I have reflected on my dreams I have noticed how they have accompanied major transitions in my life. I will be focusing on dreams as soul guides that appear as negative or positive complexes that have had transformative qualities, occurring during these major transitions. What I am hoping to show is how dreams have helped me in my meaning-making process and to become more conscious of my Soul Life. By acknowledging the power of these dreams, I have been able to track changes in who I am becoming.
In these uncertain times the world is in major transition of change. As we listen to the alarming news of so many species that are becoming extinct, the overwhelming loss of lives through a global pandemic and major destruction from fires, floods, and environmental catastrophes, it is obvious we have to change. I read a recent quote that said, “Change is the nature of nature and we are nature” (James Hollis, “Living Between Two Worlds,” p.139).
I hope to present this in a way that is backed by relevant research to show how science support therapeutic analysis of dreaming as a useful tool in the process of change. References will come from “Dreams: A Portal to the Source,” by Edward C Whitmont and Sylvia Perera; James Hollis on Dreams, James Hillman, Carl Jung, and others.
C.G. Jung: “Dreams are the guiding words of the soul.”
Carl Jung on Dreams and Soul
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DREAM REPORT CORNER:
IDENTITY, by Marg Toland.
Original dream on 3rd September 1994; reviewed in 2021
 
Scene 1. I am reciting a poem to a man and in the verse is the word black. A couple then enter the room through a door and greet him calling him ‘White Brother.’ I’m perplexed …he’s black! Scene 2. I then embrace him from behind, he’s very tall, putting my arms around his waist and rest my head on his back.
Context: This dream occurred one year prior to my decision to leave a Church Body vowed to a life of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience. At the time of my nursing career I had a growing awareness of the power of Healing Touch and was recognising that there was more to healing than conventional medicine. I asked to explore this and was challenged by the authority: their response - “This is not Mission.”
- What is of importance to me is the second scene and the man I am standing behind. My position is to follow, and my head is turned so that I hear the sound of his breath, the carrier of the Word. A reminder of my heart warming experience and hearing the words “Missionary Sister” Pentecost Sunday 1960. He is addressed by others as White Brother and the verse I’m reciting strongly suggests the love poem from scripture - The Song of Songs 1: 5 “I am black and beautiful O daughters of Jerusalem…” Perplexed! Yes at the time I was …he is black and the couple reference him as White!
- A few weeks ago I was reminded of the dream when reading a daily meditation from Matthew Fox on creation spirituality and this quote from Howard Thurman, a Christian Mystic: “There is a Spirit at work in life and in the hearts of men which is committed to overcoming the world. It is universal, knowing no age, no race, no culture and condition of men.”
- My understanding from a Christian perspective is that this dream is about creation spirituality. The figure I embrace symbolises a primal figure the source of life, Christ. It may have been triggered by my current research into Havening Touch, a new therapeutic approach to healing trauma, and building resilience. Working with clients and seeing changes is heart-warming too.
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BOOK CORNER:
TRAUMA and DREAMS, ed. Deirdre Barrett,
published 1996 by Harvard University Press, Massachusetts. (Hardback and paperback.)
 I consider this a foundational text for students of Dreamwork. Dr Barrett of Harvard Medical School has been a leader in the field for over 30 years, including most recently as an authority on research into Covid-19 nightmares. She was President of the International Assocn for the Study of Dreams in 1995-6 and co-edited with Dr Patrick McNamara the 3-volume “New Science of Dreams” in 2007. This work was a major contribution to building up the scientific evidence for the importance of dreaming in mental health and illness.
In this book she has gathered 17 significant articles published by researchers, mainly in American Journals, covering 3 primary areas of traumatic dreaming. In Part One, “Dreams After Childhood
Trauma,” the authors give detailed accounts of their work with survivors of sexual abuse, domestic abuse, severe burns, and conditions leading to Multiple Personality Disorder. In Part Two, “Adult Trauma in Wars and Natural Disasters,” the authors describe their findings from working with war veterans, refugees, holocaust survivors, rape survivors and firestorm survivors, revealing patterns of reaction and recovery. In Part Three, “Traumas of Normal Living,” noted authors present their work with people suffering from bereavement, divorce, transplant surgery, and brain injury (Oliver Sacks). They describe a range of methods used in the process of recovery or acceptance.
Barrett also provides a useful Introduction, overviewing the field, as a source of insight and guidance for responding to the wide range of traumatic experience present in our society. I strongly recommend this book. Margaret Bowater
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 RESEARCH CORNER
Dr Deirdre Barrett of Harvard is a leading authority on the science of dreams, especially nightmares. She recently wrote an article on “Dreams in the Time of Covid,” for the Fall issue of “Dreamtime” magazine, summarising the results of her survey of over 4000 dreamers from around the world, early in 2020. Many were having more vivid dreams than usual, and reported keeping a dream journal for the first time. She categorised the main themes: fear of becoming infected; a variety
of metaphors about trying to escape from danger; many kinds of “bug” attacks, such as swarms of bees, wasps, worms, cockroaches, bedbugs, even grasshoppers with fangs!
There were dreams exaggerating loneliness into solitary confinement, or overcrowding in the home. Healthcare workers had trauma dreams of equipment failures and being distressed, unable to save their patients. References to death were three times higher than in pre-pandemic times, especially for women; most of their dreams showed stress and fear, but some were accepting the idea of mortality, or re-joining loved ones who had died. There were even a few who dreamed of finding a cure, or a place of freedom in nature.
Deirdre’s research continues, noticing how themes evolve. She has already published a book called “Pandemic Dreams.”
Margaret Bowater.
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SAVE THE DATES:
Mon 19th April, at St Luke’s Centre, 130 Remuera Rd, at 7.30 pm:
Jeni McGarry presents DREAMS AS SOUL GUIDES
Entry $20 (or $10 unwaged), payable at the door.
Fri 8th Oct 2.00 pm to Sun 10th 2 pm.
- : Science and Soul in Dreams.
Register interest to: mandebowater@gmail.com
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