This page offers brief interviews with  presenters at The Mandala Center.   We hope this helps to offer you more information about our programs and the wonderful work and inspiration of the many facilitators teaching at The Mandala Center who feel passionate about what they do and how they may serve you.

SCROLL DOWN TO FIND THE INTERVIEW OF YOUR CHOICE

ONE:  Movement as Medicine -  with Carol LaRue
TWO: Living with Courage & Creativity: Introduction to Circles of Trust
with Cindy Johnson and Donna Bearden
THREE: The Art of the Mandala with Lily Mazurek
FOUR:  Listening to the Voice Within:  Passion and Purpose with Bob Stice
FIVE:  Exploring Your Dreams with Irene Clurman and Michael Tappan

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MOVEMENT AS MEDICINE
Interview with Carol LaRue

Carol will be offering two retreats in 2010 at The Mandala Center.  The first one will be Movement as Medicine March 18-21^st and the second will be Return to Wholeness: Nourishment for Women Cancer Survivors June 11-13^th.   We welcome her and hope you will join us!  Here is a short interview with her to learn more!

Lori:  Carol, how long have you been doing this work and how did you come to link “movement” and “medicine” together?

Carol:  I have been consciously combining movement and healing together in workshop settings for over 10 years.  I have spent 25-30 years going through my own personal journey through integrative medicine and holistic health concepts.  I am a licensed occupational therapist but I left traditional rehab and corporate management in the late 90’s because it felt far away from the “whole person healing” component that I needed and felt was important.

A few years ago I was experiencing one big life crisis after another. I lost my daughter in a car accident, my partner was ill and I lost a business to a flood. Conscious movement, even if it was just breathing, was my guide through the darkness.  I learned that in life we can get stuck out of hurt, sadness or fear during crisis – but “being stuck” contributes to our pain and suffering.  Our body can be the doorway to begin the “movement” we need to begin to grieve, heal, adapt and change.   Movement is a powerful teacher if we listen to our body and listen to our soul’s grief and joys.  I believe the body is a sacred messenger and vessel for our soul growth here on earth.  Through mindful movement we access the body’s language and through that come healing or “medicine” for our mind, body, and spirit.

Lori:  So what kind of movement do you use in your teachings and how do you use it in your own life?

Carol: About 10 years ago, I very serendipitously came across a healing and holistic fitness movement technique call Nia, which is a blend of several different types of movement techniques integrating the mind, body, spirit, and emotions. It pulled it all together for me:  my love of dance, my occupational therapy training and my belief in holistic health.  I realized as a child I had always loved to dance but had abandoned it.  For the first time in years, I came back home to myself and my body.  My life took on major changes once I came home to myself and came home to that which I loved.  I began letting go of what was not working any longer in my life.

I obtained training and certification in yoga therapy and in Pilates and in 1999 I opened a movement center and began teaching.  I have grown to appreciate how different movement modalities promote healing in different ways.   I realized that different people are attracted to different kinds of movement in different times in their life.  In my classes people can explore different types and see which types or type they respond to.  They can get in touch with purposeful movement and in turn get in touch with their own purpose.

Personally, I do the same, my moving in the way that feels right in the moment.  Some days I feel like a brisk walk, some days gentle yoga, some days expressive dance, some days powerful Pilates and sometimes simply slow, meditative breathing and gentle movement.

Lori:  What do you want to share with students in your classes and what do you hope they learn?

Carol: We spend so much time in our heads in our society. We don’t give ourselves much time or space to listen within.  I want to share that moving through pain AND moving through pleasure can be healing.  I want to re-introduce people to their wonderful bodies.   I hope to help ease some of the inhibition taught in our culture that discourages moving our bodies in expressive ways and explore how movement can be used as a meditation as well as a celebration.  I want to provide people with the time and a non-judgmental and safe space to actually move their bodies. I want them to “feel” what it feels like to move and become familiar with their bodies.  Then they can go home and continue their unique process themselves.

