Dream Series – Mystical Dimensions of Dreaming

In our second live webinar series on dreams, we will continue to explore a range of perspectives and approaches for understanding and working with dreams in psychotherapy.

This series will look both at and beyond western conceptualisations of dreams, with the first two sessions offering perspectives from indigenous cultures and ancient wisdom, drawing from Judaism and Buddhism. The third session will introduce recent psychological research that explores how PTSD can present through nightmares, and offer strategies and techniques for working with this therapeutically. The final session will explore dreams across the lifespan, returning to a relational psychoanalytic approach, which is central to our clinical outlook at the Inner Citadel Institute. Each session will have an experiential dimension with space to think and discuss dream material together.

Seminar Content

Speaker: Sheldon Lewis

“Once upon a time, I, Zhuangzi, dreamt I was a butterfly.… I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Zhuangzi. Soon I awakened.… Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”
— Taoist story

Ancient wisdom from across generations, and around the globe, illuminates dreams beyond psychology and analytical thinking. Delving into teachings from different traditions such as Yoga Philosophy, Jewish Mysticism, and Taoism, we will explore a range of contemplative practices. These include Meditation, Self-Inquiry, Breathwork, and Imagery, which we can both perform on our own and share with clients and colleagues.

The Upanishads, foundational texts of Indian philosophy, delineate four major states of consciousness:

• The Waking State, in which we engage with—and navigate—the world around us.
• The Sleep or Dream State, which opens a gateway to the inner realm.
• The Deep-Sleep State, where we are immersed in stillness, beyond both internal and external realities—free of thought and sensory experience.
• Turiya, a state of pure awareness, or Witness Consciousness, that underlies and transcends all the other states.

We will apply teachings from mystical paths to set healing intentions before going to sleep; to reflect on, and contextualise, dreams after we wake; and to record dreams as starting points for meditation, personal insight, and prophetic visions.