Dreamwork and Self-Healing

There have been many previous books on the physiology of dreaming, the history of dream interpretation, and the meaning of specific dream symbols. But there have been relatively few books exploring the moment-by-moment process of interpreting dreams. This book guides you through this interpretive process, and illustrates how dreamwork promotes emotional, relational, and spiritual transformation. It explores how working with dreams enhances our emotional life, deepens our capacity for relationship, and helps us gracefully navigate change and transitions. The author shows that dreamwork is a natural antidepressant, is effective in transforming anger, bereavement, couples conflicts and impasses, and aids the process of individuation. The book explores archetypal themes and complexes, synchronistic experiences and spiritual awakening in dreams, and representations of the body in dreams. The final chapter, "Taming Wild Horses", explores animal dream symbolism and its importance for enhancing our human sexuality. The book also describes the Dream Mandala, a method of self-transformation through the union of opposites - the charged polarities of the personality.

Greg Bogart

PART I. THERAPEUTIC DREAMWORK 1. Introduction 2. Dreamwork and Psychotherapy 3. Dreamwork and Relationships 4. Twenty Dreams of a Young Artist PART II. JUNGIAN DREAMWORK 5. Archetypal Themes 6. Unfolding the Complexes in Dreams 7. Persona and Shadow in Dreamwork 8. Anima and Animus in Dreams 9. Dreamwork and Individuation 10. The Dream Mandala 11. Synchronicity and Dreams 12. Spirit and the Body in Dreams PART III. CASE STUDY 13. Taming Wild Horses: A Study of Animal Symbolism and Male Sexuality