Lori:  Can you talk a little bit about the retreat for women cancer survivors? Why do you offer a retreat specifically for this population?

Carol: I have healthfully survived my own cancer experience.  Movement was a huge part of my self-health process in my own journey through cancer surgery and treatment. My cancer was a chance to “walk my talk” as a healing specialist, movement therapist, and as an everyday woman with cancer.   I was diagnosed one year after my daughter’s death. I realized I had not given myself time to nurture myself, go through my grieving process, and heal.   It was a wake-up call to take care of myself first so that I was better prepared to share the care for others in my life.  I had a choice to continue in old patterns of over-nurturing or change.  This facilitated life-changing choices for me.

Lori: How did it force you to “walk your talk?”

Carol: I had actually started a movement class for Cancer survivors three years BEFORE my own diagnosis.  I was teaching at Cancer Action in the Kansas City area, a non-profit that provides a variety of services for cancer survivors.    I was using movement to help women survivors move through depression, fear, fatigue and anxiety and saw that the movement and the group support did improve the quality of life they led.  When I got diagnosed I had to listen to my own teachings and was able to experience firsthand the challenge and the joy of movement as a part of the healing process.

Lori:  What do you hope other women faced with cancer or recovery from cancer can learn from you?

Carol: My retreats focus on expanding self-love and self-compassion.  It is a journey about re-trusting their body – loving their body and loving themselves.   They learn to embrace the moment and the process.  You can’t move and sense your body and be thinking of much else.   What can we do NOW?  In this moment?  It is a process of “moving into self-empowerment” – as a survivor.  There is a difference between selfishness and self-love and a difference between generosity and self-sacrifice.  If you give to others out of a “full heart” you are offering generosity.  If you give “not out of a whole heart” it is self-sacrifice and this can be very hard on us.  I want them to “move into full-heartedness” – at whatever levels they are prepared to do so.

Lori: Thank you Carol for your time.  This is a lot of wonderful information to ponder. Is there anything else you would like to add?

Carol: In our culture we are far too sedentary for far too long and that is not assisting our wellbeing.   I want to bring ancient practices of movement into our modern world in a way that can be practical and acceptable while blending with today’s needs and society.   I know this challenges people to explore their “edge” a little but that is where change and growth and healing occur.   BUT – I also want them to just play and HAVE FUN with movement.  Overall, I want my retreats to remind people they are not alone.  We have community support.  We ALL go through transitions and change.  What I love about retreats is that we create a safe container to explore these challenges together.  As we grow stronger and more confident, learn from each other and from our bodies, we can go out on our own with new energy and joy and live fuller lives.  I look forward to my time at The Mandala Center.

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LIVING WITH COURAGE AND CREATIVITY
with Cindy Johnson and Donna Bearden

Cindy and Donna will be offering a retreat at The Mandala Center Friday March 12^th, 6PM – Sunday March 14^th entitled Living with Courage and Creativity – An Introduction to Circles of Trust®. Cindy and Donna will be utilizing methods from Parker Palmer’s work (Center for Courage and Renewal) as trained and authorized facilitators, as well as incorporating their own work and experiences in the retreat.  These two women have a wealth of information to share with you and we wanted to ask a few questions in preparation so you can get to know them better.   This retreat is a very good “deal” as an introductory class – don’t miss it!!  (See the Workshops page for bios, websites and more information on the retreat)

Lori:  Tell me why/how you got involved with Parker Palmer’s work? What attracted you to his concepts?

Donna: I read A Hidden Wholeness and had some Aha! moments.  I had a lot of training in Quality Tools and had been instrumental in setting up a program in the Dallas Independent School District that used the “learning community” concepts.   I had used many of the techniques such as setting up safe spaces for people to share and for honoring where people are.  The concept from Parker’s work that really spoke to me was “no saving, no fixing” each other in the groups.  We each have an internal teacher and this is what is emphasized.

Cindy: I was asked to look into his program for school teachers on behalf of my community.  I sat with 30 educators and other leaders for a weekend of retreat hearing them talk about their work – work that was of their hearts and work that was breaking their hearts.  I understood what they were sharing from a professional level as an advocate for children and adults who care for children and as a professional from another discipline who has experienced the “heart breaking” aspect of “heart work.”  Parker Palmer has an amazing capacity to help people understand themselves and out of that greater understanding, to strengthen the connection between who they are and what they do.

Lori:  What three benefits do participants experience in “circle of trust” retreats?

Donna: These are the benefits I personally have received in Circle of Trust® retreats.
1. I felt a real trust that people were NOT trying to fix me or judge me or lead me to any certain point based on their own perceptions of my issues.
2. I felt that the group had confidence in me to solve my issues and that whatever answers I came up with would be right for me.
3. I felt empowered to move forward out of a “stuck” place.  This came about by each of the members of the circle asking open-ended questions that helped me see from a different perspective.  Sometimes the most “off the wall” questions were the ones that “unstuck” me the most.

Cindy: 1. Participants are provided a safe, trustworthy space and structure to explore their lives in community with other people on the same journey.
2. They leave with a greater self-understanding of who they are, greater self-awareness about how they move in the world, and skills for ongoing reflection and self-care.
3. They also have deepened their commitment to their work; their vocation.

Lori:   Your workshop is titled “Living with Courage…”.  Can you explain why you have chosen the word “courage” in this context?

Donna: Living with courage, to me, is doing some deep soul-searching and discernment to figure out who I really am and what my gifts are.
(Lori – This sounds similar to Tish Hewitt’s questions as she created The Mandala Center – Who Am I?  Why Am I Here?) It is living in accordance to my deepest self, even in the midst of pulls and tugs from society, friends, family, and co-workers who may have different expectations for me – or want me to be involved in this good cause or that good cause.  Yes, many of the tugs and pulls are good, and that is the hardest dilemma for me:  saying no to some really good stuff in order to focus on a higher good.  Because it’s tied to my passion, my talent, my gift, at times it feels selfish.  There is so much need in the world.  How can I say no to all these worthy endeavors?  But what if more people did focus on their gifts and how they can give them to the world?  Wouldn’t we all be better off?  It sounds so simple, but it’s very, very difficult.  It’s soul work.  It takes … courage.

Lori: Parker Palmer primarily uses literature/poetry for exploring the “inner landscape” but you will be using visual arts also.  How does this work?

Donna: Much like poetry and literature, art helps us look at things from a new or different perspective.  When we “get lost” in an art project, whether it is photography or painting or clay or putting something together from found objects, we often find something within ourselves.  Our workshop sets up the necessary ingredients of a safe place in which to “get lost.”  Because we offer a variety of experiences within the guiding principles of Circles of Trust, participants feel what it is to let go of expectations and fear of judgment.  It’s PLAY – as simple (and as hard) as that.  It’s creative play.  We will include some creative play with various kinds of art materials (no experience necessary) and without giving too much away, we will also make “Block Monsters” out of found objects.  It is not so much the products, but the processes we are interested in sharing.  Participants will explore how to turn off the voices in our heads that say “not good enough” and how to ask questions that will allow the “inner teacher” to guide them.  We will explore how to send fear and judgment to a corner and guard them so they lose their power.

Cindy: We will still use some poetry, writing and personal stories as prompts along with visual arts.  Adding the visual arts (no experience necessary) enhances the other methods.  It also invites people to go deeper as they are involving more senses and their bodies.  At times, using only words can keep us in our heads.

Lori: What is your personal relationship to art and the creative process? How has it enhanced your life?

Donna:  I spent most of my career in my head.  Art adds the heart.   The art form I use is photo mandalas. I pick a photograph that seems to speak, in some way, to the issue or the emotion I am dealing with.  The process of creating mandalas is very meditative and I find myself just concentrating on the artwork.  When it is done, I will study the final product and often see something that I did not notice before even though I made it.  Recently, I was dealing with an issue in my life.  I had not words for what I was feeling.  I went to the arboretum and looked for something that represented my mood.  I saw a row of crepe myrtles, stripped and bare for winter, dead leaves on the ground.  I photographed it and went home and created a Mandala.  Afterwards, the title that came to my mind was “Grief and Chaos” and it was only then that I realized I was dealing with grief in my life.

Cindy: The creative process has always been part of my life – whether planting a garden, raising a child, or painting a landscape.  It has helped me know myself, to hear the still small voice within.  “Art” as a product, has been more of a challenge for me as I have had to deal with my feelings and other’s judgments about the “product”.  More recently, I realize it is the creative “process” that is the transformative part for me.

Lori:  What can people hope to learn at your retreat at The Mandala Center?

Donna:  They can learn some ways to get out of their head and into their hearts.  They can learn some Circle of Trust processes that can help them suspend judgment of themselves and others.  They will learn some ways to practice creativity in their lives on various levels and share space and time with other people who want to get in touch with their inner spirit in the process of the human journey.

Cindy:   Participants will discover the value of halting the rush of daily life, of doing one thing at a time, of remembering who we are, and the work that is ours to do.  They will grow in understanding more deeply the creative impulses in us and “practicing” their expression in a safe space. They will also leave with a tool kit to take with them to help continue their exploration of living with courage and creativity.

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The ART OF THE MANDALA
with Lily Mazurek

LILY:  I grew up in a European family with mainly Hungarian cultural influences and for generations my family members have been involved in the arts, music, and languages, so I was surrounded by the arts and culture from day one.  It’s in my blood!  But aside from that, I have always found the arts to be my natural language and means of expression.  The arts feel good to me and they work for me.  I am focused, centered, and calm when making art, writing, or performing.  This is the nature of the arts, I believe; they unify and heal and bring joy in the process.  It is creation, after all!  It was just a natural tool for me to turn to visual art and writing when I was diagnosed with breast cancer 14 years ago. I didn’t think of sharing it, however, until friends kept urging me to.  Then when they told me the effect the workshop experience had on them, I knew it was something I was supposed to do.  It’s not something that I’ve created by myself, although sometimes it feels like it; it’s something that has come through me.  I am a vehicle and a teacher.

Lori: How long have you been doing this and who can benefit from your work the most?

LILY:  I’ve been doing mandala workshops since 1996, when I discovered I had breast cancer.  They were, and still are, an incredible source of transformation and healing.  The funny thing is, I found some drawings I did as a child a couple of years ago, and they were filled with mandalas!  Really, everyone can benefit from mandala work.  I’ve conducted successful workshops with children, adults, students, the terminally ill as well as the healthy.  People have used the workshops to handle such issues as relationships, health, incest, financial challenges, weight problems, and to help them make decisions.

Lori:  Do people who take your workshop need to be artists?

LILY:   No, not at all.  No art experience is necessary to taking the workshops.  We do explore our personal language of color, shape, and symbolism in the class, which especially helps beginners, but you don’t need any experience to start with.

Lori:  You specifically use Mandalas as a visual art form.  How do you define “mandala” and why do you use that symbol?

LILY:   Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning “container of sacred essence”.  Basically, mandalas are circular designs used for healing and transformation around the world by many cultures.  Buddha used them, too, for enlightenment.  I stumbled across mandalas while studying art therapy and Carl Jung’s work under pioneer Margaret Naumberg in New York City many years ago.  I didn’t do much with them at the time and didn’t realized their power until they reappeared in my life and I created them to help heal myself, especially emotionally, after my illness.  I believe they appear in our lives or we are drawn to them when we most need them.  I use them because they work, they are a symbol for wholeness, and because people keep telling me about how making them has affected their life and helped them.

Lori:  What can students expect when they attend your workshop?  How much time is spent doing lecture, discussion or art?

LILY:  We start the workshop off getting to know one another briefly.  Then we do a short open-eyed meditational process involving coloring for about 20-30 minutes, followed by brief discussion.  I liken it to walking a labyrinth.  After that I take students around the world via my (15-20 minute) PowerPoint presentation which shows how cultures around the world have used them, and how and where to find mandalas in their daily life.  It’s wonderful to see people’s notion of the world get tweaked after they see it and realize how much bigger the world of mandalas is than they thought.  It is always followed by discussion.  Next, we can take a short field trip to collect natural materials, for another 30 minutes or so.  These will be used on the last day.  When we come back we explore our own personal language of art including color, shape, and symbolism with hands-on exercises.  We introduce terms such as organic and geometric, curvilinear, symmetry, and so on.  I also discuss other structures within the mandala and their application.  This all take another 30-45 minutes or so.  As we prepare to create our personal mandalas, we do cleansing exercises, controlled breathing, meditation, and a deep, guided creative visualization.  This can take another 30-45 minutes or so.  Then comes the creation of our personal mandalas based on what is extracted from the visualization. We use a body-based process that I developed over the years that is a form of energy medicine.   This can take 1-2 hours or more, depending on how large the class is.  It is always followed by cross-talk and discussion in a safe, supportive environment. There is also music throughout the various processes as music opens us up. Will finish the last day by walking the labyrinth and doing a group mandala experience with our natural materials, which will be a lot of fun!  I would say its about 1/3 teaching and lecture and 2/3 hands-on work.

Lori:  What do you hope students learn or experience in your workshops?

LILY:   Everyone comes away with something different, depending on where they are in life and what issue they are dealing with in making their mandala.  But my hope is that they see the world differently after the workshop, and see the connectedness of all things.  For some people, it is quite dramatic.

Lori:  Anything else you would like to add?

LILY:   Understanding mandalas better at this point in our human development is really important as they hold the key to enlightenment, healing, and transformation.  I believe we are in the Age of the Mandala.  The great change that is occurring in our world will be facilitated by our understanding and use of mandalas.

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LISTENING TO THE VOICE WITHIN: PASSION AND PURPOSE
with Bob Stice

Lori: Bob, You have been coming and teaching at  The Mandala Center for a while. Can you recap what you have done here and why you personally feel The Mandala Center is a good place for holding retreats such as your own?

BOB:  Most of my experience with The Mandala Center has centered on variations of the Listening to the Voice Within retreat.  While the basic structure and content of the retreat remains the same, we have offered it to various groups, such as clergy and clergy spouses, as well as open to all people.  I fell in love with The Mandala Center even before I started teaching here because of its powerful spirit of place and setting.  The Center IS the retreat and it invites us to come and seek within its bounds.  I have experienced no greater setting for the facilitation of true “retreat” experience, allowing for inner exploration and sharing within a safe small group community.

Lori: Your retreat is called “Listening to the Voice Within” and the description tells us it is about making space to hear our inner callings and purpose wherever we are in life.    Can you tell us how you became involved in this topic and why you believe it is important to be teaching such a class?

BOB:  My personal and professional life’s journey has involved formal preparation and practice in the areas of theology and counseling psychology.  Discernment—seeking, naming, following–callings or directions in life has always been central to my experience.  During my years of professional practice I’ve seen the common dilemmas that most people face as they seek to make sense out of life events, tragic as well as good.  We all seek purpose and meaning in our existence, however we may or may not formally express it.  Life has to be lived forward, and how we make sense of our past often propels us forward or keeps us trapped.  In the past ten years I have also been involved formally in the “wellness” concept, teaching in various formats and venues about wellness, involving all major components of life, including the spiritual component.  This retreat allows a person to begin wherever they are in life at the moment and find courage, encouragement, tools, and hope for taking concrete steps forward toward new goals.

Lori:  Have there been times in your life you specifically and clearly recall either NOT listening to the voice within or listening to the voice within?  Can you tell us about one of those times and what happened?

BOB:    Many times.  Here is one of the most significant examples in my life. I had spent some time as clinical director and program director within a large psychiatric facility, during the tumultuous transition period for behavioral health programs in the moving to managed care, with its financial implications, especially for hospital programs.  As the stress to maintain quality care with decreasing reimbursements intensified, I found myself struggling with core ethical issues.  Much of what was being ordered from corporate headquarters was not about treatment and safety for patients but rather was about making money.  I always had wondered if, given a real circumstance where I faced a choice of making a major decision based completely on my sense of ethics, knowing the consequences would be financially devastating, I would actually find the courage to do it.  In my struggle over several months to discern and listen to the voice within, I finally felt that I could do no other.  I resigned, based on my inner sense of ethics and integrity, not knowing how I would be able to support myself or my family.  Making the decision was like leaping off the cliff’s edge into unknown places.  The peace that accompanied the decision was overwhelming.  It was like I reached the very core of myself, faced the choice, and made what I knew was the right one.  Other challenges, some almost devastating, have certainly come into my path.  Life can still get messy.  But, having the experience of hearing and trusting the inner voice makes even the scary places a little less threatening.  We all have that inner source available.  The key is learning to listen to it and trust it.

Lori:  What can participants hope to learn in the retreat?  What are your goals or what do you hope participants can take away with them?

BOB:  This retreat really has as its only agenda that individual participants will be able to explore, within a safe community and with creative resources, their own inner mindscape.  Some people come with defined questions that have been in mind for some time.  Others come with a vague sense of unhappiness or anxiety about where they are in life and where they want to go.  For all, my hope is that they are affirmed in their journey, and that they find authentic tools to help them know what the next step is.  Some take away big broad insights and epiphanies.  Some finally are able to define the questions for themselves.  Some find authenticity in what they are doing and in where they are in life.  Responding to inner callings can mean being affirmed that I am in the right place for now.  I trust completely in the retreat process, which involves the magnificence of this place, the Center, to speak wisdom to each participant.

Lori:  How would a person know if they should attend?

BOB:  Any person, in any position in life, who is seeking to find direction and clarity about where they are, what they are doing, and why they are in this world, can and will benefit from this retreat process.  The wonder of the retreat process is that, even when we have participants who come from widely diverse places and walks in life, the common themes of authenticity and discernment in a safe place create a community that is more powerful than most have ever experienced.  If a person is considering this retreat and has questions about whether it would be appropriate for them, I welcome a direct inquiry and will gladly respond to any questions.

Lori:   It sounds like the issues you might talk about in the group could be personal and emotional.  How do you help create a safe and creative space in which to explore such deep inner issues?

BOB:  Certainly personal/emotional issues surface.  We begin each retreat with a creation of safe community within the group, including standard factors such as confidentiality, respect for others in all processes, etc.  My style of teaching/facilitating reinforces the sanctity and sacredness of each person’s life story, including all thoughts and feelings.  I intentionally attend to that essential component in all group sessions as well as in all individual interactions.

Lori:   Is there anything else you wish to share?

I emphasize always that Listening to the Voice Within is truly a “retreat” and not a workshop, lecture, seminar, etc.  Every attempt is made to provide supportive tools for discernment for each participant but the experience is “retreat” in the most authentic sense possible.  No one ever leaves The Mandala Center the same.  I invite all seekers to come and explore.

FIVE Exploring your Dreams with Irene Clurman and Michael Tappan

1. Dreams have been a fascinating topic throughout history and across cultures.   Certainly the field of psychology has been instrumental in promoting dream work.   Tell us how  you, personally, became interested in dreamwork.

IRENE: I’ve been observing my dreams since childhood and became actively involved in them as an adult. I was doing some creative writing and noticed that my dreams were a lot livelier than anything I came up with in waking life! When I began attending dream discussion and dream theater workshops to explore the meaning of my nightly visions, I realized that dream exploration was life-changing.

MIKE:  Dreams have always captured my attention and curiosity. And as a child I often wondered about the meaning of the night-time stories that occupied my dream life. But it wasn’t until my 30’s that I began to study dreams in earnest. It was then too that I joined my first dream group. The group was led by a Jungian analyst.  I don’t consider myself a Jungian – though I would say that I have been profoundly influenced by the work of Jung – the experience made me appreciate the richness of the human experience and its expression through art, story, myth and living together in community. Irene and I often use Jungian concepts because frankly, they vividly reflect the most cogent understanding of dreams that we have found.  Dreams tell us that we are not alone in our emotional lives, and they tell us too of our triumphs and failures. I think they are the quickest way to self-understanding. We may overlook our joys and ignore our sorrows in waking life, but believe me, our dreams don’t miss a thing. And there’s no escaping the fact that dreams point to the consequences of our inattentiveness to our life’s journey and the ways back to our life’s celebration.

2.  There are many different ways or theories about how to explore and interpret dreams – What methods or concepts for dreamwork can participants expect to learn from you?  Who have your mentors been?

IRENE:  Participants will get hands-on experience working with their own and others’ dreams and incorporating basic Jungian concepts such as anima and animus, shadow and archetypes. We’ll work mainly with the group projective dream work style developed by our mentor Jeremy Taylor, which will allow participants to begin exploring the symbols and messages in their dreams right away. The emphasis will be on discussion dream work but we will also offer participants a chance to try dream re-enactments. Embodying the animate and inanimate objects in a dream is a very exciting way to interact with and understand them. In addition to Jeremy Taylor, author of “The Wisdom of Your Dreams” and one of the founders of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, our mentors include our dream theater teachers Dana Anderson and Jana Darwin Sullivan. We both hold dream work facilitator certification from Jeremy Taylor’s Marin Institute for Projective Dream Work.

MIKE:  For a few years in my life I worked with shamans in the Andes, in the rainforests of Ecuador and in Siberia. In these indigenous cultures, the veil between the waking world and the dreaming world is thin. They believe that all experience – waking and sleeping — has something to teach us. And I believe that. Personal experience, especially the power of the personal vision, trumps all. And that is why the personal vision, as hoped for in the vision quest, the solo journey in the desert or rain forest, or even the drug- induced revelation fostered in the ceremonies of some of the tribes in the Amazon, is considered so important in the life of the individual and the community. I hold as true the statement of  dream worker and author Jeremy Taylor when he says that only the dreamer can say with certainty what meanings his or her dream may have. Certainty of a dream’s meaning is usually wordless and comes in the form of an “aha” of recognition. And that “aha” is the only reliable touchstone of meaning for the dreamer.

We don’t have to sweat in the rainforests of the Amazon or sit alone on the Siberian steppe to have guiding visions. Our night-time dreams lead us just as quickly to ourselves, to self-discovery, to the knowledge of what thwarts us and to the source of our joys.

3.  How can dreamwork help us in our daily lives?  What is the purpose, as you see it, for exploring our dreams?

IRENE: Dreams offer guidance from the unconscious mind on the obstacles and blind spots that prevent us from reaching our full potential mentally, physically and spiritually. They can help us release past traumas and they always point the way to growth – if only we can decode their symbolic language. Crucial wisdom is offered on a nightly basis, and we owe it to ourselves to listen and learn to interpret it.

MIKE: Dreams tell us, in emotional and visual terms, that there is a survival issue at stake. But the survival issue portrayed for us in our dreams is not only about physical survival or the absence of emotional suffering, but the survival of the ascendant self, the authentic being of a soulful biography whose destiny — if we are left to our own evolutionary devices — moves toward expression. The deeper issues in our dreams are not so much about job loss but about finding “right livelihood.” Dreams are less about finding cure for our ills than about discovering healing despite our illnesses. They are not about our concerns with social status as they are about finding our right place in the world. In waking life the loss of youth will always be a foregone conclusion. But in our dreams it is the waxing and waning of youthful vitality despite our age that is shown to us. And the largest obstacle to remaining true to ourselves isn’t the loss of another’s love but the loss of the self-acceptance and self love of our own personal human complexity. Dreams register for us that complexity and allow us to honor our many facets.

4.  I know that I personally can recall some dreams that still create an emotional response in me. In the workshop setting, how to you handle or what do you recommend to participants who might have difficult dream imagery or difficult emotions that come up around their dreams?

IRENE: Nightmares come in disturbing forms because it’s so important that we pay attention to the information they bring us. They recur when we don’t get the message, either because we’re repressing the information or can’t yet understand it. Having the support of a group is especially helpful in dealing with our frightening and painful dreams.

MIKE: Safety and security in a group setting is our primary concern. And Irene and I have been pleased and honored to be told of the safety and the compassionate regard our workshop participants have felt doing dream work. We emphasize the concept of “dreamer’s choice” and “participant’s choice”. That is, no one is asked to go into emotional realms where they don’t want to go. It is entirely up to the dreamer to choose the depth and manner of involvement. The dreamer is honored.

I should note here though that any dreamer whose dream is volunteered for projective dream work or dream portrayal usually wants to explore the dream and the emotions associated with it. And both Irene and I have come to realize that a remembered dream signals to the dreamer that they are consciously ready to deal with the dream’s content. Dreams, even those that our culture calls “bad dreams” come in the service of health and wholeness.

Too, those who choose to explore their dreams are, we find, compassionate and caring people who create an atmosphere of support and understanding. We feel blessed to be with such people.

5. Do you agree with “dream interpretation books?”  How accurate are generalizations about what something means in a dream?  Can a tiger in one person’s dream mean something different than a tiger in another person’s dream?

IRENE: Dream symbols often have both universal and personal meanings. The tiger archetype carries courage, strength and powerful animal instincts. However, someone with a deep personal experience with tigers would have to add that into the mix when considering the meaning of the dream, and it also would be important to ask what the tiger was doing in the dream and how the dreamer felt about it. And if the dreamer was born in the Year of the Tiger, the dream would have yet another layer of significance!

MIKE: I think anyone who explores dreams at some time or another has turned to dream interpretation or dream dictionary books. They are a start. And they can jog the more literal mind to begin to think more metaphorically and mythologically. But they can also be a trap, inhibiting intuitive wisdom and preventing us from seeing the unique perspectives and history of the dreamer.

6.  What can participants expect to learn or gain by attending your workshop?

IRENE: Participants will gain a new appreciation for the life-changing insights dreams carry, no matter whose dream is being explored, and hopefully some of these insights will enhance their personal lives. There is also something magical about being part of a supportive dream community while sharing a profound journey into the collective unconscious. In addition, participants will acquire skills for exploring dreams on their own, as well as for forming their own dream groups when they go home.

MIKE: The plunge into dreams is a plunge into our own depths. Through the charged atmosphere of dreams we discover that strength doesn’t come from the mistaken certainty that we can attain perfection or banish “negative” emotions, but that strength is attained from the vulnerable knowledge that we contain a kaleidoscope of human potentialities that when understood leads to wisdom, self-acceptance, the understanding of others and the insight to creatively make our way in the world.

7.   Is there anything participants should do to prepare for attending your workshop?  Anything they should bring with them?

IRENE: If they’re not already doing so, they should begin to pay attention to their dreams and start a dream journal. They could also jot down any questions about dreams and dreaming so we can discuss them. Paper and pen for note-taking would be helpful but not required. We’ll supply everything else, including props for dream re-enactment and our 12-page handout, which contains a list of common dream motifs, techniques for remembering dreams and resources for further study.

8. Is there anything else you would like to add?

IRENE: I have been teaching yoga for 14 years and will be offering an optional gentle yoga class to start the day Saturday and Sunday. Those who don’t want to do yoga can spend the time enjoying the beautiful Mandala Center surroundings.

There are no prerequisites for the workshop besides an interest in dreams. All activities will be suitable for beginners as well as experienced dream workers.

Anyone who has questions about the workshop can email me at isee@indra.com or Michael at Michael.Tappan@comcast.net.